Corporations sponsors police state inauguration

This week Washington, DC shares Baghdad’s green zone status as among the most heavily fortified cities in the world, as tens of thousands of protesters have descended upon the nation’s capitol in protest of Thursday’s President Bush’s inauguration to a second term in the White House. Public attendants to any part of the event’s four days of inaugural festivities have been met by an estimated 6,000 police officers recruited from 40 different law enforcement agencies, as well as 7,000 US troops strategically positioned in and around the city. Coordination of duties between police squadrons and the Defense Department is being facilitated by the Secret Service.

The inaugural swearing in ceremony, scheduled for Thursday morning, Jan. 20, will mark the Bush family’s fifth presidential inauguration. It also flags an expansion of the government’s willingness to use advanced homeland operations against its citizens, via a an expanded operational role shared jointly by police and military personnel.

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US making plans to attack Iran - report

The New Yorker magazine said on Jan. 17 that Washington has been conducting secret reconnaissance inside Iran for several months as a possible prelude to military strikes.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh reported that President George W. Bush plans to drastically expand the war on terrorism, and has already signed executive orders authorizing secret commando operations against alleged terrorist targets in as many as ten middle eastern and south Asian nations, including Iran.

The Iranian operation, which the article claims has been underway since last summer with aid by Pakistan and Israel, intends to identify as many three dozen Iranian military or nuclear sites for US missile attacks or commando raids.

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Monsanto ”Seed Police” Scrutinize Farmers

Agribusiness giant Monsanto has sued more than 100 US farmers, and its “seed police” have investigated thousands of others, for what the company terms illegal use of its patented genetically engineered seeds, and activists charge is “corporate extortion.”

Monsanto prohibits farmers from saving seed from varieties that have been genetically engineered (GE) to kill bugs and resist ill-effects from the herbicide glyphosate (sold under the brand name Roundup).

Kem Ralph of Covington, Tennessee is believed to be the first farmer to have gone to jail for saving and replanting Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy seed in 1998. Ralph spent four months behind bars and must also pay the company 1.8 million dollars in penalties.

In total, US courts have awarded Monsanto more than 15 million dollars, according to a new report by the Washington-based Center for Food Safety (CFS) called “Monsanto vs. US Farmers.”

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