The Greatest Calamity The World Has Ever Known

The year is 2010 and to anyone not in denial, the industrialized nations have entered the greatest calamity the world has ever known:

• 35 Million Americans on Food Stamps: 12 Percent of U.S. Population on Food Stamps Highest Since Records Kept in 1969, and that’s before the Obama administration announced a planned three-year budget freeze on government discretionary spending. (My Budget 360)
• 18 Million empty houses in the United States and 39 million Americans who are no longer working or looking for work, and that’s before Federal Reserve finishes rewriting the rules of American “capitalism” as US Housing, the Automobile Industry and the American Dream are dismantled. (The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Dismantling G.M., David E. Sanger)

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In her 2002 book titled, "Water Wars," noted author, social activist, and ecologist Vandana Shiva called privatizing water:

By William Blum

About half the states in the US require that a woman seeking an abortion be told certain things before she can obtain the medical procedure. In South Dakota, for example, until a few months ago, staff was required to tell women: "The abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being"; the pregnant woman has "an existing relationship with that unborn human being," a relationship protected by the U.S. Constitution and the laws of South Dakota; and a "known medical risk" of abortion is an "increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide." A federal judge has now eliminated the second and third required assertions, calling them "untruthful and misleading." 1

7 Years After Killing, Family of Slain US Peace Activist Rachel Corrie Heads to Israel for Wrongful Death Suit Against Israeli Gov’t

Rachel Corrie, a twenty-three-year-old student from Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza seven years ago as she stood before a Palestinian home facing demolition. Today, a trial opens in Israel in a lawsuit brought by Corrie’s family against the Israeli government. The eyewitness testimony is expected to challenge Israel’s version of events with evidence that she was clearly visible to the soldiers, standing before the bulldozer in her florescent orange jacket. We spend the hour with Rachel Corrie’s family: her father Craig, her mother Cindy, and her sister Sarah.

by Jacob G. Hornberger

Last December a 60-year-old American citizen was taken into custody in Havana by Cuban authorities. The man, Alan Phillip Gross, who resides in Potomac, Maryland, is suspected of being a spy for the CIA.

By Mary L. G. Theroux

The current $350 million ad campaign for the 2010 Census, including the much-maligned $2.5 million Super Bowl spots, urges individuals to “Tell your story.” The Census Bureau is particularly eager for minorities and illegal immigrants to do so, as they are traditionally believed to be the most undercounted.

The government of the province of Ontario delivered a throne speech on March 8 and what was not in the speech is perhaps more significant than what they said. What was not in the speech was plans to meld four large and lucrative corporations that are owned by the taxpayers of Ontario into one large entity to be up for grabs for the private sector. According to the Toronto Star, these are Ontario Power Generation, Hydro One, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. The latter, the largest booze seller on the planet. 

Tensions remain high in the central Nigerian city of Jos after gunfire erupted in an area near villages where hundreds were killed two days ago.

China has stepped up security in Tibet as the Himalayan region marks the sensitive anniversaries of the failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and bloody riots two years ago.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has accused the US of playing a "double game" in Afghanistan, following talks in the country with his counterpart Hamid Karzai.

Unidentified assailants have attacked the office of a Western aid agency in Pakistan, killing up to five people and wounding several others, according to police.

The German Bishops Conference is to lead an investigation into allegations of the sexual and physical abuse of more than 170 students in Germany.

Northern Ireland's politicians have voted overwhelmingly in favour of devolving policing and justice powers from London to Belfast.

Irish police have arrested seven Muslims suspected of conspiracy to murder over a plot to kill Lars Vilks, a Swedish cartoonist, who drew the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, has said that the country's economy "remains very fragile" and warned of "bumps in the road" ahead.

Middle Eastern countries feel tricked by the 40-year-old nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), an Egyptian diplomat has warned.

The family of a US student activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza has launched a case against the Israeli government.

The first results of Iraq's parliamentary elections are expected to be released on Wednesday, officials have said, in a vote seen as a test of democracy in the country.

Israel and Syria have announced ambitions to develop nuclear power plants to meet their energy needs.

Joe Biden, the US vice president, has said that Israel's decision to expand settlement activity in occupied East Jerusalem "undermines" the trust needed for peace talks.

China's exports surged ahead in February, in an indication of revived global demand in the wake of the global financial crisis.