"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have" ~ Thomas Jefferson

Something odd and not quite as planned happened as America grew from its "City on a Hill" origins, on its way to becoming the world's superpower: government grew. A lot. In fact, the government, which by definition does not create any wealth but merely reallocates it based on the whims of a select few, has transformed from a virtually invisible bystander in the economy, to the largest single employer, and a spending behemoth whose annual cash needs alone are nearly $4 trillion a year, and where tax revenues no longer cover even half the outflows. One can debate why this happened until one is blue in the face: the allures of encroaching central planning, the law of large numbers, and the corollary of corruption, inefficiency and greed, cheap credit, the transition to a welfare nanny state as America's population grew older, sicker and lazier, you name it. The reality is that the reasons for government's growth do not matter as much as realizing where we are, and deciding what has to be done: will America's central planners be afforded ever more power to decide the fates of not only America's population, but that of the world, or will the people reclaim the ideals that the founders of this once great country had when they set off on an experiment, which is now failing with every passing year? [PART II]

If ACTA, SOPA and PIPA were not enough to squelch Internet freedom, a new cyber bill could basically delete any remains of our first amendment. - On November 30, 2011 representatives Michael “Mike” Rogers (R-MI) and C.A. Ruppersberger (D-MD) introduced H.R. 3523: Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011, which has 106 co-sponsors. If ACTA, SOPA and PIPA were not enough to squelch Internet freedom, a new cyber bill could basically delete any remains of our first amendment.

Making sure that the level of demands that they are issuing are so high that Iran cannot possibly meet them, US officials today said that the upcoming Turkey meeting is Iran’s “last chance” to abandon its entire civilian nuclear program, shut down all enrichment facilities and “surrender” all of their nuclear fuel to the West. - The demands are much broader than anything US officials ever indicated they would seek earlier, but were in keeping with those that Israeli officials have recently been pushing for, particularly the demand that Iran simply give their nuclear fuel to the West as some sort of bribe for not being attacked. Under Iran’s IAEA safeguards agreement, they would be under no obligation to do any of these things. President Obama has conceded in the past that Iran has a “right” to a peaceful civilian nuclear program, which indeed is the right of every signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, but seems now to have given up this position, at least in practice.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has underlined Iran's right to develop its nuclear energy program as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). - According to a commentary by the top German diplomat in the Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag, Westerwelle stressed on "Iran's right to have nuclear energy for civilian use,” IRNA reported. He also made reference to his country's ongoing efforts for a diplomatic solution to the Western dispute over Iran’s nuclear issue. The German foreign minister also called for the creation of a Middle East free from nuclear arms.

Germany To Provide Israel With A Sixth Submarine
Germany to sell Israel new nuke-capable submarine
Germany set to sell Israel [more] submarines

If the picture [on the left] does not looks familiar to you, it soon will, because this is what is coming to America, courtesy of Israel and her new hired assassins, the MeK.

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has just written a new piece appearing in the New Yorker detailing how a USGOV-designated terrorist group–Mujahedin e Khalq (MeK) is receiving high tech training from JSOC, (the US Air Force’s Joint Special Operations Command) in the deserts of Nevada.

MeK is designated a terrorist group because, in additon to killing scores of Americans in Iran, it has also engaged in blowing up schools, churches, and other public places in Iran in order to make a political statement. If they would do it against their own in blowing up schools full of Iranian children, how much inhibition do you think they have in blowing up AMERICAN schools full of AMERICAN children when ordered by Israel to do so?

Shortly after the burning of Qurans at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan became public in February, Iranian agents attempted to “instigate violent protests” inside the country, according to a story published Wednesday by the New York Times. Iran is often accused of instigating, fomenting, or stirring up violence and anti-Americanism in other countries. How, exactly, does a government go about fomenting violence? - With a mixture of videotapes, audio cassettes, and explosives. When U.S. missiles kill Afghan civilians, or U.S. forces commit an affront to Islam, Iran seeks to broadcast the news among the local population. Agents quickly generate and disseminate pieces of audio and video propaganda decrying the indignity and urging civilians to rise up against American forces. Some of these go beyond mere exhortations to violence. In Iraq, U.S. agents claim to have intercepted Iranian-produced tapes that included directions to Iranian-stocked weapons caches and instructions on how to build explosively formed projectiles capable of penetrating U.S. armored vehicles. The tapes are also said to provide detailed descriptions of routes frequented by U.S. troops.

William Blum: Putting Syria into some perspective
Stephen Lendman: Friends of Syria Declare War on Assad
Johannes Stern: Imperialist powers manipulate Syrian peace plan to prepare for war

Candidates have begun preparing their media campaigns for Syria’s parliamentary elections that is aimed at ending the country’s year-plus-long unrest, Press TV reports. - On Sunday, Assistant Interior Minister for Civil Affairs Brigadier General Hassan Jalali said that 14,788,644 citizens were eligible to vote in People’s Assembly’s elections slated to be held on May 7. The vote is part of President Bashar al-Assad’s constitutional reforms pledged earlier, which authorized multi-party elections. Voters will be able to choose between 250 lawmakers for the first such parliament.

With 83 states and intergovernmental organizations represented, the second "Friends" of Syria conference was a media success. Yet, all the glimmer and gloss cannot hide NATO’s and the GCC’s defeat in Syria, which after a year of low intensity war have failed to bring about regime change and are now compelled to retreat in the face of the Russian-Sino-Iranian front. Thierry Meyssan sheds light on this bizarre diplomatic conference where words were not used to declare but to obscure.

Tibet: Beyond Fear has been playing on television and in film festivals around the world. The New York Times hails the film as emotional, riveting, and compelling. With an opening by Richard Gere, this inspiring film documents the remarkable courage and indomitable will of Ngwang, a 13-year-old Tibetan Buddhist Nun and Bagdro, a 20-year-old Tibetan Buddhist Monk, who lead demonstrations against the Chinese authorities in Tibet. [Video]

Wayne Madsen: Israel has another ace ups its sleeve with Romney. And for more Zionist chutzpah: Netanyahu wants spy Pollard freed. - Little known to outsiders, they share a warm friendship after their lives briefly intersected at a Boston firm. The two young men had woefully little in common: one was a wealthy Mormon from Michigan, the other a middle-class Jew from Israel. But in 1976, the lives of Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu intersected, briefly but indelibly, in the 16th-floor offices of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where both had been recruited as corporate advisers. At the most formative time of their careers, they sized each other up during the firm's weekly brainstorming sessions, absorbing the same profoundly analytical view of the world. That shared experience decades ago led to a warm friendship, little known to outsiders, that is now rich with political intrigue: Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, is making the case for military action against Iran; and Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, is attacking the Obama administration for not supporting Netanyahu more robustly.

Israels früherer Botschafter in Deutschland, Avi Primor, hat das Einreiseverbot gegen den Literaturnobelpreisträger Günter Grass kritisiert.

Die Maßnahme sei "übertrieben, ein bisschen hysterisch oder populistisch - auf jeden Fall nicht gerechtfertigt", sagte Primor am Sonntagabend in der ARD. Israels Innenminister Eli Jischai betreibe damit Innenpolitik. Grass sei kein Antisemit. Allerdings sei die Aussage des Schriftstellers, Israel wolle den Iran auslöschen, lächerlich. Israel hatte den Schriftsteller wegen seines israelkritischen Gedichts zur Persona non grata erklärt. Das bestätigte ein Sprecher von Innenminister Eli Jischai. Als Persona non grata, also unerwünschte Person, darf Grass nicht mehr nach Israel einreisen. Auch der israelische Historiker Tom Segev und der Parlamentarische Geschäftsführer der Grünen, Volker Beck, kritisierten das Einreiseverbot: Segev nannte es im Interview mit Spiegel Online einen "absolut zynischen und albernen Schritt des Innenministeriums". Die Motivation des Ministers zu diesem Schritt sei der Versuch, "seine politische Zukunft zu sichern". Beck hält das Verbot für überzogen und falsch. Handelsblatt Online sagte der Politiker: "Das ist unsouverän und demokratisch nicht klug. Ich hoffe, dass man das noch einmal überdenkt". Gleichzeitig äußerte Beck Verständnis für die Verärgerung in Israel.

FirstPost.com: Günter Grass banned in Israel after controversial poem
Jason Ditz: Israel Bars Entry to Poet Who Wrote Against Attacking Iran
Gideon Levy: Israelis can be angry with Gunter Grass, but they must listen to him

Gilad Atzmon: Germans are behind Günter Grass - Israel doesn't approve Grass’s recent poetic intervention. Yet, according to the German Financial Times, Grass views are highly accepted amongst Germans. (Die Israel-Thesen von Günther Grass sind...)

Rights groups uneasy over race to invest in nation with long record of broken promises of reform.

British businesses are looking to invest once more in Burma, as Western multinationals prepare for a gold rush inside one of South-east Asia's least developed – and potentially lucrative – economies.

JCB, Shell, HSBC and Standard Chartered are among the British firms said to be interested in Burma's potential.

The Independent understands the Foreign Office has held meetings with some British companies that have expressed an interest in investing in Burma. Officially, UK Trade and Investment does not encourage British firms to do business in the country. But a number of key British businesses privately indicate they are considering investing in Burma if reforms are brought in and EU sanctions against the state are lifted.

Reformists within Burma, desperate to attract foreign investment after decades of international pariah status, have promised a host of economic and political measures that they hope will encourage the US and Europe to lift sanctions. Washington gave its first indication this week it would begin lifting some of the sanctions that have been placed on the regime. The EU will decide whether to do the same later this month.

A handmade firebomb has exploded outside a branch of the Greece's Administrative Reform Ministry tasked with cutting 150,000 public sector jobs by 2015, police said. - The bomb, made of at least five gas canisters, exploded in the early hours of Monday morning, causing significant damage to the building's ground floor and a car parked nearby, but there were no human casualties. "There was no warning call and the risk of someone being injured was big, as the building is centrally located," said an unnamed police official. Administrative Reform Minister Dimitris Reppas recently announced a series of measures to slash thousands of government workers.

The United States and Afghanistan have signed a deal on the controversial night raids carried out by the US-led forces in the southwest of the Asian country. - The deal was signed by the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, and Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, AFP reported. The Afghan government said that it had been given authority over the raids in line with the agreement. Under the deal, the newly-formed Afghan Special Operations Unit will take the lead in searches of houses and private compounds. The deal gives Kabul veto power over the raids carried out on its soil by the US-led forces.