BANGKOK, Thailand -- The CIA's saturation bombing of Laos killed thousands of people and reduced the tiny country to ruin three decades ago, but 4,500 men, women and children now hope America's failed "secret war" will result in free air tickets to the United States.

The communist regime in Laos, the pro-American government in Thailand, and US officials are investigating the group's problem, but cannot agree who is responsible for their crisis.

Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) spent Thursday (July 20) preparing to send the 4,500 people to Laos, after Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ordered the ISOC to quickly solve the problem.

The communist government in Laos, however, said it suspects some in the group did not originate in Laos, or might be faking their CIA-linked role to get to America.

The 4,500 people claim they, or their relatives, supported a CIA-backed Lao general, Vang Pao, during America's so-called "secret war" in Laos from 1961 to 1975.

Auora owns two feedlot dairies (factory farms), and are developing two others, and is widely viewed in the organic community, by both farmers and consumers, as a "bad actor", attempting to profiteer at the expense of the livelihood of truly ethical family farmers. Now they are attempting to "calm consumer concerns" by purchasing the blessing of a corporate-friendly alternative to the organic label. If you can't meet the organic standards why not go out and find or invent some other standards that you can meet? Money talks but the flatulence of the thousands of cows, on unhealthy, high-production diets, managed by Aurora is drowning out their propaganda.

After getting out of Lebanon, writer June Rugh told Reuters: "As an American, I'm embarrassed and ashamed. My administration is letting it happen [by giving] tacit permission for Israel to destroy a country." The news service quoted another American evacuee, Andrew Muha, who had been in southern Lebanon. He said: "It's a travesty. There's a million homeless in Lebanon and the intense amount of bombing has brought an entire country to its knees."

Embarrassing. Shameful. A travesty. Those kinds of words begin to describe the alliance between the United States and Israel. Here are a few more: Government criminality. High-tech terror. Mass murder from the skies. The kind of premeditated action that the U.S. representative in Nuremberg at the International Conference on Military Trials -- Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson -- was talking about on August 12, 1945, when he declared that "no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy."

The United States and Israel. Right now, it's the most dangerous alliance in the world.

AUSTIN, Texas -- In case you haven't got anything else to worry about -- like war in the Middle East, nuclear showdowns, global warming or Apocalypse Now -- how about the suicide of capitalism?

Late last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a new rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission requiring mandatory registration with the SEC for most hedge funds. This may not strike you as the end of the world, but that's because you've either forgotten what a hedge fund is or how much trouble they can get us into.

These investment pools for rich folks are now a $1.2 trillion industry (known to insiders, I am pleased to report, as "the hedge fund community"). Hedge funds are now beginning to be used by average investors and pension investors. Back in 1998, there was this little-bitty old hedge fund called Long Term Capital Management. Because hedge funds make high-risk bets, Long Term Capital got itself in so much trouble its collapse actually threatened to wreck world markets, and regulators had to step in to negotiate a $3.6 billion bailout. A similar fiasco at this point probably would break world markets.