An act of war - Ron Paul to Congress

Ron Paul's message is about as public as it can get. Who doesn't still have a slumbering incling that what is he saying, is true. But he has put it so succinctly to the American people (and the world), I am impressed with his candour. If after reading this short speech, you would like to see the reason why what Paul is saying is true, have a look see at this chart on the 2009 DOE on world oil depletion: The Imminent Crash Of The Oil Supply


An Act Of War

By Congressman Ron Paul

Statement of Congressman Ron Paul - United States House of Representatives

Statement on Motion to Instruct Conferees on HR 2194, Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act - April 22, 2010

April 23, 2010 "United States House of Representatives"

Mr. Speaker:

I rise in opposition to this motion to instruct House conferees on HR 2194, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act, and I rise in strong opposition again to the underlying bill and to its Senate version as well. I object to this entire push for war on Iran, however it is disguised. Listening to the debate on the Floor on this motion and the underlying bill it feels as if we are back in 2002 all over again: the same falsehoods and distortions used to push the United States into a disastrous and unnecessary one trillion dollar war on Iraq are being trotted out again to lead us to what will likely be an even more disastrous and costly war on Iran. The parallels are astonishing.

We hear war advocates today on the Floor scare-mongering about reports that in one year Iran will have missiles that can hit the United States. Where have we heard this bombast before? Anyone remember the claims that Iraqi drones were going to fly over the United States and attack us? These “drones” ended up being pure propaganda – the UN chief weapons inspector concluded in 2004 that there was no evidence that Saddam Hussein had ever developed unpiloted drones for use on enemy targets. Of course by then the propagandists had gotten their war so the truth did not matter much.

We hear war advocates on the floor today arguing that we cannot afford to sit around and wait for Iran to detonate a nuclear weapon. Where have we heard this before? Anyone remember then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s oft-repeated quip about Iraq: that we cannot wait for the smoking gun to appear as a mushroom cloud.

We need to see all this for what it is: Propaganda to speed us to war against Iran for the benefit of special interests.

Let us remember a few important things. Iran, a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has never been found in violation of that treaty. Iran is not capable of enriching uranium to the necessary level to manufacture nuclear weapons. According to the entire US Intelligence Community, Iran is not currently working on a nuclear weapons program. These are facts, and to point them out does not make one a supporter or fan of the Iranian regime. Those pushing war on Iran will ignore or distort these facts to serve their agenda, though, so it is important and necessary to point them out.

Some of my well-intentioned colleagues may be tempted to vote for sanctions on Iran because they view this as a way to avoid war on Iran. I will ask them whether the sanctions on Iraq satisfied those pushing for war at that time. Or whether the application of ever-stronger sanctions in fact helped war advocates make their case for war on Iraq: as each round of new sanctions failed to “work” – to change the regime – war became the only remaining regime-change option.

This legislation, whether the House or Senate version, will lead us to war on Iran. The sanctions in this bill, and the blockade of Iran necessary to fully enforce them, are in themselves acts of war according to international law. A vote for sanctions on Iran is a vote for war against Iran. I urge my colleagues in the strongest terms to turn back from this unnecessary and counterproductive march to war.

COMMENTS

I always like to read the posted comments - sometimes they tell more than the article.

Here is my comment: ["He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder." -Einstein]

Zengine · 2 days ago
Always have admired Paul. He speaks truth, even if he can't take a joke.

orbital · 2 days ago
Israel's too smart to launch a strike against Iran. They'll bide their time, ride the public wave of discontent and wait until they can get the US/EU to do their bidding... just like they did with Iraq. It's all about timing.


John S. Hatch · 2 days ago
Sanctions against Iraq didn't inconvenience Saddam in any way, but they killed up to a million innocent Iraqis, including a half-million children, something that ex Secretary of State Madeleine Albright declared to be 'worth it'.

Iran never threatened or attacked the US, but the CIA removed a democratically elected Prime Minister in 1953. His 'crime'? Wanting control of Iranian oil for Iranians. America installed the hated Shah, who could only maintain control through the use of Savak, his savage secret police. Then America wonders why radical mullahs took over and expressed popular hatred for everything American. Who could blame them?

Now, using the same tired old lies that led to the illegal and inhuman invasion of Iraq, America, which never seems to learn anything, prepares to attack Iran, perhaps drawing China and Russia into a broader war, maybe the final one.

America remains the greatest purveyor of violence on earth. For shame.

arthurdecco · 2 days ago
My gawd! What a sensible man! (At least on this subject.)

carmen · 2 days ago
I met a friend of mine who get removed from government health insurance because his income of $ 1100 a $ 23 over the limit of eligibility...a government that think $ 23 can makes a difference in a life or death situations to one of her citizen deserve to spit on it...sorry can't find other more polite expressions...but they can spend trillions on a cause that will never benefit us ..benefits our parasite....



oyate · 2 days ago
Here's one of his recent--AND ALL TIME BESTS. He talks to the Teocons and totally puts the whole deal in their faces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr8XSUTALYI

Guest · 2 days ago
Both Houses of Congress have sold out to the jews.

GORBALT · 2 days ago
I don't see Ron Paul as anyone special merely because he can recognize a few facts that any studious high-school boy or girl could also find. But it's a wonder that so few members of Congress are familiar with these simple facts, a wonder that so few can recognize lies and propaganda. What is the explanation of this? Is it that other members are just stupid, or that they have all been bought off? If this is the case then why hasn't Paul been eliminated by the same methods? Why has an opponent not run effectively against him and used lies and accusations of terrorist sympathies and disloyalty to the US to oust Paul from his seat? What the hell makes him immune?

Who are Paul's constituents? I really don't know what part of Texas he's from and why the people there elect someone so different. It's a similar situation with Kucinich, who mouths a lot of progressive principles whether you take him as genuine or not, and who represents people of rust-belt Cleveland who I really don't think are as progressive as Kucinich sounds. I don't understand how even a few reality-based people are still standing. Explain this to me.

BDJUSA · 2 days ago
Was doesn't Ron Paul have the courage to admit that the Israeli Lobby is behind these sanctions and the clamor to murder Iranians? The Israeli Lobby and the high ranking Zionists brought us the Iraq war. Israel's intelligence agency the Mossad masterminded the 911 attacks. The Israeli governments our enemy not our friend

hayate · 2 days ago
The usa is gung ho for war against iran.

Why?

Because zionazis run the usa and zionazis want zionazi control over everybody and everything. This is of course ordained by god.

But wont war with Iran further erode an already faltering ami economy.

Who cares, they're expendable, well worth sacrificing to further empower zionazi, inc. And besides, the zionazis own Europe, as well, and whatever drop in baksheesh they skim in the usa, they can squeeze out of the European colonies. The usa is rich enough, and big enough, that they wont go completely under, and will still be useful as cannon fodder and enforcers.


More comments from original article here.

Good riddance to Rupert Murdoch's yellow journalism

Rupert Murdoch (News Corporation) is going to start charging for internet content from his media empire. Read the story here.

I say, Good fecking riddance!!! Murdoch can take his propaganda from the net and search engines; and the world will be a better place for it. Other more honourable media feeds will quickly fill the hole left by what he assures us is 'news'. (Isn't that what capitalism is all about?)

Watch this short video to see how reporters feel about the intervention of 'corporate strategy' on the ethics of journalism.

Globelisation and the internet

And as an added benefit, I won't have to sift through all the garbage his publications fill the search engine news pages with. Perhaps we can have real news then, which is not motivated by the corporatised agenda of more, more, more, profit, profit, profit. Perhaps we can get a bit of unvarnished truth for a change. Maybe the real 'spirit of journalism' will be reborn.

So Good Riddance to the Murdoch empire's propaganda. For in my humble opinion, you should have to PAY US to read your crap.

Old Cigarette Commercials

It's not difficult to see how corporate marketing created the ideal consumer market in the USA. These old tobacco commercials may seem silly to people today; but, in their day they were highly compelling, resulting in an explosion of smoking behaviour. Massaging the masses is what its all about.

Winston on the Flintstones (1960)



The sobering context for all this is presented in a remarkable documentary, Century of the Self, not to be missed. One of the segments which impressed me the most, details how the tobacco industry aligned itself with the Women's Liberation Movement to double their profits. Warning: this might disturb some viewers (especially, women).

Virginia Slims



We didn't always think the Marlboro Man was someone to model ourselves after. Hope you enjoy these below and I trust you will have moments of revelation as to the ugly face behind the mask of marketing. For 'rational' creatures, humans certainly seem to be well managed by 'irrational' persuasion.


Marlboros




Philip Morris - I Love Lucy (1964)



Camels



Viceroys

Iran protests - BBC BUSTED with phony pictures

Western media is pretty pathetic. On June 15, 2009 Western media went to great lengths to convince its gullible readers that Iranians were revolting against the victory of Ahmadinejad by using a photo of his SUPPORTERS and claiming these were the Mousavi protesters.


Here is one example of how the BBC uses phoney pictures to create a mindset with it's readers.

Picture of supposed Mousavi protesters BBC

Caption: Tehran has seen mass demonstrations by all sides since the disputed election (see correction below)

Here is the 'correction'. Guess someone complained.

Update 19 June 2009: an earlier version of our caption was incorrect. We wrongly stated that this was a pro-Mousavi rally when in fact it was a pro-Ahmadinejad rally.

Here is the same picture used by the LA Times to give the impression that Iranians are protesting AGAINST Ahmadinejad.

Here is the true caption and picture from a slightly different angle.

Source

Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves to a sea of thousands of flag-waving supporters during a massive rally to celebrate his victory in the presidential elections in Tehran's Valiasr square on June 14, 2009. Ahmadinejad defended his June 12 re-election but his defeated rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi, demanded the result be scrapped, setting the stage for further tense confrontations after the authorities cracked down on opposition protests. Getty

You can notice in the first and last pictures that the images are from Getty.

Anyone who thinks they have the real picture of what is going on in Iran from Western media, please leave your contacts details below. I have a bridge I want to sell you.

Related urls:



Who had motives to cheat in the Iranian elections? Good article

The Western media and Iran Excellent view of media bias. Why are the protests in Peru
, Egypt, Palestine and Georgia not covered?

"I can't recall seeing one video of one of the hundreds of children killed in Gaza shown in the US media. In contrast, two days ago CNN broadcasted footage of a woman who was shot and bleeding to death on a Tehran street."

CIA running black propaganda operation against Iran, Syria and Lebanon, officials say

Iran busts another CIA network

Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran

The C.I.A.’s Missteps, From Past to Present
... teased out newly declassified primary documents and done numerous ...like Eisenhower's demand in 1953 that the shah of Iran be restored to his throne....July 12, 2007 - By MICHAEL BESCHLOSS

18 trends I find disturbing

Focussing on specific issues in depth, is, by and large, a good thing. However, noticing the long term patterns repeat themselves time and again in many spheres is critical to seeing the bigger picture.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, we must examine each piece of news and reality to see how it fits with other bits: but, unless we stand back and see the emerging picture of ALL the interlocked clues, we will be lost in minuitae and miss the direction in which we are travelling en masse.

I am not going to bother to 'prove' any of these trends; they are just my observations. If readers of this blog are interested in one or more of the trends below, leave a comment and I will do my best to address questions raised in a future blog with examples.

1. The increasing number of 'law and order' television shows over the last 20 years has desensitised people to the abuse of civil rights, justified by 'getting the bad guys'.
2. The television shows which exalt technology which invades our privacy, has created a culture where nothing is sacred or private if it can be used by government agencies to 'get the bad guy' (they will tell you who that is through media).
3. Destruction of free media has allowed those in power to construct a false universe which serves their purposes of controlling the masses.
4. Terrifying people with bogeymen keeps them from finding the curiosity and confidence to seek balanced information.
5. Democracy has become an inoperable ideal, used to provide people with the illusion that they are in control of their destiny.
6. Technology is enabling a new world order, in which every moment of our existences is monitored and controlled by government.
7. Labels which divide people, keep them busy fighing each other while others control world events behind the scenes.
8. Food and water, housing and healthcare are going to be the scarce resources of the future.
9. Corporations are morphing into global institutions which are not accountable to any government or people whose lives they control.
10. The 'rational' systemic paradigm of socio-economic progress trumps 'compassion and integrity' everywhere.
11. The people of the West are terrified by the specter of 'relative deprivation'; and willing to do almost anything to continue indulging in lifestyles the resources of the planet cannot sustain.
12. Overpopulation is upon us: there will be a cull - whether natural or manmade.
13. Most people would rather be right, than learn something which challenges their security.
14. Those in the most dire poverty and areas of imperial violence, are alone.
15. Banal discussions of irrelevant issues presented to us by the media occupy the majority of our time.
16. Our mileau rests on arrogance, as though tradegy could not affect such an advanced civilisation as ours. (No historical context)
17. The laws enacted by politicians which erode human rights are ignored by a panicked populace (see # 15).
18. The ignorant have become arrogant: everyone thinks they are right from their own point of view.

My conclusion is that we are doomed if we do not begin to figure out the context in which our lives are occurring. Divided we fall.

Stop hoping and Start demanding.

People talk alot about hope these days. Hope is not an unworthy emotion; in fact, you can't really live without it. But when hope becomes the excuse one clings to placing the burden of changing things on someone else, it is more an anesthetic than a commendable stance.

The article below by Naomi Klein cleverly puts this dreary miasma into focus. When we will decide to demand basic human rights? If the New World Order is coming, and surely it is, will people be its victims or it architects? Putting hope into action to demand that people's well being be the priority over banksters profits is the only way out. It requires moving from a victim's role to that of a responsible actor in creating the world.

Sometimes one has to stop begging the elite Big Dogs of society, 'Please help us and provide for us! Pretty please?', and start demanding, 'We will not tolerate for another moment this wreckage of your greed as a legacy for our children!' Until this happens, hope will be a toxin in the body politic rather the emergence of a better world.

‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

Network video clip

Hopebroken and Hopesick:
A Lexicon of Disappointment

By Naomi Klein
Source
April 17, 2009 "The Nation" -- All is not well in Obamafanland. It's not clear exactly what accounts for the change of mood. Maybe it was the rancid smell emanating from Treasury's latest bank bailout. Or the news that the president's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, earned millions from the very Wall Street banks and hedge funds he is protecting from reregulation now. Or perhaps it began earlier, with Obama's silence during Israel's Gaza attack.

Whatever the last straw, a growing number of Obama enthusiasts are starting to entertain the possibility that their man is not, in fact, going to save the world if we all just hope really hard.

This is a good thing. If the superfan culture that brought Obama to power is going to transform itself into an independent political movement, one fierce enough to produce programs capable of meeting the current crises, we are all going to have to stop hoping and start demanding.

The first stage, however, is to understand fully the awkward in-between space in which many US progressive movements find themselves. To do that, we need a new language, one specific to the Obama moment. Here is a start.

Hopeover. Like a hangover, a hopeover comes from having overindulged in something that felt good at the time but wasn't really all that healthy, leading to feelings of remorse, even shame. It's the political equivalent of the crash after a sugar high. Sample sentence: "When I listened to Obama's economic speech my heart soared. But then, when I tried to tell a friend about his plans for the millions of layoffs and foreclosures, I found myself saying nothing at all. I've got a serious hopeover."

Hoper coaster. Like a roller coaster, the hoper coaster describes the intense emotional peaks and valleys of the Obama era, the veering between joy at having a president who supports safe-sex education and despondency that single-payer healthcare is off the table at the very moment when it could actually become a reality. Sample sentence: "I was so psyched when Obama said he is closing Guantánamo. But now they are fighting like mad to make sure the prisoners in Bagram have no legal rights at all. Stop this hoper coaster-I want to get off!"

Hopesick. Like the homesick, hopesick individuals are intensely nostalgic. They miss the rush of optimism from the campaign trail and are forever trying to recapture that warm, hopey feeling-usually by exaggerating the significance of relatively minor acts of Obama decency. Sample sentences: "I was feeling really hopesick about the escalation in Afghanistan, but then I watched a YouTube video of Michelle in her organic garden and it felt like inauguration day all over again. A few hours later, when I heard that the Obama administration was boycotting a major UN racism conference, the hopesickness came back hard. So I watched slideshows of Michelle wearing clothes made by ethnically diverse independent fashion designers, and that sort of helped."

Hope fiend. With hope receding, the hope fiend, like the dope fiend, goes into serious withdrawal, willing to do anything to chase the buzz. (Closely related to hopesickness but more severe, usually affecting middle-aged males.) Sample sentence: "Joe told me he actually believes Obama deliberately brought in Summers so that he would blow the bailout, and then Obama would have the excuse he needs to do what he really wants: nationalize the banks and turn them into credit unions. What a hope fiend!"

Hopebreak. Like the heartbroken lover, the hopebroken Obama-ite is not mad but terribly sad. She projected messianic powers on to Obama and is now inconsolable in her disappointment. Sample sentence: "I really believed Obama would finally force us to confront the legacy of slavery in this country and start a serious national conversation about race. But now whenever he seems to mention race, he's using twisted legal arguments to keep us from even confronting the crimes of the Bush years. Every time I hear him say ‘move forward,' I'm hopebroken all over again."

Hopelash. Like a backlash, hopelash is a 180-degree reversal of everything Obama-related. Sufferers were once Obama's most passionate evangelists. Now they are his angriest critics. Sample sentence: "At least with Bush everyone knew he was an asshole. Now we've got the same wars, the same lawless prisons, the same Washington corruption, but everyone is cheering like Stepford wives. It's time for a full-on hopelash."

In trying to name these various hope-related ailments, I found myself wondering what the late Studs Terkel would have said about our collective hopeover. He surely would have urged us not to give in to despair. I reached for one of his last books, Hope Dies Last. I didn't have to read long. The book opens with the words: "Hope has never trickled down. It has always sprung up."

And that pretty much says it all. Hope was a fine slogan when rooting for a long-shot presidential candidate. But as a posture toward the president of the most powerful nation on earth, it is dangerously deferential. The task as we move forward (as Obama likes to say) is not to abandon hope but to find more appropriate homes for it-in the factories, neighborhoods and schools where tactics like sit-ins, squats and occupations are seeing a resurgence.

Political scientist Sam Gindin wrote recently that the labor movement can do more than protect the status quo. It can demand, for instance, that shuttered auto plants be converted into green-future factories, capable of producing mass-transit vehicles and technology for a renewable energy system. "Being realistic means taking hope out of speeches," he wrote, "and putting it in the hands of workers."

Which brings me to the final entry in the lexicon.

Hoperoots. Sample sentence: "It's time to stop waiting for hope to be handed down, and start pushing it up, from the hoperoots."

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and syndicated columnist and the author of the international and New York Times bestseller The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, now out in paperback. Visit her website http://www.naomiklein.org/

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice.....

The headlines stream in over the net, one more unbelievable than another. Together they read like some well-written sci-fi novel that exceeds the horrific society of 1984. I am caught like a deer in the headlights, bewildered by all the lies I have swallowed whole my entire life.

None more so than those of the irregular warfare carried out over the years by the CIA and the fabric of lies media has fed us to convince the public that black is white. Pity we don't find out till decades later of the atrocities perpetrated in the name of 'freedom' or 'democracy': double plus good newspeak.

Case in point: the 'atrocities' of Slobodan Milosevic. Even more disturbing is the new expansion of US foreign policy of 'irregular warfare'. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Death squad leader ‘was top CIA agent’

SERBIA: Gabriel Ronay
Source
THE LATE President Milosevic's secret police chief and organiser of Serb death squads during the genocidal ethnic cleansing of disintegrating Yugoslavia was the United States' top CIA agent in Belgrade, according to the independent Belgrade Radio B92.

The claim that from 1992 until the end of the decade, Jovica Stanisic, head of Serbia's murderous DB Secret Police, was regularly informing his CIA handlers of the thinking in Milosevic's inner circle has shocked the region. Stanisic is said to have loyally served his two masters for eight years. He is facing war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. advertisement In the terrifying years of Yugoslavia's internecine wars, he acted as the willing "muscle" behind Milosevic's genocidal campaigns in Croatia, Kosovo and Bosnia, including Sebrenica.

According to the charges he faces, Stanisic was "part of a joint criminal enterprise that included former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic and other Serbian politicians". Dermot Groome, The Hague's chief prosecutor, has specifically accused him of sending in the Serb Scorpion and Red Beret death squads into the states seeking independence from Belgrade. Stanisic has pleaded not guilty.

Like in a Cold War spy thriller, Serbia's secret police chief met his CIA handlers in safe houses, parks and boats on the river Sava to betray his master's action plans. He provided, it is claimed, information on the whereabouts of Nato hostages, aided CIA operatives in their search for Muslim mass graves and helped the US set up secret bases in Bosnia to monitor the implementation of the 1995 Dayton peace accord.

This has raised awkward questions for Washington. With Stanisic providing chapter and verse of the genocidal slaughter of Croats, Bosnians and Albanians from the early 1990s, should President Clinton have cut a deal with Milosevic at Dayton, Ohio, ending the Bosnian war on such equitable terms for the Serbs? Or, using Stanisic's evidence, should the Americans not have unmasked Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic, the then head of Republika Srpska, as genocidal war criminals and demanded their surrender?

From his prison cell at The Hague, Stanisic countered the charges facing him with an aide memoir portraying himself as "a person who had sought to moderate Milosevic and had done a great deal to moderate the crisis".

In an unusual move, the CIA has submitted classified documents to the court that confirm Stanisic's "undercover operative role in helping to bring peace to the region and aiding the agency's work. He helped defuse some of the most explosive actions of the Bosnian war." In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, William Lofgren, his original CIA recruiter and handler, now retired, said: "Stanisic provided valuable information from Milosevic's inner circle. But he never took money from the CIA, worked with the agency on operations or took steps that he would have considered a blatant betrayal of his boss."

Thus the judges at The Hague are having to judge a man who allegedly sent the Scorpion death squads to Srebrenica to "deal" with men and boys fleeing the UN-protected Muslim enclave, while working with the CIA trying to end Milosevic's ethnic wars. The way the CIA apparently viewed their Belgrade "asset" is revealed in an interview with Balkan Insight, a little known south-east European publication.

The emerging picture is a quaint reflection from a hall of mirrors. Greg Miller of the Los Angeles Times, writing about the links between the CIA and the Serb secret police chief, is quoted as saying: "As I said in the LAT story, the CIA do not see Stanisic as a choirboy. When you talk to people who work in espionage, this is often the case.

"Because of the nature of that job, of that assignment, they are working with people who do not have unblemished records, it would be difficult for them to be effective if they only worked with people who had unblemished records.

"People in Belgrade who have been following the career of Jovica Stanisic would say that this was a guy who was an expert in his field; he was a highly-trained and highly-effective spy. His motivation may have been that he wanted to know what the United States was up to.

"He did not believe that Milosevic was taking the country in the right direction - so he wanted to influence events. He saw himself as an important guy who could pull strings behind the scenes to make things happen in Belgrade."

Stanisic apparently did so on his own terms, while trying to remain a loyal Serb. He did not succeed. Now he is having to account for his actions as Milosevic's loyal lieutenant at The Hague.

©2009 newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved

“I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more Toto”

I am laughing but I guess it is not funny. Sometimes one must laugh if one is not to cry. Ever been in a bad relationship you just couldn't give up? You knew all the bad signs were there but were mesmerised by the object of your affections and just couldn't give up 'hope'. Of course, after the relationship tanked big time, you sat there and contemplated why you didn't listen to and act on all the clues that were given for years afterwards.

Ever wonder why the elite seem to survive generation after generation while the poor folk fight the same battle over and over in time? Read the above paragraph again.

The world has changed during this tornado of capitalist corruption...but I fear the road ahead is fraught with danger. Whether or not we will make it to the Emerald City will depend on our capacity for courage and wisdom. One thing is sure: Kansas is gone.

Western military forces turning inward
in anticipation of domestic unrest

Old-Thinker News
March 10, 2009
By Daniel Taylor
Source
As the growing world-wide economic crisis deepens, military forces from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom are preparing to meet angry citizens on the street. The economic crisis - and the public outrage it is causing - is at the forefront of intelligence agencies and military forces in the western world.

Prominent trends forecaster Gerald Celente has been sounding the alarm for years, warning that riots and tax revolts are coming to America. The Pentagon, U. K. Ministry of Defense, and Canadian military apparently agree. In November of 2008 the United States Army War College released the report Known Unknowns: Unconventional "Strategic Shocks" in Defense Strategy Development. The report identifies economic collapse as a reason for the defense establishment to conduct domestic operations. The report states,

"Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security. Deliberate employment of weapons of mass destruction or other catastrophic capabilities, unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency..."

The CIA and MI5 are both watching the economic situation for signs of unrest and political instability. As the Washington Post reports, the CIA has added an economic situation report to its threat assessment for the White House. A further sign that the United States government is anticipating widespread unrest comes with the domestic stationing of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division. The Army Times reports,

"They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack."

Canadian military forces have been given a nearly identical domestic mission in a synchronized move with the United States. Canada's National Post reports that,

"The Canadian military has embarked on a wide-ranging plan to turn its reserve soldiers into focused units trained and equipped to respond to a nightmarish array of domestic threats, including terrorist "dirty bomb" attacks, biological agent containment, Arctic catastrophes and natural disasters."

David Bercuson, director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary admits that contingencies exist that "...envisioned scenarios that might require a form of constabulary or policing function for reserves in civilian containment and security."

Overseas, the United Kingdom's MI5 is also anticipating widespread unrest in response to economic downturn. The Daily Express reports that the U.K. Army is "on standby" in the event of unrest during a "summer of discontent."

The United Kingdom's own Ministry of Defense foresaw middle class revolution two years ago in the 2007 The DCDC Global Strategic Trends report. "The middle classes could become a revolutionary class...," the report states. "The growing gap between themselves and a small number of highly visible super-rich individuals might fuel disillusion with meritocracy, while the growing urban under-classes are likely to pose an increasing threat to social order and stability, as the burden of acquired debt and the failure of pension provision begins to bite."

Ominously, legislation was recently introduced to Congress that would authorize “national emergency centers” on military installations that will provide “temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster." The National Emergency Centers Act can be read here.

As new taxes - like paying by mileage and carbon taxes meant to send "price signals" to consumers - are imposed and more money is demanded from debt laden citizens to save failing banks there is little doubt that resistance will grow. Just how far the bankers can go remains to be seen, but the military is ready when we've had enough.

Related urls:

Seeds of its own destruction

The End of History and the Clash of Civilizations

Death Spiral of Capitalism

Chomsky - Government for the elite by the elite

Many people still believe that the USA was founded for the purpose of government for the people and by the people. This a true fact - if one understands that the 'people' referred to here are the elite. Nothing much has changed in the past couple hundred years or so as far as this strategy is concerned.

Noam Chomsky addresses this subject below and how this relates to corporate propaganda. If you like this short video, you will love Century of the Self.

Always funds for propaganda it seems

One must wonder how a bankrupt country can afford to spend 5 billion dollars on its propaganda machine? Business school tells us that 'marketing' is most important when profits are declining - advice the 'business' the the US government has apparently taken quite seriously. And my experience tells me that an unemployed person will take any job to feed the family. The war on 'terrorism' is now an information war waged on those who are too busy or uninterested in reading. The success of the 'propaganda machine' depends entirely on how ignorant we choose to be.

Propaganda Machine: 27,000
Work in Pentagon PR and Recruiting

Chris Tomlinson
Associated Press
Thu, 05 Feb 2009
Source
As it fights two wars, the Pentagon is steadily and dramatically increasing money spent on winning what it calls "the human terrain" of world public opinion. In the process, concerns have been raised that this is spreading propaganda at home in violation of federal law.

An Associated Press investigation found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year, according to Department of Defense budgets and other documents. That's almost as much as it spent on body armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2006.

This year, the Pentagon will employ 27,000 people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations - almost as many as the total 30,000-person work force in the State Department.

"We have such a massive apparatus selling the military to us, it has become hard to ask questions about whether this is too much money or if it's bloated," says Sheldon Rampton, research director for the Committee on Media and Democracy, which tracks the military's media operations. "As the war has become less popular, they have felt they need to respond to that more."

Yet the money spent on media and outreach still comes to only 1 percent of the Pentagon budget, and the military argues it is well-spent on recruitment and the education of foreign and American audiences. Military leaders say that at a time when extremist groups run Web sites and distribute video, information is as important a weapon as tanks and guns.

"We have got to be involved in getting our case out there, telling our side of the story, because believe me, al-Qaida and all of those folks ... that's what they are doing on the Internet and everywhere else," says Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., who chairs the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee. "Every time a bomb goes off, they have a story out almost before it explodes, saying that it killed 15 innocent civilians."

On an abandoned Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas, editors for the Joint Hometown News Service point proudly to a dozen clippings on a table as examples of success in getting stories into newspapers.

What readers are not told: Each of these glowing stories was written by Pentagon staff. Under the free service, stories go out with authors' names but not their titles, and do not mention Hometown News anywhere. In 2009, Hometown News plans to put out 5,400 press releases, 3,000 television releases and 1,600 radio interviews, among other work - 50 percent more than in 2007.

The service is just a tiny piece of the Pentagon's rapidly expanding media empire, which is now bigger in size, money and power than many media companies.

In a year long investigation, The Associated Press interviewed more than 100 people and scoured more than 100,000 pages of documents in several budgets to tally the money spent to inform, educate and influence the public in the U.S. and abroad. The AP included contracts found through the private FedSources database and requests made under the Freedom of Information Act. Actual spending figures are higher because of money in classified budgets.

The biggest chunk of funds - about $1.6 billion - goes into recruitment and advertising. Another $547 million goes into public affairs, which reaches American audiences. And about $489 million more goes into what is known as psychological operations, which targets foreign audiences.

Staffing across all these areas costs about $2.1 billion, as calculated by the number of full-time employees and the military's average cost per service member. That's double the staffing costs for 2003.

Recruitment and advertising are the only two areas where Congress has authorized the military to influence the American public. Far more controversial is public affairs, because of the prohibition on propaganda to the American public.

"It's not up to the Pentagon to sell policy to the American people," says Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., who sponsored legislation in Congress last year reinforcing the ban.

Spending on public affairs has more than doubled since 2003. Robert Hastings, acting secretary of defense, says the growth reflects changes in the information market, along with the fact that the U.S. is now fighting two wars.

"The role of public affairs is to provide you the information so that you can make an informed decision yourself," Hastings says. "There is no place for spin at the Department of Defense."

But on Dec. 12, the Pentagon's inspector general released an audit finding that the public affairs office may have crossed the line into propaganda. The audit found the Department of Defense "may appear to merge inappropriately" its public affairs with operations that try to influence audiences abroad. It also found that while only 89 positions were authorized for public affairs, 126 government employees and 31 contractors worked there.

In a written response, Hastings concurred and, without acknowledging wrongdoing, ordered a reorganization of the department by early 2009.

Another audit, also in December, concluded that a public affairs program called "America Supports You" was conducted "in a questionable and unregulated manner" with funds meant for the military's Stars and Stripes newspaper.

The program was set up to keep U.S. troops informed about volunteer donations to the military. But the military awarded $11.8 million in contracts to a public relations firm to raise donations for the troops and then advertise those donations to the public. So the program became a way to drum up support for the military at a time when public opinion was turning against the Iraq war.

The audit also found that the offer to place corporate logos on the Pentagon Web site in return for donations was against regulations. A military spokesman said the program has been completely overhauled to meet Pentagon regulations.

"They very explicitly identify American public opinion as an important battlefield," says Marc Lynch, a professor at George Washington University. "In today's information environment, even if they were well-intentioned and didn't want to influence American public opinion, they couldn't help it."

In 2003, for example, initial accounts from the military about the rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch from Iraqi forces were faked to rally public support. And in 2005, a Marine Corps spokesman during the siege of the Iraqi city of Fallujah told the U.S. news media that U.S. troops were attacking. In fact, the information was a ruse by U.S. commanders to fool insurgents into revealing their positions.

The fastest-growing part of the military media is "psychological operations," where spending has doubled since 2003.

Psychological operations aim at foreign audiences, and spin is welcome. The only caveats are that messages must be truthful and must never try to influence an American audience.

In Afghanistan, for example, a video of a soldier joining the national army shown on Afghan television is not attributed to the U.S. And in Iraq, American teams built and equipped media outlets and trained Iraqis to staff them without making public the connection to the military.

Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of strategic communications for the U.S. Central Command, says psychological operations must be secret to be effective. He says that in the 21st century, it is probably not possible to win the information battle with insurgents without exposing American citizens to secret U.S. propaganda.

"We have to be pragmatic and realistic about the game that we play in terms of information, and that game is very complex," he says.

The danger of psychological operations reaching a U.S. audience became clear when an American TV anchor asked Gen. David Petraeus about the mood in Iraq. The general held up a glossy photo of the Iraqi national soccer team to show the country united in victory.

Behind the camera, his staff was cringing. It was U.S. psychological operations that had quietly distributed tens of thousands of the soccer posters in July 2007 to encourage Iraqi nationalism.

With a new administration in power, it is not clear what changes may be made. Obama administration officials have said they intend to go through the Department of Defense budget closely to trim bloated spending.

The emphasis on influence operations started with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In 2002, Rumsfeld established an Office of Strategic Influence that brought together public affairs and psychological operations. Critics accused him of setting up a propaganda arm, and Congress demanded that the office be shut down.

Rumsfeld has declined to speak to the press since leaving office, but while defense secretary he spoke bluntly about his desire to revamp the Pentagon's media operations.

"I went down that next day and said, 'Fine, if you want to savage this thing, fine, I'll give you the corpse,'" Rumsfeld said on Nov. 18, 2002, according to Defense Department transcripts of a speech he delivered. "'There's the name. You can have the name, but I'm gonna keep doing every single thing that needs to be done and I have.'"

In 2003, Rumsfeld issued a secret Information Operations Roadmap setting out a plan for public affairs and psychological operations to work together. It noted that with a global media, the military should expect and accept that psychological operations will reach the U.S. public.

"I can tell you there wouldn't be a single American disappointed with anything that we've done that might be out there, that they don't know about," says Col. Curtis Boyd, commander of the 4th PSYOP Group, the largest unit of its kind. "Frankly, they probably wouldn't care because maybe they are safer as a result of it."

In January 2008, a new report by the Defense Science Board recommended resurrecting the Office of Strategic Influence as the Office of Strategic Communications. But Congress refused to fund the program.

In February, the Army released a new eight-chapter field manual that puts information warfare on par with traditional warfare.

The title of an entire chapter, Chapter 7: "Information Superiority."
Print

Propaganda on propaganda? Double good newspeak!

Time was the Wall Street Journal had a respectable reputation. It was a publication of the capitalist empire, but still had a reliable objectivity to its content: like on Dragnet - "Just the facts, please."

Then came Murdoch and his acquisition of the paper. We all feared that editorial slant would affect the content of WSJ to match Murdoch's views - but we kept hoping for the best. But Murdoch cleverly promised the editors expanded space for the news and editorial articles; however, we did not know the 'quid pro quo' for this - until now.

We do however know that Murdoch altered the prudent guidance of the FCC for the growth of his own media empire: full story here. Is anyone surprised that Murdoch is a Zionist?

Who does not know that the US media is the most biased and controlled media in the world, effectively creating a world view for its citizens of 'US, the good guys' and 'THEM, the bad guys'?
The answer is many Americans themselves indeed do not have a clue about this.

Now we have this slanted journalism coming out of the WSJ which is infested with bias, a true propaganda piece, accusing the Chinese of propaganda! Go figure...it is all a propaganda war out there. Hail to those who still seek the truth through the convoluted tactics of mainstream media.

China's New Propaganda Machine
Going global.

By NICHOLAS BEQUELIN
Wall Street Journal Asia
Source
China is about to embark on a multibillion dollar media expansion overseas, including the establishment of a 24-hour English language all-news channel modeled after CNN. These are only the most recent steps in a methodical strategy for Chinese state media to "go global" and make "the voice of China better heard in international affairs" -- a plan set in motion by President Hu Jintao immediately after his accession to power in 2002. Since then, Chinese state broadcasters have considerably strengthened their foreign news operations, enhanced foreign language services and established the supporting bureaucracy to get the government's message out swiftly when news breaks.

The sheer scale of these plans raises many questions about China's long-term objectives. Can state-run broadcasters, whose traditional role is to be the "throat and tongue" of the Communist Party, really turn into competitors for the likes of CNN and the BBC? Or could China's quest for international audiences lead to a loosening of the tight censorship rules that continue to straightjacket its reporting? There is, after all, something natural in the aspiration of a rising global power to match its newly acquired economic might with a corresponding increase in its "soft" power, and its growing involvement in world affairs with a bigger voice in the international arena. Many governments do just that with state-sponsored broadcasting, like Voice of America or Germany's Deutsche Welle. So what's different with China?

The difference lies in the strong control the Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party exert over news and information. Sure, in recent years China Central Television (CCTV) and even the People's Daily look slicker, more contemporary and less political than in the past. But this has not changed the fundamental premise that all information on state-run channels must reflect the government's views.

This is no surprise. The state itself refers to all media work abroad as wai xuan, or "external propaganda." On its official Web site -- but only in Chinese -- CCTV describes itself as "the mouthpiece of the Party and the government," lists its main operations under the heading "propaganda situation," and refers to its new foreign language channels as "reaching a new stage in external propaganda." Xinhua -- a self-depicted "news agency with Chinese characteristics" -- describes its activities as "conducted from start to finish under the direct leadership of the central party authorities." Its current director is the vice-chair of the Central Committee's propaganda department. For the Party, propaganda is not a degraded form of information -- it is information. None of this context appears in the English language versions of these Web sites.

This is not to say that there is no quality journalism in China. Over the past 20 years the marketization of the Chinese media industry has led to an explosion in the number of "commercial" newspapers, magazines, Internet information portals and radio and television stations. Although they remain controlled by the government through a combination of ownership, licensing and administrative shackles, many companies have discovered that hard news is the best way to attract an audience. Faced with fierce competition, the Party has responded by giving more leeway to the most prominent state-run organs and encouraging the adoption of Western-style media marketing techniques. Even CCTV now has an excellent Chinese-language investigative program called "News Probe," which has broadcast stories on subjects such as AIDS orphans, pollution, land grabs and corruption.

However, these programs have not made their way to the wai xuan media. English-language news from China is not about informing the foreign public; it is about channeling a specific view of China to the rest of the world. The Party's information management is based on the principle of neiwai butong, or "domestic and overseas differ." Beijing's 45 billion yuan investment will be geared mainly to sprucing up these outlets for foreign viewers, but the fundamental mission won't change.

It's not just English-language viewers who will receive this polished view of China. In addition to the forthcoming "Chinese CNN," CCTV recently added French- and Spanish-language broadcasts and has plans to launch Arabic and Russian channels this year. While American networks are slashing their overseas operations, state-owned Xinhua news agency is considering expanding its overseas bureaus to 186 from 100.

Beijing might be right in thinking that improved "external propaganda" will provide an additional weapon to fight back against its critics, but ultimately it will come at the expense of something far more important: the soft and persuasive power that can only come with a free, unbiased media that informs rather than misleads.

Mr. Bequelin is a senior researcher at the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.

Israelis Hit List Site Closed - Copy of contents

On January 15, I posted an article here about a site which advocated assasination of individuals helping the Palestinians. That site is now closed down. In case the article detailing the activities of the 'stoptheism' site 'disappear', I am reprinting it here for reference. All the pictures of those to be targeted which were in detail, have been removed. (A good thing really) The man pictured below is Lee Kaplan, the site creator.

Those who want to bump off
the witnesses of the slaughter

uruknet
Jam 14, 2009
A Criminal website incites the killing of volunteers in Gaza. Vittorio Arrigoni is also in their sights. There should be investigation against Lee Kaplan.

The criminal website http://stoptheism.com/ invites people to kill the few volunteers who are providing health treatment in Gaza under Israeli bombs.

They are Americans, Spaniards, Australians, Italians and other volunteers who report us what news they can about the real impact of the Israeli aggression in Gaza. Amongst them there is Vittorio Arrigoni, human rights activist.

What we have here is pure incitement to killing, furnished also with the photos of those "wanted". It’s really unconceivable that the site is still online. We demand that the Italian Government and Foreign Office take steps right now to call for it to be immediately closed and to bring those responsible to court.

http://www.megachip.info/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=8532

by Pino Cabras – Megachip
The call is clear: to kill a group of people, with their first and last name, habits and ideas, political affiliations and pictures easily identifiable. They also demand informers’ cooperation so as to complete the list with addresses. The dossiers are openly addressed to the Israeli military so as to help them eliminate "dangerous" targets physically, unless others see to it first: the foes to be hit are western activists—health assistants and other volunteers—who work and are witnesses to what is unfolding in the Occupied Territories.

You may read all this on a website, run by a group of extremists, a sort of American-Jewish Ku Klux Klan: Stop the ISM. It may be worth noting that an Italian, Vittorio Arrigoni, whose touching reports from Gaza we have read, is amongst those targeted.

The person who runs the site is Lee Kaplan. He’s one of the many quasi-fascist instigators of the American far right underbelly, a medley that has recently taken root both amongst the Christian movements and the fringes of Jewish fundamentalism, now joined by an unusual anti-Islamic extremism. In the US, this linking between these two milieus has strengthened to the extent that Kaplan often hangs around the wannabe high society circles of the TV talk shows famous for their foaming at the mouth, on Fox News channel.

But, above all, this phenomenon is getting stronger in the Holy Land. The Jewish fundamentalists control the most extremist settlements in the territories (as it was already possible to learn by reading Israel Shahak’s and Norton Mezvinsky’s Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, London, Pluto Press 1999). The Christian fundamentalists help them hasten the coming of Armageddon, the final battle between Good and Evil, that is supposed to take place precisely there. Maybe in order to get ahead with his work, Mr Kaplan gives free rein to the site in order to call for Arrigoni and others to be eliminated. Moreover, without expecting any concern from the Italian government, in case someone should see to our fellow countryman’s wished-for "permanent removal". We shall repeat: these criminal hopes haven’t turned up on a semi-underground web forum, but on a site open to everyone and run by a public figure.

Now, since also the Israeli armed forces don’t want witnesses to Gaza’s havoc, and our mainstream media has immediately and sycophantically complied with this ban, and since the only voice from there comes from Arrigoni, then "two and two makes four" and we get wind of a huge danger. We have seen that a heavy hand is being used there, if even hospitals, ambulances, schools are bombed and any aid is targeted.

While the body count in Gaza is now reaching one thousand, an oddity is taking place.

Neither can the heap of corpses be swept any longer under the rug of a leading article by Bernard Henry Levy, nor the use of horrible weapons—that in future you will see prohibited. Our papers are shyly starting to talk about it. Yes, not in the front page, like we did some days ago here, but at page ten, with low profile articles.

Concealing is no longer possible. Yet, it’s possible to water things down. And our great media knows well how to do it. Awaiting who knows what, a political military success, a chimera, the end of Hamas. At what price?

The most subtle censorship is ongoing, but this subtlety doesn’t save it from being associated to more violent and threatening censorship, the kind that intends to hit those who want to rescue the Palestinian people from their own destruction.

You know, when the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger. Similarly, many Italian intellectuals are horrified while pointing out to us the blood-stained finger of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) but they fail to look at the gloomy moon where the other fundamentalisms are increasingly holding sway over the Israeli leadership

The idea according to which the IAF are defending the Enlightenment against the uncivilized is an ideology heralding tragedies, and we had better get rid of it by operating an honest historical and political review of the Middle-eastern record. The account of what is happening is now at a crucial point, with all the witnesses to be respected.

Translated by Diego Traversa and revised by Mary Rizzo for www.tlaxcala.es
so you don't need to go to his trash site, see the criminal calls to assassination that he has right on his site. AND HIS SITE IS STILL RUNNING?? [as of Jan 16, 2009, it is not]

From Stop the ISM website
[the original site had multiple pictures, addresses and other detailed info about each one.]

ISMer Ewa Jasiewicz in house of former DFLP commander killed by IDF claims she is just picking up "civilian" casualties. Jaseiwicz, in Abu Rabo's house, works with the terrorists. Rabo's house no doubt held weapons cache with children inside as human shields. Abu Rabo was the deputy of Naif Hawatma, the head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Ewa Jasiewicz needs to be a target of IDF forces as well as she has shown she is in Gaza to work for Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups like DFLP. A picture of Ewa is below. If you know of her exact location, please email us at info@StoptheISM.com so we can target and take her out once and for all.
As with any good subversive, Ewa changes her haircolor frequently:

Want to bring a permanent peace to the Middle East? Help the IDF find and target her to be eliminated permanently like her Hamas buddies. Ewa was previously a human shield for Iraqi insurgents. She is no peace activist, she is a Hamas enabler. She claims to be helping civilians, but all her "civilians" are in the homes of Hamas and other terrorist group operatives such as Abu-Rabo of the DFLP. She is aiding terrorists with homes that have weapons caches, not innocent Palestinians. It is people like her who will roil this conflict forever and once they are eliminated, only then can there potentially be a just peace for Arabs and Israelis alike.

ALERT THE IDF MILITARY TO TARGET ISM

Number to call if you can pinpoint the locations of Hamas with their ISM members with them. From the US call 011-972-2-5839749. From other countries drop the 011. Help us neutralize the ISM that is now definitely a part of Hamas since the war began.

#1 ISM TARGET FOR THE ISRAELI AIR FORCE AND IDF GROUND TROOPS:

VITTORIO ARRIGONI (PICTURED BELOW) IS CURRENTLY IN GAZA ASSISTING HAMAS

ARRIGONI HAS BEEN DEPORTED REPEATEDLY BY ISRAEL AND WAS DEPORTED NOT ONLY IN 2005 BUT JUST LAST MONTH AFTER ENTERING GAZA ILEGALLY WITH THE GAZA FLOTILLA. HE WAS CAPTURED BY THE IDF NAVY AND DEPORTED ONLY TO SHOW UP AGAIN IN GAZA WITH THE ISM HAVING REENTERED JUST DAYS LATER WITH THE GAZA FLOTILLA.

ARRIGONI WAS AWARDED A MEDAL FROM HAMAS AND IS CURRENTLY DOING HUMAN SHIELD WORK FOR HAMAS IN GAZA. WE PROVIDE THIS PHOTO SO THE IDF CAN HOPEFULLY FIND HIM AND GET RID OF HIM PERMANENTLY. THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT BEHAVFED DISGRACEFULLY DURING THE ACHILLE LAURO AFFAIR AND ENABLED MACHMOUD ABBAS TO ESCAPE AFTER HIS CAPTURE BY THE US MILITARY. WE DOUBT THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT WOULD BE OVERLY CONCERNED BY THIS RECIDIVIST ANARCHIST FOR HAMAS AND THE ISM AND HOPE HE BECOMES A TARGET FOR PERMANENT REMOVAL:

(A more cleaned up Arrigoni, left, during a deportation hearing in Tel Aviv in 2005). Arrigoni has his left eyebrow pierced and sports at least one tattoo, a design on his left shoulder. The IDF should regard him as an operative of Hamas and treat him no differently.

TARGET #2 JENNY LINNELL

Jenny Linnel also received a medal from Hamas and has attempted to encourage the opening the sea lanes for the smuggling of weapons from Iran. She claims she's a human rights activist but is in fact another anarchist from the UK.

Jenny has appeared on Iranian TV in the English language to promote Hamas. See here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyokcGD9U9E

Of course, we all know the Iranians only have the best of motives. Hamas is an Iranian proxy and she is appearing on Iranian TV. She is not a human rights activist, she is an anarchist supporting Hamas and ultimately Iran.

Target #3 Ewa Jasiewicz

Ewa has also been awarded a medal from Hamas and works to support the Hamas terrorist groups while claiming she is a human rights worker. Also from the UK via Poland, she has been active in assisting Hamas during the Israeli incursion. She is skilled at promoting propaganda for Hamas and retelling incidents to hide her activity in support of Hamas. Currently she fabricates tales about houses of Hamas operatives destroyed because they were weapons caches by spinning the events as attacks on innocent civilians.

All three of these people should be regarded as enemy combattants who help with logisitcs, propaganda and God only knows what else. They were all deported and came immediately back in and should be targeted by the IDF with the rest of Hamas to remove them for good.

Target #4 Alberto Arce is from Spain, he fancies himself a film director Arce creates propaganda scenes for Hamas. He is accompanying Hamas operatives as a human shield while enhancing his filmmaker prospects for the future.

Target #5 Eva Bartlett from Australia Eva Bartlett is aiding the Hamas during the war campaign. No photo yet.

Target #6 Sharon Lock of Australia (no photo but a poor picture on Russian TV at:

http://www.youtube.com/v/uzxRGvVH8qQ&hl=en&fs=1) . A note about Lock's comments on the video:

She doesn't know anything about international law because the term "collective punishment" refers to taking hostages in a war zone and executing innocent people to force collaboration. It does not refer to civilian casualties that occur because the goddamned Hamas shoot their missiles from population centers and schoolyards. The fact is Sharon doesn't care when Hamas shoots missiles at Israeli schoolkids, she wants to distract when Israel fights back by calling collateral casualties (small, given Israel's attempt to avoid such) "collective punishment." She is now serving in ambulances used by Hamas to transport terrorists and weapons.

All of these Marxist anarchists above are responsible for proliferation of weapons smuggling tunnels in Rafah through the publicity campaign using the death of Rachel Corrie as an excuse to put pressure on Israel to stop destroying those tunnels. Today, the IDF has to go back in and destroy them. Up until now, with ISM help, those tunnels have provided weapons that killed even children in Sderot. The above people are on record as having gone into the tunnels and knowing where they are. Time to treat them as enemy combattants. In coming days, we'll tell you how to STOP THEM for good. Right now, these people are riding in ambulances used by Hamas to transport weapons and terrorists to provide human shield work for the killers.

By the way, here's a photo of Paul LaRudee of Norcal ISM, one their leaders meeting with his Hamas allies:

We're wondering if LaRudee (left) is asking Haniyeh if he has a suicide bomber's bed he can sleep in as he did in the past. LaRudee is earning big bucks now as an organizer for Hamas and also received a medal from the terrorist group. He also has been working with Hizballah.

NEW!!! CAIOHME BUTTERFLY IS TARGET #7 OF ISM IN GAZA

CAIOHME HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY DEPORTED FROM ISRAEL AND IS NOW IN GAZA DOING HER HUMAN SHIELD WORK FOR HAMAS. AN IRISH NATIONAL. HER PASSION IS TO DESTROY ISRAEL AND AID ALL TERRORIST GROPS THAT SEEK TO DO SO. HER HAIR COLOR MAY BE DIFFERENT AS IN THIS PHOTO:

SUPPORTING HAMAS TERRORISTS IN THE EMERALD ISLE IN THE PHOTO AT LEFT, CAIOHME IS NOW IN GAZA WORKING FOR HAMAS.

Listen to Stop the ISM's Lee Kaplan about the ISM on the Tovia Singer Show, Israel National Radio by clicking this link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/455

IDF NAVY STOPS ISM BOAT!!!

The IDF Navy finally stopped the IDF Flotilla boat Dignity today. As usual the ISM claims their boat was in international waters (like they never lie).

The Israeli Defense Ministry needs to do three things:

1) Sink the boat.

2) Sink the boat.

3) Sink the boat.

Arrest Huwaida Arraf and Neta Golan if on board and this time prosecute them. Golan, a former mental patient is a co-founder of the ISM with Huwaida Arraf.

Intercepted ISM email:

From: "Ramzi Kysia"
URGENT! Israeli Navy Attacking Civilian Mercy Ship! TAKE ACTION
IMMEDIATELY!

The Dignity, a Free Gaza boat on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza, is
being attacked by the Israeli Navy in international waters. The Dignity
has been surrounded by at least half-a-dozen Israeli warships. They are
firing live ammunition around the Dignity, and one of the warships has
rammed the civilian craft causing an unknown amount of damage. Contrary to
international maritime law, the Israelis are actively preventing the
Dignity from approaching Gaza or finding safe haven in either Egypt or
Lebanon. Instead, the Israeli navy is demanding that the Dignity return to
Cyprus - despite the fact that the ship does not carry enough fuel to do
so. Fortunately, no one aboard the ship has yet been seriously injured.

There are 15 civilian passengers representing 11 different countries (see
below for a complete list). At approximately 5am (UST), well out in
international waters, Israeli warships began surrounding the Dignity,
threatening the ship. At 6:45am (UST) we were able to establish brief
contact with the crew and were told that the ship had been rammed by the
Israeli Navy in international waters, and that the Israelis were
preventing the ship from finding safe harbor. We heard heavy gunfire in
the background before all contact was lost with the Dignity.

It is urgent that you TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!

CALL the Israeli Government and demand that it immediately STOP attacking
the Dignity and endangering the lives of its passengers! (
DO CALL BUT TELL TEHM TO SINK THE SHIP!!!)

CALL Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5062 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il

CALL Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at:
+972 33697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Dignity departed from Larnaca Port in Cyprus at 7pm (UST) on Monday 29
December, bound for war-devastated Gaza with a cargo of over 3 tons of
desperately needed medical supplies donated by the people of Cyprus. At
our request, the ship was searched by Cypriot Port authorities prior to
departure, to certify that there was nothing "threatening" aboard - only
emergency medical supplies.

TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY TO STOP THE ISRAELI NAVY FROM ENDANGERING THE
DIGNITY AND ITS PASSENGERS!

Civilians aboard the Dignity being threatened by the Israeli military:

(UK) Denis Healey, Captain
Captain of the Dignity, Denis has been involved with boats for 45 years,
beginning with small fishing boats in Portsmouth. He learned to sail while
ats chool and has been part of the sea ever since. He's a certified
yachtmaster and has also worked on heavy marine equipment from yachts to
large dredgers. This is his fourth trip to Gaza. (He needs to be prosecuted by Israel and the US for violating US Neutrality Act).

(Greece) Nikolas Bolos, First Mate
Nikolas is a chemical engineer and human rights activist (bullshit artist). He has served as
a crewmember on several Free Gaza voyages, including the first one in
August.
This guy needs to be prosecuted by Israel for repeat offenses.

(Jordan) Othman Abu Falah
Othman is a senior producer with Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in
Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught. (Objective? Al Jazeera calls Hamas terrorist martyrs)

(Australia) Renee Bowyer
Renee is a schoolteacher and human rights activist (bullshit artist). She will remain in
Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.

(Ireland) Caoimhe Butterly–ISM MANIAC FROM WAY BACK
Caoimhe is a reknowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the
Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights
monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development
with Free Gaza.

(Cyprus) Ekaterini Christodulou
Ekaterini is a well-known and respected (by whom?) freelance journalist in Cyprus.
She is traveling to Gaza to report on the conflict.

(Sudan) Sami El-Haj - AN Al QAEDA MAN!
Sami is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, and head of the human rights
section at Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the
ongoing military onslaught.

(UK) Dr. David Halpin-WOULD NEVER VOLUNTEER FOR JEWISH VICTIMS IN SDEROT
Dr. Halpin is an experienced orthopaedic surgeon, medical professor, and
ship's captain. He has organized humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza on
several occasions with the Dove and Dolphin. He is traveling to Gaza to
volunteer in hospitals and clinics.

(Germany) Dr. Mohamed Issa
Dr. Issa is a pediatric surgeon from Germany. He is traveling to Gaza to
volunteer in hospitals and clinics.

(UK/Tunisia) Fathi Jaouadi
Fathi is a television producer and human rights activist. He will remain
in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.

(USA) Cynthia McKinney-KNOWN VIRULENT ANTI-SEMITE WANTED TO ACCEPT SAUDI MONEY AFTER 9/11.
Cynthia is a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green
Party presidential candidate. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the
ongoing conflict.

(Cyprus) Martha Paisi
Martha is a senior research fellow and experienced human rights activist (bulshit artist). She is traveling to Gaza to do human rights work and to assist with
humanitarian relief efforts.

(UK) Karl Penhaul
Karl Penhaul is a video correspondent for CNN, based out of Bogot?,
Colombia. Appointed to this position in February 2004, he covers breaking
news around the world utilizing CNN's new laptop-based 'Digital
Newsgathering' system. He is traveling to Gaza to report on the ongoing
conflict.

(Iraq) Thaer Shaker
Thaer is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera television. He will remain in Gaza to
report on the ongoing military onslaught.

(Cyprus) Dr. Elena Theoharous, MP
Dr. Theoharous is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She is
traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian
relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals.
###
To:
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 7:26 AM
Subject: [GazaFriends] URGENT! Israeli Navy Attacking Civilian Mercy Ship!
TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY!
ISRAEL IS ON THE MARCH IN GAZA. WE CAN ONLY HOPE THE ISM ACTS AS REAL HUMAN SHIELDS THIS TIME SO THEY CAN GET SHOT.An old Arab ditty but with new lyrics:

In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
Bomb the shit out the the Gaza savages!
Let's have some smell of napalm in the morning over Rafiach.
Avenge Sderot!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
Die die die Hamas dogs!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
Zion gonna win!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
Killing the Jihad bastards is the answer!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
End the illegal Hamas occupation of Jewish land in Gaza!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!
In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!

Stop the ISM's Lee Kaplan can salso be heard on the Tovia Singer Show (Israel National News Radio) on Thursday, December18th at 1 PM Pacific Time US to discuss Stop the ISM's involvement in the arrest and deportation of ISM activist Darlene Wallach by the Israeli Navy. If there is time, he will also discuss the newest ISM vile tactics of If American's Knew's head, Alsion Weir who is producing a film with the ISM's newest lie claiming Israel routinely sexcually abuses Arab women at Ben Gurion airport. For more on Alison Weir, visit the Rogues Section of Stop the ISM. The Tovia Singer Show can be heard at www.israelnationalnews.com and clicking on Radio Shows. The show also will be archived.


IDF Exercises Sovereignty off Gaza, Arrests Pro-Arab Activists
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

(IsraelNN.com) The IDF arrested 15 Arab fishermen and three International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists Monday after their fishing boats veered into Israeli territorial waters. It was the first time the foreigners have been arrested since the pro-Arab "Free Gaza" movement began testing Israeli sovereignty in August.

They have broken Israeli sovereignty four times by landing at Gaza without authorization and without interference from Israeli authorities before Tuesday's arrests.

The Foreign Ministry originally said it did not want to create a media circus over arrests on the high seas. Further sailings were allowed by the office of the Prime Minister and the IDF, possibly out of fear of injuries to the activists, who have included European legislators.

The detained activists were identified as Andrew Muncie from Scotland, Darlene Wallach from the United States and Victor Arrigoni from Italy, all of whom were turned over to immigration authorities at Ben Gurion Airport for deportation. One of them is staging a hunger strike, and pro-Arab leaders from the Free Gaza movement charged Israel with "kidnapping them."

An IDF spokeswoman explained that the fishing boats wandered into prohibited territory and ignored orders to halt. "They interfered with security patrols," the spokeswoman explained. "The ISM activists are provocateurs, and the IDF allows fishing in permitted waters."

The activists accompany the fishermen to encourage them to sail beyond the allowed limit and claim that Israel's exercised sovereignty over the Gaza Coast violates the Oslo Agreements. The government has stated in the past that it will control the air and sea so long as the Palestinian Authority, which has been replaced by Hamas in Gaza, does not control terror.

The activists previously have charged the Navy with chemical warfare by spraying water cannons that drenched them with "a chemical substance." IDF spokesmen laughed off the allegations as ridiculous and said that "routine and acceptable" measures are taken when boats stray beyond legal limits.

The IDF also denied allegations that machine gunfire has been used to ward off the boats. Radio Netherlands reported that the fishing boats bear bullet holes, and it quoted an unnamed Arab's claim that fishermen come under fire on a daily basis.

Muncie, one of the activists who was arrested, accused the Navy of throwing explosives into the sea in order to destabilize the boats. Radio Netherlands also reported claims that two fishermen have been killed and at least four others wounded. The IDF denied the claims.

ISM activist prosecuted for aiding Hamas and passport fraud:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/022457.php

Pennsylvania Leftist useful idiot guilty of aiding Hamas

A member of the International Solidarity Movement. Left/Jihad Nexus Update: "York County native gets 31/2 years for helping Hamas," by Nichole Dobo for The Evening Sun, August 23:

A 33-year-old York County native was sentenced Thursday morning to prison for aiding a group the United States designated as a terrorist organization. Richard David Hupper, originally from York Township, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison for aiding Hamas, a Palestinian military and political organization.

Hupper faced up to 15 years in prison. He admitted to giving about $20,000 to Hamas while working in Israel with the International Solidarity Movement, a non-governmental organization….

Hupper, a Dallastown Area High School graduate, became involved with the conflict in the Middle East after watching international newscasts. The machinist watched the TV shows while recovering from a work-related injury at his Alabama home, his lawyer has said.

Hupper traveled to the Gaza Strip, where he worked with the International Solidarity Movement to aid Palestinians, according to court documents. He was eventually deported by Israeli authorities, according to court documents.

To return to Israel, Hupper applied for a passport in Florida using false information, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to passport fraud charges more than two years ago. He is finishing his 24-month federal prison sentence for those charges.

Where does an unemployed machinist get $20K for Hamas? Through ISM fundraising as with the Gaza Flotilla. See below and tune in to learn how to go after ISM -Hamas fundraising:

Stop the ISM's Lee Kaplan will be on the Tovia Singer Show on Israel National News Radio on Thrusday night , August 28th at 9 pm (Friday at midnight e.s.t. or 7 am Friday in Israel) to discuss the Gaza Flotilla and what you can do to have the ISM activists arrested involved in the event. Tune in to see what you can do at www.israelnationalnews.com click on radio and listen live or listen to the archived show.