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Argo: From Hollywoodism to Iranophobia
By Ismail Salami
In recent years, Iranophobia has come to encompass a wider scope of media including cinema which is incontestably capable of exercising a more powerful effect on manipulating the audience.
Along the recent Iranophobic attempts comes Argo (2012), a ‘nail-biting thriller’ which according to David Haglund, takes a few liberties with the history. A few liberties, indeed! The false façade of the movie and the glorification of CIA agent Antonio Mendez (the hero, played by Ben Affleck) in particular and the intelligence apparat in general in smuggling the escapees out of Tehran gives a flimsily larger-than-life flair to the movie on the one hand and a too-good-to-be-true feeling to the multitude of audience whose minds have already been hijacked by western media about Iran.
Lies and Liars Lost
Joel S. Hirschhorn
My cynicism about the stupidity of the American public would have increased exponentially if Mitt Romney would have been elected president. In over 50 years of voting and 25 years of working professionally in the world of politics and public policy I had never seen such outrageous and persistent lies, distortions and intellectual insults from a presidential candidate. Please note that I was not an Obama supporter; I proudly voted for the Libertarian candidate.
Repeatedly, Romney sold his soul to first get the Republican nomination and then attempt to win the presidency. For such a supposedly religious person he had no difficulty in saying anything to win support, despite contradictions with his previous positions and statements as well as with objective facts. The only thing you could trust about him was his love for his family and religion, and oh yes his quite negative view of 47 percent of the American public muttered when he thought he was only talking to a bunch of his rich supporters. But for such callous behavior he deserves to go to Mormon hell for lying to so many, including himself apparently because he could justify just about anything because the end of becoming president justified all means.
Money Party Wins US Election
by Stephen Lendman
The same party wins every time. Duopoly power rules. America is a one party state with two wings. Each replicates the other. On major issues mattering most, not a dime's worth of difference separates them.
The late Gore Vidal explained it as well as anyone. Some of his best comments included:
"Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates."
"Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically by definition be disqualified from ever doing so."
Washington State and Colorado Join the Fray: Cannabis Legalized
by chycho
The big news from last night is not that the lesser of two evils won the US presidential elections, but that “Washington and Colorado voters legalized recreational use of marijuana.”
“’It’s very monumental,’ said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a Washington-based group that advocates legalization. ‘No state has ever done this. Technically, marijuana isn’t even legal in Amsterdam.’”
Under the measures, “personal possession of up to an ounce (28.5 grams) of marijuana would be legal for anyone at least 21 years of age. They also will permit cannabis to be legally sold and taxed at state-licensed stores in a system modeled after a regime many states have in place for alcohol sales.”
In addition, the cultivation of up to six plants for personal use will be legal in Colorado while still remaining illegal in Washington State.
How will this play out with Obama’s war on cannabis, especially considering his record on medical marijuana?
Obama Votes for Romney
by Stephen Lendman
"Well, he might have," said Mark Crispin Miller on his blog site. He doesn't know. Nor do other voters. Corporate owned, programmed and manipulated electronic voting machines control things.
The Carter Center monitors elections globally. It refuses to do so in America because free, fair and open standards don't exist.
Jimmy Carter calls Venezuela's electoral process "the best in the world." He said America's is "one of the worst." He cited money power controlling them.
Others call US elections shams. They lack legitimacy. Nothing about them reflects democracy. Duopoly power controls things. People have no say. Half the electorate usually opts out for good reason.
Candidates are pre-selected. Key outcomes are predetermined. Media scoundrels suppress truth. Information voters most need goes unreported. Horse managed news and race journalism substitute.
Congress does its job?
David H. Marshall
It is the responsibility of the U.S. Congress, "To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces"; U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 14.
The Congressional Oath of Office:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
Election Fraud, November 6 - Watch for Vote Flipping and Fixed Exit Polls
Michael Collins
(Washington, DC) Our elections are officially privatized. They are hidden from our view by design.
On November 6, your votes will be cast and tallied on voting machines manufactured and serviced by private companies. The computerized voting machines run on software that is closely held as a trade secret by these companies. Our elections officials are barred from examining the most important aspects of the software. Why? Because those same officials signed away our right to open access and inspection of the voting systems that tell us who won and who lost each and every election. (Imge: WikiCommons)
This is the most profound election fraud imaginable. It affects every citizen, all 311 million of us.
America's Deplorable Human Rights Record
by Stephen Lendman
Far and away, America's human rights record is the world's worst. No other nation approaches its unprincipled history. Earlier crimes against humanity were largely internal and regional. Twentieth century ones went global. New millennium ones elevated atrocities and other human rights abuses to an unprecedented level. It keeps rising. America is guilty of virtually every crime imaginable and then some. Former dovish US diplomat, advisor, and father of Soviet containment George Kennan explained what reflects America's post-WW II foreign and domestic policy. His February 1948 "Memo PPS23" said: "(W)e have 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population. (It makes us) the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships (to let us) maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national society."
US Elections: From the “Lesser to the Greater Evil”and the Demise of Critical Liberalism
James Petras
Introduction
There is ample evidence that the Obama Presidency has pulled the US political spectrum further to the Right. On most domestic and foreign policy issues Obama has embraced extremist positions surpassing his Republican predecessor and in the process devastating what remained of the peace and social movements of the past decade. Moreover, the Obama Presidency has laid the groundwork for the immediate future promising a further extension of regressive policies following the presidential elections: cuts in Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Incumbents and their opposition compete over hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funding from wealthy donors, which they will have to repay in the post-election period in billion dollar handouts, subsidies, tax abatements, anti-labor and environmental policies. Not a single positive proposal was put forth by the Obama campaign but numerous militarist and regressive social policies were articulated. The Obama campaign ran a fear campaign, playing off of the reactionary proposals of the Romney-Tea Party alliance: a cover for his own record of unprecedented military spending, sequential wars, immigrant expulsions, mortgage foreclosures and Wall Street bailouts.
Commodification of Water, the Quintessential Issue of Our Time
by chycho
Commoditization of the commons is the most important issue of our time, the most vital aspect of which is the commodification of water, usable water (pdf) to be more precise. As Global Water Corporation, a Canadian water privatization company has stated (pdf):
“Water has moved from being an endless commodity that may be taken for granted to a rationed necessity that may be taken by force.”
Strong words indeed for an important issue. Gavin Power, the deputy director of the United Nations Global Compact, reiterated this message when he made the following statement after receiving support from some of the largest corporations in the world in an effort “to help [sic] solve the global water crisis”:
“The scale of the water problem is so big that governments can’t solve it alone. They need the help of the private sector.”
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