Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu set up another illegal Jewish settlement, this time on the White House lawn. And, it appears, President Obama has agreed to serve as its armed guard. So complete was Obama’s identification with Israel yesterday that he actually referred to Israel as "us" before correcting himself:

"We strongly believe that, given its size, its history, the region that it’s in, and the threats that are leveled against us—against it, that Israel has unique security requirements."

A ship commissioned by a Libyan charity organization made preparations Friday to set sail to Gaza loaded with aid. It comes over a month after Israel raided Gaza-bound ships, killing eight Turks and a Turkish-American on one of them. The flotilla was trying to break Israel's blockade on Gaza. The Moldova-flagged cargo ship Amalthea will leave by Saturday from the port of Lavrio, south of Athens, carrying 2,000 tons of food and medical supplies, officials from the organization told The Associated Press. There will be 27 people on board.

Rush Transcript Excerpt Susan Shaw, Marine Toxicologist: If I can tell you what happens -- because i was in the oil -- to people... Shrimpers throwing their nets into water... [then] water from the nets splashed on his skin. ... [He experienced a] headache that lasted 3 weeks... heart palpitations... muscle spasms... bleeding from the rectum... And that's what that Corexit does, it ruptures red blood cells, causes internal bleeding, and liver and kidney damage. ... This stuff is so toxic combined... not the oil or dispersants alone. ... Very, very toxic and goes right through skin. You Tube: 128 BP Oil Cleanup Workers Sickened in Louisiana - Told NOT to go to Public Hospitals! AWIP: 6'4" Cop Bullies 4'11" Videographer as She Videos a BP Worker Taken Away in Ambulance.

After conducting its successful coup d’etat in Honduras against President Manuel Zelaya, the imperialistic Barack Obama administration is now bent on ousting Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega by massing a huge U.S. Coast Guard and Marine Corps presence in neighboring Costa Rica, a base of operations for Reagan administration-backed CIA operations in the 1980s in support of the Nicaraguan contras. Costa Rican government officials, including President Laura Chinchilla, Vice President Luis Lieberman Ginsburg, Security Minister Jose Maria Tijerino, counter-narcotics Commissioner Mauricio Boraschi, and the Costa Rican Congress agreed to Operation Joint Patrol, which will see 7,000 US Marines, 46 mainly U.S. Coast Guard vessels, and 200 helicopters and 10 combat aircraft descend on Costa Rica, which does not have a military force, from July 1 to December 31. At a time when the Coast Guard vessels could be used to assist in the clean-up of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, they will be used in an operation widely believed to be targeting the Sandinista government of Nicaragua, which incurred the ire of Israel and its Zionist ally in San Jose, Costa Rica, Vice President Lieberman, by severing relations with the Tel Aviv regime over the Israeli attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.

The leaders of the political coup that last month removed Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and installed his former deputy, Julia Gillard, were not just “faceless numbers men”, as sections of the media have insisted. Nor can the role of Rudd’s dispatchers—including Bill Shorten, Mark Arbib, David Feeney, Paul Howes and Gary Gray—be explained by the fact that, in the main, they are representatives of Labor’s so-called right-wing Centre Unity faction. Rather, the critical point is the direct connection of these Labor “heavies” to big business, especially the mining industry. Their personal histories reveal a seamless movement between the Labor machine, including the unions, and the boardrooms of Australia’s largest companies. In toppling Rudd so swiftly—the coup was executed within the space of just 15 hours—Labor’s faction bosses were simply taking action on behalf of the mining chiefs and other corporate executives, and their opposition to Rudd’s proposed 40 percent resource super-profits tax (RSPT). That the faction bosses felt no need to argue their case within the ranks of the party or the trade unions simply underscores the fact that the working class is not a factor in the machinations of the Labor bureaucracy.

A scene in Haiti shortly after the earthquake this year

Six months after an earthquake destroyed much of Haiti and killed more than 300,000 people, little has been done for the survivors. The promises by the United Nations and the major powers, particularly the United States, have produced only a trickle of aid. Of the billions promised at a series of conferences, amid much media publicity, only 2 percent has actually been delivered.

The scale of the devastation produced by the worst natural disaster of the twenty-first century still staggers the imagination. The death toll was at least 300,000, and by some estimates nearly 500,000, out of a total population of 8 million—the worst disaster, in terms of the proportion of the population, in modern history. The equivalent in a country the size of the United States would be a death toll of 10 to 20 million. Virtually all the deaths were caused by the collapse of homes and other buildings in Haiti’s urban centers, particularly the overcrowded slums of Port-au-Prince, the capital city. Some 188,000 homes were damaged, according to one survey, of which 105,000 were completely destroyed, along with 1,300 schools, 50 hospitals, the presidential palace, the parliament building and the port of Port-au-Prince.

An estimated 25 million cubic meters of rubble, much of it concrete and steel rods, remains the principal physical obstacle to both reconstruction and everyday life. Less than 5 percent has been removed since the quake, and debris continues to block streets and roads and fills up much of the land surface of the shantytowns that once surrounded Port-au-Prince. BBC: Audio slideshow: Living in the rubble.

Aging rats have had their memory loss reversed, thanks to a compound that helps them form new memories again. The compound could be a breakthrough treatment for Alzheimer's. Essential to the creation and maintenance of memories is neurogenesis, in which new neurons are created and then wired into the brain's circuitry. This process occurs in the dentate gyrus, a key sector of the brain's memory hub in the hippocampus. Even in healthy brains, this is a difficult process, with only about 10% of these neurons surviving long enough to become a useful part of memory production. Alzheimer's disease, which is characterized by uncontrolled cell death, the survival rate drops to close to zero.

The charity is headed by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, the second son of the Libyan leader. One month after Israel’s deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a Libya-based charity group is sending another humanitarian convoy to the impoverished enclave to break the Israeli siege. The Tripoli-based Gaddafi International Charity and Development Association will send the aid ship to Gaza from Greece. The Moldova-flagged cargo ship Amalthea is set to leave Lavrio, around 60km (40 miles) south of Athens, on Friday, said the charity, headed by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Do you have daughters but not sons? How about a kid with ADHD? Did you smile in your yearbook photo? Anneli Rufus on the strange ways science can predict a marriage’s success.