it was fun, while it lasted . . .

But, WE MOVED to our own url!

(This blog will not be updated.)

I've been putting it off for some time now, because the other site isn't quite as I would like it. But, eblogger has been so problematic lately that I could wait no longer.

So, au revoir, Google!

It was fun while it lasted - all 1500+ posts - over almost one full year of daily blogging!

Of course, everything that's at this site will remain as is, unless or until we figure out a way to transfer it and all 1700+ external links to it!

So, please, google - have a heart and don't delete it!

In the meantime, to everyone who visits regularly, please keep coming, but from here on, to the new site!

It's not totally finished yet, but it's far more advanced than blogger and allows all registered users to blog! Yipee! I hope you all take the opportunity to express yourselves and to share both your news and your views.

To all those who had added wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot to their blogroll, Thanks! And please, add our new url too.

Sionara, Google! The best is yet to come . . .

out of order

this blog appears to be out of order.

please, visit the new url, which is not quite done - but, you'll forgive me, won't you?

thanks.

she died defending our freedoms

Did she die in Iraq?

No.

Did she die in Afghanistan?

No.

Did she carry a gun?

Again, no.

Armed only with her convictions and the courage to defend them, she walked quietly with her child down a street in California.

As a pious Muslim woman, she never left home without her hijab, the traditional head scarf worn by Muslim women. She was proud of her hijab.

In the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, some of her friends and relatives, afraid of reprisal attacks, took off their hijabs. Alia encouraged them not to compromise their religion, especially when they had nothing to do with those crimes.

As for herself, she told them that she would never take off her hijab, even if someone put a gun to her head demanding that she do so. Alia said that her hijab was her flag.

She could not have known as she began the fateful walk to her children’s school last Thursday that her path would cross that of a lone gunman who in a single act of mindless violence would bring a close to a life of dedication and service.

She could not have known that her grandfather’s words were so close to fulfillment. She could not have known that she would soon die defending her flag.

The author wrote a moving piece in her memory. But, what Alia Ansari died defending was - not her flag - but our freedom.

In defending her freedom to practice her religion, Alia Ansari died defending what America is all about.

Bush drones on forever about sending our troops abroad to 'protect our freedoms' but he's nothing but a miserable snake and a LIAR - people don't 'defend' freedom by conducting pre-emptive wars - people 'defend' freedom by exercising it.

By not giving in to fear and intimidation and doing what it is their right to do.

By calling a spade a spade when they see it, and calling a murderer a murderer - though he might threaten to exact revenge.

William Wallace defended freedom when he refused to pledge allegience to a man who called himself 'king'.

Rosa Parks defended freedom when she sat in the front of the bus.

Martin Luther King defended freedom from his jail cell in Birmingham.

History's list of freedom fighters is long, each one inspiring another to defend the flame that burns inside us all.

Among the believers are those who have been true to their covenant to God. Among them are those who have given their lives, others patiently wait their turn, having never weakened in their resolve. (33:23)

Alia Ansari is now among them.

4 firefighters killed in CA arson blaze

Engine Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 44, of Idyllwild; engine operator Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; assistant engine operator Jason McKay, 27, of Phelan; and firefighter Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto died when a wall of flames -- pushed by hot, dry winds -- swept over the engine they were in and the home they were trying to protect near Palm Springs.

A fifth crew member, identified as Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley, was injured in the incident.

* * *

Authorities are blaming arson for the Southern California fire, which began in a remote mountainous region around 1:15 a.m. Thursday. It has burned more than 24,000 acres and is 5 percent contained, according to the CDF.

An estimated 1,750 firefighters are battling the blaze with 207 engines, 15 air tankers and eight helicopters.

Officials say the winds, combined with the rural area in which the fire was set, are the reason it has spread so quickly.

Ten homes have been destroyed in the blaze.

At this stage, we can only guess why the son of a bitch who started this fire did it.

But, I am guessing that it has something to do with insurance and the real estate market.

I hope they catch the bastard with his pants on fire.

Too bad he can only get the death penalty once.

Perhaps more tragic than anything else, aside from dying because some greedy bastard set a fire, these young men sacrificed their lives to protect someone's PROPERTY - how f*cked up is that?

Standard Operating Procedure for firefighters should be - if it doesn't breathe, it's not worth risking your life to save.

neocons peddle 'Shock & Awe' - the sequel, on campus

Nothing less than full spectrum dominance will do for these madmen.

On Oct. 16, 2006, with the mid-term election less than three weeks away, and time slipping away for a Bush-Cheney Administration "October Surprise" military strike against Iran, a speaker told students at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) that a genocidal attack against Muslims was required to generate "a resurgence in the pride for Western civilization."

[T]he speaker, Dr. Yaron Brook, the executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), warned that "Islamic totalitarian states pose a severe threat to the security of the United States," adding that a way to defeat these regimes "is to kill up to hundreds of thousands of their supporters." This, he said, would "shrink popular support for extremist ideas to a small minority of the population," instead of the 40% which he claims supports such regimes now.

While some might wish to dismiss this as the demented rant of a lone madman who was, perhaps, off his meds, the reality is clear to anyone who has read the LaRouche PAC's latest pamphlet, "Is Joseph Goebbels on Your Campus?" Dr. Brook and his ARI are an integral part of the "war party" run by the Vice President's wife, Lynne Cheney, and are deploying to America's campuses to whip up support for new imperial wars, while intimidating their opponents with tactics which would make Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels green with envy.

Brook's presentation was sponsored by LOGIC (Liberty, Objectivity, GREED, Individualism, Capitalism), an ARI-linked organization at UCLA, which also has ties to the right-wing "Collegiate Network" of "conservative" campus throwaway newspapers. The UCLA affiliate is the Bruin Standard, whose editor is LaRouche-slanderer Garin Hovannisian, a protege of David Horowitz, who is one of the coordinators of Lynne Cheney's campus Gestapo. (See EIR, Oct. 20, 2006.)

It is this network of money-grubbing, self-promoting liars which is recruiting the shock troops for the Cheney-John Train imperial war party . . .

If you think the worst is over, think again.

If things feel calm, it's only because something is brewing on the horizon.

America - seduced into war based on LIES

This two part presentation combines provocative vintage posters of seductive women with investigative reporting and photos of hundreds of US soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan to demonstrate how Bush and his money grubbing, oil sucking cabal SEDUCED this nation and its people into WAR based on LIES.

Before this video, I hadn't even heard of Dresser Industries. I wonder why.

My apologies to anyone who finds the provocative images of women obscene.

Now, how OBSCENE do you find the LIES that led US into war and the PROFITS reaped by Bush et al as a REWARD for spilling the blood of these soldiers and of hundreds of thousands of civilians?

And they're still at it . . .

Iran, North Korea, and tens of thousands of Americans are NEXT.



It's time to get angry, America - VERY angry.

Bush and every man and woman in our government who supported and continue to support these OBSCENITIES must PAY.

Let it roll, baby, roll - come what may.


______________________
Thanks, ProfiteerInChief

israel - deny first, explain later

Standard Operating Procedure.

Israel said Thursday that no aggression against German forces was intended during a confrontation between Israeli aircraft and a German naval vessel patrolling off Lebanon.

This, of course, was after they initially denied it.

The Israeli embassy in Berlin released a statement from the defense ministry in Tel Aviv, saying the defense ministers of the two countries had discussed Tuesday's incident.

The episode occurred when Israeli jets scrambled after a helicopter took off from a German frigate serving with a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) task force. German Defense Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said six Israeli F-16s had flown very low over the German vessel and one of them fired two shots near the ship.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the helicopter did not coordinate his plan with Israel before taking off. As a result, Israel sent fighter jets into the air, forcing the helicopter to return to the German vessel and land.

The Israeli military, however, denied having fired any shots in the incident, which happened near the border with Lebanon close to the border town of Rosh Ha'Nikra.

israeli denials will persist, of course, unless or until incontrovertible evidence emerges that they DID.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz telephoned his German counterpart Franz-Josef Jung Wednesday night to explain the incident, officials from both sides said, stressing a desire to maintain good cooperation.

Jung is due to pay a visit to Israel next week, but Tuesday's incident is not expected to cast a cloud over the talks, diplomats said.

I'm sure the German pilot forced to land, under fire by SIX!!! israeli F-16s, begs to differ!

___________
UPDATE: Do you see any "heli-pad" [on this ship]?

And the plot thickens . . . nuclear war around the corner? just maybe.

UPDATE 2:

"There have been two incidents, one involving a helicopter and another the Alster" a German electronic surveillance and reconnaissance ship.

Raabe said six Israeli F-16 fighter planes had fired shots into the air over the Alster on Tuesday while the ship was in international waters some 50 nautical miles off the Israeli coast.

That explains that.

Now, what explains why israeli warships would fire at an intelligence ship?

Shhh! don't mention WAR - israel seeks 'makeover'

israel has announced that it wants a 'new look' for its belligerent, illegitimate existence.

What israel fails to see, however, is that a thousand marketing executives can't improve its image as long as it continues its brutal military occupation over a people and their land.

After decades of battling to win foreign support for its two-fisted policies against Arab foes, Israel is trying a new approach with a campaign aimed at creating a less warlike and more welcoming national image.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who has argued that the protracted conflict with the Palestinians is sapping Israel's international legitimacy, this week convened diplomats and PR executives to come up with ways of "rebranding" the country.

Unbelievable. They honestly think that they can 'market' their way into our hearts and minds with cheap, half-assed gimmicks and teasers, while they torture and kill innocent people on the ground.

"When the word 'Israel' is said outside its borders, we want it to invoke not fighting or soldiers, but a place that is desirable to visit and invest in, a place that preserves democratic ideals while struggling to exist," Livni said.

The campaign is a departure from the government's long-held practice of "hasbara," or "explaining" itself to Western audiences that may have little sympathy for crackdowns on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Now Israel wants to create an alternative image abroad, focused exclusively on assets like tourist attractions and business innovations. In the words of one campaigner and ad executive, the aim would be to create "a narrative of normalcy."

The most abnormal 'state' on earth wants to appear 'normal' - I'd like to see that!

"Israelis feel the need to explain themselves, to prove that they are in the right, but this doesn't always create empathy," said Guy Toledano, who represents British PR firm Saatchi & Saatchi and is helping the Foreign Ministry free of charge. [I wonder why?]

The brain-storming team has been asked to come up with four proposed strategies, one of which will be launched in January.

Palestinians, who have found it harder to push their own message abroad since the election of a Hamas Islamist government that has come under a Western aid embargo for its refusal to recognize the Jewish state, accused Israel of a white-wash.

"Nothing Israel can do in its campaigns or media influence cancels the fact that they are an occupying power," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, a moderate.

Now, that should be a no-brainer! But, clearly, even those with no-brains can't figure it out.

David Hartwell, Middle East editor for Jane's Country Risk, said news coverage of military clashes was key to shaping world opinion about Israel and would be hard to counter, despite what he saw as ebbing media interest given greater carnage in Iraq. [always gaining from others' misery]

"There is tremendous [well-deserved] cynicism,"Hartwell said.

Toledano agreed that foreign attitudes toward Israel are well-entrenched. He cited a recent poll in which Americans and Europeans were asked which animal they would most associate with Israelis. The top choices were tigers or foxes.

I see that they did not include SNAKE.

"The process of getting a new image to be internalized is a world unto itself. I can't say right now that we know exactly how we are going to do it," Toledano said.

Now, that's an understatement!

Potential tactics include having Israeli embassies step up advertising efforts in their host countries.

There is also a domestic drive planned, whereby the famously brasher facets of Israeli society would be softened -- at least among Israelis who are regularly in contact with foreigners.

"It could be a matter of simply posting Foreign Ministry greeters at the airport, or passing out advisories to those involved in the tourist trade," Toledano said.

For all the concerns being voiced, Israel's economy has boomed recently despite the conflict. Foreign tourism is rising again after a collapse at the start of a Palestinian revolt in 2000. Markets recovered quickly from war in Lebanon this summer.

Amir Gissin, public relations director at the Foreign Ministry, said that the image makeover was also about keeping Israel on the right side of the U.S.-led "war on terror."

Many pro-Palestinian groups argue that Israel's policies inflame the anti-Western violence of Islamist militant groups.

"In the wake of 9/11, the objective now is to place Israel among the coalition of the moderates, facing off against Islamic radicalism," Gissin said.

Too bad, it's A LIE.

Federal judge hits and kills officer, no charges

A popular city police officer died Saturday, four days after being struck by a sport utility vehicle driven by a federal judge who is a cousin of former President Bush, New Haven's mayor said.

Officer Dan Picagli, a 17-year veteran of the force, was hit while working an extra-duty job directing traffic in the rain Tuesday night in a dimly lit section of Chapel Street.

"Officer Picagli was more than a cop," New Haven Mayor John DeStefano said in a written statement Saturday. "He was someone who brought people together, who created a sense of community. He was a life enhancer to all with whom he came in contact. More than any memorial, his basic decency will keep his memory vibrant in our city."

Picagli was wearing a black rain coat and a reflective vest [!!!] when he was struck.

The driver of the SUV that hit Picagli is John M. Walker Jr., a senior judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, who lives in Connecticut and maintains court chambers in New Haven. He was leaving work when the accident happened, police said.

Walker, a 1962 Yale graduate, [skull and bones???] was appointed to the federal bench by President Reagan in 1985. He was appointed to the 2nd Circuit in 1989 by his cousin, former President George H.W. Bush. [I had no idea!]

No charges have been filed.

New Haven police chief Francisco Ortiz said a long investigation will be required to determine what happened, but police did not feel it was necessary to test Walker for drugs or alcohol. [??! - sound familiar?] Walker stopped his vehicle immediately after the accident, Ortiz said.

Walker, 65, voluntarily stepped down as chief judge Oct. 1 and took the status of senior judge, said spokeswoman Karen Milton, circuit executive for the appeals court.

He must have done something wrong, if he voluntarily stepped down.

I don't like the smell of this.

I don't care who he is - he should have been tested like anyone else would have been.

___________________
Thanks, The Resistance

why democracies don't work

This political ad against Republican congressman Gil Gutknecht is a potent reminder that democracies that are based on different interest groups vying for power invariably short-change those interests least able to fight for themselves.

THAT is why this country was NOT founded as a Democracy, but instead as a Republic - based on Constitutional principles and a Bill of Rights for its people - NOT its corporations.

The cold hard TRUTH is that Democracies only 'work' for those with power.

VIDEO the VOTE - because the MSM won't

In 2000 and 2004, problems plagued the polls in different parts of the country: long lines, eligible voters turned away, voter intimidation, misallocation and malfunctioning of voting equipment. They were underreported on Election Day.

Days and weeks later, a more complete picture of voter disenfranchisement emerged—but it was too late. The elections were over and the media had moved on.

Starting this election, citizen journalists—people like you and I—will document problems as they occur. We'll play them online, spread word through blogs and partner websites, doing our part to make sure the full story of our elections is told.

As the saying goes - if you really want it done, DO IT YOURSELF!


____________________
Thanks, Brasscheck

israeli F-16s fire over German ships

Two Israeli warplanes have fired over a German naval vessel patrolling off the Lebanese coast, the defence ministry in Berlin says.

Two Israeli F-16 fighters flew low over the ship, firing twice, Der Tagesspiegel newspaper quoted a German junior defence minister as telling a parliamentary committee.

The jets also activated infrared countermeasures to ward off any rocket attack, the paper said, in an advance release ahead of Thursday's edition.

The minister did not say when the incident happened or what had caused it.

"I can confirm that there was an incident," a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. He declined to give further details as an investigation was under way.

An Israeli military spokeswoman denied that the incident had taken place.

Surprise, surprise.

Germany assumed command of a United Nations naval force off Lebanon 10 days ago, and has sent eight ships and 1,000 service personnel to join the international peace operation in the region.

The naval force is charged with preventing weapons-smuggling and helping maintain a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Israeli air force has come under heavy criticism for continuing flights over southern Lebanon since a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah ended on August 14 with a UN-sponsored truce and the expansion of the United Nations peacekeeping force.

Amir Peretz, Israel's defence minister, said at the weekend that the flights would continue because of alleged arms smuggling to Hezbollah.

The Lebanese government and the UN say the overflights, which Israel had conducted since ending its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000, violate both the latest truce and the terms of Israel's earlier pullout.

Anyone who thinks israel is finished with Lebanon can wakeup now.

The battle has just begun.

How the 'rich' get 'richer'

Do you really want to know how the 'rich' get 'richer'?

Well, you can plow through this long list of reasons published at Mother Jones, or if you prefer, I'll tell you - in one word - how the so-called rich get richer ...

DECEPTION

All they had to do was trick us into adopting their money system and their copyright and patent system - believing that it is FAIR, when it is NOT.

Then, one decade after another, they consolidated the nation's resources - tangible (real property, commodities) and intangible (knowledge, technology, industry) - and now NOTHING remains for anyone else.

It's that simple - and it's all 'legal.'

There isn't a 'progressive' tax system in the world that can 'fix' an economy as fundamentally flawed as ours is.

But, Americans don't see it.

We're deceived. We're our own worst enemies.

"The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves."

--Dresden James

What the FILTHY rich (most of whom believe they are BORN better than the poor) have so cleverly learned is that while it may be fun to look down on others, it's far more effective to TRICK them out of everything they're entitled to then sit back and let them hate themselves.

WAKEUP, AMERICA! You're being HAD!

israelis, NOT WANTED

The unfortunate(?), but natural, consequence of running a ruthless occupation for almost 60 years - NOBODY wants you to visit.

Venezuela, which recently has forged closer ties with Iran, has announced it no longer will issue visas to Israeli tourists. A Venezuelan official insisted the cessation of allowing visits was a technical problem and that they would be resumed after a top diplomat returns to Israel. He has been absent for more than two months and there is no indication if and when he will return.

Oh well. You think israelis will get the hint? I doubt it.

They'll simply interpret it as one more reason to maintain their abominable little 'state.'

ToR-tuRe — all in favor, say ‘Aye’

Last week, the use of torture became a permanent fixture in America's legal landscape - a necessary evil in a world forever changed by terrorism - or so our government and some mainstream media pimps would have US believe.

But, HOW MANY people in the world agree that torturing suspected terrorists (really just glorified criminal defendants) is NECESSARY to protect against terrorism? WHO are these people? And WHY do they favor it?

[In a BBC poll released Thursday October 19th,] nearly a third of respondents (some 27,000 people were questioned in 25 countries) consider the use of torture acceptable under certain circumstances.

* * *

Although a clear majority, worldwide, OPPOSES even the occasional use of torture, there are significant groups willing to say they favour it.

WHO are these significant groups???


Not surprisingly, israelis top the list of groups that support torturing others to protect themselves.

But, WHY?

The Economist would have us believe that israeli support for torture is primarily a byproduct of their allegedly justified fear of terrorist acts.

Those with an especial fear of terrorism seem most inclined to support its use. Thus 53% of [i]sraeli Jews, according to the BBC poll, would allow terrorist suspects to be tortured for the sake of trying to get information that could save innocent lives.

But, the poll's findings belie the assertion that fear drives their support of torture.

First, only 16% of Muslim israelis (who presumably also fear attacks since they live in the line of fire) agree with using torture. But also, far fewer Europeans support using torture against suspected 'terrorists', even though many Europeans suffer as much as, if not more than, israelis do from terrorist attacks.

But, there's another salient 'fact', unique to israel, that is missing in the Economist's analysis.

Each country surveyed is either comprised of citizens of different racial and religious backgrounds or is comprised of one significant racial group with varying religious sects.

Not one nation - other than israel - has a national policy of forcibly expelling groups of people from their land with the express goal of maintaining a national Jewish majority - the raison d'etre of Zionism.

You might argue that this is why israeli Muslims are reluctant to support torture - because they know that, most likely, it will be used against fellow Muslims. However, that does not necessarily mean that israeli Muslims support using torture against non-Muslims or Jews.

On the other hand, the same assumption necessarily means that Zionists [or israeli Jews] are more eager than anyone else in the world to torture groups of people other than their own.

But, why?

Perhaps, it's the same reason they were the first to use banned depleted uranium on Egyptians in 1973 . . .

Or, the same reason they used white phosphorous and cluster bombs on Lebanese civilians two months ago . . .

Or, perhaps, because they don't value the lives of those tortured or killed as much as they value their own lives . . .

Or, because they don't even consider those tortured to be human . . .

Of course, all these reasons demonstrate an underlying RACISM that is both impossible to ignore and impossible to accept - even if the whole world said 'Aye'.

No matter how you spin it, the Zionist dream is - undeniably and unequivocally - a racist one.

And thanks to AIPAC and everyone in Congress who supports israel - do or die - israeli values have now become American values.

israeli interests have now become American interests.

israel's enemies have now become America's enemies.

And, unfortunately, under the Military Commisions Act - the American people are now included among them.

In addition, as a consequence of adopting israeli 'values' wholesale, whatever blowback awaits israel for its blatant disregard for human rights, no doubt awaits US too.

So, next time you find yourself contemplating America's track record on torture or the senators and representatives who said 'Aye' in its favor, remember that you have israel to thank.

Hopefully, it won't be while sitting in a room with no view at Guantanomo, enduring the treatment bought and paid for with your tax dollars.


___________
Thanks, bobw

Why freedom isn't ‘free’

Everybody, especially our [s]elected officials, talk about how freedom isn't free.

The desired implication, of course, is that 'we the [working] people' must sacrifice our lives to maintain it. But, did you ever ask yourself why?

If people are 'born free', then why must we fight to remain free? More importantly, exactly WHO or WHAT are we supposed to be fighting?

Or better yet, why (if Americans are so free) do we work all our lives to attain 'financial freedom'?

Is this the same freedom that we fight for with guns and F16s? What's the deal?

I smell a rat.

In this excerpt, an anonymous author demonstrates how the banking system and its bastard child INTEREST, which is nothing but a nice word for legalized, government facilitated, extortion, has managed to enslave almost every American, leaving US with only the illusion of freedom.

Many people today do not understand the true nature of interest. They have no idea that there are other possibilities besides slaving one's life away for the moneylenders. . . .

All the ads that surround us are not going to help us to control our desires. On the contrary, their aim is to make us want many things that we cannot afford. If we do not make a conscious decision to control our spending, human nature will coax us along with the herd into spending more than we earn—which can only result in debt. This destroys our happiness and spending power, because we not only pay for it later, we pay for it with interest. Debt would not be so bad if you only had to pay back $10 for every $10 borrowed. But unless you borrow from generous family members, you will pay back $15, $20, or even $30 for every $10 borrowed.

Lastly, the plague of Debt Slavery can be blamed on the "system"—the credit card companies and the economy itself. The credit card companies are guilty because they send out 6 BILLION credit card offers a year to families nationwide (that is the actual number, not an exaggeration!). And when they get you to carry a balance, they only ask for a small monthly payment—which barely covers the interest on the loan, keeping their victims in debt for many years.

The economy is also to blame because there is not enough money in circulation to go around [I disagree - there is, but a few people hoard it and bid up asset prices with it]. But the credit card companies are not all-powerful—they are easily resisted. So the victims of their schemes must bear at least part of the blame. After all, I receive dozens of such offers every month, and I know what todo with them. I cast them with disgust into the trash where they belong. I react as if someone tried to chain me up and cart me off to prison (because that is what they DID try to do!)

To illustrate the evil of Debt Slavery, take a family that has a $9,000 balance (the current national average) on a credit card that has an 18 percent interest rate. Since they read How to avoid Debt Slavery, they decide to cut up the card and never use it again. Even if they pay the minimum payment of 2 percent of the balance each month, plus interest, it will take them 47 years (and close to $33,000) to pay off that $9,000 debt!

So every $3 gallon of milk cost them $12, every $50 pair of shoes cost them $190, etc. If I had to pay that much for goods and services, I'd be pretty low on cash!

Now imagine how much money they'd be giving away to the bankers if they owed $18,000, or even $25,000! They'd never be free, unless they started paying big chunks off the principal (by sending in extra payments). Now we will define Debt Slavery by what it is NOT—namely, freedom.

* * *

Americans pride themselves on being free, but how free is a man who:

• Does not own his house


• Does not own his car


• Owes thousands of dollars to various banks


• Has to send his wife to work out of necessity, because his expenses are so high


• Sends his children to public school, because he cannot afford private school


• Restricts the number of children he has, because he feels he cannot afford more


• Pays a huge portion of his earnings every month to his "masters", the bankers

Those traits describe someone living in serfdom or slavery, not freedom. It describes someone living under a tyrant—who takes most of the peasant's income, and just keeps them alive enough to keep working for him. The tyrant tells them how many children they can have, and forces even women and older children into public service projects. The land, the house they sleep in, and the animals they work the fields with do not belong to the peasants, but to the tyrant.

The tyrant today is not the government (although Income Tax is something surprisingly new in our nation's history). The tyrant is the network of banks, which conspire to suck people dry at every turn, which causes such a drain that both parents have to work. This alone causes countless problems in the world today, because children were meant to be raised by their parents. They were not meant to be wards of the state.

On a side note, I am not a "good little consumer". I contribute almost nothing to the banking system—neither paying interest, nor giving them money to lend out at exorbitant rates to other people. If I kept $5,000 in the bank, they could lend out $50,000 at 6 or 7% interest, while only paying me 3% interest on that $5,000. Talk about massive profits! Banks can lend out 10X their cash reserves, due to the structure of the Fractional Reserve banking system. Now you see why the banks want your business! Whether you're a saver or a spender, they can make big money off of you.

I stick to reality—if something does not make sense (like every man, woman and child making 8% each year, every year, on the stock market) then I do not participate. Sure, money can be made on the stock market, but once in a while the whole thing crashes because it was puffed up like a marshmallow in the microwave—just begging to pop. The same with real estate. When money can be made without any effort on my part, I become VERY suspicious. How possible—or moral—can that possibly be? Who am I exploiting to make that money? I know for a fact that money cannot produce more money by just sitting there.

Damned straight it can't. Money can't walk, talk, or work, let alone 'make money.'

Our fractional reserve monetary system is a fraud compounded by interest which is nothing but legalized extortion.

Wakeup, America! International bankers and their usurious money system have done a massive bait and switch on the American people - taking away our real freedom and sending us to kill and die not to protect 'our freedoms' but to enslave others.

So, next time someone tells you freedom isn't free, tell them it would be if it weren't paid for in phoney dollars - AT INTEREST.

this Eid, israel 'feasts' on Palestinian flesh

Seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in a raid on the Gaza Strip on Monday during festivities marking the end of Ramadan, in an operation president Mahmud Abbas slammed as a "massacre."

The seven, including a local militant leader, were killed during an Israeli incursion in the north of the territory as Palestinians celebrated the first day of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Another 25 people were wounded, three of them seriously, as a result of tank fire in Beit Lahiya, Palestinian security and medical officials said.

Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire and killed Atta al-Shimbari, a local chief of the Popular Resistance Committees, a militant group that claimed joint responsibility for a cross-border raid on June 25 in which two Israeli soldiers were killed and one seized.

The Israelis opened fire as Shimbari was at his family's house for Eid. Two of his brothers, a cousin, a nephew and a neighbour were also killed.

Five paragraphs - it takes them - to mention who else they massacred besides the so-called 'terrorist' target. And when they do - no names, no ages, no mention of who their victims left behind to mourn them - just vague descriptions of a few more Palestinians slaughtered during the usual course of business.

And then they wonder why people all around the world pray for israel to disappear from where it came.

Happy Eid!

A little late for many Muslims, I know. But, don't get me started -

All over the world, Muslims manage to agree with the rest of the world on the US dollar as a standard currency, but cannot agree among themsleves on a single day to celebrate Eid.

What a travesty.

Anyway, this Eid, let's pray for a peaceful tomorrow and remind one another that peace never comes to those who cling too tightly to the gifts and pleasures of this earth.

In Surah At- Takathur [people are] taken to task for the materialistic mentality because of which they [remain] occupied in seeking increase in worldly benefits, pleasures, comforts and position, and in vying with one another for abundance of everything until death over[takes] them.

Remember, when you die you take NOTHING with you but your soul.


* * *


To Muslims and non-Muslims alike -

Whew! Ramadan came and went without a false flag. Let's hope the remainder of October in America remains as uneventful and that others around the world enjoy peace soon too.

How to ‘make’ news - spin, spin, and more spin

By showing raw uncut footage of REAL news before and after its spun, these excerpts from the movie SPIN, by Brian Springer, present the most concise and damning indictment of the mainstream media's 'news-making process' that I've ever seen.

[Y]ou'll never look at TV reporting the same again.

* * *

[Not surprisingly,] this extraordinary film released in the early 1990s is almost completely unknown.

Hopefully, the Internet will change that.

If we do our job, it will.

Pass it on!




_____________________
Thanks, Brasscheck

beware of those who speak with forked tongues

They neither mean what they say nor say what they mean.

Israel has no aggressive intentions toward Iran, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on Saturday, after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert cautioned Tehran it would pay a price for pursuing its nuclear ambitions.

"We must never consider such a thing," Peres told Channel Two television when asked if he would support an independent Israeli military strike against Iran if other nations failed to curb its uranium enrichment program.

"Israel has never shown aggressive intentions (toward Iran) -- it has none. I don't think we have to, or can, deal with this issue," he said, cautioning that Israel could face international isolation if it attacked Iran.

Israel has said repeatedly it wants the United States and other countries to take the lead in dealing with Iran . . .

We have yet to find out what exactly that means. But, almost certainly, we will.

"The Iranians should be afraid -- they must understand if they object to every compromise there will be a price to pay," Olmert, who has said a nuclear Iran would pose a threat to Israel's existence, told reporters on Thursday.

He did not elaborate. But his comments were described in the Israeli media as the strongest warning yet by an Israeli leader to Iran that Israel might consider a pre-emptive strike to try to ensure Tehran cannot build an atomic bomb.

So, which is it? Will they strike, as Olmert warned - or, as Peres insists, let the US and allies strike for them?

Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, an attack that Peres, then leader of the opposition Labour Party, opposed as diplomatically damaging to the Jewish state.

That ought to answer your question. But again, with israel, you can never be sure.

Kim Jong-il - ‘Looky what I have . . . ’

If it was up to me, I would lose the last frame, since Clinton was just as much of a liar and a thief as Bush, only he was neither stupid nor insane.

Otherwise, the first three frames of this strip are hysterical - except for the fact that, sadly, it's true - Bush has nothing but his swagger to back up his threats against North Korea.


___________
Thanks, jimb

israel - the deeper you dig, the more skeletons you find

This is the most damning and explosive evidence against israel I've read yet - and I've read and seen a lot of damning things.

This could potentially undermine israel's existence in one fell swoop, as its implications regarding Zionist involvement with Nazi Germany, and its secret war against Britian and its allies, is staggering.

To put it mildly, this changes everything.

MORE than £130m worth of British banknotes forged by the Nazis was used by the Jewish underground to help establish the State of Israel.

Wads of notes, which the Germans had forged by concentration camp inmates, ended up being used after the Second World War to pay for the transport of Jews to then British-occupied Palestine, and to buy weapons for the embryonic Israeli armed forces.

The revelations are contained in a new book which has been published in the USA and Germany, written by a former Time magazine journalist, and which details how the Nazis sought to undermine the British economy and what became of the cash they produced.

The Germans produced £132m of forged Bank of England notes during the Second World War as part of an audacious plan to undermine and destroy the British economy. The sum was worth about £3bn in today's money. While the plan ultimately failed to deal the UK a fatal blow, it nevertheless frightened the Bank of England into withdrawing all notes worth more than £5 from circulation until the 1960s.

The notes were produced by team of forgers and printing experts gathered from among Jewish concentration camp inmates. In the book, Krueger's Men, Lawrence Malkin reveals how some of the cash ended up in the hands of the Jewish underground at the end of the Second World War.

The Nazis laundered millions of pounds through a series of schemes including using business figures in occupied Europe who had concealed their Jewish origins. [says who?] One of these businessman was Yaakov Levy, a successful jeweller and art expert in pre-war Germany.

You tell me - how does a man named 'Yaakov Levy' hide his Jewish origins?

More likely, he did not - which means he didn't have to, which in turn means a whole lot more than Malkin dares to admit.

In the weeks following the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, Levy got supplies to Jewish refugees in Northern Italy who were fleeing south in hope of travelling to Israel. He also handed out large wads each containing about £50,000 of fake cash to organisers looking to help Jewish Holocaust survivors get from Europe to Israel.

In his book, which draws on new information from UK, US, German and Israeli archives, Malkin wrote: "The Jewish underground wanted van Harten's [Levy's] money and DID NOT CARE whether it was counterfeit or real. They passed the bogus pounds to supply Holocaust survivors and help the Brichah [Jewish escape organisation] smuggle more refugees to Palestine. On the international arms market, they used the money to buy weapons for Jews arming themselves against the British and then the Arabs."

If this is true, which I suspect it is, then when Ahmedinejad first called israel a 'fake regime,' it was TRUER than anyone ever imagined.

what they say and what they mean

John Chuckman at "Scoop" Independent News does an excellent job of demonstrating how Zionists and their right(and left)-wing supporters say and mean two totally different things when they speak of 'democracy' and 'peace' in Israel and Palestine.

This piece is a MUST read for its lucid analysis of how symbolic words are cleverly [ab]used to garner broad political support for what are otherwise utterly indefensible racist ideologies.

[As a postscript - this weekend is Eid, so I will not post much - though, so much is going on. Yesterday was a wash - eblogger was down most of the day. I'll post when I can - qrs]

Canada's Thirty-Percent Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, just made a speech at a B'nai Brith banquet. Normally, there would be nothing notable in this, but his words this time reinforced controversial statements he made while Israel savagely bombed Lebanon. He also continued driving an ugly new Republican-style wedge into Canada's national politics after calling Liberal leadership candidates "anti-Israel."

Harper said that his government supports a two-state solution in the Middle East. That is the policy of most Western governments, and there was nothing original in Harper's way of stating it. It was the kind of vague, tepid stuff we might hear from Olmert himself.

"Our government believes in a two-state solution -- in a secure democratic and prosperous Israel living beside a viable democratic and peaceful Palestinian state."

It is interesting to note the lack of symmetry in Harper's "secure democratic and prosperous Israel" versus "a viable democratic and peaceful" Palestine. I don't know why prosperity does not count for Palestinians, but as anyone who understands developmental economics knows, prosperity is key to developing modern, democratic institutions. You only get the broad middle-class which makes democracy possible out of healthy growth.

I suspect Harper was signaling, while calling for peace with two states, hardly a stirring theme for a B'nai Brith audience, that he saw no equivalency to the two sides. If not, perhaps he will explain another time what he did mean.

Harper did not define what he means by viable. Palestine, as anyone familiar with the situation knows, cannot be viable as a walled-off set of postage-stamp Bantustans, the only concept of a Palestinian state Israel has ever considered.

The key element in Harper's statement is what he means by democratic and peaceful. Those words are not so self-explanatory as they may first appear. Both these adjectives are regularly twisted in meaning, particularly by the United States.

Hamas won an honest and open election in Palestine, internationally scrutinized, but the result of that election was rejected by Harper and others, inducing chaos into Palestinian affairs, the very thing Israel's secret services likely intended when they secretly subsidized Hamas years ago to oppose Fatah. Hamas has not learned the required mantra about recognizing Israel, yet Hamas is no threat to Israel, or plainly Israel's secret services would never have assisted it in the first place.

Hamas is not well-armed, nor is it, surrounded and penetrated by Israel, in a position to become so. Israel speaks as though not recognizing Israel is an unforgivable defect, but governments often fail to recognize other governments. The United States has a long list of governments it has not recognized in the past and ones it does not recognize now. This is not always a smart thing to do, but it is not a crime, it is not even a faux pas, and it may just be a negotiating point.

Hamas has not invaded Israel, nor has it conducted a campaign of assassinating Israeli leaders - both actions Israel has repeated against Palestinians countless times. Every time some disgruntled individual in Gaza launches a home-made, ineffectual rocket, Israel assassinates members of Hamas or sends its tanks into Gaza, killing civilians. Presumably, a peaceful Palestine would be one either where there were no disgruntled people or where an efficient police-state stopped them all.

This is a preposterous expectation. It simply can never be. With all of Israel's violent occupations and reprisals, it has never been able to impose absolute peace, not even on its own territory. There have been scores of instances of renegade Israeli settlers shooting innocent Palestinians picking olives or tending sheep, and there have been mass murders of Palestinians a number of times, as at the Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mount. How much less able is any Palestinian authority to enforce absolute peace when Israel allows it pitifully limited resources and freedom of movement?

Realistically, the expectation for absolute peace should be interpreted as a deliberate barrier to a genuine peace settlement. Why would Israel use a barrier to peace when its official statements never fail to mention peace?

Because most leaders of Israel, probably all of them, have never given up the frenzied dream of achieving Greater Israel, a concept which allows for no West Bank and no Palestinians. Not every leader has spoken in public on this subject, but a number have. Other prominent figures in Israel from time to time also have spoken in favor of this destructive goal.

There seems no rational explanation, other than wide support of this goal, for Israel's persistent refusal to comply with agreements which could have produced peace, the Oslo Accords perhaps being the greatest example. Israel worked overtime to destroy the Oslo Accords, always attributing their failure in public to the very Palestinians who had worked hard to see the Accords born. More extreme Israeli politicians openly rejected the Accords from the start.

The crescendo statement in Harper's speech, his voice rising in force and his audience literally rising to its feet, was, "The state of Israel, a democratic nation, was attacked by Hezbollah, a terrorist organization -- in fact a terrorist organization listed illegal in this country," and "When it comes to dealing with a war between Israel and a terrorist organization, this country and this government cannot and will never be neutral."

Harper's definition of democracy appears to be the American one: those governments are democratic who agree with American policy. We know America has overthrown many democratic governments in the postwar world, including those in Haiti, Chile, Iran, and Guatemala. Today it threatens a cleanly-elected government in Venezuela and utterly ignores a cleanly-elected government in Palestine.

America shows itself always ready to work with anti-human rights blackguards when it feels important interests are at stake, General Musharraf of Pakistan and some of the dreadful Northern Alliance warlords in Afghanistan being current examples. There were dozens more during the Cold War, including the Romanian Dracula Ceaucescu and the Shah of Iran, put into power by a coup that toppled a democratic government. The American definition of democracy is highly selective at best.

Israel has demonstrated a similar understanding of democracy from the beginning. Israel was ready to help France and Britain invade Suez in the 1950s, an action which represented a last ugly gasp of 19th century colonialism. Israel worked closely for years with apartheid South Africa, even secretly assisting it in developing and testing a nuclear weapon (weapons and facilities were removed by the United States when the ANC took power). Savak, the Shah's secret police, whose specialty was pulling out people's finger nails, was trained by American and Israeli agents.

Harper's statement of total support for Israel in Lebanon is not in keeping with traditional Canadian views and policies. Canadians want balance and fairness. Unqualified support for Israel is tantamount to giving it a free pass to repeat the many savage things it has done, things most Canadians do not support.

Israel has proven, over and over again, it needs the restraining influence of others. Criticizing Israel does not make anyone anti-Israeli. Israel, sadly, has done many shameful things that demand criticism from those who love freedom and human rights, starting with its keeping a giant open-air prison going for forty years.

Harper should know that when Israeli leaders such as Olmert or Sharon speak of two states, they do not mean the same thing that reasonable observers might expect.

They mean a powerless, walled-in rump state in which elections must consistently support Israel's view of just about everything, a state whose access to the world is effectively controlled by Israel, and a state whose citizens have no claims whatsoever for homes, farms, and other property seized by Israel. The hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, living on property taken bit by bit since the Six Day War are there to stay. Palestinians' property rights to homes and institutions in Jerusalem, from which they are being gradually pushed, are being voided.

Israel has invaded Lebanon twice with no legitimate justification. It killed many thousands the first time and about 1,600 the last time. It flattened the beautiful city of Beirut the first time and a fair portion of the re-built city last time. It dropped thousands of cluster bombs, the most vicious weapon in the American arsenal, onto civilian areas. In effect, this action created a giant minefield, an illegal act under international treaty, with mines which explode with flesh-mangling bits of razor wire.

The Hezbollah that was Israel's excuse for invading Lebanon last time never invaded Israel. They launch their relatively ineffective Katysha rockets only when Israeli forces violate the border, which they do with some regularity in secret. Hezbollah's main function, despite all the rhetoric about terrorists, has been as a guerilla force opposed to Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. Israel has long desired to expand its borders into that region, and there are statements on record to that effect, another aspect of Greater Israel. Israel occupied southern Lebanon for many years after its first invasion, and still held on to an enclave after its withdrawal.

Democratic values are not just about holding elections now and then. Otherwise, apartheid South Africa would have deserved our support. So would Northern Ireland when it repressed Catholics for decades. So, in fact, would the former American Confederacy. These states all had elections but only some people could vote, and other people were treated horribly.

Democratic values must reflect respect for human rights, which apply to ALL, something about which Israel has been particularly blind. There are no rights for Palestinians. Indeed, Israel has no Bill or Charter of Rights even for its own citizens because of the near impossibility of defining rights in a state characterized by so many restrictions and theocratic principles.

The relatively small number of Arabic people given Israeli citizenship, roughly 19% of the population, descended from 150,000 who remained in Israel after 1948, mainly those who were not intimidated by early Israeli terror groups like Irgun and the Stern Gang into running away or who simply could not escape. Despite subsidized immigration to Israel, accounting for the bulk of Jewish population growth, Israeli Arabs have managed roughly to keep their fraction of the population through high birth rates. They are, however, under constant pressure, often being treated as less than equal citizens. On many occasions, prominent Israelis have called for their removal.

According to a recent study of Jewish Israeli attitudes, 41 percent think Arab citizens should be encouraged by the government to leave Israel, and 40 percent want segregated public facilities for Arabs. The survey also found 68 percent of Israeli Jews would not live in an apartment building with Arabs, and 46 percent would not let Arabs visit their homes.

Harper's dichotomy between democracy and terror, the crescendo subject of his speech, is simply nonsense. It mimics Bush's garbled words about terrorists versus American freedoms or everyone's being with us or against us. Israel is not so admirable a democracy nor is Hezbollah so terrible a group as he would have us believe.

And THAT is a colossal understatement.

the dirtiest bomb on earth

Always warning that other nations might use dirty bombs against US, our government has been using the dirtiest bomb on earth since the first Gulf war.

And which country set the precedent?

Israel - as far back as 1973 - against Egypt.

"In 1995, the director of AEPI told assistant secretary of the army, 'we can't reduce the toxicity [of DU munitions] - it's not possible.'

The United States Army [common task training?] states very specifically- 'uranium contamination will make food and water unusable' and yet we use it in combat all over the place.

That's why the United Nations Subcommission on Human Rights had ruled that uranium munitions were an illegal weapon - cause they're indiscriminate.

They can't be cleaned up and they last for eternity."

--Dr. Doug Rokke, US Army Health Physicist, Nuclear Medicine Sciences Officer

* * *

"Depleted uranium has a half life of four and a half billion years. If we had a pound of depleted uranium now, in four and a half billion years there would only be half a pound left.

This means that the Middle East, Central Asia, and Yugoslavia are contaminated - forever."

--Leuren Moret, Geological Scientist, International Radiation Expert

Still wonder why they call US the great satan?


_________________
Thanks, Brasscheck

Three cheers for Israel!

Not content with brutally murdering innocent civilians during their daily incursions, israelis make sure to leave nothing but barren wasteland in their wake.

Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations warned Friday against Israel's devastation of natural resources in the Palestinian Occupied Territory.

Addressing the Second Committee at the UN General Assembly, The First Secretary of the Mission Ammar Hijazi said the extent of devastation that Israel's 39 years of occupation on the natural resources in the Palestinian Occupied Territory, including Jerusalem is almost unthinkable.

"The cumulative effect and consequences of this devastation will have on future generations as well. For adding to humiliation and oppression of living under a ruthless military occupation, Palestinians watch helplessly as their land, water and other natural resources are robbed before their eyes while they are left with nothing but God's blue sky above and a shrinking space of land on which to live and thrive."

But, who's complaining?

Let's hear it for the greatest democracy in the middle east!

Hip, hip - hooray!

Hip, hip - hooray!

Hip, hip, hooray!

________________
Thanks, israel

Our job is done

_______________
Thanks, mishdogg

Somehow, some way - our voices will be heard

Most, if not all of you, have already seen this piece by Kevin Tillman. But, I've republished it here in full because it is so powerful, and all the more effective because Kevin served in Afghanistan, where he lost his brother, Pat.

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we get out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.

Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,

Kevin Tillman

Thanks, Kevin, for putting it so brilliantly.

Somehow, I suspect the mainstream media will never publish this important piece. Which is why we must continue to spread the word ourselves, in the hopes that somehow - some way - our voices will be heard.

the end draws near

The end of times? Doubtfully, though, who knows.

The end which nears is the End of the murderous, apartheid state of israel, which from here on in I will not dignify with a capital "I".

Do I believe it nears because Mahmoud Ahmedinejad says it does? Of course, not.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has predicted Israel will collapse and warned that its allies face the "boiling wrath" of the people if they continue to support the Jewish state.

As much as israel, and the rest of the 'west' would like you to believe that Ahmedinejad is 'the threat' - he's just a man, like any other. He certainly can't do it alone.

The real 'threat' to israel is the one it poses for itself with its evil, murderous acts.

God knows, I have seen enough evil come forth from that tiny little 'state' to last me clear through to eternity. And I will bear witness against it - now and forever.

"This regime (Israel) will be gone, definitely," . . .

"You (the Western powers) should know that any government that stands by the Zionist regime from now on will not see any result but the hatred of the people," he added. "The wrath of the region's people is boiling."

"Efforts to stabilise this fraudulent regime have completely failed, thank God ... THIS REGIME HAS LOST THE RATIONALE OF ITS EXISTENCE," the president said.

Ahmadinejad described his warning as an "ultimatum" for Western powers. "You should not complain that we did not give a warning. We are saying this explicitly now."

"If a hurricane starts be rest assured that the dimensions of this hurricane will not be limited to the geographic borders of Palestine," he added. "This regime (Israel) will take its supporters to the bottom of the swamp."

For those who are not inclined to believe in God, what I'm about to say may not hold much value for you.

But, for the vast majority of humanity - God is very real.

He is in our hearts, even when He is not on our minds - the proof being that, when faced with certain calamity, 'God' is the most common word uttered by man.

The 'ultimatum' Mahmoud Ahmedinejad conveyed is not the ravings of a self-interested mad man. Ahmedinejad could die in a heartbeat, but the TRUTH - for anyone who believes in God and all that is good - endures.

The TRUTH is that the scope and scale of evil committed by the state of israel simply cannot go unpunished in a world governed by God, as we know Him.

Therefore, if you believe in God, it is not Ahmedinejad that israelis should fear - but God.

israelis fear Ahmedinejad because he dares to affirm what they refuse to acknowledge - God is real and His punishment draws near.

"The Zionist regime is filled with moral corruption and ethical deviation in its highest ranks. Therefore this regime internally, and regionally from the outside, is cracking and is falling apart."

israelis DO NOT believe in God. They believe only in their own brute power.

That's why they feel compelled to demonstrate that they are 'invincible.' And why, when they fail - despite having all odds stacked in their favor - it's such a catastrophe, because it proves that, no matter what they do, they CAN'T win.

It is not Iran israelis should fear, but their own evil deeds, for which - God willing - they will pay a HEAVY price.

Who or what God will send to make them pay - only God knows.

But, well over a billion persons on this planet, me included, are praying for that end.

Are we all terrorists for praying to God? If so, it's a cross I proudly bear.

And to those readers who don't believe in God, I humbly submit that I would rather live believing there is a God and die to find out that there isn't, than live believing there is no God and die to find out that there is.

9/11 - don't believe it? You're not alone

One by one, hundreds of prominent Americans - in this case, Robert D. Steele - are no longer able to deny what has been so painfully obvious to so many millions of us, for so long.

It is with great sadness that I conclude that this book is the strongest of the 770+ books I have reviewed here at Amazon, almost all non-fiction. I am forced to conclude that 9/11 was at a minimum allowed to happen as a pretext for war (see my review of Jim Bamford's "Pretext for War"), and I am forced to conclude that there is sufficient evidence to indict (not necessarily convict) Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and others of a neo-conservative neo-Nazi coup d'etat and kick-off of the clash of civilizations (see my review of "Crossing the Rubicon" as well as "State of Denial"). Most fascinatingly, the author links Samuel Huntington, author of "Clash of Civilizations" with Leo Strauss, the connecting rod between Nazi fascists and the neo-cons.

This is, without question, the most important modern reference on state-sponsored terrorism, and also the reference that most pointedly suggests that select rogue elements within the US Government, most likely led by Dick Cheney with the assistance of George Tenet, Buzzy Kronguard, and others close to the Wall Street gangs, are the most guilty of state-sponsored terrorism.

The author draws on historical examples of US fabrication of threats (e.g. the bombing of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor) and many others (Jim Bamford publicized Operation Northwoods). It is an undeniable fact that the U.S. Government has been willing to kill its own citizens and fabricate attacks as part of moving the public.

The author suggests that there is no conclusive evidence that 9/11 was of foreign origin, and to the contrary, quite a bit of evidence that the hijackers had been trained at US military bases, protected by the CIA and FBI, and that the end result of their actions--including controlled flying into buildings and controlled demolitions bringing down three towers, one of which was not hit at all, all suggest a US-based conspiracy.

The author is compelling in his review of the conflicts of interest for each of the 9/11 Commissioners and key staff; he is conclusive in his damnation of their performance and their refusal to be tough with NORAD, the FAA, and many other Executive organizations that refused to cooperate; and he is conclusive on his suggestion that all actual evidence points to the Pentagon being hit by a missile rather than an airplane. [?]

The author is especially compelling in condemning Rudy Guilliani as part of the conspiracy, and as the "bud" of the extreme right charged with cleaning up the crime scene. Instead of making the area off-limits, Gulliani moved aggressively to "scoop and dump" to the point that firefighters rioted.

I sit here, a 54-year old, liberally educated, two graduate degrees, war college, a life overseas, 150 IQ or so, the number #1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction, a former Marine Corps infantry officer, a former CIA clandestine case officer, founder of the Marine Corps Intelligence Center, and I have to tell anyone who cares to read this: I believe it.

I believe it enough to want a full investigation that passes the smell test of the 9/11 families as well as objective outside observers.

I believe it sufficient to indict Dick Cheney and other neo-cons.

Sadly, the Executive is now in the service of corporations that benefit from high crimes and misdemeanors, rather than in the service of the American people who suffer great ill from these terrible mis-deeds.

My bottom line: justice has NOT been done, and this book, together with Crossing the Rubicon, is a major reason why I believe that eventually, Dick Cheney and others will be brought to justice. The people now have a digital memory and collective intelligence.

Bin Laden Dead or Alive?

Mission Accomplished?

Civil liberties at home, democracy abroad?

Just who are we kidding?

More to the point, who are we betraying if not ourselves?

Of course, this guy is heavily connected with intelligence agencies - so, there's a good likelihood that this somehow furthers another, undeclared agenda.

Nevertheless, it's an important indication that - for whatever reason - this whole thing is about to blow.



_______________
Thanks, bruce1337

New Orleans man dismembers girlfriend, kills self

Something is terribly wrong with this country when a dispute over rent ends in this.

After Hurricane Katrina, Zackery Bowen and his girlfriend Adriane Hall appeared in news stories as examples of young people who had pressed on in the battered city despite evacuation orders and a lack of power and water.

Their story came to a disturbing end this week: Bowen leapt to his death from a hotel, leaving a note that led police to a French Quarter apartment where they found a woman's charred head on the stove, limbs in the oven and torso in the refrigerator.

* * *

In [a] note, Bowen wrote: "I scared myself not by the action of calmly strangling the woman I've loved for one and a half years .... but by my entire lack of remorse," according to The Times-Picayune newspaper, which said it had obtained a copy of the note.

Bowen wrote that he had $1,500 in cash and spent it lavishly before killing himself, the newspaper reported: "So that's what I did: good food, good drugs, good strippers, good friends and any loose ends I may have had."

A woman who identified herself as Priestess Miriam Chamani in the Voodoo Spiritual Temple and Cultural Center below the apartment said the couple had recently moved in.

* * *

The apartment's owner, Leo Watermeier, said he last saw Hall on October 5, four days after the couple put down a deposit on the one-bedroom, $750-a month apartment. [!!!] Later that day, Watermeier said, Bowen called him, angrily saying the woman was kicking him out.

Watermeier said Hall told him she had caught the boyfriend cheating.

The motive appeared to be A DISPUTE OVER RENT, police spokesman and chief of detectives Anthony Cannatella said. It indicated Bowen strangled the woman after an argument and cut up her body with a hand saw and knife, according to police.

"He took his life to compensate for the life he had taken," Cannatella said.

The note, Cannatella said, indicated the woman was killed early in the morning of October 5, in apparent conflict with the landlord's account of seeing them that day.

A story published by Newhouse News Service last year described the couple gathering tree limbs for cooking fires and trading alcohol -- easy to get because of their jobs as bartenders -- for clean water.

They also found a creative way to make sure police kept patrolling their home: a story in The New York Times included her flashing her breasts at officers to make sure they drove by.

"We've been able to see the stars for the first time," Hall told Newhouse after the storm last year. "Before, this was a 24-hour lit city. Now it's peaceful."

Holly Jacker, who tended bar with Bowen, said he was outgoing and a hit with the ladies.

"Women loved him," she said Wednesday night, over the din of music in at Buffa's, the dimly lit bar. "He was gorgeous, charming, a big fat flirt."

Detective Ronald Ruiz said police hoped to make a positive ID of the body, using DNA or dental records, sometime next week. He said police estimated the dismembered woman was in her mid to late-20s.

Joy Spaulding, who works at the nearby Nawlin's Flava cafe, said she occasionally saw Hall and Bowen. "To be honest, they seemed like a real nice couple. They were good-looking people, young people trying to do something with their lives," she said.

Now, they're just two more casualties of this debt-ridden, opportunistic, cannibalistic economy.

Mind you, 'rent' at its current outrageous levels is nothing more than another form of INTEREST - only instead of exploiting your need for money, they exploit your need for LAND.

IMHO - this goose is cooked.