Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Mainstream Media Forced to Take Ron Paul Seriously :CNN: Santorum a conspiracy theorist?



If Ron Paul wasn't such a staunch libertarian his foreign policy could be appealing to Americans across the board.
For some Americans they have already decided to embrace Ron Paul's anti-war anti-military interventionism though they may not care for some of his other policies.
The problem with the other Republican presidential wannabe is that all of them are in favor of the same old same old American foreign policy of gun boat diplomacy and secretly engineered Coup d'etats while supporting various friendly fascistic or authoritarian style dictatorships or monarchies crushing any and all forms of democracy when it is not in America's interests.

Being rather cynical when it comes to foreign policies and the treatment of POWs or the use of Drones to massacre innocent civilians the Republican candidates are in agreement with President Obama that the more wars the better while treating the whole world as potentially hostile to the USA.
President Obama like these GOP nutjobs sees the United Nations or the Red Cross , or the International Court or the International Atomic Energy and other NGOs committed to human rights as all being in cohoots to undermine America's influence, power and status.
And like all other Presidents before him Obama has been far too pro-Israel than he should be . Though the Republicans and the Religious Right and the Israelis may criticize Obama as not being more of a booster for Israel . This might be true to some extent because the GOP and the religious Right believe America must support Israel no matter what it does.
Anyway none of theses candidates or President Obama can in any way be construed as being anti-war except for Ron Paul.

President Obama may in fact start committing himself to substantive actions at least in his speeches in order to once again con progressives and liberals into voting for him come November .

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

#OWS TYT's Cenk Uygur "Santorum Attacks Obama's Religion, 'Earth Worship' "



Cenk Uygur at The Young Turks notes that Rick Santorum and other GOPers question Obama's religion They wonder out loud if Obama is a true Christian because Obama also believes in protecting the environment and they claim no real Christian is concerned about the environment . Besides Rick Santorum says that environmental issues ie global warming ,pollution , smog , people's health being affected by the environment which is polluted through industry is a lot of nonsense.
Radical environmentalists are really just out to undermine Industry and the capitalist system and to undermine America.
So Santorum and others say Obama is not a real Christian or a loyal American because his allegiance is to protecting the earth .
Then when Santorum and others are questioned about their statement criticizing Obama they back-pedal and claim the media is deliberately misinterpreting what they actually said.
So we are back where we were in 2008 when Sara Palin and John McCain were accusing Obama of not being a "real American" because of his policies or his religion or whether he was born in America or is a sleeper agent for Radical Muslims.

What Santorum and other Republicans Uberconservatives and the Religious Right are still questioning Obama's motivation and suggesting that Obama is part of a fifth column made up of Environmentalists, liberals, atheists, secular humanist,socialists ,Communists and Muslims and so forth.

This notion of a fifth column or the notion of the Enemy Within who are working for some sort of secret cabal or even knowingly or unknowingly working for the Anti-Christ or "The Father of Lies" Satan we can trace not merely back to the McCarthy witch hunt of the 1950s but back to the early settlers of America in the 16th and 17th century the Puritans who believed that the forces of darkness were all around them . They believed the Native Americans were idolaters and devil worshipers who were were acting as minions for Satan to destroy the Christians. They further believed there were those amongst them who were on behalf of God testing them or were out to cause dissension and defeat the Christians to give Satan complete and absolute dominion over humankind.
So the Puritans viewed those who held what they considered to be heretical views were not merely the representatives of a slightly point of view but rather were radicals and extremists such as The Quakers and Catholics et al who were in fact at war with true Christianity which is represented by the "Visible Saints" of the Puritans.

What Garry Wills illustrates that this sort of fear and paranoia of the enemy without and the enemy within goes back to the early settlers of New England.

For More see : Garry Wills Head and Heart ,Pub. 2007.

Monday, February 27, 2012

#OWS: Echoing The Puritans Rick Santorum: "I Don't Believe in an America Where the Separation of Church and State is Absolute"



As for the Separation of church and State and the Founders of the American colonies they were against the notion of a separation or the tolerance of other religions or Christian sects besides their own .As relious historian Garry Wills in his book Head and Heart: American Chistianities,(pub. 2007) points out:

The Founders of the New England colonies did not come to America to protect any variety in religious practice, or to assert the primacy of the individual's conscience. Far from it. They came to set up the one true faith where corrupt versions of it could not intrude. The only religion recognized as authentic, as what God wills, was the Covenant of Grace, under which God's chosen were predestined to salvation, making their church a collection of "visible Saints." Those not consciously saved in this way could not be communicating members of the church, nor could they be voting members of the community. These outsiders had to attend and support the true church even if they were not full members of it . As Samuel Willard wrote in 1681 against baptists claiming that New England should be a haven for religious freedom:

I perceive they are mistaken in the design of our first planters whose business was not tolerating but were professed enemies of it, and could leave the world professing they died no libertines. Their business was to settle and ( as much as in them lay) secure religion to posterity to posterity according to that way which they believed was of God.
Rick Santorum says this speech on the Separation of Church and State by JFK made him throw up.

JFK when he was running for president there were those who feared that because JFK was Catholic that his first allegiance would be to the Pope and the Vatican rather than to America and its peoples. Santorum's belief is the direct opposite of that of JFK and this in fact should worry Americans.

JFK on the Separation of Church and State

Uploaded by JFKLF on Aug 1, 2007
Senator John F. Kennedy speaking before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association at the Rice Hotel in Houston, Texas on September 12, 1960.
Copyright: Kennedy Library Foundation


Rick santorum : "I Don't Believe in an America Where the Separation and State is Absolute"



So Santorum who like JFK is a Catholic assures Americans that in his running for the presidency he will not follow in the footsteps of JFK and reassert a belief in the Separation of Church and State.
Santorum's policies once in office will in fact reflect his theological views.


In this clip Santorum sounds like the Puritans during the colonial period of American history. The Puritans did not believe in the Separation of Church and State.
The Puritans left England not in search of religious freedom but rather to set up a community which reflected Puritanism' values and where no other religion or Christian sect would be permitted. The Puritans set up a state in which only Puritans who were the visible saints that is those who have been touched by God could hold public office.
Believing that only their sect was the only truly Christian sect the Puritans treated all who belonged to other Christian sects as heretics.

As Garry Wills notes these early New Englanders persecuted other sects such as the Quakers and it was the king of England Charles II who chastised the leaders of the colony in Massachusetts for their persecution of the Quakers.

What these Pilgrims and Puritans found abhorent about England was that there was at the time an insistence upon religious tolerance. They left England because the state refused to acknowledge the puritans sect as the only true Christian sect which they believed to be a return to the Early Church .


So abortion and all forms of contraception for instance are abhorrent to him .
Since the Bible and the church up until recently have condemned homosexuality and other in his view abnormal forms of sexuality then as president he will not shy away from his extreme and militant views on these issues.
The question becomes how far would he go as president of the United States. Would he in his view merely ban gay marriage or would he simply ban homosexuality and other forms of sexual activities which do not conform to Santorum's views on what heterosexual activities are permissible and what is not.
Given Santorum's stand on abortion and contraception it follows that any act preventing fertilization is a form of murder since he claims from the moment of conception the Zygote is to be considered a person .
This position leads to a some rather strange and extremists legal issue such as laws protecting the Zygote and fetus so if a pregnant woman is murdered for instance the courts would have to view this as a double murder.
If a pregnant woman does anything which causes a miscarriage or affects the health of the child to be then she is legally responsible for a charge of murder or at least reckless endangerment.
As for any woman who becomes pregnant by being raped she has no right to have an abortion.
And as for the rapist himself he could be viewed as giving the woman a gift from God-a human life.
For instance given these sets of beliefs to go a little further the rapist has committed a more moral righteous act than if he had worn a condom during the rape or if he had simply masturbated and thereby wasted God's seed as it were.

As Kate Harding at The guardian points out :

Rick Santorum thinks pregnancy through rape is God's gift? Seriously?
Invoking God's will as a supporting argument to his position on abortion hardly fits with the constitution he claims to uphold by kate Harding, Guardian.co.uk, January 25, 2012


There is a multitude of issues which would be affected by the religious beliefs of President Santorum .

For instance given Santorum's religious beliefs if he were president we can expect even more overt Christian proselytizing in the US military and elsewhere by those who adhere to a faith to which Santorum approves.

As for the Global War on Terror if Santorum or anyone with similar views were to become president would he or they drop all pretenses as it were and simply talk about and push for polices which would not simply be against Islamic radicals and extremists but rather against Islam itself. If he believes what he says he does then he would have to act accordingly . So if the current struggle in his view is one of God and his true believers against Satan and those who are merely whether they know it or not are minions of Satan which would include all non-Christians and those Christians who in their actions have repudiated true Christianity.

As for education President Santorum would probably insist on the insertion of religion into not just the bedrooms but also the classrooms and the media in America.

see: Santorum Says Religion and Conservative Principles Are at Risk By KATHARINE Q. SEELY at new York Times, February 26,2012

Rick Santorum: Evolution Used To Promote Atheism In Schools by Doug Mataconis at Outside The Beltway February 22,2012

Santorum's Views on Sex and Religion Keep Him From Talking About the Economy by John Aloysius Farrell at national Journal, Feruary 22,2012

Rick Santorum defends comments blasting JFK over religion’s place in politics by Shira Schoenberg Boston political intelligence ,February 26,2012

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who has made his conservative stance on religious and social issues one of the centerpieces of his Republican presidential campaign, today questioned the idea of a complete separation of church and state. Santorum stood by comments he made last year when he said after reading President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech about the separation of church and state, “I almost threw up.”

Santorum said his disagreement with Kennedy came from the line in Kennedy’s speech that read, “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” Santorum said today on ABC’s “This Week.’’ “The idea that the church should have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical of the objectives and vision of our country.”

Santorum’s conservative social views have come under increasing scrutiny as he has soared in the polls nationally and come to challenge former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. He has waded into battles over insurance coverage of contraception, federal support for education, and what he referred to as President Obama’s “theology” on the environment. Today, Santorum was forced to defend his views on college education and on the separation of religion and politics.

And for more on Rick Santorum's personal life and his commitment to his religious principles see:

Senator Rick Santorum: Religious Beliefs and Politics By DOMINI HEDDERMAN Source: St. Anthony Messenger magazine
Published: Thursday, February 16, 2012 at American catholic.org,originally published October 2005


also see Catholic organization the Santorum family are involved with:

Legionaries of Christ/ Regnum Christiwebsite

Sunday, February 26, 2012

#OWS Santorum: Satan Attacking America! & Maddow VS Santorum Claims Netherlands Use Euthanasia To Kill Off the Elderly

Earlier this month, Santorum brought up the subject of euthanasia at a forum hosted by conservative leader James Dobson.
“They have voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands, but half the people who are euthanized every year, and it’s 10 percent of all deaths, half of those people are euthanized involuntarily in hospitals, because they are older and sick,” Santorum said. “So elderly people in the Netherlands don’t go to the hospital. They go to another country. Because they’re afraid because of budget purposes they will not come out of that hospital if they go in with sickness.”
Santorum also said some Dutch wear bracelets saying, “Don’t euthanize me.”

From article at MSNBC Santorum comments on forced euthanasia cause stir in Netherlands At MSNBC Feb. 24,2012

First here Cenk Uygur 's take on Rick Santorum's "Satan is attacking America" statement.
Santorum: Satan Attacking America!



Santorum presumes to know that the USA is God's chosen nation.
" ....the father of Lies (Satan) has his sights on... A good decent powerful influential America."
According to Santorum America is being attacked by Satan because it was founded as a Christian nation but America has moved away from those earlier Judeo-Christian principles and is now in the hands of Satan. As Cenk points out in this video that Santorum believes Protestants no longer have a positive influence in the USA. So in his view only Opus Dei Catholics and those who adhere to Opus Dei principles are the "True Christians".
The other issue which I have with Santorum's statement is that if America is so pure and righteous it means no other nation is as pure and righteous as America. All other nations are already in the grip of Satan's influence.
Cenk argues Santorum in large part has strange and extreme ideas due his connection to the Catholic sect Opus Dei.

Franz Schaeffer at his website on the Catholic extremist sect Opus Dei breaks down what the issues are concerning Opus Dei . Opus Dei is somewhat disturbing because it operates in cult like fashion the leaders are authoritarian and believe their followers have no right to question these authorities. Their theology as such lends itself to a fascistic ideology.

The Unofficial Opus Dei FAQ Franz Schaefer, schaefer@mond.at

1. Q: What is Opus Dei?

A: Opus Dei a fundamentalistic sect which operates in a Catholic environment. Officially it is part of the Catholic church and so they claim that they are not a sect. Well, it all depends on how you define the word ``sect''.

6. Q: What are the negative things in Opus Dei?

A: In short:

The Fascist ideology in Escriva's teachings. The fundamentalism. The
Intolerance towards other religions.
The dishonesty.
The danger inherent in the undemocratic structure of blindly following orders.
The danger inherent in the psychological control they have of their members due to the ``weekly chat'' where they have to tell the innermost details of their souls to their spiritual leaders.
The aggressive and manipulative way in which they try to catch new members.
The evil character of the founder.
The fact that they do not reveal their true goals and keep a lot of material secret from the public.
The smug thinking of belonging to an elite.



Meanwhile Santorum goes over the edge erroneously claiming that the government in the Netherlands is using euthanasia to get rid of its elderly.



Santorum comments on forced euthanasia cause stir in Netherlands At MSNBC Feb. 24,2012

A Dutch politician wants his government to publicly rebuke Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum for claiming that forced euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands and that the elderly are being killed against their will.
The Dutch Embassy in Washington has declined to comment on Santorum’s recent remarks, The New York Times reported this week. An embassy spokeswoman said the Dutch government wanted to stay out of the American presidential campaign, the Times reported.
On Thursday, Dutch Member of Parliament Frans Timmermans, a leading member of the opposition left-leaning Labor Party in The Hague, blasted his government’s silence.

...FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan project that monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by U.S. politicians, said Santorum “grossly mischaracterized” euthanasia practices in the Netherlands.
It said the former Pennsylvania senator overstated the rate of euthanasia. Government statistics show euthanasia is climbing but represented only 2.3 percent of all deaths in the Netherlands in 2010, it said.
FactCheck.org said Santorum’s claims that the elderly are being killed against their will and wear “do not euthanize me” bracelets are false.
Dutch euthanasia review boards found nine cases in 2010 where doctors “had not acted in accordance with the due care criteria,” mostly for how the procedure was performed — not because it was against anyone’s will, FactCheck.org said. It added that the Dutch government and medical association say no such “Don’t euthanize me” bracelets exist.

And update from Rachel Maddow on Netherlands Euthanasia:

Rick Santorum vs The Netherlands, on Rachel Maddow

Uploaded by RTLNY on Feb 25, 2012

Remarks by Rick Santorum that the Netherlands is euthanizing old people for budget reasons are obviously untrue. RTL News' Erik Mouthaan and Rachel Maddow try to explain the international diplomatic troubles that arose.




and so it goes,
GORD.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

#OWS Gov't Peeks Into Citizens Hard Drives? Occupy Movement Credited With Wall Street Elites Echoing OWS Battle Cries

OWS UPDATE government spying on its own citizens:

Canadian Rick Mercer comments on Canadian bill to allow for the government to spy on Canadians via the internet and to scan hard drives for copy-rite material or anti-government activity.

Rick Mercer rants about the online spying bill



keith Olbermann comments on Elites now using Occupy talking points for PR purposes.
They say they no longer have a problem with raising taxes on the rich but are not agreeable as yet to more regulations or investigation of Wall St. hustlers and schisters and criminals.

Occupy Movement Credited With Wall Street Elites Echoing OWS Battle Cries



Surprisingly even Mainstream Media covering the unnecessary over inflated price of oil and gasoline.
The high prices are not the result of normal changes in supply and demand but are rather the result of wall street speculators and the Big Oil corporations.
The speculators are hoping things get worse and that the supply of oil from the Middle East will be interrupted ie by war with Iran or other catastrophes.
And yet the conservatives tell us these Wall Street speculators and traders and Big Oil are patriotic but they are only concerned with their own profits and not with the well being of American citizens.

Wall St. Causes High Gas Prices - ABC News Feb 23 2012.mp4

Friday, February 24, 2012

#OWS Cenk Uygur "Don't drill for more oil to lower gas prices, drill the oil speculators" & Thom Hartmann US Citizens Being Screwed


The issue of oil and gasoline prices being rigged is a concern for the Occupy Movement since it shows how these Greedy amoral unethical speculators have no regard for the average citizen .
And yet they claim they are patriots when they decidedly are not.

Question is can or will the US government reinstitute common sense regulations of the Oil companies and the speculators. Could Obama insist on a price freeze or even roll back prices since the prices at the pumps is not a result of the natural forces of supply and demand.
Demand has gone down yet the prices are sky-rocketing.
If as Republicans and others claim America is at war since 9/11 then this sort rip-off of consumers is in fact war profiteering and can be therefore ipso facto a matter of treason undermining the nation's economy during war time.

Cenk Uygur of TYT expresses his outrage over the unnecessary rising Oil and gasoline prices.
Once again the Wall Street gang backed the Obama Regime are displaying their Greed and their unpatriotic amoral attitude towards American consumers.
A bill was defeated by the republicans which would have required oil companies to sell oil drilled in the USA to American consumers rather than just sold to the highest bidder .
Speculators and corporations tal about a fair and open market place yet treat the markets and investments as a means for them to gamble turning Wall Street into a Casino for the 1% to play. They over inflate prices betting things will get worse and so artificially raise prices.

Cenk Uygur "Don't drill for more oil to lower gas prices, drill the oil speculators"


Thom Hartmann simplifies how the oil companies and corporations and investors are able to rig the system due in large part to the last twenty years of deregulation.

#OWS Update More Deregulation Oil prices skyrocket...the speculators are back


Thursday, February 23, 2012

#OWS Update: Stop Racist Mass Incarceration & Prisons For Profits Meanwhile Consumers Getting Robbed, Ripped-Off & Screwed By Investors and Oil Companies

#OWS Updates:
* Speculators and oil companies ripping off US citizens with artificially over inflated prices for gas and Oil.
* Occupy Movement targets the Mass Incarceration of American Citizens
The Privatization of Prisons
The Three strikes rule
The War on Drugs
The institutionalization of racism in the US Justice System.
The "New Jim-Crow"
The racist Death Penalty

In the above mentioned corporations and investors make billions and so have no motive for changing the way things are the status quo except to do whatever increases their profits.
So president Obama is not about to commit political suicide by pushing for real substantive change or legislation to reduce this profiteering or its racist motives.
If anything Obama has helped to make the situation even worse than it was.
Obama is not going to turn his back on his friends or biggest election campaign-funders that is the people on Wall Street , the Lobbyists and corporations for whom he like other US presidents appears to be working. The only minority Obama really cares about is the 1% .

Speculators and Oil Companies robbing the public by inflating oil and gasoline prices using the Iranian situation to their advantage.
Meanwhile experts say there is no oil or gas shortage or crisis yet oil companies and Wall Street with the help of the Obama administration and the elites ie the 1% are profiteering as usual.
Even if there is a shooting war with Iran we can be assured that the War Profiteers will use the situation to make out like bandits as they have been doing with the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya.
So one wonders if in fact these wars are engineered by these war profiteers who have no sense of shame. Halliburton and other corporations screwed the American people out of billions of dollars in their various scams they ran in Iraq. For instance in Iraq for a small load of laundry corporations charged the US government and pentagon $99 when in fact the individual soldier could have done their own laundry for less than $5 or the Military could have employed its own soldiers and personnel to do the laundry.
A similar scam by Bush and Cheney's friends was the privatization of just about every need the military in Iraq had from employing private firms to deal with essentials such as serving meals, construction work ,setting up water prurification systems and sewage treatment plants that is for the military. And yet the military still employs its own engineers who could have done these jobs instead were either left completely idle or used for guard duty. The Iraq war became a very lucrative business transaction and even now Obama refuses to seriously investigate allegations of war profiteering . So it is no wonder that these private corporations can't wait for another war.
This sort of fraud should anger American citizens but instead they prefer basically not to hear about it.
In the same way much of the American public believes the government and corporations only do what they need to even though this is not the case.
This sort of government and corporate fraud does not fit into the American Myths about their country their governments and corporations so they deny such fraud and deception .

See: Once Again, Speculators Behind Sharply Rising Oil and Gasoline Prices | Truthout Feb. 22,2012

#OWS

 Occupy movement has become involved in protesting the governments policy of Mass Incarceration and a legal system which is now due to privatization of prisons profit oriented.
So if a corporation makes more money for incarcerating more people and for longer periods of time then the whole system becomes driven by profits and not by Justice.
But don't hold your breath waiting for Obama to do anything about it beyond maybe a speech or two.
President Obama may use the construction of a Black History Museum but he's not going to criticize the Racist American Justice system which incarcerates a disproportion of Black citizens. Nor is Obama going to question publicly the unjust Three Strikes rule or the insane disastrous anti-drug war even though this so called war is just another excuse for putting mainly poor blacks and Hispanics in Jail . This has been highlighted by NYPDs draconian use of "stop and Frisk" policy carried out almost exclusively against non-whites.
Obama himself has taken part in blaming the victims for example telling Black American men they are failing to do their job in looking after their families or telling blacks to clean up the litter and such in their neighborhoods as if littering is the cause of crime in black neighborhoods.
So Obama at times appears as deluded as other members of the 1% elitist including their enablers in the upper middle class .

Occupy for Prisoners Comes Out Against Mass Incarceration by: Yana Kunichoff, Truthout ,Feb. 22,2012

In the United States, more than 2.2 million people sit behind bars, according to the Justice Policy Institute. Some of the most oft-cited statistics are that more people are incarcerated today than in China or Stalin's Russia, giving America the dubious honor of being the largest jailer.

But behind the shocking statistics are harsh sentencing laws and lucrative contracts for private prison firms that continue to drive the mass incarceration system, say the protesters at Occupy for Prisons, and they are calling for a fundamental change to the system.

"Softer sheets and fluffier pillows will not do for change," said Yasmin Nair, an academic and writer in Chicago, with the group Gender Just. "Prison has become a way to increase systemic injustice."

The protests call for an end to a variety of ills that activists see in the system: three strikes bills, which mandate the harshest prison term for anyone with three criminal convictions; solitary confinement; overcrowding; the death penalty; jail time for drug offenses; adult sentencing for children; and for-profit prisons, among other issues.

"In several different places around the country, Occupiers have organically taken up this work," said Brit Schulte, an activists with Occupy Chicago and the Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

Occupy's movement against injustice in the banking system, and the massive profits of corporations, are exactly what Occupy for Prisoners is pushing for, said Schulte.

Wells Fargo, a target of Occupy events in the past, has heavily invested in the private prison industry and owns 3.5 million shares in the second-largest private prison operator in the country, GEO Group, as Truthout previously reported.

Meanwhile, prisons make "enormous amounts of profit off the backs of black and brown people in our country," said Schulte. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the maximum wage for prisoners working at UNICOR, the federal agency that employs prisoners, is $1.15 an hour. The minimum wage for prisoners is $0.23.

The current prison population falls sharply along racial lines - African-Americans only make up 12 percent of the US population, while they make up about 40 percent of the prison population.

In fact, "there are more African Americans under correctional control today - in prison or jail, on probation or parole - than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began," points out Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness."

and so it goes,
GORD.


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

#OWS Update Wikileaks Cables : Proof 2009 Obama Backed Honduran Coup D'Etat & Another Big Fire In " Honduras

 US Connections to Honduran Coup and corruption Another reason Obama wants to shut down Wikileaks
President Obama Regimes continues American Imperialism and Colonialism
US continues to interfere in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations from Honduras to Bahrain
Former President Zelaya 's return to Honduras June 2011
Zelaya interview about Wikileaks cables as proof of US involvement in Coup d'Etat to oust him
US dictated terms of Zelaya to stay in power acquiesce to US demands
And another major fire in Honduras in market in Tegucigalpa

Honduras: fire sweeps through market in capital – video Feb. 20,2012

Honduras's capital Tegucigalpa was consumed on on Saturday by a fire. The blaze happened only days after a deadly prison fire killed more that 350 people in the country. The market provides space for over 1,500 stalls. Dozens were injured, but no deaths have been reported



UN calls for reforms after Honduras jail fire

Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Feb 17, 2012
The deaths of 350 inmates in a Honduras prison fire have led to calls for reforms to the nation's penal system.
With dozens of families still waiting at the Comayagua prison for word on their relatives, the UN has called for an independent investigation into the fire and action to prevent a recurrence.
Teams from Central and South America have come to provide their expertise in an investigation that has overwhelmed the Honduran authorities.
Al Jazeera's Andy Gallacher reports from Comayagua.
Teams from Central and South America have come to provide their expertise in an investigation that has overwhelmed the Honduran authorities.
Al Jazeera's Andy Gallacher reports from Comayagua.



Uploaded by PBSNewsHour on Feb 15, 2012
A fast-moving blaze engulfed a Honduras prison Tuesday night, killing more than 272 (375) people. Margaret Warner discusses the details of the fire and a prison system notorious for overcrowding and violence with The Wall Street Journal's Nicholas Casey, reporting from Mexico City.



Moves towards the left is not anti-democratic but in fact is a move towards more participatory democracy.
Obama regime and US corporations are against any moves towards real participatory democracy .
Latin America Goes Left
From: TheAlyonaShow | Oct 1, 2010 | 841 views
The attempted overthrow of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is igniting claims that the US is still in the business of putting "in and taking out" Presidents across Latin America. From Venezuela, Haiti to Honduras coups involving the United States might not seem like anything new to some people. Jihan Hafiz explains the explosive vibrant campaigns that you don't see in America. She reveals details of the latest coup and the massive political movements




Manuel Zelaya Discusses the WikiLeaks Cables About the U.S. Ties to the Honduran Military Coup


Uploaded by mediagrrl9 on May 31, 2011
DemocracyNow.org -
In an exclusive interview, Democracy Now! talks with ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, about the military coup d'edtat against in June 2009. He discusses what he learned about the coup after WikiLeaks published classified U.S. diplomatic cables about Honduras. Zelaya talks about why he believes the United States was behind the coup, and what exactly happened on June 28, 2009, when hooded Honduran soldiers kidnapped him at gunpoint and put him on a plane to Costa Rica, stopping to refuel at Palmerola, the U.S. military base in Honduras. "This coup d'etat was made by the right-wing of the United States," Zelaya says. "The U.S. State Department has always denied, and continues to deny, their any ties with the government with the coup d'etat. Nevertheless, all of the proof incriminates the U.S. government. And all of the actions that were taken by the de facto regime, or the contista regime which are those who carried out the coup. And is to make favor of the industrial policies and the military policies and the financial policies of the United States in Honduras."

For additional reports from Democracy Now! exclusive report on the return of ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, to Honduras, visit http://www.democracynow.org/tags/honduras



Manuel Zelaya: Democracy Now! Exclusive Interview on US Role in His Ouster From Honduras. 3 of 3




Uploaded by mediagrrl9 on Jun 1, 2011
DemocracyNow.org -
Democracy Now! continues its coverage of the historic return of ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, who on June 28, 2009, was kidnapped at gunpoint and put on a plane to Costa Rica in a coup orchestrated in part by two generals trained in the United States. Scores of peasants, teachers, journalists, farmers have been assassinated since the coup. This week 87 U.S. Congress members sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling for the suspension of aid to the Honduran military and police until steps are taken to hold security forces accountable for human rights abuses. "Defense and security forces have to exist," Zelaya says in an interview with Democracy Now! at his home in Tegucigalpa. "But violence always will be the worst method in order to correct either political or social problems. Poverty and corruption cannot be battled with more arms, but with more democracy."




WikiLeaks Reveals U.S. Ties To Honduran Drug Dealer
By William Fisher The Public Record Nov 3rd, 2011


U.S. “drug war” funds and training are being used to support a known drug trafficker’s war against campesinos, a Honduran expert at the University of California at Santa Cruz charged today.
Campesinos are Latin American peasants, usually farmers.
Prof. Dana Frank said today, “New Wikileaks cables reveal that the U.S. embassy in Honduras — and therefore the State Department — has known since 2004 that Miguel Facussé, the richest man in Honduras, who is allegedly responsible for the deaths of campesino activists in the Aguan Valley, is a cocaine importer.
“The U.S. is funding and training Honduran military and police that are conducting joint operations with the security guards of a known drug trafficker to violently repress a campesino movement on behalf of Miguel Facussé’s dubious claims to vast swathes of the Aguán Valley, in order to support his African palm biofuels empire.”
She added, “Despite strong anti-drug rhetoric from U.S. officials, State Department cables recently made available by Wikileaks show that the U.S. has been aware of the drug ties of one of Honduras’ most powerful and wealthy individuals since 2004, yet has continued to support him.”
She charged that “U.S. military and police assistance is also aiding the businessman, landowner and coup-backer Miguel Facussé, in a campaign of repression targeted at the campesinos whose land Facussé wants for production of palm oil,” adding:
“Despite the objections of 87 members of Congress, U.S. funding for the Honduran military and police continues, even though reports continue to emerge of police involvement in killings, such as in the recent case of the son of a university rector, and journalists and human rights activists continue to be targeted, with impunity.”

also see: Wikileaks Honduras: State Dept. Busted on Support of Coup BY ROBERT NAIMAN at Just Foreign Policy.org, ON 29 NOVEMBER 2010

By July 24, 2009, the U.S. government was totally clear about the basic facts of what took place in Honduras on June 28, 2009. The U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa sent a cable to Washington with subject: "Open and Shut: The Case of the Honduran Coup," asserting that "there is no doubt" that the events of June 28 "constituted an illegal and unconstitutional coup." The Embassy listed arguments being made by supporters of the coup to claim its legality, and dismissed them thus: "none ... has any substantive validity under the Honduran constitution." The Honduran military clearly had no legal authority to remove President Zelaya from office or from Honduras, the Embassy said, and their action - the Embassy described it as an "abduction" and "kidnapping" - was clearly unconstitutional.

It is inconceivable that any top U.S. official responsible for U.S. policy in Honduras was not familiar with the contents of the July 24 cable, which summarized the assessment of the U.S. Embassy in Honduras on key facts that were politically disputed by supporters of the coup regime. The cable was addressed to Tom Shannon, then Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; Harold Koh, the State Department's Legal Adviser; and Dan Restrepo, Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council. The cable was sent to the White House and to Secretary of State Clinton.

and : WikiLeaks Honduras: US Linked to Brutal Businessman Dana Frank, The Nation.com, October 21, 2011

and so it goes,
at the edge of the Empire
GORD.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

#OWS UPDATE: Obama Props Up Corrupt Anti-Democratic 1% Elite In Honduras



"I have first-hand information that the empire, through the U.S. Southern Command, is behind the coup d'etat in Honduras," Morales said during his visit to Uruguay's capital, Montevideo.


"Maybe I do not know Obama, but the imperial structure remains in force," he went on, accusing Washington of inciting civil violence in Bolivia and plotting his assassination.

 Quote from 2009 article: Bolivian president says U.S. behind Honduras coup via Rianovosti July 14, 2009

President Obama has shown himself to be on the side of the 1% not just in America but in the Middle East (Bahrain ,Yemen,Saudi Arabia etc.) and Central America ( Honduras et al..)
Obama is no more in favor of recognizing the sovereignty of other nations than previous US presidents.

Obama supporters ignore the reality believing Obama's lovely little speeches and ignoring his actions.
Dana Frank sums up the consequences of Obama's anti-democracy anti-reform colonial Gun Boat diplomacy in Honduras since 2009.
"IT’S time to acknowledge the foreign policy disaster that American support for the Porfirio Lobo administration in Honduras has become. Ever since the June 28, 2009, coup that deposed Honduras’s democratically elected president, José Manuel Zelaya, the country has been descending deeper into a human rights and security abyss. That abyss is in good part the State Department’s making.


The headlines have been full of horror stories about Honduras. According to the United Nations, it now has the world’s highest murder rate, and San Pedro Sula, its second city, is more dangerous than Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, a center for drug cartel violence.


Much of the press in the United States has attributed this violence solely to drug trafficking and gangs. But the coup was what threw open the doors to a huge increase in drug trafficking and violence, and it unleashed a continuing wave of state-sponsored repression."

Quote from the article : In Honduras, a Mess Made in the U.S. By DANA FRANK The New York Times January 26, 2012


Obama is continuing the tradition of American Gun Boat diplomacy in latin America and the Middle East . Colonialism is not dead the Americans has never stopped treating countries around the globe as if they were American colonies which have no sovereign rights and the people are in effect America's slave laborers . The cold war they say is over yet the USA acts as if it is not as they take down regimes which are pro-democracy or pro-reform and those no longer enthralled by rapacious winner take all Corporate Capitalism. So the average citizens they say have no say in how they are to be governed its either America's way or no way. So any citizen of Bahrain or Honduras or even America who wants a society which is fair and just and takes care of their own are considered socialist and therefore by extension Enemies of the USA/CIA, the Military Industrial Complex and the 1% rich and powerful Elites and so according to American tradition Obama has no choice he tells us to carry on this form of Gun-Boat gun to the head diplomacy .

So here's a great song by Bruce Cockburn

Burn Baby Burn






Obama and his staff are personally involved with their continuing support of the anti-democratic Junta regime in Honduras. In 2009 the Obama government engineered a coup d'Etat to oust the legally elected and popular President of Honduras José Manuel Zelaya who had the audacity to suggest making changes in the country's constitution which was in fact a document written by Americans and foisted upon the peoples of Honduras. Unfortunately for Zelaya and the majority of the honduran people the United States wanted to maintain the status quo that is allowing a small elite of rich and corrupt notables rather than allow the Honduras to insist on its own sovereignty or to move towards a more democratic state in which the rights of all citizens would be protected and where most of the wealth of the nation was not concentrated in the hands of the elites.

One of the reasons Obama wants to insure friendly relations as in the case of Bahrain the US has a military base in Honduras and Obama has been increasing the numbers of bases across the globe. The oppression of either government is ignored by the Obama Regime as it presses forward with its own agenda. As Dana Frank argues the point;

"Why has the State Department thrown itself behind the Lobo administration despite brutal evidence of the regime’s corruption? In part because it has caved in to the Cuban-American constituency of Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and her allies. They have been ferocious about Honduras as a first domino with which to push back against the line of center-left and leftist governments that have won elections in Latin America in the past 15 years. With its American air base, Honduras is also crucial to the United States’ military strategy in Latin America."

so is this the start of more interventions in South America to parallel with what the Obama white House is doing in the Middle East takem down one by one
So now this is just history repeating itself just a couple decades later. The US uner Eisenhower Nixon Reaganjust like they did in the 1950s to 1990. The excuse or rationale during the Cold War they intervened because the Soviets were intervening so who's the enemy now any sovereign state which has a government that is not an ally and a sychophant to the USA then they are the "Enemy"
So sovereingty is just another old fashioned quaint idea.

Honduran Prison Fire Example Of Obama's Disastrous Policy in Honduras



Honduran Prison fire highlights on going problem in Honduras which have worsened since the 2009 Obama backed Coup D'etat which ousted popular President José Manuel Zelaya who wanted to use Honduras' wealth to better the living conditions for all Hondurans and not just the elite and their supporters in the military and the police forces.

Honduran Prison Fire tragedy was forseeable and preventible . The government of Honduras which came to power in a 2009 coup d'etat backed by the Obama administration to oust the popular president Zelaya who wanted to create a more fair and just society in which the Elites (the 1%) would be made to share some of their wealth with the rest of the country's population. Zelaya made the mistake of believing that he could improve the lot of the Honduran peoples without US interference . Zelaya was wrong the US has been intervening in Hunuran domestic politics for at least the four decades or more.


Honduran leaders are supposed to accept the fact that whatever they do must first be approved by the USA in this case the Obama Regime.
The Junta has been a disaster for the peoples of Honduras since the Honduran government is corrupt and is itself involved in the the drug trade. The government in power in Honduras does not recognize the civil or human rights of its citizens except for those who are part of the elite in power at the moment .

It was during this US manufactured Coup d'etat that President Obama proved he was just part of the status quo in America and was sending a clear message to show what the US would do to other politicians or groups or individuals who would have the audacity to insist on real substantive reforms and change in their countries without US approval. America as we know finds it easier to deal with Oppressive brutal regimes which are stable and dependable rather than deal with more democratic governments which can be unpredictable from one election to another.

Just an aside those in the #OWS or Occupy movement and those who still support Obama unconditionaly should take note of what the Obama regime really thinks about democracy, human rights and freedoms and " the fair and just" redistribution of wealth.Honduras is not the only oppressive regime Obama supports we can also add Bahrain , Saudi Arabia , Yemen up until recently Egypt , Morocco , Syria, Uzbeckistan .
This should also be a reminder that for all his blather Obama did not and still does not support the so-called Arab Spring which has ousted friends of the Obama and previous American Regimes.

In Honduras, a Mess Made in the U.S.
By DANA FRANK The New York Times January 26, 2012


IT’S time to acknowledge the foreign policy disaster that American support for the Porfirio Lobo administration in Honduras has become. Ever since the June 28, 2009, coup that deposed Honduras’s democratically elected president, José Manuel Zelaya, the country has been descending deeper into a human rights and security abyss. That abyss is in good part the State Department’s making.

The headlines have been full of horror stories about Honduras. According to the United Nations, it now has the world’s highest murder rate, and San Pedro Sula, its second city, is more dangerous than Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, a center for drug cartel violence.

Much of the press in the United States has attributed this violence solely to drug trafficking and gangs. But the coup was what threw open the doors to a huge increase in drug trafficking and violence, and it unleashed a continuing wave of state-sponsored repression.

The current government of President Lobo won power in a November 2009 election managed by the same figures who had initiated the coup. Most opposition candidates withdrew in protest, and all major international observers boycotted the election, except for the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, which are financed by the United States.

President Obama quickly recognized Mr. Lobo’s victory, even when most of Latin America would not. Mr. Lobo’s government is, in fact, a child of the coup. It retains most of the military figures who perpetrated the coup, and no one has gone to jail for starting it.

...This chain of events — a coup that the United States didn’t stop, a fraudulent election that it accepted — has now allowed corruption to mushroom. The judicial system hardly functions. Impunity reigns. At least 34 members of the opposition have disappeared or been killed, and more than 300 people have been killed by state security forces since the coup, according to the leading human rights organization Cofadeh. At least 13 journalists have been killed since Mr. Lobo took office, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The police in Tegucigalpa, the capital, are believed to have killed the son of Julieta Castellanos, the rector of the country’s biggest university, along with a friend of his, on Oct. 22, 2011. Top police officials quickly admitted their suspects were police officers, but failed to immediately detain them. When prominent figures came forward to charge that the police are riddled with death squads and drug traffickers, the most famous accuser was a former police commissioner, Alfredo Landaverde. He was assassinated on Dec. 7. Only now has the government begun to make significant arrests of police officers.

also see:


Zelaya and the Honduran People Betrayed By President Obama , Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister Stephen Harper- Selling out To The Rich and Powerful,July 24Gord's poetry Factory

and so it goes,
different day ,different president same old shit!

GORD.

Monday, February 20, 2012

#OWS Update TYT Breitbart Rant Against OWS And War With Iran Propaganda And Sibel Edmonds the Military Industrial complex supports oppressive Regimes...

#OWS Update 1:

Occupy Round House New Mexico

Uploaded by michaelfilmmaker on Feb 19, 2012
2012 Occupy new Mexico makes an historical hug on the state capitals Round House in a moment of of solidarity





OWS UPDATE 2 Breitbart's rant against Occupy Wall Street protesters and supporters
Breitbart called Occupy members anti-American filthy animals, freaks,rapists and murderers

Breitbart Vs Cenk On Occupy Wall Street (Review)

Uploaded by TheYoungTurks on Feb 15, 2012
Conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart came on The Young Turks with Cenk Uygur on Current TV to talk about his claims regarding rape at Occupy Wall Street protests. Cenk reviews their discussion the day after, including correcting one misquote.




Former CIA Agent Pushes War With Iran


Uploaded by TheYoungTurks on Feb 17, 2012
Bruce Riedel, former CIA officer wrote a report about an "official british report" which pushed for war with Iran. Cenk Uygur breaks down just how ridiculous this report is and how similar this is to the lead up to the war with Iraq.

Subscribe to The Young Turks: http://bit.ly/eWuu5




Big Money and Washington trumps human rights abuses in Bahrain and other nations.


Sibel Edmonds on why the Military Industrial complex supports oppressive regimes

Uploaded by RTAmerica on Jan 13, 2012
In November of last year, The Washington Times published an opinion piece entitled, "Bahrain, a vital US ally. Backing protesters would betray a friend and harm American security." The article was written by Vice-Admiral Charles Moore, who is now a regional president for Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin has done millions of dollars of business with Bahrain. Bahrain has been criticized for abusing its own citizens and Sibel Edmonds with the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, joins us to discuss why Bahrain is interested in lobbying in America.

Follow Kristine on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KristineFrazao



Notions such as democratic reform, civil rights and human rights and freedoms are trumped in Bahrain and elsewhere by the strategic and political expediency of the USA in the Gulf Region.
So as in other cases the US downplays the human rights issue in Bahrain in order not to upset the Bahraini government which the US needs to keep its military and political dominance in the region.

Meanwhile the US also downplays for similar reasons the poor human rights record of Saudi Arabia or other Arab or Islamic governments which are considered allies of the US.
Meanwhile at the same time the US government the White House ,the pentagon and the mainstream Media drum up anti-Iranian propaganda highlighting and dramatizing similar human rights abuses in Iran as those in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other US friendly governments or rulers.


A major part of the Obama administrations need to keep Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as allies is the US intention to neutralize or bomb or invade Iran. This is so even though Iran is not a threat to the US or its allies.
One could posit that maybe this time the US will get rights as opposed how wrong they got it in invading and occupying Iraq. If they can isolate and eventually take control of Iran's oil fields for instance maybe some would opine that the US could resolve at least a part of its own financial crisis.

We need to remember that the US has been threatening war on Iran since President Bush' 2003 Axis of Evil speech . John McCain during his bid for President in 2008 joked about the Bombing of Iran joining the chorus of those such as Hilary Clinton and other Democrats who also wanted to start a war with Iran either to get at its oil or to quiet the fears the Israelis have about a nuclear Iran.
Besides in the American elites way of thinking another war can only be good for the private sector especially that connected to the Intelligence Security Military Industrial Complex.

Will Israel's fear of Iran lead to a war?

Uploaded by RTAmerica on Jan 12, 2012
The tensions between the Iran and the West seem to be getting tighter. On Wednesday Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a key Iranian nuclear scientist, was killed. President Obama recently sent thousands of US troops to Israel. Many believe sanctions without diplomacy will only lead to a war. Although US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, has publicly admitted that Iran us not trying to develop a nuclear weapon, the tough sanctions continue. Gayane Chichakyan reports


Sunday, February 19, 2012

From #OWS and #warisacrime "Ten Reasons War Can End" And Scahill's US Counter-Terrorism Policy In Yemen Creating More Extremists And GOP Voter Fraud


*war is a crime
*Jeremy Scahill alleges US counter-terrorism in Yemen has backfired helping to create more popular support for Islamic Extremists
* GOP conspiring in Primaries on behalf of Mitt Romney to defeat Ron Paul or Rick Santorum

From #OWS and Warisacrime
Top 10 Reasons Wars Can End

Uploaded by davidcnswanson on Feb 16, 2012Contribution to Brian Lehrer's and John Horgan's discussion at WNYC of "Is War Inevitable?"





Jeremy Scahill at Democracy Now! argues that US Intervention in Yemen is Fueling Islamists Extremists.

Scahill points out that the ruler of Yemen Saleh is "a master Chess player" who has been manipulating America into giving his government hundreds of millions of dollars ostensibly to fight Al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen when in fact the money is being used to fight the home grown rebels and the legitimate opposition to Saleh.

Uploaded by gothgod on Feb 18, 2012
Jeremy Scahill talks about how America's counter-terrorism policies in Yemen have backfire and will lead to blowback. The hundreds of millions of dollars given to Saleh government has been used to fight Saleh's legitimate opposition and not to fight terrorists. The US has also used Drones to bomb areas in Yemen so that the people of Yemen are angered by US drone strikes and by the US propping up the Saleh government and not allowing real democracy style elections in Yemen.





The Will of The Empire :

Washington and the Pentagon and White House and its Media have a myopic view of the world. They fear the spread of terrorist organizations which blinds them to other concerns. The establishment in the US is so committed to using the military to fight terrorism they often ignore the reasons terrorists organization are able to gain popular support in one country or another such as increasing poverty, an unfair and unjust system of wealth redistribution elitism and the denial of equal rights for all citizens and the belief that their government is acting as a puppet for America or other Western Nations . The presence in the Middle East of an overwhelming American military force is by itself a matter which many people in the region see as dangerous as a way to intimidate local regimes and to intimidate those citizens in Middle East regimes who are demanding Regime changes and reform as in "the Arab Spring" uprisings and protests.

So the message America and her allies send to other nations is that changes can only take place in these nations if the USA is not threatened in anyway shape or form.
If the US does not like the changes taking place it will cut off aid or impose sanctions or a blockade or use covert operations or overt military force to correct the situation.
So sovereign nations around the globe not just in the Middle East and North Africa are reminded that they can only make changes in domestic or foreign affairs if the US allows them. Their sovereignty is therefore dependent upon the whims and interests of America.
During the Cold War nations were forced to side with the US or the Soviet Union now America is the one and only super-power and therefore believes its interest come before the interest of any other nation . The only exceptions are those countries which have no strategic value or have no exploitable natural resources and those countries which have Nuclear Weapons or in other ways would not as it were be a push-over for the USA.

So a sovereign nation such as Iran has everything to fear when it comes to the United States. In Iran's view the creation of WMDs in the form of nuclear weapons becomes an attractive option in order to assert its sovereignty.

So as the USA tightens its hold on Iran the Iranians are being pushed into a corner as they fear they will be the next Iraq. So the US is neutralizing one country after another which might give support to Iran in the case of an all out war or even a targeted bombing campaign.


The Purple Thumb gambit:

By taking part in an election that is citizens casting a vote at the polls and having their thumbs dipped in purples ink is according to Washington and its sycophantic media is by definition a sign of substantive democratic change but free democratic elections are not merely defined by filling in a ballot at the polls.

To count as free elections there should be a real choice among candidates and party platforms.
To count as free elections there also must not be intimidation of citizens to vote one way or another.
To count as free elections there must be no vote rigging .
The US and its allies deceive the people of Yemen and their own citizens into believing that this sort of farcical election is to be taken seriously as a move towards real substantive democratic change. There is nothing democratic about these elections being held in Yemen.

It reminds one of elections held in other nations for instance historically going back to the American backed meaningless elections in Vietnam in the 1960s during the Vietnam war. It is rather strange given America's criticism of Cuba for instance in which only one political party controlled by the government in power gets to take part in an election.We have seen over the decades America claiming certain Regimes in the Middle East and in Latin America were or are serious about democratic reform because they allow for elections no matter how flawed or corrupt in either refusing to allow candidates or parties to run which seriously question the way these nations are being ruled especially if these parties have serious wide spread popular support.
The US ignores the use of force and intimidation at the polls and the vote rigging that takes place when the government involved is considered an ally to the USA. The interests and concerns of the people in these American backed supposedly sovereign nations are of little or no concern to Washington and its elites.

It should be noted that having more than one party run in an election if there is no real difference between the various political parties doesn't exist then the election is a sham.
There are those in the United States who believe as many in the Occupy movement argue that elections in the US are a bit of a sham given that both parties agree on a number of major issues. Both parties support Wall Street and the banksters and both support the Military Industrial Complex and refuse to insist that healthcare and education and housing etc. are in fact Rights not privileges for those who can afford them.


For a reality check on US elections and the election process of caucus /primary polling


 Pepublican Party's Caucuses a complete mess -botched or a conspiracy in favor of Mitt Romney against Ron Paul or Rick Santorum.

Can the Ron Paul Revolution Beat the GOP Establishment at Its Own Game?

Uploaded by RonPaul2008dotcom on Feb 14, 2012
http://www.RonPaul.com - Please like, share, subscribe & comment!



In Maine many communities did not have their votes at caucuses counted

Did Maine GOP Blatantly Cheat Ron Paul out of a Victory?



and so it goes,
GORD.


From #OWS and #warisacrime Ten Reasons War Can End An Jeremey Schill's US Counter-Terrorism Policy In Yemen Creating More Extremists

From #OWS and Warisacrime
Top 10 Reasons Wars Can End

Uploaded by davidcnswanson on Feb 16, 2012
Contribution to Brian Lehrer's and John Horgan's discussion at WNYC of "Is War Inevitable?"





Jeremy Scahill at Democracy Now argues that US Intervention in Yemen is Fueling Islamists Extremists.

Scahill points out that the ruler of Yemen Saleh is "a master Chess player" who has been manipulating America into giving his government hundreds of millions of dollars ostensibly to fight Al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen when in fact the money is being used to fight the home grown rebels and the legitimate opposition to Saleh.

Uploaded by gothgod on Feb 18, 2012
Jeremy Scahill talks about how America's counter-terrorism policies in Yemen have backfire and will lead to blowback. The hundreds of millions of dollars given to Saleh government has been used to fight Saleh's legitimate opposition and not to fight terrorists. The US has also used Drones to bomb areas in Yemen so that the people of Yemen are angered by US drone strikes and by the US propping up the Saleh government and not allowing real democracy style elections in Yemen.





The Will of The Empire :

Washington and the Pentagon and White House and its Media have a myopic view of the world. They fear the spread of terrorist organizations which blinds them to other concerns. The establishment in the US is so committed to using the military to fight terrorism they often ignore the reasons terrorists organization are able to gain popular support in one country or another such as increasing poverty, an unfair and unjust system of wealth redistribution elitism and the denial of equal rights for all citizens and the belief that their government is acting as a puppet for America or other Western Nations . The presence in the Middle East of an overwhelming American military force is by itself a matter which many people in the region see as dangerous as a way to intimidate local regimes and to intimidate those citizens in Middle East regimes who are demanding Regime changes and reform as in "the Arab Spring" uprisings and protests.

So the message America and her allies send to other nations is that changes can only take place in these nations if the USA is not threatened in anyway shape or form.
If the US does not like the changes taking place it will cut off aid or impose sanctions or a blockade or use covert operations or overt military force to correct the situation.
So sovereign nations around the globe not just in the Middle East and North Africa are reminded that they can only make changes in domestic or foreign affairs if the US allows them. Their sovereignty is therefore dependent upon the whims and interests of America.
During the Cold War nations were forced to side with the US or the Soviet Union now America is the one and only super-power and therefore believes its interest come before the interest of any other nation . The only exceptions are those countries which have no strategic value or have no exploitable natural resources and those countries which have Nuclear Weapons or in other ways would not as it were be a push-over for the USA.

So a sovereign nation such as Iran has everything to fear when it comes to the United States. In Iran's view the creation of WMDs in the form of nuclear weapons becomes an attractive option in order to assert its sovereignty.

So as the USA tightens its hold on Iran the Iranians are being pushed into a corner as they fear they will be the next Iraq. So the US is neutralizing one country after another which might give support to Iran in the case of an all out war or even a targeted bombing campaign.


The Purple Thumb gambit:

By taking part in an election that is citizens casting a vote at the polls and having their thumbs dipped in purples ink is according to Washington and its sycophantic media is by definition a sign of substantive democratic change but free democratic elections are not merely defined by filling in a ballot at the polls.

To count as free elections there should be a real choice among candidates and party platforms.
To count as free elections there also must not be intimidation of citizens to vote one way or another.
To count as free elections there must be no vote rigging .
The US and its allies deceive the people of Yemen and their own citizens into believing that this sort of farcical election is to be taken seriously as a move towards real substantive democratic change. There is nothing democratic about these elections being held in Yemen.

It reminds one of elections held in other nations for instance historically going back to the American backed meaningless elections in Vietnam in the 1960s during the Vietnam war. It is rather strange given America's criticism of Cuba for instance in which only one political party controlled by the government in power gets to take part in an election.We have seen over the decades America claiming certain Regimes in the Middle East and in Latin America were or are serious about democratic reform because they allow for elections no matter how flawed or corrupt in either refusing to allow candidates or parties to run which seriously question the way these nations are being ruled especially if these parties have serious wide spread popular support.
The US ignores the use of force and intimidation at the polls and the vote rigging that takes place when the government involved is considered an ally to the USA. The interests and concerns of the people in these American backed supposedly sovereign nations are of little or no concern to Washington and its elites.

It should be noted that having more than one party run in an election if there is no real difference between the various political parties doesn't exist then the election is a sham.
There are those in the United States who believe as many in the Occupy movement argue that elections in the US are a bit of a sham given that both parties agree on a number of major issues. Both parties support Wall Street and the banksters and both support the Military Industrial Complex and refuse to insist that healthcare and education and housing etc. are in fact Rights not privileges for those who can afford them.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Iraq/Iran Rerun: Media Schills For Obama and Pentagon For Unnecessary War Against Iran


"We don't believe they've (Iranians) actually made a decision to go ahead with a nuclear weapon" James Clapper 

"There is no specific threats of any attacks to take place in the US" Janet Napolitano

"The intelligence does not show that they've(Iran) made the decision to proceed with developing a nuclear weapon": Leon Paneta
via Salon and TYT


First an update on US and NATO bringing security and democracy and peace to Libya:

Democracy Now Libyan Militias Murdering Qaddafi Supporters

US backed Libyan government allowing militias to murder supporters of former Pres. Qaddafi  and  Libyan Gov't  accused of Torture on detainees. Well if the USA can use torture why shouldn't Libya or any other nation. If the US uses indefinte detention and suspends Hapeas Corpus why shouldn't other governments do the same. Obama and former Pres. Bush think human rights laws and rules such as the Geneva Conventions are merely quaint relics of our naive past.




Cenk Uygur exposes the media's lies and propaganda being pushed to get Americans on board for another unnecessary war this time with Iran while also preparing for American and Nato intervention in Syria while acting as the covert hand in Yemen backing the Islamic extremists to get a more US friendly regime in Yemen .

Are these really about spreading democracy and human rights and freedoms or just about the oil and taking control of the Gulf Region while defending at all cost Israel and Saudi Arabia.

James clappers testimony is that Iran has not taken any major steps towards building a nuclear weapon and does not have missiles that could reach more than a hundred miles or so let alone reach Europe or the USA.

Sh*t Erin Says' about Iran: We're not going to let you drive us into another war




Though Iran has no nuclear weapons and hasn't developed long range missiles to attack other nations including the USA public opinion polls of the US citizens documents that 71% of Americans erroneously believe Iran has nuclear weapons and long range intercontinental ballistic missiles.
But Obama wants war and so does the media especially the cable news networks since at the beginning of a war these news channels such as CNN and Fox can expect massive increases in their TV ratings .Americans in general do like their spectacles like the Super bowl the Rose Bowl Parade and 4th of July fireworks and 24/7 Shock and Awe. For some reason many Americans don't bother to think about the innocent civilians being torn to shred or obliterated by Shock and Awe bombings of cities in foreign nations as they did in Iraq.

And it completely undermines Ford’s contention that: “There is no evidence that the opposition…has access to or has employed such heavy weapons. “

High-Tech Trickery in Homs? By Sharmine Narwani February16, 2012 "Al-Akhbar "

-- What was surely meant to be a clever display of media-friendly visuals to illustrate Syrian regime violence in Homs, has instead raised more questions than answers.
US State Department satellite images of the embattled city were posted on Facebook last Friday by US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who complains: “A terrible and tragic development in Syria is the use of heavy weaponry by the Assad regime against residential neighborhoods.”

The “satellite photos,” says Ford, “have captured both the carnage and those causing it -- the artillery is clearly there, it is clearly bombing entire neighborhoods…We are intent on exposing the regime's brutal tactics for the world to see.”

But within 24 hours, the blog Moon of Alabama had taken a hammer to the ambassador’s claims. A detailed examination of satellite imagery by the bloggers revealed numerous discrepancies in Washington’s allegations. Mainly, their investigations point to the fact that Ford’s satellite images were “of guns training within military barracks or well known training areas and not in active deployment.”

Moon of Alabama posts its own satellite images, graphics and diagrams to bolster its argument – and these are well worth a look.

The US envoy’s questionable claims don’t stop at satellite images, however. In his Facebook post, Ford insists: “There is no evidence that the opposition -- even those opposition members who have defected from the military -- has access to or has employed such heavy weapons. “ By this, he means the “artillery” used “to pound civilian apartment buildings and homes from a distance.”

...An image is no longer worth a thousand words

Photos and video footage showing scenes of violence have been streaming out of Homs since reports of heavy fighting first broke on February 3. It is hard to glean much from these because there is not enough information in the visuals to confirm the source of gunfire or shelling. The satellite images posted by the State Department on February 6 – according to the Moon of Alabama blog – do not actually show the Syrian army engaged in battle, as suggested by Ambassador Ford when he claims:

“Satellite photos have captured both the carnage and those causing it -- the artillery is clearly there, it is clearly bombing entire neighborhoods.”

But his statement about armed opposition groups not having the weaponry to fight from afar is now questionable given the CNN shots of damaged buildings and “burn craters” in the road – yet even this is not conclusive.

If you don’t believe an image any longer, what do you do about this kind of allegation by Ford? One of the few videos I find credible – and that, only because in it we see the death of an actual “known” person that has not been contested – is this footage of Gilles Jacquier (warning: graphic images contained), the France 2 cameraman killed while participating in a government-sponsored tour of Homs. Jacquier was killed in the pro-regime neighborhood of Akrama, home mainly to a mix of Alawis and Christians who originally migrated from rural areas. Pro-opposition journalist Omar Idilbi had once dubbed this area “the castle of the regime.”

When allegations flew left and right about the source of the projectile that killed Jacquier and reportedly eight others that day, the Arab League monitors on the ground in Syria investigated and concluded: “mission reports from Homs indicate that the French journalist was killed by opposition mortar shells.”


and concludes thusly:
Governments and media should be taken to task for their complicity in the dissemination of false information. There are lives at stake, after all – the very lives that fuel their pitiful “outrage.”


Pakistan government has decided not to cooperate with the Obama administration and is going ahead with its pipeline deal with Iran.

Pakistan's president vows to continue with Iran pipeline deal despite US sanctions warnings AP via Orlando SentinelFebruary 17,2012

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's president vowed to continue with a proposed pipeline project with Iran despite American warnings of sanctions, saying Islamabad's relations with Tehran would not "be undermined by international pressure of any kind."

Asif Ali Zardari made the comments alongside Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is facing fresh Western pressure over his country's nuclear program.

Pakistan faces chronic energy shortages that feed anti-government anger, hobble industry and trigger unrest in an already poor country. The proposed pipeline would deliver natural gas from Iran to Pakistan, and go some ways to improving the situation.

But the U.S. wants Pakistan to halt the project because it would undercut international pressure to isolate Iran over its nuclear program. The issue is an irritant, though by no means the largest, in already badly strained relationship between Islamabad and Washington.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Obama Attacking Internet Social Media And Iran's Non-Existent WMDs & Ginning Up War With Syria & US Intervention In Yemen Disastrous


Update Syria: As Pepe Escobar points out regarding the Arab League monitors findings in Syria:

When the over 160 monitors, after one month of enquiries, issued their report ... surprise! The report did not follow the official GCC line - which is that the "evil" Bashar al-Assad government is indiscriminately, and unilaterally, killing its own people, and so regime change is in order.

...The report is adamant. There was no organized, lethal repression by the Syrian government against peaceful protesters.
Instead, the report points to shady armed gangs as responsible for hundreds of deaths among Syrian civilians, and over one thousand among the Syrian army, using lethal tactics such as bombing of civilian buses, bombing of trains carrying diesel oil, bombing of police buses and bombing of bridges and pipelines.

Obama doubles spending on Cybersecurity
Obama financing ,arming and training so-called Rebels in Syria.
Obama's counter-terrorism policy in Yemen backfires as extremist groups gain popularity

Update:#OWS Occupy Movement and the Obama government's increased spying on Internet Social Media.
R: Obama is not a member of the 99%
He is part of the 1% and it is to that group to which he owes his allegiance -Don't confuse him with Martin Luther King Jr. or Robert Kennedy, or Ted Kennedy or even FDR.
When will the majority of American realize the Obama administration may at times sound conciliatory to protesters but in fact fears the #OWS movement and wants to crush it if at all possible or if not then co-opt it and rid it of its radical platform. -
If Obama had followed through on all of his promises during the 2008 campaign that is to tell the Washington elites that the decades of business as usual in Washington is at an end.
Instead Obama is some ways more to the right on a number of issues than George W. Bush was ie immigration, the drug wars, bailing out big business and banks and investment firms while now tossing a few scraps to the average American such as 35 billion dollars while paying out a couple of trillion for his friends and other in his club known as the 1%.
SOPA bill takes on new name in the Senate

Uploaded by RTAmerica on Feb 17, 2012
Earlier this week President Obama revealed the 2013 military defense budget for the Department of Defense which is roughly $614 billion, and in it the cybersecurity budget has nearly double. Now the Department of Homeland Security plans to monitor social media sites. Also the Senate is attempting to return the controversial SOPA bill but under a new name. Ginger McCall, director for Epic's Open Government Programs, joins us to explain what this could mean to America's privacy.
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James Clapper insists that Iran is no where near the point of developing a nuclear bomb.



Before going to war with Iran it seems that first the Obama administration will have to neutralize ( bomb the crap out of) Syria and possibly Yemen.
Once Iran is isolated then the US or Israel will attack Iran . Taking out Iran will not only please the Israelis but also the Saudis .
So to take out Syria Obama's needs an excuse as he did in Libya no matter no matter how far fetched. George W. Bush use the intelligence community and the Pentagon and so on to invent enough evidence to convince the United Nations that war against Iraq was necessary but he lied and was supported by a large portion of the American people and now over 1,000,000 /One million Iraqis are dead the majority of which were non-combatants . Meanwhile Obama is playing the same game different president same old s..t .

There is mounting evidence that the US and other countries have been supplying arm and training of the so called Rebel Forces who just happen to want to create an Islamic state governed by Sharia just like the new government in Libya which only managed to take down Qaddafi by relying on constant carpet bombing of the country killing 150,000 people most of them non-combatants but that's how Obama and America Roll.

The Arab Monitors Report on the violence in Syria has proved that the Rebel Forces have been the cause of most of the civilian deaths in Syria. So it is the government that is responsible for the wanton murder of civilians which of course means that the report undermines the erroneous but convenient Obama /Saudi narrative which would allow the US and its allies to bomb the crap out of Syria to bring about a regime change. And a Regime Change as we see in Libya (or as we have seen in Honduras)does not mean more democratic system or giving the Syrian people their rights but rather Regime Changes is supposed to replace the old regime with an American/Saudi friendly and easily manipulated Regime.

America is playing a long game and they will use any and all means necessary including various forms of propaganda to convince the world that whatever America does is for "The Greater Good".
Is that why for decades and even generations the US has backed one autocratic brutal dictator after another.

As Lindsey Graham in the above video said Iran has been at war with America since 1979 but he ignores the fact that the USA had been meddling in Iranian politics since 1953 when it staged a coup in Iran. In 1979 the Iranian people rose up against a brutal dictator that is the American compliant Shah of Iran. Americans in their arrogance and hubris still see this as an attack on America. THe hostage incident was brought about by the US government defending and protecting the ousted Shah from facing justice in Iran or in the World Court .

Syrian Gore Or US Awe: Looking For The Moral High Ground By Mike Carey February 16, 2012 "ABC"

- - On the ABC's AM program, US president Barack Obama was quoted as describing the killings in Homs as outrageous.
Outrageous in what sense? That they were not as numerous as the civilians killed in the American assault on the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004? Barely noteworthy when compared to Israel's 2008 bravura performance in Gaza when Operation Cast Lead saw so much lead cast that about 1,000 civilians, including lots of kiddies , out of a 1,400 total were dispatched without much complaint from the White House. Not a first division death toll at all when measured against the lethal effect of western sanctions against Iraq after operation Desert Storm in 1991.

When asked on US television, if she thought that the death of about half a million Iraqi children, due to sanctions, was a price worth paying, then-US secretary of state, Madeline Albright replied:

"This is a very hard choice, but we think the price is worth it."

Now, that's a beautiful set of numbers!

It's almost up there with George Bush's 2003 shock and awe extravaganza. The US news-sharing website, Information Clearing House has been keeping a tally and as of St Valentine's Day 1,455,590 have, in its words, been "slaughtered in the US war and occupation of Iraq". Even if it's half wrong the blood harvest is immense. That too, completely ignores the supreme crime committed by the 'Coalition of the Willing'. What did the post-WWII, International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg say about waging an aggressive war "essentially an evil thing... to initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

I fully understand that many wrongs don't make a right but western hypocrisy leaves me numb. How can the United States, Great Britain or Australia lecture Syria and expect to be taken seriously?

Mind you, Western motives might be totally cynical and pernicious. According to Debkafile, an Israeli website with close links to intelligence sources, British and Qatari troops are already directing rebel ammunition supply, communications and tactics in the battle for Homs and that concern topped the agenda in talks between president Assad's officials and the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Mikhail Fradkov.

If that is true then it is following a well-beaten path established in oil rich Libya. It's now clear that foreign Special Forces led the rebels on the ground there, covert arms supplies were parachuted in by France and Saudi Arabia and Qatar, provided fighters, funds and diplomatic cover...

The Arab League sent in 160 monitors to check out the situation in Syria but their findings have been manipulated and mischaracterized to suit Washington's and the West narrative that depicts the government as evil and wantonly killing civilians while the so-called rebels who are backed by President Obama and the West are only defending themselves. But the facts on the ground do not necessarily support that narrative so anyone who contradicts that Narrative is depicted as siding with the Syrian government and therefore lying.
Obama it appears is doing all he can to lay the ground work to convince the American people and of course its media and America's allies to take action to overthrow the Syrian government as they did Libya

Arab League Report Shows that Syria Has Been Mischaracterized By WashingtonsBlog February 07, 2012

-- While the Western media act like the Syrian government is wantonly and indiscriminately killing its own people without provocation, an independent investigation has found a different reality on the ground.

Specifically, over 160 monitors from the Arab League – comprised of both allies and mortal enemies of Syria – toured Syria and published a report on January 27th showing that the situation has been mischaracterized.

Initially, the report noted general cooperation by the Syrian government:

The Mission [i.e. the Arab League investigative team] noted that the Government strived to help it succeed in its task and remove any barriers that might stand in its way. The Government also facilitated meetings with all parties. No restrictions were placed on the movement of the Mission and its ability to interview Syrian citizens, both those who opposed the Government and those loyal to it.

The report noted that the media has greatly exaggerated the amount of violence in Syria:

The Mission noted that many parties falsely reported that explosions or violence had occurred in several locations. When the observers went to those locations, they found that those reports were unfounded.

The Mission also noted that, according to its teams in the field, the media exaggerated the nature of the incidents and the number of persons killed in incidents and protests in certain towns.

***

Since it began its work, the Mission has been the target of a vicious media campaign. Some media outlets have published unfounded statements, which they attributed to the Head of the Mission. They have also grossly exaggerated events, thereby distorting the truth.

Such contrived reports have helped to increase tensions among the Syrian people and undermined the observers’ work.

Indeed, some of the observers themselves violated their oath of neutrality and exaggerated the violence:

Some observers reneged on their duties and broke the oath they had taken. They made contact with officials from their countries and gave them exaggerated accounts of events. Those officials consequently developed a bleak and unfounded picture of the situation.

...While the government has not withdrawn all of its forces, the military has withdrawn from many areas:

Based on the reports of the field-team leaders and the meeting held on 17 January 2012 with all team leaders, the Mission confirmed that all military vehicles, tanks and heavy weapons had been withdrawn from cities and residential neighbourhoods. Although there are still some security measures in place in the form of earthen berms and barriers in front of important buildings and in squares, they do not affect citizens.

Perhaps most importantly, the report notes that the Syrian people do not want foreign intervention:

However, the citizens believe the crisis should be resolved peacefully through Arab
mediation alone, without international intervention. Doing so would allow them to live in peace and complete the reform process and bring about the change they desire.

The report condemns violence by both sides, but stresses that much of the violence has been perpetrated by the rebels against government forces:

In Homs and Dera‘a, the Mission observed armed groups committing acts of violence against Government forces, resulting in death and injury among their ranks. In certain situations, Government forces responded to attacks against their personnel with force. The observers noted that some of the armed groups were using flares and armour-piercing projectiles.

In Homs, Idlib and Hama, the Observer Mission witnessed acts of violence being committed against Government forces and civilians that resulted in several deaths and injuries. Examples of those acts include the bombing of a civilian bus, killing eight persons and injuring others, including women and children, and the bombing of a train carrying diesel oil. In another incident in Homs, a police bus was blown up, killing two police officers. A fuel pipeline and some small bridges were also bombed.

***

...Recently, there have been incidents that could widen the gap and increase bitterness between the parties. These incidents can have grave consequences and lead to the loss of life and property. Such incidents include the bombing of buildings, trains carrying fuel, vehicles carrying diesel oil and explosions targeting the police, members of the media and fuel pipelines. Some of those attacks have been carried out by the Free
Syrian Army [the main opposition group] and some by other armed opposition groups.

Also see: THE ROVING EYE Exposed: The Arab agenda in Syria By Pepe Escobar at AsiaTimesonline, feb. 4,2012

When the over 160 monitors, after one month of enquiries, issued their report ... surprise! The report did not follow the official GCC line - which is that the "evil" Bashar al-Assad government is indiscriminately, and unilaterally, killing its own people, and so regime change is in order.

...The report is adamant. There was no organized, lethal repression by the Syrian government against peaceful protesters. Instead, the report points to shady armed gangs as responsible for hundreds of deaths among Syrian civilians, and over one thousand among the Syrian army, using lethal tactics such as bombing of civilian buses, bombing of trains carrying diesel oil, bombing of police buses and bombing of bridges and pipelines.

Once again, the official NATOGCC version of Syria is of a popular uprising smashed by bullets and tanks. Instead, BRICS members Russia and China, and large swathes of the developing world see it as the Syrian government fighting heavily armed foreign mercenaries. The report largely confirms these suspicions.


Note: Will update the Yemen controversy next time:

Meanwhile the US intervention in Yemen has been a disaster increasing the popularity of anti-government forces and extremist Islamic groups. While US supplied hundreds of millions of dollars given to the Saleh government to supposedly take on Al Qaeda Islamists and other terrorists in fact the money and weapons were and are mostly used to defeat government opponents who have no connections with terrorists or AlQaeda. The Saleh government is failing to provide public services including maintaining basic law enforcement. While Saleh ran a notoriously draconian brutal state which imprisons, tortures and kills those who dare complain or protest against the government.
Meanwhile poverty is increasing and government services are collapsing.
Elections are supposed to be taking place to represent a democratic change but in fact only Saleh's vice president is running in the election so it the election is a farce.

U.S. Has Ignited Islamist Uprising in Impoverished, Divided Yemen Jeremy Scahill at Democracy Now!February 16, 2012

---------- Has U.S. counterterrorism policy in Yemen strengthened the very threat it sought to eliminate? We speak with journalist Jeremy Scahill, who reports in a new cover story for The Nation magazine that U.S. drone strikes, civilian drone casualties and deepening poverty in Yemen have all contributed to the rise of an Islamist uprising. "The arrogance of the U.S. was always thinking that whatever U.S. official was sent to Yemen was smarter than Ali Abdullah Saleh," Scahill says. "[Saleh] was a master chess player, and he milked counterterrorism as his cash cow... [U.S.-supplied] forces have almost never been used to actually battle anyone determined to be terrorists. They’ve existed primarily for the defense of the Saleh regime.