Spain tumbled into recession and European stock markets and the euro fell Thursday as Greece installed a crisis government to tackle its crippling debt, EU leaders prepared for talks and analysts raised the spectre of a run on eurozone banks.

“Markets are worried about eurozone bank deposit runs and an escalating banking crisis,” London-based VTB Capital economist Neil MacKinnon told AFP.

Heavy withdrawals of deposits have been reported in Greece and Spain, and top European Union leaders were to hold a videoconference.

They were initially to discuss an upcoming G8 meeting of industrialised countries but were now faced with a serious deterioration of the situations in Greece and elsewhere across the eurozone.

A caretaker government took office in Athens on Thursday to organise its second election in six weeks after an inconclusive May 6 vote as fears over its possible euro exit rocked Spain and Italy.

The election left Greece in limbo and the new poll on June 17 offers no guarantee of a viable government able to implement an EU-IMF bailout which has divided the country.

The International Monetary Fund announced Thursday that it would hold off on official contacts with Greece until after the June 17 elections.

CONTINUED at Yahoo News.

Living in America is becoming very difficult for anyone with a moral conscience, a sense of justice, or a lick of intelligence. Consider:

We have had a second fake underwear bomb plot, a much more fantastic one than the first hoax. The second underwear bomber was a CIA operative or informant allegedly recruited by al-Qaeda, an organization that US authorities have recently claimed to be defeated, in disarray, and no longer significant.

This defeated and insignificant organization, which lacks any science and technology labs, has invented an “invisible bomb” that is not detected by the porno-scanners. A “senior law enforcement source” told the New York Times that “the scary part” is that “if they build one, they probably built more.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that “the plot itself indicates that the terrorists keep trying to devise more and more perverse and terrible ways to kill innocent people.” Hillary said this while headlines proclaimed that the US continues to murder woman and children with high-tech drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Africa. The foiled fake plot, Hillary alleged, serves as “a reminder as to why we have to remain vigilant at home and abroad in protecting our nation and in protecting friendly nations and peoples like India and others.”

FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress that the fake plot proves the need for warrantless surveillance in order to detect–what, fake plots? In Congress Republican Pete King and Democrat Charles Ruppersberger denounced media for revealing that the plot was a CIA operation, claiming that the truth threatened the war effort and soldiers’ lives.

CONTINUED at Activist Post. Written by Paul Craig Roberts.

Missiles mean business, especially if you’re sitting on top of one pretending it’s a penis of mass destruction. And now the U.K. Ministry of Defense has notified some London apartment dwellers that they could be adding missile launchers to the top of their buildings as part of heightened security precautions for the upcoming Olympics. Obviously, some residents aren’t too happy about it because they’re sissies. Me? I sleep with a knife taped to one hand and a live grenade in the other.

One resident Brian Whelan wasn’t too happy to find posters and leaflets priming people about the missile defense launchers:
“They say they’ll only use them as a last resort, but… you’d shower debris across the east end of London by firing these missiles.”

The Ministry of Defence defended itself by saying that the missiles would only be used to “counter threats from very high performance, low-flying aircraft” and that the location was chosen because it’s relatively close to the Olympic Park.

Great, now I want missile launchers on my building. Ol’ Brian here is complaining about them, but I’d let you install one ON MY BALCONY and then MAKE ME PAY TO HAVE IT THERE. As long as I can touch it whenever I want you’ve got yourself a deal. *calling friend* Dude — you won’t believe what the government just installed on my balcony. Come over and bring a hammer!

Source: Geekologie.

A mock movie poster warns al-Qaida wants to return to New York City, but authorities say there’s no evidence of an actual threat.

Investigators learned about the online amateur graphic on Monday. The graphic shows the Manhattan skyline at sunset with “Al Qaeda” in bold type followed by “Coming Soon Again in New York.”

Al-Qaida has been blamed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which destroyed the World Trade Center and killed thousands of people.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne says an overseas, Arab-language Internet site posted the graphic on its “artwork and design” page. He says the NYPD has been monitoring the site.

FBI spokesman J. Peter Donald says the agency takes all threats seriously and “there is no specific orcredible threat to New York.”

Source: Yahoo News.

‘Council of Governors’ member McDonnell could try to sabotage anti-NDAA law.

The Virginia Senate has passed a law that forbids authorities in the state from using the ‘indefinite detention’ provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act against Americans, but whether or not Governor Bob McDonnell will sign it remains to be seen given the fact that he is a member of Barack Obama’s infamous ‘Council of Governors’, whose role it is to increase military involvement in domestic affairs.

“Today, the Virginia State Senate nearly unanimously passed my bill, HB 1160, to prevent Virginia’s state and local government agencies from cooperating with the federal government in the indefinite detention of Virginians under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (“NDAA”). I am grateful that the vote in the Senate to accede to the bill as passed by the House of Delegates was 37-1,” said a statement by Delegate Bob Marshall, who was the driving force behind the bill.

“Congress, by including this provision in a must pass bill affecting our Armed Forces, made a terrible mistake in empowering this or any future President and the military to arrest and detain American citizens indefinitely, without charges, without the chance to confront their accusers, without legal counsel, and without a trial.”

Having already passed the Virginia House by a vote of 96-4 last month, the final bill will be sent to Governor Bob McDonnell. However, McDonnell has already attempted to sabotage the legislation using “secretive, backdoor” tactics, according to Marshall, so whether he agrees to sign the bill without trying to weaken its language remains to be seen.

The fact that McDonnell was included on President Obama’s infamous ‘Council of Governors’ probably explains why he has been so reticent to support the bill.

The executive order which established the Council of Governors (PDF), created a body of ten state governors directly appointed by Obama to work with the federal government to help advance the “synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States”.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Paul Joseph Watson.

The DHS has reinvented itself as a secret police unit to spy on political activists.

The Department of Homeland Security feared that the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations would turn violent during their height last year, according to a leaked document obtained by Rolling Stone Magazine.

Whether you support the goals of Occupy Wall Street or not, this is yet another example of how the federal agency, which was created under the auspices of protecting the United States from terrorist attacks, is primarily concerned with keeping tabs on citizens who express their First Amendment rights.

“The five-page report – contained in 5 million newly leaked documents examined by Rolling Stone in an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks – goes on to sum up the history of Occupy Wall Street and assess its “impact” on everything from financial services to government facilities,” writes Michael Hastings.

The document also details how much of DHS’ information was obtained through monitoring Twitter feeds from OWS activists, underscoring once again the fact that the federal agency is spying on social media as part of a chilling effect on free speech, belying claims made earlier this month by DHS representatives that the agency is only concerned with messages relating to natural disasters.

Homeland Security’s fear that the demonstrations could lead to violence is summarized in the final paragraph of the document.

“The growing support for the OWS movement has expanded the protests’ impact and increased the potential for violence. While the peaceful nature of the protests has served so far to mitigate their impact, larger numbers and support from groups such as Anonymous substantially increase the risk for potential incidents and enhance the potential security risk to critical infrastructure (CI).”

Not only did Homeland Security monitor the development of Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, many of the raids on OWS camps across the country were “coordinated with help from Homeland Security,” according to a Justice Department official.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Paul Joseph Watson.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

We are on the verge of two more states casting their votes in the 2012 Republican primary to decide the nominee that will represent the GOP in an effort to wrestle the Oval Office away from Barack Obama. With Super Tuesday just around the corner, this long drawn out race has finally reached critical mass. In less than a week, this whole race could be over – based off of the results of those ten states. However, Arizona and Michigan will have their say first and based off of the outcome of last week’s Arizona debate, some things may have changed going into this leg of the marathon.

To start, Rick Santorum did so awful in the Arizona debate that a lot of his steam should be about nil. Then again, this sad nerd keeps finding a way to stay in this damn thing. I think he’s an opportunist that is simply capitalizing off of the misfortune of other candidates but I don’t think that he has mastered the art of opportunism and will ultimately crash and burn in a very nasty way. It is bound to happen but it is just taking a very long time. When the moment does come though, it will be glorious and the wait will be worth it. He has been a big government Bible-thumping thorn in the side of liberty for far too long and it is time to send the sweater-vested jackass back home to preach to all the other lost souls that somehow think that it is their sole purpose in life to save us all from an eternal damnation that they perceive as much worse than their self-inflicted mortal damnation on this large blue rock. Some people are just afraid to live life and find it necessary to make us all suffer with them. Rick Santorum is most assuredly one of these miserable people.

Not to keep focusing on this theocratic nutjob but it is worth mentioning that Santorum is now under Secret Service protection. Not only is that a waste of taxpayers’ money but it just feeds into this dork dick’s ego – making him believe that he is somehow greater than the sum of his hypocritical parts. I guess this is the peak in his fifteen minutes of fame and the fact that he feels that he must be protected from glitterbombings is absolutely hysterical. While this madman drums up fear about every nation that isn’t fueled by the blood of King James, as he wants to bomb the shit out of every non-American, he finds himself hiding behind a troupe of ‘Matrix’ villains just to save himself from gay America’s weapons of mass fabulousness. He’s so quick to drop napalm on faceless women and children thousands of miles away yet so scared of getting a little glitter in his eye. Santorum is about as manly as Boy George riding a unicorn while eating a cupcake nodding his head to Lady Gaga blaring in his pink earbuds.

Newt Gingrich is suffering and the only saving grace for him, at this point, would be for Santorum’s campaign to fully implode. With Ricky Baby robocalling Democrats in Detroit, things are just looking worse and worse for the guy and much better for Gingrich. Now remember, Newt has been down and out before. Hell, he started in this race by losing key members of his campaign staff while facing enormous debt. He’s rallied back, been to the top and teetered around throughout this whole thing. One could simply look at Newt and say that this thing is over but they’ve said it several times and he keeps on finding a way to rise up. Unlike Santorum, Newt’s not just in the right place at the right time, he’s a professional at this game and may just have one more solid hand to play before the lights go out.

Mitt Romney should perform very well in both Michigan and Arizona. Michigan is his home state and in the Arizona debate last week, people loved the guy. Hell, they were cheering him before he could even get out half of his answers. If Romney doesn’t perform strong in either state, then there is something seriously wrong with the guy and it only gives more fuel to the three men on his heels. Realistically, all things considered, both of these states should be a cakewalk for Ol’ Mittens and if that’s the case, he is going to be way up on the delegate count. Sure, he and Santorum have won just about the same amount of states but keep in mind that Missouri, which Santorum won, was just a beauty pageant as they have yet to hand out delegates and plan to hold a separate caucus for delegates next month. Missouri is ass backwards and makes no sense, which is why a bumbling idiot bastard like Santorum controlled that demented state.

Looking at Dr. Ron Paul, who was potentially screwed in Maine and other states, one has to wonder if these two states will come and go without a victory. Paul is the only candidate left that hasn’t won a single state. While this is disheartening for a true supporter of liberty, he has done incredibly well in finishing second place and amassing delegates throughout the race. Paul’s chances in both these states are good and it would be nice to see him walk away with a win but I just don’t see it happening in either Michigan or Arizona.

At Michigan State he had a record turnout of over 4,000 supporters at an event while Santorum played to a small room and Romney tried to charm an empty football stadium. Unfortunately, this is always the case and yet it never translates to a significant amount of votes that should propel Ron Paul to the top of the heap. If support and passion were true indicators to success in elections, Ron Paul would be decimating the uninspiring competition. Sadly, the maniacal monsters will find a way to scheme their way through this round and leave the only honest man in the Republican primary out in the cold.

Ron Paul outperformed everyone at the last debate and had the crowd cheering. Along with Romney, he took it to Santorum and made him look like the thin-skinned meatheaded bitch that he is. In fact, Santorum’s people claim that Paul and Romney are in cahoots against him. This is a ridiculous claim of course and it doesn’t do anything to stop the momentum Paul seemingly gained from the debate. In fact, it makes Santorum look even more ridiculous and propels Paul to the top with Romney. I feel that Arizona will be Romney’s to win but theoretically Paul should topple both Santorum and Gingrich. Michigan however, is a toss up.

In just a short amount of time, we will all know how this round has played out.

Earlier this week, former recess appointed United Nations representative John Bolton wrote an op-ed for the Moonie newspaper The Washington Times. In the article, Bolton once again tries to drum up fear and loathing over the dismal at best prospect of Iran developing a nuclear weapon.

Bolton claims Iran’s “nuclear activities are broad and deep, and it is close to winning the strategically important race to the nuclear-weapons finish line,” a claim completely at odds with the assessment of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies that says Iran is conducting research that could eventually enable it to develop a nuclear weapon, but that it is not doing so.

“I worry the publicly available information is giving only a very small picture and that Iran is actually even much further along,” Bolton told WorldNetDaily’s Aaron Klein in January. All the Iranians need to do, he insisted, is put their noses to the grindstone and they will have a nuke they can lob at Israel.

It’s fantasy, but one the so-called Bush era “Vulcans” consistently harp on from the dotage of their enforced retirement at think-tanks and from limelight bully pulpits at Fox News.

Bolton and his neocon cohorts know all about the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that concluded with “high confidence” that the Islamic republic halted an effort to develop nuclear weapons in the fall of 2003, but that fact – now confirmed by 16 intelligence agencies – will not stop them from engaging in their Chicken Little act.

“Although Iran continues to enrich uranium at low levels, U.S. officials say they have not seen evidence that has caused them to significantly revise that judgment,” the Los Angeles Times reported on February 23. “Senior U.S. officials say Israel does not dispute the basic intelligence or analysis.”

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Kurt Nimmo.

“Satan has his sights on the United States of America!” Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has declared.

“Satan is attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition.”

MORE

The former senator from Pennsylvania warned in 2008 how politics and government are falling to Satan.

“This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country – the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age?”

“He attacks all of us and he attacks all of our institutions.”

Santorum made the provocative comments to students at Ave Maria University in Florida.

MORE

The White House contender described how Satan is even taking hold of some religions.

“We look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it.”

Developing…

Source: The Drudge Report.