Not funny headlines - April 16, 2009

You won't find the following headlines on Fox News. But don't miss them. In-depth articles on India, global currency, and a video on 911 puppetmasters follow the headlines.

Secretive U.S. Prison Units Used to House Muslim,
Animal Rights and Environmental Activists

4-15-2009
Will Potter
The government is using secretive prison facilities on U.S. soil, called Communication Management Units, to house inmates accused of being tied to “terrorism” groups. They overwhelmingly include Muslim inmates, along with at least two animal rights and environmental activists.

Little information is available about the secretive facilities and the prisoners housed there. However, through interviews with attorneys, family members, and a current prisoner, it is clear that these units have been created not for violent and dangerous “terrorists,” but for political cases that the government would like to keep out of the public spotlight and out of the press. Read more...

US economy goes back to 1955 as deflation returns

4-15-2009
The US economy has begun to deflate for the first time in more than half a century as a slump in demand pushes energy and food costs lower.

The consumer price index fell at an annual rate of 0.4% in March, the first decline since August 1955, figures from the US labour department showed today. It was bigger than the 0.1% drop expected by economists.

Compared with the previous month, consumer prices dipped by 0.1%.

The decline was mainly caused by lower energy costs, which offset a surge in tobacco prices, the biggest since 1998. If energy and food costs are excluded, the annual inflation rate stands at 1.8%.

Energy costs fell by 3% on the month and gasoline prices were down 4%. Food and housing costs both edged down by 0.1%.

"It reinforces the deflationary fears that the Fed has been voicing," said George Davis, currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

A 2.4% fall in hotel room rates and a 0.2% decline in clothing prices reflected the weakness of consumer demand. But David Buik at BGC Partners pointed out that with "oil prices now stable at close to $50 a barrel, there is no near-term prospect of a further substantial decline in energy prices". He does not think that the latest figures signal the beginnings of widespread deflation this year.

Certainly, inflation is no longer an issue. Read more here.

Napolitano stands by 'extremism' report

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was briefed before the release of a controversial intelligence assessment and that she stands by the report sent to law enforcement that lists veterans as a terrorist risk to the U.S. and defines "rightwing extremism" as including groups opposed to abortion and immigration.

The outcry resulted in a demand from the head of the American Legion to meet with Ms. Napolitano, a request the DHS chief said she would honor next week when she returns to Washington from her current tour of the U.S.-Mexican border.

"The document on right-wing extremism sent last week by this department´s Office of Intelligence and Analysis is one in an ongoing series of assessments to provide situational awareness to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies on the phenomenon and trends of violent radicalization in the United States," Ms. Napolitano said in a statement. Read more here.

1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India

Source
Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today.

The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.

"The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago," Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine

"Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well."

Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.

In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer.

His family must repay a debt of £400 and the crop this year is poor.

"The crop is so bad this year that we will not even be able to save any seeds," said Lakhnu's friend Santosh. "There were no rains at all."

"That's why Lakhnu left even before harvesting the crop. There is nothing left to harvest in his land this time. He is worried how he will repay these loans."


India

Indians vote in marathon election
Tens of millions of people go to the polls despite the threat of violence in some states.


Video: India's urban-rural divide

Where crime and politics combine

Who will shape India's future?

Pictures: India goes to the polls

911

VIDEO: SHADOWPLAY: 9/11 PUPPETMASTERS.
9/11 was an Inside Job
Interviews with Charlie Sheen, Connie Fogal, Michel Chossudovsky, John McMurtry, Andreas von Buelow, Barrie Zwicker among others.

NWO

The Financial New World Order: Towards a Global Currency and World Government
Following the 2009 G20 summit, plans were announced for implementing the creation of a new global currency to replace the US dollar’s role as the world reserve currency.

China's Proposal for a New World Currency