The American Loyal Opposition

Bush’s Martial Law Act of 2007

2006-10-30T23:30:00.000-06:00

I've been away from blogging for some time but have been keeping up with events and this month was the month Bush was officially granted dictatorial powers by this supine "Do nothing Congress." First it was the Military Commissions Act and now the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007. Wake up America!

House Approves Bill on Detainees

2006-09-27T23:23:00.000-06:00

Horrible! This may apply to "noncitizens" now but eventually this abrogation of constitutional authority will effect all US citizens. Anybody can be deemed an enemy combatant especially if they are successful in stripping the writ of habeas corpus. Afterall, Bush can very easily issue a presidential signing statement and sign away 200+ years of constitutional rights.

Pope Benedict XVI in the service of George W. Bush

2006-09-24T22:02:00.000-06:00

CRUSADER!

For those seeking historical context to the Pope's recent inflammatory and insenstive remarks I encourage you to read the following commentary. This is by far the best piece I've seen in regard to Mr. Infallible's attempt to incite a clash of civilizations. Such a wonderful man of peace and logic...

Muhammad's sword
Pope Benedict XVI in the service of George W. Bush
By Uri Avner

09/24/06 -- Since the days when Roman emperors threw Christians to the lions, the relations between the emperors and the heads of the church have undergone many changes.

Constantine the Great, who became emperor in the year 306 - exactly 1700 years ago - encouraged the practice of Christianity in the empire, which included Palestine. Centuries later, the church split into an Eastern (Orthodox) and a Western (Catholic) part. In the West, the Bishop of Rome, who acquired the title of Pope, demanded that the emperor accept his superiority.

The struggle between the emperors and the popes played a central role in European history and divided the peoples. It knew ups and downs. Some emperors dismissed or expelled a pope, some popes dismissed or excommunicated an emperor. One of the emperors, Henry IV, "walked to Canossa", standing for three days barefoot in the snow in front of the Pope's castle, until the Pope deigned to annul his excommunication.

But there were times when emperors and popes lived in peace with each other. We are witnessing such a period today. Between the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and the present emperor, George Bush II, there exists a wonderful harmony. Last week's speech by the Pope, which aroused a worldwide storm, went well with Bush's crusade against "Islamofascism", in the context of the "clash of civilizations".

In his lecture at a German university, the 265th Pope described what he sees as a huge difference between Christianity and Islam: while Christianity is based on reason, Islam denies it. While Christians see the logic of God's actions, Muslims deny that there is any such logic in the actions of Allah.

As a Jewish atheist, I do not intend to enter the fray of this debate. It is much beyond my humble abilities to understand the logic of the Pope. But I cannot overlook one passage, which concerns me too, as an Israeli living near the fault-line of this "war of civilizations".

In order to prove the lack of reason in Islam, the Pope asserts that the Prophet Muhammad ordered his followers to spread their religion by the sword. According to the Pope, that is unreasonable, because faith is born of the soul, not of the body. How can the sword influence the soul?

To support his case, the Pope quoted - of all people - a Byzantine emperor, who belonged, of course, to the competing Eastern Church. At the end of the 14th century, Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus told of a debate he had - or so he said (its occurrence is in doubt) - with an unnamed Persian Muslim scholar. In the heat of the argument, the emperor (according to himself) flung the following words at his adversary:

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

These words give rise to three questions: (a) Why did the Emperor say them? (b) Are they true? (c) Why did the present Pope quote them?

When Manuel II wrote his treatise, he was the head of a dying empire. He assumed power in 1391, when only a few provinces of the once illustrious empire remained. These, too, were already under Turkish threat.

At that point in time, the Ottoman Turks had reached the banks of the Danube. They had conquered Bulgaria and the north of Greece, and had twice defeated relieving armies sent by Europe to save the Eastern Empire. On 29 May 1453, only a few years after Manuel's death, his capital, Constantinople (the present Istanbul), fell to the Turks, putting an end to the empire that had lasted for more than a thousand years.

During his reign, Manuel made the rounds of the capitals of Europe in an attempt to drum up support. He promised to reunite the church. There is no doubt that he wrote his religious treatise in order to incite the Christian countries against the Turks and convince them to start a new crusade. The aim was practical, theology was serving politics.

In this sense, the quote serves exactly the requirements of the present Emperor, George Bush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world against the mainly Muslim "Axis of Evil". Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of Europe, this time peacefully. It is well known that the Pope supports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the European Union.

Is there any truth in Manuel's argument?

The pope himself threw in a word of caution. As a serious and renowned theologian, he could not afford to falsify written texts. Therefore, he admitted that the Qur'an specifically forbade the spreading of the faith by force. He quoted the second Sura, Verse 256 (strangely fallible, for a pope, he meant Verse 257) which says: "There must be no coercion in matters of faith."

How can one ignore such an unequivocal statement? The Pope simply argues that this commandment was laid down by the Prophet when he was at the beginning of his career, still weak and powerless, but that later on he ordered the use of the sword in the service of the faith. Such an order does not exist in the Qur'an. True, Muhammad called for the use of the sword in his war against opposing tribes - Christian, Jewish and others - in Arabia, when he was building his state. But that was a political act, not a religious one; basically a fight for territory, not for the spreading of the faith.

Jesus said: "You will recognize them by their fruits." The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: how did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"?

Well, they just did not.For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece. Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian.

True, the Albanians did convert to Islam, and so did the Bosniaks. But nobody argues that they did this under duress. They adopted Islam in order to become favourites of the government and enjoy the fruits.

In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. At that time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims, Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this long period, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants start to adopt the Arabic language and the Muslim faith - and they were the forefathers of most of today's Palestinians.

There no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on the Jews. As is well known, under Muslim rule the Jews of Spain enjoyed a bloom the like of which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time. Poets like Yehuda Halevy wrote in Arabic, as did the great Maimonides. In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, scientists. In Muslim Toledo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated the ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts. That was, indeed, the Golden Age. How would this have been possible, had the Prophet decreed the "spreading of the faith by the sword"?

What happened afterwards is even more telling. When the Catholics reconquered Spain from the Muslims, they instituted a reign of religious terror. The Jews and the Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave. And where did the hundreds of thousand of Jews, who refused to abandon their faith, escape? Almost all of them were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Sephardi ("Spanish") Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, from Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in the north to Sudan in the south. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothing like the tortures of the Inquisition, the flames of the auto-da-fe, the pogroms, the terrible mass-expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries, up to the Holocaust.

Why? Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of the "peoples of the book". In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians. They did not enjoy completely equal rights, but almost. They had to pay a special poll tax, but were exempted from military service - a trade-off that was quite welcome to many Jews. It has been said that Muslim rulers frowned upon any attempt to convert Jews to Islam even by gentle persuasion - because it entailed the loss of taxes.

Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for fifty generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times "by the sword" to get them to abandon their faith.

The story about "spreading the faith by the sword" is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims - the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna. I suspect that the German Pope, too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not make the effort to study the history of other religions.

Why did he utter these words in public? And why now?

There is no escape from viewing them against the background of the new Crusade of Bush and his evangelist supporters, with his slogans of "Islamofascism" and the "global war on terror" - when "terrorism" has become a synonym for Muslims. For Bush's handlers, this is a cynical attempt to justify the domination of the world's oil resources. Not for the first time in history, a religious robe is spread to cover the nakedness of economic interests; not for the first time, a robbers' expedition becomes a Crusade.

The speech of the Pope blends into this effort. Who can foretell the dire consequences?

Uri Avnery is an Israeli author and activist. He is the head of the Israeli peace movement, "Gush Shalom". http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en

Iraq war created a terrorist flood, American spymasters warn Bush

2006-09-24T21:01:00.000-06:00

"I'M PROTECTING YOUR FAMILY!"

Well it's not surprising to see that since my last post Bush hasn't made us any safer. Tell that to the 30-40% of misinformed or noninformed americans who actually believe Bush is PERSONALLY protecting them. Here is a quote from one such american . Now I was by no means a Kerry fan but there was certainly a better chance of avoiding the apocolypse with Kerry than with Bush...

I'm not a really politically inclined person. I do vote and I do have my opinions but I try to not let them interfere with my relationships (friends and dating). Having said that, I do support Bush in that he is our President. I have to have a certain trust and belief in him to feel safe enough to sleep at night. Of course I don't agree with everything but I like to think he is doing the best he can. I absolutely prefer him to Kerry. I hate to think where we would be if he had gotten into office.

False Flag Operations

2006-09-11T23:53:00.000-06:00

THE UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA

On the 5th anniversary of September 11th, consider the following US government plan in 1962 to attack its own cities and kill its own citizens. Sounds like a conspiracy "theory" does it not? Unfortunately, this was very real. Chomsky defines a conspiracy theory as "an obvious truth you are not allowed to talk about."In 4o years we'll find out the truth and nobody will care nor think the government capable of such treason. It's only something that happens in the past...

"Gaza is a jail. Nobody is allowed to leave. We are all starving now."

2006-09-10T21:55:00.000-06:00

ISRAEL STANDS FOR DEMOCRACY?

While this country remembers the 9/11 tragedy, the world is silent as palestinians are starved by a criminally ruthless Israeli government. This kind of injustice cannot continue and feeds the very extremism that was unleashed on this country 5 years ago. Meanwhile, despite such blatant acts of inhumanity by the Israelis, I continue to see large billboards along major highways promoting Israeli innocence and rightousness. The latest one was the claim that Israel "stands for democracy." If Israel stood for democracy they wouldn't be kidnapping democratically elected ministery officials of Hamas, performing extrajudicial assassinations, constructing settlements and roads for Jews ONLY in occupied territories against international law, engaging in agressive wars, and acting like an apartheid state! If they "stand" for democracy, the world is in serious trouble!

Bush Aims to Kill War Crimes Act

2006-09-05T21:49:00.000-06:00

We're a nation of laws, and we must enforce our laws.
~Bush

So we're a "nation of laws" are we...? Not only is this authoritarian administration trying to rewrite The US War Crimes Act of 1996 but we have the faux gendarme of constitutional checks and balances, Senator Arlen Specter, selling out the American people and the US Constitution by backing legislation that would effectively legalize warrantless spying on the communications of millions of american citizens (See: Arlen Specter's Sellout). I thought this guy got second lease on life? Is he playing dead or is he really dead? The latter would seem to be the most logical conclusion! Thank you Mr Specter for infecting this country with a cancer that will be terminal. You've saved yourself but not this dying republic. Thank you for selling out! Why do you even continue to go to work? You've just conceded your job and oversight responsibilities to a dangerous despotic executive! Marvelous work! You've proven yourself even more of a charlatan than when you proposed your ludicrous single bullet theory.....Why don't you put that theory to good use and do us all a favor and leave this earth. I have no sympathy for you. Thanks a million!

George Carlin - Who Really Controls America

2006-09-04T22:25:00.000-06:00

"Who wields power is not important, provided that the hierarchical structure remains always the same." ~Orwell

Carlin telling it like it really is.....

War is Sell

2006-09-03T23:08:00.000-06:00

"All propaganda strives to be invisible."- John Stauber

How do you sell a war? How do the techniques of government propagandists, public relations consultants and commercial advertisers work, and why are they so effective? How did the United States become a master of domestic war propaganda over the course of the twentieth century? This documentary by Brian Standing will shed light on all these important questions.

Gaza's darkness

2006-09-03T20:32:00.000-06:00

ISRAEL IS FIGHTING FOR YOU!

This evening on a return trip home, I saw the most audacious piece of propaganda in this country to date. I could not believe my eyes. I'm not sure which jewish american group decided to advertise such a blatant pandering message on a huge highway billboard but the source matters less than the message that it was trying to promote and convey to thousands of american motorists each day. On the billboard was a jewish american child wearing a yamika with the words "ISRAEL IS FIGHTING FOR YOU" and a link to the organization's website asking for support. The message had a double entendre it would seem. The first message being that Israel is fighting dirty sub-human arabs and muslims for the sake of innocent jewish children and the second hidden message being that "innocent" Israel is fighting muslim terrorists for the sake of all Americans in support of the war on a tactic. The use of the child is deceptively ingenious from a PR standpoint in invoking Israeli innocence. Bravo once again to the masters of PR. After reading this article detailing the horrid conditions of palestinians in Gaza and witnessing the brutality of Israel's most recent war against Lebanon, Israel is certainly not fighting for me! How dare they endorse their crimes in my american name. The PR machine that the Israeli government has in this country through the countless Jewish-American organizations is simply without precedence...

Depeche Mode: "John The Revelator"

2006-09-01T19:41:00.000-06:00

Masterful work! Gotta love Depeche Mode and the individual who created this video is a genius! A little fun with the straw man for your labor day weekend....

Reclaiming The Issues: Islamic Or Republican Fascism?

2006-08-31T22:49:00.000-06:00

This article by Thom Hartmann is an especially poignant reminder of the growing danger of fascism in this country. Fascism has become the buzz word of late for the authoritarian conservatives running this country (See: Fascism Is a New Buzz Word Among GOP). Indeed, Republican strategists have deliberately invoked fascism in their latest attempt to sell the "War on Terror" to the American populace going into the mid-term elections. As Thom Hartmann points out, their attempts to redefine fascism is meant to preempt any attempt by those who know what the term fascism truly means. After reading Hartmann's article it is clear that the fascists already exist among us and they are hell bent on completing their revolution by maintaining power in Congress (primarily the House of Representatives) and turning the revolution into a complete "evolution" after the midterm elections.

Will they succeed? My worst fears tell me that they are well on their way to completing the revolution that begun not with Bush Jr's election but way back when Gingrich and his cronies came into power. This was the genesis of the authoritarian conservatism that is so pervasive today in the halls of congress. DeLay consolidated this authoritarianism under Bush and now Frist and the many other authoritarian spawns of Gingrich in Congress are pushing for a complete hostile takeover. The Constitution and Bill of Rights are on life support.

I was disgusted to read Rumsfeld's recent remarks concerning fascism and his labelling of critics of the assault on our way of life as appeasers. Funny thing is that he is right, we are appeasers to fascism but it's not the pseudo fascism that Rumsfeld tries to feed the apathetic prole masses. The faux Islamo-Fascism that he invokes is utterly meaningless. The masses are competely capitulating to this orwellian fantasy world of Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, George Bush and the countless authoritarian congresspersons, pundits, and lemmings that blindly follow these domestic enemies. We live in dangerous times folks and we must stop these true fascists from destroying this country. I encourage you to read Thom Hartmann's article and reclaim the true meaning of fascism and invariably our dying democracy.

Bush 'palace' shielded from Iraqi storm

2006-08-28T21:49:00.000-06:00

All this talk of troop withdrawal by the Democrats and some "conservative" Republicans is one big mid-term election charade. They are well aware that the United States is establishing a permanent presence in Iraq and Middle East via military bases and the largest embassy in the world. This article explains the extent of the project. The most disconcerting factoid was the following:

"After almost four years, the Americans still can't turn on the lights for the Iraqis, but that won't be a problem for the embassy staffers. The same with the toilets — they will always flush on command. All services for the biggest embassy in the world will operate independently from the rattletrap utilities of the Iraqi capital."

Bush and Saddam Should Both Stand Trial, Says Nuremberg Prosecutor

2006-08-28T20:56:00.000-06:00

So we have a war criminal president according to one of the Nuremberg prosecutors....as though his opinion matters to the masses! Too bad the real war criminal and chief orchestrator of the authoritarian revolution in this country is none other than Dick Cheney. Bush is simply the figurehead folksy bafoon who receives all the ire and flak from those apt to recognize his chicanery. Bush is by no means blameless , however, it is Cheney that deserves to be strung up like a salami in an Italian butcher shop moreso than anybody. Robert Kuttner's article, The Cheney Presidency, reveals the true state of affairs. Anybody who thinks that Bush is the brains behind the operation only needs to listen to him speak and describe the geography of China to realize he is a convenient straw man. Kuttner's article will serve to confirm this characterization....

REX 84: FEMA's Blueprint for Martial Law in America

2006-08-22T22:04:00.000-06:00

"One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship." ~Orwell

This article is disturbing. Even the plan's title, Readiness Excercise 1984, is Orwellian. If we compare Orwell's words above to the following statements made by Hitler, we see we are heading down a dangerous path particularly in light of the authoritarian nature of the Republican majority in congress and the supine Democratic minority. We are literally one major catastrophe away from a police state and REX 84 becoming operational.

Before the new State could be actually established and promulgated, the idea of it and the model for its organization had already existed within the framework of our party. All the fundamental principles on which the new Reich was to be constructed were the principles and ideas already embodied in the National Socialist Party.As a result of the constitutional struggle to win over our German fellow-countrymen to our side the party had established its predominance in the Reichstag and for a whole year before it actually assumed power it already had the right to demand this power for itself, even according to the principles of the parliamentary-democratic system. But it was essential for the National Socialist Revolution that this party should put forward demands which of themselves would involve a real revolutionary change in the principles and institutions of government hitherto in force.

When certain individuals who were blind to the actual state of affairs thought that they could refuse to submit to the practical application of the principles of the movement which had been entrusted with the government of the Reich, then, but not until then, the party used an iron hand to make these illegal disturbers of the peace bend their stubborn necks before the laws of the new National Socialist Reich and Government.

With this act the National Socialist Revolution came to an end. For as soon as the party had taken over power, and this new condition of affairs was consolidated, I looked upon it as a matter of course that the Revolution should be transformed into an evolution. ~Adolf Hitler

The following guide will help you plan, prepare, and get ready in the event that martial law threatens your safety and well being. It is divided into two parts. The first part describes the framework for martial law and the second part the actions to take in preparing or the actual declaration of martial law.

INTERESTING FACTS

Martial law is defined as:

military rule or authority imposed on a civilian population when the civil authorities cannot maintain law and order, as in a time of war or during an emergency.

Hitler turned Germany into a Nazi dictatorship through executive orders.

-Executive Order 10995: All communications media are to be seized by the Federal Government. Radio, TV, newspapers, CB, Ham, telephones, and the internet will be under federal control. Hence, the First Amendment will be suspended indefinitely.

-Executive Order 10997: All electrical power, fuels, and all minerals well be seized by the federal government.

-Executive Order 10998: All food resources, farms and farm equipment will be seized by the government. You will not be allowed to hoard food since this is regulated.

-Executive Order 10999: All modes of transportation will go into government control. Any vehicle can be seized.

-Executive Order 11000: All civilians can be used for work under federal supervision.

-Executive Order 11490: Establishes presidential control over all US citizens, businesses, and churches in time of "emergency."

-Executive Order 12919: Directs various Cabinet officials to be constantly ready to take over virtually all aspects of the US economy during a State of National Emergency at the direction of the president.

-Executive Order 13010: Directs FEMA to take control over all government agencies in time of emergency. FEMA is under control of executive branch of the government.

-Executive Order 12656: "ASSIGNMENT OF EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS RESPONSIBILITIES", "A national emergency is any occurrence, including natural disaster, military attack, technological emergency, or other emergency that seriously degrades or seriously threatens the national security of the United States. Policy for national security emergency preparedness shall be established by the President." This order includes federal takeover of all local law enforcement agencies, wage and price controls, prohibits you from moving assets in or out of the United States, creates a draft, controls all travel in and out of the United States, and much more.

-Martial law can be declared due to natural disasters, Y2k Crisis, Stock Market crash, no electricity, riots, biological attack, .... anything leading to the breakdown of law and order.

SURVIVING MARTIAL LAW

Prepare before any declaration of martial law by becoming self reliant. You may become subject to a bureaucratic system and be prepared to stay one step ahead of it which is easy to do if you are prepared and in a position to be self reliant. You may also face mob rule, chaos, panic, or a complete breakdown in law and order. Surival situations may be easier to handle in rural areas than urban.

-Avoid areas of marital law. Can be imposed due to natural disasters or man caused events. Important to have a retreat or place in a rural area away from populated areas.

-Create alliances with like minded neighbors or community members that share your views. Team work and numbers may help your situation.

-Become transparent in the sense that you do not draw attention to yourself or your family. For instance, do not tell people that you are storing food just store food. Be prepared to render assistance to neighbors if need be. You never know when you will need them.
Remain calm! Do not panic.

-Avoid areas of civil unrest if possible. If caught in civil unrest take appropriate action.

-Get informed and stay informed. Understand martial law can be a temporary crisis or an extended one. In extreme cases the shape of a whole nation can change.

-Declaration of martial law means your rights are suspended and it is government by decree. Your constitutional rights may no longer apply. This could mean a state of National Emergency.

-People can be arrested and imprisoned indefinitely without charges.

-Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly can be suspended, and censorship of the media imposed.

-Gun ownership will also come under severe attack during marital law. We could see house to house searches by the military or National Guard looking for guns and seizing any they find along with stored food.

Take a stand on issues and make a choice that fits your beliefs and the situation. Do you believe as Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty or give me death?" Realize you may have some hard choices to make. Understand you may have to sacrifice your principles on trivial matters or take a hard stand. Always remember that you may have to come back and fight another day.

Senior IDF officers: Hezbollah hostilities liable to restart soon

2006-08-21T20:11:00.000-06:00

Members of the Israel Defense Forces General Staff say that "round two" between Israel and Hezbollah could begin within months or even weeks, probably over the renewal of arms deliveries to the organization from Iran and Syria.

Well of course, especially considering Israel yet again has violated a UN backed resolution. Let's see, Israel continues to invoke resolutions 1701 and 1559 but it has broken every single resolution against them since it's inception as a state. Chomsky aptly characterizes this double standard as the maxim of Thucydides. "The strong do as they can, and the weak suffer as they must." Click the link below to get the facts...

The following is a list of UN resolutions that concern Palestine (Arab and Jewish land), Israel only or bordering states (such as Lebanon). From 1967 to 1988 the UN Security Council passed 88 resolutions directly against Israel and during that span, Israel was condemned 43 times. During this time, in the UN General Assembly, 429 resolutions against Israel were passed, and Israel was condemned 321 times.

List of the UN resolutions concerning Israel

The Global Battle for Natural Resources

2006-08-21T19:39:00.000-06:00

COLLISION COURSE!

This online series by Spiegel, provides the reader with a "crash" course in the current Grand Resource Game which I touched upon in one of my previous postings. People need to start thinking big picture as to why there is so much strife in the Middle East and why it will get much much worse. Disregard the platitudes dealing with "freedom," "liberty," and "democracy." Don't be distracted by the corporate media prole feed (Jon Benet Ramsey case) or the admnistration's lies (terrorist attacks and WMD's). See this chaos in the world for what it is...global hegemony and monopolization of dwindling energy resources.

Was the war in Lebanon fought over oil?

2006-08-19T21:16:00.000-06:00

When war becomes literally continuous, it also ceases to be dangerous ~Orwell

Chossudovsky's conclusions seem very legitimate particularly in light of the following statement made by Bush recently

"Leaving before we complete our mission would create a terrorist state in the heart of the Middle East, a country with huge oil reserves that the terrorist network would be willing to use to extract economic pain from those of us who believe in freedom," Bush said

I'm assuming by "freedom", Bush means the "freedom" to steal, "extract," and expropriate the resources of other countries in the Middle East solely for the benefit of the United States and our clients.

Chossudovsky sums it all up by stating that Israel is now part of

“an Anglo-American military axis which serves the interests of the Western oil giants in the Middle East and Central Asia.”

Bush Must Negotiate to Make America Safer, Say Former Generals

2006-08-19T13:19:00.000-06:00

I listen to my one and only father, God!

Well duh! It doesn't take massive amounts of brain power let alone the warnings of some former militay leaders and foreign policy officials to realize that the Bushistas policy on Iran, and for that matter North Korea, Iraq and Syria, is completely detached from reality. But what do you expect from a religious ideaological zealot who wants to "change" the Middle East and the world!

Words not War, A Statement on Iran, August 2006

As former military leaders and foreign policy officials, we call on the Bush administration to engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions to help resolve the current crisis in the Middle East and settle differences over the Iranian nuclear program. We strongly caution against any consideration of the use of military force against Iran. The current crises must be resolved through diplomacy, not military action. An attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences for security in the region and U.S. forces in Iraq, and it would inflame hatred and violence in the Middle East and among Muslims elsewhere. A strategy of diplomatic engagement with Iran will serve the interests of the U.S. and its allies, and would enhance regional and international security.

Signed: -

Ambassador Harry Barnes, Former Ambassador to Chile, India, and Romania

Lieutenant General Julius Becton, U.S. Army (Ret.); Former commander, VIICorps, and Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency

Parker Borg, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy; Former Ambassador to Iceland and Mali; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotic Matters; Deputy Director of the Office for Combating Terrorism, U. S. State Department

Ambassador Peter Burleigh, Former U.S. Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations; Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives; Ambassador and Coordinator of the Office of Counter-Terrorism; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research; and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and South Asia

Ambassador Ralph Earle II, Former chief negotiator of the SALT II Treaty and Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

Brigadier General Evelyn P. Foote, U.S. Army (Ret.). Former Deputy Inspector General, U.S. Army

Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr., Former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia; Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs; Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, African Affairs, Charge/Deputy Chief of Mission, American Embassy (Bangkok; Beijing); and Director, Chinese Affairs, Department of State

Morton Halperin, Senior Fellow of the Center for American Progress; Director of U.S. Advocacy for the Open Society Institute; Former director of Policy Planning, Department of State

Lieutenant General Robert G. Gard, Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.); Former military assistant to the Secretary of Defense; president, National Defense University. Currently Senior Military Fellow, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

General Joseph P. Hoar, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.); Former Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command

Brigadier General John Johns, U.S. Army (Ret.); Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense

Professor Frank N. von Hippel, Former Assistant Director for National Security in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Dr. Lawrence Korb, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Installations and Logistics

Major General Frederick H. Lawson, U.S. Army Reserve (Ret.); Former Reserve Division Commander

Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy, U.S. Army (Ret.); former Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence

Lieutenant General Charles P. Otstott, U.S. Army (Ret.); former Deputy Chairman, NATO Military Committee

Ambassador Edward L. Peck, Former Chief of Mission in Iraq and Mauritania; Deputy Director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism; Deputy Coordinator for Covert Intelligence Programs and Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Department of State; Liaison Officer to the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Brig. Gen. Maurice D. Roush, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Dr. Sarah Sewall, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance; Foreign Policy Adviser to Senator George J. Mitchell

Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, U.S. Navy (Ret.). Former Director of the Center for Defense Information and currently Chairman, Military Advisory Committee, Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities

LTG James M. Thompson, U.S. Army (Ret.), Former Chief of Military Mission to Turkey (JUSMMAT); Chief of Staff, Allied Forces, Southern Europe

Vice Admiral Ralph Weymouth, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Former Commanding Officer of Flagship on Commander Middle East Force; Northern NATO Desk Officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Internal Security Affairs; and Commander, Iceland Defense Force

July deadliest month in Iraq, tallies show

2006-08-16T21:41:00.000-06:00

So what has been going on in Iraq lately? Are we set to turn the corner again or are we still going in circles like Dante's Inferno?

You are terrorists, we are virtuous:Yitzhak Laor on the IDF

2006-08-16T20:01:00.000-06:00

"We have the power and therefore we can enforce the logic."

Another voice of reason among Israelis......he sums up Israeli exceptionalism very succinctly

"Military thinking has become our only thinking. The wish for superiority has become the need to have the upper hand in every aspect of relations with our neighbours. The Arabs must be crippled, socially and economically, and smashed militarily, and of course they must then appear to us in the degraded state to which we’ve reduced them."

"Israel must always be allowed to do as it likes even if this involves scorching its supremacy into Arab bodies. This supremacy is beyond discussion and it is simple to the point of madness. We have the right to abduct. You don’t. We have the right to arrest. You don’t. You are terrorists. We are virtuous. We have sovereignty. You don’t. We can ruin you. You cannot ruin us, even when you retaliate, because we are tied to the most powerful nation on earth. We are angels of death."

Gullible Americans

2006-08-15T21:35:00.000-06:00

Gentle reader, wise up.
The entire world is laughing at you

Gullible Americans By Paul Craig Roberts

I was in China when a July Harris Poll reported that 50 percent of Americans still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when Bush invaded that country, and that 64 percent of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein had strong links with Al Qaeda.

The Chinese leaders and intellectuals with whom I was meeting were incredulous. How could a majority of the population in an allegedly free country with an allegedly free press be so totally misinformed?

The only answer I could give the Chinese is that Americans would have been the perfect population for Mao and the Gang of Four, because Americans believe anything their government tells them.

Americans never check any facts. Who do you know, for example, who has even read the Report of the 9/11 Commission, much less checked the alleged facts reported in that document. I can answer for you. You don’t know anyone who has read the report or checked the facts.

The two co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission Report, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, have just released a new book, “Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission.” Kean and Hamilton reveal that the commission suppressed the fact that Muslim ire toward the US is due to US support for Israel’s persecution and dispossession of the Palestinians, not to our “freedom and democracy” as Bush propagandistically claims. Kean and Hamilton also reveal that the US military committed perjury and lied about its failure to intercept the hijacked airliners. The commission even debated referring the military’s lies to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. Why should we assume that these admissions are the only coverups and lies in the 9/11 Commission Report?

How do you know that 9/11 was a Muslim terrorist plot? How do you know that three World Trade Center buildings collapsed because two were hit by airliners? You only “know” because the government gave you the explanation of what you saw on TV. (Did you even know that three WTC buildings collapsed?)

I still remember the enlightenment I experienced as a student in Russian Studies when I learned that the Czarist secret police would set off bombs and then blame those whom they wanted to arrest.

When Hitler seized dictatorial power in 1933, he told the Germans that his new powers were made necessary by a communist terrorist attack on the Reichstag. When Hitler started World War II by invading Poland, he told the Germans that Poland had crossed the frontier and attacked Germany.

Governments lie all the time--especially governments staffed by neoconservatives whose intellectual godfather, Leo Strauss, taught them that it is permissible to deceive the public in order to achieve their agenda.

Some readers will write to me to say that they saw a TV documentary or read a magazine article verifying the government’s explanation of 9/11. But, of course, these Americans did not check the facts either--and neither did the people who made the documentary and wrote the magazine article.

Scientists and engineers, such as Clemson University Professor of Engineering Dr. Judy Woods and BYU Professor of Physics Dr. Steven Jones, have raised compelling questions about the official account of the collapse of the three WTC buildings. The basic problem for the government's account is that the buildings are known to have fallen at free fall speed, a fact that is inconsistent with the government's "pancaking" theory in which debris from above collapsed the floors below. If the buildings actually "pancaked," then each floor below would have offered resistance to the floors above, and the elapsed time would have been much longer. These experts have also calculated that the buildings did not have sufficient gravitational energy to accommodate the government's theory of the collapse. It is certainly a known and non-controversial fact among physicists and engineers that the only way buildings can collapse at free fall speed into their own footprints is by engineered demolition. Explosives are used to remove the support of floors below before the debris from above arrives. Otherwise, resistance is encountered and the time required for fall increases. Engineered demolition also explains the symmetrical collapse of the buildings into their own foot prints. As it is otherwise improbable for every point in floors below to weaken uniformly, "pancaking" would result in asymmetrical collapse as some elements of the floor would give sooner than others.

Scientific evidence is a tough thing for the American public to handle, and the government knows it. The government can rely on people dismissing things that they cannot understand as "conspiracy theory." But if you are inclined to try to make up your own mind, you can find Dr. Jones' and Dr. Woods’ papers, which have been formally presented to their peers at scientific meetings, on line at http://www.st911.org/

Experts have also pointed out that the buildings' massive steel skeletons comprised a massive heat sink that wicked away the heat from the limited, short-lived fires, thus preventing a heat buildup. Experts also point out that the short-lived, scattered, low-intensity fires could barely reach half the melting point of steel even if they burned all day instead of merely an hour.

Don't ask me to tell you what happened on 9/11. All I know is that the official account of the buildings' collapse is improbable.

Now we are being told another improbable tale. Muslim terrorists in London and Pakistan were caught plotting to commit mass murder by smuggling bottles of explosive liquids on board airliners in hand luggage. Baby formula, shampoo and water bottles allegedly contained the tools of suicide bombers.

How do we know about this plot? Well, the police learned it from an “Islamic militant arrested near the Afghan-Pakistan border several weeks ago.” And how did someone so far away know what British-born people in London were plotting?
Do you really believe that Western and Israeli intelligence services, which were too incompetent to prevent the 9/11 attack, can uncover a London plot by capturing a person on the Afghan border in Pakistan? Why would “an Islamic militant” rat on such a plot even if he knew of it?

More probable explanations of the “plot” are readily available. According to the August 11 Wayne Madsen Report, informed sources in the UK report that “the Tony Blair government, under siege by a Labor Party revolt, cleverly cooked up a new ‘terror’ scare to avert the public’s eyes away from Blair’s increasing political woes. British law enforcement, neocon and intelligence operatives in the US, Israel, and Britain, and Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire cooked up the terrorist plot, liberally borrowing from the failed 1995 ‘Oplan Bjinka’ plot by Pakistan- and Philippines-based terrorist Ramzi Ahmad Yousef to crash 11 trans-Pacific airliners bound from Asia to the US.”

There are other plausible explanations. For example, our puppet in Pakistan decided to arrest some people who were a threat to him. With Bush’s commitment to “building democracy in the Middle East,” our puppet can’t arrest his political enemies without cause, so he lays the blame on a plot.
Any testimony against Muslim plotters by “an Islamic militant” is certain to have been bought and paid for.

Or consider this explanation. Under the Nuremberg standard, Bush and Blair are war criminals. Bush is so worried that he will be held accountable that he has sent his attorney general to consult with the Republican Congress to work out legislation to protect Bush retroactively from his violations of the Geneva Conventions.

Tony Blair is in more danger of finding himself in the dock. Britain is signatory to a treaty that, if justice is done, will place Blair before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

What better justification for the two war criminals’ illegal actions than the need to foil dastardly plots by Muslims recruited in sting operations by Western intelligence services? The more Bush and Blair can convince their publics that terrorist danger abounds, the less likely Bush and Blair are ever to be held accountable for their crimes.

But surely, some readers might object, our great moral leaders wouldn’t do something political like that!

They most certainly would. As Joshua Micah Marshall wrote in the July 7 issue of Time magazine, the suspicion is “quite reasonable” that “the Bush Administration orchestrates its terror alerts and arrests to goose the GOP’s poll numbers.”

Joshua Micah Marshall proves his conclusion by examining the barrage of color-coded terror alerts, none of which were real, and, yes, it all fits with political needs.

And don’t forget the plot unearthed in Miami to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Described by Vice President Cheney as a “very real threat,” the plot turned out to be nothing more than a few harmless whackos recruited by an FBI agent sent out to organize a sting.

There was also the “foiled plot” to blow up the Holland Tunnel and flood downtown New York City with sea water. Thinking New Orleans, the FBI invented this plot without realizing that New York City is above sea level. Of course, most Americans didn’t realize it either.

For six years the Bush regime has been able to count on the ignorant and naive American public to believe whatever tale that is told them. American gullibility has yet to fail the Bush regime.

The government has an endless number of conspiracy theories, but only people who question the government’s conspiracies are derided for “having a conspiracy theory.”

The implication is even worse if we assume that the explosive bottle plot is genuine. It means that America and Britain by their own aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by enabling Israel’s war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon, have created such hatred that Muslims, who identify with Bush’s, Blair’s, and Israel’s victims, are plotting retaliation.

But Bush is prepared. He has taught his untutored public that “they hate us for our freedom and democracy.”

Gentle reader, wise up. The entire world is laughing at you.

Peretz: We should create conditions for talks with Syria

2006-08-15T20:52:00.000-06:00

I hope for the sake of the region and world that the bloody nose that Israel has suffered will result in some modicum of humility and constructive dialogue on the part of the Israelis. I don't know if Peretz is sincere but we can only hope. I will say that Assad's words in this article are definitely based in reality. I'll leave the claims of political opportunism to those who are the masters of such tactics. This would include the current internal political dynamic in Israel where Netanyahu and the hard right are itching to take over power and do things "right." If this were to occur, all bets are off. There would be no dialogue and war would resume with more disastrous consequences...

Israel's verdict: we lost the war

2006-08-14T23:10:00.000-06:00

I thought they said they won? So much for saying it would be " a cheap war with many benefits."

THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE ZIONIST STATE OF ISRAEL…?

2006-08-14T21:37:00.000-06:00

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

This lecture by Allan Hart is ominous. Particularly the following account from a meeting he had with Golda Meir. I truly believe that Israel is hell bent on commiting national suicide. It will be their final Masada but it will have grave consequences for the rest of the world...

“Prime Minister I want to be sure I understand what you’re saying… You are saying that if ever Israel was in danger of being defeated on the battlefield, it would be prepared to take the region and the whole world down with it?” Without the shortest of pauses for reflection, Golda replied: “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” In those days Panorama went on-air at 8 o’clock on Monday evenings. Shortly after the transmission of that interview The Times had a new lead editorial. It quoted what Golda had said to me and added its view that “We had better believe her.” How, actually, would the Zionist state of Israel take at least the region down with it? It would arm its nuclear missiles, target Arab capitals, then fire the missiles. Such an End-Game to the Arab-Israeli conflict, if it happened, and which I would describe as a self-fulfilled Zionist prophesy of doom, would probably take many years to play out. But the countdown to such a catastrophe would be speeded up if, as Brzezinski put it, “neo-con policies continue to be pursued.” If they are, and if Iran is attacked, I think that a Clash of Civilisations, Judeo-Christian v Islamic, would become unstoppable.

SEYMOUR HERSH: Washington’s interests in Israel’s war

2006-08-14T21:27:00.000-06:00

Well, I have to hand it to Mr Hersh, his sources are always impeccable and stories compelling. We see from this article that Iran is clearly in the crosshaires. The following statement by Cheney epitomizes the ruthelessness, short-sightedness and nefarious designs of this administration. They are truly trying to instigate a world war!

"Cheney's point, the former senior intelligence official said, was 'What if the Israelis execute their part of this first, and it's really successful? It'd be great. We can learn what to do in Iran by watching what the Israelis do in Lebanon.'"

'The Best Guerrilla Force in the World'

2006-08-14T20:44:00.000-06:00

"Hezbollah will not finish a huge hero, but with its tail between its legs." ~Shimon Peres

The force definitely proved to be a formidable foe. This Washington Post article further tarnishes the reputation of the IDF. What more legitimacy can Hezbollah get? The Washington Post is not your most "liberal" source either. The bravado today coming from both the American and Israeli side was almost comical considering how a guerrilla force numbering a few thousand were able to battle the most powerful army in the Mideast to a relative stalemate. Israel gained absolutely nothing in this war and only furthered their demise. It is obvious Israel will seek revenge a third time and seek to settle scores. This was just a prelude for what is sure to be worse to come ...

What the Hell has happened to the Israeli Army?

2006-08-13T19:48:00.000-06:00

Indeed, what has happened to the mighty IDF? The IDF that thought they could repeat the successes of the 7 Day war against the hapless arab armies has been humbled by a sophisticated and motivated guerrilla force in Lebanon. Uri Avnery's article as well as the following articles by William S Lind and Bengali & Nissenbaum are a testament to what is turning out to be Israel's largest tactical failure since it's existence as a state. The United States had it's Vietnam syndrome which is now being replaced by the Iraq syndrome, and the Israelis have their Lebanon syndrome. Lind sums it up best by stating the following:

In Lebanon, it appears Hezbollah may win not only at the moral and mental, strategic and operational levels, but, astonishingly, at the physical and tactical levels as well. That outcome remains uncertain, but the fact that it is possible portends a revolutionary reassessment of what Fourth Generation forces can accomplish. If it actually happens, the walls of the temple that is the state system will be shaken world-wide.

Even more damning to the generals and politicians...

One pointer to a shift in the tactical balance is the comparative casualty counts. According to the Associated Press, as of this writing Lebanese dead total at least 642, of whom 558 are civilians, 29 Lebanese soldiers (who, at least officially, are not in the fight) and only 55 Hezbollah fighters. So Israel, with its American-style hi-tech "precision weaponry," has killed ten times as many innocents as enemies. In contrast, of 97 Israeli dead, 61 are soldiers and only 36 civilians, despite the fact that Hezbollah’s rockets are anything but precise (think Congreves). Israel can hit anything it can target, but against a Fourth Generation enemy, it can target very little. The result not only points to a battlefield change of some significance, it also raises the question of who is the real "terrorist." Terror bombing by aircraft is still terror.

The IDF has had a jolly of a time killing 3rd rate Fatah and Hamas militants and defenseless palestinian civilians for approximately 6 years since their pullout from Lebanon in 2000. Even their initial invasion of Lebanon to "cleanse" the south of the PLO was a picnic compared to the subsequent occupation which gave rise to Hezbollah in the first place. The PLO was a joke and operated like a conventional army with pageantry, uniforms, and fixed bases. The Israeli army wants the Lebanese army to "defend" the south and disarm Hezbollah because they know that they can massacre the Lebanese army the next time around just as they did the PLO. A civil war would also be in Israel's interests. However, with Hezbollah, the Israelis have encountered their match if not their superior on a tactical level. The IDF's hubris, arrogance and utter lack of morality has been exposed for the whole world to see except maybe in this country where the media has effectively decontextualized the entire conflict and shielded Israel from "bad publicity." Once again, we see that Israel is destroying herself from within much like the United States. The state system has been shaken by Fourth Generation asymmetrical warfare in Iraq and Lebanon but I'm afraid that as long as state systems possess nuclear arms, a hegemonic state hell bent on dominating through sheer brute force will not remain humbled for very long...

MASTERS OF WAR

2006-08-12T23:33:00.000-06:00

A tribute to Bob Dylan! Never was much of a Bob Dylan fan but his song, Masters of War, is a masterpiece. Although this was written during the Vietnam War, the words have never lost their meaning and power. The truth is self-sustaining...

MASTERS OF WAR
by Bob Dylan

Come you masters of war. You that build all the guns. You that build the death planes. You that build the big bombs.You that hide behind walls. You that hide behind desks. I just want you to know. I can see through your masks.

You that never done nothin'. But build to destroy. You play with my world. Like it's your little toy. You put a gun in my hand. And you hide from my eyes. And you turn and run farther. When the fast bullets fly.

Like Judas of old. You lie and deceive. A world war can be won. You want me to believe. But I see through your eyes. And I see through your brain. Like I see through the water. That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers. For the others to fire. Then you set back and watch. When the death count gets higher. You hide in your mansion. As young people's blood Flows out of their bodies. And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear. That can ever be hurled. Fear to bring children. Into the world. For threatening my baby. Unborn and unnamed.You ain't worth the blood. That runs in your veins

How much do I know. To talk out of turn. You might say that I'm young. You might say I'm unlearned. But there's one thing I know. Though I'm younger than you. Even Jesus would never Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question. Is your money that good. Will it buy you forgiveness. Do you think that it could. I think you will find. When your death takes its toll. All the money you made. Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die. And your death'll come soon. I will follow your casket. In the pale afternoon. And I'll watch while you're lowered. Down to your deathbed. And I'll stand o'er your grave'. Til I'm sure that you're dead...

Veteran Policy-Makers Fear Disaster in US Course

2006-08-11T22:46:00.000-06:00

"A chain reaction could spread quickly almost anywhere between Cairo and Bombay," Holbrooke warned. "… The combination of combustible elements poses the greatest threat to global stability since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, history's only nuclear superpower confrontation."

And what are we doing about this???? Amazing how this maniacal administration has turned the world completely upside down. Somebody stop this insanity!

Clearing the path for US war on Iran

2006-08-10T20:46:00.000-06:00

"Bush and I are in full agreement on how to confront Iran" ~Ehud Olmert

The "puzzle" is coming together very nicely. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the road to Tehran is running through Lebanon and soon Syria. The only thing precluding the current war from becoming a regional conflagration has been Syria's refusal to take the bait and enter the fray. The U.S. has unleashed its pit bull against the "terrorists" and we can mark May 24th, 2006 as the day it was decided to begin World War III.

In one of my earlier posts , I noted the significance of Olmert's visit to the United States and his unconscionable address to the U.S. Congress pushing for war. Prior to his address he met with Bush to "extensively" discuss the "Iranian issue." Apparently, there was a "full understanding" between Bush and Olmert "on how to deal with this matter" and Olmert came away from his discussion with Bush "very satisfied."

I'm sure the war monger was COMPLETELY DELIGHTED having essentially been given the green light to attack Lebanon by Bush and allow Israel to make a Clean Break for Beirut, Damascus and Tehran and "secure the realm."

Excerpt from A Clean Break:A New Strategy for Securing the Realm

Securing the Northern Border

Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one with which American can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hizballah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon, including by:

striking Syria’s drug-money and counterfeiting infrastructure in Lebanon, all of which focuses on Razi Qanan.
paralleling Syria’s behavior by establishing the precedent that Syrian territory is not immune to attacks emanating from Lebanon by Israeli proxy forces.
striking Syrian military targets in Lebanon, and should that prove insufficient, striking at select targets in Syria proper.

There it is everybody....all laid out nicely for those who possess thinking skills! Link the Israeli Likud Clean Break manifesto with Gareth Porter's article as well as the following revelations detailed in the articles below and we see that we're headed for a complete disaster!

Robertson, Olmert pray for victory

US neocons hoped Israel would attack Syria

U.S. & Israel Selecting Targets for Cruise Missile First-Strike Attack

Iranian official: For US, Iranian nuclear issue is just an excuse

Israel enhancing nuke-capable submarines

Hungry For World War III

Iran rejects 'illegal' nuclear demands

I can go on but according to the "optimists" these realities are mere fantasies. None of this is happening....no way. Take a deep breath...everything will be alright. Well I hope so. But I fear in this case what you "don't know" WILL hurt you!

Lebanese direct growing anger at US

2006-08-10T19:44:00.000-06:00

If you have a conscience..this is heartwrenching. OUR country is going to be damned for decades to come....I'm sorrry to say but it's the UNPLEASANT TRUTH!

FACTS MATTER, EVEN IF WE DO NOT LIKE THEM ~Noam Chomsky

WEXNER ANALYSIS: ISRAELI COMMUNICATION PRIORITIES 2003

2006-08-09T22:19:00.000-06:00

This is a document prepared by powerful and well-funded persons connected with the Israeli/Jewish lobby in the United States. The Wexner Foundation operates the "Birthright Israel" program funded by the Bronfman family and other super wealthy American and Canadian Jews who have agreed with leadership in Israel to take on this role. Luntz Research works in coordination.

If there ever was an incriminating document detailing the manner in which the Israelis conduct propaganda, this strategy document for the period following the war in Iraq takes the cake. All one has to do is replace palestinians, Iraq, Saddam Hussein and Mahmoud Abbas with Hizbollah, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Ahmadinejad, Nasrallah, Bashir Asad and a host of arab and muslim sounding names and places and one gets the same "perception management" result. The strategy that struck me the most was the following:

Employ rhetorical questions against opponents of Israel

"Of course rhetorical question work, don't they? Asking a question to which there is only one answer is hard to lose. It is essential that your communication be laced with rhetorical questions, which is how Jews talk anyway."

Keep the strategies laid out in this document in mind the next time you are listening to the chortles of the counteless Israeli pundits, apologists and spokesperson's presented to american audiences in the mainstream news. Indeed, the worst of them all, Dan Gillerman, is currently representing The Israeli mission at the UN and this is not counting John Bolton. Indeed, Israel has two missions to the U.N!

The New Munich

2006-08-07T22:10:00.000-06:00

"My good friends, for the first time in our history, a UN Secretary General has returned from Israel bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time."

UN Resolution
By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth

If there were any remaining illusions about the purpose of Israel’s war against Lebanon, the draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a “cessation of major hostilities” published at the weekend should finally dispel them. This entirely one-sided document was drafted, noted the Hebrew-language media, with close Israeli involvement. The top adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, talked through the resolution with the US and French teams, while the Israeli Foreign Ministry had its man alongside John Bolton at the UN building in New York.

The only thing preventing Israeli officials from jumping up and down with glee, according Aluf Benn of the daily Haaretz newspaper, was the fear that “demonstrated Israeli enthusiasm for the draft could influence support among Security Council members, who could demand a change in wording that may adversely affect Israel.” So no celebration parties till the resolution is passed.

Instead, in a cynical ploy familiar from previous negotiating processes, Israel submitted to the US a list of requests for amendments to the resolution. When Israel agrees to forgo these amendments, it will, of course, be able to take credit for its flexibility and desire to compromise; Lebanon and Hizbullah, on the other hand, will be cast as villains, rejecting international peace-making efforts.

The reason for Israel’s barely concealed pleasure is that Hizbullah now faces an international diplomatic and public relations assault in place of the unsuccessful Israeli military one. Israel, and the United States, are trying to set a series of traps for Hizbullah -- and Lebanon too -- that will justify Israel’s reoccupation of south Lebanon, the further ethnic cleansing of the country, and a widening of the war to include Iran, and possibly Syria.

The clues were not hard to decode. The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, characterised the aim of the resolution as clarifying who is acting in good faith. “We're going to know who really did want to stop the violence and who didn't,” she said. Or, in other words, we are going to be able to blame Hizbullah for the hostilities because we have offered them terms of surrender we know they will never agree to.

The main sticking point for Hizbullah is to be found in the resolution’s requirement that it must stop fighting and begin a process of disarmament at a time when Israeli forces are still occupying Lebanese territory and when there may be a lengthy, if not interminable, wait for their replacement by international peacekeepers. Not only that, but the resolution allows Israel to continue its military operations for defensive purposes: Hizbullah only has to look to Gaza or the West Bank to see what Israel is likely to consider falling under the rubric of “defensive”.

Hizbullah has been stockpiling weapons since Israel’s withdrawal in May 2000 precisely to create a “balance of deterrence”, to make Israel more cautious about sating its demonstrated appetite for occupying its neighbours’ lands, particularly when the neighbour is a small country like Lebanon without a proper army and divided into many sectarian groups, some of which, for a price, may be willing to collaborate with Israel.

This time, however, as Israeli troops struggle back towards the Litani River and their initial goal of creating a “buffer zone” similar to the one they held on to for nearly two decades, the Lebanese are rallying behind Hizbullah, convinced that the Shiite militia is their only protection against Western machinations for a “new Middle East”.

Israel and Washington, however, may hope that, given time, they can break that national solidarity by provoking a civil war in Lebanon to deplete local energies, similar to Israel’s attempts at engineering feuds between Hamas and Fatah in the occupied Palestinian territories. Certainly, it is difficult to make sense otherwise of Israel’s bombing for the first time of Christian neighbourhoods in Beirut and what looks like the intended ethnic cleansing of Sunni Muslims from Sidon, which was leafletted by Israeli war planes at the weekend.

On the US-Israeli view, a nation of refugees living in an open-air prison cut off from the outside world and deprived of food and aid -- a more ambitious version of the Gaza model -- may eventually be persuaded to take their wrath out on their Shiite defenders.

Hizbullah understands that the proposal to bring in a force of international peacekeepers is another trap. Either the foreign troops will never arrive, because on these Israeli-imposed terms there can be no ceasefire, or, if they do arrive, they will quickly become a proxy occupation army. Israel will have its new South Lebanon Army, supplied direct this time from the UN and subsidised by the West. If Hizbullah fights, it will be killing foreign peacekeepers not Israeli soldiers.

But Israel knows the international force is almost certainly a non-starter, which seems to be the main reason it has now, belatedly, become so enthusiastic for it. Senior Israeli government officials were saying as much in the Hebrew-language media on Sunday.

Israel’s Justice Minister, the increasingly hawkish Haim Ramon, summed up the view from Tel Aviv: “Even if it is passed, it is doubtful that Hezbollah will honor the resolution and halt its fire. Therefore we have to continue fighting, continue hitting anyone we can hit in Hezbollah, and I assume that as long as that goes on, Israel's standing, diplomatically and militarily, will improve.”

Israel hopes it will be able to keep hitting Hizbullah harder -- at less cost to its troops and civilians, and with improved diplomatic standing -- because in the next phase, after the resolution is passed, the Shiite militia will find that one arm has been tied, figuratively speaking, behind its back.

Not only will Washington and Israel blame Hizbullah for refusing to agree to the ceasefire but they will seek to use any retaliation against Israeli “defensive” aggression -- including, presumably, further invasion -- as a pretext for widening the war and dragging in the real target of their belligerence: Iran.

This subterfuge was voiced at the weekend by Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, who told the BBC that if Hizbullah fired at Tel Aviv -- which it has threatened to do if Israel continues attacking Beirut -- this would be tantamount to an “act of war” that could only have been ordered by Iran. In other words, at some point soon Israel may stop blaming Hizbullah and turn its fire -- defensively, of course -- on Iran.

This linkage is being carefully prepared by Olmert. On Monday, according to the Hebrew-language press, he told some 50 government spokespeople what message to deliver to the foreign media: “Our enemy is not Hezbollah, but Iran, which employs Hezbollah as its agent.” According to Haaretz, he urged the spokespeople “not to be ashamed to express emotion and appeal to feelings”.

So in the coming days, in the wake of this US-Israeli concoction of an impossible peace, we are going to be hearing a lot more nonsense from Israel and the White House about Iran’s role in supposedly initiating and expanding this war, its desire to “wipe Israel off the map” and the nuclear weapons it is developing so that it can achieve its aim.

The capture of two Israeli soldiers on 12 July will be decoupled from Hizbullah’s domestic objectives. No one will talk of those soldiers as bargaining chips in the prisoner swap Hizbullah has been demanding; or as an attempt by Hizbullah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to deflect US-inspired political pressure on him to disarm his militia and leave Lebanon defenceless to Israel’s long-planned invasion; or as a populist show of solidarity by Hizbullah with the oppressed Palestinians of Gaza.

Those real causes of hostilities will be ignored as more, mostly Lebanese, civilians die, and Israel and the US expand the theatre of war. Instead we will hear much of the rockets that are still landing in northern Israel and how they have been supplied by Iran. The fact that Hizbullah attacks followed rather precipitated Israel’s massive bombardment of Lebanon will be forgotten. Rockets fired by Hizbullah to stop Israeli aggression against Lebanon will be retold as an Iranian-inspired war to destroy the Jewish state. The nuclear-armed Goliath of Israel will, once again, be transformed into a plucky little David. Or at least such is the Israeli and US scenario.

Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His book, “Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State”, is published by Pluto Press. His website is www.jkcook.net

Israel does not act or speak for every Jew

2006-08-05T12:16:00.000-06:00

I think this opinion piece is not only important for me but for all to see. There are Jewish voices that speak for truth, justice and peace. Unfortunately, they are drowned out and ridiculed as all peacemakers throughout history have been. His premise is very important and something that must be considered when people around the world speak out against the Israeli government's actions which are quickly labeled anti-semitic. When the Iranian president states that the zionist regime must be eliminated it is always translated by the west to mean that the Iranian president and his nation seek the destruction of "Israel" and the jews. This is far from the truth and a convenient way to stir up war hysteria in the west against Iran. Jews themselves make distinctions between Judaism and the secular immoral actions of the Israeli zionist state. It's time that more americans are exposed to this very real distinction, particularly among american jews. As this author states

"Until Jews are prepared to articulate the need to sever the identification of Judaism and Israel, anti-Semitism will flourish. Until Jews are prepared to argue that the Holocaust and its legacy is not the province of a nation state, let alone a justification for Zionism, our responsibility in relation to the dead will continue to be betrayed. We should demand better of ourselves."

Hizbullah's attacks stem from Israeli incursions into Lebanon

2006-08-02T23:23:00.000-06:00

This one speaks for itself...

Police state: Bush submits new terror detainee bill:

2006-07-30T22:37:00.000-06:00

In other news. On the homefront.....the Constitution and Bill of Rights continue to be assualted. It's just a "goddamned piece of paper" anyway...

The Pathology Of Israeli Power

2006-07-30T22:08:00.000-06:00

An excellent commentary on the Israeli psyche. It has always remained a mystery to me how a people that has suffered so much can turn from being the victims to becoming the victimizers. I always attributed it to paranoia and insecurity/narcissism but as this article points out, ideology plays major part

"The new ideology combines four main elements: a nationalist militarism more or less associated with religious fundamentalism; avowed racism; a die-hard spirit impregnated with messianism; and a willingness to question every democratic norm. Put together, these elements help shape a generalized paranoia, which leads Israelis to view the whole world as an existential threat to Jewish survival in the Middle East or anywhere else. This new ideology's first and doubtless most perverse effect is acceptance of the domestic state of siege and normalization of death." (Michel Warschawski, "Israeli Democracy,")

The "hiding among civilians" myth

2006-07-30T21:04:00.000-06:00

Another Israeli lie revealed...

So the analysts talking on cable news about Hezbollah "hiding within the civilian population" clearly have spent little time if any in the south Lebanon war zone and don't know what they're talking about. Hezbollah doesn't trust the civilian population and has worked very hard to evacuate as much of it as possible from the battlefield. And this is why they fight so well -- with no one to spy on them, they have lots of chances to take the Israel Defense Forces by surprise, as they have by continuing to fire rockets and punish every Israeli ground incursion.

And the civilians? They see themselves as targeted regardless of their affiliation. They are enraged at Israel and at the United States, the only two countries on earth not calling for an immediate cease-fire. Lebanese of all persuasions think the United States and Israel believe that Lebanese lives are cheaper than Israeli ones. And many are now saying that they want to fight.

Israeli Strike Kills 56, Mostly Children

2006-07-30T09:45:00.000-06:00

JUST GIVE ME 10-14 MORE DAYS TO
KILL MORE WOMEN AND CHILDREN...

The rhetoric by the Israelis and Rice is morally reprehensible. At least 40 women and children were reportedly killed in this massacre and the world remains silent and is powerless to demand an immediate ceasefire. If Israeli children were killed in this manner, the mainstream media would have a field day and 24/7 coverage. The international "community" is one big powerless farce. The U.N. has been effectively castrated of its relevancy. Moreover, the statements of regret made by Olmert, Halutz and Peretz ring hollow especially considering they have been making public statement suchs as the following

“All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah."

"I am sorry with all my heart for the residents of Gaza. . . but the lives and well-being of Sderot's residents are more important than those of Gazans"

In the latter one just replace "Gaza" with "southern Lebanon" and "Gazans" with "Lebanese" and it's just the same racist rhetoric. The Israeli government is cleary engaged in a racist war. They are ethnically cleansing the people of southern Lebanon with threats and bombs. This is not terror according to Israeli apologists. This is 'defense" and "self-inflicted" because the citizens who remain in southern Lebanon are culturally inferior terrorists! The Israeli and U.S. governments continue to show themselves for what they are, morally bankrupt failed states...

Israel's secret war: the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Palestine

2006-07-29T10:20:00.000-06:00

Something else to "think" about...This of course, is "self-inflicted." How dare the Palestinians excercise democracy and vote in a government that is branded as "terrorists." They are supposed to vote for an autocratic, corrupt, collusionist and compliant Israeli puppet such a Fatah who is willing to agree upon an imposed peace that benefits Israelis only. Seems like the west only likes democracy when they are able to control it. If they can't, "collective punishment" is the order of the day. Afterall, palestinians are all guilty by association and thus terrorist extremists who deserve to be treated like animals in a prison with no roof...They need to moderate and prostrate themselves under a constant barrage of bombs. Wonderful logic!

The Lies Israel Tells Itself (and We Tell on Its Behalf)

2006-07-29T09:17:00.000-06:00

A very well thought out and written commentary by Jonathan Cook. This was the most revealing excerpt of the commentary for me given a recent debate I had with an individual who claims to be an authority in "critical thinking" because he "teaches" a critical thinking course to american students.

Jonathan Cook: And, if we are honest, Israel is not alone. How many of us want the Arabs to remain faceless so we can keep believing we are the victims of a new ideology that wants only our evisceration, just as the "Red Indians" once supposedly wanted our scalps? How many many of us believe that our values demand that we fall in behind a new world order in which Arab deaths are not real deaths because "they" are not fully human?

And how many of us believe that deliberate barbarity, at least when we do it, is only "apparently" a crime against humanity?

Anonymous "educator:" Let's face it, both sides are wrong here. But don't make it sound like Israel is always wrong and the Arabs are always the poor victim. Most of their pain is self-inflicted. I have to tell you that over the past few years, as I have learned more about that culture, I am starting to really hate it and sometimes them.

Religiosity is a scourge on the Earth, and too many Muslims take it to the extreme lately. Any group that blows up a 2000 year old Buddhist shrine is shit in my eyes. Now I know they don't all feel so extreme, but until moderate ones take back the mantle, they will remain shit to me.

Is it any wonder that americans are so in the dark when it comes to understanding the true nature and root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? With "educators" such as this, who needs extremist foreign enemies. I suggest the individual who made these comments read Mr. Cook's article and sharpen his critical thinking skills...

Israel says world backs offensive

2006-07-28T22:28:00.000-06:00

THE WORLD SAYS...
"GREEN LIGHT!"

So much for the Israeli government's "defensive" justification. There is no defense for the following comments:

Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon “said that in order to prevent casualties among Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops moved in.He added that Israel had given the civilians of southern Lebanon ample time to quit the area and therefore anyone still remaining there could be considered a Hezbollah supporter.

“All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah,” Mr Ramon said.

Bush again embraced Israel’s effort in Lebanon this week - even after the Justice Minister’s comments...

Bush is flouting Constitution, bar says

2006-07-25T22:05:00.000-06:00

POWER WORSHIP- The question for all such thinkers is why people accept tyranny. Coercion and fear play a part, but consent and conformism are also involved. Some of the oppressed embrace their oppression. Why?

THE 12 WARNING SIGNS OF FASCISM

1) Exuberant nationalism

2) Enemies identified

3) Rights disappear

4) Secrecy demanded

5) Military glorified

6) Corporations shielded

7) Corruption unchecked

8) Media controlled

9) Rampant sexism

10) Intellectual bullying

11) Police militarized

12) Elections stolen

Israel will create more terrorists than it kills

2006-07-24T20:38:00.000-06:00

No further comments...

'10 buildings for every rocket'

2006-07-24T19:57:00.000-06:00

07/24/06 "Aljazeera" -- - The Israeli air force has been ordered to hit 10 buildings in south Beirut - where Hezbollah has its headquarters - for every rocket the group fires at the Israeli port of Haifa.

"Army chief of staff Dan Halutz has given the order to the air force to destroy 10 multi-storey buildings in the Dahaya district (of Beirut) in response to every rocket fired on Haifa," a senior air force officer told army radio on Monday.

Hezbollah rockets killed two people in the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Sunday.

Seventeen Israelis have died in rocket attacks since the beginning of the conflict on July 12.

More than 2,200 Hezbollah rockets had hit northern Israel by Sunday. They have struck as far as Afula, 50km south of the border.

Large areas of predominantly Shia Muslim southern Beirut have been destroyed by Israeli raids. On Wednesday Israeli aircraft dropped 23 tons of explosives on the site of an alleged Hezbollah bunker in the south of the capital.

Jan Egeland, the United Nations humanitarian co-ordinator, on Sunday accused Israel of violating humanitarian law as he toured the destroyed suburbs of south Beirut.

"This is destruction of block after block of mainly residential areas. I would say it seems to be an excessive use of force in an area with so many citizens," he said.

Sounds awfully familiar....

Convinced that collective punishment was failing because it wasn’t severe enough, the führer issued a September 1941 order to use “the harshest measures” against civilians in areas where the Resistance was active. Arguing that “only the (collective) death penalty can be a real means of deterrence,” Hitler ordered that 50 civilians be executed for each German soldier killed.

Read the following article by Ted Rall for the complete context of Israeli actions in Gaza and Lebanon and those of the U.S. in Iraq.

Collective Punishment Isn't Self-Defense

UN appalled by Beirut devastation

2006-07-23T10:23:00.000-06:00

Well of course! Some truths are self-evident. Bombing a sovereign country backwards 20 years over 2 kidnapped soldiers would seem "a violation of international law." However, what do we continue to hear and see while the innocent of Lebanon are subjected to illegal collective punishment and attacks on their infrastructure?...

Israel believes U.S. will grant it a week to end incursion

U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis

Middle East Crisis: Who backs an immediate ceasefire?

Rice sees bombs as birth pangs

White House Calls on Jewish Groups to Line Up Behind John Bolton

I can go on....

Department of Defense Funds $450K Blog Research Project

2006-07-22T12:32:00.000-06:00

SAY GOODBYE TO THE CONSTITUTION
AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS!

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research will fund a three-year research project shepherded by Versatile Information Systems Inc. that will seek out “relevant and credible” information pertaining to terrorist activity on blogs. (via boingboing.net)

Defenselink Press Release:

ARLINGTON, Va., June 29, 2006 – The Air Force Office of Scientific Research recently began funding a new research area that includes a study of blogs. Blog research may provide information analysts and warfighters with invaluable help in fighting the war on terrorism.

Dr. Brian E. Ulicny, senior scientist, and Dr. Mieczyslaw M. Kokar, president, Versatile Information Systems Inc., Framingham, Mass., will receive approximately $450,000 in funding for the 3-year project entitled “Automated Ontologically-Based Link Analysis of International Web Logs for the Timely Discovery of Relevant and Credible Information.”

“It can be challenging for information analysts to tell what’s important in blogs unless you analyze patterns,” Ulicny said.Patterns include the content of the blogs as well as what hyperlinks are contained within the blog.

Israel set war plan more than a year ago

2006-07-22T10:00:00.000-06:00

"GOT PRETEXT?"

"The Polish state has rejected my efforts to establish neighborly relations, and instead has appealed to weapons. Germans in Poland are victims of a bloody terror, driven from house and home. A series of border violations unbearable for a great power show that the poles no longer are willing to respect the German border.

To put an end to these insane incitations, nothing remains but for me to meet force with force from now on. The German army will conduct a fight for honor and the right to the life of the resurrected German people with firm determination. I expect that every soldier, mindful of the great traditions of the eternal German military, will do his duty to the last.

Remember always that you are representatives of the National Socialist great Germany. Long live our people and our reich!" ~Adolf Hitler

With those fateful words WWII officially began. Fast forward to the current conflict between Israel and Lebanon and we see frightening parallels. The information presented in this revealing article, which the supine mainstream media has yet to even bring up, clearly shows that Israel had this thing planned long ago and was waiting for a pretext to make it operational. The "kidnap" of the Israeli soldiers by both Hamas and Hezbollah provided just that. The latter action by Hezbollah will prove to be the modern day version of the Gleiwitz incident that prompted Hitler's illegal attack on Poland on Sept 1, 1939 which set off the Second World War.

I continue to be disgusted by the mainstream press and how they frame this indefensible aggression perpetrated by the Israeli government against a sovereign nation. They continue to couch the illegal act in defensive euphemistic terms and pin complete blame for the catastrophe on Hezbollah when we see from this article that Israel had nefarious designs for years! Why doesn't the mainstream media talk about this? Why do they continue to be disgusting apologists for Israel? Yes, Hezbollah has also been picking for a fight and they are not blameless by any means, however they are the only force in Lebanon that has kept Israel honest and prevented them from completely occupying Lebanon which is one of their stated goals as layed out in "A Clean Break: A New strategy for Securing the Realm." This is the Israeli version of the PNAC manifesto which outlines the intentions of Israel to reshape the Middle East. It is complete idealogical lunacy! The U.S. Neocons and Likud Neocons in Israel who have disguised themselves as a bogus progressive peaceful party called Kadema, are now applying the full court press in the Middle East. Syria and Iran are clearly the next targets. This is perfect timing because it draws attention away from the Iraqi debacle which is now turning into a complete disaster and it also strengthens the republican war hawks going into the midterm elections. Another masterful stroke by Rove and the Neocons. Orwell's words never rang so true as with the present situation in the Middle East....

"Permanent, limited war allows each ruling party to maintain limited war hysteria indefintiely. (Internal opposition is less likely when external dangers seem great). Never-ending war preparations also permit each party to keep the proles in drudgery by maintaining artificial poverty.

All surplus is siphoned into military spending. The proles, as a consequence are "stupefied" by economic hardship." ~George Orwell, 1984

I'm not sure how much longer this permanent war we are experiencing will be limited but the prole majority is definitely being stupefied with each passing day...

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land

2006-07-21T22:32:00.000-06:00

For those of you who may not be aware of the tactics Israel and the U.S. media employ to distort and manipulate American public perceptions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, I urge you to view this excellent documentary. You will never be able to watch mainstream news ever again!

Summary
Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one.

Doing bin Laden's Work

2006-07-21T20:25:00.000-06:00

Scheur is pretty much on the money with this piece. Ironically, it was announced today that Bin Laden is set to make another speech. It will focus on the current Israeli aggression and U.S. criminal complicity in Lebanon. When I saw the press wire, I immediately harked back to a prior Bin Laden speech that was released a couple of days before the 2004 elections. The speech proved to be an enormous boost for Bush heading into the presidential elections at the time. I recalled how Bin Laden explained his raison d'etre and how it was spurred by Israel's attack on Lebanon back in 1982. Juan Cole, a leading expert in Middle East affairs, discusses this very same topic in one of his many insightful blog posts (click here).

I think he's correct in saying that it is doubtful that Bin Laden was thinking about hitting the U.S. at that precise moment in time since his main focus was probably Afghanistan and fighting the Soviets. In fact, Bin Laden was being assisted by the CIA at the time and was grateful for U.S. support. However, I'm sure he still saw the injustice of it all and was angered by it nonetheless. Although the U.S. wasn't completely on his radar screen at the time, he probably stored the atrocity in his long term memory and drew upon it once the Soviets were disposed of and the U.S. and Israel became his new sworn enemies. Therefore, I do believe it was a key "event" that "affected" his "soul." He stated (Transcript):

The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced.

I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy.

The situation was like a crocodile meeting a helpless child, powerless except for his screams. Does the crocodile understand a conversation that doesn't include a weapon? And the whole world saw and heard but it didn't respond.

In those difficult moments many hard-to-describe ideas bubbled in my soul, but in the end they produced an intense feeling of rejection of tyranny, and gave birth to a strong resolve to punish the oppressors.

And as I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children.

And that day, it was confirmed to me that oppression and the intentional killing of innocent women and children is a deliberate American policy. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance.

Obviously Bin Laden's "soul" is most likely not taking too kindly to Lebanon redux, the 2006 version. If Bin Laden truly exists and is not a CIA creation as some have posited, we are probably going to experience some massive blowback very very soon. The spectre of Bin Laden's message looms large. Israel's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, wasn't kidding when he stated (click here) :

"If the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years."

Unfortunately for Israel and Mr Halutz, they may have succeeded in turning Lebanon's AND Israel's clock back 20 years but he's moved the doomsday clock forward! Such disgusting comments completely expose Israel as a rogue state that prefers to go backward in time rather than progress forward and create the conditions for a true and lasting peace in that region. This is not the rhetoric of a supposed responsible and civilized nation. This is the rhetoric of a backward nation that has lost it's morality, humanity, and sanity! They truly are committing national suicide and they are going to take down the world with them! There will be no Holocaust museums dedicated to the human race once we extinguish ourselves from the planet.

Rice Defends Israel, Calls Criticisms of Bush Policy 'Grotesque'

2006-07-20T22:21:00.000-06:00

ISRAEL "DEFENDS" ITSELF!

Rice rejected the notion that U.S. operations in Iraq have shaken Middle East stability, arguing, "Those hostilities were not very well contained, as we found out on Sept. 11, and so the notion that somehow policies that finally confront extremism are actually causing extremism, I find grotesque."

No Ms Rice! Do you want to know what is truly "GROTESQUE" ..... THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS. Want to see more?

"For all of those who believe that we somehow had stability in the Middle East over the last 60 years and it's now been disturbed: Where do we think Hezbollah and Hamas and these other extremist forces came from?" she added. "They weren't born yesterday, these forces have been developing and threatening the Middle East and arresting positive developments for decades."

Rice defended Israel's right to counter the attacks.

"No state is going to sit and allow rockets to be fired into its country and not defend its citizens," she said. "While Israel defends itself, we would hope that it does it in a way that preserves the way for a broader peace."

So according to this war whore, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and the zillion other extremist groups in the region were created out of a vacuum! They just hate because they are simply "evil," "irrational," "crazy," "Islamofascist terrorists." If only the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the last 60 years was as simplistic as yourself. This is the true root cause of the instablity in the region not to mention our massive presence in muslim lands and support of autocratic/client regimes such as those in Saudia Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and so forth.

In the words of our imbecile president...."STOP THIS SHIT!"

House overwhelmingly backs Israel in vote

2006-07-20T19:43:00.000-06:00

ISRAELI OCCUPIED TERRITORY!

410 to 8! 410 to 8! 410 to 8! Do you see and hear that!!!! As the article notes, when it comes to U.S. foreign policy and Israel it is amazing how in lockstep these so called U.S. "Representatives" march. Here is the proof for all of those who scream "anti-semitism" and suppress debate whenever somebody dares mention how much influence the Israeli lobby has over our precious "elected" officials. There is almost unanimous solidarity for Israelis yet U.S. citizens are being treated like second class citizens with each pasing day by authoritarian "conservatives" and spineless "liberals" in Congress under the current National Security State. The actions of this Congress are simply disgusting and beyond reproach. This proves that the only thing these pandering elites are concerned with is maintaining their hold on power. How else can one explain let alone justify this blind and unquestioning loyality to a criminal Israeli government? How did Israel and Israelis replace the U.S. and americans as the constituents of congress? When was this social contract with the Israelis made? Is there an amendment to the Constitution that I 'm not aware of?

John Locke, in "Two Treatises of Government," declared that under natural law all people have the right to life, liberty and estate. He wrote that under the social contract, the people could instigate a revolution against the government when it acted against the interests of citizens and replace the government with another government in the interests of its OWN citizens. The right of rebellion thus essentially acted as a safeguard against tyranny. In fact, John Locke's social contract theory formed the basis of our very own revolution against the tyranny of the first King George and his empire when the Declaration of Independence was written:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is in the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.

When Benjamin Franklin was asked at the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on that fateful day September 18, 1787 whether we had a republic or a monarchy, he presciently replied "A republic if you can keep it."

Ladies and gentlemen, this republic is on life support if not dead already. The next large scale terrorist attack and imperial adventure will effectively end the last vestiges of this once "enlightened" state...

Where is the rage? Where is the outrage?

2006-07-17T20:32:00.000-06:00

Ho hum.....thousands are dying in the Middle East every day and the U.S. Constitution is being relegated to the trash heap. The only solution to all of this madness....shop shop shop till you drop!

Lebanon civilian deaths morally not same as "terror victims" -- Bolton

2006-07-17T20:02:00.000-06:00

SO TELL ME AGAIN...
"WHY DO THEY HATE US?"

Lebanon civilian deaths morally not same as "terror victims" -- Bolton By Agence France

Presse07/17/06 -- - UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - US Ambassador John Bolton said there was no moral equivalence between the civilian casualties from the Israeli raids in Lebanon and those killed in Israel from "malicious terrorist acts".

Asked to comment on the deaths in an Israeli air strike of eight Canadian citizens in southern Lebanon Sunday, he said: "it is a matter of great concern to us ...that these civilian deaths are occurring. It's a tragedy."

"I think it would be a mistake to ascribe moral equivalence to civilians who die as the direct result of malicious terrorist acts," he added, while defending as "self-defense" Israel's military action, which has had "the tragic and unfortunate consequence of civilian deaths".

The eight dead Canadians were a Lebanese-Canadian couple, their four children, his mother and an uncle, said relatives in Montreal.

The Montreal pharmacist and his family had arrived in Lebanon 10 days earlier for a vacation in his parents' home village and to introduce his children to relatives, they said.

Three of his Lebanese relatives died too, a family member told AFP.

"It's simply not the same thing to say that it's the same act to deliberately target innocent civilians, to desire their deaths, to fire rockets and use explosive devices or kidnapping versus the sad and highly unfortunate consequences of self-defense," Bolton noted.

The overall civilian death toll from the Israeli onslaught in Lebanon since last Wednesday reached 195, in addition to 12 soldiers, officials said. Twenty-four Israelis have also been killed since fighting began last Wednesday, including 12 civilians in a barrage of Hezbollah rocket fire across the border.

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse

We're Being Set Up for Wider War in the Middle East

2006-07-16T23:54:00.000-06:00

THE FOUR "ASSES"
OF THE APOCALYPSE

This excellent commentary speaks volumes about the present situation in the Middle East. We're seeing the intitial stages of a much greater and disastrous war to come in the Middle East. Let's also not forget about North Korea who is promising all out war as well due to recent U.N. actions. I've lost all hope for humanity. The U.N. is a puppet of the United States and has allowed Israel to make a complete mockery of international law for decades. The U.N. is worthless and has effectively been relegated to the same fate as the defunct League of Nations. The war in Iraq was the first domino, the rest are falling right in line. Mission Accomplished by Bush and his irresponsible and dangerous regime! I'm sure the Pentecostals and Evangelical nut cases are loving the fact that Armageddon is close at hand.

Putin Thinks Israel 'Pursuing Wider Goals'

2006-07-15T18:42:00.000-06:00

Looks like Putin is fully aware that Israel is making its "Clean Break"

President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that he thinks Israel is pursuing wider goals in its military campaign against Lebanon than the return of its captured soldiers.

"However complicated the questions are, maximum efforts must be applied to resolve the situation in a peaceful way and I think all efforts have not been exhausted," Putin said. "However, it is our impression that aside from seeking to return the abducted soldiers, Israel is pursuing wider goals."

I am also certain that Mr Putin is well aware of the U.S.'s wider Grand Chessboard geostrategic goals in the Middle East first outlined by Carter's former National Security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski. It is clear that U.S. and Israeli interests are intertwined and are now working in tandem in the Middle East. The central argument of Brzezinski's book is chillingly prescient given the current state of affairs in the region.

"while the United States dominates most of the world and has significant influence on the three peripheries of Eurasia (Western Europe, South West Asia, and the Far East), it is from the heartland of Eurasia that a potential rival may emerge. He argues that the United States must therefore identify those states that may have the potential to shift the international balance-of power and once identified to formulate policies to counter or co-opt these state, so as to preserve American interests (pp. 39-40). He identifies several, what he calls, "geostrategic players" (Germany, France, Russia, China and to a lesser extent Japan) as potential rivals for Eurasian hegemony. He also identifies several "geopolitical pivots" that would be critical for the rise of these potential hegemonic challengers. Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran he argues are crucial for any revival of Russian dominance in Eurasia while South Korea is vital for either a Chinese or Japanese hegemonic challenge (pp. 40-48)."

The major geo-strategic players and pivots are Russia, China, Iran, Syria and Venezuela. The latter of which was probably never considered by Brzezinski. These players and pivots have clearly manifested themselves as "rivals" that threaten U.S. "Eurasian hegemony." One can also add North Korea to the list of rivals but they have been essentially "created" and used as a pivot by the U.S. to coerce Japan into our sphere as a check against China, the major rival to U.S. hegemony on the entire globe let alone Eurasia. India, of course, is also a major player but we've bought them off with advanced nuclear technology.

The first move on this Grand Chessboard was made by the U.S. when it attacked Iraq and occupied it. The ultimate prize is Iran. If the U.S. were to control Iran, they would essentially control the region and hence the global economy since most of the world's remaining oil and gas reserves are located in the Middle East. It would be a complete coup and would effectively strangle and contain energy hungry China...or so we believe. Obviously, for those who have a knowledge of history, this dangerous posturing among powers is alarmingly similar to the alliances and military build up that the "Great Powers" engaged in during the period leading up to both World Wars. This is no joke my friends. There will only be losers at the conclusion of this game! We can thank Israel and U.S. complicity for starting the second stage in what is turning into a global struggle of dangerous competing and misguided idealogies all the result of dwindling resources, religious extremism, and nefarious territorial designs. God help us all.....if one even exists!

Daily Show exposes Stevens' net neutrality expertise

2006-07-15T18:19:00.000-06:00

With the Middle East teetering on all out war, here is some much needed humor from the comedic genius of satire Jon Stewart. For all those who are not familiar with Senator Stevens from Alaska, he is head of the Senate Commerce Committee and the same senile old man who threw a tirade on the senate floor when it was proposed that $453 million earmarked for two Alaska bridges to nowhere should be diverted for reconstruction efforts in New Orleans. If you thought that was bad get a load of his understanding of the internet and net neutrality. The self rightouseness of this man is beyond reproach....only the Israeli government has him beat!

Israel’s goals in attacking Lebanon

2006-07-13T21:06:00.000-06:00

OPERATION "GREATER ISRAEL"
HAS COMMENCED....

This article, published in the Tehran Times, seems to be the most plausable explanation for Israel's unconscionable actions against the people of Gaza and Lebanon. Syria definitely seems to be the target but Israel must be aware that they risk losing complete control over the situation and will plunge the region into the abyss if they continue to use the "hammer" and view every problem as a nail. The recent statement made by Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad obviously lends credence to my assertion that Israel is going down a suicidal path that will only result in its deligitimization as a supposed "enlightened state" and may well lead to it's eventual extinction. Israel is bringing about its own destruction and could bring down the rest of the world with them. It reminds me of a Jewish poem I once heard about a woman named Rachel who was so distraught over her inability to win over a certain man's affection, that she was willing to commit suicide if she couldn't have what she so desperately desired. To her the most satisfying thing about taking her own life was that she had control over it. She couldn't control her desire to have what really mattered which was true LIFE embodied in love. However, she had the power to bring destruction upon herself and if she so desired, upon others.

"I shall lock the doors to my heart and cast the key to the sea. My heart shall know no more dread upon hearing your approach. I have but one consolation; that I have brought this upon myself."

I think this sums up how Israel views the Israel-Palestinian conflict. They are willing to imprison millions of people in Gaza (a prison without a roof) and subject them to humiliation, destitution and a hopeless existence because they have locked the doors to their heart and to all of humanity. All that matters to Israel is it's own existence at the expense of the existence of others. I don't see much difference, if any, between palestinians who take their lives by committing acts of suicide against those who continue to deny them a state or a history and hence an existence, and Israelis who are willing to commit national suicide to protect and expand an apartheid and morally bankrupt state that is an anathema to their very own religion of Judaism.

How else can one explain such a callous zionist statement made by Olmert in response to the indiscriminate killings of palestinians during the Gaza assaults..... or "incursions" as the Israeli and US media like to call them.

"I am sorry with all my heart for the residents of Gaza. . . but the lives and well-being of Sderot's residents are more important than those of Gazans"

Worse yet...how about the following deplorable comment by Olmert

" I want nobody to sleep at night in Gaza"

This is the rhetoric of a man who lacks a moral compass. How is this language not the language of terrorism?

As far as the U.S. and it's complicity in this conflict, one only has read the comments of Bush and witness the actions of the U.S at the U.N. today to see that the US government is anything but an "honest broker."

Japan's leaders consider legality of a first strike

2006-07-11T23:23:00.000-06:00

YES! THE RE-MILITARIZATION OF JAPAN!
MORE MONEY FOR U.S. DEFENSE CONTRACTORS AND ME! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Looks like Japan is headed back to the Tojo days. Particularly, if the Japanese warlord Shinzo Abe succeeds Koizumi (AKA The Asian Elvis). Perfect timing for the war whores such a Cheney and Rumsfeld to profit off of increased Japanese military expenditures while at the same time using Japan as a pit bull to keep China in check. We also have the elephant in the room, India to whom we've offered advanced nuclear technology in order to checkmate the Chinese. Everything is going according to plan! It's obvious peace is not profitable to these sub-humans. Just keep backing North Korea into a corner along with China and risk a nuclear conflagration in the Far East....FAR OUT DUDES!

U.S. officials: North Korea tests long-range missile

2006-07-04T22:19:00.000-06:00

REMEMBER ME! I'M THE ONE
WITH THE REAL WMD'S! TRY
TO ATTACK ME!

Prime example of dangerous "benign neglect" and nonexistent diplomacy by the inept Bush administration. Ignoring a country for months on end and insisting on multilateral versus bilateral/face to face negotiations has moved the doomsday clock closer to the witching hour. Cheney and Rumsfeld are sporting their war boners now that North Korea's actions have effectively legitimized the expansion of missile defense and is leading to the remilitarization of Japan. The military industrial complex is alive and well. Indeed, it is flourishing!

LAST STAND by SEYMOUR M. HERSH

2006-07-02T22:31:00.000-06:00

"War Isn't Hell. Hell is for Those Who Send Their Children to Fight Unnecessary Wars"

Another great piece by Sy Hersh of the New Yorker. We can only pray that the pragmatic factions of the military brass convince the civilian "asses" that an attack on Iran would effectively end the "Great American Experiment."

The Iron Wall

2006-07-02T21:18:00.000-06:00

"We conclude that we cannot promise anything to the Arabs of the Land of Israel or the Arab countries."

In 1923 Vladimir Jabotinsky, leading intellectual of the Zionist movement and father of the right wing of that movement, wrote:

"Zionist colonization must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population. Which means that it can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population - behind an The Iron Wall , which the native population cannot breach."

First published in Russian under the title O Zheleznoi Stene in Rassvyet, 4 November 1923. From that day these words became the official and unspoken policy of the Zionist movement and later the state of Israel. Settlements were used from the beginning to create a Zionist foothold in Palestine.

Watch this compelling piece to get the real story behind the jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Click here or the title above to link to the movie.

Telecom bill would leave U.S. lagging behind rest of world

2006-07-02T19:35:00.000-06:00

THE WORLD WIDE WEB OF DECEIT?

If "net neutrality" is killed ....it was nice knowing everybody! Enjoy the information super "toll road!"

Israel’s Infrastructure Warfare

2006-07-02T19:02:00.000-06:00

Palestinian girl wails by body of family members (Photo: AFP)

Israel’s Infrastructure Warfare
By Mike Whitney

-- Israel is now openly engaged in infrastructure warfare, the wanton destruction of the basic platforms of human survival. The bombing of the electric power plant has thrust the world’s most densely populated area into darkness; cutting off the vital flow of energy to hospitals, assistance centers, and the pumping stations which provide the city’s water. At the same time, Israel has bombed large sections of the main roads, government buildings, water lines and bridges. The Associated Press said, “Israeli tanks and bulldozers crossed the Gaza Strip and began razing farmland east of Khan Younis”.

“Razing farmland” is critical in understanding the real motive behind the current aggression. The attack is directed against Palestinian civilians, not terrorists and not Hamas. Israel is purposely destroying the means for continued human survival in Gaza.

We can now see that the practical application of the Israeli axiom, “to destroy the terrorist infrastructure” actually means the gratuitous decimation of civilian life-support systems.

Officials from the World Food Program, which feeds 600,000 people in the West Bank and Gaza, have warned of an impending humanitarian crisis saying that Palestinians are already living on one meal a day and that there has been a steady increase in malnutrition, anemia and kidney problems from poor nutrition.

At a special meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, Dr. Riyadh Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine, said that the Israeli invasion “was clearly premeditated and planned” weeks if not months before the capture of the Israeli soldier. Mansour added that the bombardment and military assault were clearly designed to “punish and terrorize the civilian population.”

Members of the Security Council quickly moved to pass a resolution condemning the Israeli invasion but were blocked by the United States. As long as the US occupies a place on the council, Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians will go unpunished.

The unfolding crisis in Gaza was predicted by Uri Davis, Ilan Pappe, and Tamar Yaron in July 2005. Their statement reads:

“We believe that one primary, unstated motive for the determination of the government of the State of Israel to get the Jewish settlers of the Qatif (Katif) settlement block out of the Gaza Strip may be to keep them out of harm's way when the Israeli government and military possibly trigger an intensified mass attack on the approximately one and a half million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom about half are 1948 Palestine refugees. The scenario could be similar to what has already happened in the past - a tactic that Ariel Sharon has used many times in his military career - i.e., utilizing provocation in order to launch massive attacks.”(Justin Podur, znet)

Clearly, Israel’s motives for the invasion have little to do with the abduction of Gilad Shalit by Hamas militants. In fact, Israel has stubbornly refused to negotiate for the release of the 19 year old corporal; preferring instead to carry out its carefully considered plan for making life untenable in Gaza. This suggests that the invasion is actually another attempt to ethnically cleanse the land of the native people by cutting off their access to vital food and supplies.

The strategy for purging the land of its indigenous people is a recurrent theme in Israeli politics dating back to the inception of the state in 1948. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon summarized it this way: “You don’t simply bundle people into trucks and drive them away. I prefer to advocate a positive policy, to create, in effect, a condition that in a positive way will induce people to leave.”

Sharon, of course, is advocating a form of “transfer” which “creates the conditions” that will drive people off the land rather than marshalling armies to achieve the same goal. This is what is presently taking place in Gaza.

Regime Change in Ramallah

Israel’s attacks on the democratically-elected Hamas government have been instructive but not surprising. Soon after the January elections, Israel resolved to remove Hamas from power regardless of the cost. Apart from the daily assassinations and incitements, Israel has spearheaded a blockade of food, medical supplies and financial resources to the desperate people in the occupied territories. Israel has also supplied Mahmoud Abbas’ loyalists in Fatah with truckloads of weapons in a conspicuous effort to destabilize the government and promote internecine warfare. The move has weakened support for Abbas and made him look like an Israeli agent. (His smiling appearance with Olmert in Jordan soon after the bombing of 7 family members on a beach in Gaza, has done nothing to restore Abbas credibility among his people)

At 2 AM on Sunday morning the Israelis bombed the offices of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya; a chilling reminder that the territories are ruled from Tel Aviv not Ramallah. Just a day earlier, Israeli Special Forces rounded up 64 members of Hamas including legislators, cabinet ministers, and officials. The illegal arrests have been roundly criticized by leaders across the political spectrum, and particularly harshly by Aengus Snodaigh, member of the Irish Parliament. Snodaigh said that the arrest of Hamas government officials "demonstrates the true nature of Israel’s commitment to ‘not so democratic’ values” and that “Israel was one of the most despicable and abhorrent regimes on the planet.”

Snodaigh backed up his claims noting that (according to the UN Secretary General for Public Affairs) the “in the month prior to the capture of the Israeli soldier at least 49 Palestinians, including 11 children, were killed by Israeli forces and 259 injured.” It should also be added that since Israel withdrew from Gaza in September of 2005, they have fired between 7,000 to 9,000 heavy artillery shells into Palestinian civilian areas.

Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz confirmed that the arrests “had been planned several weeks ago” which proves that Corporal Gilad Shalit’s capture has been used as a mere pretext to execute Israel’s broader policy objectives. (Ethnic cleansing and transfer)

Ironically, the arrest of Hamas’ officials could be beneficial to the cause of Palestinian liberation. After months of trying to topple Hamas through roundabout methods, Israel has taken a more direct route by simply arresting those who they oppose. This underscores an important point about the realities of life under occupation. There is no democracy under occupation because all the crucial aspects of sovereignty have been foreclosed. No Palestinian leader controls his borders, air-space, military, resources, commerce, or even food and medical supplies. What good does it do to create the impression that Palestinians are free by conducting elections?

The West Bank and Gaza are giant concentration camps. Elections create the unfortunate illusion of democracy and normality. It is a cynical public relations hoax intended to assuage the world’s conscience and put people to sleep.

By arresting government officials, we can see that Palestinian democracy only exists when it suits Israel’s interests. It is a complete sham.

The reality of occupation is evident by the facts on the ground and in the photos now appearing from Gaza of bombed-out buildings, traumatized children, bereaved parents and utter hopelessness.

Israel has robbed the Palestinian people of their freedom. The elections were a fraud. The issue continues to be occupation, and occupation alone.

A black flag

2006-07-02T18:49:00.000-06:00

Interesting how the deplorable actions of the Israeli government and Israeli Defense Forces during the current Gaza crisis, is covered in Israel more even-handedly than in print or television media here in the states. Actually, I'm not that surprised since it's been happening for decades but it's still interesting nonetheless how the Israeli PR machine in this country is so ingrained and pervasive. The following opening paragraphs from the Haaretz article eloquently sums up the Israeli government's actions against the palestinians in Gaza.

A black flag hangs over the "rolling" operation in Gaza. The more the operation "rolls," the darker the flag becomes. The "summer rains" we are showering on Gaza are not only pointless, but are first and foremost blatantly illegitimate. It is not legitimate to cut off 750,000 people from electricity. It is not legitimate to call on 20,000 people to run from their homes and turn their towns into ghost towns. It is not legitimate to penetrate Syria's airspace. It is not legitimate to kidnap half a government and a quarter of a parliament.

A state that takes such steps is no longer distinguishable from a terror organization. The harsher the steps, the more monstrous and stupid they become, the more the moral underpinnings for them are removed and the stronger the impression that the Israeli government has lost its nerve.

Bush Remarks May Have Spurred Iran Voters

2006-06-24T09:25:00.000-06:00

THANK YOU GEORGE!

Iran redux! I've been meaning to post this for some time now. In the weeks ahead as the Iran issue heats up, look back on this watershed moment in history and think about how this faux "crisis" could have been diffused not only when Iran made it's unconditional peace overture in 2003, but in the 2005 Iranian elections where the moderates had the upperhand until Bush opened his big mouth!

The Alchemists: Turning Blood Into Gold

2006-06-24T09:12:00.000-06:00

The Bush agenda on Iran exposed for all the world to see but none of this has made a difference in the United States of Amnesia. We can thank the corporate owned media. This article is the expanded version with pertinent links to the facts. The original appeared in the Moscow Times. A must read for those who concern themselves with truth and facts!

EXCERPT

This week an interesting story appeared in The Washington Post -- buried on page 16, of course, lest anyone think it was of the slightest importance. It revealed that documentary proof has now emerged confirming the fact that in the spring of 2003, the regime of President George W. Bush -- flush with its illusory "victory" in Iraq -- spurned a wide-ranging peace feeler from Iran that offered "full cooperation" on every issue that the Bushists claim to be concerned about in regard to Tehran: "nuclear programs, acceptance of Israel and the termination of Iranian support for Palestinian militant groups."

In other words, everything that Bush says he wants from the Iranians now, he could have had for the asking -- three years ago. What then can we conclude from the rejection of this extraordinary initiative? The answer is obvious: The Bush faction is not really interested in curbing nuclear proliferation or defusing the powder keg of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the regional and global terror that it spawns.

Iran rejects US 'pressure' on nuclear issue

2006-06-23T21:03:00.000-06:00

REGIME CHANGE!

Larijani knows the deal. The following excerpts from the article pretty much sum up the entire Iran charade staged by this administration.

Mr Larijani told the Guardian. "The nuclear issue is just a pretext. If it was not the nuclear matter, they would have come up with something else."

The compromise package offered by the west on Iran's nuclear activities amounted to a "sermon", he said, rejecting outright President George Bush's demands this week that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment.

"If they want to put this prerequisite, why are we negotiating at all? Mr Bush is like a mathematician. When the equation becomes very difficult to work out, he likes to wipe it out altogether ... the pressure they are putting on us is reason enough for us to be suspicious."

It's going to be a bumpy ride in the coming months.......

Trivializing Corruption

2006-06-16T20:25:00.000-06:00

WAKE UP AMERICA! THE "SYSTEM"
IS BROKEN!

It's been days since my last post let alone paradigm shift but the constant PR assault from this administration (i.e. Zarqawi's death, Bush's trip to Iraq, and so forth) has left me in a dazed stupor of late. There are so many things to be disturbed over that apathy has even befallen me recently! Go figure. In reading the below article by David Sirota I've awaken from my recent catatonic state. His piece pretty much sums up my views on the "state of the onion." The "system" stinks badly and I've been saying it for years now to my "choir." However, I'm going to cite the following quote and then let Mr Sirota say the rest...."You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper" (Edward De Bono). Stop supporting the status quo by voting within the two party system! It's a scam! Wake up!

Trivializing Corruption: By David Sirota

06/16/06 -- Ninety thousand dollars in a Democratic Congressman's freezer. A Republican House Majority Leader indicted for money laundering, and a senior Republican thrown in jail for accepting bribes. Washington's biggest lobbyist thrown in jail for trying to buy off lawmakers. This is what the Washington Establishment and the media want America to believe is the worst form of corruption: a few dirty political hacks who had the nerve to violate our supposedly pristine democracy.

Certainly, these examples are egregious. But the intense focus on them by political leaders and the media to the exclusion of the real corruption destroying our democracy trivializes what corruption really is.

That's not by accident -- it is a deliberate tactic of distraction, and shows just how bought off our political system really is.

Today, the lifeblood of American politics is money. Candidates must raise enormous sums of private cash to run for office -- sums that the wealthy and corporate interests are only too happy to provide in exchange for legislative favors. We are told by politicians that this system is "the greatest democracy in the world" when, in fact, it is very clearly the same form of bribery that has marked every corrupt regime looked down on by history books.

Money, of course, does not just buy favors -- it makes sure that the concept of corruption is only presented to the public by political leaders as anecdotes about a few bad apples, not a narrative about a broken system. Why? Because an indictment of the pay-to-play system that produced the bad apples could mean structural campaign finance reforms that challenge the power of the Big Money interests that underwrite our politicians. Thus, in the aftermath of recent congressional scandals, all we get is a pathetical discussion about weak lobbying "reform" proposals and even weaker sanctions against individual lawmakers.

Such narrowing of our political discourse is the most nefarious form of corruption of all. It shows how we now live in a country where the very boundaries of public policy debates are designed to ensure outcomes that never challenge Big Money interests. The truly corrupt interests that own American politics long ago realized that they do not have to pervasively violate our weak anti-corruption laws to get what they want. All they have to do is shower cash on as many lawmakers as possible. These lawmakers, uninterested in biting the hand that feeds them, consequently make sure the overall debate is rigged.

So, for instance, as America faces an impending energy crisis, the political debate emanating from Washington has been largely limited to a discussion of which new tax breaks to give to which major oil companies -- all of whom have doled out millions in campaign contributions to politicians.

Any serious discussion of a windfall profits tax on oil companies has been marginalized, even though polls show the public strongly supports the concept. Proposals to improve anti-trust enforcement as a way of slowing down oil industry consolidation -- that's not even talked about. And any consideration of a tough federal price gouging law has been met with propaganda claiming it is not needed. Just last week, the Federal Trade Commission -- headed by a former ChevronTexaco lawyer -- claimed there is no evidence of oil industry price gouging. This is occurring as Americans are paying more than $3-per-gallon for gas at the very same time ExxonMobil made more money than any corporation in history and gave its outgoing CEO a $400 million retirement bonus.

The same is true when it comes to health care. As health insurance premiums skyrocket and more Americans are forced to go with no insurance at all, polls consistently show that Americans want a universal health care system -- and are willing to make sacrifices to get one. Yet, almost no politicians in Washington are willing to support a government-sponsored, single-payer system like the one the rest of the industrialized world has. The reason? Because such a proposal could threaten the bottom line of the private health insurance industry, which makes massive donations to political candidates. Instead, the debate is limited either to proposals like Massachusetts' that simply forces citizens to pay high health premiums, or to proposals in Congress that would just hand over billions of taxpayer dollars to the private health insurance industry to minimally expand coverage.

Even on hot button issues like immigration, the debate is narrowed to fit Big Money's agenda. Think about it -- the political Establishment is having a supposedly intense debate over illegal immigration without even mentioning the corporate-written North American Free Trade Agreement. This is the pact that, more than a decade ago, was sold to Americans by President Clinton and Republicans in Congress as a way to improve the Mexican economy and drive down illegal immigration, but which actually drove millions more Mexicans into poverty and increased pressure at our southern border. Almost no politicians have even raised the concept of adding wage or workplace protections to the pact as a way to improve the Mexican economy and give Mexicans a better incentive to remain in their country -- because to raise that concept would be to challenge politicians' corporate campaign donors who want access to Mexico's impoverished, exploitable workforce.

To be sure -- politicians will continue their efforts to focus attention exclusively on the bad apples within their midst. They will then cite their own outrage as proof they are true "reformers." Just as they feed us false storylines about supposedly working for us when they are working for Big Money, they will tell us they are serious about fixing our broken political system, when they really are not. Because, as we see, when the cameras shut off, Washington's bipartisan establishment still refuses to embrace systemic reforms like public financing of elections that would actually end the pay-to-pay political culture.

We, the public, can hope and pray for change, and we can delude ourselves into thinking that a simple change in party control will fix our problems. But the simple truth is that until we go to the ballot box and punish representatives from both parties who are part of this consensus, we will continue to live not in a democracy -- but in a system of legalized bribery that makes our problems worse.

David Sirota is the author of the book Hostile Takeover , released in May of 2006.

Iran to U.S.: Stop bluster, let's talk

2006-05-26T00:09:00.000-06:00

Compare the Iranian Ambassador's statement to that of Bush in the excerpt below. Now you tell me who is refusing to negotiate in "good faith?" And for Christ's sake, where is this freakin TABLE that he keeps talking about!!!!! I want to tear a leg off of it and use it to knock some sense into his obtuse head! Can Bush be any more transparent! He sounds like a child. What a complete travesty!

The United States could get further with Iran if it were to "ban the pressure tactics, the intimidation tactics" and talk with Iran directly, rather than through European nations and the United Nations, he said.

"If they're looking for solutions, why are they not talking to one side of the problem?" Zarif asked. "There is a resolution to this situation, and the resolution is easily attainable, provided you look for it."

President Bush, speaking at a news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, rejected the idea of approaching Iran with incentives.

"They're the ones who walked away from the table," he said. "It's on them."

Iran Proposal to U.S. Offered Peace with Israel

2006-05-25T23:52:00.000-06:00

So "the Iranians refuse to negotiate in good faith" and want to "destroy" Israel do they.......As Chomsky says "facts matter, even if we do not like them." Obviously this administration dislikes facts and truth because it exposes their hypocricy and hostile intentions. Further evidence that the U.S. wants regime change and that talk of diplomacy is a charade (hollow rhetoric) much like we experienced in the lead up to the Iraq war. Wake up people! It's deja vu all over again.

Olmert: Bush and I are in full agreement on how to confront Iran

2006-05-24T21:46:00.000-06:00

Photo: "The Pimp Daddy" of war against 1 billion "terrorist" muslims, on Wednesday DEMANDED the US Congress ensure Israel's existence by threatening the existence of Palestinians and Iranians. (Associated Prissies)

As Norman Finkelstein would say, this is Beyond Chutzpah ! Excuse my Hebrew but who does this hypocritical piece of shit think he is? Is this guy the US President? Why did Congress convene a joint meeting to listen to this warmonger and criminal's address and applaud him on numerous occassions no less! Whose interests is this spineless Congress beholden to? It is surely not that of their constituents unless you consider corporate and foreign lobbyists such as the Israeli lobby constituents??? This confirms the theories of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt regarding the Israeli lobby and U.S. foreign policy.

This isn't a "man of peace", as his predecessor was so affectionately referred to by shrub Jr, but of pieces! He wants to unilaterally impose borders on the Palestinians because they are "terrorists" and not "partner's for peace." More troublesome, is his attempt to instigate a wider Middle East war by trying to convince us to do their dirty work for them a second time but this time against Iran. Iran is no Iraq! This government has completely capitulated to malicious and corrupt external forces and we are marching to folly once again.

U.S. says it will not change policy of refusing direct talks with Iran

2006-05-24T20:09:00.000-06:00

"... We hear in Washington, you know, 'prevention means force.' It doesn't mean force, necessarily. In this case, it means diplomacy. ~George W Bush

"Obviously we'd like to solve this issue peacefully and diplomatically, and the more the Iranians refuse to negotiate in good faith the more countries are beginning to realize that we must continue to work together," ~GW again!

Last time I checked diplomacy was about representatives of groups or nations engaging in DIALOGUE, with the aim of conflict resolution or confidence-building. Get ready for the ONLY "option" that was ever on the "table...."

The Real Oil Crisis

2006-05-23T21:54:00.000-06:00

THE PARTY IS OVER?

Excellent video on the underlying causes of the current oil crisis and peak oil debate. Clear and concise! Only 13 minutes in length for those americans with short attentions spans. I consider myself an early "peaker" and even if we have 20-30 years before we reach peak oil as many in the mainstream are suggesting, we and future generations are still headed for some major economic shock therapy. We should have done something back in the 70's and yet we turned our backs on alternative energy research and continued walking down the primrose path of a petroleum based world economy. Now with China and their voracious appetite for energy on the scene, we are not only speeding up the inevitable decline of cheap oil but also setting the stage for trade and resource wars. The war against Iraq is just the tip of the iceberg.

Iran Requests Direct Talks on Nuclear Program

2006-05-23T20:58:00.000-06:00

Let's see if this latest overture is regarded as a "political ploy." If they completely disregard this attempt at peace and reconciliation it will be clear that this sociopathic administration desires war and regime change. I'm still convinced that the only "option on the table" is war! I hope I'm completely wrong...

U.S. history lesson: stop meddling

2006-05-16T20:34:00.000-06:00

Amen to this! Great commentary from Stephen Kinzer, author of "All the Shah's Men" and his most recent work, "Overthrow. America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq."

The US is hell bent on regime change in Iran and will more than likely attack the nation prior to the November midterm elections. The "war president" is posturing for a complete hostile takeover of our country and the spineless democrats are going to be caught with their pants down once again....

Putin Chastises U.S. on Democratic Ideals

2006-05-11T20:49:00.000-06:00

COLD-BLOODED PARKA MAN INSTIGATES
NEW COLD WAR WITH RUSSIA AND TELLS
THE PEACEMAKERS TO "GO FUCK THEMSELVES!"

The dark lord of war and one of the biggest war profiteers in the history of humankind accomplished his mission to bring the world to the precipice of mutually assured destruction once again last week with his provacatory statements towards Moscow accusing it of monopolizing the energy trade in the former Soviet Union. Leave it to this prehominid who has made his millions via military and energy double dealings as a result of his and his wife's ties to Halliburton, Bechtel and Lockheed to preach about monopoly and blackmail. It was no suprise that Putin's Russia responded to this affront with strong words of her own and rightfully so given the US's attempt to encircle Russia as a result of the varied "democratic" "velvet revolutions" it has and continues to finance and support in the former soviet republics (i.e. Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and so forth). Add to this the granting of NATO membership to many of these former soviet satellite nations and it is no wonder Putin has described the United States as a "wolf" that is intent on devouring whatever it pleases. Indeed, we're like a dangerous crack addict wielding a gun and looking for a fix against whom the world is forming alliances and ganging up to cut our wobbly legs right from under us both economically and eventually militarily if we lash out in desperation.

The geopolitical game that this administration is engaged in over finite energy resources is leading to what F William Engdahl has appropriately termed a "geopolitical nightmare." Our imperial overstretch is bankrupting us physically, economically, and morally with each passing day. The next possible imperial adventure in Iran will completely break this country if we are foolish enough to act upon our psychotic impulses. This administration is by far the most dangerous in all of human history as they have the capability of making the human race extinct. With Cheney promoting nuclear proliferation and a new arms race in a multipolar world, Rumsfeld engaging in full spectrum military global dominance, and Bush acting as a messianic anti-christ who wants to export "democracy" at gunpoint to the heathens, we surely seem to be headed towards a messy end.

Bush rejects reports of US plans to attack Iran

2006-05-09T20:54:00.000-06:00

In mid April, the Financial Times published this report concerning Bush's reaction to Seymour Hersh's compelling piece detailing Bush's alleged plan to attack Iran. Unfortunately, the entire article is not available to non-subscribers. However, CNN's report covers the same story. The most telling part of the articles was not Bush's characterization of Hersh's report as "wild speculation", which was pretty much how his spin doctors described the Abu Ghraib scandal when Hersh first broke the story, rather it was Bush's admission that he is engaged in a policy of PREVENTIVE WAR which is against international law and a war crime. Bush stated the following:

"The doctrine of prevention is to work together to prevent the Iranians from having a nuclear weapon," the president said.

"... We hear in Washington, you know, 'prevention means force.' It doesn't mean force necessarily. In this case, it means diplomacy.

"And by the way, I read the articles in the newspapers this weekend. It was just wild speculation, by the way. What you're reading is wild speculation. Which is, kind of a -- you know, happens quite frequently here in the nation's capital."

At first glance from a non-critical thinking, sport enthusiast, pringles eating american's point of view, Bush's statement would seem benign but as Bush once so eloquently stated "'fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me' -- you can't get fooled again." Those familiar with the principles of The Project For The New American Century (PNAC) and their organization know that the concept of PRE-EMPTION of emerging threats as well as "regime change" was the impetus behind the White House's 2002 National Security strategy prior to the war with Iraq and remains official policy to this day. Indeed, although regime change has always been official policy since Eisenhower's presidency albeit through mostly covert means (i.e. CIA vs Guatamala, Iran, Chile and so forth), the Bush doctrine of PREVENTION masked in the defensive euphemism known as PRE-EMPTION marked a dangerous departure from the policies of deterrence that generally characterized American foreign policy during the Cold War and brief period between the collapse of the Soviet Union and 9/11.

The Iraq war exposed Bush's doctrine of PRE-EMPTION as a complete farce when it was revealed that WMD's never existed and that Iraq was not an "imminent threat." Indeed, the entire WMD lie was a pretext for aggressive and illegal war against a defenseless sovereign nation which had been ravaged by sanctions, partition, and military strikes to its infrastructure for over a decade. Hence Bush's deceitful attempt to redefine the concept of "pre-emption" by couching it in defensive and benign diplomatic language but at the same time using the proper word of "prevention" to describe his Hitleresque foreign policy doctrine and agenda.

What is equally disgusting is CNN's attempt (unintentional or purposeful) to also couch Bush's words. Anybody who saw and heard Bush utter the statement "We hear in Washington, you know, 'prevention means force.' It doesn't mean force necessarily. In this case, it means diplomacy." knows that there should be a comma after "force" and before "necessarily" as the Times article properly inserted. This is no small ommission or detail as it was obvious from Bush's pause and inflection of voice that the word "necessarily" was more an afterthought and more than likely, given this administration's penchant for deceit, not reflective of his true intentions as Hersh's expose seems to suggest.

Orwell said it best when he characterized political speech and writing as largely "the defense of the indefensible."

"The inflated style is itself a kind of euphemism. A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out of ink. In our age there is no such thing as "keeping out of politics." All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and shizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer."

Indeed, given how this administration has adopted lying as official policy, it is important to understand the distinction between pre-emptive wars and illegal preventive wars. The definitions below should make it clear that if this President engages in an aggressive war with Iran without the consent of Congress and the international community, it will be a CRIME in every sense of the word.

PRE-EMPTIVE WAR:

the threat must be imminent: "to justify a resort to preemptive war, a state needs to give reasonable evidence that...the threat to be preempted is clear and imminent, direct, critical and unmanageable, that is unable to be dealt with by any other means."

PREVENTIVE WAR:

The Iraq War clearly falls in the more tenuous territory of a preventive war, waged in anticipation of a growing future threat. Problematically, preventive wars do not meet the moral test put forth by the historical tradition of a Just War. Relegated to theology departments in the past, the notion of justice reemerged in the Vietnam era and continues to play an ever more crucial role in international politics. As Just War scholar Michael Walzer points out, "in a war for hearts and minds...justice turns out to be a key to victory."(5) Without the backing of historical criteria for a Just War, we risk not only losing the war of hearts and minds but becoming precisely that which preemption is supposed to guard against: "pre-emption defined as prevention...runs the risk that the United States will appear to much of the world as a clear and present danger."(6) The perceived illegitimacy of unilateral action and its attendant weakening of relations with European allies, crucial to effective implementation and enforcement of Middle East policy, was not a prescription for spreading democracy.

Endgame for the Constitution

2006-05-02T18:39:00.000-06:00

Completely disgusting.....by the way what's the latest with American Idol?

Bush challenges hundreds of laws

2006-05-01T18:56:00.000-06:00

THE DECIDER!

This country is sliding into a dictatorship with each passing day and Congress is doing not a damn thing about it! This article is proof of the dangers we are facing as a result of this president engaging in one of the largest power grabs in human history. With the help of the apathetic and pathetic Congress, Bush is moving full throttle in establishing the "unitary executive" whereby all executive authority must be in the president's hands, without exception. His powers are plenary which means "absolute, unqualified." The president is effectively the law under such conditions and he can interpret laws as he sees fit. In essence, Bush has bestowed upon himself the Divine Right of Kings. This would have been almost laughable prior to 9/11 but just as Hitler seized upon the "opportunity" presented to him by the burning of the Reichstag, Bush has used the tragedy of 9/11 to impose the national security state upon the american population and has promoted a culture of fear in order to suppress dissent and debate.

I keep thinking of the excerpt I posted when I started this blogging endeavor which was written by Milton Mayer and cited from his book, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45. America is gradually changing right before our eyes and few recognize this transformation. Much like ordinary Germans, we are becoming Bush's willing executioners. The few that have and continue to warn of this dangerous slide into neo-fascism are subject to ridicule and accusations of cynicism and pessimism. These ad hominum attacks suppress debate and lead to further apathy in the face of an immense danger that is real and not some conjured up fantasy. We are facing a constitutional crisis in this country and ordinary americans and the Congress are going about their lives as if none of these abuses being practiced by this corrupt and devious administration will result in a rude awakening the likes of which will make the 9/11 tragedy seem like candy land. I truly believe in karma and this country has a lot of wrongs to right and "sins" to pay for.

I hear people everyday around me speak arrogantly and selfishly about how because we are america we can do whatever we please and we can define who is an american and who is not and who should be like us and who deserves to die because they refuse to be like us. This is the language of a society that is sociopathic and has lost its ethical/moral compass. It is disturbing to see the recent scapegoating of "illegal" immigrants for the economic ills this country faces as a result of illegal wars, political corruption, corporate deregulation and abuse, unfair and unequal trade policies (i.e. NAFTA, CAFTA and so forth) and rampant globalization that has wreaked havoc on the rest of the under-developed and developing world for decades but is now affecting us here in this country because of dwindling resources and unfettered power granted to multinational corporations who are raping, pillaging and destroying the globe and its inhabitants all in the name of profit.

As scarcity, desperation and disaster become more commonplace in the months and years ahead due to wars, global warming , pandemics and an array of political and social upheavals; demagoguery will be the most logical end result. It won't have to be Bush that becomes the demagogue although if another major attack occurs he most likely will be looked upon as one as he was after 9/11, rather an autocratic system is being put in place so that no matter who is in power the hierarchical corporate-friendly structure remains intact or as Orwell put it:

"Who wields power is not important, provided that the hierarchical structure remains always the same."

Definition of a demagogue:

"One who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." H. L. Mencken

While Washington Slept

2006-04-23T23:51:00.000-06:00

GLOBAL WARMING
"A LIBERAL HOAX?"

This Vanity Fair article was compelling, sobering and extremely disconcerting. Reading this article made me furious at our government's apathy towards the perils of global warming. If there was ever a reason to run this president and Congress out of town and string them up a la Mussolini, this issue is it! There is no greater threat to mankind than the climate chaos we face in the coming years and decades. Katrina and the European heatwaves that killed thousands in the last couple of years were just a harbinger of much worse to come. The War on "terrorism" side show that Bush and his cronies has created, is not only an insult but completely criminal considering what the world is facing. One wonders if these incompetent fools aren't simply going for broke knowing that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Nevertheless, the threat is real as this article points out.

There is no longer a debate about man's effects on the climate yet in this country we are still giving voice to people who have no credible scientific background whatsoever. These people, who are in the pocket of special interests in the oil and energy sectors, are creating a faux debate when there shouldn't be any debate at all! Immediate action and leadership is required and yet we have our mental midget of a president and Congress getting their climate change advice from Michael Crichton, a man who writes fiction novels!

All one has to do is read the facts as presented in this article and the many articles and papers by leading scientists around the world to realize that global warming is not a "liberal hoax." What is a hoax is the reasons for going to war in Iraq and soon Iran as well as the entire "war on terrorism" and assault on american civil liberties via the patriot act. In fact, the word hoax is a misnomer. What we are witnessing is a crime against humanity!

I encourage those who are outraged by what they've read in this article to write your elected officials and take a page out of the immigration movement and say "NO MAS!" No mas to business as usual politics. No mas to a farce war(s). No mas to scapegoating "illegal" immigrants for the country's wasteful military spending and skyrocketing national debt. No mas to corruption. No mas to divisive politics on issues of gay marriage, flag burning and abortion. No mas to destroying our future or those of our children and their children and so forth! NO MAS!

PS: For some simulations on the impact of rising seas on US coastal cities due to global warming check out the following site

THE CENTURY OF SELF

2006-04-16T23:32:00.000-06:00

This is a truly amazing documentary and a must view. The Century of Self examines the immense influence that Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays , had on the United States in the area of "public relations." Indeed, he is regarded by many as the "father of public relations." After watching this documentary, there is little to suggest he is not deserving of this title. Nevertheless, it is a surprise that somebody like Ted Kazinski never knocked this guy off.

We can thank Bernays for the american culture of consumerism that is so pervasive in our society and in western style democracies around the world. Bernays use of Freud's theories on the unconscious self or Id was amazingly effective in engineering consent among the american masses during the 20th century and continues to present day. Bernays public relations stunts amounted to propaganda and was even studied, admired and adopted by Hitler, Goebbels and the Nazi party during their rise to power. Indeed, the US would never have entered WWI without Bernay's influence. He understood that in order to get the american people's backing to fight a war thousands of miles away on another continent, the government had to play to people's "irrational" emotions by unleashing such primitive forces as fear and aggression. Today we see that not much has changed.

Bernay's was so successful in using propaganda to advance a war agenda that he felt he could use it in an environment of peace. Thus arose modern america and it's capitalist consumerist society we have today. According to Bernays, business and not politicians were to create modern america. Using public relations and it's offshoot of business marketing, Bernays was able to shift american culture away from the role of citizens to one of happy, docile, and passive individual consumers. The consuming self was stimulated by the irrational self. In essence american culture was no longer a needs culture where government played an important role as it had done with Roosevelt's New Deal, rather it became a desire culture where business would fill the many voids of individuals vs citizens. Business and its products would assist man in its "constant pursuit of happiness."

For a further lesson in the psychology of the american psyche and society I encourage you to watch the four parts of this compelling documentary!

NOTE: Watch all four parts HERE

The Iran Plans: By Seymour M. Hersh

2006-04-09T20:12:00.000-06:00

"ALL OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE"

Deja vu all over again. The crazies are up to their antics again and plunging the world closer to the precipice. Just as they did with Iraq, the neocons are starting with the conclusion and building their facts around it. The very idea that these maniacs are considering using tactical nuclear weapons against Iran with the tacit consent of the US CON-gress just shows how far this country has degenerated into a dangerous rogue state. If this plan that Seymour Hersh has unveiled is in fact true and not as the Iranians claim pyschological warfare, the world is in deep deep trouble.

Not only is this war planning in complete violation of the UN Charter but it is a direct violation against the principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal as set out by the charter of 1950. The US and whoever is a member of this second "coalition of the willing" will be guilty of the following crimes
as set forth in Principles VI under international law:

Count 1 - CONSPIRACY to commit crimes alleged in the next three counts.
Count 2 - CRIMES AGAINST PEACE including planning, preparing, starting, or waging aggressive war.
Count 3 - WAR CRIMES including violations of laws or customs of war.
Count 4 - CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY including murder, extermination, enslavement, persecution on political or racial grounds, involuntary deportment, and inhumane acts against civilian populations.

It is amazing that we're sleep-walking right into another war that is going to be a rude awakening for this country and the world. Somebody please stop the insanity!

Russians Sense the Heat of Cold War

2006-04-02T23:29:00.000-06:00

It is becoming more evident that a global conflagration, the likes of which has never been seen or experienced in human history, is inevitable. Whether it is "terrorism" instigated by our own terrorism around the globe (economic, militarily etc) , nuclear proliferation because of US double standards and a criminal policy of preemption, and US intervention in the domestic affairs of various nations such as the former republic's of the Soviet Union; we are acting like an irresponsible and extremely dangerous hegemonic power. I'm sure Donald Rumsfeld and the other military "industrialists" are creaming their jeans at the prospects of another cold war with Russia! Mo money, Mo money, Mo money. Gotta hate them!

The Future of Food

2006-03-30T00:03:00.000-06:00

This is an excellent film and a must see! Provides amazing but troubling insight into the dangers of genetically engineered foods and the ramifications of US government subsidized agribusiness. As the film explains, genetic and intellectual diversity is being compromised as result of multinational corporations such as Monsanto attempting to control the world's food system through large-scale industrial agriculture and genetic engineering of food crops. The myth that biotechnology is the panacea for an ever increasing world population is revealed in this film. Indeed, we are becoming more food dependent and not food independent as a result of these feudal practices. Subsistance farming is being killed all over the globe as efficiency has taken precedence over diversity and self-sustainment! The subsidizing of crops vs farmers by the US government has lead to overproduction of various crops which are then dumped at rock bottom prices in developing countries . This undercuts their markets and farmers are forced to find alternative cash crops such as coca (cocaine) and poppy (heroine) to survive. Finally, deregulation has created the evil spawn of genetically engineered crops which are untested and a clear and present danger to the world's food supply and human health. Click the title or here to watch this film on line!

NOTE: GOOGLE VIDEO NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

Film Summary

There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America -- a revolution that is ... transforming the very nature of the food we eat. THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply. Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today

Peak oil and failing mass media

2006-03-29T23:59:00.000-06:00

Nice to see Peak Oil is gaining some traction at the local level as evident from this article posted in The Minnesota Daily. However, as the article points out...we have a long way to go to educate the american people on the perils of Peak Oil.

Mexico's supergiant Cantarell oilfield is now in decline

2006-03-21T20:51:00.000-06:00

"WE'RE ADDICTED TO OIL"

More evidence that the world may have reached peak oil. Those who espouse Hubbert's theory of peak oil have suggested that it occurred this past Nov 2005. M. King Hubbert was considered a crackpot when in the mid 50's he accurately predicted the United States would peak in oil production(extraction) by the 1970's and that the US would be forced to meet it's insatiable demand for oil by importing more from overseas and from its neighbors (Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Nigeria, Saudia Arabia and so forth). His theory, outlined in the following report , is still highly regarded and studied among some of the more influential energy experts of the day such as Matthew Simmons.

Given the fact that Hubbert accurately forecasted 1970 to be the peak year of the Lower 48 annual oil extraction in the United States, consider the implications of the following statement from his seminal speech presented on March 8, 1956 to a regional conference of the American Petroleum Institute:

"If the world should continue to be dependent upon the fossil fuels as its principal source of industrial energy, then we could expect a culmination in the production of coal within about 200 years. On the basis of the present estimates of the ultimate reserves of petroleum and natural gas, it appears that the culmination of world production of these products should occur within about half a century, while the culmination for petroleum and natural gas in both the United States and the state of Texas should occur within the next few decades."

The "next few decades" were of course the 70's and a "half century" is our present day folks! The decline of Mexico's Cantarell and possibly Ghawar in Saudia Arabia are definitely signs that we've reached or are fast approaching the Twilight of the Oil Age.

Noam Chomsky's B.U. address on WSKG Public Radio

2006-03-19T10:55:00.000-06:00

Abstract:

"Arguably the most important intellectual alive," according to the New York Times, the famous MIT professor and long term activist for peace and social justice delivered a two-hour talk entitled "Imminent Crises: Paths Toward Solutions". The event featured nearly an hour of questions and answers.

Listen to it here!

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

2006-03-17T22:47:00.000-06:00

THE UNITED STATES OF ISRAEL?

This article is an excellent analysis of how the Israeli lobby and their PR machine influence US foreign policy to the detriment of our own interests which aren't exactly benign either. Israel has never really been an asset to this country and in fact since the fall of the Soviet Union they have become an immense liability. John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, have written a compelling piece that explains how US foreign policy in the Middle East has for decades been inorexably tied to Israeli designs for the region. The US has been anything but an "honest" and "neutral" broker. In fact, it is almost impossible these days to draw any distinctions between Israeli "interests" and US "interests." It is clear from Mearsheimer and Walt's piece that the Israeli lobby in the United States wields immense influence and can be said to have a vice like grip on many members of the US Congress. This has been an immense barrier to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has cost the US its credibility among Muslims. Aggressive actions in the region since Sept 11 by Israel and the US have only further served to fan the flames of resentment and hatred.

Indeed, since Sept 11th it would seem that Israeli interests have taken precedence over our own. When former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu was asked on the day of the attacks what it would mean for US-Israeli relations he quickly replied "It's very good...Well, it's not good but it will generate immense sympathy (for Israel)." Yes, of course it is "good" because now Israel's avowed enemies have become ours and now just like the Israelis have their occupation we have ours and apparently one is not enough as they egg us on to attack Iran, Syria and so forth ! Leave it to zionist Israelis such as Netanyahu to see "opportunity" in disaster. If they can exploit the holocaust and the deaths of millions of their own people by invoking "anti-semitism" every time somebody criticizes their government for engaging in unjust and brutal illegalities against the Palestinian people, what's to stop them from exploiting the deaths of 3,000 measly Americans?? Afterall, the ends justify the means do they not??

Israel can never be the oppressor they are only the oppressed. They are eternal victims who are threatened by the arab and muslim hordes who want to push them out to the sea and wipe them off the map. The "terrorists" want to take the Chosen People's land which was granted to them by God, their personal real estate agent. The irony of these accusations is that Israel which possesses a nuclear arsenal of 200+ nuclear bombs is the only nation in that region that is physically capable of wiping anybody off the map. Indeed, everyday they wipe people off the map by ethnically cleansing palestinians from their lands and by making their lives completely intolerable to the point of suicide.

Feingold Accuses Democrats of 'Cowering'

2006-03-15T22:00:00.000-06:00

Reason ad infinitum why the democrats are going the way of the Whig party and dodo bird. First of all, Feingold is as much a coward as his party. Censure??? What is that!!! How bout pursuing impeachment Russ! Censure amounts to a parental love tap and time out. It is a meaningless gesture and political ploy. It's all about "perception management" and attempting to fool the american people into believing the democratic party is actually a true "opposition" party. You have a president that has broken and continues to break the law and it's not limited to illegal wiretapping of americans. He has mocked the Constitution of the United States and spit in the face of Congress and the best you can do is call for censure! If this isn't political posturing I don't know what is....however the fact that members of your party won't even back you on something so insignificant in the grand scheme of things just shows what a nonentity the democratic party is!

If the republicans are an embarassment then the democrats are beyond the pale. There is nothing worse than an individual or group of individuals who choose not to take a stand especially in such perilous times. Indeed, such apathy and lack of character is tantamount to criminal complicity! This country is heading into the abyss economically, militarily and morally and we have democrats "strategizing' that it is better to stand idle and let the republicans continue to shoot themselves in the foot than to actually challenge them. This is the strategy of losers. Moreover, it is an extremely spineless and irresponsible strategy considering americans and iraqis are dying in Iraq by the thousands and we're bankrupting the US treasury and saddling future generations with massive debt. It is the same myopic strategy they used in the 2004 elections that lead to their defeat. When you play not to lose, you lose!

I said it all throughout the election, the democrats are in the left pocket of special interests and the republicans are in the right pocket but it's the same damn pants! When are people going to realize that by continuing to support the status quo and a FAILED system nothing is going to change!!!! It's time people start thinking out of the box and stop supporting the duopoly that is the two party system in this country. For those that argue that democrats are more for working people and domestic issues..that's wonderful but meaningless particularly when there is a war going on and more wars are in the making. You can't do anything domestically when you are engaged in empire building and establishing permanent bases all over the globe to secure resources and ensure dollar supremacy/hegemony. This is what Eisenhower warned about when he spoke of the dangers of the military industrial complex.

Republicans and democrats share the same "national security" and foreign policy goals. The republicans are more overt in their actions while the democrats are more covert and insiduous. Democrats prefer containment through sanctions and starvation of populaces whose governments challenge the new world order of free market capitalism and unfettered access to their resources while republicans prefer the military option. The results are the same....hatred and extremist acts of violence against us. All one needs to do is study history and they will quickly learn that all empires eventually turn inward and collapse when they overextend themselves militarily and financially (i.e. Rome, Britain, Soviet Union and so forth). The US is not immune to the lessons of history as much as we like to think of ourselves as "number one" and history's "actors" . The sooner people start realizing this the sooner we can start turning things around and possibly averting complete disaster....

Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug

2006-03-12T22:35:00.000-06:00

I CAN MAKE 100 BILLION DOLLARS
ON 100 MILLION BIRD FLU DEATHS!
CHENEY'S AND HALLIBURTON'S
WAR PROFITEERING IS BIRD SHIT
COMPARED TO MY SCHEME!

Somebody explain to me how this is ethical? Moreover what a crazy coincidence that Rumsfeld is connected to the whole bird flu scare! They should make a documentary on Rumsfeld's duplicitous connection to Gilead Sciences and Tamiflu and call it "THE BIRD FLU" after Alfred Hitchcock's famous movie "The Birds."

Donald Rumsfeld, the guy who runs the Pentagon and its disastrous wars, is set to profit even more from human misery. I have to hand it to this waste of human sperm, he is definitely one of history's all time opportunists and morally bankrupt hominids. How convenient that Tamiflu is the only medicine thought to be effective against the killer bird flu. Once again the American people are being taken to the cleaners and their tax money is being funneled right into the pockets of Donald Rumsfeld. Utterly contemptible. However, all is going according to the plan. If the pandemic hits and it is truly the disaster the media and government is advertising it to be, the populace will realize that Rumsfeld sold them snake oil and we'll be left defenseless like Katrina victims. Bush will then impose martial law and quarantine people in Halliburton built detention camps...

Justice O'Connor Decries Republican Attacks on Courts

2006-03-12T12:02:00.000-06:00

Even more proof we're not far off from a dictatorship..read Justice O'Connor's words provided in the transcript below. She told an audience at Georgetown University that Republican proposals, and their sometimes uncivil tone, pose a danger to the independence of the judiciary, and the freedoms of all Americans.

Transmission date: 03/10/06 NPR

TRANSCRIPT

Supreme Court justices keep many opinions private but Sandra Day O’Connor no longer faces that obligation. Yesterday, the retired justice criticized Republicans who criticized the courts. She said they challenge the independence of judges and the freedoms of all Americans. O’Connor’s speech at Georgetown University was not available for broadcast but NPR’s legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg was there.

Nina Totenberg: In an unusually forceful and forthright speech, O’Connor said that attacks on the judiciary by some Republican leaders pose a direct threat to our constitutional freedoms. O’Connor began by conceding that courts do have the power to make presidents or the Congress or governors, as she put it “really, really angry.” But, she continued, if we don’t make them mad some of the time we probably aren’t doing our jobs as judges, and our effectiveness, she said, is premised on the notion that we won’t be subject to retaliation for our judicial acts. The nation’s founders wrote repeatedly, she said, that without an independent judiciary to protect individual rights from the other branches of government those rights and privileges would amount to nothing. But, said O’Connor, as the founding fathers knew statutes and constitutions don’t protect judicial independence, people do.

And then she took aim at former House GOP leader Tom DeLay. She didn’t name him, but she quoted his attacks on the courts at a meeting of the conservative Christian group Justice Sunday last year when DeLay took out after the courts for rulings on abortions, prayer and the Terri Schiavo case. This, said O’Connor, was after the federal courts had applied Congress’ onetime only statute about Schiavo as it was written. Not, said O’Connor, as the congressman might have wished it were written. This response to this flagrant display of judicial restraint, said O’Connor, her voice dripping with sarcasm, was that the congressman blasted the courts.

It gets worse, she said, noting that death threats against judges are increasing. It doesn’t help, she said, when a high-profile senator suggests there may be a connection between violence against judges and decisions that the senator disagrees with. She didn’t name him, but it was Texas senator John Cornyn who made that statement, after a Georgia judge was murdered in the courtroom and the family of a federal judge in Illinois murdered in the judge’s home. O’Connor observed that there have been a lot of suggestions lately for so-called judicial reforms, recommendations for the massive impeachment of judges, stripping the courts of jurisdiction and cutting judicial budgets to punish offending judges. Any of these might be debatable, she said, as long as they are not retaliation for decisions that political leaders disagree with.

I, said O’Connor, am against judicial reforms driven by nakedly partisan reasoning. Pointing to the experiences of developing countries and former communist countries where interference with an independent judiciary has allowed dictatorship to flourish, O’Connor said we must be ever-vigilant against those who would strongarm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies. It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, she said, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.

Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

The Coming Resource Wars

2006-03-08T23:14:00.000-06:00

It is becoming more apparent that the lunacy we're seeing in the world as a result of our rogue ways is about dwindling resources and trying to maintain our global monopoly both economically (dollar supremacy via the petrodollar currency system) and militarily to secure our "interests" and ensure full spectrum dominance of a resource finite globe. There is method to this madness but the costs will be immense. What we are seeing now is just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, the earth is reaping what we have and continue to sow. Climate change, pandemics, economic upheavals and wars will be the norm. Consider the following excerpts from the article....it is no wonder Haliburton is being asked to build camps for mass "immigration".....

As Reid’s speech and the 2003 Pentagon study make clear, the greatest danger posed by global climate change is not the degradation of ecosystems per se, but rather the disintegration of entire human societies, producing wholesale starvation, mass migrations and recurring conflict over resources.

“As famine, disease, and weather-related disasters strike due to abrupt climate change,” the Pentagon report notes, “many countries’ needs will exceed their carrying capacity”—that is, their ability to provide the minimum requirements for human survival. This “will create a sense of desperation, which is likely to lead to offensive aggression” against countries with a greater stock of vital resources. “Imagine eastern European countries, struggling to feed their populations with a falling supply of food, water, and energy, eyeing Russia, whose population is already in decline, for access to its grain, minerals, and energy supply.”

Similar scenarios will be replicated all across the planet, as those without the means to survival invade or migrate to those with greater abundance—producing endless struggles between resource “haves” and “have-nots.”

The Pentagon’s War on the Internet

2006-03-06T23:00:00.000-06:00

An excellent piece by Mike Whitney....

"What opinions the masses hold, or do not hold, is looked on as a matter of indifference. They can be granted intellectual liberty because they have no intellect." ~Orwell

THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH "ENGAGES" IN PSYOPS AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

2006-03-06T21:14:00.000-06:00

WE'RE WATCHING YOU BLOGGER...
AND PRESENTING THE WAR ON A NOUN THROUGH ROSE COLORED GLASSES

CENTCOM PHOTO BY:
Army Reserve Spc. Claude Flowers

My fellow critical thinking americans. Domestic militarization and policing is now in full effect. Democracy and the republic is dead. Today, I received the below psyop message from CENTCOM in response to my criticism and dissent against the creation of a team of psychological operatives who have been established under the Pentagon's newly created "Information Operations Roadmap" plan to harass, and scare those who are capable of discerning and disseminating truth instead of lies and half-truths. Their sole intent is to narrow the range of thought and obfuscate through manipulation of the mind so that a person no longer says the opposite of what they think, but they think the opposite of what is true. This kind of thinking was coined by Orwell as "doublethink." Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

Orwell states in 1984, "reality," so the ruling party holds, "is not external. Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else...whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth." In short, by controlling people's minds the "party" or the elite establishment controls the truth....

They say that you always know you are approaching the target by the amount of flak you receive. The simple fact that the Pentagon and CENTCOM feel the need to "fight" the internet and informed american citizens by planting and propagating rose colored stories (as they have done in Iraq) shows how transparent and incipient the deceit of this administration is. They are truly domestic enemies hell bent on abolishing and destroying the Constitution of the US and establishing a christian theocratic and orthodox society and fascist corporatist state.

As far as a suggestion to CENTCOM's website and what it may be lacking.....how bout the TRUTH!

There is truth and there is untruth, and if you cling to the truth even against the whole world, you are not mad. "Sanity is not statistical"

CENTCOM's MESSAGE

Hi, Winston:

I don't know if you've actually visited our site, http://www.centcom.mil (It wasn't clear from your posting if you had), but hopefully you'll find it to be indeed factual. We try to cover the totality of what's happening in the US Central Command Area of Responsibility (Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa). It's not -- to pick up on the Orwellian theme of your site, and the implication of your post -- an online Minitruth intended to whitewash the Global War on Terrorism. If there's anything you think the site is lacking, suggestions are welcome (We added audio and video content in response to reader requests, for example).

As the original article stated (http://www.dod.mil/news/Mar2006/20060302_4370.html; Text pasted below), you're welcome to use any of the materials you find on our webpage. Again, I hope it's of some interest, and some use.

SPC C. Flowers
CENTCOM Public Affairs

Banks Report Your Name To Homeland Security if You Suddenly Pay Down Credit Card

2006-03-05T23:48:00.000-06:00

That's right Americans...don't even think about getting rid of your debt. We have debtor prisons built by Haliburton waiting for you .....

CENTCOM Team Engages 'Bloggers'

2006-03-05T23:07:00.000-06:00

I'M WATCHING YOU BLOGGER!

Can things get any more pernicious and diabolical! More proof that this Republic is in its death throes. Get a load of this crap from CENTCOM

McNorton said the team contacts bloggers to inform the writers about any given topic that may have been posted on their site. This outreach effort enables the team to offer complete information to bloggers by inviting them to visit CENTCOM's Web site for news releases, data or imagery.

The team engages bloggers who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as bloggers who are posting incomplete information. They extend a friendly invitation to all bloggers to visit the command's Web site.

Many bloggers appreciate the team's contact, blog team officials said, and most post CENTCOM's Web site as a link on their blog sites. This, McNorton said, has a "viral effect" that drives Internet news consumers to CENTCOM's Web site.

"Now (online readers) have the opportunity to read positive stories. At least the public can go there and see the whole story. The public wants to hear these good stories," he said, adding that the news stories the military generates are "very factual."

These people are completely and utterly sick. Their news stories are "very factual." Yes, every single Iraqi is drinking ice tea by their pools and kissing the feet of americans and thanking them for liberating them and making their country so peaceful. There isn't a civil war and the country is not breaking at the seams or becoming a failed state and breeding ground for extremist elements who are getting hands-on training in the latest urban terrorist techniques. No, of course none of this is happening. Iraqis are growing roses in their gardens to throw at their liberators and not on the graves of their family members or their own.......

FDA Shields Drug Companies From Lawsuits

2006-03-02T00:39:00.000-06:00

The following excerpts from the article pretty much sum up the farce that is the FDA. Corporations are just running amok and government has become their enabler. It really is about "wealth vs health."

"The fact that the drug industry can get the FDA to rewrite the rules so that CEOs can escape accountability for putting dangerous and deadly drugs on the market is the scariest example yet of how much control these big corporations have over our political process,"

A little-mentioned fact is that many FDA employees end up working for the pharmaceutical industry. "The old joke is that the FDA is sort of like a showcase for a future job in the drug industry," Robert Whitaker, author of Mad In America, said in an August 2005 interview with Street Spirit."You go there, you work awhile, then you go off into the drug industry," he said, "the progression that people make, in essence they're making good old boy network connections, so they're not going to be so harsh on the drug companies."

9-11 Revisited

2006-02-26T23:47:00.000-06:00

Since I will be limited with my postings this week I have resorted to the old substitute teacher trick...yes a movie...yipee. This is an excellent documentary about 9-11 and the questions that still remain unanswered. After viewing this piece , it is pretty evident that the official version put out by the Bush appointed 9-11 commission was a complete whitewash.....Enjoy!