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2011: The year Lebanon Allows Palestinians Some Elementary Civil Rights?
FRANKLIN LAMB
Shatila Camp, Beirut
Maybe it was the really loud celebratory Ak-47 Kalashnikov and small arms gunfire and fireworks in my South Beirut neighborhood that triggered the intense New Years Eve nightmare. Or I guess it could have been the seemingly, just below my bedroom window, launched RPG-7’s which followed minutes past midnight on January 1, 2011.
Anyhow, in my News Years dream, I was back in my childhood home, Milwaukie, Oregon, nearly half a century ago. Our farming and lumber town on the Willamette River had a population of around 2000 in those much simpler and less crowded days. I dreamt it was Saturday afternoon and as we always did during our middle school years, my best friend and Lake Road neighbor, David Inabnit and I went to our town’s decaying WW II era movie theatre called the “Victory”, at exactly 1 p.m.
Milton Friedman’s ‘Capitalism and the Jews’ Revisited
by Gilad Atzmon
Given the severity and uncertainty of the economic crisis we are all experiencing, I suggest we look once more at the work of Milton Friedman, the leading economist and a staunch advocate of hard capitalism.
During the 1960s -80s Friedman was regarded by many academics, politicians and world leaders as the most important post- World War Two economist. Friedman was chief economic advisor to Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Menachem Begin. He also went on record advising the Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet.
It is far from surprising to note that more and more commentators have realised in recent years that it was Friedman’s ideology and advocacy of free enterprise, zero governmental intervention and privatisation that has led to the current financial turmoil. It was Milton Friedman’s philosophy that also contributed to the transformation of the West into a service economy.
Waging War on American Workers
by Stephen Lendman
Target one is America's middle class, endangered after decades of wealth shifts to super-rich elites besides most high-pay, good benefit jobs, offshored to cheap labor markets - a policy Washington's duopoly endorses. It's the most serious threat to middle America since attacks began in the 1970s.
On December 23, 1957, The Dan Smoot Report published novelist Taylor Caldwell's (1900 - 1985) article, titled "Honoria," the true story of a former great nation and lessons to be learned from its demise.
She explained how men seeking freedom became Pilgrims, endured terrible hardships, yet survived, prospered, and gained power. They established colonies, believed in God, hard work, public education, and transformed villages into towns and cities.
The Seduction of the Knowledge-Based Society
Jeff Gates
The most promising trend in geopolitics is the transition from hydrocarbon-based economies to knowledge-based societies. Leadership for that change is emerging from Arab nations.
The appeal of the Knowledge Society is apparent. Who could object to nations preparing their citizens for the 21st century? Yet unless knowledge is changed, the result could worsen an already dangerous situation.
The sharing of values and knowledge has long been the best way to bridge cultures and promote peace. That strategy is now essential to counter the success of those promoting The Clash of Civilizations.
Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are breaking new ground with education models that build on state-of-the-art information and communication technologies.
Fear and Loathing on Wall Street - The Ibanez Case Ruling
By Numerian posted by Michael Collins
[W]hat is surprising about these cases is … the utter carelessness with which the plaintiff banks documented the titles to their assets.(From the ruling) Carelessness is a polite word. The banks have acted with criminal recklessness. In these and similar cases that have cropped up around the country, it is becoming obvious that the big banks involved in securitizing mortgages during the past 15 years purposefully evaded local legal requirements for registering mortgages and accompanying borrower notes with a county recorder of deeds.
Capitalists are Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
by ancient patriot
The Capitalists are Not Providing Services
You can't get around some simple facts - unless you're a capitalist. The citizens factually need to provide for themselves through taxation. Our state officials are obligated to distribute products and "services" equitably throughout society, and especially encourage individual moral growth. The citizens more or less get the products and services previously paid for through taxes and there are no conflicts of interest. Social welfare is maintained and the people are satisfied. This standard political system is probably as old as time. Unfortunately, power is customarily abused in this world. Today, our capitalists' tax laws have all but extinguished the common sense of these noble political practices - and created monsters, living at the expense of all others.
History repeats itself… it is later than it seems.
Lanny Davis: Lobbyist for Despots
by Stephen Lendman
On October 2, 2009, Legal Times writer Jeff Jeffrey headlined, "Lanny Davis Leaves Orrick for McDermott Will & Emery," saying:
Former Clinton White House special counsel "left Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe to join McDermott Will & Emery's regulatory and government strategies practice." At Orrick, he "led a rather unusual practice that included litigation....related media strategies, (and) advis(ing) clients on crisis management."
In fact, he then and now he lobbies for despots and predatory corporate clients.
Israel's Knesset Targets Leftist Organizations
by Stephen Lendman
Numerous previous articles explained Israel's hardline anti-democratic agenda, several accessed through the following links:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/10/israeli-knessets-anti-democratic-agenda.html
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/11/lurching-toward-gomorrah-growing.html
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/12/israels-sham-democracy.html
Now the latest. On January 5, Israel's Knesset, by a 47 - 16 vote, approved forming a parliamentary committee to investigate leftist Israeli organizations. Among them, B'Tselem issuing a same day press release headlined, "B'Tselem proud of its activities and completely transparent. The Knesset's decision is what harms Israel's international status," adding:
Lucasville Five Hunger Strike Begins --An interview with author Staughton Lynd
By Angola 3 News
In 1993, the maximum security Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio was the site of an historic prisoner rebellion, where more than 400 prisoners seized and controlled a major area of the prison for eleven days. Nine prisoners alleged to have been informants and one hostage correctional officer named Robert Vallandingham, were murdered. Following a negotiated surrender, five key figures in the rebellion were tried and sentenced to death. Known since as the Lucasville Five, they are Namir Abdul Mateen (James Were), Siddique Abdullah Hasan (Carlos Sanders), Bomani Hando Shakur (Keith Lamar), George Skatzes and Jason Robb.
The Lucasville Five are now back in the news with an announcement last week that four of the five will be participating in a simultaneous “rolling hunger strike,” beginning today, January 3. They are using the hunger strike to protest their convictions (having always maintained their innocence) as well as their living situation, which is more restrictive than for most prisoners on Ohio’s death row. The statement issued by the Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network explains that “the hunger strike will proceed in an organized manner, with one prisoner, probably Bomani Shakur starting on Jan.3. The hunger strike becomes official after he has refused 9 meals. Therefore the plan is that 3 days later, Siddiquie Abdullah Hasan will start his hunger strike and 3 days later, Jason Robb will follow. Namir Mateen has a great willingness to participate and plans to take part to the extent that his diabetes will allow.”
Staughton Lynd is the author of the 2004 book, Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising, which asserts that the Lucasville Five are innocent men, who were framed by the State of Ohio. In a review of Lucasville, the news website, Solidarity, concludes that “Lynd presents sufficient evidence and argumentation to cast more than reasonable doubt on the convictions of the Lucasville Five.” The book’s “immediate agenda is to mobilize public opinion to achieve amnesty for the Lucasville Five. In the 1970s, the governor of New York was compelled to grant amnesty to the Attica rebels based upon revelations of state malfeasance. Lynd contends the Lucasville Five’s death sentences should be wiped clean on the same grounds.”
Are You Ready for the Revolution?
By Mickey Z.
For a while in 2001-2, I worked the night shift at a midtown Manhattan corporate gym (cue the shame and self-loathing) at which I met several interesting characters.
One evening, for example, I was wearing a Yankees t-shirt with the name "Justice" emblazoned on the back (for former Yank David Justice), when a woman named Mary—perhaps in her late 60s—asked me if I were a Yankee fan. I told her I was...but my real reason for wearing the shirt was all about the word "justice." She smiled and declared that justice was a "noble idea."
This was shortly after 9/11, so I braced myself for the inevitable "we need to show those towel heads some justice." Instead, Mary told me—albeit in a very low voice—she was going to Washington soon to march against the impending invasion of Iraq.
After this confession, Mary looked genuinely nervous. Had she gone too far in the alleged land of the free? I just smiled and said in my best underground resistance voice: "Don't worry, I'm with you."
Mary and I proceeded to talk in depth each time she'd come to workout. The company eventually phased out the gym and let me go but just before so, I saw Mary and complimented her on how hard she was training.
She leaned close to me and whispered: "When the revolution comes, I'll be ready."
Which brings me to a good question for 2011: Are you ready for the revolution?
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