As a seasonal thought, and a reminder that the Christian religion can be a force for good despite its abuse by Bush, Palin and their ilk, I wanted to share with you my favourite carol.
Read more - wonderful
12.27.2008
How Jewish is Hollywood?
Ay, Captain. I think I discovered the problem. - Ed.
I have never been so upset by a poll in my life. Only 22% of Americans now believe "the movie and television industries are pretty much run by Jews," down from nearly 50% in 1964. The Anti-Defamation League, which released the poll results last month, sees in these numbers a victory against stereotyping. Actually, it just shows how dumb America has gotten. Jews totally run Hollywood.
Read more...to the last paragraph:
I appreciate Foxman's concerns. And maybe my life spent in a New Jersey-New York/Bay Area-L.A. pro-Semitic cocoon has left me naive. But I don't care if Americans think we're running the news media, Hollywood, Wall Street or the government. I just care that we get to keep running them.
I have never been so upset by a poll in my life. Only 22% of Americans now believe "the movie and television industries are pretty much run by Jews," down from nearly 50% in 1964. The Anti-Defamation League, which released the poll results last month, sees in these numbers a victory against stereotyping. Actually, it just shows how dumb America has gotten. Jews totally run Hollywood.
Read more...to the last paragraph:
I appreciate Foxman's concerns. And maybe my life spent in a New Jersey-New York/Bay Area-L.A. pro-Semitic cocoon has left me naive. But I don't care if Americans think we're running the news media, Hollywood, Wall Street or the government. I just care that we get to keep running them.
$50-60B laundered from US into illegal colonies (Israel)
The following document case file reveals the failure of US law enforcement agencies to act on credible, specific public and private allegations that up to $60 billion has been laundered from the United States into illegal colonization of the West Bank. The US national security interest in averting another 9/11style attack motivated by this type of ongoing illegal activity continues to be high.
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Israel warns America yet again - There's hell to pay for not attacking Iran
To most, the language appears all-too-familiar and not unlike the childhood story of the “boy who cried wolf”. Indeed, it has all the hallmarks of the typical fear-mongering all have come to know all-too-well in recent years featuring a paranoid Zionist military commander working for a notoriously paranoid nation and warning of the next “holocaust” if everyone does not immediately stop what they are doing, pay strict attention and follow the prescribed course of action as laid down by the Jewish state.
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Kawther Salam - The rockets of hunger and Israeli propaganda
I received a message from the photojournalist and peace activist Sameh Habeeb from Gaza while I was looking at the news in the Austrian TV, which pierced my ears with talk about the rockets which Hamas supposedly shoots at the "innocent Israeli occupation" which has jailed one and half million in Gaza since before Al-Aqsa Intifada broke out.
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12.26.2008
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. However, many prefer the darkness.
'The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon THEM hath the light shined'.
Isaiah Chapter 9, verse 2. Isaiah prophesied the coming of the Lord in 741 BC. There are about 330 specific prophecies in Scripture of the coming of Jesus Christ (Christos: the Chosen), who will lead the people out of darkness and hopelessness, meaning no belief in any existence after death.
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Isaiah Chapter 9, verse 2. Isaiah prophesied the coming of the Lord in 741 BC. There are about 330 specific prophecies in Scripture of the coming of Jesus Christ (Christos: the Chosen), who will lead the people out of darkness and hopelessness, meaning no belief in any existence after death.
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Why Arabs believe in force fields
The following article, about information warfare, is in itself information warfare. Israel's Mossad, along with the CIA/US military and India's RAW did indeed conduct the Mumbai attacks. That aside, the sad fact remains that "inshallah"as understood by the average Joe and Jane results in needless deaths and sets a person up for gross manipulation. I would not have brought this highly sensitive subject up had I not encountered it myself and know it to be fact.
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Gaza bracing for Israeli military strike
JERUSALEM (AFP) — The spectre of a military invasion is hanging over the Gaza Strip as militants fired another volley of rockets despite Israeli warnings that failure to stop the attacks would lead to bloodshed.
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Iran, Europe and America after the August War
After the war in August, Iran got a chance to settle relations with the U.S. and become a central player in the south of Eurasia. This country is developing very serious interests with respect to the Caucasus, where its strategic collaboration with Georgia appears to have the greatest potential.
The war in August has called into question Georgia’s ability to be a reliable energy corridor. Despite this, the country is so important in terms of transportation of Caspian energy resources to the West, that its complete occupation by Russia should be considered an utterly unrealistic option.
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The war in August has called into question Georgia’s ability to be a reliable energy corridor. Despite this, the country is so important in terms of transportation of Caspian energy resources to the West, that its complete occupation by Russia should be considered an utterly unrealistic option.
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Israel sentences PLFP leader to 30 years
Contrast to the way IDF soldiers are routinely absolved from their crimes. - Ed.
An Israeli court has sentenced the leader of the leftist Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to 30 years in prison.
On Thursday, Ahmed Sa'adat the leader of Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine was sentenced to 30 years in prison, for allegedly leading an "illegal terrorist organization" according to an Israeli military source.
Sa'adat released a message on Thursday before his sentencing asserting that he did not recognize the authority of the Israeli military courts.
“I don't stand to defend myself before your court, as I emphasized before. I don't recognize this court, which is an extension of occupation which international law considers illegal. Our people have the right to resist occupation, and this court is based on the British emergency law of 1945 which is worse than Nazi laws,” Sa'adat's message read.
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An Israeli court has sentenced the leader of the leftist Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to 30 years in prison.
On Thursday, Ahmed Sa'adat the leader of Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine was sentenced to 30 years in prison, for allegedly leading an "illegal terrorist organization" according to an Israeli military source.
Sa'adat released a message on Thursday before his sentencing asserting that he did not recognize the authority of the Israeli military courts.
“I don't stand to defend myself before your court, as I emphasized before. I don't recognize this court, which is an extension of occupation which international law considers illegal. Our people have the right to resist occupation, and this court is based on the British emergency law of 1945 which is worse than Nazi laws,” Sa'adat's message read.
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The big shock of 2008
No, it wasn't the banking scandal.. And it wasn't a mysteriously poor showing of John McCain... It was a one-two punch in the stomach of the electorate that reveals what our servants really think of us. For some, this is not new, but for America - tens of millions, in fact - it was sudden, frightening and even heart-breaking on some levels in 2008.
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Witnessing the decay of Western Hegemony and the role of the organic intellectual
PEJ News - Pablo Ouziel, Justice Editor - Abstract - While the military might of the world’s leading nations continues to expand, it has become apparent that western colonialism is abruptly coming to an end, yet the consequences are still not clear to any of the pundits traditionally involved in the discourse which has helped to build it. For many decades in the west, we have thrived on imperial expansion led by the United States of America and its allies, and legitimized by international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, The World Bank and the United Nations. Today, this oligopoly of world domination is rapidly deteriorating and what only a few months ago seemed like the only option for humanity is today being severely put to the test. The organic intellectual must face these challenging times by offering viable alternatives to society so that a new world order can emerge out of the rubble left behind by liberal democratic capitalism.
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Harold Pinter 1930-2008: "What happened to our moral sensibility?"
Harold Pinter died yesterday of cancer at age 78. He was one of the great playwrights of the twentieth century. In his plays, like The Homecoming, The Birthday Party, and Old Times, he caught the ambivalent and restless conflict, the striving for significant personal connection and the intricate by-play of emotion and memory, that lay at the heart of the human dilemma.
Pinter also was one of the great moral voices speaking for human justice and freedom the English-speaking world has seen in recent times. This is most evident in his final testament, his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he received in 2005.
Protectionist dominoes are beginning to tumble across the world
Hint hint hint. - Ed.
Excerpt:
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, is worried enough to ditch a half-century of IMF orthodoxy, calling for a fiscal boost worth 2pc of world GDP to "prevent global depression".
"If we are not able to do that, then social unrest may happen in many countries, including advanced economies. We are facing an unprecedented decline in output. All around the planet, the people have reacted with feelings going from surprise to anger, and from anger to fear," he said.
US police could get pain beam weapons
The better to zap you with, my dear. - Ed.
The research arm of the US Department of Justice is working on two portable non-lethal weapons that inflict pain from a distance using beams of laser light or microwaves, with the intention of putting them into the hands of police to subdue suspects.
Read more'
The research arm of the US Department of Justice is working on two portable non-lethal weapons that inflict pain from a distance using beams of laser light or microwaves, with the intention of putting them into the hands of police to subdue suspects.
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John de Nugent
This guy ran for president. - Ed.
From his website:
Does the study of psychopathy give us insights into why so many mass murderers become world leaders?
PSYCHOPATHS: RUTHLESS SOCIAL PREDATORS who manipulate and plow their way through life—leave a trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations and empty wallets. They selfishly take what they want and do as they please, completely lacking in conscience and in feelings for others. Psychopaths are found in every segment of society. There is a good chance that eventually you will have a painful or humiliating encounter with one of these human monsters. Unfortunately, they are particularly prevalent among top politicians and the establishment elite. Their importance in history is an emerging field of study.
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From his website:
Does the study of psychopathy give us insights into why so many mass murderers become world leaders?
PSYCHOPATHS: RUTHLESS SOCIAL PREDATORS who manipulate and plow their way through life—leave a trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations and empty wallets. They selfishly take what they want and do as they please, completely lacking in conscience and in feelings for others. Psychopaths are found in every segment of society. There is a good chance that eventually you will have a painful or humiliating encounter with one of these human monsters. Unfortunately, they are particularly prevalent among top politicians and the establishment elite. Their importance in history is an emerging field of study.
Read more
12.24.2008
Higher Wages or Bubblenomics
What’s it gonna be?
Wages, wages, wages. It all gets down to wages.
A strong economy must be built on a solid foundation of steadily rising wages. If wages don’t keep pace with production, the only way the economy can grow is through the expansion of debt, which leads to disaster.
continue reading
Wages, wages, wages. It all gets down to wages.
A strong economy must be built on a solid foundation of steadily rising wages. If wages don’t keep pace with production, the only way the economy can grow is through the expansion of debt, which leads to disaster.
continue reading
The Federal Reserve Bank is the Reason for America's Downfall
It is no accident America is now an empty shell of the great economic power it once was. Bled dry by debt imposed by those whose sole intent was to profit, the US is now bankrupt at a time it desperately needs the resources it no longer has.
continue reading
continue reading
The slow slide continues and the strange affair of Bernie Madoff
Excerpt:
The Madoff scandal is a true life crime of immense proportions. Like all crimes there is a need for a detective, so let us play that part for a while, let us, in the fine traditions of Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes and Columbo, speculate a little. Here are the facts so far:- - Bernard Madoff, long time fraudster, woke up on Thursday 11th December, met his sons at his Manhattan apartment and decided to confess to them that his world renown investment business is "a lie", a giant Ponzi scheme. His son's, being good citizens, then called the New York Police and had their father arrested.
- Madoff confessed to the police that he had defrauded investors of $50 billion. He will no doubt have been read his "rights" so this confession is admissible in court. This was immediately reported to the regulators and the international media where, naturally, a storm broke over such an immense fraud. This is truly bizarre; think about it, think about how the US legal system works and ask yourself if a man in Madoff's position, a man who must be facing the rest of his life in prison, is going to confess!
- The necessary court hearings took place at which bail was set with conditions.
Read more
The Madoff scandal is a true life crime of immense proportions. Like all crimes there is a need for a detective, so let us play that part for a while, let us, in the fine traditions of Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes and Columbo, speculate a little. Here are the facts so far:- - Bernard Madoff, long time fraudster, woke up on Thursday 11th December, met his sons at his Manhattan apartment and decided to confess to them that his world renown investment business is "a lie", a giant Ponzi scheme. His son's, being good citizens, then called the New York Police and had their father arrested.
- Madoff confessed to the police that he had defrauded investors of $50 billion. He will no doubt have been read his "rights" so this confession is admissible in court. This was immediately reported to the regulators and the international media where, naturally, a storm broke over such an immense fraud. This is truly bizarre; think about it, think about how the US legal system works and ask yourself if a man in Madoff's position, a man who must be facing the rest of his life in prison, is going to confess!
- The necessary court hearings took place at which bail was set with conditions.
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The Fed's Plan: Steal the value of your money and give it to banks
The Federal Reserve has announced it is lowering the federal funds interest rate to between 0.00% and 0.25%. This means it will now be even easier for banks to create new money. When banks borrow money from the Federal Reserve, the Fed is not lending them money it has saved. The Fed is creating entirely new money that did not exist before. The banks then loan this money to individuals and businesses at an interest rate higher than the federal funds rate.
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California to go bankrupt by March
Arnold Schwarzenegger's State of California is expected to run out of money within two months, the governor's chief financial officer says.
California has been forced to spend billions of dollars more each month without collecting enough taxes due to its budget crisis and will thus have an empty kitty in late February, state controller John Chiang said on Monday.
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California has been forced to spend billions of dollars more each month without collecting enough taxes due to its budget crisis and will thus have an empty kitty in late February, state controller John Chiang said on Monday.
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Moral Depravity
So Pakistan is just expected to allow a few strikes from India to let them cool off? WTF is that? What about the innocent people who will be killed so India can "cool off"????? - Ed.
Meanwhile, the ex-Army Chief of Pakistan General (R) Aslam Baig has said that US General Mullen is pressing our authorities to allow India to hit certain targets, keeping silent and indifferent to the situation as they have been doing in case of US attacks, which he believes, will cool down India and diffuse tensions between the two countries.
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Meanwhile, the ex-Army Chief of Pakistan General (R) Aslam Baig has said that US General Mullen is pressing our authorities to allow India to hit certain targets, keeping silent and indifferent to the situation as they have been doing in case of US attacks, which he believes, will cool down India and diffuse tensions between the two countries.
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To defeat India, understand the mindset
Sounds familiar. - Ed.
India follows the ‘Chankaya’ Ideology.’ that all of India’s neighbors are its enemies. And all of the neighbors of India’s neighbors are India’s friends. This was the first time in Pakistan that the private Pakistani media countered the Indian media warfare. The Indians admit this. Sadly, as always, Pakistan has lost ground at the diplomatic front.
Vicious NSA technology used against the American people
Horrifying. Send them a thought message reflecting your opinion of their total invasion of our personal sovereignty. Also, this gives complete lie to our entire charade of "intelligence operations," since everything that needs to be known is already known by somebody. The whole war machine is simply a way to make money and cause suffering. - Ed.
Evidence for the Lawsuit filed at the US courthouse in Washington, D.C.
(Civil Action 92-0449)
Evidence for the Lawsuit filed at the US courthouse in Washington, D.C.
(Civil Action 92-0449)
John St.Clair Akwei vs. NSA Ft George G. Meade, MD
My knowledge of the National Security Agency's structure, national security activities, proprietary technology,and covert operations to monitor individual citizens.
Communications Intelligence (COMINT)
Blanket coverage of all electronic communication in the U.S. and the world to ensure national security. The NSA at Ft. Meade, Maryland has had the most advanced computers in the world since the early 1960's. NSA technology is developed and implemented in secret from private corporations, academia, and the general public.
Signals Intelligence (SIGINT)
The Signals Intelligence mission of the NSA has evolved into a program of decoding EMF waves in the environment for wirelessly tapping into computers and tracking persons with the electrical currents in their bodies. Signals Intelligence is based on the fact that everything in the environment with an electric current in it has a magnetic flux around it which gives off EMF waves. The NSA/DoD has developed proprietary advanced digital equipment which can remotely analyze all objects whether man-made or organic that have electrical activity.
Domestic Intelligence (DOMINT)
The NSA has records on all U.S. citizens. The NSA gathers information on U.S. citizens who might be of interest to any of the over 50,000 NSA agents (HUMINT). These agents are authorized by executive order to spy on anyone. The NSA has a permanent National Security Anti-Terrorist surveillance network in place. This surveillance network is completely disguised and hidden from the public.
Tracking individuals in the U.S. is easily and cost-effectively implemented with the NSA's electronic surveillance network. This network (DOMINT) covers the entire U.S., involves tens of thousands of NSA personnel, and tracks millions of persons simultaneously. Cost effective implementation of operations is assured by NSA computer technology designed to minimize operations costs.
NSA personnel serve in Quasi-public positions in their communities and run cover businesses and legitimate businesses that can inform the intelligence community of persons they would want to track. N.S.A. personnel in the community usually have cover identities such as social workers, lawyers and business owners.
Electrosmog
Dr George Carlo interviewed on the NutriMedical Report, 20th August 08. The latest findings on nutritional protection against electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and treating electrical-hypersensitivity(EHS).
. Dr Carlo led the $28.5 million study in the 1990s on behalf of the mobile phone industry.
. After finding a link between mobile phone use and brain cancer, he set up the Safe Wireless Inititative.
Rapidly increasing background levels of information-carrying radio waves from phone masts, digital electronic cordless telephones (DECT phones), Wi-Fi, and mobile phones are sensitizing the population to all types of EMR.
. 5-8% of the population have electrical-hypersensitivity (EHS). Prevalence of EHS has increased with the saturation of the environment with microwaves from wireless technology.
. Many animal species, including whales and bees, use magnetite to navigate. All around the world they are getting lost increasingly often.
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Shameless. US votes against "right to food" at UN General Assembly
Draft resolution XX on the right to food, approved on 24 November by a recorded vote of 180 in favour to 1 against (United States), with no abstentions, would have the Assembly reaffirm that hunger constitutes an outrage and a violation of human dignity, requiring the adoption of urgent measures at the national, regional and international level, for its elimination.
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Coping: The Army in the Wings
Apologies to George Ure at Urban Survival for the long excerpt. I can't help it if he's brilliant. - Ed.
Congrats to John Crudele of the NY Post today for getting the story "US Army ready if the Downturn Gets Out of Hand" into this morning's editions.
What's not in the Crudele story is the link which I told you about earlier, to the underlying report itself. Only about 35 pages if you skip the end notes. [pdf report - ed.]
---
What's not in the report, and what Crudele probably doesn't have column inches to explore, is something that I'd call "military isolationism." Only takes a few moments to pass on the concept. It goes like this:
A friend of mine (who has occasion to run in high up military circles) hints to me that many of his colleagues in the US military seem to think the dot-mils won't have a major energy problem until somewhere out in the 2040-2050 timeframe. Yet, when my friend did a little probing, it seems there's an underlying recognition that the broader society might not be so fortunate. So much so that even given a long-lasting economic slowdown/Depression, the civilian world would becomes seriously energy constrained by 2020-2025 or so.
Hold that thought and let's go back to the report. What I find key is not so much the specifics of what it says. Rather, it' feels like the beginning of doctrine development that ignores a central point of bifurcation.
Specifically, a military with 'resource to 2050' operating on behalf of a civilian population with constrained resources for 20-25 years sounds (pardon this) a bit elitist at its core. I may be an historic dunderhead, but when one portion of the population has resources, while a larger population doesn't have resources, seems to me you're just setting yourself up for violent conflict.
So when I read Nathan Freier's report and come across a paragraph like this one (taken wholly out of context of the report itself, you understand) I wonder if military elitism, that I believe based on first-hand reports to exist, doesn't in and of itself precipitate violent domestic social conflict?
"Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security. Deliberate employment of weapons of mass destruction or other catastrophic capabilities, unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters are all paths to disruptive domestic shock." (Freier, P. 32)
Or, put more simply, Mao Tse Dung's doctrine that the "...people are like a sea and the guerilla (army) must swim amongst them..." collides conceptually with the super-military necessary to deal with super-threats envisioned in future years. Seems having it both ways is not very likely, nor, no matter how much 'intelligence' spending occurs, can all threats be foreseen. An Iraqi shoe-thrower knows that one.
The matter given scant attention is whether a military can rule a resource constrained world without increasing use of violence to enforce its will (starting since 2000 in case you're not following the lead in here in the headlines), a sort of military feudalism exacting ever higher tribute or whether the military component does best arising spontaneously from and of the people. The path of power versus the path of unity.
So it is that in a paradoxical way, the Founders understood that in preserving the well-armed spontaneous militia capability, the power could remain with we the people.
It's a heavy thought to ponder and decidedly un-Christmasy.
But as you work on developing the bogslife (beyond organizational/governmental structures) mindset, which in many ways is how an arriving alien might view ant farm Earth, such fundamental distinctions become important because the seeds of tomorrow's conflicts were planted in our past and the harvests will be bitter or sweet, depending on how we tend the garden today.
Quantifying overextension - America's 'predicament'
I doubt that any of you need to see a quantitative analysis about how overextended America is. So why post this?
Cryptogon is not about trying to change society, popularity contests, group think circle jerks, or lobbying politicians on the ship of fools to make minor course corrections on the way to oblivion. At this point, Cryptogon is about trying to convince a handful of you (to convince yourselves) to not only survive what is happening, but to be able to stand as examples and teachers for others wherever you happen to be.
US army ready if downturn gets out of hand. Oh phew.
ARE you afraid that the eco nomic downturn could get out of hand? I mean, really out of hand?
Well, don't worry.
The US Army War College is on the case - ready to handle "unforeseen economic collapse" and the "rapid dissolution of public order in all or significant parts of the US."
And you thought we were just dealing with a recession!
Reposted: Tipping point: March 2009
LEAP/E2020 anticipates than the unfolding global systemic crisis will experience in March 2009 a new tipping point of similar magnitude to the September 2008 one. According to our team, at that period of the year, the general public will become aware of three major destabilizing processes at work in the global economy, i.e.:
• the length of the crisis
• the explosion of unemployment worldwide
• the risk of sudden collapse of all capital-based pension systems
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• the length of the crisis
• the explosion of unemployment worldwide
• the risk of sudden collapse of all capital-based pension systems
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Unbelievable correspondence with CDC about vaccine safety
The Movement to Try GWB, et al for War Crimes
Members of the Bush administration and George W. Bush personally conspired to violate the Geneva Convention, the Nuremberg Principles and US obligations to both. Bush and key members of his administration deliberately violated US criminal codes and tried to make their crimes legal after they had already committed them. Bush and his minions embarked upon this subversive action when it was made clear to them that they could be put to death for violations of US Codes which bind the US to Geneva and other treaties that were almost insisted upon by the United States.
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Huge environmental disaster in Tennessee - Coal Ash spill
There was a huge and terrible environmental disaster in Tennessee yesterday.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, better known as TVA, has a coal-burning power plant located near Harriman, Tennessee, along Interstate 40 between Knoxville and Nashville. The stuff that is left over after TVA burns their coal is called coal ash.
Coal ash contains mercury and dangerous heavy metals like lead and arsenic - materials found naturally in coal are concentrated in the ash.
TVA has a huge mountain of this coal waste material stored in a gigantic pile next to their Harriman (Kingston) power plant, alongside a tributary of the Tennessee River.
On Monday morning Dec. 22 around 1:00 am, the earthen retaining wall around this mountain of coal ash failed and approximately 500 million gallons of nasty black coal ash flowed into tributaries of the Tennessee River - the water supply for Chattanooga TN and millions of people living downstream in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.
This Tennessee TVA spill is over 40 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, if local news accounts are correct.
*** This is a huge environmental disaster of epic proportions.
To see an amazing aerial video of the spill - the big hunks and chunks in the river are mounds of coal ash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGmVCABMRRQ
There is better aerial footage but you have to watch an Applebees commercial first - go to the link below, then scroll down to the "Most Popular" section and find the button that says "aerial footage"
http://www.wbir.com/video/default.aspx?aid=74330
The local media are downplaying the spill, but the Nashville newspaper (The Tennessean) has a decent article, posted below.
When I first saw the 300 million gallon Martin County coal sludge spill in Kentucky in October 2000 I was outraged. I was sure that it would be a national news story, but it never was, because the coal companies and local law enforcement blocked the road leading to the spill and kept the media out. The national media was confused because they didn't know what "coal sludge" was. And ....the big national environmental groups didn't do enough to bring media attention to the Martin County disaster.
Thats not going to happen this time, because we have
1. You Tube
2. Bloggers
3. Digital cameras
4. You!
Please help - we need volunteers to take pictures and video of the spill and post them on the web. We need first hand accounts and documentation of the spill. We need letters to the editor. We need calls and emails to our leaders in Washington and Nashville and Frankfort and to President-Elect Obama.
*** There is no such thing as clean coal! Look at the video of this spill.
"Clean Coal" is The Big Corporate Lie.
This horrific disaster in Tennessee can be the turning point in our nation's struggle to build a new network of clean modern renewable sources of energy, like wind and solar power - but we have to raise awareness of this disaster immediately. Thanks for reading.
Here is the Tennessean's coverage:
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081223/GREEN02/812230370/1001/RSS6001
Flood of sludge breaks TVA dike
Collapse poses risk of toxic ash
By Anne Paine and Colby Sledge • THE TENNESSEAN • December 23, 2008
HARRIMAN, Tenn. — Millions of cubic yards of ashy sludge broke through a dike at TVA's Kingston coal-fired plant Monday, covering hundreds of acres, knocking one home off its foundation and putting environmentalists on edge about toxic chemicals that may be seeping into the ground and flowing downriver.
One neighboring family said the disaster was no surprise because they have watched the 1960s-era ash pond's mini-blowouts off and on for years.
About 2.6 million cubic yards of slurry — enough to fill 798 Olympic-size swimming pools — rolled out of the pond Monday, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
[There are 200 gallons per cubic yard so this is about 500 million gallon - Dave]
Cleanup will take at least several weeks, or, in a worst-case scenario, years.
The ash slide, which began just before 1 a.m., covered as many as 400 acres as deep as 6 feet. The wave of ash and mud toppled power lines, covered Swan Pond Road and ruptured a gas line. It damaged 12 homes, and one person had to be rescued, though no one was seriously hurt.
Much remains to be determined, including why this happened, said Tom Kilgore, president and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
"I fully suspect that the amount of rain we've had in the last eight to 10 days, plus the freezing weather … might have had something to do with this," he said in a news conference Monday on the site.
The area received almost 5 inches of rain this month, compared with the usual 2.8 inches. Freeze and thaw cycles may have undermined the sides of the pond. The last formal report on the condition of the 40-acre pond — an unlined, earthen structure — was issued in January and was unavailable Monday, officials said.
Neighbors Don and Jil Smith, who have lived near the pond for eight years, said that nearly every year TVA has cleaned up what they termed "baby blowouts."
Ashen liquid similar to that seen on a much larger scale in Monday's disaster came from the dike, they said.
"It would start gushing this gray ooze," said Don Smith, whose home escaped harm. "They'd work on it for weeks and weeks.
"They can say this is a one-time thing, but I don't think people are going to believe them."
The U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation were among agencies that responded to the emergency.
Toxic irritants possible
Coal is burned to produce electricity at the Kingston Fossil Plant, notable for its tall towers seen along Interstate 40 near the Harriman exit in Roane County.
Water is added to the ash, which is the consistency of face powder, for pumping it to the pond. The ash is settled out in that pond before the sludge is moved to other, drier ponds, Kilgore said.
Coal ash can carry toxic substances that include mercury, arsenic and lead, according to a federal study. The amount of poisons in TVA's ashy wastes that could irritate skin, trigger allergies and even cause cancer or neurological problems could not be determined Monday, officials said.
Viewed from above, the scene looked like the aftermath of a tsunami, with swirls of dirtied water stretching for hundreds of acres on the land, and muddied water in the Emory River.
The Emory leads to the Clinch, which flows into the Tennessee.
Workers sampled river water Monday, with results expected back today, but didn't sample the dunelike drifts of muddy ash.
That could begin today, officials said, and the potential magnitude of the problem could make this a federally declared Superfund site. That would mean close monitoring and a deep, costly cleanup requiring years of work.
"We'll be sampling for metals in the ground to see what kind of impact that had," said Laura Niles, a spokeswoman for the EPA in Atlanta.
"Hopefully, it won't be as bad as creating a Superfund site, but it depends on what is found."
Stephen Smith, with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in Knoxville, said those concerned about water and air quality have tried for years to press for tighter regulation of the ash.
The heavy metals in coal — including mercury and other toxic substances — concentrate in the ash when burned, he said.
"You know where that is now," he said. "It's in that stuff that's all over those people's houses now."
Chemicals and metals from coal ash have contaminated drinking water in several states, made people and animals sick in New Mexico, and tainted fish in Texas and elsewhere, according to Lisa Evans, an attorney with Earthjustice, a nonprofit national environmental law firm that follows the issue.
"It's discouraging because this is an easy problem to fix," she said.
Ash could be recycled by using it to make concrete and at the very least should be placed in lined, state-of-the-art landfills, she said.
Plant is still operating
TVA's Kilgore said that chemicals in the ash are of concern, but that the situation is probably safe. The power plant is still operating, sending the ash to a larger pond on the site.
"There are levels of chemicals in there that we are concerned about," Kilgore said. "We don't think there's anything immediate of danger because most of that's contained, but that's why we have sampling folks out."
Officials were monitoring a water intake that serves Kingston City and is only a few miles downstream from the Kingston plant, but said no problem had been noted there as of Monday afternoon.
The power producer, which oversees the Tennessee River system, had slowed river flow in the area, releasing less water from key dams, so the pollution might be better contained for possible cleanup.
TVA has insurance for an event like this, spokeswoman Barbara Martucci said, but what the cleanup cost is and how much insurance will pay remains to be determined.
Otherwise, ratepayers in Tennessee could bear much of the costs. TVA provides virtually all the electricity in the state, along with parts of six others.
Contact Anne Paine at 615-259-8071 or apaine@tennessean.com.
Dave Cooper
The Mountaintop Removal Road Show
http://www.mountainroadshow.com/
608 Allen Ct.
Lexington KY 40505
(859) 299 5669
Call for a volunteer presentation in your community!
12.23.2008
Let them eat ethanol
The real source of worsening global hunger is a system that puts greed first.
WALL STREET millionaires have spent months mourning their losses from once ridiculously overvalued investments. Yet these same free-market cheerleaders remain blissfully unaware of the magnitude of the crisis facing the real victims of the unfolding global meltdown they so enthusiastically enabled.
For the 3 billion people who survive on less than $2 a day, the upward spiral in global food prices has meant a struggle for the most basic of human rights--the right to eat.
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WALL STREET millionaires have spent months mourning their losses from once ridiculously overvalued investments. Yet these same free-market cheerleaders remain blissfully unaware of the magnitude of the crisis facing the real victims of the unfolding global meltdown they so enthusiastically enabled.
For the 3 billion people who survive on less than $2 a day, the upward spiral in global food prices has meant a struggle for the most basic of human rights--the right to eat.
continue reading
The Real Lessons of History for Our Current Crisis
A great deal of nonsense is being spoken and written these days about learning the lessons of history in order to solve our current problems. Much of it has been targeted at President-elect Barack Obama, as if he were a reincarnation of Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, or John F. Kennedy and can use the precedents of these great presidents as a model for our present political situation.
It's interesting that none of these so-called history pundits has suggested that the actions of these former presidents could serve us in solving our historic and current economic challenge: getting rid of the international money cabal. In other words, these counterfeit history experts are as phony as our current economic experts.
DOJ and Treasury rebuff calls to investigate alleged $60B money laundering ring
WASHINGTON, D.C.
http://www.IRmep.org/ila/moneylaunder
On
Israel spared in Middle East internet cable damage
So lucky. So very very lucky. As usual. Such a funny thing. - Ed.
(IsraelNN.com) Internet communications began to return to large parts of the Middle East Sunday after undersea communications cables were cut. Israel was spared damage, but service in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates was severely affected. A French repair crew is using a robotic submarine to repair the undersea lines, but the cause of the cut is not yet known. Internet providers tried to re-route voice and date traffic.
Read more
(IsraelNN.com) Internet communications began to return to large parts of the Middle East Sunday after undersea communications cables were cut. Israel was spared damage, but service in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates was severely affected. A French repair crew is using a robotic submarine to repair the undersea lines, but the cause of the cut is not yet known. Internet providers tried to re-route voice and date traffic.
Read more
Gentiles less human than Jews?
Trouble brewing in the Jewish community as the evil talons of Zionism begin to shred everything. - Ed.
Larry Yudelson asks in response to a New York Jewish Week editorial that will live in infamy:
Larry Yudelson asks in response to a New York Jewish Week editorial that will live in infamy:
Has the paper officially bought into the Chabad doctrine that gentiles are less human than Jews?
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German intel head threatens whistleblower site
Must be getting close to something juicy... - Ed.
In the latest twist in a scandal involving the presence of the German intelligence service or Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) in the Balkan nation of Kosovo, the head of the BND has ordered whistleblower website Wikileaks to remove all BND-related files under threat of "immediate prosecution."
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In the latest twist in a scandal involving the presence of the German intelligence service or Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) in the Balkan nation of Kosovo, the head of the BND has ordered whistleblower website Wikileaks to remove all BND-related files under threat of "immediate prosecution."
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A New Wind Blowing
The whole country is agog with the news of the Madoff Ponzi scheme and the billions he scammed from big investors, but nobody appears to realize that it is only the tip of a huge iceberg. There are other so-called legitimate institutions afloat in the private sector that are profiting from similar scams with the heartfelt approval of the raging capitalists in government as well as private individuals.
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With economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise. The better to serve you with, my dear.
A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.
Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it.
The Secret Covenant
This has been around for a while. People used to scoff. I hope they don't scoff anymore. Most if not all of these statements can be verified today. Of particular concern is the poisoning of our air (chemtrails), water (flouride), food (hormones, chemicals, prions, etc.), and of course the vaccines and drugs and dental treatments which poison us and our children. Be sure to understand that this poisoning dulls our minds and kills us in order to enable the plans to proceed. On the day that this information becomes 'real' to people, when they realize what has been stolen from us and by whom, you will see outrage like has never before been witnessed. - Ed.
An illusion it will be, so large, so vast that it will totally escape their perception.
Those who will see through it will be thought of as insane.
We will create separate fronts to prevent them from seeing the connections between us.
We will behave as if we are not connected in order to keep the illusion alive.
Our goal will be accomplished one step at a time so as to never bring suspicion upon ourselves. This will also prevent them from seeing the changes we make as they occur.
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An illusion it will be, so large, so vast that it will totally escape their perception.
Those who will see through it will be thought of as insane.
We will create separate fronts to prevent them from seeing the connections between us.
We will behave as if we are not connected in order to keep the illusion alive.
Our goal will be accomplished one step at a time so as to never bring suspicion upon ourselves. This will also prevent them from seeing the changes we make as they occur.
Read more
The future is not secret
For those that find what is outlined in "Stars & Stripes" to be nothing more than a variant of science-fiction; might I suggest that the world has been watching what will soon be our fate now, since 1948. That would be the Petri-dish of 'Israel' in Palestine that was created by Zionists as a run-up to what is about to finally happen here, now that the military-political-kinks have mostly been worked out.
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Bernie Madoff (actually pronounced made-off)
True American Folk Hero
By John Kelley
While most folks on the bottom get the shaft, Bernie Madoff made it big. Madoff started his firm with $5,000 in 1960 at 21 years old. He supposedly earned it from installing sprinklers and working as a life guard, a pretty daunting task at 1960 wages even in Long Island. Bernie has now admitted to swindling rich folks out of $50 billion. Now if any of these people had any idea of how hard it would have been to save $5,000 in 1960 at those kind of jobs they never would have invested with him to start with.
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12.22.2008
Canadian troops to use laser dazzlers on Afghan civilians
The Canadian military is spending more than $10 million on 500 laser dazzlers for troops in Afghanistan in what it calls an attempt to reduce civilian casualties.
The Laser Dazzler is a weapon designed to temporarily blind people for sure. Other studies claim these weapons blind people. These weapons are illegal. So now we have Illegal weapons in an illegal war. The crime is mounting by the day.
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The Pentagon is muscling in everywhere
We no longer have a civilian-led government. It is hard for a lifelong Republican and son of a retired Air Force colonel to say this, but the most unnerving legacy of the Bush administration is the encroachment of the Department of Defense into a striking number of aspects of civilian government. Our Constitution is at risk.
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Intelligence Briefing for Military and Police Forces
Excerpt:
In the case of present day America, this means the establishment of a previously unheard of and unneeded police state apparatus. This internal security behemoth has been built to protect the unconstitutional and corrupted national government. This new Gestapo like state security network (homeland security) is in a continuing state of expansion and invasion of the private lives of Americans. It MUST do so, because it fears freedom, honest citizens, and clean government. Only corrupted officials need constant machine gun bearing black-clad killers in their employment. Conversely, free, honest, government works shoulder to shoulder with its citizens in an open concept where common sense and common integrity rules.
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In the case of present day America, this means the establishment of a previously unheard of and unneeded police state apparatus. This internal security behemoth has been built to protect the unconstitutional and corrupted national government. This new Gestapo like state security network (homeland security) is in a continuing state of expansion and invasion of the private lives of Americans. It MUST do so, because it fears freedom, honest citizens, and clean government. Only corrupted officials need constant machine gun bearing black-clad killers in their employment. Conversely, free, honest, government works shoulder to shoulder with its citizens in an open concept where common sense and common integrity rules.
Read more
International Forecaster
When, in the wake of the Bear Stearns collapse, Meredith Whitney of Oppenheimer blew in Citigroup for carrying what can only be termed "pseudo-derivatives" at par with bogus AAA ratings, derivatives that were essentially nothing but toxic waste created by Ponzi schemers Rubin and Prince to absorb a portion of the millions of mortgages that should never have been made in the first place, the elitists were caught with their pants down. For the Illuminati, this came out of left field, and they have been scampering around like rats on a sinking ship trying to implement some sort of damage control. These efforts to date have utterly failed to stop the US
Read more
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Charles Hugh Smith: Triage and Solutions
The solution to our present problems is triage: understand the context of the problems, prioritize what can be saved, live within our means and strip away all the perverse incentives, borrowing and financial legerdemain which currently dominate our economy, government and society.
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And even more here:
I continue to be delighted by the in-depth commentaries submitted by readers of this site. Here are two which comprehensively address the choices I addressed in "Triage." Such critiques help clarify my own thinking and point out what ideas I did a poor job of communicating.
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Reader Jeff C. made an excellent suggestion: focus on solutions, not just the problems:
I really appreciate how you point out all of the problems with the current economic system and the possible future problems it has/will create. In addition, I think that most of your ideas are valid and very reasonable. However, I would respectfully request that you do more to be a solutions-based website.
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And even more here:
I continue to be delighted by the in-depth commentaries submitted by readers of this site. Here are two which comprehensively address the choices I addressed in "Triage." Such critiques help clarify my own thinking and point out what ideas I did a poor job of communicating.
Read more
Chyco.com: The Youtube Boycott: In support of universal access to all knowledge
As was previously stated, there is a very good possibility that the World War III option is an attempt to control the Internet by eliminating Net Neutrality and online free speech. It appears that the boundaries set between countries through treaties are vanishing due to the exponential dissemination of information through the Internet. This is in conflict with the wishes of the oligarchy who are willing to do anything to maintain control.
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Hans Blix would testify against Bush Cheney War Crimes
Be careful, Hans. - Ed.
Excerpt:
Blix also added that he is ready to be a witness on the United States’ false allegations before an International tribunal.
Excerpt:
Blix also added that he is ready to be a witness on the United States’ false allegations before an International tribunal.
Bollyn: Who is Bernard Madoff?
Excerpt:
Anyone familiar with the teachings of the Talmud, i.e. "Jewish tradition," will know that such anti-Christian schemes are at the heart of such a Talmudic, i.e. Jewish supremacist, "education." This is why so many of the financial criminals involved in the current Zionist-produced "credit crisis" are Jewish Zionists who have been indoctrinated in such "Jewish traditions." The Zionist criminals involved in 9-11 and the cover-up of the truth are all tied to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, which is a similar Talmudic yeshiva and Zionist indoctrination center.
Like the Israel Discount Bank, which has a branch in New York, Yeshiva University has a branch in Israel, as does the American Jewish Congress. Madoff has been the main treasurer of both Zionist institutions during the period he ran his giant "Ponzi" scheme. If Madoff has lost billions of dollars, as is alleged, these institutions should certainly be investigated as possible recipients of stolen money. Israel Discount Bank should be thoroughly investigated for its role in money laundering and criminal operations, like 9-11.
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Anyone familiar with the teachings of the Talmud, i.e. "Jewish tradition," will know that such anti-Christian schemes are at the heart of such a Talmudic, i.e. Jewish supremacist, "education." This is why so many of the financial criminals involved in the current Zionist-produced "credit crisis" are Jewish Zionists who have been indoctrinated in such "Jewish traditions." The Zionist criminals involved in 9-11 and the cover-up of the truth are all tied to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, which is a similar Talmudic yeshiva and Zionist indoctrination center.
Like the Israel Discount Bank, which has a branch in New York, Yeshiva University has a branch in Israel, as does the American Jewish Congress. Madoff has been the main treasurer of both Zionist institutions during the period he ran his giant "Ponzi" scheme. If Madoff has lost billions of dollars, as is alleged, these institutions should certainly be investigated as possible recipients of stolen money. Israel Discount Bank should be thoroughly investigated for its role in money laundering and criminal operations, like 9-11.
Read more
Mumbai Carnage: The police story stands shattered
Excerpt:
The basic evil/criminal intent of BJP-Shiv Sena politics along with their pathetic `soft' and `hard' supporters, stands exposed; the questions here are vital: a cabinet minister, not an Independent analyst, has questioned the Police theory about Karkare's death. Note what Antulay is saying: WHO sent them there (Cama Hospital); how come they were traveling together?
This is exactly what we have been asking---Antulay's statement means that that he is hinting at the role of some top functionary WHO SEND THEM THERE--(TO THEIR DEATHS)! Now put this in context with proceedings that have begun against AN Roy, the Mumbai DGP, Hasan Ghaffoor, the Mumbai Police Commissioner and the Maharashtra Home Secretary.
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The basic evil/criminal intent of BJP-Shiv Sena politics along with their pathetic `soft' and `hard' supporters, stands exposed; the questions here are vital: a cabinet minister, not an Independent analyst, has questioned the Police theory about Karkare's death. Note what Antulay is saying: WHO sent them there (Cama Hospital); how come they were traveling together?
This is exactly what we have been asking---Antulay's statement means that that he is hinting at the role of some top functionary WHO SEND THEM THERE--(TO THEIR DEATHS)! Now put this in context with proceedings that have begun against AN Roy, the Mumbai DGP, Hasan Ghaffoor, the Mumbai Police Commissioner and the Maharashtra Home Secretary.
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The sounds of silence can be deadlier than the roar-and-thunder of F16s
Excerpt:
If one recasts the "military-industrial" complex to its truer but still minimalist manifestation: "military-industrial-academe-media" complex, all matters become crystal clear as to the role of academics, among others, in the greater scheme of things.
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If one recasts the "military-industrial" complex to its truer but still minimalist manifestation: "military-industrial-academe-media" complex, all matters become crystal clear as to the role of academics, among others, in the greater scheme of things.
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The kleine goniff is talking about the groisse one
Yes. Just imagine. The schadenfreude people experience over Madoff swindling other Jews deftly dispenses with that pesky Jewish Conspiracy meme. How convenient. If you still believe in Jewish Conspiracies after this episode, you must must must be an anti-Semite, right? And if you dare to wonder or suggest that the money really went to Israel and the Jewish charities are actually fine and will now collect from the US taxpayer the compensation due them from being "frauded" by Bernie Madoff (wink wink!), essentially doubling their money -- well what does that make one? Paranoid? Wacky? Realistic? Cynical? All of the above? - Ed.
Excerpt:
Mony'le's scheming mind has now come up with a new line. Uch, my Mony, a genius he's not. He says because Bernie stole not only from the goyim, but also from Jews, his crime proves that there are no Jewish conspiracies.
Oi my Mony'le, you'll never get it. Our Madoff's swindle has permanently transferred 50 billion of gentile gelt into Jewish hands. He was stealing for the Jews and for Eretz Yisrael.
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Excerpt:
Mony'le's scheming mind has now come up with a new line. Uch, my Mony, a genius he's not. He says because Bernie stole not only from the goyim, but also from Jews, his crime proves that there are no Jewish conspiracies.
Oi my Mony'le, you'll never get it. Our Madoff's swindle has permanently transferred 50 billion of gentile gelt into Jewish hands. He was stealing for the Jews and for Eretz Yisrael.
Read more
Americangoy explains it all
There is so much happening in the world.
First, everybody is being bailed out who is a parasite. Wall Street thiefs, who bring nothing whatsoever to the economy except sleight of hand and outright thievery, get trillions. No oversight, no restrictions - just straight gift from us, the taxpayers, to you, the people who caused the greatest financial crisis of the world since the Great Depression.
There is much hand wringing about the paltry 17 billion short term loans that the automakers receive. Much oversight, tough restrictions, and demonization of both American manufacturing and organized labor.
Read more
First, everybody is being bailed out who is a parasite. Wall Street thiefs, who bring nothing whatsoever to the economy except sleight of hand and outright thievery, get trillions. No oversight, no restrictions - just straight gift from us, the taxpayers, to you, the people who caused the greatest financial crisis of the world since the Great Depression.
There is much hand wringing about the paltry 17 billion short term loans that the automakers receive. Much oversight, tough restrictions, and demonization of both American manufacturing and organized labor.
Read more
Remove the blinkers and see the truth
Two years after penning my first piece for Cif, there is still no getting away from the kind of criticism seen in the comment above. No matter that the thrust of georgeindia's rant had nothing to do with the subject of my article, anyone perusing the thread is encouraged to believe that the fact that the Israeli regime has not beheaded me for my dissent is ample proof that all is well in our little corner of the Middle East. Which, of course, it isn't, despite the best efforts of Israel's squadron of cheerleaders to convince the world otherwise.
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Israeli blockade forces Palestinians to rummage through dumps for food
Impoverished Palestinians on the Gaza Strip are being forced to scavenge for food on rubbish dumps to survive as Israel's economic blockade risks causing irreversible damage, according to international observers.
Figures released last week by the UN Relief and Works Agency reveal that the economic blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza in July last year has had a devastating impact on the local population. Large numbers of Palestinians are unable to afford the high prices of food being smuggled through the Hamas-controlled tunnels to the Strip from Egypt and last week were confronted with the suspension of UN food and cash distribution as a result of the siege.
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Figures released last week by the UN Relief and Works Agency reveal that the economic blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza in July last year has had a devastating impact on the local population. Large numbers of Palestinians are unable to afford the high prices of food being smuggled through the Hamas-controlled tunnels to the Strip from Egypt and last week were confronted with the suspension of UN food and cash distribution as a result of the siege.
Read more
Baliffs get power to use force on debtors
The government has been accused of trampling on individual liberties by proposing wide-ranging new powers for bailiffs to break into homes and to use “reasonable force” against householders who try to protect their valuables.
Under the regulations, bailiffs for private firms would for the first time be given permission to restrain or pin down householders. They would also be able to force their way into homes to seize property to pay off debts, such as unpaid credit card bills and loans.
SEC Report: Employees browsed porn, ran private businesses
The Securities and Exchange Commission is taking a drubbing these days for its abject failure―despite detailed tips―to catch Bernie Madoff in what appears to be the biggest Ponzi scheme in our nation’s history.
Now, thanks to little-noticed report from the agency’s inspector general, we have a detailed glimpse into other bad behavior by some SEC employees.
The report, released the day after Thanksgiving, reveals that some employees at the agency were clearly preoccupied with matters other than their mission of "protecting investors and maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets." The semi-annual report to Congress, which covers the period from this past April to September, details among other things a handful of employees circumventing internal controls to download porn. Let’s pause for some detail:
Labour MPs revolt over Brown's plan to charge 27% interest on emergency loans to poor
Gordon Brown and his Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell were last night accused of behaving ‘like loan sharks’ over plans to slap punishingly high interest rates on vital loans to the poor.
In an astonishing move, rebel Labour MPs joined forces with David Cameron’s Tories to accuse the Government of penalising hundreds of thousands of families on benefits who get interest-free cash advances to cover the cost of unforeseen crises.
More than one million individual loans worth over £600million were paid out from the Government’s social fund last year to hard-up people – many of them disabled – who struggled to afford to repair a broken boiler or cope with some other domestic emergency.
Kissinger calls for New International System out of World Crises
I had a few things to say about this here. - Ed.
Bilderberg luminary Henry Kissinger has repeated his routine call for a new international political order, stating that global crises should be seen as an opportunity to move toward a borderless world where national interests are outweighed by global necessities.
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Bilderberg luminary Henry Kissinger has repeated his routine call for a new international political order, stating that global crises should be seen as an opportunity to move toward a borderless world where national interests are outweighed by global necessities.
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Our “Health” depends on “Care”, not a “System”
The problem with America’s health care system is, well, the term, “health care system.”
I hearken back to a simpler time when those words were not put together and we knew where we had to go when we didn’t feel so well. If we were in good “health” we went to work or outside to play and went about our daily lives. If we weren’t in good “health”, we would stay home and our mothers would take “care” of us. This “care” would involve staying in bed, taking plenty of fluids, and, of course, chicken soup. Generally we weren’t in good “health” and needed “care” because some malady had overtaken our respiratory “system” or digestive “system” or some other “system” that was important to our bodies performing its routine tasks. Simply put, we didn’t need an insurance company or federal bureaucrat to tell us we didn’t feel so good.
continue reading
I hearken back to a simpler time when those words were not put together and we knew where we had to go when we didn’t feel so well. If we were in good “health” we went to work or outside to play and went about our daily lives. If we weren’t in good “health”, we would stay home and our mothers would take “care” of us. This “care” would involve staying in bed, taking plenty of fluids, and, of course, chicken soup. Generally we weren’t in good “health” and needed “care” because some malady had overtaken our respiratory “system” or digestive “system” or some other “system” that was important to our bodies performing its routine tasks. Simply put, we didn’t need an insurance company or federal bureaucrat to tell us we didn’t feel so good.
continue reading
Foreign Policy: A World Enslaved
There are now more slaves on the planet than at any time in human history. True abolition will elude us until we admit the massive scope of the problem, attack it in all its forms, and empower slaves to help free themselves. [Because we can't expect our corrupt world governments to do the right thing. Ever. So the onus is on the victims. - Ed.]
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Iran arrests BBC reporters for spying
The Islamic Republic has reportedly arrested several BBC reporters for spying in the wake of the latest espionage activities against Iran.
In a Saturday interview with ILNA news agency, a member of the Foreign Policy and National Security Commission of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad-Karim Abedi said the spy cell was identified and dismantled before carrying out any operations against the country.
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In a Saturday interview with ILNA news agency, a member of the Foreign Policy and National Security Commission of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad-Karim Abedi said the spy cell was identified and dismantled before carrying out any operations against the country.
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Unconventional Warfare in the 21st Century: U.S. Surrogates, Terrorists and Narcotraffickers
On December 13, the whistleblowing website Wikileaks did investigative- and citizen journalists a great service by publishing the Army Special Operations Forces FM 3-05.130, titled Unconventional Warfare.
Published in September 2008, the 248-page document though unclassified, is restricted “to U.S. Government agencies and their contractors only to protect technical or operational information from automatic dissemination under the International Exchange Program or by other means.” The Department of the Army urges recipients to “destroy by any method that will prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document.” Wikileaks has guaranteed that the disappearance of this critical primary source into the bowels of the Pentagon will not occur.
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Published in September 2008, the 248-page document though unclassified, is restricted “to U.S. Government agencies and their contractors only to protect technical or operational information from automatic dissemination under the International Exchange Program or by other means.” The Department of the Army urges recipients to “destroy by any method that will prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document.” Wikileaks has guaranteed that the disappearance of this critical primary source into the bowels of the Pentagon will not occur.
continue reading
Culture War vs Class War vs Holy War vs Earth War
Those who take the long view of history often wind up with the short end of the stick.
That’s because, as John Maynard Keynes himself said, in the long run, we’ll all be dead.
While the handful of contemporary philosopher-kings (largely on the Web these days!) ponder the ponderous evolution of humans over the eons–and even the ebb and flow of life-forms over the vast reaches of geophysical time–masses of consumer worker-soldier ants stuff and gorge, vomit and defecate on their own and others’ food and energy resources. They can’t help it. They’ve been programmed by nature and, worse, a rapacious, predatory-capitalist, materialist mind/heart-set to seize every opportunity to plunder, rape, steal, hoard, waste and conquer.
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That’s because, as John Maynard Keynes himself said, in the long run, we’ll all be dead.
While the handful of contemporary philosopher-kings (largely on the Web these days!) ponder the ponderous evolution of humans over the eons–and even the ebb and flow of life-forms over the vast reaches of geophysical time–masses of consumer worker-soldier ants stuff and gorge, vomit and defecate on their own and others’ food and energy resources. They can’t help it. They’ve been programmed by nature and, worse, a rapacious, predatory-capitalist, materialist mind/heart-set to seize every opportunity to plunder, rape, steal, hoard, waste and conquer.
continue reading
20 Theses against green capitalism
No to false solutions! Climate Justice Now!
1. The current world economic crisis marks the end of the neoliberal phase of capitalism. ‘Business as usual’ (financialisation, deregulation, privatisation…) is thus no longer an option: new spaces of accumulation and types of political regulation will need to be found by governments and corporations to keep capitalism going
2. Alongside the economic and political as well as energy crises, there is another crisis rocking the world: the biocrisis, the result of a suicidal mismatch between the ecological life support system that guarantees our collective human survival and capital’s need for constant growth
3. This biocrisis is an immense danger to our collective survival, but like all crises it also presents us, social movements, with a historic opportunity: to really go for capitalism’s exposed jugular, its need for unceasing, destructive, insane growth
4. Of the proposals that have emerged from global elites, the only one that promises to address all these crises is the ‘Green New Deal’. This is not the cuddly green capitalism 1.0 of organic agriculture and D.I.Y. windmills, but a proposal for a new ’green’ phase of capitalism that seeks to generate profits from the piecemeal ecological modernisation of certain key areas of production (cars, energy, etc.)
5. Green capitalism 2.0 cannot solve the biocrisis (climate change and other ecological problems such as the dangerous reduction of biodiversity), but rather tries to profit from it. It therefore does not fundamentally alter the collision course on which any market-driven economy sets humanity with the biosphere.
6. This isn’t the 1930s. Then, under the pressure of powerful social movements, the old ‘New Deal’ redistributed power and wealth downwards. The ‘New New’ and ‘Green New Deal’ discussed by Obama, green parties all around the world, and even some multinationals is more about welfare for corporations than for people
7. Green Capitalism won’t challenge the power of those who actually produce most greenhouse gases: the energy companies, airlines and carmakers, industrial agriculture, but will simply shower them with more money to help maintain their profit rates by making small ecological changes that will be too little, too late
8. Because globally, working people have lost their power to bargain and demand rights and decent wages, in a green capitalist setup, wages will probably stagnate or even decline to offset the rising costs of ‘ecological modernisation’
9. The ‘green capitalist state’ will be an authoritarian one. Justified by the threat of ecological crisis it will ‘manage’ the social unrest that will necessarily grow from the impoverishment that lies in the wake of rising cost of living (food, energy, etc.) and falling wages
10. In green capitalism, the poor will have to be excluded from consumption, pushed to the margins, while the wealthy will get to ‘offset’ their continued environmentally destructive behaviour, shopping and saving the planet at the same time
11. An authoritarian state, massive class inequalities, welfare given to corporations: from the point of view of social and ecological emancipation, green capitalism will be a disaster that we can never recover from. Today, we have a chance to get beyond the suicidal madness of constant growth. Tomorrow, by the time we’ve all gotten used to the new green regime, that chance may be gone
12. In green capitalism, there is a danger that established, mainstream environmental groups will come to play the role that trade unions played in the Fordist era: acting as safety valves to make sure that demands for social change, that our collective rage remain within the boundaries set by the needs of capital and governments
13. Albert Einstein defined ‘insanity’ as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” In the past decade, in spite of Kyoto, not only has the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increased – so, too, has the rate of increase. Do we simply want more of the same? Wouldn’t that be insane?
14. International climate agreements promote false solutions that are often more about energy security than climate change. Far from solving the crisis, emissions trading, CDM, joint implementation, offsets and so on, all provide a political shield for the continued production of greenhouse gases with impunity
15. For many communities in the global South, these false solutions (agrofuels, ‘green deserts’, CDM-projects) are by now often a greater threat than climate change itself
16. Real solutions to the climate crisis won’t be dreamt up by governments or corporations. They can only emerge from below, from globally networked social movements for climate justice
17. Such solutions include: no to free trade, no to privatisation, no to flexible mechanisms. Yes to food sovereignty, yes to degrowth, yes to radical democracy and to leaving the resources in the ground
18. As an emerging global climate justice movement, we must fight two enemies: on one hand climate change and the fossilistic capitalism that causes it, and on the other, an emergent green capitalism that won’t stop it, but will limit our ability to do so
19. Of course, climate change and free trade aren’t the same thing, but: the Copenhagen-protocol will be a central regulatory instance of green capitalism just as the WTO was central to neoliberal capitalism. So how to relate to it? The Danish group KlimaX argues: A good deal is better than no deal - but no deal is way better than a bad one
20. The chance that governments will come up with a ‘good deal’ in Copenhagen is slim to none. Our aim must therefore be to demand agreement on real solutions. Failing that: to forget Kyoto, and shut down Copenhagen! (whatever the tactic)
By Tadzio Mueller and Alexis Passadakis (12/2008). Alexis is a member of Attac Germany�’s coordinating council, Tadzio a part of the Turbulence editorial collective (www.turbulence.org.uk). They are both active in the emerging climate justice movement, and can be reached at againstgreencapitalism (at) googlemail.com
original article
1. The current world economic crisis marks the end of the neoliberal phase of capitalism. ‘Business as usual’ (financialisation, deregulation, privatisation…) is thus no longer an option: new spaces of accumulation and types of political regulation will need to be found by governments and corporations to keep capitalism going
2. Alongside the economic and political as well as energy crises, there is another crisis rocking the world: the biocrisis, the result of a suicidal mismatch between the ecological life support system that guarantees our collective human survival and capital’s need for constant growth
3. This biocrisis is an immense danger to our collective survival, but like all crises it also presents us, social movements, with a historic opportunity: to really go for capitalism’s exposed jugular, its need for unceasing, destructive, insane growth
4. Of the proposals that have emerged from global elites, the only one that promises to address all these crises is the ‘Green New Deal’. This is not the cuddly green capitalism 1.0 of organic agriculture and D.I.Y. windmills, but a proposal for a new ’green’ phase of capitalism that seeks to generate profits from the piecemeal ecological modernisation of certain key areas of production (cars, energy, etc.)
5. Green capitalism 2.0 cannot solve the biocrisis (climate change and other ecological problems such as the dangerous reduction of biodiversity), but rather tries to profit from it. It therefore does not fundamentally alter the collision course on which any market-driven economy sets humanity with the biosphere.
6. This isn’t the 1930s. Then, under the pressure of powerful social movements, the old ‘New Deal’ redistributed power and wealth downwards. The ‘New New’ and ‘Green New Deal’ discussed by Obama, green parties all around the world, and even some multinationals is more about welfare for corporations than for people
7. Green Capitalism won’t challenge the power of those who actually produce most greenhouse gases: the energy companies, airlines and carmakers, industrial agriculture, but will simply shower them with more money to help maintain their profit rates by making small ecological changes that will be too little, too late
8. Because globally, working people have lost their power to bargain and demand rights and decent wages, in a green capitalist setup, wages will probably stagnate or even decline to offset the rising costs of ‘ecological modernisation’
9. The ‘green capitalist state’ will be an authoritarian one. Justified by the threat of ecological crisis it will ‘manage’ the social unrest that will necessarily grow from the impoverishment that lies in the wake of rising cost of living (food, energy, etc.) and falling wages
10. In green capitalism, the poor will have to be excluded from consumption, pushed to the margins, while the wealthy will get to ‘offset’ their continued environmentally destructive behaviour, shopping and saving the planet at the same time
11. An authoritarian state, massive class inequalities, welfare given to corporations: from the point of view of social and ecological emancipation, green capitalism will be a disaster that we can never recover from. Today, we have a chance to get beyond the suicidal madness of constant growth. Tomorrow, by the time we’ve all gotten used to the new green regime, that chance may be gone
12. In green capitalism, there is a danger that established, mainstream environmental groups will come to play the role that trade unions played in the Fordist era: acting as safety valves to make sure that demands for social change, that our collective rage remain within the boundaries set by the needs of capital and governments
13. Albert Einstein defined ‘insanity’ as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” In the past decade, in spite of Kyoto, not only has the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increased – so, too, has the rate of increase. Do we simply want more of the same? Wouldn’t that be insane?
14. International climate agreements promote false solutions that are often more about energy security than climate change. Far from solving the crisis, emissions trading, CDM, joint implementation, offsets and so on, all provide a political shield for the continued production of greenhouse gases with impunity
15. For many communities in the global South, these false solutions (agrofuels, ‘green deserts’, CDM-projects) are by now often a greater threat than climate change itself
16. Real solutions to the climate crisis won’t be dreamt up by governments or corporations. They can only emerge from below, from globally networked social movements for climate justice
17. Such solutions include: no to free trade, no to privatisation, no to flexible mechanisms. Yes to food sovereignty, yes to degrowth, yes to radical democracy and to leaving the resources in the ground
18. As an emerging global climate justice movement, we must fight two enemies: on one hand climate change and the fossilistic capitalism that causes it, and on the other, an emergent green capitalism that won’t stop it, but will limit our ability to do so
19. Of course, climate change and free trade aren’t the same thing, but: the Copenhagen-protocol will be a central regulatory instance of green capitalism just as the WTO was central to neoliberal capitalism. So how to relate to it? The Danish group KlimaX argues: A good deal is better than no deal - but no deal is way better than a bad one
20. The chance that governments will come up with a ‘good deal’ in Copenhagen is slim to none. Our aim must therefore be to demand agreement on real solutions. Failing that: to forget Kyoto, and shut down Copenhagen! (whatever the tactic)
By Tadzio Mueller and Alexis Passadakis (12/2008). Alexis is a member of Attac Germany�’s coordinating council, Tadzio a part of the Turbulence editorial collective (www.turbulence.org.uk). They are both active in the emerging climate justice movement, and can be reached at againstgreencapitalism (at) googlemail.com
original article
Cheney clueless about Bin Laden's status
US Vice President Dick Cheney says he cannot verify that Osama Bin Laden, the notorious leader of al-Qaeda terror network, is still alive.
Cheney told Fox News on Sunday that he did not know whether Bin Laden was alive but "I'm guessing he is," the vice president said.
"We've had certain pieces of evidence become available from time to time, there'll be a photograph released or something that allows the intelligence community to judge that he is still alive," he added.
Read more
Cheney told Fox News on Sunday that he did not know whether Bin Laden was alive but "I'm guessing he is," the vice president said.
"We've had certain pieces of evidence become available from time to time, there'll be a photograph released or something that allows the intelligence community to judge that he is still alive," he added.
Read more
12.21.2008
National Health Care Call In Day Monday Dec 22
December 22: Call Congress on National Health Care
From: Frank Llewellyn - National Director, Democratic Socialists of America
From: Frank Llewellyn - National Director, Democratic Socialists of America
The Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care is a nationwide effort to support HR 676, legislation introduced by Rep. John Conyers, which is essentially a Medicare-for-All/Single-Payer Health-Care bill. DSA supports HR 676 and the Leadership Conference. We urge members and friends to participate.
The goal of this call-in day is to reach every Congressional office by having massive numbers of individuals and groups call the home district offices of their members of Congress on Monday, December 22nd. The point of these calls is to ask your members of Congress to sign on as sponsors of HR 676. If you don't know who your representative is you can find out by clicking here. If you need help finding your representative's local contact information you can look it up on the House of Representatives or U. S. Senate Web Sites. It is also possible to contact your representative through the Congressional switchboard 202-224-3121, although Congress is not in session now. Newly elected representatives can generally still be reached through their campaign offices.In addition to your own representative, please call Senator Ted Kennedy's office at 617-565-3170. He is preparing health care legislation. Tell him that you support Conyers' bill, HR 676, and that the Massachusetts plan is not a good model nationally as the coverage is neither comprehensive enough nor affordable.
DSA supported single payer health care 15 years ago when health care dominated the political agenda; and now with reform possible in this new administration, it's the perfect time to again urge those who will lead our country and our states to support the best plan for achieving genuine national health care. Single payer national health care is an important part of DSA's Economic Justice Agenda.During this past election campaign, health care reform was again a hot topic, and a lot of promises were made. Now as we transition to a new administration, the discussion continues as the President- and Vice President-elect, along with members of Congress, begin to set priorities. As the economy worsens, with close to two million workers losing their jobs in the past year, more and more families are losing their health care coverage. So this issue cannot be simply placed on the back burner.
With health care cost inflation soaring, companies are dropping their increasingly expensive health insurance plans and self-employed individuals find insurance almost impossible to afford. A tragic fact of our failing system is that at least half and perhaps as many as 68 percent of personal bankruptcies are due to extraordinary medical costs.
Single payer health care addresses the fundamental problem with our health care system -- the absolute need to control costs while providing quality care for everyone. According to Physicians for a National Health Program, streamlining our country's system by paying through a single non-profit entity would save more than $350 billion per year.
Some believe that we should accept that the "best we can do" is a mix of public/private health care and maintaining the insurance industry's role in a universal health care plan. This in fact may be what Congress is able to negotiate, but we need to outnumber our opponents, who are funded by the health insurance industry, and provide a voice for true comprehensive, universal health care for all.
The obvious fact is that the stronger our movement for single payer national health care is, the more likely we are to get a good plan out of the new Congress. That is one reason why getting additional sponsors of HR 676 (the bill number will be the same in the new congress) is important. The more supporters we have in Congress the better our chances!
Several more call-in days will be scheduled as the new Congress gets organized; we will be sure to keep you posted. Thanks for your help on this important issue.
How the GOP, Reagan, Bush Sr, Bush Jr Betrayed, Pillaged, then Sold the U.S.
George W. Bush's war of naked aggression against Iraq --a war crime --has not only bankrupted the US, it has brought the entire world to the brink of economic ruin. It is also an ignominious defeat and may one day be compared to Valens' loss to barbarians at Adrianople. One wonders: what sound is made by collapsing empires? Do they go boom or 'suck'?
As the most dominant empire since Roman times, America has helped to bring great wealth and prosperity to the world..
--Pat Robertson
Amid Robertson's 'celebration' of American empire, his death threats against Hugo Chavez or Americans daring to oppose his idiocy, Robertson forgot the rest of the story: Rome fell.
The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.
--Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 2
Rome fell for the same reasons the US will have lost empire and world influence. Like Rome, the US has despoiled the land, waged war upon both the small farmer and the laborer, outsourced it's industry, devalued the dollar and subverted the products of labor --the sole source of 'value' in any economy. That the US 'current account balance' --as officially recorded by the CIA --is the highest in the world proves that US is bankrupt and has been for years. It also proves that GOP economics have made the US less productive vis a vis the rest of the world.
continue reading
As the most dominant empire since Roman times, America has helped to bring great wealth and prosperity to the world..
--Pat Robertson
Amid Robertson's 'celebration' of American empire, his death threats against Hugo Chavez or Americans daring to oppose his idiocy, Robertson forgot the rest of the story: Rome fell.
The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.
--Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 2
Rome fell for the same reasons the US will have lost empire and world influence. Like Rome, the US has despoiled the land, waged war upon both the small farmer and the laborer, outsourced it's industry, devalued the dollar and subverted the products of labor --the sole source of 'value' in any economy. That the US 'current account balance' --as officially recorded by the CIA --is the highest in the world proves that US is bankrupt and has been for years. It also proves that GOP economics have made the US less productive vis a vis the rest of the world.
continue reading
Happy Christmas, Christmas! (Part 1)
(click here for part 2)
Happy Christmas, Christmas!
When the late John Lennon wrote “Happy Xmax” in 1971, I was only 6 years old and still in Shanghai, China. President “Tricky Dick” had not flown over the city of my birth yet. And my uncle had not been arrested falsely in conjunction with the president’s visit and locked away for more than 30 days for nothing (the local communists and brown shirts decided to round up all the “undesirables” in anticipation of the president’s historic visit to China, and my intellectual uncle just happened to be one of those undesirables).
“Happy Xmas” and its message was the Christmas gift of John Lennon and Yoko Ono to the turbulent world back in 1971:
War is over, if you want it.
Words of tremendous yet profound wisdom that everyone, even children, can understand--unless one is a dyed-in-the-wool neocon (Dick Cheney) or neolib (Rahm Emanuel).
Lennon wrote this pro-peace anthem because he realized that if the people really wanted peace, they can really have it--that is if they got off their collective lazy chairs and made an effort. Even if that effort was only a personal wish for peace to prevail. (Imagine millions of people of goodwill everywhere praying and desiring for peace on earth this Christmas.)
Fast forward 37 years later and nothing much has changed, has it?
continue reading
Happy Christmas, Christmas!
When the late John Lennon wrote “Happy Xmax” in 1971, I was only 6 years old and still in Shanghai, China. President “Tricky Dick” had not flown over the city of my birth yet. And my uncle had not been arrested falsely in conjunction with the president’s visit and locked away for more than 30 days for nothing (the local communists and brown shirts decided to round up all the “undesirables” in anticipation of the president’s historic visit to China, and my intellectual uncle just happened to be one of those undesirables).
“Happy Xmas” and its message was the Christmas gift of John Lennon and Yoko Ono to the turbulent world back in 1971:
War is over, if you want it.
Words of tremendous yet profound wisdom that everyone, even children, can understand--unless one is a dyed-in-the-wool neocon (Dick Cheney) or neolib (Rahm Emanuel).
Lennon wrote this pro-peace anthem because he realized that if the people really wanted peace, they can really have it--that is if they got off their collective lazy chairs and made an effort. Even if that effort was only a personal wish for peace to prevail. (Imagine millions of people of goodwill everywhere praying and desiring for peace on earth this Christmas.)
Fast forward 37 years later and nothing much has changed, has it?
continue reading
12.20.2008
Hold the phone
Who is getting conned here? Are we sure we know?
We have sob story after sob story about the people who were conned by the big con artist, Bernie Madoff. Wha wha wha!!! They fill many, many tissues.
Mmm hmm. Are some of these people con artists too? Is that possible? Is their money actually safe in Israel right now?
Will they be compensated by the US taxpayer for money supposedly lost to fraud, but which is not lost at all?
Who is the real victim of fraud here? The wealthy investors of Bernie Madoff or, once again, the American people?
Will we ever find out the truth? Who can we depend on to expose the corruption?
Who indeed? Nobody!!!! Who would ever confirm such a thing for us? Even if they wanted to, they'd be likely to get whacked or suicided for their trouble. So it's just another wacky conspiracy theory from all those wacky conspiracy theorists who perceive corruption everywhere but can never "prove" it. Right? It's not enough that corruption is obviously everywhere. We must have actual proof, like documents or something. You know, Proof! Which we will not get because there is corruption everywhere. Oh ha ha ha. It must be so fun to be corrupt.
But anyway, we all know that things are never as bad as the conspiracy theorists say. Right? Right. They're always much, much worse. When was the last time corruption turned out to be not as bad as initially suspected? Why would this time be any different?
We have sob story after sob story about the people who were conned by the big con artist, Bernie Madoff. Wha wha wha!!! They fill many, many tissues.
Mmm hmm. Are some of these people con artists too? Is that possible? Is their money actually safe in Israel right now?
Will they be compensated by the US taxpayer for money supposedly lost to fraud, but which is not lost at all?
Who is the real victim of fraud here? The wealthy investors of Bernie Madoff or, once again, the American people?
Will we ever find out the truth? Who can we depend on to expose the corruption?
Who indeed? Nobody!!!! Who would ever confirm such a thing for us? Even if they wanted to, they'd be likely to get whacked or suicided for their trouble. So it's just another wacky conspiracy theory from all those wacky conspiracy theorists who perceive corruption everywhere but can never "prove" it. Right? It's not enough that corruption is obviously everywhere. We must have actual proof, like documents or something. You know, Proof! Which we will not get because there is corruption everywhere. Oh ha ha ha. It must be so fun to be corrupt.
But anyway, we all know that things are never as bad as the conspiracy theorists say. Right? Right. They're always much, much worse. When was the last time corruption turned out to be not as bad as initially suspected? Why would this time be any different?
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