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Civil Disobedience, Imprisonment and My Search for Justice...
Norm Lowry
"Justice is more precious to me than life..."
An ancient prophet by the name of Habakkuk began one of his writings by saying, "Everywhere I look there is oppression and bribery and men who love to argue and fight. The Law is not enforced and there is no Justice given in the courts, for the wicked outnumber the righteous and bribes and trickery prevail..."
For nearly six months (4/17/09 - 10/08/09), I was imprisoned in the Lancaster (PA USA) County Prison, charged with three crimes: Possessing an Instrument of Crime, Disorderly Conduct and Criminal Mischief. The local media (newspapers, radio and television) 'helped the public', by portraying me as simply being 'an angry man who chose vandalism as a sedative'. Omitted were the facts:
Aung San Suu Kyi, Omar Khadr, and Barack Obama: A Dreadful Tale of What America Has Become
John Chuckman
During his trip to Asia, President Obama called for the government of Burma to release Aung San Suu Kyi, a noted dissident who has spent years under house arrest.
It made headlines, a fact which tells us more about the role of media as an outlet for government press releases than in communicating genuine news.
Obama’s was hardly a brave or innovative act when you consider that it is a universally-condemned military junta keeping Aung San Suu Kyi penned up. But when you appreciate the full context of Obama’s call, you may agree with me that it was more a cowardly act than anything else.
A year ago, after eight years of mind-numbing stupidity, countless public lies and bloody war crimes, Obama’s arrival on the American political scene thrilled the world. His intelligence, his grace, and his sense of decency were striking. His like as an American politician, quite apart from his race, had not been seen in the lifetime of many.
What's next?
Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah
Hundreds of Palestinians gather in the West Bank city of Ramallah
to express support for President Mahmoud Abbas
Whatever lies ahead after Abbas's notification of not seeking the Palestinian presidency again, the status quo ante is over for good, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah.
The recent decision by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas not to seek a second term in office has already thrown into question the continued survival of the Oslo peace process as well as the future of the PA itself.
Most Palestinians have interpreted Abbas's decision as a frank -- though belated -- admission of the failure of the peace process with Israel. In his speech on Thursday, 5 November, Abbas didn't mourn that process much. But he did suggest that it was pointless to walk any further along the current path given Israel's adamant refusal to stop settlement expansion and the Obama administration's refusal to force Israel to give up the spoils of the 1967 war.
Lebanese students advise President Obama how to get it right
Franklin Lamb Beirut
If those in Lebanon watching the news on 11/12/09 blinked they might have missed an interesting news item. It appeared at approximately 4:20 pm on Narharnet.com, the pro-US/Saudi news website.
The news item read “4:16 pm, American Ambassador Michele Sison (sp) departed Lebanon for her country.” Ten minutes later the item disappeared and, as it turned out, the ten minutes was exactly how long it took for the US Embassy security and press office to inform Beirut media outlets that “the American Ambassadors movements are to be reported at least one hour after they occur not one minute.”
The Inevitable Collapse of the Dollar
by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy
Americans live beyond their means, Asia finances it and China props up the buck so that the US can buy Chinese made stuff at Wal-Mart. Eventually the Asians/Europeans will stop financing the USA, China will pull the plug on the buck and the bubble will burst.
The CIA's World Fact Book lists the US at the very bottom of a list with the world's largest negative Current Account Balance. China, which pegs the Yuan to the dollar, is at the top with the world's largest positive Current Account Balance.
If the GOP had been correct, US exports should have risen! The 'balance of trade deficit' i.e, the NEGATIVE Current Account Balance would have been reduced! If the GOP had been correct, the US could have paid off huge amounts of national debt run up in incompetent and dishonest GOP regimes. The US might have survived decades of conservative budgets which forced the US to borrow from other countries. But --not surprisingly --things have not worked out as the GOP would have you believe.
Origins of 'Islamophobia' in US Imperialism and Neo-Colonialism
by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy
'Islamophobia' in the U.S. is a top down phenomenon encouraged and exploited by the right wing. It is easier to whip up war fever if the populace is irrational, mindless, or unduly fearful of an entire class, religion or even race. A crooked, corrupt or illegitimate state is 'motivated' to encourage irrational fears among its populace. This was true of Rome, the Third Reich and it is true of the US. It is, perhaps, one of several harbingers of the fall of empire.
That 'Islamophobia' is a needless waste is proven by recent events.
11/9 and 9/11: And We Thought We Were Free
by Gary G. Kohls, MD
71 years ago this week, on 11/9/38, the horrifying event that the Nazi Party called Krystallnacht occurred. It could be said, that the events of 11/9/38 was the official start of Adolf Hitler’s overt and “endless war” against the Jews, but the methods used to justify that war were not an aberration. Rather, the Night of the Shattering Glass, which saw many synagogues destroyed, all the plate glass windows of a thousand Jewish businesses in Germany shattered and the first 26,000 Jewish men, of many millions more to come, sent off to concentration camps, was simply another example of an all-too-common historical reality that has been going on ever since the first tyrant orchestrated the first false flag operation, allowing him to “innocently” and patriotically declare the first “retaliatory” war. And then, by repeatedly using cunning propaganda techniques, that tyrant could plausibly deny responsibility for the coming violence because the enemy was, after all, the one who drew “first blood”.
Warning of Humanitarian crisis coming due to gas depletion – Gaza Strip
Ayman T. Quader
Gaza City, November 15, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) The ongoing Israeli siege has been gravely suffocating the life of people of the Gaza Strip. The fuel companies in the Gaza Strip have been warning of the imminent humanitarian crises that the cooking gas is about to get depletion after 25 days of cutting access to the Gaza fuel sanitation.
It is warily reported by Mahammed Al Shawwa, the head of the union of fuel companies in the Gaza Strip, that the gas sanitations in the Gaza Strip has stopped supplying people of their needs of the cooking gas.
UNCARED FOR ON VETERANS’ DAY
Re-reported, edited with brief comment by Carolyn Bennett
Nice holiday speeches but Washington politicians are at heart unconcerned about America's health.
"I feel a little bit like we're debating whether to give aspirin or Tylenol to a patient with breast cancer," Dr Steffie Woolhandler said about health care proposals moving pushed through Congress. "The patient needs surgery," she told interviewer Amy Goodman. "What's being debated in Washington is really Tylenol or aspirin...
"There are so many bad planks. This bill needs to be scratched and we need to start over."
The Democracy Now interview was pegged to a study by Harvard Medical School researchers that found an estimated "2,266 U.S. military veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they lacked health insurance and thus had reduced access to care." This figure amounts to -
More Militant Vegans, Less Ethical Butchers
Mickey Z.
A friend of mine recently brought to my attention a former vegan who has now re-invented himself as the "Ethical Butcher" (a title right up there with Peacekeeper missiles, limited autonomy, and military intelligence). The butcher writes: "After 14 years as a vegetarian, a few of those as a quite 'militant' vegan, I became a butcher. The factors that went into me taking the position are many, but the result was maybe quite predictable. Within a month I was a full-fledged meat eater. What has not changed is my passion for the welfare of animals. Through my work as a butcher and chef, I now see a more direct way to influence and work for change in the meat industry and to improve the quality of life for all of the animals we rely on for food."
Such backlash in the face of compassionate evolution is not uncommon. For example, just as more and more women begin to challenge gender roles, the patriarchal culture countered with Howard Stern, Maxim, and Spike TV. But I digress…
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