Propaganda Alert

Speaking frankly about Israel and Palestine

2006-12-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

By Jimmy Carter
LA Times
December 8, 2006

I signed a contract with Simon & Schuster two years ago to write a book about the Middle East, based on my personal observations as the Carter Center monitored three elections in Palestine and on my consultations with Israeli political leaders and peace activists.

We covered every Palestinian community in 1996, 2005 and 2006, when Yasser Arafat and later Mahmoud Abbas were elected president and members of parliament were chosen. The elections were almost flawless, and turnout was very high - except in East Jerusalem, where, under severe Israeli restraints, only about 2% of registered voters managed to cast ballots.

The many controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace for Israel are intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations - but not in the United States. For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts. This reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is because of the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices.

It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel comply with international law or to speak in defense of justice or human rights for Palestinians. Very few would ever deign to visit the Palestinian cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Gaza City or even Bethlehem and talk to the beleaguered residents. What is even more difficult to comprehend is why the editorial pages of the major newspapers and magazines in the United States exercise similar self-restraint, quite contrary to private assessments expressed quite forcefully by their correspondents in the Holy Land.

With some degree of reluctance and some uncertainty about the reception my book would receive, I used maps, text and documents to describe the situation accurately and to analyze the only possible path to peace: Israelis and Palestinians living side by side within their own internationally recognized boundaries. These options are consistent with key U.N. resolutions supported by the U.S. and Israel, official American policy since 1967, agreements consummated by Israeli leaders and their governments in 1978 and 1993 (for which they earned Nobel Peace Prizes), the Arab League's offer to recognize Israel in 2002 and the International Quartet's "Roadmap for Peace," which has been accepted by the PLO and largely rejected by Israel.

The book is devoted to circumstances and events in Palestine and not in Israel, where democracy prevails and citizens live together and are legally guaranteed equal status.

Although I have spent only a week or so on a book tour so far, it is already possible to judge public and media reaction. Sales are brisk, and I have had interesting interviews on TV, including "Larry King Live," "Hardball," "Meet the Press," "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," the "Charlie Rose" show, C-SPAN and others. But I have seen few news stories in major newspapers about what I have written.

Book reviews in the mainstream media have been written mostly by representatives of Jewish organizations who would be unlikely to visit the occupied territories, and their primary criticism is that the book is anti-Israel. Two members of Congress have been publicly critical. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for instance, issued a statement (before the book was published) saying that "he does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel." Some reviews posted on Amazon.com call me "anti-Semitic," and others accuse the book of "lies" and "distortions." A former Carter Center fellow has taken issue with it, and Alan Dershowitz called the book's title "indecent."

Out in the real world, however, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I've signed books in five stores, with more than 1,000 buyers at each site. I've had one negative remark - that I should be tried for treason - and one caller on C-SPAN said that I was an anti-Semite. My most troubling experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for free, about the book on university campuses with high Jewish enrollment and to answer questions from students and professors. I have been most encouraged by prominent Jewish citizens and members of Congress who have thanked me privately for presenting the facts and some new ideas.

The book describes the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank. An enormous imprisonment wall is now under construction, snaking through what is left of Palestine to encompass more and more land for Israeli settlers. In many ways, this is more oppressive than what blacks lived under in South Africa during apartheid. I have made it clear that the motivation is not racism but the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize choice sites in Palestine, and then to forcefully suppress any objections from the displaced citizens. Obviously, I condemn any acts of terrorism or violence against innocent civilians, and I present information about the terrible casualties on both sides.

The ultimate purpose of my book is to present facts about the Middle East that are largely unknown in America, to precipitate discussion and to help restart peace talks (now absent for six years) that can lead to permanent peace for Israel and its neighbors. Another hope is that Jews and other Americans who share this same goal might be motivated to express their views, even publicly, and perhaps in concert. I would be glad to help with that effort.

By Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States. His newest book is "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," published last month. He is scheduled to sign books Monday at Vroman's in Pasadena.

Pentagon Fomenting the "Civil War" in Iraq

2006-12-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

by La Voz de Aztlan

Global Research, December 7, 2006
La Voz del Aztlan

The Pentagon's "Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group (P2OG)" is behind many of the terrorist attacks in Iraq. The car bombings, assassinations, sabotage, kidnappings and attacks on mosques are designed to cause violence and discord between Sunnis and Shiites. P2OG in collusion with Israeli IDF and MOSSAD operatives are responsible for a series of secret covert operations whose purpose is to create an all out civil war in Iraq. The ultimate purpose is to dismember the country, achieve complete control and make it easier for the USA and Zionist Israel to profit from Iraq's vast oil resources.

As part of the Pentagon's well funded programme, the CIA and Israeli MOSSAD have been training and arming the Kurds for terror raids inside Iraq. The Israeli operatives are also helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders, prominent Iraqi academics, scientists, politicians and religious leaders. .

Their first major operation was the bombing on February 22, 2006 of the Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra, also known as the Golden Mosque. The mosque was a very well thought out target that holds the tombs of two revered 9th-century imams of the Shiite branch of Islam. The attack on the Golden Mosque began at 7 a.m., when a dozen men dressed in paramilitary uniforms entered the shrine and handcuffed four guards who were sleeping in a back room. The attackers then placed a bomb in the dome and detonated it, collapsing most of the dome and heavily damaging an adjoining wall.

The covert operation against the Golden Mosque was designed to provoke Shiite groups into committing violent acts and retaliations against the Sunnis. Sunni political leaders said retaliatory attacks hit more than 20 Sunni mosques across Iraq with bombs, gunfire or arson. Authorities reported at least 18 people killed in the aftermath, including two Sunni clerics. In one incident, in Basra in southern Iraq, police said gunmen in police uniforms broke into a jail, seized 12 Sunni men and later killed them. These attacks against the Sunnis were also carried out by operatives under the Pentagon's "Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group".

The Pentagon blamed the bombing of the Golden Mosque on al-Qaeda but cleric Abdul Zara Saidy had another explanation. He said the mosque attack was the work of "occupiers," or Americans, "and Zionists".

U.S. tracks Canadians for terror traits

2006-12-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Monitoring system stores data on flights, licence plates, credit cards, addresses

Dec. 2, 2006. 08:47 AM
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON—The U.S. government knows where you sat on your last cross-border flight, how you paid for your ticket, your email address, your phone number, even your special meal requests in the past.

They won't let you look at the information but they can share it with law enforcement agencies, foreign governments, even public health agencies and they can keep the dossiers compiled on millions of Canadian travellers for up to 40 years.

It's all in the name of assigning you a score as a potential terrorist under a program known as the Automated Targeting System (ATS).

U.S. privacy advocates and some legislators promised to fight to kill the program yesterday, but the Department of Homeland Security was unapologetic, saying the ATS is really just a continuation of a program overseen by another agency for more than a decade.

Every traveller from every nation, arriving by land, air or sea, is screened under the program.

There was no official reaction from Ottawa to the U.S. program yesterday.

A consultation period inviting comments on the plan ends Monday at which time Washington will determine whether it needs to modify it before publishing the final rules, said homeland security spokesperson Jarod Agen.

Details of the program were placed on the electronic Federal Register here in early November, but the department did nothing to publicize it, Agen said, because it was not seeking new information, merely bringing existing programs under the homeland security umbrella.

The information remains in the government's possession for up to 40 years, he said, because it can sometimes take 10 years or more for terrorist plots to develop.

"If you booked your flight by cellphone and that cellphone shows up at a terrorist's safe house, you will be under greater scrutiny," he said.

Privacy advocates say the Bush administration was trying to hide the program.

"The Automated Targeting System mines a vast amount of data to create a `risk assessment' on hundreds of millions of people per year, a label that will follow them for the rest of their lives, as the data will be retained for 40 years,'' said the Electronic Privacy Information Centre.

"Yet the system is deeply flawed, and the funds spent turning ATS into a citizen profiling program would be better spent in perfecting its cargo screening process, so that port security can be stronger than a `house of cards,'" the privacy centre says.
The centre's executive director, Marc Rotenberg, said if the information is used for any other reason than to assess security risks, and it cannot be accessed by its subjects, "then I think the program should be shut down.''

Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, the judiciary committee chair in the new U.S. congress, said data banks such as ATS are due for oversight.

"That is going to change in the new congress,'' he told the Associated Press, which first revealed the existence of ATS.

David Sobel, senior counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the proposal "frightening'' and urged homeland security to "allow for an informed public debate on this dangerous proposal.''

The program was used to screen cargo in the early 1990s under the supervision of the American treasury department, then expanded to include passengers in the mid-1990s.

Following the 2001 terror attacks, however, the scope of information sought by the U.S. was greatly expanded and was the subject of much debate in Ottawa because it involved Canadian air carriers.

In its detailed privacy posting on its website, homeland security said data must be retained for up to 40 years "to cover the potentially active lifespan of individuals associated with terrorism or other criminal activities.''

It said, however, it would delete files if they are no longer relevant. But you won't know whether your file is active or deleted because the proposed rules also prevent any access to the data the U.S. has stored.

Most of the information comes from air carriers, Amtrak, the U.S. national rail carrier, chartered sea vessels and information provided by motor vehicle registration when your licence plate is scanned as you drive across the border.

According to the homeland security proposal, the information collected on you includes:

The date of your reservations and your travel dates.

Your name and the names of your travelling companions.

Your address, your credit card information, your billing address, your cellphone number and email address.

Where you like to sit on the plane and any special services — meals or otherwise — you request.

Your frequent flyer points and your travel agency.

The number of times you have booked one-way tickets.

How many bags you check and their tag numbers, and whether you have ever booked a flight and not shown up.

Conservative Party linked to pro-U.S. annexation cabal

2006-11-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

Activities tantamount to Treason, involving Breach of Parliamentary Oath and conspiracy to overthrow Her Majesty

by Peter Mackenzie

"Stand Up for Canada" appears to have been devised as a technique of mass deception, under the joint auspices of former ultra-right wing Alliance Party and U.S. Republican Party advisors.

In the last 2006 Federal Election, the Conservative Party kept trumpeting its slogan that it would "Stand up for Canada". Then, Opposition Leader Stephen Harper during that elected indicated that he would similarly "Stand Up" for Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. Mr. Harper portrayed his party, as a party which would govern Canada with integrity and openness in a spirit of renewed democracy, in contrast with the 'corruption' of the Martin Liberals. As it turns out, these assertions by Mr. Harper could not be further from the truth.

Mel Hurtig, the founder of the Council of Canadians, and also a variety of other reliable sources including veteran CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, now reveal that senior elected representatives and advisors to the Conservative Party, are currently planning a scheme that would hand over Canada to the Bush regime by 2007. The official name for this scheme, is called "North American Union".

Mel Hurtig, a noted Canadian author and publisher who was the elected leader of the National Party of Canada, provided researchers with the agenda and attendee list of the so-called "North American Forum" at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta, Sept. 12-14, 2006.

Mr. Hurtig said the "secret meeting was designed to undermine the democratic process." In addition, the reported Agenda undermines the Statutory position of Her Majesty the Queen of Canada, as the constitutional expression of a Canada independent from the U.S.

"What is sinister about this meeting is that it involved high level government officials and some of the top and most powerful business leaders of the three countries and the North American Forum in organizing the meeting intentionally did not inform the press in any of the three countries," he said. "It was clear that the intention was to keep this important meeting about integrating the three countries out of the public eye," Mr. Hurtig further indicates.

The motive for U.S. participation, according to Mr. Hurtig, was "to gain access and control Canada's extensive natural resources, including oil and water."

Documents obtained by researchers associated with the Council of Canadians were marked "Internal Document, Not for Public Release." At least three current Ministers of Stephen Harper's Conservative Party minority government are cited in the Document as "ring leaders" so-to-speak, of an unlawful and anti-constitutional effort to hand Canada to the Bush regime.

Canadian constitutional and related law is quite clear that any such effort by elected members of a government to subvert the political authority of the Government of Canada, constitutes breach of a Parliamentary Allegiance of Office, and broadly treason.

This is because the reportedly directed efforts of Ministers in the Stephen Harper government, to hand over Canada to the political authority of Mr. Bush, as the American Head of State, without the consent of the diverse Canadian public, can only be executed by the seditious overthrowing of the Crown, i.e. Canadian Head of State.

Section 128 of the Constitution Act, 1867 indicates as follows:

Every member of the Senate and the House of Commons of Canada shall before taking his Seat therein take and subscribe before the Governor General or some Person authorized by him, and every Member of a Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly of any Province shall before the Lieutenant Governor of the Province or some Person authorized by him, the Oath of Allegiance contained in the Fifth Schedule to this Act; .

The oath set out in the Fifth Schedule reads as follows:

I, A.B. do swear, That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Her Majesty... [Elizabeth II].

According to the Sixth Edition of Beauchesne's Rules & Forms of the House of Commons of Canada:

Should a member violate his oath he [or she] would be amenable to the penalty of not being allowed to sit in the House of Commons. He [or she] may be suspended from taking part in the sittings while still remaining a member of Parliament, or, in a case of extreme gravity, a Bill might be passed to annul his election...

The power of dealing with treason is inherent in the Parliament of every country.

The leaked document clearly substantiates that Ministers of the Stephen Harper Government are sharing information with representatives of the U.S. military-industrial-complex, for the purposes of "surrendering" Canada to a U.S.-based "non-democratic authority". This apparent government-sponsored effort is designed to destroy the sovereign authority of Canadians as co-owners of their society, in violation of all Canadian Constitutional Acts since 1867.

Pursuant to Section 46 (2) of the Canadian Criminal Codes "Every one commits treason in Canada, when someone (b) without lawful authority, communicates or makes available to an agent of a state other than Canada, military or scientific information or any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document of a military or scientific character that he knows or ought to know may be used by that state for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or defence of Canada;

Furthermore, pursuant to Section 52 of the Criminal Code of Canada, to the extent that the apparent efforts of the Stephen Harper government to surrender Canada to a non-democratic American political arrangement is seditious to "(a) the safety, security or defence of Canada," the Stephen Harper government has executed treason. If that has indeed occurred, then the Stephen Harper government, if it has any semblance of integrity, must surrender its authority to the Governor-General acting on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen of Canada, toward new Federal Election.

Make comments about this article in The Canadian Blog.

A new blog series about John F. Kennedy

2006-11-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

I just discovered an excellent series of essays about John F. Kennedy on this blog by Laura Knight Jadczyk. There are ten entries so far, with more on the way. The author does a great job on analyzing how the world might have been different if JFK had lived to fulfill his term in office. Instead, we are stuck with a moron and pathological liar like Dubya, who seems hell-bent on starting WWIII, with his Zionist/Neocon backers paving the way. Psychopaths... all of them.

In order to familiarize the reader with these series of essays, I will be presenting the first few paragraphs or so of each chapter, with a link to it's proper source.

Enjoy!

Relic

#1 John F. Kennedy and The Debris of History

Over the past few days I've been thinking a lot about John Kennedy and what our world might have been like if he had lived. These thoughts didn't just come out of the blue, they are the result of the fact that I have just finished reading one of the saddest books ever written: Farewell America by the pseudonymous author, James Hepburn.

Farewell America is pretty well accepted to have been authored by the French equivalent of our CIA, and based on hard intelligence gathered from French, Russian, and even American sources. It was originally published in French in 1968, but it was unavailable in the United States for many years. With the coming of the worldwide web, it became available and I truly wish that every American citizen would read it.

With remarkable skill and insight, the book outlines the overall situation in America at the time, and describes the players and most probable conspirators involved in the horrific and brutal public execution of probably the best president America ever had. There are many reasons to think that George H.W. Bush was involved in the plot, and today, having placed his idiot son on the throne, the world is as far away from that world we could be living in had Kennedy lived, that it is like we all died back then, and now we have awakened in Hell. [...]

#2 The Gladiator: John Fitzgerald Kennedy

In my previous post, I included a chapter from Farewell America which gave a broad overview of the "American Psyche." It is crucial to understand the forces at play here in order to understand why John Kennedy was murdered, and why, when he died, the death knell of the American Republic - as well as its people - began sounding.
As I have written before, most Americans are woefully ignorant of their true history, and by design. [...]

#3 The Bushes and The Lost King

The assassination of John F. Kennedy is a lot like the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Since that terrible day, almost 43 years ago, there have been over 2,000 books written about the JFK assassination. There have also been numerous television programs and several movies. There is endless theorizing and speculation as to why John F. Kennedy was executed by what amounts to a firing squad, in broad daylight, in the middle of Dallas Texas, on a sunny day in November. Additionally, there have been a lot of myths created and propagated seemingly to muddy the waters. The only thing that most of the proponents of various theories can agree on is that the FBI and the CIA did little to help the Warren Commission solve the crime. Well, that also sounds a lot like the official 9/11 Report. Both events were dealt with in the same way, by a "select group of bureaucrats with an agenda of lies".

Just as with the events on 9/11, there is the "official story"; in the case of Kennedy, it was the "lone gunman"; in the case of 9/11, it was 19 improbable terrorists directed by a cave-dwelling mastermind. In fact, Osama bin Laden and Lee Harvey Oswald have a lot in common: both worked for the CIA. [...]

Is the Bush family implicated in the assassination of John F. Kennedy? [...]

#4 Sim City and John F. Kennedy

When I re-read the words of John F. Kennedy, when I consider the legislation he sought to enact, when I consider the sheer depth and humanity of him, and compare him with what is lurking and lurching in the White House today, I am literally overwhelmed. How far down into the Slough of Despond we have been sucked since that November day 43 years ago. [...]

#5 John F. Kennedy and All Those "isms"

Today, I want to come back to my JFK project. Twelve days from now is the 43rd anniversary of the assassination - a virtual coup d'etat effected by Corporate America and its various connections. As I mentioned when I began this little series in commemoration of John F. Kennedy, a close and careful study of American history reveals that the American system was set up to promote the rule of the rich. It was Calvinism with a kick, and that kick was that it appealed to deviant persons without conscience for whom it seems the Capitalistic system was invented. [...]

#6 John F. Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, Organized Crime and the Global Village

Did you know that if we could reduce the world’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

60 Asians

14 Africans

12 Europeans

8 Latin Americans

5 North Americans AND Canadians

Of all of the above, 82 would be non-white and only 18 would be "white".

67 would be non-Christian and only 33 would be Christian.

5 would control 32% of the entire world’s wealth, and all of them would be US citizens

80 would live in substandard housing

24 would not have any electricity (And of the 76% that do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.)

67 would be unable to read

1 (only one) would have a college education.

50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation

33 would be without access to a safe water supply

7 people would have access to the Internet

If there is a meal in your refrigerator, if you are dressed and have got shoes, if you have a bed and a roof above your head, you are better off, than 75% of people in this world.

If you have a bank account, money in your purse and there is some trifle in your coin box, you belong to 8% of well-provided people in this world.

If you are able to go to church, mosque or synagogue without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are better off than 3 billion persons in this world.

I guess you notice that Americans are in the minority population wise and yet they control the majority of the world's wealth. What do you think will happen if that majority of people ever really gets it in their head that America is an intolerable bully and must no longer be tolerated? Sure, America could bomb the hell out of the planet and reduce our lives to a Stone Age existence, but then that would be rather like cutting off our noses to spite our faces, now wouldn't it?

Today I want to look at some of the words and acts of John F. Kennedy in the last year - and days - leading up to his death, extracted from Farewell America. These words and deeds give us a deep insight as to how he wished to deal with America's place in the global village; that he saw the danger and sought to avert just what is happening today: the entire world is turning against America. As you read his words, and contemplate his acts, consider them in the light of what we have experienced in America since his death. We know where the assassins have led us: a world of terror and heartbreak, of endless war and privation for multiplied millions of human beings; where would we be today if they had not succeeded? [...]

#7 John F. Kennedy and the Psychopathology of Politics

Today I want to continue with the subject of John Kennedy; there's only one week left before the anniversary of his death, so I'm going to have to really put the pedal to the metal to get to the end of the subject on time. As it happens, now that the subject weighs so heavily on my mind, I find that there are things that constantly remind me of what America lost, the terrible state of the world today as a consequence of that loss, and the ultimate reasons behind it all. [...]

#8 John F. Kennedy and the Pigs of War (JFK and the Bay of Pigs)

On November 18th, 1963, 43 years ago today, John F. Kennedy predicted that the month of April, 1964, would bring "the longest and strongest peacetime economic expansion in our Nation's entire history." And he added: "The steady conquest of the surely yielding enemies of misery and hopelessness, hunger, and injustice is the central task for the Americas in our time . . . 'Nothing is true except a man or men adhere to it -- to live for it, to spend themselves on it, to die for it . . . '"

Time was slipping through his hands . . . he had four days to live. [...]

#9 John F. Kennedy and the Titans

On November 19, 1963, 43 years ago today, at a ceremony in the White House Flower Garden, John F. Kennedy welcomed officers of state education associations of the National Education Association. he remarked: "I realize once again in a very personal way what a tremendous flood of children are coming into our schools..."

He was always concerned about children, his own as well as the children of all Americans and the world. [...]

#10 John F. Kennedy, Oil, and the War on Terror

On November 20th, 1963, between 11:30 - 11:40 a.m., President John F. Kennedy met with Lena Horne, Carol Lawrence, DNC chairman John M. Bailey, and others.

Later that day, he issued a statement on the Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference to Allocate Frequency Bands for Space Radio Communication Purposes, held in Geneva, Switzerland from October 7 to November 8, 1963. He invited other nations to participate in setting up a global communication satellite system. He spoke of "a peace system worldwide in scope."

Following that, John Kennedy sent to the Congress the 17th annual report on U.S. participation in the United Nations, and then he signed into law bill (HR2073) to allow the conveyance of submerged and tidal lands to Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa if they are needed for economic development or other compelling reason. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Archives

At the end of the day, he had less than two days left...

Seismic Proof 9/11 Was An Inside Job

2006-11-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday, November 12th, 2006
Craig T. Furlong & Gordon Ross

There is an appointed time for everything
And there is a time for every event under heaven
Ecclesiastes 3:1

SUMMARY
On September 11, 2001, the seismic stations grouped around New York City recorded seismic events from the WTC site, two of which occurred immediately prior to the aircraft impacts upon the Twin Towers. Because these seismic events preceded the collisions, it is clear they were not associated with the impacts and must therefore be associated with some other occurrence. None of the authorities charged with the responsibility for the investigation of the events of 9/11 have proposed a source for these seismic events, nor have they given a valid reason for the difference in times between the seismic events and the aircraft impacts. Only by consideration of the evidence of basement explosions before the aircraft impacts, as experienced by William Rodriquez and 36 others, can an explanation be found for the fact that the seismic stations recorded seismic events originating from the WTC sites prior to the aircraft impacts. It seems unlikely that Middle Eastern terrorists could have overcome the WTC security and managed this kind of high-level, technological coordination. Do the facts presented here, simple and few, raise the possibility of inside involvement in 9/11/01, both before and after the attack? [...]

Post-Election Reality Check

2006-11-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

By Laura Knight-Jadczyk
08/11/2006

So you think "the system worked", democracy has won out, and that yesterday's election is the first step to straightening out the mess Bush and the Neocons have made on the planet?

Think again. It's not that "the system" didn't work; it worked very well, but you have again been duped.

Nothing has changed. In fact, many of you have been put back to sleep by the staged Democratic victory which was set up just for that purpose; to make you think you still live in a democracy. The fact is, the Zionist halter is as firmly strapped on the head of American State policy as it ever was, and the American voter needs to realize that it is immaterial which party prevails at elections.

We read in one news item today:

Democrats Win House, On Brink of Senate Power

Democrats rolled up gains of about 30 seats in the House in Tuesday's elections, riding to a huge victory on a wave of public discontent with the Iraq war, corruption and Republican President George W. Bush's leadership.

Yeah, the public has been VERY discontented and the wave of resistance growing, what with all the activity on the internet working to expose Bush and the Zio-cons for the criminals they are. I'm sure that this was part of the reason to carry on this election farce.

Democratic control of the House will make outspoken liberal Rep. Nancy Pelosi the first female speaker and could slam the brakes on much of Bush's agenda and increase pressure for a change of course in Iraq. ...

Just slamming on the brakes? How about let's put things into reverse and go back a bit? I don't think that is what Pelosi has in mind, though.

"Tonight is a great victory for the American people," Pelosi told a Democratic rally on Capitol Hill. "Today the American people voted for change, and they voted for Democrats to take our country in a new direction." ...

Did they REALLY? Or is this just another manipulation? Is it a distraction to make the people think that changes really are on the way, when, in fact, it will be business as usual?

Early exit polls showed voters disapproved of the war in Iraq by a large margin, but voters said corruption and ethics were more important to their vote, CNN said.

Democrats hammered Republicans for spawning a "culture of corruption" in Washington, with four Republican House members resigning this year under an ethics cloud.

The party was hit by allegations about influence peddling, links to convicted lobbyists and a Capitol Hill sex scandal involving Republican Rep. Mark Foley's lewd messages to teenage male congressional assistants.

Hmmm... Pelosi is focusing on Iraq and not on the corruption issues. I think I remember some recent polls that suggested over half the people in the U.S. would support impeachment of Bush and even criminal charges. That's what people are really upset about, but is Pelosi on top of that issue? Or is she just handing the people a consolation prize?

Here's another from the Chicago Tribune:

American people sent 'unmistakable message'

After six years of near-total Republican domination, voters repudiated President Bush, the Iraq war and the GOP-led Congress on Tuesday, handing control of the House of Representatives to Democrats, placing Republican hold of the Senate in doubt and upending the balance of power in Washington.

The election, which centered on war, scandal and an array of anxieties about illegal immigration, high gasoline prices and embryonic stem cell research, abruptly ended 12 years of Republican rule in the House, casting out incumbents in every region of the country. ...

Notice how the corruption issues mentioned in the article above as being the chief concern of the people in the exit polls are mentioned only briefly here - scandal - while the focus gets put on the war, (which is certainly an outgrowth of corruption in the Bush Administration), immigration, high prices, and - geeze, how did that get in there - "stem cell research"?? Did they miss the exit polls that said: "voters disapproved of the war in Iraq by a large margin, but voters said corruption and ethics were more important to their vote."

You know: corruption, lies about WMDs, corruption of the Media, criminal behavior that needs to be investigated and prosecuted criminally?! It's sounding more like a set-up all the time: "hey, we'll let you Dems take the elections so it gets the heat off of us from the people who are ranting that we are fascists, meanwhile, you just make sure that nobody gets called on the carpet and/or raked over the coals! We don't want any REAL truth and justice and the American Way in Washington, ya know!"

Tuesday's election results mean Bush enters his final two years in office without a Republican Congress willingly moving his agenda forward and refraining from asking hard questions about U.S. conduct of the war in Iraq. Instead, Democrats will confront him with an agenda of their own and a newfound power to issue subpoenas and launch investigations.

Hmmm... but will they investigate what really matters? That's the 64,000 $$ question.

"The American people have sent a resounding and unmistakable message of change and new direction for America," said an exhausted Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who recruited and funded many of the challengers who won Tuesday. ...

Did they? Or is it all a farce to let off some steam, and take the heat off the criminals?

Democrats have vowed to raise the minimum wage, allow Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, make college tuition tax deductible and implement all of the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission to secure the nation's borders and ports. They have also promised to expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research, which Bush gave his first, and only, veto to this year.

But wait a minnit! What about the exit polls that said: "voters disapproved of the war in Iraq by a large margin, but voters said corruption and ethics were more important to their vote."?? Sure, raising the minimum wage is a good idea, helping medicare and students out is all fine and good, but what about investigating the lies that led us into the Iraq War? What about investigating the complete lie of 9/11? What's this about "securing the nation's borders and ports"? That sounds like they are just going to continue the Bush Zio-con agenda while handing out candy to the crowd. And again, "stem-cell research"??!! Don't get me wrong, I'm all for stem-cell research if it is conducted ethically. I'm also pro-choice. But how did this become a "talking point" when what is really upsetting Americans is corruption and lack of ethics in government? We need some investigations - independent ones at that - and some arrests and prosecutions! We want Bush and the Zio-cons BEHIND BARS or in front of a firing squad! Geeze, Pelosi, they've murdered over 600,000 innocent people! Don't you get it?

On Iraq, Democrats have said they would begin a phased redeployment of U.S. forces and require Iraqis to take responsibility for their country. They have also promised to double the size of Special Forces in order to track down and destroy terrorist networks such as Al Qaeda. ...

In other words, they are just going to pursue the Bush-Zio-con agenda with different justifications. Nothing about bringing the criminals to trial, getting out of Iraq today, this minute or telling the truth to the American people that there never WAS a "terrorist threat" other than the ones created by the CIA and MOSSAD. And now that we've mentioned it, that's another thing that needs to be investigated, independently!!!

That unhappiness extended to conservatives who watched with dismay as Republicans shifted from the party of limited government, less spending and strong ethics to one of massive spending, more government and scandal.

And now it looks like the Dems are doing a similar metamorphosis ...

Voters across the political spectrum were also distressed as bribery and lobbying scandals tainted a host of Republicans, forcing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to resign and sending Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California to prison. Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) pleaded guilty to accepting illegal gifts from lobbyists, resigned his seat and is headed to prison next year.

"They went from being the party of conviction to the party of convictions," said Matt Bennett, a strategist for Third Way, a Democratic think tank. ...

And that's the main issue, if Pelosi and gang will just take notice. And the corruption goes all the way to the top.

On top of all that, sexually explicit electronic messages to congressional pages forced Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to leave office and allowed a Democrat to win his seat. The ensuing scandal over who knew what when threatened to cause the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, New York Rep. Tom Reynolds, to lose his own previously secure Republican seat. Even so, Reynolds managed to win re-election.

Now, isn't that odd? We already know that the main thing that Americans are upset about it corruption, and here is a guy, at the center of a major scandal, who somehow managed to get re-elected?! Something isn't right with this picture. How much you want to bet that the guy running against him couldn't be bought, and the only Dems that did win in this whole election farce were the ones that could be relied upon to be "guided" by those special interests that are driving America to destruction?

Meanwhile, Rep. Don Sherwood (R-Pa.) lost his bid for re-election after acknowledging a long-running affair with a younger woman who alleged that Sherwood had assaulted her. He later reached an out-of-court settlement with the woman. And in New York, Rep. John Sweeney lost to Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand after it became public that police responded to a domestic violence call involving Sweeney and his wife last year. ...

I guess that Sherwood was expendable. Odd that he would lose for basically a "normal" scandal - at least it was adults involved - while Tom Reynolds, involved in the Foley pedophilia scandal kept his seat. Is it just me, or is anybody else seeing something wrong with this picture?

The country's sour mood and its unhappiness with the Bush administration were apparent in the final days and weeks of the campaign. As House and Senate races went down to the wire, many Republicans chose to distance themselves from the president. And the president was unwelcome in many states where Republicans were struggling to hold onto power.

And you can bet it was all planned that way. Now, let's look at Pelosi:

Pelosi set to become first woman to lead House

Under U.S. law, the speaker is second in the line of succession to the presidency, behind only the vice president.

That means that the controllers must be very sure of Pelosi. I would say that this almost guarantees that she is dirty.

Pelosi has said she will not try to end U.S. funding of the Iraq war but will pressure Bush to shift course, begin a phased redeployment of U.S. troops and require Iraqis to take greater responsibility for their own nation.

Oh, geeze, Nancy! How assertive of you! That would have probably happened anyway because even the Repubs admit it's a quagmire. You are doing anything special!

Pelosi has rejected calls to attempt to impeach Bush and drive him from office. But she has said Democrats would hold congressional oversight hearings, which could include such matters as whether he manipulated the facts to build early support for the Iraq war.

Wow! That says it all! Pelosi rejects calls to impeach Bush... but, just to make sure people think she is being straight-up, they'll investigate the "manipulation of facts." Can we say LYING, Pelosi? Can we say putting American lives in danger? Can we say TREASON?

Now, let's think about this for a minute: All the revelations mentioned above - the "culture of corruption" - came to us via the Media. We all know that the media is responsible for promoting the lies that Bush and the Neocons peddled about 9/11 and bin Laden and Saddam that got us into the war. We all know that the media colluded to protect the standing of G.W. Bush, a rapist, drunk driver, cocaine user, and deserter from the National Guard. Now, do you really think that the media (and its controllers) suddenly woke up and decided to become overseers of the Neocon ethics, to expose the corruption in the Bush Administration that has existed for all of the past six years?

Of course not.

Now, think back to the previous presidential election when it is a certainty, based on exit polls and the general feeling in the U.S., that G.W. Bush did not win that election - heck, he didn't win the first election - it was a fraudulent election, plain and simple. Take this to the next step: do you really think that if two elections could be stolen, that a third one could not? That the entire election of yesterday could not have gone to the Republicans IF that had been wanted by those who control the money, the media, and the voting machines?

But they knew that Americans were getting just a bit too hostile, that the climate in America was volatile, and another obviously "stolen" election could have been the spark to set off a powder keg. Not that they don't, ultimately, WANT to create a revolution in the U.S.; they just want it on their terms, and when they are certain that they can make it go the way they want it to go.

Besides, the crucial legislation that was needed to get and keep all the Democrats in line has already been passed.

Remember how many democrats voted to confirm Samuel Alito? What about Atty. General Gonzalez? How about the Patriot Act? The Torture Act? Remember how McCain showed his yellow spine?

So, do not, for an instant, let it escape your mind that the very media organs that ought to support accountability have been totally co-opted for a very long time.
Israel - by way of Jews loyal to the Zionist agenda - controls the media.

They control other things as well.

Consider who controls the telephone system in the U.S.... Israel. In short, long before 911, they had the ways and means to blackmail anyone in this country, INCLUDING CONGRESS.

Then consider what Paul Craig Roberts wrote about Bush's illegal spying...

Bush's acts of illegal domestic spying are gratuitous because there are no valid reasons for Bush to illegally spy. The Foreign Intelligence Services Act gives Bush all the power he needs to spy on terrorist suspects. All the administration is required to do is to apply to a secret FISA court for warrants. The Act permits the administration to spy first and then apply for a warrant, should time be of the essence. The problem is that Bush has totally ignored the law and the court.

Why would President Bush ignore the law and the FISA court? It is certainly not because the court in its three decades of existence was uncooperative. According to attorney Martin Garbus (New York Observer, 12-28-05), the secret court has issued more warrants than all federal district judges combined, only once denying a warrant.

Why, then, has the administration created another scandal for itself on top of the WMD, torture, hurricane, and illegal detention scandals?

There are two possible reasons.

One reason is that the Bush administration is being used to concentrate power in the executive. The old conservative movement, which honors the separation of powers, has been swept away. Its place has been taken by a neoconservative movement that worships executive power.

The other reason is that the Bush administration could not go to the FISA secret court for warrants because it was not spying for legitimate reasons and, therefore, had to keep the court in the dark about its activities.

What might these illegitimate reasons be? Could it be that the Bush administration used the spy apparatus of the US government in order to influence the outcome of the presidential election?

Could we attribute the feebleness of the Democrats as an opposition party to information obtained through illegal spying that would subject them to blackmail?

When Roberts suggests "What might these illegitimate reasons be? Could it be that the Bush administration used the spy apparatus of the US government in order to influence the outcome of the presidential election? "

... he doesn't really go the full distance. What if the illegal spying is to gain complete control of government and judiciary? Everybody has dirty laundry, and if you have that information, you can control about anything. The only people you can't control are those who are "clean" and we can guess from the way things are going in the U.S. and UK, just about everybody is "dirty."

Americans turned out in record numbers to vote in the last presidential election. They NEVER do that unless they are unhappy with the status quo. The exit polls and evidence of vote tampering suggests strongly that Bush did not win the election... (which is not to say that Kerry was any better choice!)

So, not only do they have control of congress and the judiciary so that they can control legislation, they also control the votes... As Stalin said, it's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes. And with control of congress and the judiciary AND the support of the Israeli owned media, there is NO possibility of them being made accountable for ANY of their crimes.

The whole election was played out as a farce to reassure the American people that they still lived in a democracy and to quell the growing revolutionary agitation.

So, considering the cards that the Israelis are holding in terms of illegal spying, I think we need to be realistic and understand that this election is not going to change anything substantive. They made a big show of the Democratic Sweep of the House, and on and on. But with the controls this cabal has already, there is ZERO possibility of fundamental change in course.

That's the problem we are facing and 911 is the single best leverage we have to DO something about it IF it is utilized efficiently. People need to continue to demand accountability for 9/11 - a full and independent investigation that includes reviewers and overseers selected at random from a pool of qualified, INTERNATIONAL, experts. The real criminals need to be found and prosecuted.

Anything else is just farce, business as usual.

This excellent analysis of post-election lies and hysteria can also be found at Signs of the Times

Canadians believe Bush is a threat to peace

2006-11-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

Poll:
Many fear U.S. will launch strikes on Iran, N. Korea
Bin Laden still perceived as greatest danger

Nov. 3, 2006. 01:00 AM
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON—Canadians believe the world has become a more dangerous place since George W. Bush was elected U.S. president and a majority believe he will launch military strikes in Iran or North Korea before his term ends in 2008, according to a new Toronto Star poll.

Canadians also consider Bush more dangerous to world peace than Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The EKOS poll was done in Canada for the Star and Montreal's La Presse ahead of Tuesday's U.S. mid-term elections, expected to be decided on the issue of the Iraq war. The same questions were posed to respondents by pollsters in Britain, Israel and Mexico.

Canadians — like Americans — have soured on the U.S. invasion of Iraq with 73 per cent now telling EKOS that Washington had no justification for it. When the same question was asked of Canadians in April 2003, right after the Bush invasion, EKOS found 53 per cent thought it unjustified.

Also like Americans, Canadians are split on whether the U.S. should stay and finish the job or come home as soon as possible.

Canadians told EKOS they believed Osama bin Laden posed the greatest danger to the world, followed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, then Bush, Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah.

Mexicans ranked Bush the second-most dangerous of the five, behind Al Qaeda's bin Laden.

Views in Israel were radically different, where only 9 per cent ranked Bush a "great danger," compared to 34 per cent of Canadians, 41 per cent of Britons and 58 per cent of Mexicans.

Israelis ranked Ahmadinejad — who has vowed to wipe the country off the map — the most dangerous, slightly ahead of bin Laden.

In addition, 57 per cent of Canadians said they believed the U.S. would intervene militarily in North Korea or Iran in the next two years over objections to their nuclear programs.

The polls were conducted in late October and involved 1,000 people in each country. The results are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Analysts here say anti-Americanism has become more intense under Bush than any other U.S. president before him.

"The feeling goes well beyond just policy choices," says Charles Pena of the Independent Institute. "There is the perception the Bush administration went into Iraq unilaterally and has made other choices unilaterally. There is a belief we ran roughshod over allies and that their opinions didn't matter and we wouldn't listen anyway."

Charles Kupchan of the non-partisan Council on Foreign Relations says there is a sense in the world that "America has gone off the reservation ... it is no longer a team player.

"It's a reaction to an Iraq war which seems to get worse by the day and is a festering wound. It will damage the U.S. image to 2008 and beyond because this eight-year period under Bush is something that will take years to overcome."

The Canadian view is not that different from that held by Americans. A New York Times/CBS News poll published yesterday indicated 26 per cent of Americans believe Bush had a clear plan to deal with the situation in Iraq and only 8 per cent said they believed he should continue on his present course in the war. Bush had the approval of 34 per cent of those polled.

The Pew Research Center in the U.S. regularly tracks America's global image and it, too, has found the image being tarnished with each passing year of the Bush administration.

Pew found the only time anti-Americanism had shown signs of abating was 2005 because of positive feelings generated by U.S. aid for tsunami victims in Indonesia and elsewhere. But a year later, America's image also had declined significantly in India (from 71 per cent to 56 per cent with a favourable opinion) and Indonesia (from 38 per cent to 30 per cent), Pew reported.

First-Grader Suspended Over Plastic Squirt Gun

2006-09-20T09:44:00.000-06:00

School District Says Policy Prohibits Exceptions

POSTED: 6:26 am EDT September 20, 2006

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri mother is angry that her first-grader was suspended from school over a plastic toy gun.

"I asked her, 'You're going to suspend my son for 10 days for this? He cannot harm a soul with this,'" said Danielle Womack, whose son, Tawann Caskey, was suspended from Milton Moore Elementary School in Kansas City.

Tawann was suspended over a 2-inch plastic squirt gun.

"She told me it's a weapon, a little girl saw it and reported to a teacher that he had a weapon," Womack said.

According to Kansas City, Mo., School District policy, the squirt gun is a simulated weapon and a class IV, which is the most serious school offense. Principals claim to have no discretion in cases like Tawaan's. It is an automatic 10-day suspension.

"We ask our principals for safety of students and staff, and we do follow the code of conduct and do not give exceptions to Class IV offenses. We take it very seriously," the school district's Phyllis Budesheim said.

The incident will stay on Tawann's permanent school record. But Womack said her son does not understand why he's not in school.

"I think this could have been resolved in a different way. It's wrong to bring it school, but come on, he's 6 years old. This would not hurt a soul," Womack said.

The school district said it is all policy -- one that the school told students and parents about at the start of the year.

"We regret that this happened. My feeling is that by not giving any exceptions, this young man will not bring a toy gun to school again," Budesheim said.

The school district said that the incident should be a reminder to parents to check their children's backpacks before they go to school.

Mystery package grounds flight

2006-09-20T09:09:00.000-06:00

Mystery package grounds flight
Passengers held 12 hours in lock-up
Parcel contained tools, no bomb
Sep. 20, 2006. 06:09 AM
JIM WILKES
STAFF REPORTER

A planeload of Air India passengers spent nearly 12 hours in an airport security lock-up yesterday after the discovery of a suspicious package wrapped in black tape forced their overseas flight to return to Toronto.

Passengers said they were given little information about why Flight 188 — bound for Birmingham, England and Amritsar, India on Monday night — was turned around near Montreal when the package was found on the floor of a washroom.

Eleven crew members and 149 passengers were evacuated from the Boeing 777 jet when it reached Pearson International Airport at about 11:25 p.m. A Peel police robot detonated the package early yesterday but found nothing suspicious or threatening inside, only small tools that police said were "uniquely packaged." [...]

Israel Admits No Hizb'allah Rockets Fired From Qana

2006-08-02T21:15:00.000-06:00

Haaretz
02/08/2006

The deaths of dozens of civilians in an Israel Air Force attack on the southern Lebanese village of Qana marked a significant diplomatic turning point against Israel, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday.

The foreign minister said that following the events in Qana, Israel's scope for political maneuvering had been reduced, as was the amount of European support Israel is receiving for its operation in Lebanese soil.

Livni said this change was exemplified in the "problematic" Russian and French stance towards Israel.

She said that despite the pictures of civilian casualties coming from Qana of it was important not to stray from implementing UN decision 1559.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to establish a state commission of inquiry into the killings at Qana.

As the Israel Air Force continues to investigate the air strike, questions have been raised over military accounts of the incident.

It now appears that the military had no information on rockets launched from the site of the building, or the presence of Hezbollah men at the time.

The Israel Defense Forces had said after the deadly air-strike that many rockets had been launched from Qana. However, it changed its version on Monday.

Spot The Difference - IDF Rocket, Hizb'allah Rocket

2006-08-02T21:13:00.000-06:00

(follow link to see picture)

Rumourmill News
02/08/2006

In the eyes of the Israeli and American media these images appear to be identical. But looks can be deceiving sometimes.

There are actually some differences between the images.

Can you spot them all?

Teacher's 9/11 views irk lawmakers

2006-08-02T10:14:00.000-06:00

ED: More and more people are becoming aware that the 9/11 attacks were planned, orchestrated and executed by elements within the American and Israeli governments. Will enough people learn this truth before the entire Middle East is engaged in an all out war, with the planned and deliberate extermination of all Semetic peoples? Time will tell...

Legislators want U. of Wisconsin to fire instructor of class on Islam

By Jodi S. Cohen
Tribune higher education reporter
Published August 2, 2006

MADISON, Wis. -- University of Wisconsin lecturer Kevin Barrett knows a little about life outside the mainstream--indeed, he once penned a travel guide under the pseudonym Dr. Weirde.

But he never expected to find himself carrying the banner for one of the most controversial theories of our times, a hypothesis that more than a few critics think goes beyond strange.

Barrett believes the U.S. government orchestrated the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to create support for a larger military budget and a long-term Middle East war. He believes the World Trade Center buildings fell after a controlled demolition and doubts that the hijacker believed to have flown the plane into the Pentagon had the skills to do it. He thinks Osama bin Laden is probably dead. [...]

Slaughter taking place while Canada does nothing

2006-07-30T10:22:00.000-06:00

Toronto Star
Jul. 30, 2006. 01:00 AM
LINDA MCQUAIG

For the Israeli air force, carrying out bombing raids over Lebanon is about as challenging as shooting fish in a barrel.

Hezbollah has no air force or air defences. So the Israeli air force — one of the best in the world — has been able to drop a constant barrage of bombs for the past two weeks on Lebanon, where civilians are essentially defenceless.

More than 600 Lebanese have been killed, according to the Lebanese Health Minister — more than 10 times the Israeli death toll.

By now, the Israeli civilian population has been largely evacuated from northern Israel, where Hezbollah rockets can strike, to the safe central and southern parts of the country. For millions in Lebanon, including an estimated 25,000 Canadians still there, no such safe haven exists.

So the refusal of the U.S. — and its attendants Britain and Canada — to call for a ceasefire amounts to an endorsement of a slaughter of completely unprotected people.

Essentially, the U.S. is saying: Let the killing continue, so that Israel can have a free hand in its mop-up operation against Hezbollah.

We're told that Israel doesn't target civilians, but that it sometimes has no choice but to kill them because Hezbollah fighters "hide behind them."

This is absurd. Let's say a gunman is trying to kill someone who runs into a crowded shopping centre. The gunman can't justify killing innocent shoppers on the grounds that he really only wanted to kill the guy he was chasing, but the guy hid behind shoppers.

Israel apparently considers some Lebanese civilians to be legitimate targets, since they sympathize with Hezbollah.

Last week, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said that civilians have had plenty of time to leave the villages of southern Lebanon, and that Israel should now flatten these villages. "All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah," Ramon said.

In fact, the situation in southern Lebanon is so dangerous that it is almost impossible for civilians — including Canadians trapped there — to get out. A number of civilians attempting to flee, as well as ambulance workers and UN peacekeepers, have been killed and wounded by Israeli bombs.

Ultimately, this crisis will only be solved through negotiations for a comprehensive peace settlement that goes far beyond simply the release of the three captured Israeli soldiers (and thousands of Palestinian prisoners.)

Meanwhile, let's not forget the 1982 massacres, in which the Israeli army allowed vengeful Lebanese Christian militiamen to enter the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, where the militiamen slaughtered hundreds of Palestinian refugees. An Israeli inquiry, headed by a former Supreme Court judge, concluded that then Israeli defence minister Ariel Sharon bore "personal responsibility" for the massacre.

Once again, a slaughter is taking place in Lebanon, only this time those allowing the slaughter to take place are running the governments of the United States, Britain — and Canada.

Linda McQuaig is a Toronto-based author and commentator

The History Of War Is The History Of Lies

2006-07-25T10:13:00.000-06:00

Joe Quinn
Signs of the Times
24/07/2006

The public record is replete with 'historical' accounts of the cause and effect of the many wars enjoyed by the sprawling masses of humanity. A little known fact however is that, from the point of view of accuracy, the public record stinks.

Spinning the truth about the reasons for war has always been easy. With the major media magnets donating large sums to political parties, and war reports pre-approved by military press liaison officers, military, government and media quickly take on the appearance of one big, happy family.

In the case of the current Israeli invasion of Lebanon therefore, you will (or should) be somewhat less than surprised to learn that all is not as it seems.

To begin our impromptu lesson in reality, a few brainteasers:

What event precipitated the current Israeli invasion of Lebanon? Was it the 'unprovoked' attack by Hamas on the Israeli post when Corporal Shalit was captured? Or was it the 'unprovoked' attack by Hizb'allah when they captured two Israeli soldiers two weeks later?

According to most mainstream papers and American and Israeli government officials, the Hamas attack on June 25th that led to Shalit's capture was an unprovoked act of aggression. What they fail to mention however, is that the day before the Hamas attack, on June 24th, Israeli troops entered Gaza and abducted two Palestinian civilians, a doctor and his brother. The Israeli army asserted that the men were members of Hamas, a claim which Hamas refuted. Yet even if the men were Hamas members, while Israel had been happily pounding the Gaza strip and its civilians with up to 1,000 missiles per week, the seven month-old Hamas government had been holding to a 16 month unilateral ceasefire with Israel. The only reason for Israel to abduct the two men therefore would seem to be for its value as an act of provocation, and the capture of Shalit the following day cannot be claimed as an "unprovoked attack" but retaliation to Israeli aggression. Of course, this is assuming that Israel did not also have a hand in the retaliation. The Israeli daily Haartez published a report which suggested that Israel knew several months in advance that the tunnel attack was planned. Which this leads us to conclude that the Israeli government may have allowed the attack in which Shalit was captured to happen, or facilitated it, for a very specific reason, which in turn means that Israel is to one extent of another fighting the "war on terror" on both sides. So what's new?

Also according to the oh-so reliable mainstream press, on July 12th, Hizb'allah captured two Israeli soldiers "in a cross border raid", which Israel called an "act of war" and which provided plausible justification for the current massive Israeli bombardment of Lebanon and its civilians. However, according to several non-Western or foreign language news agencies, it was Israeli soldiers who had invaded Lebanese territory, leading to the capture of two of their number by Hizb'allah, an expected conclusion to a foolish foray into enemy territory and definitely not an "act of war". Indeed, in this light, it is Israel that is guilty of provoking Hizb'allah.

The Indian Daily tells us:

The Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement announced on Wednesday that its guerrillas have captured two Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon. "Implementing our promise to free Arab prisoners in Israeli jails, our strugglers have captured two Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon," a statement by Hezbollah said. "The two soldiers have already been moved to a safe place," it added. The Lebanese police said that the two soldiers were captured as they "infiltrated" into the town of Aitaa al-Chaab inside the Lebanese border. [New Kerala 12/07/06]

According to the Bahrain News Agency:

The Lebanese Hezbollah movement announced Wednesday the arrest of two Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon. Lebanese police said that the two soldiers were arrested as they entered the town of Aitaa al-Chaab inside the Lebanese border. Israeli aircraft were active in the air over southern Lebanon, police said, with jets bombing roads leading to the market town of Nabatiyeh, 60 kilometers south of Beirut. [Bahrain News Agency 7/12/06]

The strange thing is, almost all English language Western news reports proclaimed loud and clear that Hizb'allah had invaded Israel! How can this be?

Try this:

Israeli Censor Wielding Great Power

Thursday July 20, 2006
Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) - Here's some news you may never hear about Israel's war against Hezbollah: a missile falls into the sea, a strategic military installation is hit, a Cabinet minister plans to visit the front lines.

All these topics are subject to review by Israel's chief military censor, who has - in her own words - "extraordinary power." She can silence a broadcaster, block information and put journalists in jail.

"I can, for example, publish an order that no material can be published. I can close a newspaper or shut down a station. I can do almost anything," Col. Sima Vaknin said Wednesday. [...]

Now think about this for a moment. Say Israel had drawn up plans for a military invasion/attack on its Arab neighbors for some time, but was in need of some kind of justification, some rationale that could be presented to the world public. How easy would it be to stage the capture of an Israeli soldier in Gaza and two in Lebanon? Soldiers are not privy to intelligence information, unless their superiors supply it to them, and they are entirely dependent on their military commanders to not place them in danger. But in war, or war planning, all is fair, as they say.

But what evidence is there to suggest that Israel had been planning to provoke a wider Middle East war for some time?

Not much, just that provided by the Israeli military itself:

Israel set war plan more than a year ago posted

07/22/2006
SF Chronicle

Israel's military response by air, land and sea to what it considered a provocation last week by Hezbollah militants is unfolding according to a plan finalized more than a year ago.

In the years since Israel ended its military occupation of southern Lebanon, it watched warily as Hezbollah built up its military presence in the region. When Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers last week, the Israeli military was ready to react almost instantly.

"By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board." said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University

More than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail. Under the ground rules of the briefings, the officer could not be identified.

Notice the newsroom spin that the plan was drawn up because Hizb'allah was "building its military presence in Southern Lebanon." If Hizb'allah has any military prowess they certainly have a strange way of flaunting it. Since the beginning of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, Hizb'allah has fired hundreds of their "deadly" weapons at Haifa (the only Israeli town within reach), resulting in the death of 15 Israeli civilians, 2 of them Israeli Arabs. About 95% of Hizb'allah's rudimentary 'Katyusha' rockets miss their targets or fail to explode, or both, in very much the same way as Hamas' and Islamic Jihad's 'Qassam' rockets fired from Gaza, which have killed 5 Israelis in one town in 5 years. A real 'threat' to the state of Israel indeed.
Remember last year, when the Israeli Mossad murdered Rafik Hariri? Hariri had been Lebanese Prime Minister from 1992 until 1998 and again from 2000 until 2004 when he resigned. By all accounts, he was slated to return to the postion again at the next elections. Apart from being a billionaire, Hariri had a lot of friends in high places. He was as happy enjoying a beer with French President Chirac in down-town Beirut as he was strolling the halls of Boston University's School of Management which bears his name.

Hariri was one of the few "men of peace" left in the Middle East. In his two terms as Lebanese PM since 1992, he had brought Lebanon out of the carnage wrought by 15 years of civil war and set it well on the way to reclaiming its status as the "Paris of the Middle East." Hariri willingly expended his personal fortune on Lebanon's recovery pouring millions into the reconstruction of Beirut. Viewed as a leading Arab-world reformer, he was also credited with restoring Lebanon's reputation abroad as a liberal, open Middle Eastern country. He paid for the 1989 Christian-Muslim peace conference in Taif, Saudi Arabia, which laid the foundation for the ceasefire that came a year later. During his tenure as Prime Minister, Harari also made it his goal to ensure that the religious divisions (Christian and Islamic) were kept out of politics.

Since 1976 and until last summer, 14,000 Syrian troops were stationed in Lebanon. The troops had initially arrived in 1976 at the request of the Lebanese government in order to protect the Lebanese population from Israeli attacks. When Mossad murdered Hariri, not only did they remove the most powerful man in Lebanese politics, but they also, by way of a whitewashed investigation, pinned the blame for his murder on Syria and successfully forced the removal of the Syrian military presence in Lebanon, the final obstacle to dissuading Israel from re-invading Lebanon. At the time, I wrote:

While Hariri might have been quietly pressuring Syria for the ultimate removal of it's troops, he was also well aware of the reason for those troops - to dissuade Israel from staging another invasion of Lebanese territory. Having manipulated Lebanese and world opinion into believing that Syria killed Hariri and with the withdrawal of Syrian troops already under way, Lebanon and its people will once more be exposed to the predations of the butcher Sharon.

The name has changed, but the goal of the current Israeli Prime Minister remains the same. All of it, it seems, has been set up very nicely indeed.

Of course, Israel would not be in a position to dominate any conflict with its Arab neighbors if it were not for the generous support of American taxpayers. We are yet again unsurprised to learn therefore that while Israel was busy planning the current attack on Lebanon and its justification, the Bush administration was right there beside them:

Secret 2001 Pentagon Plan to Attack Lebanon

Wesley Clark, the retired four-star general who is one of 10 candidates for the Democratic nomination for president, has written a new book that is just arriving on bookstore shelves. Called Winning Modern Wars, it’s mostly about the Iraq war and terrorism—and it is laced with powerful new information that he held back from the public when he was a CNN military commentator during the Bush administration’s preparations for the war.

For example, he says he learned from military sources at the Pentagon in November 2001, just two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, that serious planning for the war on Iraq had already begun and that, in addition to Iraq, the administration had drawn up a list of six other nations to be targeted over a period of five years.

Here’s what he writes on page 130:

"As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan." Clark adds, "I left the Pentagon that afternoon deeply concerned."

So there you have it, and you thought it was all about Osama bin Laden attacking the US on September 11th. How could you have been so wrong?!

Certain "Middle Eastern analysts" (who couldn't analyse their way out of a chair) have stated that Hizb'allah provoked the current conflict with Israel in order to "reduce the pressure on Palestinians and force Israel to fight on two fronts", but such 'analysis' either completely misses (or conveniently ignores) the above facts - that Israel has long sought an opening to 'deal with' its Arab problem. Further inane 'analysis' is provided by Noam Chomsky, an alleged expert on the Middle East, where he criticises Hizb'allah for the "irresponsible" act of capturing the two Israeli soldiers, which, he claims, has exposed the Lebanese people to the dire threat from Israeli bombs and guns. Chomsky seems to forget that Israel needed no encouragement to butcher 20,000 Lebanese and Palestinians in their last full-scale invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Chomsky, for all his credentials, seems oblivious to the long-standing violent intentions of successive Israeli governments towards almost all of its Arab neighbors, neighbors who have the audacity to attempt to remind Israel and the world that Israel is occupying stolen Arab land!

Not only have the Lebanese people witnessed Israel's malevolent intentions first hand many times in the past, but Hizb'allah has surely been watching carefully over the past few years as Israel set the scene for yet another Lebanese bloodbath. Yet when Hizb'allah captures two Israeli soldiers that invaded their territory 2 weeks ago, Chomsky blames Hizb'allah for putting the Lebanese people in danger! Talk about having your head in the sand!

Thankfully, there are those of us who have long-since dispensed with any semblance of wishful thinking about the intentions of the state of Israel and the psychopaths that run the Zionist show, and as such, are in a position to definitively answer the following questions:

Is Israel lying about the source of the present conflict? Undoubtedly.

Are Israeli lies being promoted by American media outlets?
No question.

Has Israel manipulated the current crisis and wantonly murdered 350 Lebanese civilians? The answer is clear.

Does the Bush government wholeheartedly endorse and support Israeli manipulations? It's a 'no-brainer'

But what of the bigger question? What of the "why" of the actions of these few wild-eyed nut-jobs-in-suits in power? Why is Israel doing this? Why is the American government supporting them? What of the future? Where is all of it leading?

Well, according to Condi Rice it is nothing less than the "birth of a new Middle East", which of course sounds like a wonderfully noble ideal.

And therein lies the hook.

Every war ever waged by a major state player (which is pretty much all of them), has been presented to the public in terms of an ideal, like 'freedom' for example, when in reality, the main motivating factor boils down to personal profit or gain. That psychopathic warmongers would engage in such mass manipulation is elementary - they know that ordinary, decent people would never knowingly support a war in which they, their children, or other innocent human beings are certain to die, purely to serve the personal ambitions of an elite few. Ordinary, decent people will, however, always rally to the cause of 'freedom' and allow that ideal to steel them against the massive suffering and death that war entails as they make the 'ultimate sacrifice' 'for freedom's sake'.

I trust you can see just how intrinsically evil such a manipulation is. But more important than seeing the manipulation, is recognizing its authors, and realizing that their cold-blooded, calculated manipulations, leading to the deaths of millions of innocent people - people like you and I, our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers - is something you and I could never do.

Yet they can - and do, over and over and over again.

Not only can they do it, but they are aware enough to know that they must ensure, at all costs, that you and I never understand why they do it or how they can do it. We must never fathom the mechanism that allows them to commit acts of extreme barbarity while simultaneously presenting themselves to the world as the progenitors of honorable human values. We must never be allowed to know their true nature or the sick game they play. For the day that you and I possess such knowledge and realize who the real enemy is, is the day that we no longer serve the interests of the pathocracy - the psychopaths in power - through our naivety and gullibility. On that day, their spell will be broken. No longer will thousands march to war under their banner of fake "freedom", no longer will millions shrink in fear of illusory "terrorism" and permit atrocities to be committed in their name. On that day, our planet shall be retaken for the sane, rational and decent human beings, and the fifth column that has dwelt for so long in our midst shall be confined to the asylum where they belong.

Let's make it happen. Wake Up, and spread the word. These people are not like you and I. They have no conscience, they have no ability to feel empathy for the suffering of another. They are psychopaths, and they are our leaders.

American thespian Fritz Williams wrote:

"Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person. In those transparent moments we know other people's joys and sorrows, and we care about their concerns as if they were our own."

In recent weeks, as we pondered the pictures showing the horror wrought by Israel in Lebanon, all decent human beings instinctively made the leap of empathy spoken of by Williams. Some, however, did not. They could not. And it just so happens that they are same people responsible for bringing the horror of mass murder into our lives.

My Favourite Bushisms

2006-07-24T10:31:00.000-06:00

Thanks to the folks at the "Beep! Beep! It's Me" blog for this wonderful compilation

My Favourite Bushisms

I have provided a title so Bush Believers will also be able to understand what the rest of us are laughing about.

George Is A Mom?
"So thank you for reminding me about the importance of being a good mom and a great volunteer as well."—St. Louis, Jan. 5, 2004

What about the WMD the US Has, George?
"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction."—Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

Maybe He Meant "Explore"?
"We've got hundreds of sites to exploit, looking for the chemical and biological weapons that we know Saddam Hussein had prior to our entrance into Iraq."—Santa Clara, Calif., May 2, 2003

George Wants To Restore Chaos. Mission Completed
"You're free. And freedom is beautiful. And, you know, it'll take time to restore chaos and order—order out of chaos. But we will."—Washington, D.C., April 13, 2003

We Must Invade Iraq To Stop Saddam Terrorising Himself.
"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."—Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 29, 2003

This Is Just Wrong On So Many Levels. How About Presumption Of Innocence And "Prosecute" Not "Persecute"
"When Iraq is liberated, you will be treated, tried, and persecuted as a war criminal."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 2003

The US Is Going To Disarm If Saddam Doesn't
"I was proud the other day when both Republicans and Democrats stood with me in the Rose Garden to announce their support for a clear statement of purpose: you disarm, or we will."—Speaking about Saddam Hussein, Manchester, N.H., Oct. 5, 2002

Why George? Thinking About Pulling Out The Klan Outfit?
"Do you have blacks, too?"—To Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001

George Wanted Arafat To Rule The World
"After all, a week ago, there were—Yasser Arafat was boarded up in his building in Ramallah, a building full of, evidently, German peace protestors and all kinds of people. They're now out. He's now free to show leadership, to lead the world."—Washington, D.C., May 2, 2002

George Gives Us A Hint Why His Businesses Have Gone Bankrupt
"We've tripled the amount of money—I believe it's from $50 million up to $195 million available."—Lima, Peru, March 23, 2002

George Doesn't Want Peace To Happen
"My administration has been calling upon all the leaders in the—in the Middle East to do everything they can to stop the violence, to tell the different parties involved that peace will never happen."—Crawford, Texas, Aug, 13, 2001

WTF?
"Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods."—Austin, Texas, Dec. 20, 2000

Ummm It Is A Federal Program?
"They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program."—St. Charles, Mo., Nov. 2, 2000

Fish Are Violent Apparently
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."—Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000

Most Imports DO Come From Overseas
"It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas."—Beaverton, Ore., Sep. 25, 2000

George Loves His Wife Like He Loves His Brother
"She is a fabulous First Lady. I was a lucky man when she said, yes, I agree to marry you. I love her dearly, and I'm proud of the job she's doing on behalf of all Americans. Just like I love my brother." - George W. Bush, Jacksonville, Florida, Sep. 9, 2003

The Nazis Agree With You About Propaganda
"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." --President Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

Please Shut Up Now
"Who could have possibly envisioned an erection — an election in Iraq at this point in history?" —George W. Bush, at the white House, Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2005

I Am Begging You. Shut Up
"I think — tide turning — see, as I remember — I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of — it's easy to see a tide turn — did I say those words?" —George W. Bush, asked if the tide was turning in Iraq, Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

Germany?
"The point now is how do we work together to achieve important goals. And one such goal is a democracy in Germany." —George W. Bush, D.C., May 5, 2006

George Wants To Control Us Not Defend Freedom
"Let me put it to you bluntly. In a changing world, we want more people to have control over your own life." —George W. Bush, Annandale, Va, Aug. 9, 2004

And My All Time Favourite
"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." — George W. Bush, Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004

Collective Punishment Isn't Self-Defense

2006-07-23T15:25:00.000-06:00

Posted: 2006/07/22
From: Mathaba

By Ted Rall

Neither the United States nor Israel is equivalent to Nazi Germany, yet both countries have adopted a Nazi-like obsession with collective punishment

SAN DIEGO - As commander of a Nazi einsatzgruppen death squad in occupied Poland, Dr. Werner Best came to believe that the most effective response to terrorism was collective punishment. After the fall of France he went on to draft the Third Reich's counterterrorism policy for countries occupied by Germany. Towns where acts of "passive" resistance such as the cutting of telegraph cables had taken place were placed under curfews, fined and slapped with travel restrictions. "Active" resistance--the killing of a German soldier--would be met by reprisal killings of local civilians.

Dr. Best was trying to protect German troops. Rather than be cowed, however, leaders of European resistance groups saw Best's ruthless policy as their chance to radicalize moderates who were still on the fence about their German occupatiers. The insurgents stepped up assassinations of German troops. The killings prompted the Germans to shoot more local businessmen and political leaders. The cycle of violence was spiraling out of control.

Eventually Hitler himself got into the act. Convinced that collective punishment was failing because it wasn't severe enough, the führer issued a September 1941 order to use "the harshest measures" against civilians in areas where the Resistance was active. Arguing that "only the [collective] death penalty can be a real means of deterrence," Hitler ordered that 50 civilians be executed for each German soldier killed.

Some in the German high command argued that punishing innocent civilians in large numbers would alienate the local population and lose the battle for hearts and minds. Although they were eventually proven correct, they were overruled. New reprisals, each worse than the last, strengthened the resolve of the resistance and gained them new recruits. By the end of the war, reprisals had assumed grotesquely lopsided ratios of murdered locals to dead Germans. Entire villages--Lidice in the Czech Republic (340 killed), Oradour-sur-Glane in France (642), Kortelisy in Ukraine (2,892)--were wiped out.

Even right-wingers who'd supported the Nazis were appalled. Support for the Germans and their puppet regimes declined with each new campaign of "counterterrorism." Public opinion wasn't decisive; no nation occupied by the Nazis during World War II could solely credit its resistance for its liberation. Still, collective punishment was an unequivocal tactical failure. Resistance groups and their sympathizers hastened the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Neither the United States nor Israel is equivalent to Nazi Germany, yet both countries have adopted a Nazi-like obsession with collective punishment. Israeli Defense Forces, which subject centers of Palestinian resistance in the occupied West Bank to curfews and encirclement by barbed-wire fences, taught their techniques to U.S. occupation troops in Iraq. After Islamist suicide pilots killed 3,000 Americans in the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government justified the killing of 200,000 Afghans and Iraqis as an act of "self-defense."

George W. Bush exceeded Hitler's 50-to-1 ratio.

Now Israel is "reacting" to the capture of two of its soldiers by the Palestinian resistance organization Hezbollah by invading and bombing Lebanon. Death tolls that fall disproportionately heavily upon Palestinians have long been a hallmark of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During the 2000-03 intifada, for example, at least seven Palestinians were killed by Israelis for every Israeli killed by a Palestinian. Now, as of this writing, more than 500 Lebanese civilians have been killed by Israeli bombs. On the Israeli side, 15 civilians have died in Hezbollah rocket attacks and 14 soldiers have been killed in combat.

Current ratio: 30-to-1.

"Israel has a right to defend itself," Bush said at the start of the current Middle East crisis. No doubt. But the Israelis aren't defending themselves any more than the Bush Administrative is defending us. Each is using a crime--the kidnapping of two soldiers, the 9/11 terrorist attacks--as an excuse to wage war against innocent people who had nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, the criminals--the kidnappers and those behind 9/11--are allowed to get away scot-free.

In response to criticism that Israel was using "disproportionate" force against Lebanon, its ambassador to the United Nations told a cheering mob in New York: "You're damned right we are!" Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) chimed in: "Since when should a response to aggression and murder be proportionate?"

Congressman Nadhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifler ought to catch up on his reading. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which has been signed and ratified by both Israel and the United States and was drafted in response to the kinds of Nazi atrocities described at the beginning of this column, specifically prohibits collective punishment. As a treaty obligation, it is U.S. law. It is Israeli law.

Nothing prevents a nation from defending itself or going after those who commit heinous crimes--which include kidnapping--against its citizens. Understanding the difference between self-defense and collective punishment is what separates Israel and the U.S.--on paper, anyway--from the Nazis.

Ted Rall is the editor of "Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists," a new anthology of webcartoons. Visit his website at:

http://www.tedrall.com

Israel run by Psychopaths - Podcast

2006-07-23T12:48:00.000-06:00

What does it take to be able to kill a child, or a hundred children? Or to burn them alive and tear their bodies to shreds. Day in and day out. Could you do it? Some people don't give it a thought for they are without conscience. Meet the psychopath. He probably runs your country, may run the company you work for or be your direct boss. He is definitely in charge in Israel. He is the invisible enemy of humanity, invisible because he comes in all colours, shapes, and religions. He is aware of his difference from the rest of us, and is working to eliminate as many of us as he can in order to preserve his power. The real New World Order is the Pathocracy. It is already here. This week we look at war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon and the people who order them.

Signs Podcast

OPINION: A Bush-league response?

2006-06-11T10:33:00.000-06:00

Jun. 11, 2006. 01:57 AM

PETER SCOWEN

"Their alleged target was Canada, Canadian institutions, the Canadian economy, the Canadian people. We are a target because of who we are and how we live, our society, our diversity and our values — values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law."

— Stephen Harper, June 3

Our prime minister, Stephen Harper, has been accused more than once of deliberately adopting the style and tone of President George W. Bush.

Critics cite Harper's emphasis on his faith, his disdain for the press, his support of the military, and his socially conservative values as the main evidence for this.

It is a partisan critique, and not an especially effective one. Even if it is true that Harper assembled himself out of spare Bush parts, so? Stealing useful ideas from a fellow conservative leader who has been elected twice is good politics.

But now Harper, responding to the arrests of 17 terror suspects — whom we have since learned were planning to attack Parliament Hill and, prosecutors allege, to behead the prime minister if he didn't agree to pull our troops out of Afghanistan — has aped Bush in a way that is deliberately divisive and dangerous.

The quote by Harper at the top of this piece is what I'm talking about. His claim — made at a military swearing-in ceremony in Ottawa — that the terror suspects targeted Canada "because of who we are and how we live" is a rip-off of the official Bush White House response to 9/11.

After the attacks, Bush and his team began to push the message that America was an innocent victim attacked by fanatics who despised it for the freedoms and comforts it provides; the country was targeted, Bush said on Sept. 12, 2001, because it was "the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world."

Rudolph Giuliani, the heroic mayor of New York, made the same point in a speech on Oct. 1, 2001 — and added a warning to anyone who didn't agree:

"The era of moral relativism between those who practise or condone terrorism, and those who stand up against it, must end. Moral relativism does not have a place in this discussion and this debate."

The message was hard to miss: The attacks were not to be construed as a response to U.S. foreign policy. "Moral relativism" was the sin committed by anyone who disobeyed this edict.

A good synonym for "moral relativism" would have been "independent thinking," but that only became apparent after the world discovered there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and no connection between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks.

People who recall the period immediately after 9/11 will remember that the mantra of anti-moral relativism served the Bush administration well. The media raised no serious objection to the invasion of Iraq. (In May 2004, The New York Times published a gigantic apology to readers for not questioning the White House's war plans with the proper skepticism.)

So why has Harper plagiarized Bush in his statement about the arrests of 17 made-in-Canada terror suspects?

The obvious answer is that he doesn't want the arrests to affect our military's presence in Afghanistan, even if it is clear from the charges laid last week that the alleged recruiters used the war in Afghanistan, and Canada's part in it, to motivate some of the younger suspects.

Is Harper saying Canadians cannot sympathize with the accused men's demand that our troops withdraw from Iraq, even if those same Canadians would never support terror as a tactic, because to do so would be a failure to defend "who we are and how we live"?

The American who was most courageous in her post-9/11 writings was the late critic Susan Sontag. She was repelled by her government's reaction to the attacks and said so in a piece in The New Yorker.

This is the guts of what Sontag wrote in the magazine's issue of Sept. 25, 2001:
"A lot of thinking needs to be done, and perhaps is being done in Washington and elsewhere, about the ineptitude of American intelligence and counterintelligence, about options available to American foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, and about what constitutes a smart program of military defence. But the public is not being asked to bear much of the burden of reality. The unanimously applauded, self-congratulatory bromides of a Soviet Party Congress seemed contemptible. The unanimity of the sanctimonious, reality-concealing rhetoric spouted by American officials and media commentators in recent days seems, well, unworthy of a mature democracy."

Harper, like Bush and Giuliani were, is wrong when he says we are a terror target because of "how we live." Canada is and will be a target because of, as Sontag also wrote, our "specific alliances and actions."

We cannot, as a mature democracy, allow terrorism or its threat to dictate government policy — no one is saying that.

But we also cannot allow the threat of terror to shut down our ability to think.

And what we really don't need is a prime minister using a discredited U.S. political strategy to scare off serious, mature debate about Canada's military presence in Afghanistan and its alliances with the United States.

— Peter Scowen

Who is JJ Hurtak?

2006-04-12T09:16:00.000-06:00

To kick off this ambitious project, let us have a look at Don JJ Hurtak, the guy who started the whole “Keys of Enoch” deal and garnered such followers as the young Don Bernard “Drunvalo” Perona. Now a fully fledged psychic mafia Don in his own right.

Don James J "J.J." Hurtak's published bio says:

"J.J. Hurtak, Ph.D., Ph.D., M.Th. is a social scientist and futurist who studied at the University of California and the University of Minnesota."

Now, certainly he does not say that his degrees came from the University of California and the University of Minnesota... he only says he has degrees, followed by the names of two universities where he "studied." However, certainly, a reader would assume from this juxtaposition that his degrees came from those universities.

The fact is that his PhD is in social science and his other PhD in History and Oriental Studies, were obtained from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico.

Regarding Hurtak's claims to have been at the Uni of California in 1973, we find the following.

The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch® (1973, 1975, 1977) makes the correlation that this Divine Name was the key behind the transcription code of chemical letters which develops the human body. In 1973 while at the University of California, Hurtak came to understand that there was a connection between the series of linguistic and genetic associations in the spelling of God’s name in the biblical Hebrew (YHVH).

http://www.keysofenoch.org/html/academy_learning_session__dna.html

Hurtak’s bio claims:

"He worked with Dr. Thich Tien-An, Vietnamese Buddhist scholar in establishing the curriculum of studies at the Graduate School of Buddhism, Los Angeles, as well as working with the microfilming of the Tibetan canon in Nepal and India."

Apparently Dr. Thich Thien-An died in 1980. Here is a link with a brief overview of his life in which you will find no reference to Hurtak.

http://www.urbandharma.org/ibmc/ibmc2/suto.html

Ven. Dr. Thich Thien-An came to Southern California in the summer of 1966 as an exchange professor at UCLA. Soon his students discovered he was not only a renowned scholar, but a Zen Buddhist monk as well. His students convinced Dr. Thien-An toteach the practice of meditation and start a study group about the other steps on the Buddhist path, in addition to the academic viewpoint….

…Dr. Thien-An died at the age of 54 of cancer which had spread rapidly throughout his body, from his liver to his brain. In his last months, one could often find him sitting peacefully on the steps of the bell tower. It was a gift to be able to sit quietly next to him and feel the energy of his understanding. He had many plans but saw the reality of what was happening. He smiled, as he smiled often, a smile of great compassion and loving-kindness for all the world.

From http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/6/metcalf991.html , a review of a book

"The faces of buddhism in America":

Cuong Nguyen and A. W. Barber, on the other hand, peremptorily dismiss the careers of Thich Nhat Hanh and Thich Tien An (p. 131) and spend their chapter discussing Vietnamese Buddhism in the Vietnamese American community only. [...] And wherever Thich Tien An got his training, his memory has certainly not faded away in Los Angeles, where he is remembered at his flourishing Dharma center, rightly or wrongly, as the first patriarch of American Vietnamese Buddhism.

Again, nowhere is there a mention of J.J. Hurtak.

Hurtak’s bio claims: He is President of the International Academy for Future Science.

What is the Academy for Future Science?

Website: http://www.affs.org/index.html

ACADEMY FOR FUTURE SCIENCE

The Academy for Future Science is an international non-profit organisation operating in more than 12 countries since its inception in 1973. Its charter covers the areas of archaeology, anthropology, environment and remote sensing, computers and physics, as well as studies in consciousness and comparative religion. Its work has been represented at the Parliament of the World's Religions (1999),The Millennium Peace Summit ofWorld Religious Leaders (2000), and at many university conferences on the dialogue of science and religion. Its members have been responsible for the updating of the medical curriculum at universities in South Africa and the monitoring of critical environmental areas in Brazil.

Dr. James J. Hurtak, PhD, PhD is President of the Academy for Future Science. He is a social scientist and futurist with two doctorates who studied at the Universities of California and Minnesota. His main concern is the interface between science, religion and the environment. He was a presenter at the recent Parliament of World Religions (1999) in Cape Town.

The Academy For Future Science http://www.affs.org/

P.O. Box FE, Los Gatos CA 95031, USA P.O. Box 35340, Menlo Park, 0102, Pretoria, South Africa

Desiree Hurtak is listed as the admin contact (WhoIs records) for the futurescience.org domain. Turns out she's James (Jim) J. Hurtak's wife. Bio here:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guests/767.html

The wife of J.J. Hurtak, Desiree Hurtak is an international relations expert and author. Her recent work involves environmental studies and the film documentation of indigenous cultures to preserve their cultural heritage. To this end, she has also studied and written on the philosophies and literature of various ancient cultures including Egypt and Mesoamerica to understand their importance in our evolving society.

They've both been on the show twice in the past 10 months.

Photos of both are here, from the UN Summit on Sustainable Development:

http://www.un.org/events/wssd/photos/020831pressphotos.htm

At another of their websites: http://www.pistissophia.org/

We find:

The Pistis Sophia is a translation and commentary of a special collection of 2,000 year old Gnostic Coptic manuscripts, derived from ancient Egyptian-Coptic Christian Codexes. In the historic period after the early Church became established as the "official religion" of the Roman Empire (325 C.E.), the Pistis Sophia literature was withdrawn. It remains an inner teaching of the Coptic and African communities.

The words Pistis Sophia are Greek for "Faith Wisdom" and represent a teaching given to the disciples of Christ Jesus AFTER his resurrection. Significant for modern times, these are teachings revealed not only to Jesus' male disciples, but also to his female disciples including Mary Magdalene, Martha, and Salome! […]

At the same time, the Pistis Sophia texts work richly and expoundingly in concert with the Gospel Teachings of Jesus Christ, the work of the Prophets and the Saints, both the Old and the New Testaments as well as many Intertestamental works and The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch® .

At the bottom of this page, we see an address (2003) for the Academy of Future Science: PO Box 395, Ava, Mo 65608

Articles from the AFFS,

The Quest to Terraform Mars by D. M. Hurtak, M.S.Sc.
http://www.affs.org/html/the_quest_to_terraform_mars.html

Crisis of the Amazon by J.J. Hurtak, Ph.D., Ph.D.
http://www.affs.org/assets/images/autogen/Crisis_of_the_Amazon_Ns1.gif

An article on Biogmagnetism by H. Coetzee, Ph.D. [Originally published in Future History, Volume 8]
http://www.affs.org/html/biomagnetism.html

We search for info on H. Coetzee, and find a mish mash of various other people with the name, either in Washington state, or in South Africa.

When we check on the referenced journal, Future History, we find it here: http://www.keysofenoch.org/html/journal.html

The Academy for Future Science, i.e. Hurtak, publishes this journal!

Then, there is this.

Laser Remote Sensing by Dr. Edgardo Gerck
Lasertech S.A.
Campinas, SP, Brasil Dr. James J. Hurtak
Lasertech-USA
Los Gatos, California USA

Originally published in International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vol. XXIX, 1992, ISPRS, Washington, D.C.

Which leads us to: http://www.isprs.org/isprs.html.......You can see the “officials” of this organization here

Where you also discover: “The headquarter of the Society for the period 2004-2008 is the office of the Secretary General.

“ Said “Secretary General is:
ORHAN ALTAN
Istanbul Technical University
Faculty of Civil Engineering
Department of Geodesy and Photogrammetry
34469 Ayazaga-Istanbul
TURKEY

Here you can find out about their members

For example, the entry for the United States is:
United States American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
5410 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 210
Bethesda, Maryland 20814-2160, USA
Tel: +1-301-493 0290
Fax: +1-301-493 0208
E-mail: asprs@asprs.org

Number of Individual Members: 6,000

If you have a look at their website, you will read this:

What is ASPRS? Founded in 1934, the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is a scientific association serving over 7,000 professional members around the world. Our mission is to advance knowledge and improve understanding of mapping sciences to promote the responsible applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and supporting technologies. […]

"We are extremely proud of our historical roots in imaging science and technology in the form of photogrammetry and remote sensing, and we intend to maintain and build upon our emphasis in this area. However, our membership is focused on imaging not only in the sense of primary data acquisition, but also with respect to the extraction of information from image data in a decision support context," said Lillesand.

"We want to make clear that ASPRS represents a scientific and professional home for a broad array of individuals whose interests span the entire spectrum of geospatial information sciences, technologies, and applications."

In short, it is more or less a spying organization that is also a “vacuum cleaner” operation. Shades of the CIA!

Here you will find some of the “sustaining members” of ISPRS:
http://www.isprs.org/members/sustaining.html

Again, as you scan the names of the corporations, you realize that this is nothing more than an organization of “psychic spies.”

Back to Hurtak: Supposely he was the second in command in the Council of Nine...
See: www.tribwatch.com/aquarian.htm

A Fortean Times article reveals that Hurtak was second in command in the Council of Nine. Note how the mind-control projects of this Council mirror those of Tavistock-Stanford:

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the history of The Nine is its relationship to the career of Andrija Puharich. Recent research has revealed Puharich to have a distinctly sinister side. As an Army doctor in the 1950s, he was deeply involved with the CIA’s notorious MKULTRA mind control project.

He - together with the infamous Dr Sidney Gottlieb - experimented with a variety of techniques to change or induce actual thought processes...even to creating the impression of voices in the head. These techniques included the use of drugs, hypnosis and beaming radio signals directly into the subject’s brain. And, significantly, he was engaged in this work at exactly the same time that The Nine made their first appearance at the Round Table Foundation. The Foundation itself is now known to have been largely funded by the Pentagon as a front for its medical and parapsychological research. Puharich was still working for the CIA in the early 1970s, when he brought Uri Geller out of Israel."

Hurtak’s bio claims: He has been Director of LASERTECH in Brazil, which developed lasers for industrial and environmental studies in the Amazon.

Here is lasertech’s website: http://www.lasertech.com/s_amer.html

No mention of Hurtak there anywhere. But, we have a researcher in Brazil checking on this and may have more details later.

From Hurtak’s bio:

"With broad scientific interests in ecology, remote sensing, technology, and alternative energy, as well as belief systems of indigenous cultures, Dr. Hurtak has published eight books and more than 100 articles in eight languages."

It’s rather difficult to find these articles: A list of published issues of antigravity news, but the links of Hurtak's publications doesn't work:
http://www.padrak.com/agn/AGPAPER99.html

Bailey, P., Grotz, T., and Hurtak, J., "Survey And Critical Review Of Recent Innovative Energy Conversion Technologies," October 1997. [http://www.padrak.com/ine/BGH97_1.html]

Bailey, P., Grotz, T., and Hurtak, J., "Review And Status of Reported Innovative Energy Conversion Technologies, Contrasted Using A Consistent R&D Ranking Scale," October 1997. [http://www.padrak.com/ine/BGH97_2.html]

A search on the electronic uni library system returns a series of FIVE publications on various journals, examples:

Authors Hurtak JJ.

Institution Academy for Future Science, Los Gatos, CA 95031, USA. jjh@affs.or

G Hurtak JJ. Acupuncture and the cycle of birth as viewed in an historic Japanese medical text. [Historical Article. Journal Article] Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine. 10(2):231-3, 2004 Apr. UI: 15165402

Curtis BD. Hurtak JJ. Consciousness and quantum information processing: uncovering the foundation for a medicine of light. [Review] [77 refs] [Journal Article. Review. Review, Tutorial] Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine. 10(1):27-39, 2004 Feb. UI: 15025876

Hurtak JJ. An overview of acupuncture medicine.[see comment][erratum appears in J Altern Complement Med. 2003 Feb;9(1):179]. [Historical Article. Journal Article] Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine. 8(5):535-8, 2002 Oct. UI: 12470432

Energy technologies for the 21st century: Substitutes for fossil fuel Fuel and Energy Abstracts Volume: 37, Issue: 3, May, 1996, pp. 202 Hurtak, J. J.

One suspects that the “hundreds of articles”(?) must be in his own publications. Also note that the publications listed above are considered “fringe”.

From Hurtak’s bio: He produced The Voice of Africa, a Study on African Shamanism (1987) and Merkabah: Voyage of a Star Seed (1998), a winner of four international awards with its computer-animated symbols of spiritual unity.

From http://www.souloflife.com/musvideo.html :

JJ Hurtak - MERKABAH - Voyage of a Star Seed - Prepare yourself for the Merkabah journey that carries you into the higher worlds. Amid sacred sounds and colors you experience its transport powers as a super-luminal light, traveling beyond the limitations of physical form. Become a time and space traveler as you experience the many heavens! Encountering angelic beings and whole Light forms of ultraterrestrial Light from higher dimensional realms the dimensional gateways will open to you. In this masterpiece of video animation the Merkabah transports you from our immediate planetary system into other realms of awareness, connecting past, present, and future worlds of balance and beauty.

At OneLoveOneSpirit.com: We find the following statement:

"VIDEO MERKABAH: Voyage Of A Star Seed We regret to say that we are no longer allowed to retail this video. OneLoveOneSpirit.com apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused you ."

We were unable to find any “international awards” for this video as claimed.

We were unable to find any verification for “The Voice of Africa” in any context.

From Hurtak’s bio:

"Over the past 20 years, he has been involved with the dialog on issues concerning the environment, religion, and science. He was a presenter at the Parliament of the World’s Religions (1999) in Cape Town".

From: http://www.cpwr.org/

"The mission of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions is to cultivate harmony between the world's religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its other guiding institutions in order to achieve a peaceful, just, and sustainable world. "

The "Council for a Parliament of the World'd Religions"'s site seems to be Cesnur-like: studying the world religion's scenario and defend the principle of religious liberty.

http://www.cesnur.org/about.htm (scroll down for the english version)

Parliament's who's who:

http://www.cpwr.org/who/who.htm

Mission: The mission of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions is to cultivate harmony among the world's religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its other guiding institutions in order to achieve a peaceful, just, and sustainable world.

http://www.cpwr.org/who/staff.htm

1999 Cape Town's meeting attendees

http://www.cpwr.net/120499.htm

This looks like a benevolent and legitimate organization that Hurtak has managed to “gate crash” with no real credentials.

It’s sister organization, CESNUR, has an article on Hurtak here: http://www.cesnur.org/2004/waco_matthews.htm

Entitled: "The Master Race and the Family of Light: Conflict, Spiritual Purification and Bio-Political Agendas in JJ Hurtak's "Book of Knowledge"

Which says, in part:

Earlier in 1973, maverick linguist, alleged CIA consultant, occultist and nouveau Egyptologist, J.J. Hurtak, according to his account, had been “lifted up” in a body of light into a region of stars called Merak and Muscida by the Master Ophanim Enoch. Enoch, answering a prayerful plea from Hurtak, had come to deliver a revelatory message outlining the purpose of life on the Earth plane, and to reveal the contours of a coming confrontation between the Children of Light and the Fallen Masters of Darkness.2 Over a period of two days (Jan 2-3) Enoch “downloaded” into Hurtak a total of 64 keys or revelations and these became The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch. The Book of Knowledge details a premillennial, post-Christian account that calls on the Children of Light to be genetically recoded for the energy transformations to come that they may be the vanguard of an ascended “Christ Race,” which will complete the evolution of the original Pre-Adamic races. Key 109, a central revelation in this regard, reads as follows: The Anti-Universe is composed of Star Field Energies revealed on the Black Cube of Mecca which shows the function and destruction of three dimensional universes. 3

Hurtak’s commentary on this Key reveals that the events of October 1973 galvanized him. Hurtak saw the October war as evidence that most Muslims, particularly those in power, are in league with, or in thrall to, dark extraterrestrial forces that originate in the constellations of Ursa Minor and Draco (with the principle star alpha Draconis as a focus).

Hurtak constructs an elaborate narrative linking ancient astronomy and geometry, genetic/molecular and computer theory with geo-political events, and in revisiting the old competitions between Muslim, Christian and Jew, recasts the historic dimensions of this occasional conflict in extraterrestrial, genetic terms.

In elaborating on Hurtak’s prophetic project I will first briefly describe Hurtak’s process of “prophetic regenesis,” in which revelation and prophetic commentary are said to “reveal” the contours of a cosmic conflict between two ancient extraterrestrial genetic bloodlines that is said to manifest itself in geo-political events on earth. Then, I will discuss how Hurtak’s process of revelation subsumes and elides the actual sequence of events as recorded by news agencies. Lastly, I will briefly describe how this narrative of Muslim/Christian conflict, recast in extraterrestrial and genetic terms, has impacted the writings and ideations of New Age and Ascensionist thinkers and practitioners. […]

For example, an examination of the commentary explicating Key 109 demonstrates how, according the Hurtak, the Kaaba at Mecca acts as a concentration of anti-Universe, anti-Christ energy, a kind of spiritual black hole as it were. […]

For Hurtak, this “clinging to the cube” that the Kaaba represents is, in fact, evidence of a dangerous tendency toward retrogression, rigidity, entropy and a need to tyrannically control. As Muslims circumambulate around their most sacred shrine in Mecca, they are exhibiting the “black hole function” of refusing to evolve up to the next level of organic organization. […]

The implication is that Muslims do not “allow” the light of program of God to penetrate them, therefore, they re-enact and reinscribe, in their revering of the cube at Mecca, a focus on physical destruction of the 3-D world, in the way that the black hole is postulated to trap light itself.7 […]

The Book of Knowledge constitutes Hurtak’s attempt to construct what occultist Rene Schwaller de Lubicz referred to as la Symbolique, a purported system of knowledge transmission de Lubicz considered to be primarily visual and pre-linguistic, and is secretly encoded in the shapes of various written languages, mystical buildings, such as the Great Pyramid and for Hurtak, in human DNA. […]

The Children of Darkness “cling to the cube” in Mecca in order to keep the Children of Light from discovering the symbolique of redemption hidden in the Kaaba. They are not entirely at fault, since they are operating at the behest of extraterrestrials from alpha Draconis/Ursa Minor. They can be saved by bringing them to the Torah Or (Light of the Torah)—which Hurtak prophetically retranslates as the Program of Israel with Gematria designation 8033-45. […]

Now lets look at the "Council for a Parliament of the World'd Religions" Mission again and see how it fits in with the above........... Mission: The mission of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions is to cultivate harmony among the world's religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its other guiding institutions in order to achieve a peaceful, just, and sustainable world.

It appears that the CPWR hasn't done it's homework!

Continuing with the Censur article

There is no way to determine for sure whether Hurtak’s apparent conflation of events is purposeful, the result of a faulty news source, or a common American tendency to disregard the complexities of Middle Eastern politics. Whatever the case, Hurtak declares that Enoch transported him to the location of the Kaaba, in much the same way that Jabriel was said to have transported Muhammad to the Temple Mount during his Night Journey. From his exalted standpoint, Enoch revealed to Hurtak how the cubic structure of the Kaaba acts like a black hole, sucking in and trapping the Light of the Father and feeding the Children of Darkness. 13 The stone inside the Kaaba, it is said holds and traps the accumulated and unredeemed sins of humanity inside the cube as Muslims, guided by extraterrestrial forces from alpha Draconis, are vampirically infected by the resulting energies of degeneration, vengeance and anti-evolution. […]

So, how has this premillennial scenario played to Hurtak’s New Age and Ascensionist audience? […]

Perhaps one of the most interesting responses can be found in an early ascension channeling session conducted by trance channel Barbara Marciniak in 1990.

When asked specifically about Hurtak and The Book of Knowledge, Marciniak’s guides replied that, although in the past they may have spoken highly of the Book, they also had “always maintained that [we] do not agree with what is being said there.” While the book is said to “resonate with its own form of integrity,” it is also limited by Hurtak’s belief systems, and he will eventually be surprised when he finds out what and who the conflict really involves. Her guides go on to recommend The Gods of Eden by William Bramley as a more accurate account of humanity’s extraterrestrial background.16

Some ascensionists have reported to me that something about the book “creeps them out,” and still others were quite surprised when I pointed out passages in the text that seemed to vilify Muslims or contained a ‘master race’ narrative.

Most ascensionists seem not to be very interested in pursuing Hurtak’s premillennial charges of anti-Christ Muslim behavior, even while they generally accept his overall narrative regarding the existence of an extraterrestrial conspiracy on the Earth that is designed to keep humans from evolving and the importance of DNA as the locus of personal incarnation.

On the other hand, while perusing Internet archives of ascensionist/New Age chat rooms, I ran across several conversations, all post 9/11, in which Key 109 was brought up for discussion. In one instance, a respondent simply replied by posting a verse from Surah 9 of the Koran, which, when taken out of context, seems to provide justification for Muslims to kill their enemies at any opportunity. It was as if the respondent was saying: “Yes, see, look at their scriptures, they are just like that.” […]

Robert Fuller (no relation to Buckminster), in his book Naming the Anti-Christ: The History of an American Obsession, notes that a great deal of the apocalyptic imagery that is increasingly found in much New Age/Ascensionist literature derives from fundamentalist/right wing sources/pre-millennial, ranging from Hal Lindsey to Orson Scott Card.18 […]

For all of its sophisticated patter, and it’s potential as a vision that seeks to intimately link the twin infinities of the cosmos and the human soul through the mediating mechanism of DNA, Hurtak’s revelation seems to follow this trajectory with remarkable fidelity, only now the millennial conflict is cast in mathematical, extraterrestrial, genetic and even racial terms.

Later in The Book of Knowledge, Hurtak reveals that there are two other groups who operate with the Fallen Masters, obscuring the possibility of the Christ race evolving on Earth. These individuals are the orthodox ‘believers’ in the Jewish and Christian communities, and the secular scholars and intellectuals who annoyingly insist on the importance of history, context, analysis and fact-finding.

For Hurtak, such critical analysis is idolatry constituting the Abomination of Desolation as described in the Book of Daniel.

Well, I guess the shoe fits. A close look at the Book of Knowledge reveals what one might call the circular edge of closure, when right and left wing interests are joined in the fervor of premillennial promises of perfected genetic evolution, the end of history and the conquering of ones stated enemies. It’s the same story being told now in more dangerous times.

The Letter of the Law

2006-03-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

The White House says spying on terror suspects without court approval is ok. What about physical searches?

By Chitra Ragavan
3/27/06

[...]

"Black-bag jobs."

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse says the white paper cited the Gorelick testimony simply to bolster its legal defense of the NSA's electronic surveillance program. Roehrkasse points out that Justice Department lawyers have told Congress that the NSA program "described by the president does not involve physical searches." But John Martin, a former Justice Department attorney who prosecuted the two most important cases involving warrantless searches and surveillance, says the department is sending an unambiguous message to Congress. "They couldn't make it clearer," says Martin, "that they are also making the case for inherent presidential power to conduct warrantless physical searches." [...]

Hell of war still haunts Iraq vets

2006-03-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Many struggle with mental health disorders, homelessness As fight drags on, questions being raised about true costMany struggle with mental health disorders, homelessness
As fight drags on, questions being raised about true cost

Mar. 20, 2006. 01:00 AM
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON—Every day, Staff Sgt. Eugene Simpson is back in the pocket, looking for the open receiver downfield.

In his mind, he's there again, reliving his days as a high school football quarterback, a junior college cornerback and a point guard on the basketball team.

He can't suppress a grin, and that's the incongruous moment in his story, because this 29-year-old father of four with the upper body physique of the athlete he once was is sitting in his wheelchair in Washington's Veterans Administration hospital, paralyzed from the waist down, a graduate of the Iraq war, Class of 2004.

"I can't let this beat me," he says. "It's a competition, it's that competition left over from my days in sports."

Almost on the other side of the country, Sgt. Michael Sarro, Iraq war, Class of 2005, is lying in a hospital bed in Texas, his 10th or 11th time back there — he's lost count — talking about the nights, when darkness rolls in, and you're all alone, with nothing but time to think, about yourself, about what happened, about why it happened.

"Some of those things I've thought or felt, I'm not sure I want the guys I know to read about," he says. "You know, the military, it's really the biggest tough guy convention you'll find ... you have to keep that tough guy outlook."

No one could ever question the toughness of Simpson or Sarro, two of the more than 17,000 injured Iraq war veterans, many battling back from horrific injuries in this country as it marks the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

But as the fight drags on, there are questions about the cost of this war to a generation of young men and women.

There are even larger questions about the psychological cost to those who have returned and the tens of thousands who will someday return to try to reintegrate into everyday life here.

By some estimates, a U.S. Senate committee was recently told, one in three of the homeless in America are veterans, and more and more they are young veterans of Afghanistan or the two Iraq campaigns.

A study published in the Journal of American Medicine last month concluded about one-third of Iraq war veterans seek mental health help upon their return. The study of 222,620 veterans found the risk for serious mental problems was much higher in Iraq veterans than those returned from Afghanistan or other conflicts.

The study found 80 per cent of those who were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reported witnessing persons being wounded or killed or being involved in combat in which they fired their weapons.

"For those who survive, they return home having seen hellish things," says Dave Uchic, a spokesperson for Paralyzed Veterans of America.

"They are serving in a constant state of stress. There is no front. It is urban warfare. What if Iraq tips to civil war? They could witness massacres or huge waves of suicide bombings.

"This is a terrible thing they have to deal with over there. But this could get much worse when more and more start coming home."

Canada now has about 2,200 troops stationed in Afghanistan and is starting to suffer casualties. The U.S. experience may serve as a precursor to the types of problems Canadian veterans could face when they return home.

Tom Cray of the U.S. National Coalition for Homeless Veterans told a congressional committee that there are 200,000 veterans living on American streets on any given night, but his network is seeing more and more veterans from this Iraq war, many of them suffering PTSD, on the streets. [...]

"Biggest" Air Attack in Iraq Turns Out to be Bush PR Stunt

2006-03-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

Why bother spending billions of dollars on big corporate mainstream media reporters when they could just as easily have the Pentagon supply the stories and footage directly?

They already do in most cases.

Take the breathlessly "covered" air attack in Iraq. "Largest Air Attack in Iraq War Launched Against Insurgents," read one big city headline we saw. And television was right there, providing lead stories on the massive "air attack."

Only, of course, it turned out to be a PR stunt to boost Bush's poll ratings at home and divert attention from the civil war in Iraq, as if the U.S. presence was accomplishing something.

It turned out that this air blitz was just a bunch of helicopters that flew up to a pretty sparsely populated area, where 40 poor shlubs that happened to be around were detained. There was no shooting, no injuries, no deaths. It was all just show time.

But did the mainstream media expose the stunt? Are you kidding? They just dutifully reported it as if it were some vital military strategic assault.

Soviet propaganda fulfilled the same function as "reporting" like this. The mainstream press has been lobotomized by a corporate culture that doesn't want to "upset" the administration by practicing actual journalism.

Most television news and print coverage fulfill the same role as public relations agencies for the administration, with some exceptions for whistleblowing stories that are shoved in the media's face.

But the "massive air attack" fell into the former category. The mainstream media might as well have had the Pentagon press office or Karl Rove's shop writing their material. Maybe they did.

Pay too much and you could raise the alarm

2006-03-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

By BOB KERR
The Providence Journal
28-FEB-06

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Walter Soehnge is a retired Texas schoolteacher who traveled north with his wife, Deana, saw summer change to fall in Rhode Island and decided this was a place to stay for a while.

So the Soehnges live in Scituate now and Walter sometimes has breakfast at the Gentleman Farmer in Scituate Village, where he has passed the test and become a regular despite an accent that is definitely not local.

And it was there, at his usual table last week, that he told me that he was "madder than a panther with kerosene on his tail."

He says things like that. Texas does leave its mark on a man.

What got him so upset might seem trivial to some people who have learned to accept small infringements on their freedom as just part of the way things are in this age of terror-fed paranoia. It's that "everything changed after 9/11" thing.

But not Walter.

"We're a product of the '60s," he said. "We believe government should be way away from us in that regard."

He was referring to the recent decision by him and his wife to be responsible, to do the kind of thing that just about anyone would say makes good, solid financial sense.

They paid down some debt. The balance on their JCPenney Platinum MasterCard had gotten to an unhealthy level. So they sent in a large payment, a check for $6,522.

And an alarm went off. A red flag went up. The Soehnges' behavior was found questionable.

And all they did was pay down their debt. They didn't call a suspected terrorist on their cell phone. They didn't try to sneak a machine gun through customs.

They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. And they learned how frighteningly wide the net of suspicion has been cast.

After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their account had been duly credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed.

So Deana Soehnge called the credit-card company. Then Walter called.

"When you mess with my money, I want to know why," he said.

They both learned the same astounding piece of information about the little things that can set the threat sensors to beeping and blinking.

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.

Walter called television stations, the American Civil Liberties Union and me. And he went on the Internet to see what he could learn. He learned about changes in something called the Bank Privacy Act.

"The more I'm on, the scarier it gets," he said. "It's scary how easily someone in Homeland Security can get permission to spy."

Eventually, his and his wife's money was freed up. The Soehnges were apparently found not to be promoting global terrorism under the guise of paying a credit-card bill. They never did learn how a large credit card payment can pose a security threat.

But the experience has been a reminder that a small piece of privacy has been surrendered. Walter Soehnge, who says he holds solid, middle-of-the-road American beliefs, worries about rights being lost.

"If it can happen to me, it can happen to others," he said.

Harold Pinter: Theater's angry old man

2006-03-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

At the Prize of Europe, the playwright is all politics

By Porter Anderson
CNN
Friday, March 17, 2006 Posted: 1824 GMT (0224 HKT)

[...] Harold Pinter -- one of a handful of English-language writers whose work has powerfully affected two generations of European and North American theater -- was onstage Sunday in the ornate 300-year-old Teatro Carignano to receive the 10th Premio Europa per il Teatro, or Prize of Europe in Theater.

[...] But if anyone thought this London-born son of a dressmaker would rhapsodize on the career that began in 1948 with his arrival at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, they were surprised.

The task of Europe, he told the assembly, "is to resist the power of the United States" -- a political and cultural force so virulent, Pinter said, that it may "destroy" Europe. [...]

And in "Art, Truth & Politics," a lecture Pinter created for his receipt of the Nobel, the man's terms finally were clear and harrowing, both for the United States and for his own British government.

The United States, Pinter wrote in that lecture, is "brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless." It "no longer sees any point in being reticent or even devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or favor. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant. It also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain."

"How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal?" he asked in his text. "One hundred thousand? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice." [...]

Despite such bleak visions, Pinter's determination embraces hope: "There does seem to me to be more public awareness now," he says, "... of what actions our societies and our countries actually take and have taken. And what it means. And what torture actually is."

And in the winter of his illustrious career, the playwright likes to talk of his characters having lives of their own. "They surprise me."

The role he has assigned to himself, the artist-adamant, may at times surprise him, too. But he wryly insists he's earned his stance as the angry old man of modern theater.

"I've written 29 damned plays," he cracks. "Isn't that enough?"