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TBR News November 23, 2009

The Slaughterhouse Informer A Compendiium of Various Official Lies, Business Scandals, Small Murders, Frauds, and Other Gross Defects of Our Current Political, Business and Religious Moral Lepers. Presenting a new magazine that contains material that is not found elsewhere and is very difficult to post on the Internet. The ‘Voice of the White House’ will appear in each issue containing material not found on TBR News for very obvious reasons.This publication will appear once a week, on Wednesday, every week, will be ten pages in length and is available by subscription only. The price is $5.00 a month and can be paid via PayPal or by check, sent to ‘Morris Productions, 3015 E. New York St. Ste A2-190, Aurora, Il 60504.’ If you don’t like it, and Bush supporters can read the Drudge Report for free, you can cancel at any time. TBR Ebooks Civil insurrection in America and government countermeasures: The official papers By Bradley Moscrip An in-depth study of official American plans to construct FEMA detention centers in America and specific recent U.S. Army domestic counterinsurgency plans. Here is a sampling of the ebook contents: Gun Control by Confiscation As the American general population is known to be the most heavily armed in the world, immediately upon the declaration of Martial Law and the execution by the military of counterinsurgency programs, it has been determined that the BATF, will begin the process of rounding up all rifles, pistols and so-called assault weaponry from the civil population. Lists of gun collectors obtained from firearms dealers, gun magazine subscription lists and other sources will be the basis for these mass confiscations. Gun owners will be supplied documentation by the BATF showing which pieces have been confiscated so that in the future, they will be told, they can recover their weapons when the state of emergency has passed. In actuality, weapons that do not have a high value or are not suitable for arming loyalist police forces, will be destroyed by order This study is available from tbrnews at $5.00 by PayPal The Voice of the White House Washington, D.C. November 23, 2009:“Although, over the past year, the media has been full of various hints of some kind of an American/Israeli air strike on Iranian atomic facilities, to include production centers and possible missile sites, all of this is just calculated disinformation, designed to frighten Iran into dismantling her nuclear facilities, abandoning her missile development program (although most of Iran’s missile defenses are imports from Russia and China) and permitting permanent on-site inspectors. This bluff is being seconded by CIA organized Iranian dissidents. However, that having been said, if Iran were to actually be armed with nuclear weaponry, thanks to Pakistani and Chinese assistance, the damage to the world’s stability is incalculable. If Iran gets atomic weapons, this would, without any doubt, initiate a nuclear arms race in the Middle East with Saudi Arabis, Turkey and Egypt striving to develop their own nuclear weaponry. . Although the broadcast threats of a military attack on Iran are false, should they be considered, as they have, facing facilities heavily guarded with Russian and Chinese aircraft missiles facilities, a saturation bombing attack would only succeed in merely delaying any weapons program Iran might have,. Such an attack would surely also invite reprisals from Iran's proxies in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, or Iraq. The Obama administration is frantically attempting to both enforce and increase trade sanctions against Iran after it has become very well-known that Tehran has been concealing a strongly fortified facility that has been designed to make fissionable material for nuclear weapons. The United States and its allies can tighten sanctions all they wish. The United States already has extensive sanctions against Tehran. But without the Chinese agreeing to support these sanctions, they do not have the public weight of the United Nations Security Council, and are thus taken less seriously by the world community. Certainly, Iran is vulnerable to sanctions on both oil it exports and the gasoline it imports. The oil side is where the country generates serious money, and an embargo could come in the form of restricting oil sales or imports of equipment designed to increase production from the country's aging oil fields. But the kind of sanctions that would really hit Iran's economy - sanctions against its energy industry - are thought to be off the table because China and other nations are too reliant on Iran's oil. China oil imports, on a daily basis 740 thousand bbls per diem from Saudi Arabia 544 thousand bbls per diem from Iran 451 thousand bbls per diem from Angola 299 thousand bbls per diem from Russia 275 thousand bbls per diem from Oman 217 thousand bbls per diem from Sudan Worldwide Buyers of Iranian oil on a daily basis Japan buys 523 thousand bbls per diem China buys 411 thousand bbls per diem India buys 374 thousand bbls per diem South Korea buys 258 thousand bbls per diem Iran is the world's fourth-largest crude exporter and holds the planet's third-largest supply of proven oil reserves, according to the Energy Information Administration. The country exported nearly two and half million barrels of oil a day in 2008. Despite being a huge oil producer, Iran lacks the refining capacity to turn all that crude into gasoline. As a result, it imports up to half of the gasoline it consumes. Much of that gasoline comes from India. But barring a Security Council resolution, India isn't likely to stop these shipments for a few reasons: It's big business; India imports a lot of crude from Iran; India doesn't want Iran getting any closer to China, India's long-time rival in the region; and India has its eye on getting natural gas imports from a huge field Iran controls under the Persian Gulf. Oil exports account for nearly half the government's revenues and most of those exports go to Asian countries, with China taking a big chunk. The Chinese rely on Iran for 15% of their oil imports. Moreover, China has been investing heavily in the country as it looks to lock up resources for its growing economy. Meanwhile, interest from Japanese, European and Canadian firms wanes in the face of U.S pressure. State-run Chinese oil firms are now thought to have deals worth over $100 billion with Iran. And even though the Russians have signaled a recent willingness to step up sanctions - perhaps due to Obama's plans to scrap a missile defense system in Central Europe - it's thought that they're still not willing to go after Iran's energy sector. The plan, now being polished up at the Pentagon calls for a naval “anti-terrorist” blockade of the strategic Straits of Hormuz. The stated purpose of this blockade, which awaits a created major incident that will enable Obama to justify it, is to search and detain ships bound to or from Iran (and none of the other Gulf countries) and the reason is the incident of the MV Deyanat which was loaded in Nanjing, China, with large amounts of radioactive waste from China’s nuclear facilities and sent into the eastern end of the Mediterranean where the deadly load could be detonated and the radioactive material descending on Israel (and on other countries). Although the ship was, fortunately for everyone involved, captured by the Somali pirates and its mission exposed, nothing was done about this, nor ever discussed in the American media, because it suited the military to shelve it and use it later under a new régime. The real intent of the de facto blockade, would be to not only prevent countries like China and Pakistan from clandestinely shipping atomic materials and rockets to Iran but also to prevent China from getting prompt delivery of its badly needed oil. The Chinese oil tankers inbound to Iran will be taken to a ‘holding area’ where they will be inspected for ‘forbidden contraband’ and then, if and when cleared,. Permitted to proceed to an Iranian port on the Gulf. The same process will be repeated when the Chinese tankers, by now laden with badly-needed oil, will also be directed to the same ‘holding area’ for outbound inspections. That these inspections could take many weeks is not unreasonable but China will be taught a lesson in manners. As if this is not enough, the president is going to alter the Treasury bills which will do very serious damage to the value of Chinese holdings. When Obama planned to do this earlier, which he did, the Chinese ordered him not to do this. If the Chinese respond to this by sending some of their naval frigates, now on station in the Gulf of Aden to protect the shipping lanes from pirates, against our naval units, the results would be immediate and permanent and would constitute a genuine casus belli. Current orders would call for a show of deadly force against any such incursion.” Out of Iraq, into the Gulf November 23, 2009 by Nick Turse Asia TImes Despite recent large-scale insurgent suicide bombings that have killed scores of civilians and the fact that well over 100,000 US troops are still deployed in that country, coverage of the US war in Iraq has been largely replaced in the mainstream press by the (previously) "forgotten war" in Afghanistan. A major reason for this is the plan, developed at the end of the George W Bush years and confirmed by President Barack Obama, to draw-down US troops in Iraq to 50,000 by August 2010 and withdraw most of the remaining forces by December 2011. Getting out of Iraq, however, doesn't mean getting out of the Middle East. For one thing, it's likely that a sizeable contingent of US forces will remain garrisoned on several large and remotely situated US bases in Iraq well past December 2011. Still others will be stationed close by - on bases throughout the region where, with little media attention since the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in2003, construction to harden, expand and upgrade US and allied facilities has gone on to this day. Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee early this year, General David Petraeus, head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), stated: "The Arabian Peninsula commands significant US attention and focus because of its importance to our interests and the potential for insecurity." He continued: [T]he countries of the Arabian Peninsula are key partners ... CENTCOM ground, air, maritime, and special operations forces participate in numerous operations and training events, bilateral and multilateral, with our partners from the Peninsula. We help develop indigenous capabilities for counter terrorism; border, maritime and critical infrastructure security; and deterring Iranian aggression. As a part of all this, our FMS [Foreign Military Sales] and FMF [Foreign Military Financing] programs are helping to improve the capabilities and interoperability of our partners' forces. We are also working toward an integrated air and missile defense network for the Gulf. All of these cooperative efforts are facilitated by the critical base and port facilities that Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE [United Arab Emirates] and others provide for US forces. In fact, since 2001 the Pentagon has been pouring significant sums of money into the "critical base and port facilities" mentioned by the general - both US sites and those of its key regional partners. These are often ignored facts-on-the-ground, which signal just how enduring the US military presence in the region is likely to be, no matter what happens in Iraq. Press coverage of this long-term infrastructural build-up has been remarkably minimal, given the implications for future conflicts in the oil heartlands of the planet. After all, Washington is sending tremendous amounts of military materiel into autocratic Middle Eastern nations and building-up bases in countries whose governments, due to domestic public opinion, often prefer that no publicity be given to the growing American military "footprint". Given that the current conflict with al-Qaeda stemmed, in no small part, from the US military presence in the region, the issue is obviously of importance. Nonetheless, coverage has been so poor that much about US military efforts there remains unknown. A review of US government documents, financial data and other open-source material by TomDispatch, however, reveals that an American military building boom yet to be seriously scrutinized, analyzed or assessed is underway in the Middle East. Consider, then, what we can at present know now about this Pentagon build-up, country by country from Qatar to Jordan, and while you're reading, think about what we don't know - and why Washington has chosen this path. Qatar: The Pentagon's Persian Gulf Pentagon In 1996, although it had no air force of its own, the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar built Al Udeid Air Base at a cost of more than US$1 billion. The goal: attracting the US military. In September 2001, US aircraft began to operate out of the facility. By 2002, tanks, armored vehicles, dozens of warehouses, communications and computing equipment and thousands of troops were based at and around Al Udeid. In 2005, the Qatari government spent almost $400 million to build a cutting-edge regional air operations center. Today, Qatar is all but indispensable to the US military. Just recently, for example, Central Command redeployed 750 personnel from its Tampa, Florida headquarters to its new forward headquarters at Al Udeid to test its "staff's ability to seamlessly transition command and control of operations ... in the event of a crisis in the CENTCOM area of responsibility or a natural disaster in Florida". Qatar has not, however, picked up the whole tab for the expanding US military infrastructure in the country. The Pentagon has also been investing large amounts of money in upgrading facilities there for the last decade. From 2001-2009, the US Army, for example, awarded $209 million in contracts for construction in the energy-rich emirate. In August, Rizzani de Eccher, an Italian engineering and construction giant, signed a $44 million deal with the Pentagon to replace an unspecified facility at Al Udeid. In September, the Department of Defense awarded Florida-based IAP Worldwide Services a $6 million contract for "construction of a pre-engineered warehouse building ... warehouse bay and related site work and utilities" at the base. Later in the month, American International Contractors, a global construction firm that specializes in "US-funded Middle East and African infrastructure projects", inked a deal for nearly $10 million to build a Special Operations Forces Training Range, complete with "a two-story shooting house, an indoor range, breach and storage facilities[,] a test fire bunker and bunker road" in Qatar. Just days after that, the Pentagon awarded a $52 million contract to Cosmopolitan-EMTA JV to upgrade the capacity of Al Udeid's airfield by building additional aircraft parking ramps and fuel storage facilities. Bahrain bases and Kuwait's subways In nearby Bahrain - a tiny kingdom of 750,000 people - the US stations up to 3,000 personnel, in addition to regular visits by the crews of navy ships that spend time there. Between 2001-2009, the Navy awarded $203 million in construction contracts for military projects in the country. One big winner over that span has been the engineering and construction firm Contrack International. It received more than $50 million in US government funds for such projects as building two "multi-story facilities for the US Navy" complete with state-of-the-art communication interfaces and exterior landscaping. In September 2009, the company was awarded a new $27 million deal "for the design/bid/build construction of the waterfront development program, US Naval Support Activity, Bahrain." This facility will join the Navy's undisputed crown jewel in Bahrain - an 188,000 square-foot mega-facility known as "the Freedom Souq [Arabic for market]" that houses a PX or Navy Exchange (NEX). The NEX, in turn, offers "an ice cream shop, bicycle shop, cell phone shop, tailor shop, barber and beauty shops, self-serve laundry, dry cleaning service, rug souq, nutrition shop, video rental and 24/7 mini-mart," while selling everything from cosmetics and cameras to beer and wine. Work is also going on in nearby Oman where, in the 1930s, the British Royal Air Force utilized an airfield on Masirah Island for its ventures in the Middle East. Today, the US Air Force and members of other service branches do much the same, operating out of the island's Camp Justice. From 2001-2009, the US Army and Air Force each spent about $13 million on construction projects in the sultanate. Contractor Cosmopolitan-EMTA JV is now set to begin work there, too, after recently signing a $5 million contract with the Pentagon for an "Expeditionary Tent Beddown" (presumably an area meant to accommodate a potential future influx of forces). Meanwhile, in the neighboring United Arab Emirates, the US Army alone spent $46 million between 2001-2009 on construction projects. In 1991, the US military helped to push Saddam Hussein's army out of Kuwait. After that, however, the country's leader, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, refused to return home "until crystal chandeliers and gold-plated bathroom fixtures could be reinstalled in Kuwait City's Bayan Palace." Today, about 30 miles south of the plush palace sits another pricey complex. Camp Arifjan grew exponentially as the Iraq War ramped up, gaining notoriety along the way as the epicenter of a massive graft and corruption scandal. Today, the base houses about 15,000 US troops and features such fast-food favorites as Pizza Hut, Hardees, Subway and Burger King. Another facility in Kuwait that has become a major stopover point on the road to and from Baghdad is Camp Buehring. Located north of Kuwait City, near the town of Udairi, the installation is chock-a-block full of amenities, including three PXs, telephone centers, two internet cafes, Morale, Welfare and Recreation centers, a movie theater, chapel, gym, volleyball court, basketball court, concert stage, gift shop, barber shop, jewelry store and a number of popular eateries including Burger King, Subway, Baskin Robbins and Starbucks. Writing about the base recently, Captain Charles Barrett of the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team remarked, "There's a USO with computers and a cafe. You know the cafe is good because it has that little mark over the letter 'e.' Soldiers are gaming on XBOX, Play Station and Wii. There are phone banks and board games and a place where parents can read to their kids and have the DVD mailed home." The price tag for living the big-box-base lifestyle in Kuwait has, however, been steep. From 2003 to 2009, the US Army spent in excess of $502 million on contracts for construction projects in the small, oil-rich nation, while the Air Force added almost $55 million and the Navy another $7 million. Total military spending there has been more massive still. Over the same span, according to US government data, the Pentagon has spent nearly $20 billion in Kuwait, buying huge quantities of Kuwaiti oil andpurchasing logistical support from various contractors for its facilities there (and elsewhere), among other expenditures. In 2006, for example, the international construction firm Archirodon was awarded $10 million to upgrade airfield lighting at Al-Salem and Al-Jaber, two Kuwaiti air bases used by American forces. Recently, there has also been a major scaling up of work at Camp Arifjan. In September, for example, the Pentagon awarded CH2M Hill Contractors a nearly $26 million deal to build a new communications facility on the base. Just days later, defense contractor ITT received an almost $87 million contract for maintenance and support services there. Saudi base building and Jordan's US Army training complex According to a recent Congressional Research Service report, "From 1950 through 2006, Saudi Arabia purchased and received from the United States weapons, military equipment and related services through Foreign Military Sales worth over $62.7 billion and foreign military construction services worth over $17.1 billion." Between 1946 and 2007, the Saudis also benefited from almost $295 million in foreign assistance funding from the US military. From the lead up to the First Gulf War in 1990 through the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the US military stationed thousands of troops in Saudi Arabia. The American presence in the kingdom - the location of some of the holiest sites in Islam - was a major factor in touching off al-Qaeda's current war with the United States. In 2003, in response to fundamentalist pressure on the Saudi government, the US military announced it was pulling all but a small number of trainers out of the country. Yet while many US troops have left, Pentagon contracts haven't - a significant portion of them are for construction projects for the Saudi Arabian military, which the US trains and advises from sites like Eskan Village, a compound 20 kilometers south of Riyadh, where 800 US personnel (500 of them advisors) are based. Between 2003-2009, the US Army awarded $559 million in contracts for Saudi construction projects. In 2009, for example, it gave a $160 million deal to construction firm Saudi Oger Limited for the construction of facilities for a Saudi mechanized brigade based at Al Hasa, a $127 million contract to Saudi Lebanese Modern Construction to erect structures for the Prince Turki Bin Abdul Aziz Battalion and an $82 million agreement to top Saudi construction firm Al-Latifia Trading and Contracting Company to build ammunition storage bunkers, possibly at the Saudi Arabian National Guard's Khashm Al An Training Area. Additionally, military weaponry has continued to flow into Saudi Arabia by way of the Pentagon and so, too, have contracts to provide support services for that materiel. For example, earlier this year, under a US Air Force contract extension, Cubic Corporation was awarded a $9.5 million deal "to continue to operate and maintain the air combat training system used to support F-15 fighter pilot training for the Royal Saudi Air Force." Like the Saudis, Jordan's leader, King Abdullah II, has long had a complex relationship with the US shaped by domestic concerns over US military action in the region and support for Israel. As with Saudi Arabia, none of that has stopped the US military from forging ever closer ties with the kingdom. Recently, after testing and evaluating various training systems at multiple US Army bases, the Jordanian Armed Forces selected Cubic's combat training center system and under the auspices of the US Army, the company was "awarded an $18 million contract to supply mobile combat training center instrumentation and training services to the Kingdom of Jordan". The Pentagon has also invested in Jordanian military infrastructure. Between 2001-2009, the US Army awarded $86 million in contracts for Jordanian construction projects. One major beneficiary was again Archirodon which, between 2006-2008, worked on the construction of the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC) - a state-of-the-art military and counter-terrorism training facility owned and operated by the Jordanian government but built, in part, under a $70 million US Army contract. In 2009, Archirodon was awarded two additional contracts for $729,000 and $400,000, by the Air Force, for unspecified work in Jordan. When that 1,235-acre $200 million Jordanian training center was unveiled earlier this year, King Abdullah II himself gave the inaugural address, speaking "of his vision for KASOTC as a world-class special forces training center". Not surprisingly, General Petraeus was also on hand to give a speech in which he lauded Jordan as "a key partner... [which] has placed itself at the forefront of police and military training for regional security forces". Garrisoning the Gulf Even as it lurches toward a quasi-withdrawal from Iraq, the US military has been hunkering down and hardening its presence elsewhere in the Middle East with little fanfare or press coverage. There has been almost no discussion in this country of a host of possible repercussions that might come from this, ranging from local opposition to the US military's presence to the arming of undemocratic and repressive regimes in the region. With the sole exception of Iran, the US military has fully garrisoned the nations of the Persian Gulf with air bases, naval bases, desert posts, training centers and a whole host of other facilities, while also building up the military capacity of nearby Jordan. The US Central Intelligence Agency efforts to topple Iran's government in the 1950s, Washington's support for Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1980s, the Pentagon's troop presence in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s - all were considered canny geopolitical moves in their time; all had unforeseen and devastating consequences. The money the Pentagon has recently been pouring into the nations of the Persian Gulf to bulk up base infrastructure has only tied the US ever more tightly to the region's autocratic, often unpopular regimes, while further arming and militarizing an area traditionally considered unstable. The Pentagon's Persian Gulf base build-up has already cost Americans billions in tax dollars. What the costs in "blowback" will be, remains the unknown part of the equation. Nick Turse is the associate editor of TomDispatch US report sounds China spying alarm November 21, 2009 Aljazeera The US government report said China is stepping up efforts to recruit more spies EPA A US government report has warned that China is increasing espionage against the US as the rising Asian power invests in cyber warfare along with stepping up its recruitment of spies. In an annual report to congress on Thursday, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission reported a steep rise in the disruption and infiltration of websites of the US government. Colonel Gary McAlum, a senior military officer, told the commission that the US defense department detected 54,640 malicious cyber incidents to its systems in 2008, a 20 per cent rise from a year earlier. The figure is on track to jump another 60 per cent this year. "China is changing the way that espionage is being done," Carolyn Bartholomew, the commission's chair, said. While the attacks came from around the world, the commission said China was the largest culprit. Some Chinese "patriotic hackers" may not receive official support, but the report said the government may deploy them in a conflict to disrupt a foreign adversary's computers. The bipartisan commission found that China was the most aggressive nation in spying on the US and was trying to recruit more American spies. *Chinese reaction* Authorities in Beijing rejected the report, calling its a "fabrication". "The commission has always played up China threat. It has arisen out of a 'Cold War mindset'," Ma Zhaoxu, the foreign ministry spokesman, said. "The commission should stop releasing such kind of reports and instead do something that will benefit the China-US relations." The US report was published after President Barack Obama embarked on a three-day trip to China, meeting the country's leaders. In an attempt to forge closer ties with the country, analysts believe Obama went into the meetings with a weaker hand than most past US presidents, with US prestige battered by the economic recession as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The commission also criticized China on its trade policy, recommending that Washington press Beijing to make its Yuan more flexible and to turn to the World Trade Organization to fight what it termed "predatory trade practices". Shortly after the release of the report, two politicians called for an investigation into China's "currency manipulation," which would set the stage for imposing import duties on Chinese goods. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/11/2009112033326877314.html CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy November. 18, 2009 by Matthew Cole and Brian Ross ABC News The CIA built one of its secret European prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current Lithuanian government official and a former U.S. intelligence official told ABC News this week. Where affluent Lithuanians once rode show horses and sipped coffee at a café, the CIA installed a concrete structure where it could use harsh tactics to interrogate up to eight suspected al-Qaeda terrorists at a time. "The activities in that prison were illegal," said human rights researcher John Sifton. "They included various forms of torture, including sleep deprivation, forced standing, painful stress positions." Lithuanian officials provided ABC News with the documents of what they called a CIA front company, Elite, LLC, which purchased the property and built the "black site" in 2004. Newspaper circulation may be worse than it looks November 23, 2009 by Michael Liedtke) Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO - While U.S. newspapers are losing subscribers at a staggering rate, a few dailies stand out because their circulation is rising. But they aren't necessarily selling more copies. Here's why: Since April 1, new auditing rules have made it easier for newspapers to count a reader as a paying customer. These looser standards are especially helpful to a newspaper if it sells an "electronic edition." That can include a subscriber-only Web site, such as what The Wall Street Journal has, or it can be a digital replica of a newspaper's printed product. Several dozen publications, including USA Today, sell access to these daily "e-editions" that show how the news was laid out in print. Under the new auditing standards, if a newspaper sells a "bundled" subscription to both the print and electronic editions, the publication is often allowed to count that subscriber twice. If not for these rules, the industry's numbers would look even worse. Average weekday circulation at 379 U.S. newspapers fell 10.6 percent during the six months ending in September. That was the steepest decline ever recorded by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the organization that verifies how many people are paying to read publications. It's not clear what the numbers would have been under the old auditing standards. But the effects of the new rules were widespread. There were 59 newspapers that listed at least 5,000 electronic editions in their weekday circulations, according to an Associated Press review of the figures filed with the ABC for the April-September period. In all but a few instances, the number of electronic subscribers was substantially higher than a year ago. The decline in newspaper circulation has several causes. Many publications have intentionally reduced the range of their deliveries, cutting out exurbs or distant parts of their states where they sold relatively few copies. Higher prices for home delivery and newsstand copies also have driven some readers away. Publishers are betting they can keep their most loyal readers and are charging them more to help offset their crumbling ad sales - the main source of newspaper revenue. Nevertheless, many newspapers are still offering discounts to bolster their circulation so they don't risk losing even more advertising revenue. The size of the audience is one factor marketers consider when they buy ads. The Las Vegas Review-Journal was among the newspapers whose weekday circulation rose from the same time last year. Nevada's largest newspaper saw its average weekday circulation rise 6.6 percent, or nearly 11,000 subscribers, to 175,841. It was a remarkable improvement, given that weekday sales of its print edition fell by 12,000 copies and Las Vegas ranks among the cities hardest hit by the Great Recession. How did it happen? The Review-Journal's circulation this year included 23,132 electronic editions compared with just 511 at the same time last year. The big difference didn't occur because that many more people suddenly decided to buy the Review-Journal's digital replica of its print edition. The change happened because the price the newspaper was charging for the online replica - it costs print customers an extra 50 cents per week - hadn't been high enough to qualify as paid circulation until the ABC's April change. That let newspapers define their paying readers as anyone who spends at least a penny for a copy. Previously, a newspaper copy had to sell for at least 25 percent of the basic price to qualify as paid circulation. The ABC said it changed the rules to reduce its auditing costs and "provide greater pricing and marketing flexibility" for publishers. Steve Coffeen, the Review-Journal's circulation director, said it makes sense to count the bundled subscriptions twice, as well as other people buying the electronic edition at a sharp discount, because it provides a complete picture of the newspaper's paying audience. Advertisers generally prize readers who pay for a publication, reasoning they are more likely to peruse it. "It's important to show advertisers we are fighting the good fight and using other platforms to reach readers," Coffeen said. That rationale makes sense to Randy Novak, director of newspaper strategy for NSA Media, one of the nation's largest buyers of newspaper ads. He doesn't see much difference between readers who are getting the newspaper at a deep discount or the standard price. He wants to reach people who care enough about the newspaper to be willing to pay for it at all. However, another big buyer of newspaper ads says the new ABC rules made the reported circulation numbers less credible. "You really have to do your homework now and ask newspapers about how much double counting is going on," said Allison Howald, U.S. director of print investment at PHD Media. A surge in digital sales propelled the York Daily Record in Pennsylvania to a 16.5 percent increase in weekday circulation - the highest among dailies selling at least 50,000 copies. The Daily Record listed 10,073 electronic editions in its latest circulation of 55,370. At the same time last year it counted just 42 electronic editions in its circulation of 47,549. In most cases, the electronic edition is a replica of the printed product, right down to the ads. The technology even makes it possible to simulate the act of turning the pages of a paper edition. Most electronic editions are sold at a small fraction of the price for the printed edition, partly because publishers don't have to pay for newsprint or fuel to deliver the copy. Web subscriptions were pivotal in The Wall Street Journal's growth over the past decade. The digital sales are the main reason that the Journal surpassed USA Today as the top-selling U.S. newspaper in the April-September period. USA Today, owned by Gannett Co., still holds the edge in print circulation. The Journal charges its print subscribers an additional 40 cents per week for unrestricted access to its Web site. Journal spokesman Robert Christie wouldn't comment on whether the new rules for counting subscribers contributed to a 14 percent increase in the newspaper's 407,002 digital subscribers. Including the print side, the Journal's total circulation edged up by just 0.6 percent to 2.02 million. "We followed the ABC's rules and methodology," Christie said. Some newspapers that posted circulation gains say they are picking up readers who feel abandoned by bigger publications. Cutbacks at newspapers in Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn., contributed to most of the 2 percent increase at the 70,000-circulation Chattanooga Times Free Press in Tennessee, said Publisher Tom Griscom. "We are keeping an eye on print and not letting it drift away," Griscom said. A reduced emphasis on print at The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, which now deliver to homes only three days a week, also helped Michigan's Oakland Press increase its weekday circulation 7 percent to 68,067. But electronic sales were the main factor. The newspaper listed 6,500 more electronic editions in its latest circulation numbers than it did a year ago, offsetting a slight decline in print. Hundreds of Palin fans left in cold Boos erupt as 400 couldn't get books signed November 21, 2009 by Carrie Ritchie IndyStar.com What started as a Sarah Palin lovefest in Noblesville ended in a chorus of boos. Palin left her book signing at a Borders at Hamilton Town Center with hundreds still waiting for her signature. The crowd booed as she left and shouted for her to stay, said Sylvia Gordon, 43, Noblesville, who waited for more than four hours Thursday night for Palin's signature. "I will never go to that Borders again, the way that was handled," Gordon said Friday. ". . . It was such a sour experience." Those who were left standing in the cold and rain Thursday night estimated that about 400 people who had received wristbands -- their "ticket" to the signing -- had not gotten Palin's autograph by the time she left shortly after 9 p.m. Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis couldn't offer an explanation why so many were turned away. "Governor Palin is a hugely popular figure," Davis said. ". . . We just couldn't get to all the customers." Palin issued an apology on her Facebook page, under a post titled "Not Enough Hours in the Day." "I've been told that yesterday there were supporters in Noblesville who stood in long lines for hours in the cold and rain, and the book signing event ended without a chance to say hello to everyone who showed up," Palin wrote. "I am so sorry. "We are working on a solution for those who were left behind. I apologize." Despite their booing and shouting, several who were turned away said they blame Borders, not Palin. "If there's any blame to be placed here, it's not on Sarah Palin," said Dave Arland, 46, Carmel. "She's a busy lady." Fans weren't told why Palin left without signing everyone's books, but Gordon said a Borders employee told her that Palin and her youngest son, Trig, who accompanied her to the signing, were tired and that Palin's hand was cramping. Though fans blamed Borders for the gaffe, most of the rules for the book tour were set by those coordinating her tour, said Frank Guglielmi, spokesman for Meijer, which hosted Palin's Fort Wayne book signing Thursday afternoon. Borders, like Meijer, distributed 1,000 wristbands. The Fort Wayne signing went smoothly, Guglielmi said, and Palin stayed about 20 minutes past the scheduled 3 p.m. end time to sign books for the last 50 people in line The Noblesville signing was scheduled from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Palin arrived early and stayed late, according to an e-mail from Tina Andreadis, a spokeswoman for HarperCollins, which published "Going Rogue" and coordinated the book tour. About 1,100 lined up to get wristbands Thursday morning, which was fewer than what Borders expected. Andreadis said in her e-mail that Palin took more than 2,400 pictures with fans. Those who didn't get Palin's autograph received stickers with her signature. Borders offered to take back the copies of "Going Rogue" that people had to buy in order to get wristbands for the signing, and several have taken the store up on its offer, said Jennifer Chance Cook, sales manager for the Noblesville Borders. Arland, who returned his Borders copy of "Going Rogue" and got a new one on Amazon.com, said that, despite the frustration, he enjoyed the experience. "It was a thrill to be there in the moment," he said, "and a thrill to see her." Pat Robertson on Ft. Hood: Islam is ‘not a religion’ and Muslims should be treated like ‘some fascist group.’ November 10th, 2009 by Matt Corley Think Progress This past weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned against allowing “anti-Muslim sentiment” to emanate from the shooting at Fort Hood by Major Nidal Malik Hasan. But that is exactly what some conservatives are doing. Dave Gaubatz, the controversial author of the controversial Muslim Mafia, called yesterday for “a professional and legal backlash against the Muslim community and their leaders.” On his 700 Club TV show yesterday, Pat Robertson claimed that Islam is “not a religion,” but “a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination”: ROBERTSON: That is the ultimate aim. And they talk about infidels and all this, but the truth is that’s what the game is. So you are dealing with not a religion. You’re dealing with a political system. And I think we should treat it as such and treat its adherences as such as we would members of the Communist Party or members of some fascist group. Well, it’s a tragedy. Our hearts go out to the families who suffered. But those in the Army should be held on account for the fact they let this man loose. Anti-Islam rhetoric is nothing new for Robertson. He has previously called it “a violent religion” and “a political system…bent on world domination.” . The Afghan/Iraq Death Toll: November 21 November 19, 2009 by Brian Harring November 2, 2009 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Adrian L. Avila, 19, of Opelika, Ala., died Oct. 29 at Khabari Crossing, Kuwait, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related accident. He was assigned to the 1343rd Chemical Company, 151st Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Battalion, 115th Fires Brigade of the Alabama Army National Guard, in Fort Payne, Ala. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pfc. Lukas C. Hopper, 20, of Merced, Calif., died Oct. 30, southeast of Karadah, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. The circumstances surrounding the accident are under investigation. The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Christopher M. Cooper, 28, of Oceanside, Calif., died Oct. 30 in Babil province, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Schweinfurt, Germany. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. November 3, 2009 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Jonathon M. Sylvestre, 21, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died Nov. 2 in Kut, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Cesar B. Ruiz, 26, of San Antonio, Texas, died Oct. 31 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve, New Orleans. November 6, 2009 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who wassupporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Julian L. Berisford, 25, of Benwood, W.V., died Nov. 4 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska. The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Amy C. Tirador, 29, of Albany, N.Y., died Nov. 4 in Kirkush, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. She was assigned to the 209th Military Intelligence Company, 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. November 9, 2009 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Tony Carrasco Jr., 25, of Berino, N.M., died Nov. 4 in Ad Dawr, Iraq, of a gunshot wound suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit. He was assigned to 2^nd Battalion, 32^nd Field Artillery Regiment, 4^th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1^st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan. The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Nov. 5 in Jelewar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device. The soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash. Killed were: Spc. Aaron S. Aamot, 22, of Custer, Wash. Spc. Gary L. Gooch Jr., 22, of Ocala, Fla. November 10, 2009 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Charles I. Cartwright, 26, of Union Bridge, Md., died Nov. 7 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Camp Pendleton, Calif. The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died Nov. 8 in Tikrit, Iraq, of injuries sustained when their OH-58D helicopter crashed. They were assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 25th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Killed were: Chief Warrant Officer Mathew C. Heffelfinger, 29, of Kimberly, Idaho; and Chief Warrant Officer Earl R. Scott III, 24, of Jacksonville, Fla. The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. November 12, 2009 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. Justin J. Swanson, 21, of Anaheim, Calif., died Nov. 10 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. November 13, 2009 The Army today released suicide data for the month of October. Among active-duty soldiers, there were 16 potential suicides, all of which are pending determination of the manner of death. For September, the Army reported seven potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report ,three have been confirmed as suicides, and four remain under investigation. There were 133reported active-duty Army suicides from January 2009 through October 2009. Of those, 90 have been confirmed, and 43 are pending determination of manner of death. For the same period in 2008,there were 115 suicides among active-duty soldiers. During October 2009,among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were eight potential suicides. Among that same group, from January 2009 through October 2009, there were 69 reported suicides. Of those, 41 were confirmed as suicides, and 28 remain under investigation to determine the manner of death. For the same period in 2008, there were 47 suicides among reserve soldiers who were not on active duty. “Stigma continues to be one of the most difficult challenges we confront,” said Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director, Army Suicide Prevention Task Force. “The more we educate our Army community about the need to get help, the need to get it early, and that a full recovery is often possible, the less stigma we’ll see.” In March, the Army chartered a multi-disciplinary suicide prevention task force to make rapid improvements across the full spectrum of health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide prevention programs. Since its establishment, the task force has made more than 170improvements to the Army’s health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide prevention policies and programs. In addition to the Army’s efforts to curb suicides, on October 1, Army leaders announced the formal beginning of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program. This holistic program is designed to give the same emphasis to psychological, emotional, and mental strength that is given to physical strength. Comprehensive Soldier Fitness uses a balanced, multi-faceted approach and a life-long learning model that includes individual assessment, tailored virtual training, classroom training at all levels of Army education, and embedded resilience experts to provide soldiers the critical skills they need to face any and all of life's challenges. It is a true prevention model, aimed at the entire force. Army leaders can access current health promotion guidance in newly revised Army Regulation 600-63(Health Promotion) at http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r600_63.pdf. Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance can contact Military One Source or the Defense Center of Excellence (DCOE) for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Outreach Center. Trained consultants are available from both organizations 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The Military One Source toll-free number for those residing in the continental U.S. is1-800-342-9647; their Website address is http://www.militaryonesource.com. Overseas personnel should refer tot he Military One Source Web site for dialing instructions for their specific location. The DCOE Outreach Center can be contacted at1-866-966-1020, via electronic mail at Resources@DCoEOutreach.org, and at http://www.dcoe.health.mil . The Army's comprehensive list of Suicide Prevention Program information is located athttp://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/default.asp . More information about the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program is located at http://www.army.mil/csf/. November 16, 2009 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Stephen L. Murphy, 36, of Jaffery, N.H., died Nov. 9 as a result of a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Intelligence Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The incident is under investigation. The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. Shawn P. Hefner, 22, of Hico, Texas, died Nov. 13 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Amphibious Assault Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Christopher J. Coffland, 43, of Baltimore, Md., died Nov. 13 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Meade, Md. November 18, 2009 The Department of Defense today announced the identity of a soldier currently listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN) and the death of a soldier who were both supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. The two soldiers were members of the 1st Battalion, 508thParachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. Sgt. Brandon T. Islip, 23, of Richmond, Va., has been unaccounted for since Nov. 4 in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, when he went missing while involved in a resupply mission. Sgt. Benjamin W. Sherman, 21, of Plymouth, Mass., has been identified as having been killed while participating in the Nov. 4 resupply mission. Search and recovery efforts are ongoing, and the incident is under investigation. The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Ryan L. Zorn, 35, of Upton, Wyo., died Nov.16 in Tal Afar, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. November 19, 2009 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Joseph M. Lewis, 26, of Terrell, Texas died on Nov. 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 8^th Squadron, 1^st Cavalry Regiment, 5^th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2^nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash. The incident is under investigation. November 20, 2009 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian M. Patton, 37, of Freeport, Ill., died Nov. 19 in Kuwait in a non-combat accident.