Not In His Name

DISPATCHES ISRAEL LOBBY IN THE UK REPORT - CAN YOU SAY USA DEJA VU?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:25:35 GMT

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SPREAD THE WORD - UPRISING, RESISTANCE

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:17:07 GMT

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LOVE IS THE CHIEF ATTRIBUTE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY

"Paranoia is in bloom,

The PR transmissions will resume,

They'll try to push drugs that keep us all dumbed down,

And hope that we will never see the truth around

(So come on)

Another promise, another scene,

Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed,

And all the green belts wrapped around our minds,

And endless red tape to keep the truth confined

(So come on)

They will not force us,

They will stop degrading us,

They will not control us,

We will be victorious

(So come on)

Interchanging mind control,

Come let the revolution take it's toll,

If you could flick a switch and open your third eye,

You'd see that

We should never be afraid to die

(So come on)

Rise up and take the power back,

It's time the fat cats had a heart attack,

You know that their time's coming to an end,

We have to unify and watch our flag ascend

They will not force us,

They will stop degrading us,

They will not control us,

We will be victorious

So come on

They will not force us,

They will stop degrading us,

They will not control us,

We will be victorious."

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Is our secret safe tonight

And are we out of sight

Will our world come tumbling down?

Will they find our hiding place

Is this our last embrace

Or will the world stop caving in?

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

But it should've been right

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

To let our hearts ignite

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

Are we digging a hole

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

This is out of control

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

It can never last

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

Must erase it fast

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

But it could've been right

It could be wrong could be

Love is our resistance

They'll keep us apart they wont stop breaking us down

Hold me

Our lips must always be sealed

If we live our life in fear

I'll wait a thousand years

Just to see you smile again

Kill the prayers for love and peace

You'll wake the thought police

We can't hide the truth inside

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

But it should've been right

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

To let our hearts ignite

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

Are we digging a hole

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

This is out of control

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

It can never last

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

Must erase it fast

It could be wrong

Could be wrong

But it could've been right

It could be wrong could be

Love is our resistance

They'll keep us apart they wont stop breaking us down

Hold me

Our lips must always be sealed

The night has reached his end

We can't pretend

We must run

It's time to run

Take us away from here

Protect us from further harm

RESISTANCE..."

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THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME

"The wavelength gently grows,

Coercive notions re-evolve,

A universe is trapped inside a tear,

It resonates the core,

Creates unnatural laws,

Replaces love and happiness with fear

How much deception can you take?

How many lies will you create?

How much longer until you break?

You mind's about to fall

And they are breaking through,

They are breaking through,

Now we're falling,

We are losing control

Invisible to all,

The mind becomes a wall.

All of history deleted with one stroke

How much deception can you take?

How many lies will you create?

How much longer until you break?

Your mind's about to fall

And they are breaking through,

They are breaking through,

Now we're falling,

We are losing control"

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Earlier in the career of Muse I mentioned that I detected something because of the imagery used in the official video "Time Is Running Out." Some wished to relegate the video to just the personal relationship of a couple, I think it goes quite beyond this, and I think i the context of this new album my instincts were correct:

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"Stay away from me

Build a fortress

And shield your beliefs

Touch the divine

As we fall in line

Can I believe

When I don't trust

All your theories

Turn to dust

I choose to hide

From the All Seeing Eye

Destroy this City of Delusion

Break these walls down

I will avenge

And justify my reasons

With your blood

You will not rest

Settle for less

Until you guzzle

And squander whats left

Do not deny

That you live and let die

Destroy this City of Delusion

Break these walls down

I will avenge

And justify my reasons

With your blood

Destroy this City of Delusion

Break these walls down

I will avenge

And justify my reasons

With your blood."

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ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES PRACTICE APARTHEID

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:36:08 GMT

"We are Arab students at the Israeli universities writing to you in support of the proposed academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions. We believe that the boycott is timely and hopefully will help in upholding moral values of fairness, justice and equality which have been sorely missed in our region.

While the reason for the boycott is rightly what has been going on in the 1967 occupied territories, we propose another angle which affirms the need for boycott, namely our daily experience as Arabs in Israeli institutions. We are the lucky ones who have been able to pursue our studies in institutions of Higher Education, to which we arrived against great odds. Only very few among our generation have been qualified to attend universities due to the State's discriminatory policies. Our schools mostly lack the basic facilities needed for education, and the curriculum is structured to serve the State's goal in socializing the pupils for self-estrangement. It contains very little, if any at all, on our history and culture. Additionally, it aims to erase our historical memory and promote the official policy line of divide and rule. In short, it is modeled on curriculum's that dark regimes, like Apartheid South Africa, have used to indoctrinate rather than educate. We arrive to universities with this "educational" baggage.

The idea that Israeli universities adhere to the values of free academic institutions, where academic freedom, objectivity and meritocracy prevail is widely accepted in the West. From our experience we attest � and indeed prove beyond doubt - that this is not the case. In recent years Israeli universities have changed the criteria of acceptance to various faculties in order - as a certain president of an Israeli university put it - to prevent large number of undesirable [i.e. Arab] students from attending prestigious faculties such as Medicine and Natural Sciences. Moreover, lecturers who presented findings which are at odd with the official ideology � such as Ilan Pappe and Neve Gordon � are bullied and harassed or forced to resign. Meanwhile raw racist statements by many lecturers are considered by the administrations of the universities as benign or even objective statements. For example, recently Dr. Dan Scheuftan stated in one of his lectures: "The Arabs are the biggest failure in the history of the human race... there's nothing under the sun that's more screwed up than the Palestinians"; "Throughout the Arab world, people fire guns at weddings in order to prove that they have at least one thing that's hard and in working order that can shoot."

It goes without saying that none of these lecturers has ever been disciplined. Moreover, foreign students are warned by the security authorities of Haifa University not to visit Arab villages or towns.

Although some Israeli universities � such as the University of Haifa � pride themselves on promoting "co-existence", yet nothing is further from the truth than this. We are prevented from forming our [i.e. Arab] students' union, and racial discrimination against us � under the pretext of not serving in the army � is widely practiced in the granting of scholarships, as well as in the provision of housing at the universities' residential halls . This is particularly grave as the universities are located in Jewish towns, and Arab students face many obstacles and hardships in finding appropriate housing due to prevailing prejudices and anti-Arab sentiments in Israeli society.

Yet, the restrictions imposed on our freedom of expression are more stifling. We are not allowed to express our collective sentiments or ideas publicly. It is quite often that our public gatherings are not only violently interrupted by extreme right-wing Jewish students, but also in various occasions the universities called on the police to intervene. In several occasions, as during our peaceful demonstration in Haifa University against the War on Gaza, the police sent in large number of its special units which are infamous for their brutality (pictures and videos attached). Needless to say that they do the job they are trained for . Moreover, the universities collaborate with the internal security services (the feared Shin Bet) and provide it with names of the activists among the students who are regularly summoned, investigated and threatened.

In the end, we are hopeful that you will take a decision which reaffirms the true meaning of human values, and provide a proof that racism, religious tribalism, obfuscation and disregard for human dignity are no longer tolerated."

Sincerely yours,

Abnaa el-Balad- The Student Movement

Iqraa Student Association- Islamic Movement

National Democratic Assembly (NDA)- The Student Movement

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ENGENDERING THE ATMOSPHERE OF FEAR (BELOW)

ORIGINAL ARTICLE - THE ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER

CHAIRMAN OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY STUDENT UNION: "BUILD A WALL BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY AND THE NEIGHBORING PALESTINIAN VILLAGE OF ISSAWIYA

AL NAKBA

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WALL STREET BANKS GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE FOR H1N1 SHOTS

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:47:19 GMT

CLASS WARFARE - A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

"With millions who need the the H1N1 vaccine unable to get it, major financial firms in New York, among them Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, have received larger distributions of the inoculation than many hospitals.

As of late October, Citigroup had been given 1,200 doses, more than half of its request, and Goldman Sachs had received 200 doses of the 5,400 it requested, about 4 percent.

By contrast, a major New York City hospital, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, has been given only 200 of 27,400 doses, less than 1 percent of what it asked for its doctors, nurses, and staff, who will be responsible for caring for the sick in the event of a major outbreak.

Nationwide, hospitals, clinics, and pediatricians have received only a small fraction of what they need, a result of the failure of major pharmaceutical corporations to produce an adequate supply as promised.

Just over 35 million doses of the vaccine are now available, but there are nearly 160 million Americans defined as "high risk" who should be inoculated. According to a survey by the Harvard School of Public Health, only about one third of those who have tried to get the vaccine have been able to do so.

All over the country, the dearth of the vaccine has resulted in long lines at hospitals and clinics, school closures, and a rising number of deaths. H1N1 has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 in the US and 5,000 globally.

The distribution to Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and 13 other New York City-based organizations�including JP Morgan Chase, Time Warner, and the Federal Reserve Board of New York�was ordered by local health officials and approved by the Obama administration's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Spokesmen for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs claim that the vaccines have only been administered to employees in high-risk categories, including pregnant women. "Like other responsible employers, [Goldman Sachs] has requested vaccine and will supply it only to employees who qualify," a company representative said.

These assurances mean little. Having been given the vaccine dosages, the banks distribute them without supervision. More to the point, why should wealthy executives and traders�even those with compromised immune systems�be given precedence over health care workers, children, and pregnant women in the public at large? Why can't the bankers and traders at the Wall Street firms go wait in line like everyone else?

Aware that the spectacle of flu vaccine hoarding by the same big Wall Street firms that received hundreds of billions in taxpayer bailout money could trigger a public backlash, the Obama administration has shifted to damage control.

Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the CDC, wrote a letter to health officers warning them that policies "that appear to direct the vaccine to people outside the identified priority groups have the potential to undermine the credibility of the program."

The Obama administration and public health officials in New York have alternately claimed the decision to put the big banks at the front of the line was a mistake, and defended the policy as "a great avenue for vaccinating people at risk," as Jessica Scaperotti of New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene put it.

Such protestations are absurd. From both a medical and organizational standpoint, hospitals, elementary schools and nursing homes are much better candidates for the distribution of immunizations.

This is confirmed by the CDC's own list of at-risk populations, which includes children and health care workers, teenagers, people caring for infants under the age of six months, pregnant women, and those with respiratory health problems. These categories hardly call to mind the well-heeled executives and traders at Wall Street banks.

What underlays the decision to distribute immunizations to major private entities ahead of hospitals and schools is neither a mistake nor an objective assessment of the medical value of such distributions.

The episode demonstrates the supremacy of America's financial elite, which increasingly dictates every policy decision and every facet of social life, and more and more takes on the trappings of an aristocracy. Any government response to a disaster of nature, disease, or, soon enough, social revolt, will take as its first order of business the preservation of this narrow layer.

The inescapable essence of the matter is this: it is taken for granted in government that the lives and health of the rich are worth more than those of the working class. The vaccine distribution to Goldman Sachs and Citigroup was not "caught" precisely because the banks' privileged position is assumed.

Yet the arrogance and presumptuousness of the financial aristocracy is itself becoming an explosive factor in the political life of the nation.

This has been reflected in the public reaction to the revelations about the vaccine distribution to Wall Street, and the phony denunciations by the likes of Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, who has been for many years among the most favored recipients of the finance industry's campaign contributions.

The allocation of scarce vaccines to the big banks is in fact entirely in keeping with the Obama administration's response to the economic crisis. The US government has given over trillions to the banking industry to help it profit from the financial collapse of its own making. Meanwhile, the Obama administration refuses any jobs program that would counter mass unemployment, as the official jobless rate surges over 10 percent. [ALL FACTS CONSIDERED, 17%]

The revelation that Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and others have cornered for themselves a share of the vaccine supply is yet another example of destructive impact of the capitalist market on public health.

Last spring, the Obama administration turned over the production of the vaccine to a handful of large pharmaceutical firms. Because the industry finds vaccines unprofitable, it relies on outdated production methods. This explains the shortage of the vaccine.

But even were there an adequate supply, it would have to be distributed through an American public health system that has been the victim of decades of cuts and layoffs�a trend accelerated in the current economic crisis. The situation is such that President Obama declared a national emergency on October 23, relaxing rules so special distribution centers might be put in place."

By Tom Eley 7 November 2009

ORIGINAL ARTICLE WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE

ALREADY KNOCKING AT YOUR DOOR

BASH THE RICH

YOU NEED A SQUARE MEAL

STUMBLE AND FALL

OUR LEGACY?

GET WISE TO THE GAME

IT BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE

THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN BEING IN CLASS WARFARE AND NOT KNOWING IT.

ANNA BALTZER: LIFE IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE LECTURE

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:32:48 GMT

WAGES WILL CONTINUE TO DECLINE - OBAMA'S PLAN

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:47:09 GMT

So, not only will the jobs not come back, but the ones that remain will see severe reduction in wages. This is all part of an economic plan to enrich the few while the rest languish. No substantive change.

"The recession has been seized upon to effect an unprecedented redistribution of wealth from the working class to the financial elite, in part to fund trillions of dollars in bailouts for the world's bankers."

"The International Labour Organization (ILO) warned Tuesday that global growth in workers' real wages, which fell sharply in 2008, will decline even more in 2009, despite what is being touted by governments around the world as an economic recovery.

Announcing its "Global Wage Report: 2009 Update," the United Nations-affiliated agency said "the picture on wages is likely to get worse in 2009." Its report notes that in half of the 35 countries for which data is available, real monthly wages fell in the first quarter of 2009 compared to their 2008 average, in many case due to reductions in work hours.

An ILO press release states: "In a sample of 53 countries for which data are available, growth in real average wages in the median country had declined from 4.3 percent in 2007 to 1.4 percent in 2008." The press release goes on to note that among the ten G-20 leading economies for which figures are available, "growth in real average wages in the median country had declined from 1.0 percent in 2007 to -0.2 percent in 2008." In these countries, in other words, real wages actually fell in 2008.

The report further points out that the deterioration in wages since the eruption of the financial crisis follows a decade of wage stagnation internationally.

The decline in workers' earnings is particularly sharp in the United States. Average weekly earnings of production workers rose by only 0.7 percent in September, as the average number of weekly hours worked fell to a record low of 33 hours. This represents the lowest annualized weekly earnings growth since such data began to be tracked in 1964�nearly half a century ago.

Since hitting a recent peak in December 2008, real average weekly earnings have fallen by 1.9 percent, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The ILO evaded making any analysis of the roots of the wages decline in the breakdown of world capitalism and the class policies adopted by the world's ruling elites and their governments in response to the crisis.

The recession has been seized upon to effect an unprecedented redistribution of wealth from the working class to the financial elite, in part to fund trillions of dollars in bailouts for the world's bankers. At the same time, mass unemployment is being encouraged by governments, including the Obama administration in the US, to blackmail workers into accepting lower wages, shorter hours and speedup.

Even as the ILO issued its report on wages, the White House stepped up its efforts to reassure Wall Street that it will propose no significant government outlays to create jobs and will instead turn to mapping out a campaign of fiscal austerity to rein in soaring budget deficits by slashing social programs.

With the US Labor Department widely expected to report an official jobless rate for October of 10 percent or more when it releases it employment data on Friday, the administration is publicly foreswearing any programs to directly employ jobless workers and insisting that no measures be taken to address the jobs crisis that impinge on the capitalist market and the profit interests of big business.

Last Thursday, the head of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer, gave a speech in which she touted the administration's proposed health care overhaul as a major step in cutting costs for business and the government. On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press" program, said, "The president's very committed to bringing down these deficits."

The director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, on Tuesday delivered a speech at New York University entitled "Rescue, Recovery and Reining in the Deficit." Orszag painted a dire picture of prolonged mass unemployment and lower wages for years and even decades to come.

His response was to pledge that the next federal budget, to be presented in February of 2010, will outline spending cuts in social programs designed to cut in half the projected federal deficit by the end of Obama's first term�January of 2013. "And as the economy recovers," he said, "we must pull together�as a nation�and make the tough decisions to put our country back on a solid fiscal foundation."

Orszag - screw with a smile, Obama style

Orszag hailed Obama's health care plan as a major step in reducing budget deficits and the national debt. He called rising health care costs "the biggest threat to our long-term fiscal future," passing over in silence the fiscal impact of the bank bailouts and soaring spending for the military and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He reiterated Obama's pledge that any health care bill signed into law "will not add to the deficit over the next decade and will reduce deficits thereafter."

He touted the administration's drive to enact "pay-as-you-go" legislation that would require any additional federal spending or reduction in revenues from tax cuts to be offset by spending cuts or tax increases elsewhere in the budget.

However, he made clear that these measures are mere down payments on the sweeping austerity measures required to bring projected deficits�estimated to total $9 trillion over the next decade�to "sustainable" levels. "That is why," he said, "the president and his economic team are busy working on a range of options as we prepare for the fiscal year 2011 budget to be released in February."

Even as he pledged to enact deep cuts in social programs, Orszag acknowledged that the impact of the current economic crisis on the generation now entering the labor market will be severe and long-lasting. He noted that "the children of workers who were once laid off have lower average wages as adults�even decades later than those whose parents never experienced such setbacks."

He pointed to a recent study which found that "graduating during a period of high unemployment leads to depressed initial wages�roughly 6 percent on average for every one percentage point increase in unemployment." He continued: "This negative wage effect declines only slowly over time: to 5 percent after five years, 4 percent after 10 years, and 3 percent even 15 years after graduation."

Stressing that the percentage wage declines are for each percentage point increase in the unemployment rate, he noted that when most of today's seniors entered New York University the jobless rate was about 5 percentage points lower than it is today. "You can do the math," he quipped.

The math yields a reduction in wages of 30 percent now and 15 percent even 15 years down the road.

That the Obama administration has no intention of enacting policies to counteract this trend was underscored on Monday at a meeting in Washington of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Obama set the tone for the meeting, telling the board that "the government is going to have to get serious about reducing our debt levels" and calling for an "export-driven" revival of manufacturing.

Obama reiterated his position that government policies must be subordinated to the profit interests of private corporations. "We are not going to be able through government spending to replace business investment," he said. "The most important thing we can do is create an environment in which business investment is triggered," he added.

The board, which is dominated by corporate executives, agreed wholeheartedly, stressing the need to increase US exports as a percentage of the gross domestic product.

How is this to be accomplished? Precisely by permanently reducing the wages of American workers and increasing labor productivity. In other words, by driving up the rate of exploitation of the working class to levels not seen since the 1930s.

The basic "recovery" strategy of the American corporate elite and the Obama administration is to make the United States a cheap labor center for exports to the world market, bringing the wages and conditions of American workers more in line with those of super-exploited workers in China, India and other "developing" countries.

It is no accident that the chairman of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board is Paul Volcker. He is an old hand at waging class war against the American working class.

Volcker - recycled enemy of the people

Appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, Volcker tackled double-digit inflation by raising interest rates to more than 20 percent, deliberately precipitating a deep recession. Plant closures and mass layoffs, combined with government-backed union-busting and the betrayal of strike struggles by the trade union bureaucracy, were employed to impose sweeping wage concessions on the working class.

As Fed chairman under Ronald Reagan, Volcker oversaw the systematic dismantling of regulations on the banks and corporations and a vast growth of social inequality. This process has continued under Democratic as well as Republican administrations, and is being intensified under Obama."

By Barry Grey, 4 November 2009

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION REPORT

THE REDUCTION

IT'S PAYDAY!

HAVE YOU MADE IT?

THE DWINDLING PAYCHECK

A DECADE OF SERVICE

THE PROFITS OF DISTRACTION (TURN IT UP, FULL SCREEN)

CORPORATE SLAVERY

CORPORATE RELIGION

READY OR NOT POWERS THAT BE, THE TIMES ARE CHANGING

WHERE IS UNEMPLOYMENT REALLY AT?

DESOBEISSANCE CIVILE

"REVOLUTION FOR THE HELL OF IT"

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:01:34 GMT

If people think they are going to stop this current onslaught against humanity by just sitting back and waiting they are sorely mistaken. There has to be a time when you crawl out of the blogsphere and enter the mainline of reality.

Having let things go so far the people are going to have to hit the ground running in order to take the country. For change, true change to occur there is going to have to be a face-off, otherwise your going to get more of the same, because those in power are trying to resurrect a system in the image of the few.

So why not take a trip back to see, at least in part what needs to take place, Steal This Movie -

'THE DAILY SHOW' AIRS PALESTINIAN EQUAL RIGHTS

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:04:21 GMT

The Daily Show delivers the goods in regard to Palestinian rights, Jon goes where few men have gone before. I gotta tell you folks, Jon delivers more real news than any in our main stream media, and does so on a comedy show. Even though he voices his equivocations (quite groundless) he has the courage of a lion. So the story is out, and the time clock is ticking to the end of a brutal occupation - may it fall like other colonial enterprises swiftly. Thanks Jon!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Exclusive - Anna Baltzer & Mustafa Barghouti Extended Interview Pt. 1

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Exclusive - Anna Baltzer & Mustafa Barghouti Extended Interview Pt. 2

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

BILLIONAIRES PLUNDER TOWNS AND ILLEGALLY CALL IN TROOPS

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:13:40 GMT

Conservative peer Lord Griffiths said banks should not be ashamed of rewarding staff. Photograph: Rex Features

[DID WE NOT JUST FINISH A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO LISTENING TO LLOYD BLANKFEIN, CEO OF GOLDMAN SACHS WHO SAID THE JOBS ARE NOT COMING BACK AFTER SAYING HE MADE 3.2 BILLION IN PROFITS THE LAST QUARTER AND MASSIVE BONUSES FOR HIS CRONIES?]

"We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all," says one Goldman Sachs adviser. But tell that to the people of Samson, Ala.

"Editor's Note: The shocking transfer of public wealth to Wall Street's pockets is illustrated vividly in Mark Ames' article below, which covers some very disturbing recent events in Alabama, where billionaires and banks are squeezing the locals so hard that they're literally going bankrupt just for flushing their toilets, where violence and the threat of violence are reaching a boiling point and where even the Posse Comitatus Act is under threat. "We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all," said one Goldman Sachs vice-chairman recently. Well, here's a tale of the kind of inequality the finance industry expects citizens to tolerate.

One of this year's more disturbing stories that were ignored was the illegal Army occupation of Samson, Alab., in March following a shooting spree that raged across two towns by a disgruntled worker, leaving 11 people dead.

Michael McLendon

As I wrote at the time, Michael McLendon, 27, went on a killing rampage following years of relentless corporate exploitation and harassment against him, his mother (whom he mercy-killed), and the entire rural Alabama region, which suffered like so many parts of rural America at the hands of billionaire goons like chicken oligarch Bo Pilgrim of Pilgrim's Pride notoriety.

One of the creepiest details to emerge in the shooting rampage were reports that troops from nearby Fort Rucker were brought into Samson and other surrounding areas to patrol the streets. This is a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, every freedom-loving American's worst nightmare.

And now, finally, the Army officially agrees that its occupation of the Alabama streets was illegal, according to an internal report the Associated Press got a hold of, following a Freedom of Information Act filing:

An Army investigation found that soldiers should not have been sent to man traffic stops in a small Alabama town after 11 people were killed in March during a shooting spree.

An Army report released to the Associated Press on Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request said the decision to dispatch military police to Samson from nearby Fort Rucker broke the law. But an Army spokesman said no charges have been filed following the Aug. 10 report.

The report from the Department of Army Inspector General found the use of military personnel in Samson violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits federal troops from performing law-enforcement actions. The names of those involved were redacted from the report.

According to the report, the officer's "intent was to be a good Army neighbor and help local civilian authorities facing a difficult, unique tragedy affecting the local community. There were no apparent adverse collateral effects to the support provided."

Indeed. For a lot of Americans, the sight of troops occupying their towns is their worst nightmare come true -- part of the reason that America came into existence was to create a country where this sort of thing would never happen, even if the Army's sole intent was to be a good neighbor and help old ladies cross the streets.

Strangely enough, there was almost no media coverage of the occupation -- you had to rely on various right-wing outlets like CNSNews.com, whose article I blogged at the time, or the left-wing Democratic Underground.

But what even the right-wing anti-government people won't report is the true reason why the Army was called out in the first place, something that goes right back to the cause of the shooting rampage: billionaire exploitation of the local Alabamans, not just by the chicken oligarch, but from higher up the predator food chain -- Wall Street banking behemoth JP Morgan Chase.

You see, thanks to a combination of corporate-tax holidays (which reduce local revenues), billionaire greed like the sort that bankrupted Pilgrim's Pride, and Wall Street investment-banking scams on places like Alabama that result in corrupted local officials and bankrupted municipalities, counties and states -- now, there's no money left to fund local police forces, as the U.S. Army report reveals:

The soldiers arrived in the hours after the shootings, which stretched the town's tiny police force and county officers to the limit with several different crime scenes. The report said troops were dispatched after the Geneva County Sheriff's Office and Samson Police requested assistance from Fort Rucker to relieve law enforcement at traffic checkpoints around the crime-scene area.

As I wrote earlier this year, Pilgrim's Pride hooked up with Wall Street to leverage itself into bankruptcy while enriching the executives' family and a handful of insiders at the expense of tens of thousands of Americans workers:

In 2006, Pilgrim's Pride, then the second-largest chicken processor in the world, made a huge gamble that will seem familiar to anyone who's been following the financial crash: the company borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars, leveraging itself well beyond its means, in order to acquire a rival company and become the nation's No. 1 chicken processor, slaughtering 45 million chickens per week.

That might have given the executives a nice, big hard-on, but it also meant they would have to come up with more money to pay for all that debt. So the company did do what every post-Reagan company has done and gotten away with: it made the workforce pay for the executives' bonuses.

That meant squeezing lower-middle-class workers for more work for less pay, or in Pilgrim's case, more work for no pay: In August 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against Pilgrim's Pride accusing it of grossly undercompensating its employees. That same year, 10,000 Pilgrim's Pride employees launched a class-action lawsuit demanding compensation for their work.

The damage extended well beyond Pilgrim's Pride's plants. With bankruptcy came huge unpaid local tax bills, leading to further layoffs and reduced services for the already-beleaguered locals:

Suwannee County could be out about $2 million if Pilgrim's Pride doesn't pay its property-tax bill, according to property appraiser Lamar Jenkins.

The biggest taxpayer in the county filed for bankruptcy protection Dec. 1. Now it's not clear when -- or if -- the bill will be paid.

"It's certainly going to put a hurt on the budget of the county," Jenkins told the [Suwanee] Democrat by phone Thursday. Jenkins said the unpaid bill represents 7.4 percent of the money local schools get from property taxes; 5.3 percent of county funds from that source; and 8 percent of the money the Suwannee River Water Management District receives from local property-tax revenues.

A spokesman for Pilgrim's did not respond to a request for comment.

Bo Pilgrim, the head of Pilgrim's Pride, once told his Texas church that he was worth over $1 billion before the market crash, and he's still worth hundreds of millions. His rapacity was boundless, and in the end it was the undoing of Pilgrim's Pride -- not the Pilgrim family, mind you, which is still filthy disgusting rich, but the company is through.

Last month, 64 percent of Pilgrim's Pride was sold to JBS, a Brazilian beef giant, making it the largest meat company in the world, topping America's Tyson. The American cattle industry tried to block the deal, which it says could result in the destruction of the American beef industry, but the Justice Department already approved JBS' takeover.

In the billionaires' Third World model for America, it makes awful sense that a Brazilian meat company would take control of a bankrupt, corrupt American chicken company. For Wall Street and the billionaires, the more they destroy in America, the richer they get, consequences be damned. And anyway, it's not like Pilgrim's Pride was a model of corporate responsibility while under American ownership; just read some of the comments on this recent Reuters article:

Gilmer, Texas, Sep. 8, 2009 -- working as a supervisor in mt pleasant plant use to be injoyable, but lately they expect you to work 50/70 hours for no extra pay. pilgrims pride does not care about family life just their money. Everyone is afraid to say anything, because upper management may let you go with no warnning because you voiced your opinion
robert, Carrollton, Ga. -- i work carrollton,ga former goldkist plant we were goldkist 1 plant now we fill like we in pure hell working for pilgrim pride these people want you to kiss there ass and work three times hard for same money no rasied in two years old chicken farmer

Doddridge, Ark. -- While I was raising chickens for Pilgrim's Pride, I became friends with many lower management employees of the company. The manner in which they were terminated was just simply unmerciful. While the growers had the brunt of the financial devastation, many that were nearing retirement were left with no prospects of employment in the near future. I know some that have had to uproot their families and settle for a considerable more modest lifestyle with their retirement benefits in doubt after a number of years of employment. It is just a shame that Bo Pilgrim has pocketed the money of many hard working people. I still believe Bo needs to be in the jail cell next to Bernie Madoff.

The comments section is where you'll find the real, unvarnished, ungrammatical rage among America's cheated majority, because for the most part, people are too desperate and afraid to complain in public.

But here's the rub: Selling Pilgrim's Pride to a Brazilian meat monopoly doesn't mean things will get better for Alabamans. Just weeks after the buyout was announced, Pilgrim's Pride closed another plant, this one in northern Alabama. According to the AP:

A chicken-processing plant owned by Pilgrim's Pride Corp. is shutting down this week after almost six decades, putting more than 600 people out of work and creating ripples that will be felt all over town.

The city of almost 20,000 is preparing for the end of a relationship that began in 1952 when James Beasley founded Sweet Sue Poultry, which originally ran the plant. Owners included Beatrice Foods and ConAgra before Pilgrim's Pride purchased the business in 2003.

Which looks a lot like an even more depressing Pilgrim's Pride story from a few months earlier, this from rural Arkansas. The town of Clinton filed a lawsuit in June against Pilgrim's Pride, accusing it of turning the town into a "ghost town":

"With its largest and sole remaining employer, Pilgrim's, now evacuated, the city faces a crisis of revenue, bond payments and economic devastation, and as a result of the Pilgrim's evacuation is threatened with becoming a modern-day ghost town," the lawsuit filed by the city said. "This serious economic situation is, however, a direct consequence of Pilgrim's illegal purpose in shuttering the Clinton plant and operations."

This story is repeated all over the rural South. So guess who put together the deal that bankrupted Pilgrim's Pride? Lehman Bros., the king of bankruptcy.

On the other side of the deal, serving Gold Kist, was Merrill Lynch, which also collapsed last year. But Merrill's banker in the Pilgrim's Pride acquisition is still doing well, thank you very much. In fact, he was recently hired by JPMorgan Chase as vice chairman of mergers and acquisitions.

Which makes perfect sense, because JPMorgan Chase has been laying waste to Alabama on a level that makes Pilgrim's Pride's destruction look downright humanitarian. JP Morgan Chase has plundered so much wealth from one county in Alabama, using a complex derivatives scheme and old-fashioned bribery, that some locals are calling it "Armageddon." According to Bloomberg:

In its 190-year history, Jefferson County, Ala., has endured a cholera epidemic, a pounding in the Civil War, gunslingers, labor riots and terrorism by the Ku Klux Klan. Now this namesake of Thomas Jefferson, anchored by Birmingham, is staring at what one local politician calls financial "Armageddon."

The spectacle -- a tax struck down, about 1,000 county employees furloughed, a politician indicted over $3 billion in sewer debt that may lead to the largest municipal bankruptcy in history -- has elbowed its way up the ladder of county lore.

"People want to kill somebody, but they don't know who to shoot at," says Russell Cunningham, past president of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Jefferson County's debacle is a parable for billions of dollars lost by state and local governments from Florida to California in transactions done behind closed doors. Selling debt without requiring competition made public officials vulnerable to bankers' sales pitches, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for borrowing gone awry.

[T]he county bet on interest-rate swaps, agreements that a representative of New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. told commissioners could reduce their interest costs. Instead, the swaps -- covering more than $5 billion in all -- blew up during the credit crisis after ratings for the county's bond insurers fell.

JPMorgan, through spokeswoman Christine Holevas, declined to comment for this story.

Yeah, why bother commenting to the public when you own the bastards? JPMorgan, which took $25 billion in direct bailout money and tens of billions more in backdoor subsidies and handouts, just posted a massive $3.6 billion quarterly profit, and has set aside at least $11.1 billion for management bonuses. Meanwhile, Alabamans can't afford to flush their toilets.

This is what inequality looks like. From Wall Street, it must look extremely appealing; for the rest of America, it's a nightmare that's only getting worse.

So far, it's clear that Birmingham and the entire Jefferson County are following the wretched script of a typical Third World scenario, where the Wall Street bankers corrupt the politicians and eventually bankrupt the place and then, while the corpse is still warm and the bankruptcy deals are cut, Wall Street makes sure it's first in line to profit off the chaos it created, while its corrupt local shill (in this case Birmingham's mayor) takes the fall for the crime of accepting the JP Morgan bribes � and the locals get screwed worst of all, paying off the bill for years or decades.

Just this week, it emerged that Goldman Sachs, employer of Brian "Inequality Is Good" Griffiths, bilked the state of New Jersey using a similar scheme involving interest-rate swaps on bonds that don't even exist. According to Bloomberg, New Jersey is considering raising its gasoline tax to pay the $1 million a month they have to pay out to Goldman for the scam -- a regressive tax that once again takes from the struggling middle class and poor, and puts in the pockets of the billionaires.

Meanwhile, over in Jefferson County, Ala., there's so little left to steal from the impoverished locals that Wall Street has been forced to come up with a new, grotesquely evil plan to line their pockets: taxing the local residents for taking a shit:

In August, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., as trustee for owners of about $3 billion in sewer warrants, filed suit in Jefferson County Circuit Court seeking an appointed receiver for the sewer system. The receiver should have authority to raise rates enough to meet the debt service, the bank said in the complaint, which is pending. The sewer system is already charging customers about 300 percent more to drain bathtubs or flush toilets than a dozen years ago.

By one county estimate, average annual bills are now about $750, compared with the national average of $331, according to a 2007 survey by the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Clean Water Agencies, a coalition of utilities.

It's impossible to boost them enough without putting them beyond the means of many residents, County Commissioner Jim Carns says. "We're like a guy making $50,000 a year with a $1 million mortgage."

In Wall Street's eyes, Alabamans really do shit gold.

The thing now will be to convince the locals to use their toilets rather than, say, gas to heat their homes.

As I wrote a few months ago, Jefferson County residents have become so desperate that they're being forced to choose between water and heating, as this article shows:

As nighttime temperatures plunged in Birmingham, Ala., last October, Dora Bonner had a choice: either pay the gas bill so she could heat the home she shares with four grandchildren, or send the Birmingham Water Works a $250 check for her water and sewer bill.

Bonner, who is 73 and lives on Social Security, decided to keep the house from freezing.

"I couldn't afford the water, so they shut it off," she says.

Bonner's sewer bills have risen more than fourfold in the past decade. So have those of others in Jefferson County, which has 659,000 residents and includes Birmingham, the state's largest city.

The logical outcome of the billionaires' plundering of Alabama is the same thing that happens all over the Third World: violence, fear and calling in the troops, the only way to secure the billionaires' dirty profits:

In August and September � Jefferson County residents got a taste of what bankruptcy might look like. As the county began putting about 1,000 workers on leave without pay, one disgruntled employee allegedly e-mailed bomb threats to officials and was promptly arrested, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

Lines soon formed outside the courthouse as such tasks as renewing driver's licenses slowed.

A kind of legal civil war broke out when three county agencies -- the sheriff's department, an indigent-care hospital and the tax-assessor's office -- sued the county commission to stop the budget cuts on the grounds that they posed a danger to public safety.

Bettye Fine Collins, the commission president, declared the situation, "our Armageddon."

The state's response is right out of the Central America banana republic playbook: When there's no money left for the people, send in the troops.

The cuts in the sheriff's department budget were so severe that he was planning to call in the National Guard to keep order:

The sheriff in Alabama's most populous county may call for the National Guard to help maintain order, a spokesman said Tuesday, as a judge cleared the way for cuts in the sheriff's budget, and lawmakers reached a compromise they hope will end the budget crisis.

In light of all of this, the Army's brief, illegal occupation of a string of towns in Alabama this past spring no longer looks like a freak one-off, but rather a logical progression in the ongoing billionaire plunder of America.

It gives new meaning to what MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan is calling "corporate communism." Not only are banking billionaires on permanent state wealthfare, but even worse, as the wealth available becomes increasingly scarce and there isn't enough left to satisfy the billionaires' grotesque appetites and regular citizens' needs to flush their toilets or heat their homes, we're heading to the point that all Third World countries come to -- calling out the troops to ensure that the peasants pay their tithes to their absentee masters in New York and Connecticut and don't get all uppity like those Europeans.

Now you can see why Alabamans are loading up on so many weapons. That makes sense. Now they need to understand who the real enemy is. Not the make-believe liberal bogeymen of their nightmares. Rather, Alabamans should focus their anger on the real-world billionaires who are making this country a living hell."

Read more of Mark Ames at eXiledonline.com. He is the author of Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE - ALTERNET

SOME HAVE LOTS OF DOLLARS

THE UNDISPUTED KING

YOU'RE BEING RIPPED OFF

DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT?

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CORPORATE SLUMBER

GETTING AWAY WITH IT

BATTLEFLAG

Uploaded by DEATHINKING. -

WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING - NOW THEY ARE COMING FOR YOU

THE IMAGE OF THE SYSTEM

AFTER ANNOUNCING HIS SMALL BUSINESS LOAN PLAN, OBAMA COMMENCES TO BEG HIS BANKING MASTERS TO LEND THEM MONEY - I KID YOU NOT (BELOW EMBEDDED) -

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Of course, Obama has to say these things even though they will not amount to anything, it is the issue of plausible deniability. The same thing goes for the current bonus czar, they all have to look like they are "doing something," However, when push comes to shove there is no difference between any administration, or the so-called representatives we have in Washington or state side, they serve the same interests - and it is not the people. You think people would become wise to this circus after so many years, but they do not, and it seems like each generation follows the other into the ditch.

GEORGE SOROS BLASTS BANKERS BONUSES

DEAD BROKE

"YES TO BDS!" AN ANSWER TO URI AVNERY

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:03:29 GMT

Michel Warschawski

"The call for BDS � Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions � has finally reached Israeli public opinion. The decision of Norway to divest capital from Israeli corporations involved in settlement building made the difference, and provided the first big success to that important campaign.

Moreover, the group of Israelis supporting BDS, under the label "Boycott from Within" is gaining some momentum, thanks, among other, to a public appeal by Naomi Klein to Israeli activists when she came to Tel Aviv to present the Hebrew version of her "Shock Doctrine".

The fact that there is an (even small) Israeli voice to support the international BDS campaign makes a lot of difference, and, among others helps to disarm the infamous accusation of Anti-Semitism raised by the Israeli propaganda machine against everyone who dares to criticize the colonial policies of the Jewish State. Moreover, as I will argue towards the end of this article, the Israeli supporters of BDS are in fact expressing the true and long-term interests of the Israeli people. Reading recently two texts of Uri Avnery criticizing BDS convinced me that it was important to clarify how positive that campaign is and why it should be supported by as many Israelis as possible.

I sometimes disagree with Avnery's opinions � though much less than in the past � but I have great respect for the man, the journalist, the activist and the analyst, and since the bankruptcy of Peace Now during the Oslo process, we have been closely active together. I may even say that we became friends. This is why I feel compelled to react to his criticism of the BDS campaign.

In order to present in the most accurate way Uri's position, I will not use paraphrases, but quote what I think are his main arguments:

URI AVNERY SAYS

(�) I HAVE no argument with people who hate Israel. That's entirely their right. I just don't think that we have any common ground for discussion.

I would only like to point out that hatred is a very bad advisor. Hatred leads nowhere, but to more hatred. That, by the way, is a positive lesson we can draw from the South African experience. There they overcame hatred to a remarkable extent, largely thanks to the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" headed by Archbishop Tutu, where people admitted their past offenses.

One thing is certain: hatred does not lead towards peace. Let me be quite explicit about this, because I sense that some people, in their righteous indignation over Israel's occupation, have lost sight of this.

Peace is made between enemies, after war, in which awful things invariably happen. Peace can be made and maintained between peoples who are prepared to live with each other, respect each other, recognize the humanity of each other. They don't have to love each other (�)

I ALSO have no argument with those who want to abolish the State of Israel. It is as much their right to aspire to that as it is my right to want to dismantle, let's say, the USA or France, neither of which has an unblemished past.

Reading some of the messages sent to me and trying to analyze their contents, I get the feeling they are not so much about a boycott on Israel as about the very existence of Israel. Some of the writers obviously believe that the creation of the State of Israel was a terrible mistake to start with, and therefore should be reversed. Turn the wheel of history back some 62 years and start anew.

What really disturbs me about this is that almost nobody in the West comes out and says clearly: Israel must be abolished. Some of the proposals, like those for a "One State" solution, sound like euphemisms. If one believes that the State of Israel should be abolished and replaced by a State of Palestine or a State of Happiness � why not say so openly?

Of course, that does not mean peace. Peace between Israel and Palestine presupposes that Israel is there. Peace between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people presupposes that both peoples have a right to self-determination and agree to the peace. Does anyone really believe that racist monsters like us would agree to give up our state because of a boycott? (�)

THE REAL argument is among those who want to see peace between the two states, Israel and Palestine. The question is: how can it be achieved? This is an honest debate and is generally conducted in a civil manner (�)

The advocates of boycott believe that the main, indeed the only way to induce Israel to give up the occupied territories and agree to peace is to exert pressure from the outside.

I have no quarrel with the idea of outside pressure. The question is: pressure on whom? On the government, the settlers and their supporters? Or on the entire Israeli people?

(�) The struggle is on, it is a hard struggle against determined opposition, and we should do all we can to help Obama's peace policy to prevail. We must do this as Israelis, from inside Israel, and thereby show that this is not a struggle of the US against Israel, but a joint struggle against the Israeli government and the settlers.

It follows that any boycott must serve this purpose: to isolate the settlers and the individuals and institutions which openly support them, but not declare war on Israel and the Israeli people as such. In the 11 years since Gush Shalom declared a boycott of the products of the settlements, this process has been gaining momentum. We must laud the Norwegian decision, this week, to divest from the Israeli Elbit company because of their involvement with the "Separation Fence" that is being built on Palestinian land and whose main purpose is to annex occupied territories to Israel. This is a splendid example: a focused action against a specific target, based on a ruling of the International Court.

(�) I have been asked about the Palestinian reaction to the boycott idea. At present, Palestinians do not boycott even the settlements, indeed it is Palestinian workers who are building almost all the houses there, out of economic necessity. Their feelings can only be guessed. All self-respecting Palestinians would, of course, support any effective measure directed against the occupation. But it would not be honest to dangle before their eyes the false hope that a world-wide boycott would bring Israel to its knees. The truth is that only the close cooperation of Palestinian, Israeli and international peace forces could generate the necessary momentum to end the occupation and achieve peace.

This is especially important because our task in Israel today is not so much to convince the majority of Israelis that peace is good and the price acceptable, but first that peace is possible at all. Most Israelis have lost that hope, and its revival is absolutely vital on the way to peace (�)

WARSCHAWSKI REPLIES

Let's start with what I consider to be a false debate. First: "Hatred is a very bad advisor" writes Uri, and I will be the last to disagree with him. I know also that he will agree with me if I add that, in our political context, hatred is understandable. Second: "Israel is not South Africa". Of course it isn't, and every concrete reality is different from the other. Nevertheless, these two countries have some similarities: both are racist states with (different kinds of) apartheid systems (the literal meaning of apartheid being "structural separation"). Both countries were established as "European states" in a national/ethical environment composed of non-European who were considered a hostile environment, and rightly so.

We do also agree � and this is even more important � that in order to achieve substantial results in our struggle, we need to build a joint dynamic including the Palestinian national resistance, the Israeli anti-occupation forces and the international solidarity movement. Ten years ago, I called it "the winning triangle".

A lot in common indeed until we come to Uri's misrepresentation of his political opponents: "(They) have despaired of the Israelis". If it were so, why do those Israeli BDS campaigners spend so much of their time in building, together with Uri Avnery, an Israeli movement against war, occupation and colonization? The true debate is not between those who aim to "change the Israeli society" and those who don't, but how and for what purpose.

The political goal of Uri Avnery is "an Israeli-Palestinian peace", i.e. a compromise that should satisfy the majority of the two communities, on a symmetrical basis (in another important article, he called it "truth against truth"). Such symmetry is the result of another important political assumption by Avnery: the conflict in Palestine is a conflict between two national movements with equal legitimacy.

Many supporters of the BDS campaign disagree on both assumptions: our goal is not peace as such, because "peace" in itself doesn't mean anything (almost every war in modern history was initiated under the pretext of achieving peace). Peace is always the reflection of relation of forces when one side cannot impose on the other all that he considers their legitimate rights.

Unlike Uri, our goal is the fulfillment of certain values like: basic individual and collective rights, end of domination and oppression, decolonization, equality, and as-much-justice-as-possible. In that framework, we obviously may support "peace initiatives" that can reduce the level of violence and/or achieve a certain amount of rights. In our strategy, however, this support for peace initiatives is not a goal in itself but merely a means to achieve the above mentioned values and rights.

That difference between "peace" and "justice" is connected to the divergence concerning the second assumption of Uri Avnery, the symmetry between two equally legitimate national movements and aspirations.

For us, Zionism is not a national liberation movement but a colonial movement, and the State of Israel is and has always been a settlers' colonial state. Peace, or better, justice, cannot be achieved without a total decolonization (one can say de-Zionisation) of the Israeli State; it is a precondition for the fulfillment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians � whether refugees, living under military occupation or second-class citizens of Israel. Whether the final result of that de-colonization will be a "one-state" solution, two democratic states (i.e. not a "Jewish State"), a federation or any other institutional structure is secondary, and will ultimately be decided by the struggle itself and the level of participation of Israelis, if at all.

In that sense, Uri Avnery is wrong when he states that our divergences are about "one state" or "two states". As explained above, the divergence is on rights, decolonization and the principle of full equality. The solution is, in my opinion, irrelevant as long as we are speaking about a solution in which the two peoples are living in freedom (without colonial relationships) and equality.

Another important divergence with Uri Avnery concerns the Israeli psyche and the dialectics between the Palestinian National liberation agenda and the so-called Israeli peace camp. While it is obvious that the Palestinian national movement needs as many Israeli allies as possible to achieve liberation as quick as possible, and with as little suffering as possible for both people, one cannot expect the Palestinian movement to wait until Uri and the other Israeli anti-colonialists will convince the majority of the Israeli public opinion. For two reasons: first, because popular national movements do not wait to fight oppression and colonialism; second, because history has taught us that changes within the colonialist society has always been the result of the liberation struggle, and not the other way around: when the price for occupation has become too high, more and more people understand that it is not worth continuing.

Generally speaking, one can say that the Israeli mind is shaped by two realities, or, more accurately, one reality and one perception of reality. The reality shaping the Israeli psyche is the colonial reality of the Israeli existence, the feeling of being surrounded by a hostile environment which, to say the least, feels threatened by the dynamics of Zionist colonization. The other factor shaping Israeli collective mentality is anti-Semitism (real and construed) strengthen by the experience of the Nazi judeocide.

Like any other people, the Israelis want to be accepted, loved even. They have, however a double difficulty: to pay the needed price for this acceptance, i.e. behaving in a civilized manner, and to trust the Other in his attempt to normalize relations with them.

Yes, a hand extended for co-existence is needed, but together with an iron fist fighting for rights and freedom. The failure of the Oslo process confirms a very old lesson of history: any attempt for reconciliation before the fulfillment of rights strengthens the continuation of the colonial domination relationship. Without a price to be paid, why should the Israelis stop colonization, why should they risk a deep internal crisis?

This is where the BDS campaign is so relevant: it offers an international framework to act in order to help the Palestinian people achieve their legitimate rights, both on the institutional level (states and international institutions) and civil society. On the one hand the international community is addressed, asking it to sanction a State that is systematically violating international law, UN resolutions, the Geneva Conventions and signed agreements; on the other hand, it is asking the international civil society to act, as individuals as well as social movements (trade-unions, parties, local councils, popular associations etc) to boycott goods, official representatives, institutions etc. that represent the colonial State of Israel.

Both tasks (boycott and sanctions) will eventually be a pressure on the Israeli people, pushing them to understand that occupation and colonization have a price, that violating the international rules may, sooner or later, make the State of Israel a pariah-country, not welcomed in the civilized community of nations. Like South Africa in the last decades of apartheid. In that sense, and unlike Uri's claim, BDS is addressed to the Israeli public and, right now, is the only way to provoke a change in its attitude towards occupation/colonization. If one compares it to the anti-apartheid BDS campaign in South Africa that took twenty years to start bearing real fruits, one cannot but be surprised how efficient the anti-Israeli occupation campaign has already been, and even in Israel we already witness its first effects.

The BDS campaign was initiated by a broad coalition of Palestinian political and social movements. No Israeli who claims to support the national rights of the Palestinian people can, decently, turn their back on that campaign: after having claimed for years that "armed struggle is not the way", it is outrageous that this strategy would be disqualified by those Israeli activists. On the contrary, we all must join "Boycott from within," in order to provide an Israeli backup to that Palestinian initiative. It is the minimum we can do, it is the minimum we should do."

Michel Warschawski is a journalist and writer and a founder of the Alternative Information Center (AIC) in Israel. His books include On the Border (South End Press) and Towards an Open Tomb - the Crisis of Israeli Society (Monthly Review Press).

ORIGINAL POST INTERNATIONAL VIEWPOINT

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WHAT CORPORATIONS SUPPORT APARTHEID ISRAEL?

WHO PROFITS FROM THE OCCUPATION?

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"YOU'RE JOBS ARE NOT COMING BACK"

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:56:39 GMT

Listen to this fat, bald headed wind bag from Goldman Sach's talk so "matter of fact" about you're demise, while these elite bastards mercurially rise. With this rise, on "your" money they trumpet their success by your failure.

So he says "your jobs are not coming back" with a smile on his faces as billions are paid out to an army of financial cronies. The gap between the rich and the poor is now more than during the robber Baron days of yesteryear, but the same principle is tied at the hip and nothing has changed since the beginning - everything for the few and the rest can get screwed. The pendulum ALWAYS swings back to this state, because anything gained by the people is a temporary ruse in this damnable system.

These moneyed elites who think they run this system with impunity, and have this government as their own personal franchise are no longer invisible. They come on to national media to thumb their noses at you like everything that is happening is a "natural process" - but it is not, it is contrived and choreographed to the minute detail, and the tragedy is always the story of the people.

It is way past time for the people to say we are not going to take this anymore, and to take back what is theirs by any means necessary. No one is fooling anyone at this juncture, no matter who is propped up as a figure head.

WHATS LEFT FOR US?
(Note the use of the American flag as a huffing rag, and the reference to the "American Dream")

WHAT TIME IS IT?

LET'S BREAK THE CYCLE

EMPIRE OF ILLUSION - FULL LECTURE

THE CONSTRUCTIVE FLASHBACK - WHAT MUST BE DONE

WHERE IS IT?

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BELIEVE ME IF YOU WANT TO TURN THIS PLACE INTO A JUNGLE, THAN THOSE WHO OPT FOR SUCH A CONDITION SHOULD CONSIDER THE FACT THAT THE LARGEST ANIMAL IN THE JUNGLE IS THE PEOPLE -

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THE WAY WE WERE

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:57:37 GMT

In producing this title I am not trying to be crass or destructive, but I want people to see particularly in what we call the "Jewish Community," what was perceived by the same community when the Peace Conference of President Wilson in 1919 gathered in discussion regarding a Jewish State. There were approximately 150,000 Zionists at this time in the states as compared to a population of 3,500,000 in the Jewish community.

The article in the New York Times was originally written titled "Protest To Wilson Against Zionist State - Representative Jews Ask Him To Present It To The Peace Conference," which took place in Paris. Read it carefully and see if any of these individuals wrote with prescience in what we see happening today. What would these men be called today? Self-hating Jews, perhaps antisemitic? Did they foresee with clarity what might happen? Capitalized emphasis added to the excerpt published here, full article linked.

"As a future form of government for Palestine will undoubtedly be considered by the approaching Peace Conference, we, the undersigned citizens of the United States, unite in this statement, setting forth our objection to the organization of a Jewish State in Palestine as proposed by the Zionist Societies in this country and Europe and to the segregation of the Jews as a nationalistic unit in any country.

At the outset, we wish to indicate our entire sympathy with the efforts of Zionists which aim to secure for Jews at present living in lands of oppression a refuge in Palestine or elsewhere, where they may freely develop their capabilities and carry on their activities as free citizens.

BUT WE RAISE OUR VOICES IN WARNING AND PROTEST AGAINST THE DEMAND OF THE ZIONISTS FOR THE REORGANIZATION OF THE JEWS AS A NATIONAL UNIT, to whom, now or in the future, territorial sovereignty in Palestine shall be committed. This demand not only misinterprets the trend in the history of the Jews,who ceased to be a nation 2000 years ago, BUT INVOLVES THE LIMITATION AND POSSIBLE ANNULMENT OF THE LARGER CLAIMS OF JEWS FOR FULL CITIZENSHIP AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN ALL LANDS IN WHICH THOSE RIGHTS ARE NOT YET SECURE. For the very reason that the new era upon which the world is entering aims to establish GOVERNMENT EVERYWHERE ON PRINCIPLES OF TRUE DEMOCRACY, WE REJECT THE ZIONISTIC PROJECT OF A "NATIONAL HOME FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN PALESTINE."

Zionism arose as a result of intolerable conditions...in Russia and Romania. But it is evident that for the Jewish population of these countries...Palestine can become no homeland...it's limited area can offer no solution. The Jewish question...can be settled only within those countries by the grant of full rights of citizenship to Jews.

We are all the more opposed to the Zionists, because they, themselves, distinctly repudiate the solely ameliorative program. They demand and hail with delight the "Balfour Declaration" to establish...i.e, a home not merely for Jews living in countries in which they are oppressed, BUT FOR JEWS UNIVERSALLY. NO JEW, WHEREVER HE MAY LIVE, CAN CONSIDER HIMSELF FREE FROM THE IMPLICATION OF SUCH A GRANT. The willingness of Jews interested in the welfare of their [religious] brethren...is no acceptance of the Zionist project TO SEGREGATE JEWS AS A POLITICAL UNIT and to re-institute a section of such a political unit in Palestine or elsewhere.

At the present juncture in the world's affairs...we rejoice in the avowed proposal of the Peace Congress to put into practical application THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY. That principle which asserts EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL CITIZENS OF A STATE, irrespective of creed or ethnic descent, should be applied in such a manner as to exclude segregation of any kind, be it nationalistic or other.

SUCH SEGREGATION MUSTS INEVITABLY CREATE DIFFERENCES AMONG THE SECTIONS OF THE POPULATION OF A COUNTRY. ANY SUCH PLAN OF SEGREGATION IS NECESSARILY REACTIONARY IN ITS TENDENCY, UNDEMOCRATIC IN SPIRIT AND TOTALLY CONTRARY TO THE PRACTICES OF FREE GOVERNMENT, ESPECIALLY AS THEY ARE EXEMPLIFIED IN OUR
OWN COUNTRY. We therefore strongly urge the abandonment of such a basis for the reorganization of any state.

We object to the political segregation also of those who might succeed in establishing themselves in Palestine. The proposition involves dangers which, IT IS MANIFEST, HAVE NOT HAD THE SERIOUS CONSIDERATION OF THOSE WHO ARE SO ZEALOUS IN ITS ADVOCACY... To subject the Jews to the POSSIBLE RECURRENCE OF SUCH BITTER AND SANGUINARY CONFLICTS WHICH WOULD BE INEVITABLE, would be a crime against the triumphs of their whole past history and against the lofty and world-embracing visions of their great prophets and leaders.

Though these grave difficulties be met, STILL WE PROTEST AGAINST THE
POLITICAL SEGREGATION OF THE JEWS, AND THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT IN PALESTINE OF A DISTINCTLY JEWISH STATE AS UTTERLY OPPOSED TO THE PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY WHICH IT IS THE AVOWED PURPOSE OF THE WORLD'S PEACE CONFERENCE TO ESTABLISH.

Whether the Jews be regarded as a "race" or as a "religion" it is contrary to the democratic principles for which the world war was waged to found a nation on either or both of these bases. The glory (of the most advanced democracies in the world) lies in the freedom of conscience and worship, in the liberty of thought and custom which binds the followers of many faiths and varied civilizations in the common bonds of political union. A JEWISH STATE INVOLVES FUNDAMENTAL LIMITATIONS AS TO RACE AND RELIGION, ELSE THE TERM "JEWISH" MEANS NOTHING. TO UNITE CHURCH AND STATE, IN ANY FORM, AS UNDER THE OLD JEWISH HIERARCHY, WOULD BE A LEAP BACKWARD OF TWO THOUSAND YEARS.

"The rights of other creeds and races will be respected under Jewish dominance," is the assurance of Zionism. But the keynotes of democracy are neither CONDESCENSION nor TOLERANCE but JUSTICE and EQUALITY. All this applies with special force to a country like Palestine. That land is filled with associations sacred to the followers of three great religions and as a result of migrating movements of many centuries contains an extraordinary number of different ethnic groups far out of proportion to the small extent of the country itself. SUCH A CONDITION POINTS CLEARLY TO A REORGANIZATION OF PALESTINE ON THE BROADEST POSSIBLE BASIS.

We object to the political segregation of the Jews because it is an error to
assume that the bond uniting them is of a NATIONAL CHARACTER. They are
bound by two factors: First, the bond of common religious beliefs...and
secondly, the bond of common traditions, customs and experiences, largely, alas of common trials and sufferings. [but] nothing suggests they form in any real sense a separate nationalistic unit.

.... If the basis of the reorganization of governments is henceforth to be democratic, it cannot be contemplated TO EXCLUDE ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE FROM THE ENJOYMENT OF FULL RIGHTS.

As to the future of Palestine it is our fervent hope that what was once a "promised land" for the Jews may become a "land of promise" for all races and creeds, safeguarded by...the fruits of the peace conference to whose deliberations the world now looks forward so anxiously and so full of hope.

WE ASK THAT PALESTINE BE CONSTITUTED AS A FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATE, TO BE GOVERNED UNDER A DEMOCRATIC FORM OF GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZING NO DISTINCTION OF CREED OR RACE OR ETHNIC DESCENT, AND WITH ADEQUATE POWER TO PROTECT THE COUNTRY AGAINST OPPRESSION OF ANY KIND. WE DO NOT WISH TO SEE PALESTINE, EITHER NOW OR AT ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE, ORGANIZED AS A JEWISH STATE."

1. Congressman Julius Kahn, R-Ca.
2. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau
3. Simon Rosendale, Attny.General , State of NY, founder of the Jewish
Publication Society.
4. Simon Wolf, U.S. Consul in Egypt
5. Max Senior, 1st Pres. National Conference of Jewish Charities
6. Lee M. Friedman, attny, Boston Ma.
7. Judge Seligman J. Strauss, Wilkes-Barre Pa.
8. Dr. Morris Jastrow Jr., Professor of Semitic Languages, U.of Penn. &
Librarian of the University.
9. Rabbi Henry Berkowitz, 1st Sec. of the Central Conference of American
Rabbis (CCAR - Reform Mvmt.)
10. Rabbi David Philipson, founder and past pres. CCAR
11. Edward Max Baker, Pres. Cleveland Stock Exchange
12. Mayor L.H. Kempner, Galveston, Tx
13. Jesse Isidor Strauss, Pres. Macy's, Ambassador to France
14. E. Robert A. Seligman, Prof. Political Economy and Finance, Columbia U.
15. Jacob H. Hollander, Prof. Economics Johns Hopkins U., Special
Commissioner to Dom.Rep.(TR Roos.)
16. Adolph Simon Ochs, publisher The New York Times
17. Lessing Rosenthal, esq. trustee - Brookings Inst., Johns Hopkins U.
18. Abraham Kochland, Boston Ma.
19. Jacob R. Morse, esq. Boston Ma.
20. Daniel Peixotto Hays esq., head of the NYC Municipal Civil Service
Commission, member exec. committee UAHC, President of YMHA
21. Louis Stern, Pres. Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds,
Pres. National Jewish Welfare Board
22. Rabbi William Rosenau, Pres. CCAR, member board of governors HUC
23. Rabbi Willaim Landsberg, Rochester, NY
24. Judge M.C. Shloss, SF, Ca.
25. Dr. Julius Rosenstein, Mt.Zion Hspt. SF. Ca
26. Isiah Wolf Hellman, founder Union Trust Co., LA, Ca.
27. Judge Josiah Cohen, Pittsburgh Pa.
28. Judge Horace Stern, Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Pennsylvania.
29. Julius Walter Freiberg, Past President UAHC
30. Rabbi Abraham Simon, organizer of Nat.Conf. of Christians and Jews, past
pres CCAR, founder Synagogue Council of America.
31. Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, Distillery Owner, Louisville Kentucky and
noted philanthropist other signatories: Rabbi Tobias Schanfarber, Kehilath Ansche Mayrin Cong.; Rabbi Felix Levy, Temple Emanuel, NY; Abraham Cohen, PhD. Prof. Mathmatics, Johns Hopkins U.; Rabbi Richard M. Stern, Temple Israel, New Rochelle NY; Rabbi Max Landsberg, Cong. B'rith Kodesh, Rochester; Rabbi Eli Mayer, PhD,
Temple Beth Emeth, Albany NY; Rabbi Max Schlesinger, emeritus, Temple Beth
Emeth, Albany, NY; Charles Stern, dep. attny General, NYS; Rabbi Samuel H.
Goldenson, Temple Rodef Shalom, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Rabbi David Lefkowitz,
Cong. B'nai Yeshurin, Dayton Ohio; Rabbi Aaron Weinstein, Fort Wayne Indiana; Rabbi Louis Witt, Cong. B'nai Israel, Little Rock Ark.; Leon L. Solomon, M.D. U. of Louisville Medical School; Rabbi Morris Newfield, Temple Emanu-el, Birmingham, Ala.; Rabbi Louis Bernstein, Temple Adath Joseph St. Joseph Mo.; Rabbi William Friedan, Temple Emanuel, Denver Colo.; Lea Goodman, commisioner of public utilities, Memphis Tenn; M.H. Rosenthal, director American Red Cross; Rabbi William Gineshrevber, Cong. Children of Israel, Memphis; Mrs. Henry Morgenthau, NY; Abraham S. Isaacs, professor of semetic languages NYU; Dr. K. Kohler, pres. HUC, Cincinatti; Henry Englander, professor HUC; Ralph W. Mach, board of governors, HUC; Leo Wise, editor, American Israelite; Joseph Raushoff, MD prof. of surgery U. of Cincinatti Medical School; G.J. Brown, vp Cincinatti Chamber of Commerce; Eli Winkler, vp board of governors HUC; Leopold Roth, Roth Shoe Company; Henry Berkowitz, DD chancellor of Jewish Chautauqua Soc. Philadelphia; Louis Leftwich, prof. medical jurisprudence, Vanderbilt University, Nashville.

FULL ARTICLE NEW YORK TIMES 1919

THE FULL GOLDSTONE REPORT

OPERATION CAST LEAD

SIR GERALD KAUFMAN SPEAKS OUT

BORN HERE

WELCOME TO THE NEW WARSAW GHETTO

WE WILL NOT GO DOWN

ISRAEL WILL IMPLODE

EARLIER VIEWS MATCH THOSE OF SHLOMO SAND'S FACTUAL OBSERVATIONS

THE UN REMAINS THE SAME INSTRUMENT OF THE POWER OF COLONIALISM AS IT WAS DURING THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS (BELOW)

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SAME AS IT EVER WAS

(My god what have I done?!!)

CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:48:50 GMT

"Friends,

I'd like to have a word with those of you who call yourselves Christians (Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Bill Maherists, etc. can read along, too, as much of what I have to say, I'm sure, can be applied to your own spiritual/ethical values).

In my new film I speak for the first time in one of my movies about my own spiritual beliefs. I have always believed that one's religious leanings are deeply personal and should be kept private. After all, we've heard enough yammerin' in the past three decades about how one should "behave," and I have to say I'm pretty burned out on pieties and platitudes considering we are a violent nation that invades other countries and punishes our own for having the audacity to fall on hard times.

Onward Christian Soldiers in Iraq (puke)

I'm also against any proselytizing; I certainly don't want you to join anything I belong to. Also, as a Catholic, I have much to say about the Church as an institution, but I'll leave that for another day (or movie).

Amidst all the Wall Street bad guys and corrupt members of Congress exposed in Capitalism: A Love Story, I pose a simple question in the movie: "Is capitalism a sin?" I go on to ask, "Would Jesus be a capitalist?" Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would he sell short? Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1 percent to have more financial wealth than the 95 percent under them combined?

I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.

I guess that's bad news for us Americans. Here's how we define "Blessed Are the Poor": We now have the highest unemployment rate since 1983. There's a foreclosure filing once every 7.5 seconds. 14,000 people every day lose their health insurance.

At the same time, Wall Street bankers ("Blessed Are the Wealthy"?) are amassing more and more loot -- and they do their best to pay little or no income tax (last year Goldman Sachs' tax rate was a mere 1 percent!). Would Jesus approve of this? If not, why do we let such an evil system continue? It doesn't seem you can call yourself a Capitalist and a Christian -- because you cannot love your money and love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to see a doctor just so you can have a better bottom line. That's called "immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at the expense of others.

When you are in church this morning, please think about this. I am asking you to allow your "better angels" to come forward. And if you are among the millions of Americans who are struggling to make it from week to week, please know that I promise to do what I can to stop this evil -- and I hope you'll join me in not giving up until everyone has a seat at the table.

Thanks for listening. I'm off to Mass in a few hours. I'll be sure to ask the priest if he thinks J.C. deals in derivatives or credit default swaps. I mean, after all, he must've been good at math. How else did he divide up two loaves of bread and five pieces of fish equally amongst 5,000 people? Either he was the first socialist or his disciples were really bad at packing lunch. Or both."

Yours,
Michael Moore

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HUFFINGTON POST - FOR THOSE OF YOU ON YOUR WAY TO CHURCH THIS MORNING...

SAVE OUR CEO'S

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TAKING IT BACK

MICHEAL MOORE - CAPITALISM A DEFUNCT ECONOMIC SYSTEM

GLOBAL CAPITALISM - NOW ITS COMING FOR YOU

SHARE THE WEALTH - OR WE WILL COME AND GET IT

WE WILL NOT BE REDUCED TO THIS (BELOW):

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THE BANK OF YOU

"SPEED IT UP"

THE RICH GETTING RICHER

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE ANSWER IS?

THE SMELL OF ZIONIST FASCISM

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:07:05 GMT

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" target="_self">*

" target="_self">*

" target="_self">*

MILITARY ATTACKS PROTESTORS AT G-20 SUMMIT PITTSBURGH

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:04:31 GMT

" target="_self">*

Photographs from New York Times

" target="_self">*

TIME TO WAKE UP

WE ARE ON THE EDGE

PLAYING OUR PART

ARMORED POLICE ATTACK STUDENTS ON PITTSBURGH CAMPUS

MAX BLUMENTHAL - IRVING KRISTOL'S ALLIANCE WITH ANTI-SEMITES

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:36:11 GMT

Max Blumenthal

It is here that we begin to explore the strange alliance between Christian Fundamentalists and Zionists, strange and bizarre. I spoke of it elsewhere, but it bears repeating here and than we will go to Max's recounting of its origins -

They [Christian Fundamentalism and Zionism] both have that genocidal bent in the religious ethos. When you've seen one apocalyptic you've seen them all. Both want to move the "prophetic clock," and they want to do it with violence. One speaks of the redemption to the land through force and other speaks of spectacular wars, both adhere to plenty of "wars and rumors of wars" in the so-called end times, they take their precedent in the genocidal "lord of hosts."

If you were to take all religious nut cases and move them across the world, they would find each other and unite in no time. They both have a virulent mythology, taking religious writings as literal rather than obvious works of redaction and myth, and both rip off other regional religions or world religions but act as though they were some sort of revelation specifically to them. Whether it is the Calvinism of the chosen few in North America, the same in the Dutch Calvinism of the Afrikaners, or the chosen of Judaism [Zionist version], all reek of this special calling which sets them apart for every atrocity with the blessing of their god.

"Manifest Destiny"

Both have leaders which use their religious wares to incite people against specific races and regions. Whether it is the repugnant "manifest destiny" with its Christian religious overtones, or "redeeming the land" they are mutually twisted variations of the same story that brings death and destruction. They have a propensity to racism, violence, and both are the supposed "fulfillment of prophecy." The elites use this as much as possible to inflame ignorant religious zealots who sing "Onward Christian Soldiers" or Hatikva through bloody force. In the case of Judaism, Zionism took its moderate peaceful quality and made it just like its fruitcake rivals � so now they are bedfellows. Now they all have the "White Man's Burden," trying to colonize they're "lesser" people of color through brute force and murderous violence and discriminate against their so-called equal citizenry domestically.

God is a real estate broker, and every science like the archaeological spade is used as some sign of damned birthright to theft and murder. Yet people STILL have not understood the major thrust of religion, or the dictum of Voltaire � (loosely) "those who cause you to believe absurdities can get you to commit atrocities."

Irving Kristol "orchestrated the alliance

the alliance between Jewish neocons and anti-semitic evangelicals."

"By the time Irving Kristol died on September 18 at the age of 89, he had transformed the Republican Party through the neoconservative philosophy he helped pioneer. A former Trotskyist, Kristol promoted the supply-side economic theories that formed the foundation of the Reagan administration's domestic agenda. At the same time, he tapped industry trade groups and right-wing sugardaddies for massive donations, enabling the birth of an apparatus of conservative think tanks that would provide the future Republican Congress of Gingrich and DeLay, and the George W. Bush White House, with their policy blueprint.

These highlights of Kristol's career have been detailed at length in the many obituaries about his death. But the story of one of Kristol's most momentous � and cynical � maneuvers, the brokering of a tactical alliance between Jewish neoconservatives and openly anti-Semitic evangelicals, has been generally omitted.

In my book, "Republican Gomorrah: Inside The Movement That Shattered The Party," I describe how Kristol initiated the alliance in July 1984, urging that American Jews, "enmeshed in the liberal time warp," ally with Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority.

Kristol's apologia was inspired by the anti-Semitic ravings of a preacher named Bailey Smith. "I don't know why God chose the Jews," Smith had said. "They have such funny noses." When Jewish groups pounced on those remarks and on those of Jerry Falwell, who told his followers that Jews "can make more money accidentally than you can on purpose," Kristol rushed to the preachers' defense.

"Why should Jews care about the theology of a fundamentalist preacher when they do not for a moment believe that he speaks with any authority on the question of God's attentiveness to human prayer?" Kristol wrote. "And what do such theological abstractions matter as against the mundane fact that this same preacher is vigorously pro-Israel?"

In a 2003 essay for his son William's magazine the Weekly Standard, Kristol added a new wrinkle to his apologia, claiming that the alliance was formed organically in response to American culture "sinking to new levels of vulgarity." Neoconservatives and the religious right, Kristol wrote, "are united on issues concerning the quality of education, the relations of church and state, the regulation of pornography, and the life, all of which they regard as proper candidates for the government's attention. And since the Republican Party now has a substantial base among the religious, this gives neocons a certain influence and even power."

But were neocons as personally committed to the culture war as Kristol claimed they were? Kristol's close friend, Cornell University political theorist Alan Bloom, assailed the counterculture, feminism, black power and sexual liberation in his famous polemic, "The Closing Of The American Mind." Bloom singled out Mick Jagger as a symbol of American cultural decay, describing the singer as "male and female, heterosexual and homosexual�tarting it up on the stage." However, Bloom never publicly acknowledged his own homosexuality and wound up dying of AIDS.

Neocon William Bennett, the Reagan administration's secretary of education and former Bush I drug czar, was a key movement liaison to the Christian right, having led high profile battles against rap music lyrics, illicit drug use, and gay rights. (William Kristol was Bennett's chief of staff in the Department of Education.) In his moralistic tract "The Book Of Virtues," Bennett presented self-control as a panacea for societal problems. "We should know that too much of anything, even a good thing, may prove to be our undoing," he wrote. "[We] need�to set definite boundaries on our appetites."

But Bennett had an almost unquenchable appetite of his own, and it wasn't just for catered souffles on the Washington dinner circuit. Bennett was a "preferred customer" at over a dozen casinos between Atlantic City and Las Vegas. By the time reporters Josh Green and Jonathan Alter revealed his high-stakes hustling in The Washington Monthly in 2003, he had gambled away $8 million.

While Bennett faded from the scene momentarily after his gambling addiction came to light, the pantheon of the neoconservative clique fixated on realizing their geopolitical goals in the Middle East, an agenda that dovetailed with the Likud Party, which a few of them had advised. In his original 1984 manifesto for a neoconservative-Christian-right alliance, Irving Kristol insisted that it was essential in order to defend Israel.

Under George W. Bush, the neocons cultivated support from the droves of evangelicals who viewed the so-called war on terror as a spiritual war between good and evil. So far as the neocons were concerned, the anti-Semitic eruptions of figures like Pastor John Hagee � who called the Holocaust a divinely ordained incident and said the anti-Christ would be "at least partly Jewish" � were inconsequential if the primary target of his vitriol remained the Muslim evildoers surrounding Israel.

When Barack Obama was inaugurated, neocons and rightist evangelicals joined to attack the president in the same terms they had used against Islamic terrorists. From Jerusalem to Washington to the Bible Belt, Obama has been smeared as a closet Islamist devoted to destroying Israel. Irving Kristol's influence endures not only in the conservative movement he helped build, but in the apocalyptic nature of its crusade against Obama."

ORIGINAL ARTICLE EXCERPT FROM "REPUBLICAN GOMORRAH"

REPUBLICAN GOMORRAH

HENCE EIGHT YEARS OF HELL

THE COLLECTIVE MINDS OF GENIUS

As an aside, a few years back I remember some well meaning "Christian" getting me to go to one of these meetings where he said it would be apparent to me how much his leaders loved the Jews. To make a long story short, this "leader" was talking about the Apostle Paul and what he accomplished and then he started to describe him as a "short, beetle browed, hooked nose, bowlegged Jew (I guess he thought it was cute, but I was not amused)! " I kid you not, somehow this stereotype (because that is what it was) was representative of all Jews features. Well, each time he talked about the miracles Paul was supposed to perform he started with this description again - the third time he started in I walked out. I mean, with friends like that who needs enemies?

HOLY ROLLER

MINORITY DEATH MATCH: JEWS, BLACKS, AND THE "POST-RACIAL" PRESIDENCY

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:13:07 GMT

Naomi klein

I chose this excerpt from a much longer article written by Naomi because it where I choose to concentrate, I understand the full article was released in Harpers Magazine. The reason why I did this was to follow up on a few article I wrote pre and post inauguration, which unfortunately once again, I was correct in regard to Obama's aim and performance.

Naomi has finally spoken up on the obvious problem that is just not going to go away, the abandonment of Black (actually all people of color) people by the "post-racial" presidency. She fills in more detail in her own way, but essentially says the same thing that now seems like ages ago I posted in regard to - what a terrible issue to follow up on.

Obama's Race Problem

"On the last day of the conference, in the Serpentine Lounge, I caught up with Roger Wareham, the reparations attorney who is something of a rock star here. All he wanted to talk about was the Wall Street bailout. If the government can bail out AIG, he pointed out, it can also say, "We're going to bail out people of African descent because this is what's happened historically." The economic crisis does appear to have handed the reparations movement a powerful new argument. The hardest part of selling reparations in the United States has always been the perception that something would have to be taken away from whites in order for it to be given to blacks and other minorities.

But because of the broad consensus for large stimulus spending (at least for now), there is a staggering amount of new money floating around, money that does not yet belong to any one group. So far Obama's approach to stimulus spending has been rightly criticized for lacking a big idea-the $787 billion package is a messy grab bag, with little ambition to actually fix any one of the problems on which it nibbles. Listening to Wareham, it occurred to me that closing, at long last, the gaps left by slavery and Jim Crow is as good a big stimulus idea as any.

What is tantalizing (and maddening) about Obama is that he has the skills to persuade a great many Americans of the justice of such an endeavor. The one time he gave a major campaign address on race, prompted by controversy over the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, he told a story about the historical legacies of slavery and legalized discrimination that have structurally prevented African Americans from achieving full equality, a story not so different from the one activists like Wareham tell in arguing for reparations.

Obama's speech was delivered six months before Wall Street collapsed, but the same forces he described go a long way toward explaining why the crash happened in the first place: "Legalized discrimination . . . meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations," he said, which is precisely why many turned to risky subprime mortgages. In Obama's home city of Chicago, black families were four times more likely than whites to get a subprime mortgage.

The crisis in African-American wealth has only been deepened by the larger economic crisis. In New York City, for instance, the unemployment rate has increased four times faster among blacks than among whites. According to the New York Times, home "defaults occur three times as often in mostly minority census tracts as in mostly white ones." If Obama traced the Wall Street collapse back to the policies of redlining and Jim Crow, all the way to the betrayed promise of forty acres and a mule for freed slaves, a broad sector of the American public might well be convinced that finally eliminating the structural barriers to full equality is in the interests not just of minorities but of everyone who wants a more stable economy.

Since the economic crisis hit, John A. Powell and his team at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University have been engaged in a project they call "Fair Recovery." It lays out, in detailed policy papers, exactly what an economic stimulus program would look like if eliminating the barriers to equality were its overarching idea. Powell's plan covers everything from access to technology to community redevelopment. A few examples: Rather than simply rebuilding the road system by emphasizing "shovel ready" projects (as Obama's current plan does), a "fair recovery" approach would include massive investments in public transit, to address the fact that African Americans live farther away from where the jobs are than any other group. Similarly, a plan targeting inequality would focus on energy-efficient home improvements in low-income neighbourhoods, and, most importantly, require that contractors hire locally. Combine all of these targeted programs with single-payer health care and a plan to desegregate the school system and you have something like what Randall Robinson called for in The Debt: "a virtual Marshall Plan of federal resources" to close the racial divide.

There is, of course, no danger that Obama will attempt anything so bold. In his Philadelphia "race speech," Obama was emphatic that race was something "this nation cannot afford to ignore"; that "if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American." Yet as soon as the speech had served its purpose (saving Obama's campaign from being engulfed by the Wright scandal), he did simply retreat. And the Obama Administration has been retreating from race ever since.

Public-policy activists report that the White House is only interested in hearing about projects that are "race neutral"-nothing that specifically targets historically disadvantaged constituencies. Its housing and education programs do not tackle desegregation, and Obama's enthusiasm for charter schools-some of the most segregated schools in the country-may well deepen the problem. When asked specific questions about what his administration is doing to address the financial crisis's wildly disproportionate impact on African Americans and Latinos, Obama has consistently offered a variation on the line that by fixing the economy and extending benefits, everyone will be helped-"black, brown, and white"-and the vulnerable will be helped most of all.

All this is being met with mounting despair among inequality experts. Extending unemployment benefits and job retraining mainly help people who have just lost their jobs. Reaching people who have never had formal employment-many of whom have criminal records-requires a far more complex strategy that takes down multiple barriers simultaneously. "Treating people who are situated differently as if they were the same can result in much greater inequalities," Powell warns, pointing to the New Deal programs like Social Security that helped white men but locked out blacks who worked on farms and women who worked in homes. It will be difficult to measure whether this is happening again, because the White House's budget office is not keeping statistics on how its programs affect women and minorities.

There were those who saw this coming. The late Latino activist Juan Santos wrote a much-circulated essay during the campaign in which he argued that Obama's unwillingness to talk about race (except when his campaign depended upon it) was a triumph not of post-racialism but of racism, period. Obama's silence, he argued, was the same silence that every person of color in America lives with, understanding that they can be accepted in white society only if they agree not to be angry about racism. "We stay silent, as a rule, on the job. We stay silent, as a rule, in the white world. Barack Obama is the living symbol of our silence. He is our silence writ large. He is our Silence running for president." Santos predicted that "with respect to Black interests, Obama would be a silenced Black ruler: A muzzled Black emperor."

Many of Obama's defenders responded angrily: Obama's silence was a mere electoral strategy, they said. He was doing what it took to make racist white people comfortable voting for a black man. All that would change, of course, when Obama took office. What Obama's decision to boycott Durban demonstrated definitively was that the campaign strategy is also the governing strategy.

Two weeks after I returned from Geneva, Rush Limbaugh sprang a new theory on his estimated 14 million listeners. Obama, Limbaugh claimed, was deliberately trashing the economy so that he could give more handouts to black people. "The objective is more food stamp benefits. The objective is more unemployment benefits. The objective is an expanding welfare state. And the objective is to take the nation's wealth and return it to the nation's 'rightful owners.' Think reparations. Think forced reparations here if you want to understand what actually is going on."

The outburst was instructive. No matter how race-neutral Obama tries to be, his actions will be viewed by a large part of the country through the lens of its racial obsessions. Since even his most modest, Band-Aid measures are going to be greeted as if he is waging race war, Obama has little to lose by using this brief political window to heal a few of the country's racial wounds.

On April 24, as I took my final tram ride to my hotel from the Palais des Nations, the roads were lined with Tamils protesting the world's indifference to the massacre of their friends and families in Sri Lanka. The elderly black man in front of me, his beard flecked with gray, was wearing an Obama watch and reading a position paper on reparations. I asked him what he thought of the conference. He turned around slowly and answered in a deep, deliberate baritone, as if he had been sitting there waiting for someone to ask the question. "I see it not so much as a conference as a historical journey to alter the course of humankind." His name was Moses Williams and, as his manner suggested, he was a preacher, from New Jersey. Williams had been at the first conference in Durban. "I had believed, at the time, that it would mark a turning point, a reconciliation with the past that would bring a new era of dignity and justice. Then"-he paused for effect-"then the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell."

At the time, he had imagined that the terrorist attacks might themselves provide the catalyst for "global healing." That dream also died, and stayed buried for eight long years. When Barack Obama was elected president, Moses Williams dusted off the old hope. He let himself imagine a world in which Obama would attend the Durban Review Conference, standing before the world "as a healing force against hate." But, said Williams, "he chose not to do that."

So what's next? Williams, getting up for his stop, looked back at me. "The people here have to take the message to the highways and byways. That's the only way." Two months after the conference, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and Jim Crow.

The resolution did not call slavery a crime against humanity, and it ended like this: "DISCLAIMER - Nothing in this resolution (A) authorizes or supports any claim against the United States; or (B) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States." Unsurprisingly, the resolution was not greeted with celebratory fireworks or tearful testimonies in Harlem and the Mississippi Delta. It did, however, have one unintended result: by clumsily attempting to foreclose on the possibility of reparations, the resolution re-awakened a national discussion that had been dormant since 9/11. Suddenly, reparations were back in the news, a hot topic on op-ed pages and cable news shows once again. As the debate raged, Obama, predictably, stayed silent.

Obama on reparations

The Durban process, meanwhile, is not dead yet. The United Nations, so help us all, has its protocols, so there will likely be another review conference at some point. And despite U.S. efforts to the contrary, the final document adopted in Geneva does "reaffirm in toto the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action," which means that, at least in theory, slavery is still "a crime against humanity."

That is enough, Roger Wareham says, to start a real conversation about America's other debt crisis, about how repairing the damage done to African-American communities could be an organic step toward repairing the country as a whole. The President is welcome to join that conversation, he says, but it will happen with or without him."

EXCERPT TAKEN FROM AFRICAFILES

NAOMI SPEAKS ABOUT MINORITY DEATH MATCH ON DEMOCRACY NOW

PLAYIN THE GAME?

IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN - MAJOR CRISIS STILL AHEAD, PAST ONE MINOR

ISRAEL PERPETUATES THE RAPE OF AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:10:56 GMT

Israel's fascist face

"Avigdor Lieberman would perhaps not be happy to hear that he was following in Golda Meir's footsteps, but the fact is that, like Israel's foreign minister in the 1950s and 1960s, the current foreign minister is very interested in Africa and in restoring Israel's status there. "To my regret, Israel has for many years been absent from two continents - America and Africa - and does not have a sufficient presence there," he told Haaretz this week, shortly after returning from a long trip to South America during which he visited Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Colombia.

This was the first visit in 23 years by an Israeli foreign minister to Brazil, one of the largest, most developed and most important countries in the world, with impressive nuclear capabilities, and which in recent years has been working to strengthen its ties with Iran. Lieberman is planning another extensive and out-of-the-ordinary visit for next month, this time to the important African nations of Ethiopia, Angola, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya.

In the 50 years since Meir established Africa as an important objective for Israeli diplomacy and culled immense sympathy on that continent for the new state, which was seen as successfully having rid itself of colonialist rule, no Israeli foreign minister has made such an extensive visit there. In those days Israel exploited the advantages Africa offered, granting generous agricultural and technical aid to its developing nations, sending Israeli experts to them and teaching African students here. Behind the scenes, Israel also sold arms and sent military experts. Secret funding from the United States Central Intelligence Agency was channeled by American trade unions to the Histadrut labor federation, and from the Israeli union to Africa to finance various activities. Among other things the money was used to post an impressive array of Mossad agents in the African states. Many young intelligence officers, such as David Kimche, Reuven Merhav and Nahum Admoni, spent their early working years in Africa.

Of particular importance to Israel's geo-strategic posture were the countries of the Horn of Africa - Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan - which control the shipping lanes to Eilat and are close to Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. This also gave Mossad agents and Israel Defense Forces officers an excuse to be involved in the internal affairs of African regimes. According to various publications, Israelis were involved in coups d'etat in Uganda and Zanzibar, or at least had prior knowledge of them.

Shlomo Zabludowicz

"The purpose of my visit is to demonstrate an Israeli presence in Africa," Lieberman stresses. "I want to tell the leaders I meet that Africa is important to Israel. We must not neglect them, especially in view of the efforts by countries like Iran to influence them and establish themselves there." He said his visit would provide a diplomatic boost to the states' existing economic and security ties with Israel. It is a sad truth that with the exception of a few civilian enterprises in agriculture, communications, infrastructure and diamonds, almost all Israeli activity on the African continent is related to weapons exports.

"The ugly Israeli" in the guise of the arms dealer (mostly former intelligence and military officials), who promotes weapons sales on behalf of Israeli military industries, with the backing of the defense establishment, have given Israel a bad name world-wide. Israelis have been involved in civil wars (in Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast) and in aiding dictatorial regimes such as in Equatorial Guinea and the two Congo republics.

A case in point is the deal concluded recently between Israel Shipyards and the Nigerian defense ministry, for the manufacture and delivery of two Shaldag patrol boats. According to the Nigerian navy's budget book, the deal is worth $25 million (even if, for various reasons, this may be an inflated price). One boat has already been delivered. Nigerian crews have been trained in Israel, and Israeli instructors will provide further training in Nigeria.

The middleman in the deal was Amit Sadeh, who is a partner in a large shopping mall in Lagos. Sadeh was involved in the controversial sale of air and sea drones by the Yavneh-based Aeronautics Ventures, to the Nigerian defense ministry, as well as the sale of used planes from Ukraine to Nigeria. Sadeh also represents Israel Aerospace Industries, whose Ramta subsidiary competed for the same deal. IAI as well as the CEO of Israel Shipyards, Avi Shahaf, declined to comment, while Sadeh was not available.

These deals have put Israel in the position of interfering in an internal Nigerian dispute that could lead to civil war. The boats and intelligence equipment are intended for the use of Nigerian forces against rebels in the Niger River Delta region. In an interview with Haaretz last year, a spokesman for the rebels warned Israel not to go ahead with the sales.

Lieberman is planning to bring with him dozens of businessmen, most of them arms dealers, as well as security advisers and representatives of the military industries. But perhaps it would be better for the foreign minister to follow in Meir's footsteps and put more agricultural advisers and medical and education experts in the center of its diplomatic stage, rather than arms dealers."

HAARETZ ORIGINAL ARTICLE

ISRAEL'S LARGEST DEFENSE CONTRACTOR

GET YOUR "UMBRELLA"

ISRAEL'S GLOBAL ARSENAL SALES

While some wish to go after cultural aspects with BDS, I plan to go right for the jugular. Israel insists on selling its defense and �technological� expertise to budding and old dictatorships and those interested in oppressing portions of their populations with National Security States (see India). It packages its occupational oppression of the Palestinians, and its way to camouflage such through media deception to the waiting world. Using experimental weapons on the Palestinian population as a large guinea pig laboratory, as well as its oppressive �deterrent� operations for maximum exploitation.

So there is no mystery why Israel gets support by �like-minded� tyrants the world over, including the USA which was awash with Israeli �experts� during the thick of the Iraq war. Or those who wish to eavesdrop on their respective populations against domestic law (although in its advanced stages in the states, that is, because it had been going on so long, both houses and the Supreme Court put their stamp of approval on the indiscriminate spying).

HAPPY MEANINGLESS LABOR DAY IN THE USA

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:59:01 GMT

So here we are again, another labor day and there are more unemployed than the previous year. The wonder administration has brought many people little to nothing, but has helped to bring a "recovery" for the few.

However the people are still atomized and are still at the mercy of a system, capitalism which is known for the current state we are now in. Power consolidates and the people are still begging for what rightfully belongs to them, or there are groups springing up with fascist delusions thinking of nothing but establishing the same case scenario that brought us here - but with them at the helm.

You have met the jobless recovery, now meet the job-loss recovery! Yet with all of these things happening no one thinks - "hey, it might be a good thing for workers to get together and make their demands known." Many sitting like little baby birds waiting for their momma to feed them - but mom is not on the way.

Systemically war has been declared on the people, yet they think it is peace time. Nothing worse than being in a class war and not knowing it. This is nothing new, the government and who it serves (and that is not you or I) has gutted any collective voice with a campaign for years, and now that the bottom has fallen out from under their feet you are the ones falling - the rest have safety nets, bailouts, and many are declared "to big to fail" (which should really mean to big to exist).

Others are running around saying - "I'll take a pay cut, just hire me...please please please!" While in the meantime homes are foreclosing everywhere, and that is just the tip of the iceberg with pre-foreclosure and commercial real estate. The banks that got their bailouts put the screws to the people who use credit cards, higher minimums, dropping limits and just being all around assholes because they can be - after you paid for their excesses.

Tent cities are popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain, as the authorities crack down on them for being an "eyesore." After all, none of this looks good during a declared "recovery." Essentially we have an "economic recovery" without the majority of the people.

Deceptive Unemployment rates 9.5%

A more realistic gauge of unemployment, one that takes into account those who have been unable to find work for an extended period and those forced to work only part time, rose to 16.8 percent, the highest rate since the government began reporting the figure in 1994.

The US economy has now shed about 7.4 million jobs since the start of the recession. The total number of unemployed workers stands at 14.9 million. Economists believe the official unemployment rate will exceed 10 percent by year's end.

Some commentators were cheered that the pace of job losses slowed in August. In the first quarter, the economy shed an average of nearly 700,000 jobs every month; in the second, about 425,000.

That such a statistic is taken as positive only illustrates the severity of the crisis. To keep up with population growth, the economy would have to add nearly 130,000 jobs per month. Measured in that way, 9.4 million jobs would have to be created to make up for those lost since December 2007.

This is part of a longer trend in the US economy. "Between 2000 and 2007, the average American worker's productivity rose 19.2%, yet more of those gains are going to top managers," the EPI notes. "Adjusted for inflation, average wages have grown just 0.7% per year since June 2000. In 1979, the ratio between the average CEO's pay and the typical workers pay was 27 to 1. By 2007, it had widened to 275 to 1."

The EPI also reports that 17 percent of companies report furloughing workers, and more than 20 percent have suspended contributions to employee 401(k) retirement plans.

Employers are also eliminating health care insurance for workers. "Among people under 65 in the bottom 20% of all incomes, only 21.9% have employer-sponsored health insurance," the EPI reports. "Between 2000 and 2007, some 3.4 million children who were insured through their parents' employers have lost coverage. For those who do have health insurance, premiums have risen some 119% since 1999."

Actually what I said way back in 2007 bears repeating today, little has changed and no one listened:

What I am posting today is probably one of the most important messages I can deliver to the American people. Everyone keeps asking where did we go wrong, why is this government no longer listening to us? It simply is that we no longer have a united voice nor resolve, everyone has scurried to their own corner and doing everything they can to survive in their isolated bubbles.

I am not going to verbally beat everyone and say that it is all your own fault, the truth of the matter is that you have been sold out and have bought a bill of worthless goods. There has been a steady shift of income out of the pockets of the average American people, trillions of dollars have been stolen from the people, this is the stuff that "jobless recoveries" [now job-loss recoveries] are made of, and that money which has been stolen out of your pocket has been placed in the pockets of a few elite. This has been going on a long time, but it is now gained a head of steam and is accelerating at an alarming rate and will eventually hit the people with freight train impact!

They do not understand that they have been atomized into ineffectiveness, they have no deep root of commonality - it is every man for himself. We all know that we have to work to survive, it is one of the big forces that we have in common - it is necessary for survival. When the American people allowed the Unions to be busted, and the ones that remain to become neutralized, they lost a very effective catalyst. As a WHOLE they have no muscle, they present no unified front to the new "we the people," the corporations - big money - moneyed interest.

The politicians have effectively handed the leverage over to the rich. They made the borders porous, so that any time a corporation could threaten - "we'll take our work overseas if you don't give us what we want." The government has placed the well being of the American people in the hands of a few elite. That is an effective sledgehammer.

The people need to plant themselves together in a "given" again, in a common goal - unite as workers. You have no effectiveness because you are no threat, you are either out for yourself or for some small atomized group - facing off with an empire. Get connected at the hip again with what puts food on your table, roofs over your heads, money in your bank accounts - and hence iron in your fists! We must come together, as never before, before it is too late. Nothing is worse than being in a war, a class war, and not knowing it. The best way to do this is to unite in labor, create an overarching union which portends and can create a general strike.

In order to break this free-fall of the people from their rightful place of power in this country, there should be a multifaceted three pronged thrust:

First, there needs to be a process of bringing current unions to heel beneath the will of who they represent, the working class people. It would seem the best way to do this is to gather together the aware members which are part of the various unions extant (which now represent about 12% of the working force) in order unify the people represented in the various unions. This should be coupled with an overarching plan with the goal of constructive agitation, that the unions should work in concert with one another. There should be an active arm developed to bring in the rest of the nations work force which is not represented in a potent union, all of this for a united front that can represent a general strike.

Second, there should be a concerted effort to have the laws stricken which have allowed the corporations to transplant jobs in other countries. In other words, there has to be a fatal blow stricken to corporations by cutting off their legal recourse to move out of the country - a reversal of legislation must be sought, demanded, and established. The working people of America have to strike a mortal blow to globalization as it works today (merely the representative of multi-national corporations and the will of the elite to exploit the nations and divest the working people of America). This done by the national representatives of the various elder unions and the new ones which will be established.

Third, all lobbies which do not represent the people of the United States, the rank and file working class, must be routed out of Washington. The muscle of the united working class must cut off the flow of money to politicians, which is one of the main reasons for Washington, and our State and local legislatures betraying the will of the people of America! Real campaign reform, with NO loopholes must be established carrying strict penalties of being expelled from office forever. Under the umbrella of this movement all of the concerns of the people must be recognized - stopping the war in Iraq, dismantling the destructive National Security State, stopping the exploitation of other nations, and returning the wealth of the nation to the people! IF YOU THINK IT WILL TAKE ANYTHING LESS THAN THIS, YOU ARE FOOLING YOURSELF - IT IS TIME TO UNITE, BROTHERS AND SISTERS ALL THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. THERE IS MORE TO COME.

So this is what I said on Oct 2007, "before it is too late"...

IT STARTS SMALL BUT GROWS

STAND UP!

DON'T MOURN, ORGANIZE AND TAKE IT BACK

STOP THE RACE TO THE BOTTOM FOR THE PEOPLE (THE RICH DON'T CARE)

KNOCK IT DOWN

RECOGNIZE WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO YOU AND FIGHT BACK

FIND EACH OTHER AND RISE UP
put in HQ and full screen

THE SPEECH OBAMA SHOULD HAVE GIVEN - PART 1

THE SPEECH OBAMA SHOULD HAVE GIVEN - PART 2

TEN YEARS OF SERVICE

THE WORKFORCE DROWNING

CORPORATE WELFARE = CUTTING OFF THE PEOPLE

EDUCATED INTO SLAVERY

ARE YOU MAKING IT?

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THE PEOPLES SUMMIT 2009

MICHAEL PARENTI - CAPITALISM IS DEVOURING ITSELF

(about 3/4 0f the way through the audio you will find Parenti, however the first part is excellent also)

HHHMMM....

THE REALITY BEHIND ECONOMIC "RECOVERY"

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:04:48 GMT

"Mid-August, 2009, was a peculiar time in the US economy. Wall Street, big banks, and the media were mostly celebrating "economic recovery." Meanwhile, average Americans were suffering record levels of unemployment, job insecurities, home foreclosures, personal debt anxieties, and the upsets, tensions, and angers that inevitably result. One economist referred to the US as "one nation, two economies." Two particular sets of August economic data reveal the deepening economic divide behind the "recovery" talk.

The first set of numbers came from the US Department of Labor's Bureau Of Labor Statistics. They showed some remarkable facts about (1) US workers' productivity -- the physical quantity of goods and services produced per employed worker, (2) the compensation paid to US workers, and (3) the hours they actually worked. These numbers showed how the economy had changed from the first quarter (January-March) to the second (April-June) of 2009. The average number of paid hours worked per employee fell by 7.6 per cent, but the total output fell only 1.7 per cent. That was because the workers who had not (yet) lost their jobs were fearful, so they worked harder and faster doing some of the jobs previously done by laid-off workers. With fewer employed workers doing more, the BLS reported a gain of 6.4 per cent in the productivity of US labor.

For their harder, faster, and thus 6.4 per cent more productive labor, those still employed saw their money wages rise by only 0.2 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2009. When the BLS took into account the rising prices workers had to pay, their real wages (the goods and services they could actually buy) fell by 1.1 per cent. Taken together, these numbers show that employers got a huge increase in output from each employee, while what they paid to their employees imposed on them a decrease in the goods and services they could afford.

No wonder the second quarter of 2009 was celebrated as a "recovery" by business and thus politicians and the media; the workers only watched and worried.

Yet the productivity numbers tell us more. They show a widening of the inequality between employers and employees in the US. Employers getting 6.4 per cent more output to sell per hour of paid worker's labor enjoyed about 6.4 per cent more sales revenues flowing to them per paid labor hour. However, their remaining employees, working harder and faster, got paid hourly wages that enabled them to afford fewer goods and services than before.

Employers' responses to the current economic crisis (lay-offs and speed-up) thus worsen the gap in incomes and standards of living between employers and employees. Keep that in mind the next time you hear business or political leaders speaking about how "we all need to tighten our belts" or "make equal sacrifices."

Rising inequality in the distribution of income between employers and employees usually widens political and cultural inequalities, too. Employers will now have relatively more resources to shape politics than workers will. Employers will have more to use to enhance their cultural amenities (their families will enjoy greater access to educational, artistic, recreational activities while workers will find such access increasingly difficult to afford). Growing economic, political, and cultural inequality since the 1970s helped to provoke the current crisis. Now the crisis is worsening that inequality. Recovery?

Rising inequality also threatens any "economic recovery" that might actually begin. This is because employers generally save more and spend less of their incomes than their employees do. The crisis-ridden US economy gets a beneficial "stimulus" from workers spending almost all of their earnings. That stimulus is reduced when income flows more to employers and less to workers. In an absurd twist of our contradictory economic system, just as the government spends more to "stimulate" our depressed economy, business practices leave workers with less to spend. This is a self-defeating combination that undermines the real recovery everyone needs.

ECONOMIC STIMULUS

The second set of numbers was collected and published by the US Federal Reserve; that set concerns "capacity utilization." Roughly, these numbers measure the proportion of the nation's capacity to produce that is actually being used for production. In July 2009, the US capacity utilization proportion in all manufacturing was 65.4, or roughly two thirds. Over one third of the tools, machines, equipment, factory and office space, etc. in manufacturing was idle. By comparison, the average rate of manufacturing capacity utilization from 1972 through 2009 was 79.6. The crisis is thus increasing our economic system's huge waste -- failure to make use -- of a very significant portion of our nation's productive resources. Idle capacity usually means deteriorating capacity. And this after a year of Bush and Obama "economic stimulus packages."

Consider the meaning of this waste. Side by side with today's 15 million unemployed people (not to speak of the underemployed), we have one third of our industrial capacity unemployed as well. Meanwhile massive social needs go unmet (rebuilding center cities, providing daycare, healthcare, and eldercare to millions, repairing decades of damage to the environment, and so on). The way this economic system works, we are supposed to wait until private enterprises see profits from rehiring the unemployed and utilizing the available capacity. Until then, we are supposed to watch and accept this system's inability to combine unemployed people with unemployed resources to meet obvious social needs.

The two sets of numbers released this August reveal the reality behind all the talk of "recovery." The vast majority of people live and work (or don't) in that "other" national economy not experiencing the "recovery" we are supposed to applaud."

Rick Wolff is a professor Emeritus at the University of Mass. in Amherst and also Visiting Professor at the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York. He is the author of New Departures In Marxian Theory (Routledge, 2006) among many other publications.

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FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE...

"I BEG OF YOU - PLEASE, CUT MY PAY!!"

THE BULLSHIT EXPRESS

CAPITALISM HITS THE FAN PART 1 OF 2

CAPITALISM HITS THE FAN PART 2 OF 2

THE DEADEST SYSTEM

THAT IS CAPITALISM THEN AND NOW