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October Surprise: Peace Prize to a War Criminal
by Stephen Lendman
The Nobel Committee's tradition is long and inglorious, but for the well-informed no surprise. Consider its past honorees:
-- Henry Kissinger;
-- Shimon Peres;
-- Yitzhak Rabin;
-- Menachem Begin;
-- FW de Klerk;
-- Al Gore;
-- The Dalai Lama, a covert CIA asset;
Latin America’s Twenty-First Century Socialism in Historical Perspective
By James Petras
Introduction
The electoral victory of center left regimes in at least three Latin American countries, and the search for a new ideological identity to justify their rule, led ideologues and the incumbent presidents to embrace the notion that they represent a new 21st century version of socialism (21cs). Prominent writers, academics and regime spokespeople celebrated a totally new variant of socialism, as completely at odds with what they dubbed as the failed 20th century, Soviet-style socialism. The advocates and publicists of 21cs claims of a novel political-economic model rested on what they ascribed as a radical break with both the free market neo-liberal regimes which preceded, and the past “statist” version of socialism embodied by the former Soviet Union as well as China and Cuba.
In this paper we will proceed by examining the variety of critiques put forth by 21cs of both neo-liberalism and 20 century socialism (20cs), the authenticity of their claims of a novelty and originality, and a critical analysis of their actual performance.
TOO BIG TO INDICT
Excerpted, edited with comment by Carolyn Bennett
Money Crime, its impunity in High Office resulting from the failure to indict it leaves no time seriously to deliberate and solve problems in domestic or international affairs
"The question is where the impetus for change will come from, because poor people are virtually invisible to the U.S. Senate. [Senators] are disproportionately wealthy and represent, economically, only a narrow slice of the population. This, combined with the fact that the constituents that they see as most relevant, those in the best position to affect their tenures in office, are also disproportionately wealthy, leads to a serious imbalance of power. Too few people have too much wealth, power, and access, and too many people have too little" - The Conscience of a Liberal: Reclaiming the compassionate agenda -Senator Paul Wellstone (b. July 21, 1944 - d. October 25, 2002)
CHARGE OF THE BECKERHEADS...
By Sheila Samples
I didn't know Van Jones. I didn't know Van Jones was a friend of mine -- at least not until the stench billowing from the Fox Hate Channel became so foul I was forced to take a closer look at this terrifying creature. No -- not Jones, whom President Obama wisely had hired as Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the Council on Environmental Quality -- but the sobbing, lying, deliriously insane Glenn Beck.
According to Beck, who began his assault on Jones in a July 23 disjointed rant, wherein he claimed Jones is not only "a communist-anarchist radical," but a former black nationalist, avowed communist-anarchist radical. Or something. Anyway, according to Beck, Jones is really really dangerous -- a racist just like Obama, who has a "deep-seated hatred for white folks" and whose entire agenda is restructuring America into a land of reparations, social justice and jobs for minorities.
The appalling thing about the intellectually challenged Beck, like the Limbaugh-loon he so desperately struggles to impersonate, is that he is given a podium from which to spew his hate. Even more appalling is that he is allowed -- encouraged -- to do so with no reservation, no regulation, and no repercussion. Unless, of course, you consider the multi-million-dollar salary he receives for telling lies and for whipping paranoid masses of gun-toting racists into glassy eyed fury, then it's easy to see Beck is hitting the repercussion jackpot -- over and over again.
"Deficit Neutral" Health Care Reform
"Deficit Neutral" Health Care Reform
Absurdity upon Absurdity
The health care debate and general political climate compound absurdity upon absurdity.
First we're told that our health care is only worth the time and effort if the remedy has no negative impact on the budget. No deficits allowed. The deficit risk defines your chances for health and longevity.
At the same time, we see that Wall Street failures and the overseas war effort are not held to the same standard on deficits spending.
The Nobel Prize, the Brand and the President
Gilad Atzmon
Imprisoned by the most dangerous Zionist guards
People out there are divided whether it was a right decision to award Obama with a Nobel prize for peace. In fact, almost everyone around me is outraged, what ‘peace’ they ask, what about Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, Palestine? We are tired of promises they insist. The Nobel Prize committee on its part ‘highlighted Obama’s effort to support international bodies, build ties with the Muslim world, act in favour of nuclear disproliferation and fight Climate change’. Those who are unimpressed with Obama stress that the above is just ‘empty rhetoric’, nothing but ‘hot air’. “We want to see action, we demand facts on the ground”.
While Obama’s critics raise some valid points, they for some reason seem to fail to grasp the distinction between ‘Obama the Brand’ and ‘Obama the President’. The ‘Brand’ stands for hope and humanism. It tends to say the right things on the right occasions. It is ethically aware. It employs reason occasionally and it even manages to talk sense often enough. ‘Obama the Brand’ is, no doubt, a refreshing event in the Western political arena.
The Republicans and the Taliban: More alike than Rush will admit
Mary Shaw
Republican congressman Pete Sessions as Taliban insurgent
Just when ACORN needed a break from all the hysterical right-wing finger pointing, along came the perfect diversion: President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. And so a new feeding frenzy began.
Erick Erickson of Redstate.com wrote: "I did not realize the Nobel Peace Price had an affirmative action quota."
Glenn Beck chimed in with his usual kind of absurdity: "The Nobel Peace Prize should be turned down by Barack Obama and given to [...] the tea party goers and the 9-12 Project."
But the reaction that most caught my attention came from Republican Party chief Rush Limbaugh: "Folks, do you realize something has happened here that we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about and that is he doesn't deserve the award. Now that's hilarious, that I'm on the same side of something that the Taliban, and that we all are on the same side as the Taliban."
Obama's Mandate from and Vanunu's letter to: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Committee
eileen fleming
In his congratulatory message to President Obama upon being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Israeli President Shimon Peres stated:
"Very few leaders if at all were able to change the mood of the entire world in such a short while with such profound impact. You provided all of humanity with fresh hope, with intellectual determination, and a feeling that there is a Lord in heaven and believers on earth. Under your leadership, peace became a real and original agenda. And from Jerusalem, I am sure all the bells of engagement and understanding will ring again. You gave us a license to dream and act in a noble direction." [1]
Embarrassed and denounced
Khaled Amayreh from Ramallah
In monumental fashion, recent events in Geneva have roundly earned Fatah and Abbas's Palestinian Authority the contempt of ordinary Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is facing an extremely embarrassing situation following its decision earlier this week to endorse deferring the ratification of the Goldstone Report at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.
The report, compiled by South African judge Richard Goldstone, accused Israel of committing, knowingly and deliberately, war crimes and crimes against humanity during its winter onslaught on the Gaza Strip in which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, most of whom were innocent civilians, including more than 300 children, with thousands others injured or badly incinerated by phosphoric bombs. Thousands of homes, mosques and public buildings were destroyed in the 22-day blitz.
John Lennon's 69th, me and U2
eileen fleming
John Lennon would have turned 69 today. I have been listening to his music all week. And I will be at a U2 concert in Tampa tonight.
You say you want a revolution?
Well, you know we all want to change the world,
but when you talk about destruction,
don't you know that you can count me out: IN!
Me2!
The Beatles - Revolution (Live)<< 1 ... 1153 1154 1155 1156 1157 1158 1159 1160 1161 1162 1163 ... 1271 >>
