DAILY POLITICAL– When it comes to knowing where President Obama was born, 45 percent of Republicans appear to believe that he was not born in America, according to the results of a New York Times/CBS poll. About a third agreed he was born in America and 22 percent say they aren’t sure.

These results match a similar poll done in February that resulted in 51 percent of Republican’s saying Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. and 28 percent saying he was born in the U.S.

In another New York Times/CBS survey, 57 percent of all adults overall say the president was born in America, while 25 percent of registered voters say he was born outside the U.S. and 18 percent weren’t sure.

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© 2011 Daily Political

Photo by flickr user Criticalmoss

Listen to last week’s Media Roots Music Mix by Atop, an Interview with Songwriter John Vanderslice, or a broadcast about Libya, Nuclear Power & Religious Environmentalism.

TARPLEY.NET– After two weeks of imperialist attack, Libya is being mangled by al Qaeda terrorists, civil war, NATO air raids, cruise missiles, Predator drones, and C-130 gunships – all made possible by the CIA-backed al Qaeda rebels of Cyrenaica. US, British, French, and Dutch commandos have taken leadership of the rebel forces, and are arming them with modern weapons in flagrant violation of the arms embargo specified in UN Security Council resolution 1973. Al Qaeda is also stealing heavy weapons on its own, as the president of Chad has reported. The singing tomorrows of the fatuous US-UK color revolution rhetoric have dissolved, exposing the hideous reality of a brutal, cynical, imperialist drive to destroy the modern nation-state itself.

According to the London Daily Telegraph of March 26, Darna (also transliterated as Derna or Darnah), a key city in the rebel heartland between Benghazi in Tobruk, is commanded by al-Hasidi, an al Qaeda terrorist controller who trained and hobnobbed with Osama bin Laden at the Khost terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. Hasidi boasts of having sent 25 fighters to fight US and NATO forces in Afghanistan; one wonders how many they managed to kill. Hasidi was a US prisoner of war after being captured by the Pakistanis, but tells the Wall Street Journal of April 2 that he now hates the US only “less than 50%” hinting that Americans can redeem themselves by appeasing Al Qaeda with arms, money, political power, and diplomatic support. At his side in the city leadership is Sufian bin Kumu, Osama bin Laden’s chauffeur, another terrorist who was an inmate at Guantánamo Bay for six years. Also among the Darna city fathers is al-Barrani, a devoted member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which merged with Al Qaeda in 2007.

This gaggle of fanatics, psychotics, and criminals is billed by the CIA media as an effective ruling elite for the future democratic governance of Libya. In reality, the Benghazi rebel council, heavily larded with al Qaeda terrorists, could only preside over the descent of the country into a chaos of tribalism, warlords, and criminal syndicates which would spell the end of civilization itself in the area. Precisely this appears to be the goal of US policy, and not just in Libya.

Read more about Al Qaeda: Pawns of CIA Insurrection from Libya to Yemen

© 2011 Tarpley.net

Written by Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D

Photo by flickr user brqnetwork

BBC– Armed US Predator drones are set to carry out missions in Libya, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said.

Mr Gates said their use had been authorised by President Barack Obama and would give “precision capability” to the military operation.

US drones are already used to target militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Libyan rebels have been battling Col Gaddafi’s troops since February but have recently made little headway.

“President Obama has said that where we have some unique capabilities, he is willing to use those,” Mr Gates told a news conference.

 He said two armed, unmanned Predators were being made available to Nato as needed.

 Mr Gates denied that the drone deployment was evidence of “mission creep” in Libya and said there was no plan to put US “boots on the ground” in Libya.

 He said they marked a “modest contribution” to the military operations.

 Gen James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first mission had taken place on Thursday but turned back due to bad weather.

 He said the drones – which can fly at a lower altitude than conventional fighter jets – were “uniquely suited for urban areas”, providing improved visibility of tanks and other potential targets.

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© 2011 BBC

Photo by flickr user balazsgardi

CBS NEWS – The CEOs of most S&P 500 companies raked in an average compensation of $11.4 million in 2010, amounting to a 23 percent pay raise over 2009, according to a new study from labor union coalition the AFL-CIO.

The AFL-CIO compiled the data as part of its Executive Paywatch initiative, which aims to make information on executive compensation more transparent and to create more accountability. It shows that in 2010, the average S&P 500 CEO made 343 times more than an average worker in his company, compared with just 42 times more in 1980.

As the gap between CEO and worker compensation widens, the AFL-CIO is urging Washington to close corporate loopholes and stop the Republican-led effort to repeal parts of the Democratic Wall Street reform legislation.

“Today’s launch of 2011 Executive PayWatch shows just how out-of-whack things are,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters today. “Despite the collapse of the financial market at the hands of executives less than three years ago, the disparity between CEO and workers’ pay has continued to grow to levels that are simply stunning.”

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© 2011 CBS NEWS

Photo by Flickr user montse