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4.23.2007
PEOPLES WAR ON GLOBAL CLASS APARTHEID
 In a global sense, almost no matter where you go you find those who have almost everything regarding the comforts of life, and those who barely survive. I think it is time for people to wake up and understand that there is a systemic - worldwide movement. It does not need a formal "conspiratorial" cabal at the top directing all the activity, like the mythical Illuminati, it is merely small group of people unchecked enriching themselves to the detriment of the majority.
It is a system of such spread throughout the world, the setting up of "governments," by Western Hegemonic design, and a reproduction of an elite in any country which participates. This is all that capitalism can produce at it's apex, a world scourge.
 (From the beginning till now) This is not necessarily new, but it is growing in momentum and severity. You can see it descend on the world with world wide "trade agreements," and the movement of multinational corporations to the best area of bang for their buck.
Inevitably it is always the majority that are left out in the cold. You could call this the upswing of "class apartheid," and we need to deal with it just like South African apartheid and segregation were originally dealt with.
(Katrina, and the lack of response - is this what you want in your country?)
THEIR BEHAVIOR
"Their guilt
is not so very far from ours:
- who has not joyed in the arbitrary
exercise of power
or grasped for himself what might have been
another's
and who has not used superior force in the
moment when he could,
(and who of us has not been tempted to take
their things?) -
so, in their guilt,
the bare ferocity of teeth,
chest thumping challenge and defiance,
the deafening clamor of their prayers
to a diety made in the image of their prejudice
which drowns the voice of conscience,
is mirrored our predicament
but on a social, massive, organized scale
which magnifies enormously
as the private dehabille of love
becomes obscene in orgies."
by Dennis Brutus
In South Africa they have a holiday ON March 21st, it is called Human Rights Day. It is a commemoration of the 1960 protest against pass books in Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg where 69 people were killed by apartheid police men - shot in the back as they ran away.
This is the day when the African national Congress declared guerrilla war on apartheid. As time has passed South Africa has gone from no racial apartheid to "class apartheid," and has been set upon by these global vultures so that the people languish as if they had never freed themselves from racial apartheid.
What they chanted needs to be the cry of people around the world - "Izwe Lethu" - OUR LAND!! Those bastards fired into the crowd of men, women, and children - 69 dead and more than 300 wounded. Many died as the police put the breaks on medical assistance, and those taken to hospitals were watched like criminals, and were thrown into prison for a long period of time before they were formally charged. The words of the police commander, D.H. Pienaar showed they had no thought or twinge of conscience for what they did - "If they do these things, they must learn the lessons the hard way."
It was tossed off you say? Yes, yet the core of the financial wealth still was left in the hands of the white ruling and corporate elite, and they ran off with it. So they hand the husk of the means of production to the black population, and than hold them ransom to their poverty. Than, they shut the doors of trade in their elite club - and just like the Mafia they say - "oh, you want to play, we will lend you the money, but you must play by our rules.
"We will make you rich beyond imagination, you and whoever you chose to be the fat around you, but in order to get this prize you must sell the people out. You must commit all of your resources to our development, and before we lend you any money you must privatize your commons and open the doors to our corporations, along with a number of other laws which disenfranchise the people - than you are in the club!"
It is no different today anywhere, it is worldwide, and we all face class apartheid. They will continue to do these things, all over the world, until the people declare war upon them! A consciousness movement must arise, in order to rid the world of class apartheid, and it does not matter, even if violence erupts!
TALKIN ABOUT A REVOLUTION"Don't you know, they're talkin' about revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Don't you know, they're talkin' about revolution
It sounds like a whisper
While their standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion
Poor people gonna rise up and get their share
Poor people are gonna rise up and take what's their's
Don't you know, you better run, run, run
Oh I said you better run, run run
Finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin' bout revolution"
Tracy Chapman
Now we face hundreds, thousands of instances of class apartheid all over the world - it is time for the people to shine a light on these situations. People are being killed all over the world as they stand against this systemic class apartheid.
Hard hitting economic sanctions need to take place against countries involved in aggressions like the United States and the UK, the strangulation of the people by this Euro-American alliance. Those who hold financial investments in these countries, and others, need to start to cash out - the people are not going to take this any longer! THE WAR NEEDS TO BE DECLARED ON GLOBAL CLASS APARTHEID, AND THE PEOPLE NEED TO RISE UP EVERYWHERE AGAINST THIS INSIDIOUS ALMOST SILENT INCURSION THAT IMPOVERISHES THE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!
Posted at 09:36 pm by deadringer
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4.22.2007
(The Tormentors - Philip Guston)
This is work in three parts that shows how individuals and groups bring art to the fore in the form of resistance. From this film I hope you get ideas of you own to show your resistance to the present course of this world, as represented in the current powers that be -
Posted at 08:19 pm by deadringer
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4.21.2007
ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND THE ASSAULT ON TENURE
 Today we are going to talk about academic freedom and the threat on an already endangered species - tenure. I chose to look at this battle today, between two professors, the freedom of academics from undo pressure because of political ideology. We are going to go from how the "empire" comports itself in the world at large (previous article), to how it tries to restrain and silence dissent within it's academic ranks - so the truth of what is taking place in the world is not exposed.
Strangely enough, tht manner in which Dershowitz proceeds against an excellent scholar Norman Finkelstein, are the very points which Alan Dershowitz makes against him. That is, for political ideology which he (Dershowitz) espouses, apparently at any cost (aka. The Cause, along with other personal issues which Noam Chomsky called a personal Jihad), and when this happens the first casualty is truth. This brings new meaning to the adage that there is no blindness so complete as that which is caused by ideology.
 (Depicting the CCNY struggle 1930's which ended with the dismissal of 50 faculty and staff)
However, before we get to this specific case I would like us to survey the current situation in let's say - a post 9/11 world, not that 9/11 needs to change the entire course of the world, but BECAUSE it has been used to change the course. Not that there have not been restrictions on academic freedom all along, but because it has been exponentially accelerated.
There has been a gradual pressure building in academia to hold the line on the dissent of the current course of the "empire," that has developed from skirmishes on campus to a concerted and organized effort to quash academic dissent. This should not be surprising, because the first line of defense in any country, whether it displays itself as the bastion of freedom (let freedom ring!) or not, is the ability to keep it's first line of educators under the thumb, so to speak, in order to carry out whatever mission it has both foreign and domestic.
THIS IS WHAT THEY FEAR
(here you can see some Zionist hecklers)
DR. NORMAN FINKELSTEIN AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY(You have to scroll down a little and prompt 3 video links)
There is nothing that is is not as sensitive to the empire than it's Middle East policy, which it has chosen to make the centerpiece of this current debacle. Central to this policy is the relationship of Israel to the United States, and the unflagging support for it's central player in this arena. Along with this paramount interest of which Israel is central, is the issue of the Israeli / Palestinian conflict.
I submit, that it is here, in the midst of this conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people that you have the key, or should I say, on a small scale what is the entire condition of the region in subservience to Western Hegemony. This conflict represents what is taking place in the entire region, so that, if the Palestinian people can be freed from their prison of despair than it is not untenable that the whole region can be freed from the dominance of the West!
 Now, interject if you will, this current conflict within the circles of academia in the United States. Within the very bosom of our institutions of higher education, in the Middle East studies there has been a raging battle (actually, there are battles in many disciplines, but we will concentrate on this one for now) which center around the illegal occupation of the Palestinians, where there have been plenty of rulings from the international community (via the UN, and the World Court) which say that this occupation must stop. Yet it continues with the full monetary and political support of the United States and it's allies.
Within the crucible there is an academic battle between those who want to maintain the current course, with the full support of Israel, and those who dissent siding almost virtually with the entire world (if you look at the rhetorical vote on the floor of the UN). It started with a grass roots campaign which started such questionable practices as students "monitoring" teachers in the classroom to see if they placed emphasis on the wrong being done to the Palestinian people, you see this with the Washington supported "Campus Watch" HERE. Which has developed into a full blown use of government service institutions that confound, or try to confound criticism of the State of Israel with antisemitism HERE., the main site being HERE. PEACE, PROPAGANDA AND THE PROMISED LANDNow we come full circle back to academic freedom and tenure as it relates to the case of Norman Finkelstein and his assailant Dershowitz. Along with all of the other labor issues which militate against tenure, that is a group of scholars that have no protection for speaking their mind (without tenure), you have a perfect example of why tenure is being eliminated from the major campus' of higher education - it is an element of control. I believe that this high profile case regarding Norman Finkelsteins tenure is meant to have a further chilling effect of professors voicing dissent according to the dictates of their conscience guided by truth.
Dr Finkelstein has been accosted throughout his career, although he has impeccable credentials, and produces sound scholarly works, as attested to by the distinguished academic community. He has full support of the tenure committee, and numerous testimonies of transformative experience as a result of his teaching, yet it has been blocked by the dean of the Liberal Arts and Sciences department HERE.. The reason for blockage? "Non-Vincentian values," but everyone knows the real reason is the outcry of the defenders of Israel's human rights record (which is quite abysmal).
 So, you have this defense and censorship of the empire taking place in it's own academic community. Specifically, if a professor decides to expose the facts (to a fact starved community in the US) regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict his/her future hangs in the balance, and will be found wanting (or, there will be a fierce battle to make this a reality).
If a professor wishes to unearth that in 1948 according to incontrovertible facts that there was a brutal ethnic cleansing committed against the Palestinian people, he is told to proverbially be silent. If he/she wants to expose the indiscriminate support of billions of dollars to Israel, which practices apartheid against the Palestinain people, beware. If he/she choses to expose that there is an illegal, murderous, occupation going on in the Occupied Territories, better think twice. If he/she choses to bifurcate a rapacious Zionism from all of the Jewish population, there is still the accusation of antisemitism "officially" sanctioned.
WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS ACADEMIC CENSORSHIP OF THE WORST SORT. WHAT IS TAKING PLACE IS THE IMPRISONING OF THE MIND, AND THE BURYING OF THE TRUTH BY A NATION THAT EVEN HAS PROBLEMS FACING UP TO IT'S QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES FROM THE BEGINNING. MOST OF ALL THERE IS THE FEAR THAT IF PALESTINE IS FREED IT WILL SEND A SIGNAL, AND THAT SIGNAL IS THAT THIS REGIONS PEOPLE MAY REMOVE THEMSELVES FROM WESTERN DOMINANCE. ONE THING IS FOR SURE, IF THERE IS ANY JUSTICE THE PLIGHT OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE MUST BE EXPOSED, THE OCCUPATION MUST STOP, AND THEY MUST BE ABLE TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT OF RETURN, OTHERWISE THERE IS NO HOPE THAT ANY NATION MAY LIVE AND EXERCISE FREEDOM.
Posted at 11:17 pm by deadringer
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4.19.2007
THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES
 (Voracious appetite wrapped in a flag)
All this posturing about empire and ruling the world, as we see this red, white, and blue blur attempting to do everything everywhere and swift approaching an unceremonious end. The question is what is the damage done to the world in the process of this mad march of empire.
 (The madness of Caligula spreads)
There is an interesting poll, which was done by The Chicago Council On Global Affairs, it's entire framework would be amusing if it were not so sad. I would be interested in learning more about the demographics of where it was taken in each country. I was first made aware of this on The Angry Arab New Site HERE.
It was about the United States being the leader of the world in the present unilateral sense we see today. The United States has proven to be primarily interested in it's own preeminence, and a preservation of not only it's prominence but the present world order continuing unabated.
(The familiar refrain)
The reason why this is impossible is because dominance is no longer feasible nor desirable, in a world which is tired of the same old lines of demarcation and literally subservience. When seeing this current thrust of the United States violently on the world scene, it is apparent that it is too easily lead and influenced by destructive internal elements and given to unbridled lust for power.
What I am calling for essentially, whether we look at the United States or the Euro-American alliance, is dissolving this current world order which has been nothing but an exercise in undo dominance. It is amazing how the study just seems to assume how this is the prima facia structure of the present world, the dominant and the subservient, the super and the servile, the privileged and the pauperized.
(The Columbus syndrome)
Take the situation of the United States and its activity in the Middle East , you could say it was groomed from this position of world dominance during the World War years. You could also say the US was influenced (infected?) by all the bad colonial views regarding Islam, that it was merely seen as an object of dominating the "weak" and molding it into it's own image, as well as exploiting it to it's fullest, by any means necessary.
Yet, look at what has come from this brash pushing of itself upon the world. We have not only the enslavement of the people to puppet governments, subject to the unrest this would bring anywhere, but now an aggressive and unwarranted war-like attack upon the people of this region and the death toll swiftly reaching (if you count the sanctions and war on Iraq it has already reached 1 million dead) one million people slaughtered. However, all we are seeing is what was done in secret (all over the world, both directly in indirectly), so to speak, with major corporate media silence or diversion (complicity), a visual of what has been hidden - at least to the American public.
(Illusions of a "liberator")
In the Middle East, the US has not only been wrongly influenced, so that rather than a rich orientalism (that is, a good and full view of the people and the richness of the culture, due respect), it carries an even worse view than it's European counterpart that has planted this weed in the soil of American policy. When you look at anything that comes from the academic community regarding this part of the world you find little text (in the U.S.), and a boat load of "experts," who with a poor grasp of the "language(s)" (much from Army language schools) do not have a grasp of the people at all.
What you have are institutions (educational) that house myths and lies, you pack them with repetition to give a form of legitimacy, when all they are created for is to hoist a facade of acceptability, so that destructive dominance of the Euro-American alliance can accomplish it's goals for an engorged elite. Middle Eastern Studies is by far not the only discipline that is compromised - however, even in this relatively new department (to the U.S.) when the truth of what is taking place is exposed there has been fierce attacks upon those who, as it were, blow the whistle.
What takes place is a dehumanization process of the people into a whole (the "Arab Mind," etc.). Than all of this just becomes a sort of attack upon the general populations and the classic denigration that we see today - indeed, has been encouraged by those who prop themselves up as experts, but who really know nothing, or who push a truncated orientalism which seems to be the heritage of the Western world to new heights of shame and wanton destruction!
 (U.S. Imperialism and their orientalist experts)
(The sacrifice of their own sons/daughters on the alter of their delusions)
In the study (above, by The Chicago Council On Global Affairs), you can see the trepidation and fear in these countries, look at the results of those questioned as illustrated in charts (If you look at nothing else) - "as the sole remaining superpower, should the US be the preeminent world leader in solving international problems? - Is the US playing the role of world policeman more than it should be? - How much do you trust the US to act responsibly in the world? - Thinking of the long term military bases the US has overseas, do you think the US should have more bases over seas, fewer bases, or about as many as we have now?" The majority of answers are in the negative no matter what question you ask.
(The restriction of empire, a dead end prospect)
The terrible point about the survey is the assumption that the world in it's present state can be made right by a mere few adjustments, or that this view of the world is an non contrived reality. On other blogs the question has been asked - why is there no mention of nations in a state of equality?
There are those who are the advocates of maintaining the status quo, or even increasing the role of the US on it's current course. Of course, this thumbs up is given by those who have been the main beneficiaries of US aid with minimal interference in their own affairs (being mutually beneficial). To be more specific, they are interested in maintaining the status quo because they are the elite in these countries that have benefited at the expense of their people.
Whether you are aware of it or not, most foreign aid to the "third world" is to maintain military force of governments set up to the interest of imperial power, and to embark on projects that enrich foreign corporations to the detriment of the people of the "aid" receiving country. This is partially what I mean when I talk about the current status quo, and what seems to be taken for granted by those interviewed as well as the ones doing the interviewing.
The other side to the coin of this aid can be illustrated in the military aid given to "acquiescent and acceptable" regimes. Take Israel as an example, when money is poured in for the purpose of "self-defense" (aggression is more like it), it is US war profiteers who get the aid poured back into their pockets. It is a sweet deal, Israel gets to do the bidding of the US, oppress the Palestinians endlessly, and all of the aid goes back into the elite pockets of those who run the war machine in the US!
 The problem is apparent, there is too much supremacy, and to be frank what did you expect to come from the United States - or for any European "front runner" for that matter? The entire foundation of these nations are based on slavery and butchery, in many instances an almost complete genocide (to begin) with of their own population. What did you expect to be the thrust of this current world order? Look at the current disenfranchisement of their own populations.
Sure, they hold up their current capitalistic poster children, like (for instance) China and India. Yes, there has been industrialization and enrichment, but at a massive cost to the people of these countries as a whole - this is what capitalism ALWAYS produces. The gap between the rich and the poor, and the misery, yawns even wider - while you find the number of "billionaires" on the rise (it is even worse because there has been little democratic advance in many instances in these countries). Poverty stands starkly next to opulence, the commons are privatized, and the peoples anguish grows exponentially!
So, once again I opt for an entirely new world order, one which is based on the freedom and welfare of the people, not an elite few. Not one marked by war, colonialism, neocolonialism, or the maintaining of such - but the tearing down of these destructive divisions. SO I ASK, WHERE IS THE PEOPLES INPUT INTO THIS PROCESS? IS IT RELEGATED TO SURVEYS WHICH ARE SUPPOSED TO IMPRESS US, AND IMPLY THAT THERE IS SOMEONE LISTENING? OR, AS MOST POLLS IS IT A MERE PLACATION DEVICE? IT IS UP TO THE PEOPLE TO PRESS THEMSELVES, ALL OVER THE WORLD INTO THIS DIALOG - OVER THE VOICES OF THE CHOSEN FEW, FOR WITHOUT THIS THERE WILL BE NO FUTURE.
Posted at 07:55 pm by deadringer
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4.17.2007
SACKING NATIONS AND CRIMINALIZING IMMIGRANTS
 If you look carefully at how the immigrant population in the United States and other European nations are being treated, you cannot help but see the connection to harassment and attributing the possibility of criminal acts to these people. Mainly, I speak of the people who are among us from the ME. It seems to be the seamless plan to cement terrorism and these people.
The entire Western world, Europe and the United States that has stolen trillions of dollars from these countries, treats their immigrants worse than second class citizens. Of course, they will exploit to the fullest their natural and human resources, but give something in return? Yeah right.... Citizenship in the United States and European countries seems to be at a premium, to say the least, these days.
The West not only steals the resources and enslaves the population in other countries, they are not satisfied with that - they must rig the ruling governments and destroy any hope for the future. When they have been totally degraded and unable to rise the Western countries disdain the peoples presence when they come to their shores in the hope of some future.
They give the impossible and oppressive task of languishing in dead end jobs so that they can barely survive to try to give their children something of value. Whether it is France that isolates the populations that they once exploited keeping them in squalor, with no hope for advance, trapped in the ghettos designed for them - or the United States, which wishes to portray them as worthless welfare cases, criminals, terrorists, and specifically that black and brown people that they love to hate - it's all the same.
Now, some will say "this is no different than immigrants in the past that had to pay their dues," they are sadly mistaken. During the times of inner Euro-American immigration their countries were not sacked nor their people enslaved by dictatorships set up by other Western entities. Nor were their people seen as "terrorists" until proven otherwise, and millions of their people were not exterminated by the edicts of foreign policy and "national security, or building democracies."
 The truth be told, the West is not done robbing these nations yet, and because this is the case they must continue to vilify these people - those who they wish to exploit they will vilify. Two prime case examples being the African continent and the Middle East, they are not done sacking them yet.
Considered very rich countries the West must make sure that their white population sees these people as worthless, trouble makers, terrorists, so that it gives them the "excuse" to make them into "democracies," which is a code word for enslavement, death, and destruction - or unresponsive governments that allow the people to rot.
Yet for a hundred years or more, the West has tirelessly exploited them and destroyed their hope for a future with puppet governments. It has forced the exploited, their populations, to work in torturous conditions, and has fed an elite in these countries with the largess that belongs to the people. It has eaten the substance which could by all rights sustain these people, because the countries are VERY RICH - it is just the people who are made poor.
So the elite devise these extra-national alliances, like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and various trade agreements which do nothing but feed capitalistic corporations to the dtriment of the people. So what these entities tout as hope is nothing but a charade as they further prey upon those people. What I have written here has to become common knowledge and expressed broadly.
It is almost a damned if you do, and damned if you don't situation with immigration. One thing is for sure, the Western world cannot continue it's present course of exploitation in these countries and expect to stop the tide of immigration. As long as you have suppression as a policy in other countries people will look for ways to escape - and they will migrate to areas where there are further developed democratic processes, regardless of the fact that it might be receding.
FURTHER ISOLATION AND EXPLOITATION OF IMMIGRANTS IN WESTERN COUNTRIES WILL PRODUCE CONSEQUENT UNREST - IT CAN EITHER BE DEALT WITH THROUGH GREATER SINCERE OPPORTUNITY, OR CRIMINALIZING THE IMMIGRANT POPULATION. WHICH WAY DO YOU SEE IT GOING? TO ME THE PROGNOSIS LOOKS DIM - IT WILL REMAIN LIKE THIS AS LONG AS WE HAVE VORACIOUS UNCHECKED CAPITALISM AND FURTHER EXPLOITATION OF OTHER COUNTRIES, FORCING PEOPLE TO LEAVE IN ORDER TO EVEN SURVIVE. UNTIL THE EURO-AMERICAN ALLAINCE STOPS THE DESTRUCTION OR EXPLOITATION, THEY WILL HAVE TO LOOK AT IMMIGATION AS A FORM OF COLLECTING A DEBT THAT THEY HAVE INCURRED!
Posted at 08:57 pm by deadringer
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4.15.2007
SORRY WE KILLED YOUR CHILD - HERE IS $500.00
 Yes, you read the title right - fully looked at "sorry, we shot your child, we thought is book bag was a bomb, here is $500.00." The story is found on the oldest journal covering the news paper industry, Editor and Publisher, written by Greg Mitchell. You can find the story HERE.On the Angry Arab site I found a link which actually has some of the official paperwork, where a journalist was shot (no doubt of ME origin), where a father of four and his wife were given $2,500.00 for shooting the bread winner. By the way, Iraq is the worst place for journalists, many killed by America's "finest."
(Found at the Friday-Lunch-Club HERE.) Most of the information has been unearthed by the ACLU's diligence in requesting FOIA realease of some of the details. The Editor and Journal found that there were 500 cases released and all deserve broad attention.
Ponder with me, if you will, compared to the pittance given, that there is now about $32,000,000 dollars that have been paid out - how many civilians have been needlessly killed? We are also officially told, there is no way to trace whether the soldiers involved have been disciplined. Here are some of the examples -
"Claimant alleges that her two brothers were returning home with groceries from their business, when U.S. troops shot and killed them, thinking they were insurgents with bombs in the bags. I recommend approving this claim in the amount of $5,OOO."
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Dec. 5 2005:
Claimant alleges that on the above date at the above mentioned location, the child was outside playing by their gate and a stray bullet from a U.S. soldier hit their son in the head and killed him. The U.S. soldiers went to the boy's funeral and apologized to the family and took their information to get to them, but never did. The child was nine years old and their only son.
I recommend approving this claim in the amount of $4,OOO.OO.
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April 15, 2005
Claimant alleges that on or about 24 February 2005, he was riding in a mini-bus with his nine-year-old son on his lap when Coalition Forces fired a round into the bus. The round allegedly hit his son in the head, causing the son's death later on. Xxxxx alleges that some Americans came to the hospital and apologized. He also states that one of the HMMWV's had "32" on the side. Claimant has enclosed an autopsy report.
Allow me to express my sympathy for your loss, however, in accordance with the cited references and after investigating your claim, I find that your claim is not compensable for the following reason: In vour claim you failed to provide suflicient evidence that U.S. Forces and not someone else is responsible for your damages. Accordingly, your claim must be denied.
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Incident occurred Jan. 6, 2005 at a bridge near Haifa Street
Claimant alleges that her husband, who was working as a journalist, was walking across the bridge when he was shot and killed by U.S. troops. She has documentation from CA confirming that US. troops were in the area at that time. Also, a medical report is attached stating that the round that killed the victim was a 5.56mm round. The claimant has submitted sufficient evidence.
I recommend approving this claim in the amount of $2,5OO.OO.
(She had asked for $5000)
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On 11 April 2005, Claimant's father was allegedly killed by CF forces near the Samarra Museum…Claimant says that his father was deaf and would not have heard danger nearby. The claimant did not personally witness the shooting and relies solely on eyewitnesses. Eye witnesses related that victim was shot by CF forces. The Claimant does not know if his father was shot by CF forces responding to an AIF attack, or whether CF fired directly on his father.
The claimant presented a claim in the amount of $4,000 on 21 November 2005.
RECOMMENDATION: this claim be denied.
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Dec. 5, 2004:
The issue presented is whether claimant may receive compensation for the death of his father, his mother, his brother and 32 sheeps.
In this case, the claimant has lost his entire family and his herd of sheep that provide a means of income. In addition, the claimant suffered gun shot wounds himself.
The claimant states that his family was sleeping when the shots were
fired that killed his family. He claims that the family had only one AK-47 that the father carried outside after his wife was shot in the head The coalition force may have been justified in shooting at another target where the claimant and his family would be collateral damage to that combat operation. However, the ROE require units to have positive identification of target before engaging. In this case, reports indicate that over one hundred rounds were fired that impacted around a flock of sheep and his sleeping family. Accordingly, it appears that the shooting, although not "wrongful", was conducted "negligently". It is therefore my opinion that there is sufficient evidence to justify compensation under the FCA.
I recommend that claimant be appoved in the amount claimed totaling $11,020.
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On 11 April 2005, at about 11:30 am, Claimant's 8 year old sister,
xxxx was allegedly killed by CF forces near the Al Khatib Secondary School, Samarra. xxxx says that his sister was playing near the school and was shot by CF. Deceased's death certificate ... she was killed by gunfire. The claimant did not personally witness the shooting and relies solely on eye witnesses. Eye witnesses related that victim was shot by CF forces by a "random shot." During the interview, it was impossible to clarify what the claimant meant by a "random shot." A SIGACTS investigation revealed no activity or incidents in Samarra on that date.
RECOMMENDATION: Based upon the investigation by this FCC, it is reasonable to conclude that the CF activity can be characterized as combat activity. I recommend this claim be denied.
-------------------------------------------- June 17, 2005
Claimant alleges that on the above date at the above mentioned location, his brother xxxxx was traveling in his car with rugs that he was taking to a rug store to sell. He was shot by U.S. soldiers, and the rugs and cash on his possession were never recovered...and his body left there.
I recommend approving this claim in the amount of $3,000.00
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April 23, 2006, Samarra
Claimant alleges that Coalition Forces fired upon his two sons as they were leaving the market. The claimants sons waived their shirts and their underwear as a sign of peace. The claimant provided death certificates, legal expert and witness statements to substantiate the
claim.
Opinion: There is not enough evidence to prove the claim.
Recommendation: The claim is denied.
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Greg Mitchell goes on to say - "In a column at that time, I asked: How common is the practice? And how many unnecessary deaths do the numbers seem to suggest?
It's necessary to ask because the press generally has been denied information on civilian killings and, in recent years, it has become too dangerous in much of Iraq for reporters to go out and investigate shootings or alleged atrocities."
Posted at 10:27 am by deadringer
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4.14.2007
GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND POOR WORLDWIDE YAWNS
The above cartoon is an attempt at humor, unfortunately what we are talking about is no laughing matter (to be fair there is a subtle hint in the cartoon, that this gap between the rich and poor is not some unrelated incident). We may be getting to the time soon, like in the late 19th century, when there are riots in the streets over the yawning gap. It certainly does not disprove what I have been saying over and over again in this blog, that all governments do is protect and enrich the few while the rest become disenfranchised.
The gap is better hidden now, not like the robber baron days of yesteryear. However, every year the removal of the estate taxes looms before the ruling bodies, and it get's closer to passing every time. The increase in the wealth of the few is beyond belief, while all those who are not in the top echelons have seen a decline in their net worth.
Do you think that all this wealth was earned by good ol' hard work? Think again, the wealthy have between one half to two thirds of their wealth through inheritance. With that type of largess the top 1% grew 87%, the top 99th.99 percentile grew 181%, pretty interesting huh? The bottom 20% grew a MASSIVE 3%.....congress has given themselves a pay increase the last six years in a row. However, you have not heard a peep about this in the major (corporate) media, I wonder why?
In the year 2004, 23 million people used food stamps ( I am sure it has grown worse) compared to 17 million in 2000. we are seeing trickle down economics at it's best here! Many years ago Roosevelt saved capitalism from itself, but I see no Roosevelt on the horizon, do you? Some say an oligarchy and a democracy cannot co-exist side by side - but for you who have read this blog you can predict my answer - there is no democracy.
I am not sure whether you have noticed this or not, but this happens to be the same condition throughout the world, that is, this tremendous gap between the rich and the poor. Everybody is playing follow the leader with the United States - that is because they have created a system whereby this same ruse can go on an indefinite period of time, and the people do nothing about the problem. It is a real interesting racket.
In fact, it is being spread all over the world by elite interest in instruments like the IMF, the World Bank, "free market, and free trade," and by obvious force in areas like the ME and parts of Afirca where it is resisted. Where it is not resisted the "leaders," that is the ruling elite (sometimes one and the same with the corporate elite) continue to rob the people at the behest of this globalized system.
People have embraced this great divide as the "American Way," like apple pie and mom. Now things are splitting down the middle, we now have approximately 37 million families living in poverty, that is almost 13% of the population - THIS IS THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD!! Yet the tax burden on the rich is falling, not growing, the top 0.01% have seen their tax burden drop by 25 percent since 1980. Even Warren Buffet, the second richest man in the world has said that these tax cuts "scream of injustice."
There is an unavoidable crash about to take place, two polarized groups are about to clash - and because this same template for enriching the few is taking place all over the world it will happen on a global scale. This is the stuff that riots and revolutions are made of, but I have news for you, the elite will not heed this alarm.
Some will accuse saying - "you are just making obvious human nature." My reply is simple, if we grant that this is human nature, than it is equally true that men do create governments to preserve and create wealth for the few elite. However, it is equally wrong to say merely "what will be will be," that is like saying because someone has a propensity to kill people that we should just let it take place!
While this gap between the rich and the poor increases exponentially this administration brings cuts Medicare, Medicade and education to stop a spiraling deficit. There is no way for the poor to bridge this gap any longer, and economic mobility is NOW lower than that found in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The two that are neck and neck in this tragedy are Britain and America - funny that these two are at the head of worldwide atrocities like the Iraq war, isn't it?
Some will say - "but it is good to have disparities because without them no one would have the incentive to do better." However, this have never been the case in America in the main - what is implied in America is what you see on TV, you know - those rich minorities, that made it big in sports or entertainment, etc. It is a ruse, a cruel lie - the rules have always been fixed in America, it is just that people like to believe in myths. Haratio Alger is alive and well in the mythology that the elite feed the masses.
When someone like Warren Buffet goes on to say "If class warfare is being waged in America, than my class is clearly winning" - this is not a sudden twinge in conscience, that is fear! The time to mobilize is now, and to strike like so many others in years gone by to gain democratic advance. If not now than when? (HERE IS AN EXPERIMENT FOR YOU, GO TO GOOGLE AND TYPE IN "GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR" AND JUST KEEP SCROLLING - ALMOST EVERY COUNTRY ON THIS ELITE GRAVY TRAIN WILL COME UP.)
Posted at 03:39 pm by deadringer
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4.12.2007
Posted at 06:33 pm by deadringer
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4.11.2007
RULE OF LAW AND POLITICAL PRISONERS
 There is a reason why I modified the use of the word "prisoners" with "political," I am talking about people wasting away in prisons in the United States for no other reason except political purposes. Throughout the prisons, which are expanding at an exponential rate in America, you will find specific prisoners of political war which are moderately known, and a vast majority which staggers the imagination incarcerated by institutional policy. Many sit in prison on trumped up charges that have nothing to do with the party imprisoned, and some are caught in the dragnet of political use of the judicial system through general policy. A government that is supposed to be for the people and by the people has devolved into an enemy of the people, and instead of being the land of opportunity American has become a veritable police state.  The people duly elected in both of the houses, the judicial system, and those in the administrative branch are like the Mafia. They allow areas to become dead zones by policies of neglect and principles of abandonment. They have turned once great cities into ghetto's by catering to their bastard children, the corporations - who use and abuse areas to build a profitable base only to abandon these areas. The governments, both local, regional, and national have given these corporations free passes from any direct responsibility - than the representatives further turn their backs on their poor constituency, and they woo them with fabrications and lies giving them temporary relief for political expedience.  The only things they do for people in these areas (above) is build prisons for them, and than they toughen the law by the stroke of a pen, making everything a felony. They bring drugs into the areas by their partnerships in crime, and than herd the people into their prisons so these vultures called corporations can feed off their slave labor. Why do they do this? Because they have no intention of building viable alternatives, helping to create employment, and preserving an area so it is fit for families to thrive.  So far we have been talking about those broad policies which are used through the established institutions to entrap millions of people - we now have the distinction of the largest prison population in the world - over 2 million people incarcerated! Than there are those brave souls which care for what is taking place, and try to lead the people out of these traps - the targeted political prisoners. Those like Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu Jamal, Sami Al-Arian (our new prisoners of the "war on Terror") among the host of names. Any effective method of freeing, or attempting to free people from their oppression is met by imprisonment. These men and women sit rotting in a cell, which I guess is better than assassination.  (Sami Al-Arian, a political prisoner of the "war on Terror") So the question is what can we do about it? It has been going on so long and the opponents are so strong - I know all the excuses, they have played like an endless loop recording in my mind. Until we come to the conclusion that we will not stand for it any longer, and until we get up and get in the face of these officials - nothing will take place. Until millions of people march to the same tune and flood the streets with protest saying - WE ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW THIS ANY LONGER, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LOCK US UP ALSO!! Until we stop asking for permission, and we stop playing by their perverted rules nothing of consequence can happen. When we hang our bodies on the line, and say enough is enough, that will be the beginning of the end for these oppressors.  We are not satisfied by their paltry affordable housing - we are not pleased with no health care net - and we will not allow viable jobs to continue to vacate while informal employment is proffered in their place. There is no room for compromise, and if you think there is, you are already defeated! We cannot settle for spoken good intentions which will NEVER materialize, but these unlucky people who sold their souls presently functioning in government of all levels will be put on notice - we will not stop till all the apparatus to oppress is torn down, and a TRUE government by the people, and for the people will rise again! It will take more than a designer protest, burning of candles, cute poetic chants - it will take hardened resistance on a massive scale, and an aggression that will not stop at the shedding of blood. Your brothers and sisters wait for you in their prison cells. "Extremism in the pursuit of freedom is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"
Posted at 09:58 pm by deadringer
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4.10.2007
 We have here a meeting of the mindless, Olmert and Bush, not because they are stupid (although there has been some speculation about Bush), but mindless because they both entertain delusions - somewhat different but intimately intertwined. Hence the title, Dual Delusions.
 Both of these administrations are born of deceit, one who lied and now hundreds of thousands have died (Bush), and the other who feigns that he wants "peace" in the Middle East (actually, they both say this constantly) but instead we have nothing but the escalation of violence. Yet, since the time of their fateful meeting they have not only lied and deceived, but are now both equally self-deceived - they believe in strange and dangerous delusions.
 Since the time of their meeting both Bush and Olmert have had an epiphany! They have come to the realization that it is complete and total violence that is needed - so that they might cast their cares like two children who cast rocks into the sea. Of course, there is no peace plan, I am being sarcastic - only a plan of beating people into senseless submission to their design. Their recent victim being Lebanon, Iraq now the seasoned standby, and perhaps next Iran, all countries that do not deserve this wanton death and destruction.
 What warms the heart of every tried and true Zionist is either genocidal toward the Palestinians, or driving them out of the region - or into the sea if you like. So, the deadly delusion that Olmert clings to is that if he kills enough of those in the region who support the Palestinians, he can cause the Palestinians to fall limp to the ground having lost support through the destruction of their supporters - to completely destroy their hope. Plus, the other prong of this long fork is that he will please the United States, and receive more money for further aggression. However, the apple of Olmert's eye is the destruction of the Palestinians by whatever means necessary (and who knows where they will go from there). 
Bush's ultimate delusion (and the entire government in power) Is to hold ultimate sway over the Middle East and it's resources, i.e., oil - the "new Middle East." Like an unchecked animal he wants to destroy current non-compliant states in the region, and set up compliant and puppet rulers. Look at Iraq, that is his design for the entire region.
 The deaths of millions is of no consequence, the end justifies the means. It does not matter if the "job" is finished or in trouble in previous escapades, he must up the ante like a severely hooked gambler at the gambling table. Israel is merely a tool for his design in this region, and he has a desire for it to be secure so it can be used in the future as the immediate hand of imperial design.
 So we have dual and intersecting delusions taking place. The Palestinians become more uneasy and violent rather than falling limp to the ground with their hope crushed. Israel has now experiencing sound defeat in the battlefield, rather than a seamless victory. Iraq is about to explode rather than becoming a compliant state, and Iran even though it does not have a nuclear weapon must now rush to design one for self-preservation! WHILE ALL THESE SIGNS POINT TO FURTHER DISASTER, BOTH ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES CONTINUE THEIR MURDEROUS COURSE TOWARD SUICIDE CASTING THEIR JAUNDICED EYES TOWARD SYRIA AND IRAN. NOW THE SPECTER OF "LIMITED TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS" RAISES IT'S UGLY HEAD - PEOPLE, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! THERE HAS TO BE A COMPLETE HOUSE CLEANING IN BOTH ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES - AND I MEAN BOTH CONVENTIONAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES, AND CLEAR DESIGN AND DIRECTION TOWARD PEACE RATHER THAN DESTRUCTIVE DELUSIONS. MORE DELUSIONS
Posted at 08:24 pm by deadringer
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