RECENT HEADLINES:

BBC PRESSURES JULIAN ASSANGE TO STOP EXERCISING HIS LEGAL RIGHT TO FIGHT EXTRADITION TO SWEDEN. The founder of WikiLeaks emerges from public obscurity for an interview with a BBC reporter, who takes it on himself to act in the role of prosecutor of the outstanding charges against him of sexual misconduct. The tone of this interview, along with much else in the behavior of world media and governments in his case, suggest to Assange that these charges are an attempt to suppress the publicizing of the contents of WikiLeaks releases.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS PAINTED ITSELF INTO A CORNER ABOUT PAKISTAN. Gareth Porter makes this assertion in an article discussing proposals within U.S. government to authorize cross-border raids from Afghanistan to take out the Taliban "sanctuaries," the elimination of which a new intelligence estimate says is essential if the Afghan operation is to succeed. The "corner" is defined by the squeeze between the asserted necessity of undertaking these raids and the near-certainty that such actions will inflame public opinion on both sides of the border, prolong the Afghan conflict and compromise the ulitmately "successful" (by U.S. standards) conclusion of that conflict.

U.S. COMPANIES FIGHT IRANIAN TERRORISM ONE STICK OF WRIGLEY'S GUM AND DROP OF LOUISIANA HOT SAUCE AT A TIME. These are among the numerous products and services that U.S. business operators have been allowed to trade in Iran, supposedly under a trade embargo from the U.S. An obscure division of the Treasury Department has issued thousands of "exceptions" to the embargo on grounds that such actions will promote the "humanitarian" and "foreign policy" interests of the United States. Think of the human suffering were Iranians to be denied the solice of a stick of gum!

YES, UNCLE SAMMIE CLAUS, THERE IS A VIRGINIA. Immediately after President Obama signs into law a measure repealing long-standing Don't Ask, Don't Tell military policy, a Virginia legislator plans to introduce a bill that would keep DADT in place where the Virginia National Guard is concerned. In this, as in other "red" states, Virginia may be asserting a "state's rights" mentality that challenges the local applicability of regulation not only of the military but also state applications of the of a national program of health care provision. "All politics is local" may be taking on new meaning with these actions.

THANKS TO COUNTING OF NON-CITIZENS IN APPORTIONING CONGRESSIONAL SEATS, FLORIDA WILL LIKELY HAVE 2 MORE GOP MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO VOTE AGAINST IMMIGRATION REFORM. This irony is revealed in Miami Herald article analyzing the effects of Census Bureau's standards of determining "population" of the various states, a procedure that adds political weight to those states which happen to have high concentrations of residents who are not citizens.

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