Wherein support for a free internet = support for child pornography. OBVIOUSLY. - Ed.
“Even as the Bush righwingers are smelling defeat in the air, they are allying themselves with American law enforcement agencies in an attempt to completely censor and control the Internet usage and reception inside the United States.
Many people are aware that the American media is controlled; that negative news never get printed and governmental decrees are made public, tarted up as news stories but the internet has proven a mighty thorn in their side. Real material is on the internet and the fake government planted stories are torn to pieces so the Attorney General set up a special study group inside the Department of Justice to study internet usage and determine how it could be controlled.
Read full story
11.01.2008
The US State Department will eat our brains
Touche! - Ed.
The U.S. government decided to extend its “war of ideas” to the popular Internet sites, forums, chat rooms and blogs in the Russian segment of the global network. This was announced by the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, James Glassman, and refers to the State Department’s Digital Outreach Team program. The program has already been tested on Arabs, Afghans, and Iranians. Under this program, specially trained people go to foreign Internet websites, and debunk myths about American politics as well as, “refer people back to factual documents.”
I often talk to fellow citizens on different forums and blogs about various topics, including the United States. We discuss different issues. For example, is the war in Iraq a sufficiently convincing illustration of the American peace-loving foreign policy, or should this image be reinforced with some sort of small victorious Pakistani campaign? Or this: why is the practice of promoting democracy limited to the planet Earth? I must say that during the debate, my conversation partners often reach conclusions that the U.S. State Department would find very unpleasant. The problem is certainly caused by the fact that none of the forum’s visitors have access to “factual documents.” It’s equally caused by the fact that there are no State Department employees among us. The best we’ve got are the “fifth column” and grantees that scrounge at the American Embassy.
Read full story
The U.S. government decided to extend its “war of ideas” to the popular Internet sites, forums, chat rooms and blogs in the Russian segment of the global network. This was announced by the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, James Glassman, and refers to the State Department’s Digital Outreach Team program. The program has already been tested on Arabs, Afghans, and Iranians. Under this program, specially trained people go to foreign Internet websites, and debunk myths about American politics as well as, “refer people back to factual documents.”
I often talk to fellow citizens on different forums and blogs about various topics, including the United States. We discuss different issues. For example, is the war in Iraq a sufficiently convincing illustration of the American peace-loving foreign policy, or should this image be reinforced with some sort of small victorious Pakistani campaign? Or this: why is the practice of promoting democracy limited to the planet Earth? I must say that during the debate, my conversation partners often reach conclusions that the U.S. State Department would find very unpleasant. The problem is certainly caused by the fact that none of the forum’s visitors have access to “factual documents.” It’s equally caused by the fact that there are no State Department employees among us. The best we’ve got are the “fifth column” and grantees that scrounge at the American Embassy.
Read full story
Iran warns of Israeli plots in the region
Iran's Foreign Minister urges regional states to remain vigilant about Israel's plots and interference in other countries' internal affairs.
"We witness (Israel's) interference in the Caucasus, Lebanon and Palestine which is aimed at mounting conflict and damaging interests and territorial integrity. Regional countries should remain vigilant to fight conspiracies,” Manouchehr Mottaki said in a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum regional meeting, which opened in Istanbul on October 30.
Read full story
"We witness (Israel's) interference in the Caucasus, Lebanon and Palestine which is aimed at mounting conflict and damaging interests and territorial integrity. Regional countries should remain vigilant to fight conspiracies,” Manouchehr Mottaki said in a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum regional meeting, which opened in Istanbul on October 30.
Read full story
Obama's Birth Wrap-up
It is one of my pet peeves how psyops emails close with DEMANDS and ACCUSATIONS to forward the email, and that if you don't follow their DEMANDS you are somehow UNPATRIOTIC or ASHAMED OF GOD or some such nonsense. It wouldn't surprise me if these psyops emails serve as some sort of tool to measure how obedient the sheeple are, by tracking their circulation via illegal surveillance operations of our email subject-matter lines. Furthermore, you can sometimes find curious things like this embedded in the emails, kind of like psyops-artist graffiti, I guess. I have a better idea: just DELETE them. - Ed.
Excerpt:
The hoaxers have claimed that this certificate is a fake, but have yet to produce any evidence to back that claim up. Their approach, straight out of the Napoleonic code, is to make continual accusations and demand that the accused prove their innocence. They hope that simply by repeating a claim often enough, useful idiots will come to believe it. But here in the United States, we follow the principle that the ACCUSER must prove the accused guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt. What that means is that when the Swift-Boaters accuse Barack Obama of fraud, it is they who are required to provide proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Otherwise, we as citizens are obligated to ignore such baseless accusations, and certainly refuse to forward them along to everyone in our mailing lists (as these spammed emails always insist we must do).
Read full story
Excerpt:
The hoaxers have claimed that this certificate is a fake, but have yet to produce any evidence to back that claim up. Their approach, straight out of the Napoleonic code, is to make continual accusations and demand that the accused prove their innocence. They hope that simply by repeating a claim often enough, useful idiots will come to believe it. But here in the United States, we follow the principle that the ACCUSER must prove the accused guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt. What that means is that when the Swift-Boaters accuse Barack Obama of fraud, it is they who are required to provide proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Otherwise, we as citizens are obligated to ignore such baseless accusations, and certainly refuse to forward them along to everyone in our mailing lists (as these spammed emails always insist we must do).
Read full story
Making America safe for the world
A specter is haunting the world, a specter of a dangerously growing gap between the United States presidential candidates' promises to make America safer on one hand, and an increasingly poorer, more unstable and more dangerous world on the other.
Six years after the Bush Doctrine of pre-emption made its debut, America's "war on terror" remains open-ended (now in three separate theaters of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan). As the financial tsunami - made in the US - is leaving no nation behind, both America and the world are far less secure than before.
Meanwhile, America is losing influence both among its friends and foes.
read full article
Six years after the Bush Doctrine of pre-emption made its debut, America's "war on terror" remains open-ended (now in three separate theaters of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan). As the financial tsunami - made in the US - is leaving no nation behind, both America and the world are far less secure than before.
Meanwhile, America is losing influence both among its friends and foes.
read full article
Coastal Maine tide change a mystery
BOOTHBAY HARBOR, Maine—Meteorologists are baffled by rapid tidal changes along the Maine coast, which damaged some boats and piers.
Witnesses say low tide turned and became high within a matter of minutes on Tuesday afternoon. The changes occurred six or seven times. The National Weather Service says reports from several locations indicated that water levels fell and rose from 4 feet to as much as 12 feet during the event.
In a public information statement, the weather service says the cause "remains a mystery and may never be known."
KBR 3Q profit rose 35% as revenue climbs
Recession? No recession in the "Engineering and Construction" business (wink wink). - Ed.
Engineering and construction firm KBR Inc. said Friday its third-quarter profit increased 35 percent, led by strong revenue from a company it bought this spring.
Net income rose to $85 million, or 51 cents per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30. That compared with $63 million, or 37 cents, a year earlier.
Oprah sees her own presidential vote dropped by touch screen voting machine
'I went back to check it, it had not recorded my presidential vote!', Says Terrified, Potentially Disenfranchised Queen of Television...
Well, now, finally we may be able to get rid of these damned things, now that it's actually happened to Oprah. Via Huff Po...
"It will only get worse..."
A few years ago I wrote a post in which I said that Ann Coulter promotes hatred of "liberals" that is comparable to standard forms of ethnic and religious bigotry; that her violent tribalistic rhetoric acts as a sort of corrosive acid dissolving the bonds of democratic society. I'd like to take a moment to look at a case study of precisely the sort of bigotry I was talking about, a bigotry that we'll see indeed parallels standard prejudice.
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Still no medical records from Palin. What's the holdup?
ABC News Kate Snow reports: Governor Palin's campaign still has not released any information regarding her medical records despite frequent requests from the news media and the campaign's own assertion that they would release this information soon.
On Sunday morning, Palin spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt told ABC News that the campaign had planned to release information on her medical history early this week.
Today is Wednesday.
ABC News has asked every day this week about the status of the release of information and received no updates from the campaign. It is unclear what is holding things up.
10.31.2008
Speaking of Colorado...
Fireball passes over Colorado.
This fireball occurred at 7:29 PM MDT over central Colorado. I have received over 100 witness reports, from Casper, WY in the north, Albuquerque, NM is the south, the Western Slope to the west, and the Front Range to the east.
Data has been recovered from the following Network cameras:
US Army document reveals plan to take 7m acres in SE Colorado
TRINIDAD, Colorado — The Pentagon has been planning since at least 2004 to acquire almost 7 million acres in southeastern Colorado, forcing more than 17,000 residents off their land to establish the largest military base in the world, according to documents obtained in a federal court case.
The unprecedented acquisition of 6.9 million acres, or 10,800 square miles, of private and public land would result in a military reservation larger than some states, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New Jersey. The multi-service battlefield would be more than triple the size of the enormous White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, which at 3,200 square miles is currently the largest military installation in the United States. It would undermine the whole southeastern corner of Colorado east of the Rockies destroying the last intact shortgrass prairie remaining in the American Great Plains.
via Pimpin Turtle
The unprecedented acquisition of 6.9 million acres, or 10,800 square miles, of private and public land would result in a military reservation larger than some states, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New Jersey. The multi-service battlefield would be more than triple the size of the enormous White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, which at 3,200 square miles is currently the largest military installation in the United States. It would undermine the whole southeastern corner of Colorado east of the Rockies destroying the last intact shortgrass prairie remaining in the American Great Plains.
via Pimpin Turtle
Blair has 'rolled over' to avoid arrest and jail
CONFRONTED WITH HIS COMPLICITY, BLAIR 'ROLLED OVER' AND EXPOSED THE OTHER RATS
London, 30th October 2008: It can now be revealed that former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has 'shopped' the world-class financial criminals in order to avoid being arrested and sent to jail for the rest of his life. Fellow world-class criminal George W. Bush Jr. and his key White House staff were informed in the afternoon of 29th October that Blair had divulged EVERYTHING – identities of those involved and of bank accounts and coordinates – and that, accordingly, the present phase of the geocriminal gangland operation to hold the whole world to ransom has been DEFEATED.
Specifically, Blair, confronted with proof of his own involvement in these crimes, 'rolled over' on his comrades-in-crime and informed those tasked on the command of Her Majesty The Queen with procuring the Settlements releases and getting to the bottom of the global epidemic of gangland conspiracy to seize the assets of the whole world, that the following parties were engaged in these massive criminal operations:
Read full story
London, 30th October 2008: It can now be revealed that former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has 'shopped' the world-class financial criminals in order to avoid being arrested and sent to jail for the rest of his life. Fellow world-class criminal George W. Bush Jr. and his key White House staff were informed in the afternoon of 29th October that Blair had divulged EVERYTHING – identities of those involved and of bank accounts and coordinates – and that, accordingly, the present phase of the geocriminal gangland operation to hold the whole world to ransom has been DEFEATED.
Specifically, Blair, confronted with proof of his own involvement in these crimes, 'rolled over' on his comrades-in-crime and informed those tasked on the command of Her Majesty The Queen with procuring the Settlements releases and getting to the bottom of the global epidemic of gangland conspiracy to seize the assets of the whole world, that the following parties were engaged in these massive criminal operations:
Read full story
US foreign policy in need of reassessment
If you are keeping score of U.S. President George W. Bush's foreign military adventures, under "Somalia" you should probably chalk up another one for the Americans in the "loss" column. But the latest developments in Somalia are not only fascinating for what they tell us about the misconduct of American foreign policy in recent years.
Somalia seems to offer more intriguing evidence about how governments often must come to terms with militias, insurgent forces and other such informal armed groups in countries around the Arab-Asian region – and the roles these entities play where formal governments appear unable to deliver the basic requirements of statehood.
China backs Iran SCO membership
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao says his country sees no obstacle to Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
"We believe that there is no problem with Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and we support the idea," Wen Jiabao said during a meeting with Iran's First Vice President Parviz Davoudi on Thursday, IRNA reported.
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"We believe that there is no problem with Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and we support the idea," Wen Jiabao said during a meeting with Iran's First Vice President Parviz Davoudi on Thursday, IRNA reported.
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Rice to Israel after elections
Hmm. Whatever for? - Ed.
Jerusalem - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intends to arrive in Israel immediately after next Tuesday's elections.
U.S. State Department officials have held talks with Israeli representatives in an attempt to set a date for her visit.
Read full story
Jerusalem - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intends to arrive in Israel immediately after next Tuesday's elections.
U.S. State Department officials have held talks with Israeli representatives in an attempt to set a date for her visit.
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They made a killing: The use of knowledge of coverts ops in the stock market
Via Cryptogon, who reports a Homeland Security ping after posting this. - Ed.
Let’s first take a quick look at, Insider Crimes, Funny Money and Options Rackets:
I had always assumed the entire business of the markets to be a massive criminal enterprise that allowed public participation simply because it made a few people extremely wealthy. But, I wondered, when do the fewest people make the most money in the shortest period of time?
During gaps.
A gap is a sudden, violent change in the price of a stock, future, bond, etc. Gaps are caused by some event that temporarily creates a state of disequilibrium in order flows. Gaps on stocks started to draw my attention because I just knew that insiders (and others) were pre-positioning themselves to profit from those moves.
Senate Projections 10/31
Note in particular the North Carolina races. You can really get a feel for the unhinged quality. - Ed.
Excerpt:
The first of these is in North Carolina, which continues to lean toward Demcoratic challenger Kay Hagan, but where we are waiting to gauge the reaction to Elizabeth Dole's controversial new ad which implies that Hagan, an elder at the First Presbyterian Church, is an athiest. The ad has drawn a harsh reaction from the local media and a Rasmussen poll conducted on Wednesday night, just as the controversy was starting to brew, had Hagan moving into a 6-point lead. But, the Carolinas have a long tradition of last-minute attack advertising, and the only reason it has that tradition is because sometimes such things work. Dole's ad is callous enough that it seems likely to be one of the exceptions, but this remains a race to watch.
Read full story
Excerpt:
The first of these is in North Carolina, which continues to lean toward Demcoratic challenger Kay Hagan, but where we are waiting to gauge the reaction to Elizabeth Dole's controversial new ad which implies that Hagan, an elder at the First Presbyterian Church, is an athiest. The ad has drawn a harsh reaction from the local media and a Rasmussen poll conducted on Wednesday night, just as the controversy was starting to brew, had Hagan moving into a 6-point lead. But, the Carolinas have a long tradition of last-minute attack advertising, and the only reason it has that tradition is because sometimes such things work. Dole's ad is callous enough that it seems likely to be one of the exceptions, but this remains a race to watch.
Read full story
Look Out! Possible Obama Landslide
John McCain desperately wants to frame the final days of this presidential campaign as yet another comeback story, and pundits and pollsters keep wondering if the race is tightening. What’s actually happening is that the prospects for a Democratic landslide are growing.
Look where the candidates are. In the closing days of the 2000 and 2004 campaigns, all the action was in Florida and Ohio. Now it’s in states that George W. Bush carried comfortably, such as North Carolina: Barack Obama was in Raleigh this morning, John McCain was in Fayetteville yesterday, Joe Biden was in Greensboro and Greenville on Monday, and Sarah Palin was in Asheville on Sunday. Or Virginia: Obama held two events there yesterday, while Palin did three on Monday. This is no coincidence. Obama has taken criticism for plowing resources into his attempt to redraw the electoral map. But the epicenter of this campaign has shifted to precisely the states where Obama wanted to expand the Democratic electorate, and McCain hasn’t been able to push it back.
Read full story
Look where the candidates are. In the closing days of the 2000 and 2004 campaigns, all the action was in Florida and Ohio. Now it’s in states that George W. Bush carried comfortably, such as North Carolina: Barack Obama was in Raleigh this morning, John McCain was in Fayetteville yesterday, Joe Biden was in Greensboro and Greenville on Monday, and Sarah Palin was in Asheville on Sunday. Or Virginia: Obama held two events there yesterday, while Palin did three on Monday. This is no coincidence. Obama has taken criticism for plowing resources into his attempt to redraw the electoral map. But the epicenter of this campaign has shifted to precisely the states where Obama wanted to expand the Democratic electorate, and McCain hasn’t been able to push it back.
Read full story
The 'dirty little secret' of the US bank bailout
In an unusually frank article published in Saturday's New York Times, the newspaper's economic columnist, Joe Nocera, reveals what he calls "the dirty little secret of the banking industry"--namely, that "it has no intention of using the [government bailout] money to make new loans."
As Nocera explains, the plan announced October 13 by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to hand over $250 billion in taxpayer money to the biggest banks, in exchange for non-voting stock, was never really intended to get them to resume lending to businesses and consumers--the ostensible purpose of the bailout. Its essential aim was to engineer a rapid consolidation of the American banking system by subsidizing a wave of takeovers of smaller financial firms by the most powerful banks.
The Ugly America
“You really do hate America!” This was the parting shot from a man I had just debated on a television show shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Because he’s a notorious right-wing blowhard, I laughed it off as the raving of a crackpot in extremis.
Little did I know. …
Nanotechnology - the new threat to food
Following on from genetic engineering, nanotechnology represents the latest high technology attempt to infiltrate our food supply. Senior scientists have warned that nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the scale of atoms and molecules, introduces serious new risks to human and environmental health. Yet in the absence of public debate, or oversight from regulators, unlabelled foods manufactured using nanotechnology have begun to appear on our supermarket shelves.
Around the world there is an increase in interest in our food, health and environment. Where are products produced, how, why, by whom, how far have they travelled, how long have they been stored etc. The organic and local food movements have emerged as an intuitive and practical response to the increasing use of chemicals in food production, and to the growing alienation of industrial agribusiness from holistic agricultural systems. People have chosen to eat organic foods because they care about the health of their families and the health of the environment. Organic agriculture also enables people to support integrated, environmentally friendly agriculture, and appropriate technology, rather than chemical-intensive factory farming.
10.30.2008
The Triumph of Ignorance: Why morons succeed in US politics
How was it allowed to happen? How did politics in the US come to be dominated by people who make a virtue out of ignorance? Was it charity that has permitted mankind’s closest living relative to spend two terms as president? How did Sarah Palin, Dan Quayle and other such gibbering numbskulls get to where they are? How could Republican rallies in 2008 be drowned out by screaming ignoramuses insisting that Barack Obama is a Muslim and a terrorist?(1)
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Analysts question timing of Syria raid
A cross-border raid into Syria by U.S. forces in Iraq and subsequent stonewalling by U.S. officials unwilling to divulge details have led to rampant speculation among U.S. analysts about the origins and meaning of the attack.
"So the question is: Why?" wrote geo-strategic analyst and journalist Helena Cobban on her blog, wondering if the raid could have been pulled off without explicit permission from the highest levels of the President George W. Bush administration.
Syria's fury is justified - Who can blame Damascus for getting cozy with Moscow?
The US has once again “targeted foreign fighters” as part of its so-called war on terror. But these “fighters” were all Syrian civilians, including four youngsters. Another five individuals have been hospitalized after being shot by US Special Forces.
Washington has admitted perpetrating this tragic incident but insists the victims were terrorists just as it does when its fighter jets illegally cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and end up wiping out entire families. Syria describes the adult victims as construction workers.
Even the pro-American Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is fed up with the Pentagon’s trigger-happy policies that exact such a terrible toll on innocent civilian life. The problem is there is no international oversight on US military activities. There is no investigation into these murders and the world is expected to take every utterance from the US military as gospel.
Next week the Boomers go bust
Either way next week, the US presidential election is the kiss of death to the short, unhappy rise to power of the baby-boomer generation. If Republican John McCain defies the polls and wins, it will be a repudiation of 16 years of Boomer rule. At 72, McCain's is the generation the Boomers disrespected.
But if Barack Obama wins, he will be the generational switch that consigns the Boomers to history, with the median age of the American voter at 45.
He is at the vanguard of the Brady Bunch generation - the Obama Bunch. His wife, Michelle (born 1964), can pick every episode of the seminal 1970s family sitcom just from the opening seconds.
Iran seeks banking ties with SCO
Iran has proposed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to include Tehran as a member of the SCO Banking Consortium to lower trade costs.
“Iran's presence in the members' banking consortium can reduce the costs of economic ties and increase the volume of trade,” Iran's First Vice President Parviz Davoudi said as he delivered a speech at the seventh meeting of SCO Prime Ministers in the Kazakh capital, Astana.
Read full story
“Iran's presence in the members' banking consortium can reduce the costs of economic ties and increase the volume of trade,” Iran's First Vice President Parviz Davoudi said as he delivered a speech at the seventh meeting of SCO Prime Ministers in the Kazakh capital, Astana.
Read full story
Goldman Sachs ready to hand out bonuses
Goldman Sachs is on course to pay its top City bankers multimillion-pound bonuses - despite asking the U.S. government for an emergency bail-out.
The struggling Wall Street bank has set aside £7billion for salaries and 2008 year-end bonuses, it emerged yesterday.
Each of the firm's 443 partners is on course to pocket an average Christmas bonus of more than £3million.
The size of the pay pool comfortably dwarfs the £6.1billion lifeline which the U.S. government is throwing to Goldman as part of its £430billion bail-out.
A question for AIG: Where did the cash go?
The American International Group is rapidly running through $123 billion in emergency lending provided by the Federal Reserve, raising questions about how a company claiming to be solvent in September could have developed such a big hole by October. Some analysts say at least part of the shortfall must have been there all along, hidden by irregular accounting.
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Mandelson hails 'thaw' in Russia ties
C. Story on Mandelson: Peter Mandelson is an extremely dangerous commodity, so Gordon Brown must have had some overriding reason for suddenly yanking this discredited creature back from Brussels, kicking him into the Lords, and plonking him inside his Cabinet. The overriding reason will doubtless emerge as oligarchs implode, unspeakable activities are exposed, and financial empires built on stolen assets and risky credit collapse. - Ed.
The British business secretary has hailed a 'thawing' of relations between Russia and the UK as he ended his four-day visit to Moscow.
"I hope my visit will intensify a thawing of the difficult political relationship that we have experienced," Peter Mandelson told reporters at the British embassy.
Mandelson's visit to Russia was the first by an incumbent British cabinet minister since early 2007.
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The British business secretary has hailed a 'thawing' of relations between Russia and the UK as he ended his four-day visit to Moscow.
"I hope my visit will intensify a thawing of the difficult political relationship that we have experienced," Peter Mandelson told reporters at the British embassy.
Mandelson's visit to Russia was the first by an incumbent British cabinet minister since early 2007.
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Mind Control: The Ultimate Terror; Operation Monarch
The US department of Defense’s original plans to research the Mind control phenomena was to determine psychological and chemical formulas providing the US with the “perfect” espionage agent. This quickly evolved into planning the “production” of the perfect soldier… government worker…slave.
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The citizen's guide to refusing DC Metro searches
Metro Transit police have announced that they will soon will begin conducting random searches of passengers' bags and packages.
Flex Your Rights disputes the notion that citizens must prove their innocence in order to use public transit. Moreover, we have serious concerns that this territorial expansion of police search powers is doing grave damage to people's understanding of their Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
As innocent citizens become increasingly accustomed to being searched by the police, politicians and police agencies are empowered to further expand the number of places where all are considered guilty until proven innocent.
Les Vis: Love in the Devic Realm
Life means something different for a variety of classes of people. According to a particular ancient tradition there are seven rays, or soul paths that proceed out of the white light of spirit and find their way back again to the source which would mean, I think, that life is just a journey of discovery, or, possibly, nothing more than a process of remembrance.
Copper door handles and taps kill 95% of superbugs in hospitals
Making door handles, taps and light switches from copper could help the country beat superbugs, scientists say.
A study found that copper fittings rapidly killed bugs on hospital wards, succeeding where other infection control measures failed.
In the trial at Selly Oak hospital, in Birmingham, copper taps, toilet seats and push plates on doors all but eliminated common bugs.
It is thought the metal 'suffocates' germs, preventing them breathing. It may also stop them from feeding and destroy their DNA.
10.29.2008
I Got Mine, Screw You
. . . seems to have replaced E Pluribus Unum as the national motto for many people on the right.
read full article
related:
Greenspan's Body Count
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related:
Greenspan's Body Count
Zoriah: Children shot dead in West Bank village
After arriving in Israel I began to hear rumors about two young boys who had been shot to death in the West Bank village of Ni'ilin. I traveled to the village with a translator to meet their families.
It is always difficult to photograph people who have just suffered a terrible loss, but you have to believe in your ability to document their struggle and then present it to the world. You also have to believe in the world's ability to recognize injustice and hopefully move toward change. If nothing ever comes from my work, and from these people's pain, then the situation feels truly hopeless.
In the end, you never feel like you are able to capture the weight and severity of what happened. No matter how hard you try it seems impossible to portray what has happened in a photograph. But you continue to try because it is better to try than to do nothing.
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The Fringe for Obama
Excerpt:
I think the problem with American fringe voters is not that they don't identify enough with the system, but that they identify too much with it. Think of it this way: Your city has seceded from America. It's a tense situation, with federal militarized police surrounding you on all sides. And somehow, maybe through a friend in the next state, you get a vote. Now does it bother you less to vote for someone you have deep disagreements with? American greens, ask German greens who you should vote for. American anarchists, ask Spanish anarchists. If foreign policy is important to you, ask people in Baghdad or Caracas or Tehran. I think they'll say, "Are you daft? Do you want us all to burn? Vote for Obama!" Why does a vote for the American president have to be deep statement of your personal values? It's not a fucking tattoo.
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I think the problem with American fringe voters is not that they don't identify enough with the system, but that they identify too much with it. Think of it this way: Your city has seceded from America. It's a tense situation, with federal militarized police surrounding you on all sides. And somehow, maybe through a friend in the next state, you get a vote. Now does it bother you less to vote for someone you have deep disagreements with? American greens, ask German greens who you should vote for. American anarchists, ask Spanish anarchists. If foreign policy is important to you, ask people in Baghdad or Caracas or Tehran. I think they'll say, "Are you daft? Do you want us all to burn? Vote for Obama!" Why does a vote for the American president have to be deep statement of your personal values? It's not a fucking tattoo.
Read full story
The man who knows too much
Excerpt:
A Democrat who truly despises the Bush regime, he is reluctant to make predictions about exactly what is going to happen in the forthcoming election on the grounds that he might 'jinx it'. The unknown quantity of voter racism apart, however, he is hopeful that Obama will pull it off, and if he does, for Hersh this will be a starting gun. 'You cannot believe how many people have told me to call them on 20 January [the date of the next president's inauguration],' he says, with relish. '[They say:] "You wanna know about abuses and violations? Call me then." So that is what I'll do, so long as nothing awful happens before the inauguration.'
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A Democrat who truly despises the Bush regime, he is reluctant to make predictions about exactly what is going to happen in the forthcoming election on the grounds that he might 'jinx it'. The unknown quantity of voter racism apart, however, he is hopeful that Obama will pull it off, and if he does, for Hersh this will be a starting gun. 'You cannot believe how many people have told me to call them on 20 January [the date of the next president's inauguration],' he says, with relish. '[They say:] "You wanna know about abuses and violations? Call me then." So that is what I'll do, so long as nothing awful happens before the inauguration.'
Read full story
These are truly special times
It is not often that one can say; “we are living in truly historic times”. I believe these are very critical and special days. I never thought I would ever see Euros being accepted in stores on 5th Avenue, or my country conducting torture on innocent people in secret jails.
I never thought I would live to see the United States bombing innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan on a pretense for fighting a fictitious “War on Terror”. I never thought I would experience the apparent beginning of the unraveling of the American financial power. Yes, these are truly historic moments.
National Biolab built in Galveston TX
Again from the 'What could possibly go wrong?' department. Just wait for the goosed up HAARP hurricane with unprecedented winds to tear the roof off the building. Of course, they will 'regret' putting the building on a barrier island then, when it's too late. - Ed.
GALVESTON, Tex. — Much of the University of Texas medical school on this island suffered flood damage during Hurricane Ike, except for one gleaming new building, a national biological defense laboratory that will soon house some of the most deadly diseases in the world.
How a laboratory where scientists plan to study viruses like Ebola and Marburg ended up on a barrier island where hurricanes regularly wreak havoc puzzles some environmentalists and community leaders.
GALVESTON, Tex. — Much of the University of Texas medical school on this island suffered flood damage during Hurricane Ike, except for one gleaming new building, a national biological defense laboratory that will soon house some of the most deadly diseases in the world.
How a laboratory where scientists plan to study viruses like Ebola and Marburg ended up on a barrier island where hurricanes regularly wreak havoc puzzles some environmentalists and community leaders.
“It’s crazy, in my mind,” said Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer in Houston. “I just find an amazing willingness among the people on the Texas coast to accept risks that a lot of people in the country would not accept.”
Officials at the laboratory and at the National Institutes of Health, which along with the university is helping to pay for the $174 million building, say it can withstand any storm the Atlantic hurls at it.
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That's not what we intended
Revisionist history from the people who brought us 9/11 and every miserable thing that followed from it. Neocon lies from beginning to end. Don't puke on your keyboard. - Ed.
From Paul Wolfowitz to Richard Perle: How the American architects of the Iraq war explain their failure.
The memo is known as the “horror show” in Pentagon circles. America alienated the world and had to go it practically alone in Iraq. Sure, Saddam is history, but civil war, manipulated by Syria and Iran, goes on. Washington is helplessly tied down and is forced to ignore important subjects like the Middle-East peace process. Democratization and reconstruction drag endlessly on.
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From Paul Wolfowitz to Richard Perle: How the American architects of the Iraq war explain their failure.
The memo is known as the “horror show” in Pentagon circles. America alienated the world and had to go it practically alone in Iraq. Sure, Saddam is history, but civil war, manipulated by Syria and Iran, goes on. Washington is helplessly tied down and is forced to ignore important subjects like the Middle-East peace process. Democratization and reconstruction drag endlessly on.
Read full story
"Georgian soldiers were doped to kill civilians"
I guess they didn't have time to brainwash them. - Ed.
Many of the Georgian soldiers who took part in the attack on South Ossetia in August were drugged before going into combat, according to a Moscow-based human rights group. On Monday in New York the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights (MBHR) presented a book of photos and testimonies from the war.
MBHR Director Aleksandr Brod said Ossetian witnesses reported many of the captured Georgians had numerous injection markings on their arms.
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Many of the Georgian soldiers who took part in the attack on South Ossetia in August were drugged before going into combat, according to a Moscow-based human rights group. On Monday in New York the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights (MBHR) presented a book of photos and testimonies from the war.
MBHR Director Aleksandr Brod said Ossetian witnesses reported many of the captured Georgians had numerous injection markings on their arms.
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Reactions to US strike in Syria
Reactions to this incident are interesting and one would hope that there would be even more condemnation of it than there has been to contradict the weak justifications used by the US. One would also hope that nations would speak out officially against this same thing being done in violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. Has anyone? If so, I missed it.
US Faces International Condemnation in Wake of Syria Strike lists the Syrian government, the Lebanese government and the Arab League as condemning the attack as a violation of Syrian sovereignty, while Russia cautioned against such attacks and remarked that this would have a “sharply negative effect” on the region.
True Vote summarizes the problems in US elections thus far
"Unacceptable long lines, machine problems, registration and voter challenges and deception of voters"
True Vote Press Release
The election integrity organization True Vote released a summary of the election-related problems that have been seen thus far in the 2008 election. True Vote keeps a daily summary of election activity on its website www.TrueVote.US.org.
Kevin Zeese, the executive director of the organization summarized what has occurred so far saying "Early voting has been like watching an election in a slow meltdown. The U.S. has been seeing long lines in early voting with people waiting hours to vote. Electronic voting machines including touch screens and optical scans have shown consistent problems, the most dramatic being the switching of votes reported in West Virginia, Texas and Tennessee. There has been an ongoing battle on voter registration with Republicans attacking ACORN’s mass registration effort as well as challenging millions of newly registered voters in litigation. Republicans have uniformly lost their challenges to newly registered voters in court but are likely to be challenging voters on Election Day. There have been reports of voter deception – fliers telling people the wrong date, precinct workers telling voters the wrong way to vote and telephone canvassers providing misleading information. There have also been reports of absentee ballots picked up ‘volunteers’ never being delivered to the board of elections."Zeese went on to warn: "If on Election Day we see the problems we’ve seen thus far it is going to be a long and messy day. The U.S. is showing it has a long way to go before it can claim to be the greatest democracy on Earth. What we are seeing should be unacceptable in a 'great' democracy."
Approximately one-third of voters are voting early, here is a sample of what is occurring:
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True Vote Press Release
The election integrity organization True Vote released a summary of the election-related problems that have been seen thus far in the 2008 election. True Vote keeps a daily summary of election activity on its website www.TrueVote.US.org.
Kevin Zeese, the executive director of the organization summarized what has occurred so far saying "Early voting has been like watching an election in a slow meltdown. The U.S. has been seeing long lines in early voting with people waiting hours to vote. Electronic voting machines including touch screens and optical scans have shown consistent problems, the most dramatic being the switching of votes reported in West Virginia, Texas and Tennessee. There has been an ongoing battle on voter registration with Republicans attacking ACORN’s mass registration effort as well as challenging millions of newly registered voters in litigation. Republicans have uniformly lost their challenges to newly registered voters in court but are likely to be challenging voters on Election Day. There have been reports of voter deception – fliers telling people the wrong date, precinct workers telling voters the wrong way to vote and telephone canvassers providing misleading information. There have also been reports of absentee ballots picked up ‘volunteers’ never being delivered to the board of elections."Zeese went on to warn: "If on Election Day we see the problems we’ve seen thus far it is going to be a long and messy day. The U.S. is showing it has a long way to go before it can claim to be the greatest democracy on Earth. What we are seeing should be unacceptable in a 'great' democracy."
Approximately one-third of voters are voting early, here is a sample of what is occurring:
Read full story
The "wisdom" of 'Joe the Plumber'
The all-out effort from John McCain's presidential campaign to scare voters into backing the Republican candidate continued apace on Tuesday as McCain surrogate Joe the Plumber agreed that a Barack Obama presidency would mean the "death of Israel" and end democracy in America.
The Ohio plumber, who has no license and is actually named Samuel Wurzelbacher, spoke at a McCain campaign event in Columbus Monday. A McCain supporter asked if "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel." JTP hardly batted an eye.
"I'll go ahead and agree with you on that," Wurzelbacher said.
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The Ohio plumber, who has no license and is actually named Samuel Wurzelbacher, spoke at a McCain campaign event in Columbus Monday. A McCain supporter asked if "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel." JTP hardly batted an eye.
"I'll go ahead and agree with you on that," Wurzelbacher said.
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Now I'm Pissed
They say there are five stages of grief; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.
I'm over the denial stage. At first I couldn't believe that this country could have gone the way it has. Loss of rights, loss of jobs, willful destruction of the economy to benefit the few, people losing their homes and life savings and turned out on the streets to survive, the list goes on.
I've moved on to anger. I'm angry that our elected representatives have forgotten that they are supposed to represent us. We were lied into an illegal war where (at least) 4000 of our best and brightest lost their lives and the ones that survive will never be the same. I'm angry that basic rights such as habeus corpus and posse comitatus have been thrown out the window and torture is an accepted practice.
Spreading the Wealth: The politics of class warfare
John McCain said in the last debate, “The whole premise behind Sen. Obama’s plans are class warfare – let’s spread the wealth around.”
Unfortunately not only does he share George Bush’s economic philosophy, he even shares Bush’s tortured syntax. What McCain and the whole right wing leadership refuse to acknowledge are the facts pointed out by Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world. “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
Democracy is a philosophy of government, one in which the will of the majority is meant to determine policy. By its nature it is meant to serve the common good. Capitalism and socialism are economic systems, neither of which is specified by the constitution. The right has continually tried to equate democracy with capitalism – an assertion both historically and, by definition, inaccurate. Whenever this is pointed out, the right hollers “class war” and “socialism,” categorizing people who suffer from the right’s excesses as malcontents and wild-eyed radicals whose ideas are not worthy of discussion.
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Unfortunately not only does he share George Bush’s economic philosophy, he even shares Bush’s tortured syntax. What McCain and the whole right wing leadership refuse to acknowledge are the facts pointed out by Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world. “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
Democracy is a philosophy of government, one in which the will of the majority is meant to determine policy. By its nature it is meant to serve the common good. Capitalism and socialism are economic systems, neither of which is specified by the constitution. The right has continually tried to equate democracy with capitalism – an assertion both historically and, by definition, inaccurate. Whenever this is pointed out, the right hollers “class war” and “socialism,” categorizing people who suffer from the right’s excesses as malcontents and wild-eyed radicals whose ideas are not worthy of discussion.
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Greenspan is the Man
More silliness for you. - Ed.
Alan Greenspan threw the apple at Isaac Newton.
If you had a cent for every time Alan Greenspan made a mistake, you'd owe him money.
Alan Greenspan can't watch CSI. There's no such thing as mystery to him.
Alan Greenspan last had a sick day 76 years ago. BAM.....Great Depression.
And so on...
Alan Greenspan threw the apple at Isaac Newton.
If you had a cent for every time Alan Greenspan made a mistake, you'd owe him money.
Alan Greenspan can't watch CSI. There's no such thing as mystery to him.
Alan Greenspan last had a sick day 76 years ago. BAM.....Great Depression.
And so on...
Pepsi's new logo a bargain at several hundred million dollars
This economic downturn has, surprisingly, not killed the "branding" industry, which exists for the sole purpose of allowing graphic design majors to soak clueless corporate behemoths out of millions of dollars for what amounts to a few tweaks of a computer design template. We salute you, brand consultants! You are the hustlers of a new generation. Pictured is the inanimate, non-dynamic, old Pepsi logo; and after the jump, the "more dynamic and more alive" new logo that Pepsi just rolled out at a cost that will eventually total hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide:
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10.28.2008
Are these things connected?
Staph germs harder than ever to treat, studies say
WASHINGTON - Drug-resistant staph bacteria picked up in ordinary community settings are increasingly acquiring "superbug" powers and causing far more serious illnesses than they have in the past, doctors reported Monday. These widespread germs used to be easier to treat than the dangerous forms of staph found in hospitals and nursing homes.
"Until recently we rarely thought of it as a problem among healthy people in the community," said Dr. Rachel Gorwitz of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
keep reading...
What causes drug-resistant bacteria?
I believe that the real cause of antibiotic resistant bacteria is far more prosaic than anyone has suspected. Before Doctors and Nurses give people injections they are quite properly taught to point the needle up, tap the syringe to force air bubbles to the top of the syringe, then squirt enough of the fluid out of the syringe to insure that the air is cleared from the device and the needle. This is utterly necessary to prevent the injection of air into the patient's blood system where it could cause a fatal embolism.
The antibiotic squirted out of the needle simply falls to the floor and creates a splatter. This splatter kills bacteria on the floor where it is intense enough to do so, but around the edges of the splatter surviving bacteria can breed resistant strains to every type of injectable antibiotic being used in the hospital.
When antibiotic splatter is combined with the modern janitorial practice of a one step floor cleaner, the floor becomes a giant Petri dish for the breeding of drug resistant bacteria. One step floor 'cleaners' can't possibly clean floors; they make the floor look clean and shiny, but since many of them are made of glycerin compounds they simply serve as a growth medium for the Petri dish.
keep reading...
Les Vis: Prophetic as usual
Click through that link... - Ed.
Excerpt:
It’s all part of a plan but the full scope of that plan is not apparent to most people. Meanwhile something unexpected has been happening. I won’t go into what that is because it enters into the realm of metaphysics; an area as real as physics but not as readily available to the senses. One could learn a great deal by studying the nature of bandwidths, waves/rays… radio waves, x-rays, gamma rays. Once could learn a great deal looking into something like that. I’m going to give you a link as an example of things that may or may not be going on behind the scenes. I also want to point out that the attack onSyria
Excerpt:
It’s all part of a plan but the full scope of that plan is not apparent to most people. Meanwhile something unexpected has been happening. I won’t go into what that is because it enters into the realm of metaphysics; an area as real as physics but not as readily available to the senses. One could learn a great deal by studying the nature of bandwidths, waves/rays… radio waves, x-rays, gamma rays. Once could learn a great deal looking into something like that. I’m going to give you a link as an example of things that may or may not be going on behind the scenes. I also want to point out that the attack on
The end of supreme authority
Beware of whoever becomes the next 'Supreme Authority'. - Ed.
His 18-year term as chairman of the US Federal Reserve was already under scrutiny because of the crisis rocking the international economy. But Alan Greenspan’s admission last Thursday that his resistance to greater regulation of the credit industry had been a mistake, and that he was “shocked” by developments, was heavy in symbolism: The man who was considered responsible for the flourishing economy of the past two decades, the key player in the world’s largest economy, admitted that he did not know as much as we thought he did. Testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Greenspan, whose term ended in 2006, confessed that his ideology (of a free market needing no external restraint) may have mislead him. “That’s precisely the reason I was shocked, because I’d been going for 40 years or so with considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well,” he said. “I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks, is such that they were best capable of protecting shareholders and equity in the firms… I discovered a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works.” This raises the question: If Greenspan did not know how the world works, who knows where we are headed now?
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His 18-year term as chairman of the US Federal Reserve was already under scrutiny because of the crisis rocking the international economy. But Alan Greenspan’s admission last Thursday that his resistance to greater regulation of the credit industry had been a mistake, and that he was “shocked” by developments, was heavy in symbolism: The man who was considered responsible for the flourishing economy of the past two decades, the key player in the world’s largest economy, admitted that he did not know as much as we thought he did. Testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Greenspan, whose term ended in 2006, confessed that his ideology (of a free market needing no external restraint) may have mislead him. “That’s precisely the reason I was shocked, because I’d been going for 40 years or so with considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well,” he said. “I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks, is such that they were best capable of protecting shareholders and equity in the firms… I discovered a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works.” This raises the question: If Greenspan did not know how the world works, who knows where we are headed now?
Read full story
Four in court after terror raids
Thought criminals? - Ed.
Four men are due in court charged with terror offences following a series of raids in Birmingham, police said.
Three of the men were charged with engaging in conduct with the intention of assisting in the commission of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2006, West Midlands Police said.
Syria warns US: An eye for an eye
Syria has warned the United States of retaliatory measures if Washington launches another incursion into the country's territories.
"We would defend our territories" if the US repeats such a "criminal and terrorist aggression" against Syria, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said on Monday, a day after US commandoes launched a cross-border attack on a small Syrian border town.
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"We would defend our territories" if the US repeats such a "criminal and terrorist aggression" against Syria, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said on Monday, a day after US commandoes launched a cross-border attack on a small Syrian border town.
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Ashley Todd, PA Racist Hoax "Victim", was paid organizer for College RNC, not a volunteer
Last week, a troubled young woman handed the McCain campaign a Willie Horton-style race card, and the media helped them play it.
The attack of a 20-year-old college student was seized upon by the Drudge Report as a "mutilation," and other conservative Web sites as fodder against the surging Obama campaign. Ashley Todd filed a report with the Pittsburgh Police Department alleging a 6'4'' black man robbed her, then carved up her cheek and sexually assaulted her because he saw that she was a McCain supporter. It turns out the story was made up, and that Todd's black eye and the backwards B scratched into her cheek were most likely self-inflicted.
Something was missed in the reporting of the story, however. Though Todd was an employee of the College Republican National Committee (CRNC) -- as confirmed today to BuzzFlash by a representative there named Ethan Eioln -- nearly every report demoted her to the role of volunteer. In fact, she was hired by the CRNC and promised a contract wage of $3,600 from August until Election Day. After she was charged by police for filing a false report, her employment with the CRNC was terminated.
The Death of a Red State
Excerpt:
If you're skeptical about the extent to which it always comes back to race, just listen to the arguments that conservatives are making about the causes of the financial crisis. Turn on any conservative radio station today and you can hear somebody blaming the entire crisis on the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which forced banks to make credit available in low-income neighborhoods. Through this bit of rhetorical gymnastics, conservatives have now pinned one of the most outrageous cases of fiscal irresponsibility in the history of rich white people on what Rush Limbaugh calls the "approved Democrat constituent." They're saying that the entire financial system has gone Krakatoa because poor black people didn't make their payments.
How Mossad controls our political parties
Politicians in the United States and Britain are made to pass under the yoke of the Zionist masters who control our leading political parties. By forcing our political leaders to accept the Zionist yoke our nations become subjugated and the pro-Israel agenda is forced upon the entire population. Zionist control of Britain's prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown is explained in this article, "How Mossad Controls our Political Parties."
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Israelis like McCain over Obama
Israelis would elect John McCain over Barack Obama for president of the United States, a poll found.
The poll found that 46.4 percent of Israelis would vote for McCain, the Republican candidate, and 34 percent for his Democratic opponent, with 18.6 undecided, Ynet reported Monday. The survey, conducted by the TNS Teleseker polling agency on behalf of the Rabin Center for Israel Studies, interviewed 500 Israelis aged 18 to 65.
Worst Case Scenario for the World: McCain in US, Netanyahu in Israel
The world is hoping and even praying that nothing happens that will upset an Obama win in the upcoming US election. Yet today McCain is either indulging in some serious wishful thinking or he knows something that we don’t. According to some reports, he has told the world that, despite the polls telling us otherwise, he ‘guarantees a win in next week’s election’. He concedes that it’ll be close but, nonetheless, he thinks he’s going to get the job.
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Only in America
When the Rich Fleece the Middle Class and Poor this is Capitalism. When the Rich are called on to Pay their Share of Taxes, it is Socialism!
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Rossiyskaya Gazette: GWB Called to Order
Europe called George W. Bush to order, that is, the new global financial order. Creating this order will require several summits, the first of which will take place in the U.S. before the end of November.
For now, it’s not clear exactly when the heads of the world’s leading economies will meet, where the meeting will take place, or who will be invited. But even the little information that’s already available is enough for experts and politicians to assert that the world has approached an important line, and crossing that line will lead to global changes. And it’s obvious that this statement refers not only to the qualitative modernization of the economic model, but also serious political shifts as well.
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For now, it’s not clear exactly when the heads of the world’s leading economies will meet, where the meeting will take place, or who will be invited. But even the little information that’s already available is enough for experts and politicians to assert that the world has approached an important line, and crossing that line will lead to global changes. And it’s obvious that this statement refers not only to the qualitative modernization of the economic model, but also serious political shifts as well.
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Voting a Straight Ticket - problems confirmed on Snopes
To All Addressed:
I am a "big time" Democrat and an informed voter who recently volunteered for Barack Obama in New Mexico this past week. As an informed voter, I questioned the message sent below and decided to verify what I already know.
If you punch Barack Obama for president and then punch Straight Ticket you will NEGATE your vote. Again, you will negate your vote. If you do not believe me, please call the Harris County Democratic Party office at 713-802-0085.
Tell all your friends to vote either STRAIGHT TICKET or PUNCH EACH DEMOCRAT individually. Do not double vote, it negates your ballot and it will be thrown out.
Be informed!!!!!
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I am a "big time" Democrat and an informed voter who recently volunteered for Barack Obama in New Mexico this past week. As an informed voter, I questioned the message sent below and decided to verify what I already know.
If you punch Barack Obama for president and then punch Straight Ticket you will NEGATE your vote. Again, you will negate your vote. If you do not believe me, please call the Harris County Democratic Party office at 713-802-0085.
Tell all your friends to vote either STRAIGHT TICKET or PUNCH EACH DEMOCRAT individually. Do not double vote, it negates your ballot and it will be thrown out.
Be informed!!!!!
Read full story
Moscow Times: Obama's change must start with his advisors
Twelve days before the U.S. presidential election, all indicators are pointing to a victory by Senator Barack Obama. There is always a chance for last-minute surprises, but miracles are rare things. I think the main reason for Senator John McCain's likely defeat is that too many influential groups within his own Republican Party never regarded him as the best choice available.
I am not talking only about neocons. Even moderates, such as the widely admired former Secretary of State Colin Powell, have turned away from McCain. Powell said he was dismayed by the tenor of McCain's campaign and not thrilled by his choice of Governor Sarah Palin, and it is easy to understand him on these points.
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I am not talking only about neocons. Even moderates, such as the widely admired former Secretary of State Colin Powell, have turned away from McCain. Powell said he was dismayed by the tenor of McCain's campaign and not thrilled by his choice of Governor Sarah Palin, and it is easy to understand him on these points.
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Putin to rescue Deripaska over $2.5bn loan
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will bail out Oleg Deripaska, the oligarch at the centre of the "yachtgate" affair, with a $2.5bn (£1.6bn) loan refinancing this week.
Mr Deripaska has until the end of the month to find the money to repay the syndicate of 13 banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Merrill Lynch, that provided a loan so that he could take a 25 per cent stake in mining giant Norilsk Nickel.
He approached Vnesheconombank (VEB), the state-owned bank where Mr Putin is chairman of the supervisory board, earlier this month to refinance the loan.
Altering the Food Supply: Reason enough to hang our world leaders
According to disclosed documents, minutes of a series of private meetings of representatives of 27 governments disclose plans to "speed up" the introduction of the modified crops and foods and to "deal with" public resistance to them.
Forget about immoral wars based on lies that result in the murder of hundreds of thousands of people, including the soldiers who "followed orders" and die in those wars. Forget about false flag operations like the Reichstag fire, 9/11, and the London bombings, when world leaders murder their own people in order to frighten them into submission. Forget about the international banking conspiracy to control all of the wealth on earth. Forget about the bio weapon programs run by our government that increased dramatically under the Bush administration, where an accident, an earthquake (or an evil individual like Dick Cheney) could potentially unleash life-ending viruses onto the nation and the world. And forget about the criminal suppression of technologies that would provide enough clean and cheap energy to fulfill all our needs.
By Example
We began this site to document and share our learnings as we begin a wondrous experimental lifestyle exploring the limitations of sustainable living.
We hope that in the future we will be producing much of our food, all of our electricity, methane to replace our use of propane, & perhaps even our own motor fuel. As we dabble with new technologies and participate in local projects we will strive to document what we learn using the Web and other multimedia tools.
We are now in the process of purchasing land and making plans to build a modest homestead.
10.27.2008
The Exit from Fascism Is Open
When you lose your illusions you see yourself and your own actions clearly. We need to see our present circumstances as they are and not as we want them to be. We have an opportunity to take back our country but that window of opportunity will close rapidly. We need to return to the form of government experienced by our Founders. We need to stop talking about freedom and set tasks that return control of government to the people at the most local level and change our economy from one that has us hemorrhaging jobs and money to one that keeps money local.
Each of these goals takes us to freedom; not just words but the reality. And despite appearances to the contrary, the establishment of a real freedom has never been more possible.
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Each of these goals takes us to freedom; not just words but the reality. And despite appearances to the contrary, the establishment of a real freedom has never been more possible.
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Urban Survival: Gray Monday
I expect this morning the President's Working Group on Markets (a/k/a/ 'The Plunge Protection Team') has been up & at-'em early in order to hold the futures where they were when I looked as I started writing - holding a dozen , or so, points over the psychologically important 8,000 level.
It's pretty safe to assume that we won't copy the 22.68% drop of the Dow Industrials experienced then. Oh, not that there's not plenty of fear and trepidation out there. Nope. Just that circuit breakers will click in and let everyone go out for beers long before that.
Christopher Story: The Corrupt Octopus has been severely wounded
Very long, and long-awaited installment. I just really hope he's right. - Ed.
Choice excerpt, but read the whole thing:
George Bush Sr.’s financial fraud technician-in-chief has all along been Dr Alan Greenspan, a Dark Actor Playing Games, whose acting skills almost deserted him completely when he appeared before a House of Representatives Committee on 23rd October.
Faced with the toughest grilling of his career (which was nothing like tough enough), Dr Greenspan pretended that he was ‘in a state of shocked disbelief’ at what has happened, when of course what he actually meant was that he is in a state of shocked disbelief that he got caught. His continuing intransigence has resulted in some of his closest associates being physically liquidated between 30th September and 2nd October, when he was told that ‘if you continue blocking the Settlements, you’ll be next’. Apparently these hardened criminals don't think or reason like the rest of us.
His stance, for public consumption, in the face of having been caught out, is to affect shock and disbelief, mingled with a touch of ‘gaga’, as though he’s completely beyond his sell-by date and hasn’t much of a clue about what’s going on any more. He was awfully quiet on that occasion, whereas normally he runs rings round the legislators.
Read the rest here.
Choice excerpt, but read the whole thing:
George Bush Sr.’s financial fraud technician-in-chief has all along been Dr Alan Greenspan, a Dark Actor Playing Games, whose acting skills almost deserted him completely when he appeared before a House of Representatives Committee on 23rd October.
Faced with the toughest grilling of his career (which was nothing like tough enough), Dr Greenspan pretended that he was ‘in a state of shocked disbelief’ at what has happened, when of course what he actually meant was that he is in a state of shocked disbelief that he got caught. His continuing intransigence has resulted in some of his closest associates being physically liquidated between 30th September and 2nd October, when he was told that ‘if you continue blocking the Settlements, you’ll be next’. Apparently these hardened criminals don't think or reason like the rest of us.
His stance, for public consumption, in the face of having been caught out, is to affect shock and disbelief, mingled with a touch of ‘gaga’, as though he’s completely beyond his sell-by date and hasn’t much of a clue about what’s going on any more. He was awfully quiet on that occasion, whereas normally he runs rings round the legislators.
Read the rest here.
Administration to bypass reporting law
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has informed Congress that it is bypassing a law intended to forbid political interference with reports to lawmakers by the Department of Homeland Security.
The August 2007 law requires the agency’s chief privacy officer to report each year about Homeland Security activities that affect privacy, and requires that the reports be submitted directly to Congress “without any prior comment or amendment” by superiors at the department or the White House.
Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street
More from the "What could possibly go wrong?" Department. - Ed.
Every police force in the UK is to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners - handheld devices that allow police to carry out identity checks on people in the street.
The new technology, which ultimately may be able to receive pictures of suspects, is likely to be in widespread use within 18 months. Tens of thousands of sets - as compact as BlackBerry smartphones - are expected to be distributed.
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New elections may return Netanyahu to power as Shas rejects Israel coalition government
Links removed. Click through for links. - Ed.
Source close to Tzipi Livni, the new head of Israel’s ruling Kadima Party, accused the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party of having “deceived the entire country” in the wake of today’s announcement that they would not be joining a new coalition government headed by the would-be Prime Minister Livni.
Livni said yesterday that she would call for new elections if a coalition deal was not completed by Sunday. Kadima was reportedly investigating a coalition without Shas, but that has been abandoned in favor of new elections, and Livni told President Shimon Peres today that the coalition efforts had failed and urged him to announce new elections. Peres is expected to do so in the next few days.
Israeli-US ties: Shocking truths
At an international conference in London dubbed “Terrorism: Alternative global perspectives”, Alan Hart, the author of “Zionism: the Real Enemy of the Jews”, stated, “The United States is supporting Israeli-sponsored terrorism in the Middle East.”
Speaking at the conference organized by the Center for the Study of Terrorism (CFSOT) in London to explore the comprehensive effects of the US “global war on terror”, he added that the Israeli regime, with blanket approval of Washington “simply ignores the United Nations resolutions concerning the violation of Palestinians’ rights”.
Iranian official calls for attack on UK
When something is translated by MEMRI, a second opinion is in order... - Ed.
Fearing a US strike on Iran during President George W. Bush's last months in office, a senior Iranian official has suggested the Islamic regime should target London to deter such an attack.
In an article on the Iranian Web site Aftab last week - translated by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute - the head of the Europe and US Department in the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Wahid Karimi, said that an attack on London would deter the US from attacking Teheran.
"The most appropriate means of deterrence that Iran has, in addition to a retaliatory operation in the [Gulf] region, is to take action against London," Karimi said.
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Fearing a US strike on Iran during President George W. Bush's last months in office, a senior Iranian official has suggested the Islamic regime should target London to deter such an attack.
In an article on the Iranian Web site Aftab last week - translated by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute - the head of the Europe and US Department in the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Wahid Karimi, said that an attack on London would deter the US from attacking Teheran.
"The most appropriate means of deterrence that Iran has, in addition to a retaliatory operation in the [Gulf] region, is to take action against London," Karimi said.
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Bush to seek diplomatic presence in Iran
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will announce in mid-November, after the presidential election, that it intends to establish the first U.S. diplomatic presence in Iran since the 1979-81 hostage crisis, according to senior Bush administration officials.
The proposal for an "interests section," which falls short of a full U.S. Embassy, has been conveyed in private diplomatic messages to Iran, and a search is under way to choose the American diplomat who would head the post, the officials said.
The Hidden Nation
“There is within America an unseen nation that salutes a foreign flag, follows a foreign agenda, receives assistance from powerful foreign agencies, who has achieved great wealth, great power, who hold many high positions in our government as they have in governments past. They have the longest history of genocide and the longest history of expulsion from their host country of any group in history.
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Christian Zionism: Terror in Jesus' Name
Represented by literally hundreds of small denominations and churches today, particularly in America, Christian Zionism is today a formidable force and a major actor in global politics. Christian Zionism comes in various shades, but the core of its message is total, unflinching support to the state of Israel and the Zionist imperialist project. Christian Zionists today exercise an enormous clout in the Bush administration. Bush, too, may himself be characterised in some sense as a Christian Zionist, for his policies in the Middle East and elsewhere clearly reflect or tally with the Christian Zionist agenda.
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Same Shit, Different Centuries
Excerpt:
This is the first of three parts of "Eulogy on King Philip. In my opinion, no finer piece has been written by anyone in describing the horrors of the imperialistic actions of a government. His words were uttered almost two centuries ago, yet they are precise today.
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This is the first of three parts of "Eulogy on King Philip. In my opinion, no finer piece has been written by anyone in describing the horrors of the imperialistic actions of a government. His words were uttered almost two centuries ago, yet they are precise today.
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9/11 Bailout: They hate us for our freedoms
Shocked by 9-11, Americans wondered who could perpetrate such a horrible crime against people. Over two thousand Americans jumped to their death, were burned, crushed, or murdered in a spectacular collapse of the Twin Towers. In a joint session of Congress a few days later, President George W. Bush gave us the first clue who "they" were. "They" hated us for our freedoms.
It seemed incomprehensible at the time but we now have an opportunity to recognize who actually hates us for our freedoms. We can identify the culprits by this simple description: They hate us for our freedoms. We need only judge them by their actions. Do you know who has destroyed most of our treasured American freedoms? When you can answer that question you will know the identity of the criminals who conceived and orchestrated the 9-11 Attack on America. They hate us for our freedoms.
Lessons from Argentina's economic collapse
Not quite Mad Max, but close... - Ed.
For western countries such as the UK, the first major problems of Peak Oil, assuming there are no oil shocks, will not be the shortage of oil but the economic crises that will occur. Argentina is a recent example of a country that suffered a serious economic crisis, and although Argentina and the UK are not identical, anyone interested in how economic crises can affect individual lives will be very interested in the following vivid description of life for an Argentinian following the economic collapse.
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For western countries such as the UK, the first major problems of Peak Oil, assuming there are no oil shocks, will not be the shortage of oil but the economic crises that will occur. Argentina is a recent example of a country that suffered a serious economic crisis, and although Argentina and the UK are not identical, anyone interested in how economic crises can affect individual lives will be very interested in the following vivid description of life for an Argentinian following the economic collapse.
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Mike Whitney: Operations Falcon and the looming police state
On 29th June, 1934, Chancellor Adolph Hitler, accompanied by the Schutzstaffel (SS), arrived at Wiesse, where he personally arrested the leader of the Strum Abteilung (SA), Ernnst Roehm. During the next 24 hours 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on the way to Wiesse. Many were shot as soon as they were captured but Hitler decided to pardon Roehm because of his past service to the movement. However, after much pressure from Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler, Hitler agreed that Roehm should die. At first Hitler insisted that Roehm should be allowed to commit suicide but, when he refused, Roehm was shot by two SS men. (Spartacus.schoolnet.co)
Later, Hitler delivered a speech at the Reichstag in which he justified the murders of his rivals saying:
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Later, Hitler delivered a speech at the Reichstag in which he justified the murders of his rivals saying:
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Blame Game: GOP forms circular firing squad
Now just remember all this if things start to get all weird and McCain starts pulling ahead, miraculously as it were. - Ed.
With despair rising even among many of John McCain’s own advisers, influential Republicans inside and outside his campaign are engaged in an intense round of blame-casting and rear-covering — much of it virtually conceding that an Election Day rout is likely.
A McCain interview published Thursday in The Washington Times sparked the latest and most nasty round of finger-pointing, with senior GOP hands close to President Bush and top congressional aides denouncing the candidate for what they said was an unfocused message and poorly executed campaign.
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With despair rising even among many of John McCain’s own advisers, influential Republicans inside and outside his campaign are engaged in an intense round of blame-casting and rear-covering — much of it virtually conceding that an Election Day rout is likely.
A McCain interview published Thursday in The Washington Times sparked the latest and most nasty round of finger-pointing, with senior GOP hands close to President Bush and top congressional aides denouncing the candidate for what they said was an unfocused message and poorly executed campaign.
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Palin's 'going rogue,' McCain aide says
Hey, there's only room for ONE psychopath per ticket, ok? This is what happens when you forget the important rules. - Ed.
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.
Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."
A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.
Sarah Palin's Personal Shopper
Excerpt:
Does the name Jeff Larson sound familiar? It should. Larson is the Karl Rove protégé who’s a principal in the robocalling firm of FLS Connect (the “FLS” stands for Tony Feather, Jeff Larson, and Tom Synhorst*, all veteran Republican political operatives). Larson’s firm is the same one that launched the scurrilous robocalls against John McCain in 2000, and that McCain has now hired to make robocalls connecting Barack Obama to Bill Ayers. He’s also well known in Minnesota for leasing his basement apartment at a steeply discounted rate to embattled Republican Senator Norm Coleman. Evidently, Larson also has quite the eye for women’s fashion. Even hateful liberals would have to admit that Palin dresses awfully nicely.
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Does the name Jeff Larson sound familiar? It should. Larson is the Karl Rove protégé who’s a principal in the robocalling firm of FLS Connect (the “FLS” stands for Tony Feather, Jeff Larson, and Tom Synhorst*, all veteran Republican political operatives). Larson’s firm is the same one that launched the scurrilous robocalls against John McCain in 2000, and that McCain has now hired to make robocalls connecting Barack Obama to Bill Ayers. He’s also well known in Minnesota for leasing his basement apartment at a steeply discounted rate to embattled Republican Senator Norm Coleman. Evidently, Larson also has quite the eye for women’s fashion. Even hateful liberals would have to admit that Palin dresses awfully nicely.
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