In your life time experience, has hope ever died? How does it feel when our hope is lost or shattered for a brisk moment due to a disappointment- whether we were turned down for a job that mean't everything; or just lost hope in our love life?
That empty feeling in the gut is horrible! Isn’t it? How can we live on a daily basis with no hope at all?
My country men have no hope! Sierra Leoneans and other Africans, help is on the way; do not give up. Keep trying, and find comfort in something, anything that can give you hope; but no “vein” hope.
Hope, life is full of hope, hope the pillow of life, but no vein hope.
Quote by Yandouba Monahan
Helium and Hydrogen are both lighter than air, which gives containers, which are small enough in mass, the ability to rise above the earth. Vacuum has this same ability, although it would be very difficult to build a vacuum container of light enough materials to be able to rise. Today, following the disaster of the hydrogen filled Hindenburg in the 30's (it burned up catastrophically), we use helium to fill some balloons for flight (it is not flammable).
Richard Heene used helium to fill his small weather balloon the other day. Somehow, the small balloon became untethered and flew away. The rest of the story is now becoming history. But it is more a history of what is happening to our current media than it is about balloons, or even the rather 'different' Heene family.
The balloon was so small it could never have provided the lift necessary to carry a passenger, even one as small as a six year old child. But the media ignored that fact. Falcon Heene, the child in question, found a place to hide following his involvement with the untethering of his father's weather balloon. The child's disappearance, at the same time that the balloon was running free, was all that was needed for the national media to spring into action. The child's potential participation in the balloon's flight, as a passenger, was trotted out as being the 'story.' No investigative reporting was done at all. The National Guard was called in. Helicopters were dispatched. Wolf Blitzer was alerted. And across the United States television sets were isolated to this 'late breaking news story,' while cameras followed the balloon's uncontrolled floating with attentive abandon. When the balloon finally landed, in full view of every television watcher in the nation, the authorities at the scene did not even examine it for the possibility of its having a passenger aboard. They already knew that there was no one aboard. But Blitzer, and company, went on and on. Since the child was not aboard the craft (which could never have carried him) then it was speculated that the 'basket' which must have been attached to the thing, had somehow dropped off, with the boy inside it. The story raged on for hours, as hypothetical searchers combed hypothetical woodlands and housing developments for the non-existant basket and boy. Late in the day the boy was found to be at home, hiding from the potential wrath of his father, for letting the expensive balloon go in the first place.
The news lemmings gathered off-camera. Wolf and his team at CNN. The saga of the deliberate scamming Heene family was born. The family had been on 'Wife Swap,' and was therefore very knowledgeable when it came to dealing with the media. The Falcon child's name was changed to 'Balloon Boy,' and the attacks began. The Falcon child made as light verbal slip-up by stating, on camera; "They are making it sound like we did this all for show." The every brilliant Blitzer, male Lois Lane of our time, managed to clip the sentence in half, and followed up: "What do you mean by the statement 'we did this for show?'" The child did not answer. That Wolf had cut off the first part of the quote blew right by the rest of the media. The part excised by Wolf became the quote itself, in typical media tradition. That part of the quote is isolated and delivered as the entire quote on The Drudge Report and CNN's home internet site right this minute. That the first part of the actual quote changes the meaning of the sentence entirely is overlooked, not to mention the boy's very accurate observation and portrayal of what the media is up to.
The rather adventurous life the Heene is having has been taken apart by this same media. What a wonderful family the Heene family seems, if you look at it from the perspective of being a child. The children have a loving brilliant father and caring mother. The children go on all sorts of adventures. They are having the time of their lives and being cared for as well. What child would not want to be a part of that family? But the media is changing the adventure into danger. And the Heene parents are being portrayed as whacked-out hippy losers putting their children in danger. That the family is trying to make it, using 'branding,' YouTube, and all the instruments necessary to get noticed in this culture, is being turned against them.
The media created a huge story out of nothing at all. A helium balloon that had flown free. That was all that happened. By the time that media got done with it, and realizing that they might be held accountable for blowing the whole thing way out of proportion, Wolf Blitzer, and company, turned on the Heene family and decided to portray them as attention grabbing scammers. This is what is happening because of media.
It is happening every day. We are being given unimportant idiocy to consider. We are being given celebrity after celebrity across our television screens. We are being kept from substance and reality by creative lying and obfuscation, and its being done to us on purpose.
On page one of the business section of today's New York Times, half way down, you will find an article titled "Bill Shields Most Banks From Review." The House Financial Services Committee approved an exemption for 8000 of our nation's 8200 banks, that will allow them to remain exempt from having to be examined for oversight by the new banking agency for oversight created by the same bill! That article is buried in the business section of the paper. The front page of the Times today? Yes, you guessed it, the 'Balloon Boy' story is page one! How could the awful outrage of all those banks being exempted from oversight, after what we have all experienced happening in that industry recently, be allowed to happen? How is it that the public is not outraged, protesting and even rioting? it is because the public does not know. The New York Times has only about a million readers, even if the banking story ran on page one it would get little notice. Wolf Blitzer does not care what happens to us, and neither does CNN. They are making millions on 'Balloon Boy' stories, then blaming the idiocy of those stories on anyone who happens to be handy. Vulnerable and handy is even better.
These bankers, with their media cronies, are a long way from being done with us. We are not being bled by the financial services industry to the point where we will be weak and careening. We are already that. No, we are being bled until we are, quite literally, dead. And we are going to go to our grave willingly, trying to catch a last glimpse of some runaway helium balloon....
http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com
http://www.themastodons.com
http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com
The "boy (not) in the balloon" story reveals one thing and one thing only: the American mass media, especially the cable channels, including CNN and MSNBC, have forgotten what their purpose in life is: present the news. Not stupid, sensationalist nonsense out of TV land (the family in the Colorado balloon story starred in "Wifeswap") but significant events that might actually affect people's lives. How many 6-year-old boys died today because of violence or malnutrition or disease, around the world? Why did none of the news channels mention them? They weren't from a zany middle class family in a plush suburb of Colorado, perchance? Their father had not invented a flashy, shiny helium balloon that looked like a UFO? CNN are still plugging the story, except it is NOT a story--NOTHING happened! No child died, no one was even in danger. Yet the network, and to their shame MSNBC, cut away from Barack Obama's "town hall meeting in New Orleans in order to show sensational, but as it turns out completely empty and meaningless film of the shiny balloon. This, by the way, after the cable news channels had been incessantly plugging the line that Obama had not shown enough respect to NOLA because he was only spending 4 hours there. But as soon as a shiny object diverts them, the magpies at the cable news channels cut to the shiny UFO and away from Obama answering thoughtful questions about New Orleans' crisis and recovery. Who is showing disrespect for New Orleans, might I ask? A president who fulfills a promise to go to NOLA, even though, God only knows, he has enough things to occupy him, or the news channels, who can't be bothered to stick with the meeting when a balloon (which turns out to be empty) flashes through the Colorado sky? What is it about shiny vehicles (OJ’s SUV for instance) that acts like catnip for TV producers? CNN and MSNBC should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for being suckered into devoting their precious TV time to a non-event. If anyone thought that there was any integrity or intelligence left in the mass media in the USA, then today should have set them right. American news channels have become another form of infotainment, and have nothing to do with keeping the public informed about what they really need to know. Where, might I ask, were the stories about the six-year olds in New Orleans today suffering from poor education, lack of food, or simply lack of safety and prospects? But to report on THAT would have required some intelligence and effort, not the sort of thing, apparently, that CNN or MSNBC (let alone Fox) are interested in. A sad day for the fourth estate, and for democracy.
The dangers of preventative care
You do get some fascinating arguments from the opponents of health care reform. There is, if you have not already seen it, Betsey McCaughey’s priceless discussion with Jon Stewart about the Democratic plot to pull the plug on grandma:
Am I being cynical, or is Ms. Pipes? Or, as I suspect, a bit like Ms. McCaughey, is she just too ideologically driven and short-sighted to see what she is actually saying? She might be aghast at this conclusion—but then she should not be quoting CBO figures whose (inhuman) objectivity, as with so many statistics, completely ignore the human, the moral, dimension, and the higher purpose of health care in the first place.
I've seen our health care system up close over the past year.
I'm fortunate to have the finest medical care in the world. But I've seen far too many people unable to obtain the care they need because they can't afford it.
That's wrong. It's got to change, and it's about to change.
We're fighting for legislation in Congress to fix our broken health care system. Under President Obama's leadership, Republicans and Democrats are working together to write a bill that will guarantee good care at long last to everyone who needs it.
But we'll need strong nationwide support to produce the 60 Senate votes that will probably be required to avoid a filibuster and actually pass the bill. I need your support. Please sign our petition for quality, affordable health care for every American:
http://www.democraticmajority.com/healthcare
Our legislation includes five major provisions:We give Americans better choices for health insurance. We follow a simple principle: If you like the coverage you have now, you can keep it. If you don't like your current coverage, our bill offers new and more affordable options. We'll negotiate with insurance companies to keep costs low, make it illegal for companies to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions, and give Americans the option to enroll in a public insurance program.
We reduce the cost of health care. We'll crack down on fraud and abuse, and we'll reduce red tape to keep costs down. We also make sure doctors use the most effective therapies to treat illnesses, so patients aren't paying extra for treatments that don't work.
We put new emphasis on prevention. The best way to treat a disease is to prevent it from ever striking, or to catch it at an early stage. By giving every American access to affordable health care, we'll enable millions of people to be screened for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and depression.
We bring more help to the elderly and the disabled. We make it easier for these Americans to live independently. We help pay for home upgrades such as wheelchair ramps, and for regular home care to enable people to live in their own homes, not nursing homes.
Finally, we develop a better health workforce, delivering modern and responsive care. We invest in doctors, nurses, and other health professionals to meet the needs of patients more effectively for years to come.These changes won't be easy to enact -- but we can't afford to wait, and we can't afford to fail.
Show your support for health reform that will benefit all our citizens, reduce the financial burdens on our nation's people and businesses, and put our health care industry on a strong and sustainable basis for the future:
I'll be working hard to pass this bill in the weeks ahead, and I hope you'll be there with me.
Thank you so much for the very real difference you can make in achieving this great goal we share.
Sincerely,
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ui8PkQR9os
Click on that and learn about the Next Generation of Leaders Barack Obama talked about.
Omar Dyer was recently on a radio station promoting a job fair for NP and SBA in New Jersey.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1357295
Omar Dyer is the onlu candidate that has a real chance for an independant to win. The media is not talking about him and will not give this young kid a chance to change politics for the better.
Yes, fellow travelers!
We TOO can experience the wonders of Obamian Socialist Ideals.
Much like the ones that created the modern 'middle'class"...
It was called the GI BILL of Rights I believe.
It socialistically allowed people who might otherwise not ever have afforded it-- to own a first house.
Yes, the evil totalitarian socialists (the post ww ii government) hatched the insidious plot.
We're in RUIN this very day due to it.
Damn poor people got houses, got cocky and uppity and began investing in stocks!!!!
Oh, tis a tangled and odious weave we web....when Stalin comes a knockin'
Beware! Beware!
If Obama keeps up more people might own houses!!!!
Get yer pitchforks and meet me at the church at midnight!!!
(oops, I forgot...newt and rush can't use hand tools and besides they got a dinner party tonight)
There goes the revolution!
Now the damn fish are addicted to tea and i got 5,000 pitchforks i can't sell.
Maybe I'll loan em to some real people so they can pitch that line of crap out of the way before we all get it on our shoes.
So, we leave the reader, agape at Rush and Gingrich's 'paper-revolt"...a document written on
toilet paper...and head, fearful of socialism but contrite that our country
is much too spoiled and lazy to ever adapt to it, into the brave new world of twitter.
(yes, and scrap that "meeting at the church" too! WAY, way too socialist for twiddle and dee)
bow--wooo!
What is bias in the middle east conflict? [March, 2009]
Arabs’ racist killing (specifically) Jews *, is accepted “freedom fighting’'.
Israelis worried of Arab terror *, branded as “racists”.
*
War crimes, crimes against humanity by Palestinian Arab leadership - regime in Gaza * * * of using Arab civilians, making sure their kids die, for the “greater good (Jihadi-fascism’s goodness) of making Israel look bad…” * * * * * * *, using hospitals *, schools, UN medical vehicles * *, even aid material sent by humanitarian Israel * for murder, targeting at Israeli civilians, - shoved aside, ignored *.
Israel’s humane army’s extreme measures not to hit civilians (including 250,000 warning phone calls to Arab residents to evacuate a particular area designated to be included in an op., knowing full well terrorists can cease the opportunity and flea, as well as risking young soldiers’ lives in going door to door) * * * * aiming only at Hamas terrorists is denounced of “random shooting” and “war crimes”.
[Arab led pressure forcing Israel to conduct] Uprooting Jews from their homes and their ancestors’, AKA Transfer * * AKA Arab Palestinian Apartheid * is “good for peace”.
Transfer of Arabs (who don’t have more than 2 or 3 generations of history in Judea / Israel / Palestine * * * *) is “apartheid, fascist and racist” * (AKA Avigdor Lieberman).
While Hamas or even “Moderate” Fatah refuses to recognize Israel *, international aid is flowing their way.
UN is “busy” condemning Israel * * on whatever is being told (forced) by the global Arab Muslim oil lobby.
A friend of mine is frustrated with the lack of accuracy in media. 24-hour cable news/talk is interested more in sensationalism and entertainment than in providing "need to know" information. And it's hard to define what people really "need to know" in order to make decisions!
Here's what she said:
"The real problem with this discussion is that we are not distinguishing between information and entertainment. I believe that one of our corporate sins as Americans is that we have lost this distinction. As Christians we have a moral obligation to inform ourselves but we have no obligation to entertain ourselves. As a nation we have a moral obligation to demand that information be made available widely, consistently, and fairly. We ought not confuse t he F irst Amendment with some supposed “right” to be entertained by opinionated pundits who mimic our particular brand of hubris."
The right to free speech is protected by the Constitution. But at what point does free speech pollute our political process? And how can we work to get past the noise?
click on images to watch video on youtube or you can see it here on my website mayaescobar.com
Somebody once said the first 100 days of the presidency can be regarded as the President’s honeymoon, which I took that to mean with the media journalists in our country; well stating it simply “I don’t see that happening with our newly elected President.” Furthermore, when our President took office less than a month ago, negative journalism for the most part began.
Perhaps “negative” is a bit to strong and not the exactly the correct definition, perhaps the recently created word of “spin” is more befitting of what I see coming over the airways, which includes the online news services and television.
Whatever, my feelings are when I view the RSS banner headlines I subscribe to, from what I consider two leading sources of political news, and they’re casting our newly developing administration and the presidency in a negative light with over half of their articles devoted to day after day of negativeness then I feel absolutely justified in labeling them “negative.”
One provider is the Time Warner organization, which includes CNN and Time, while the other is Politico, which I often quote in my blogs when I find there “factual” reporting available. I desire news coverage which lets me decide my opinion on the story being covered, not the commentator’s or the author’s mostly slighted opinion.
As an example, I believe in President Obama’s Economic Stimulus package, but if I followed the supposedly good advice from everything I read from the two aforementioned agencies I’d have to write my congressional representatives and request their “no” votes on the package.
Hi everyone!
There are some new Video on my blog. Enjoy it: http://obama-videos.blogspot.com
Disgraceful 'Jihad Appeaser' Jimmy Carter LIES openly on CNN's Larry King and no one refutes him? Sat. (Feb. 7, 2009) night, Jimmy Carter said: ’Israel, it could have responded to the rocket attacks without firing on churches (excuse me, what churches in Islamic Gaza is he talking about???) and on Mosques’.
A short while after that Larry confronted the worst-ex-president “You said earlier that Israel fired on mosques and on schools, what was Israel supposed to do as they responded to where the FIRING CAME FROM”?
Jimmy, "I don’t known I wasn’t there, I only know that the UN said that Israel fired on them and there were only civilians there".
Hey, Jimmy, so what if we show you now the updated version by the UN where they retracted their false accusation on Israel will you have the guts and say the truth about humane Israel that Israel was (as always is) humane on targeting only Islamic terrorists but Palestinian (”legitimate voted govt in Gaza - Hamas”.) Muslims commit crimes against humanity - target civilians?
—
UN: IDF did not shell UNRWA school Feb. 4, 2009. A clerical error led the UN to falsely accuse Israel... http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304687916&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter UN retracts claim strike hit Gaza school …The United Nations has retracted a claim that an Israeli strike which killed more than 40 people in northern Gaza city of Jabaliya last month hit a school … http://www.republicanoperative.com/forums/international-politics/17399-un-retracts-claim-strike-hit-gaza-school.html
The U.S. terror war as seen through the eyes of a prisoner
When we first began corresponding with Khalid Awan in 2007, we had no idea why he was serving time in U.S. federal prison. We soon discovered Awan was one of the first of thousands of Muslims taken prisoner in the post-9/11 U.S. "terror war." As the story began unfolding in our letters, we began to realize that this honest, humble and sincere man was not only innocent, but the ongoing injustice being done to him provides critical insight into the mindless, meanspirited, bureaucratic-yes-men idiocy fueling the illegal U.S. "war on terror" (and just about everything else that is going wrong in this country). At our insistence, Awan wrote his story and supplied us with whatever documents we requested. And now, after three months of cooperative efforts, the story of Khalid Awan can be told. We have come to know Awan as a peaceful man engaged in peaceful work who has been wrongfully accused, detained and repeatedly convicted of crimes he did not commit because he was a Muslim with international connections and an office in New York on 9/11. We present this to you in faith that you will realize a deeper understanding of the levels of complicity necessary for the "land of the free" to tolerate the phony war on terror year after year and in hope that Awan—and all the other million or more political prisoners being held by this country—will one day be reunited with their families.
By Khalid Awan
My name is Khalid Qayyam Awan. My rights have been eroded in the name of "national security." Since I am a Muslim, my story has been written, produced, directed, choreographed and staged by U.S. government officials.
The Department of Justice and the FBI have been under pressure by the Bush administration to find "terrorists" in this country and to preemptively convict them before they can strike at the U.S. Although there is good evidence that there are few, if any, potential terrorists in the Muslim communities of the United States, U.S. attorneys who are not able to find any real "terrorists," target, prosecute and convict innocent Muslims on phony or inflated criminal charges to show they are politically "loyal to the president," and to avoid being fired for political reasons, as recent news revelations strongly suggest. These prosecutions have destroyed families in a country that is renowned for its human rights activities around the world.
Background
I am a 46-year old Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan. Throughout my life I studied in Catholic Christian schools and read the Bible every morning. I received my Masters Degree in Political Science at the University of Karachi in Pakistan and I am one of the founding members of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission. As a result of my belief in humanity and equality, I moved to Canada in 1993, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1996. In Canada I worked as an immigration consultant and was a member of the Canadian Bar Association. As part of my business, I also had an office in New York, which is where I was on Sept 11, 2001.
October 2001
On October 25, 2001, U.S. government agents entered my house in Garden City, NY, without knocking and yelled at me to drop everything or they would shoot me. They forced me to lie on the ground while they handcuffed me and placed me under arrest.
They claimed they had received an anonymous tip that I was a material witness for the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attack. After my arrest, I was taken in front of New York Judge Michael Mukasey (current U.S. attorney general known for his Israeli sympathies). After a detailed investigation by the FBI and U.S. Naval Intelligence, I was put in front of a Grand Jury. The case was dismissed on November 6, 2001.
Charge #2
Before I was released from custody, on November 5, 2001, the U.S. government imposed new charges: "Conspiracy to Commit Fraud and Money Laundering." They alleged that I stole/misused the identity profiles of my clients, people who come to me seeking to obtain Canadian visas and citizenship in the U.S., although there was not a single complaint from any of my clients or any banks.
(Note: Journalist Dr. Paul Craig Roberts stated in his 12/11/06 column, America’s Injustice System is Criminal: "The criminal justice system today consists of a process whereby a defendant is coerced into admitting to a crime in order to escape more severe punishment for maintaining his innocence. Many of the crimes for which people are imprisoned never occurred").
Every defense attorney knows that today prosecutors can purchase testimony against a defendant by paying "witnesses" with money, dropping charges against them or reducing prison sentences to testify against defendants. Jurors tend to trust government prosecutors and are generally unaware that they will withhold exculpatory evidence and suborn perjury and bear false witness to obtain convictions.
Months went by. Then a year had passed and I was still "detained" without a trial for crimes I did not commit. My lawyer advised me to plead guilty. He said it was in my own best interests as I would be "facing 10 years on the money laundering charge" due to the current climate in New York courts and my being a Muslim and a native of Pakistan. By this time I had served 17 months in detention, so I pled guilty to $95,000 of fraud conspiracy, which carried a maximum sentence of 15 to 24 months. The plea agreement—release for time served—was not even honored and I was sentenced to five years, the sentence for approximately $2,400,000 in credit card fraud.
Appeal to Canada
In January, 2005, when I was finally able to apply for a "treaty transfer" to Canada. I learned from my case manager that my citizenship was listed in the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) computer as "Pakistani" instead of "Canadian." All my Canadian documentation—passport, citizenship card, social insurance and health cards and Canadian drivers license—were in the possession of the FBI. I wrote the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo, NY, to request that they fix this problem so I could be transferred back to Canada. On March 30, 2005, the Canadian Consulate sent a letter to the jail to correct my citizenship status, but the FBOP ignored the request and did not correct the computer.
I realize now that the BOP intentionally left my citizenship as "Pakistani" to make me administratively ineligible for transfer to Canada and keep me in the U.S. while the U.S. government prepared new charges against me.
A year later, six weeks before my scheduled release date, I was transferred from Allenwood FCI to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, NY, supposedly in preparation for my deportation back to Canada. I signed the immigration deportation papers, which incidentally, contained my correct citizenship status. Later I learned the Allenwood FCI warden had been given a summons from Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Lawrence Ferazani in January, 2006, requesting for me to appear in federal court in Brooklyn, NY, on February 15, 2006.
Family threatened
Once in Brooklyn, on January 31, 2006, I phoned my family in Montreal. I learned that Officer Buttazzoni from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had contacted my sister regarding the whereabouts of my wife. He was told that she had returned to Pakistan. Buttazzoni left his phone number with my brother-in-law, telling him to please tell my wife to call him back immediately. She called Buttazzoni several times and left messages on his voice mail, after which Buttazzoni told my brother-in-law to tell her not to call him again.
Then on February 17, 2006, I was brought by AUSA Ferazani to an office in New York to be interrogated by the FBI without an attorney present. I was told by AUSA Farazani that if I did not talk they would arrest my sisters in Montreal and my wife, who had returned to Pakistan. He said, "We just have to make a call."
I was surprised and scared that he knew where my family lived. He stated, "If you don’t tell me [what I want to know] I can recommend lethal injection to the court and call the press and tomorrow morning you will be in every newspaper as a big terrorist."
Another federal agent told me that if I did not cooperate, they would turn me over to the Indian government, an enemy of Pakistan, which would treat me as an enemy.
At this time I was certain that my family was in danger because they were living in countries that work closely with U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. After seeing my liberty evaporate when I was cleared of being a material witness in the World Trade Center tragedy, I had every reason to believe that the overarching power of the government would secure my family members’ arrests and inflict severe punishment on them. I strongly believed the RCMP was working in collaboration with the FBI to harass me to admit to charges of crimes that I did not commit. I thought about how the RCMP officials had played a role in other discrimination cases that included the interrogation and torture of Canadian citizens Mahrar Arar, Abdullah Almalki and Ahmed EI Matti, whose only "crimes" were being Canadian Muslims.
Because I felt I had no other choice, I signed the Miranda Rights waiver forms the agent gave me, waiving my right to an attorney’s presence during questioning and spoke with agents of the U.S. government on Feb. 17 and 20, 2006.
February 17, 2006: Interrogation…and bribe
I was pushed to the edge during this interrogation. Even though I could not answer all of their questions, I was determined to provide anything they wanted, even if the questions made no sense. I tried to give answers so they would be pleased and not give me the death penalty or harm my family.
During this interrogation, the agents offered me the opportunity to work for them in an "under cover capacity" abroad in Pakistan and Canada. They wanted me to testify against a group of Sikh people, on fabricated statements, based on my association with them from when I lived in Pakistan. I refused. So they told me to keep in mind that they wanted me to testify against people who are of the Sikh religion from India, an enemy of Pakistan and, because I am a Muslim, I should not have any concern for them.
I said, "But they are human beings! If they did something wrong and I knew about it, I would be more than happy to help the law, but you are asking me about something which I know nothing about."
The agents waited a couple weeks and then started asking me again, this time through my attorney. Upon my continued refusal, Officer Buttazzoni in Montreal again approached my family. I told them to get an attorney and not to go to his office without a legal written notice from him. They followed my advice and the RCMP stopped calling them—but not before the FBI was able to create a self-incriminating statement based on "evidence" they secured during their interrogation of me without the presence of my attorney. As a result of this, prosecutors were able to go in front of a Grand Jury and indict me, based on my own (fabricated) statements, prepared by federal agents without my signature.
Third charge March 16, 2006
On March 15, 2006, I completed the term of my imprisonment and was to be deported back to Canada. Before I could even go out onto the street I was arrested a third time and charged with "Providing Material Support to a Foreign Terrorist," and "Money Laundering to Support Terrorism," for supposedly providing support to the Sikh organization Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), through a man of the Sikh religion, Mr. Paramjit Singh Panjwar (PMJ), whom I met once when visiting Pakistan.
These charges emerged while I was still in prison and had no capability to provide KCF with any kind of support. It was difficult for me to get enough finances together to pay my legal fees while I was in prison for five years and I could not launder any money because I did not have any. In the plea agreement I signed for my previous "money laundering" charge, it is mentioned that no further money laundering charges would be brought against me, so this was double jeopardy and a violation of the 5th Amendment of the Constitution.
August to December, 2006: administrative detention
I appeared in court and pled "not-guilty" for my second "superseding indictment" on August 2, 2006. Upon my unwavering refusal to work for the government on their fabricated statements against the Sikh people, FBOP officials placed me into the Segregation Housing Unit (SHU), for 210 days of segregation and isolation despite the fact that I was rated as needing low security on the government’s "Male Custody Classification Form."
Segregation was continuous torture as we were not given basic amenities or respect and the building was cold and leaky. I went on a hunger strike for four days and after that I filed various complaints with the FBOP higher authorities, but no action was taken.
October 2006
After my refusal to work for the government on their case against "two individuals" they had identified as "potentially to be joined in this matter, but at this stage we don’t have enough evidence to charge," the government went to them and indicted them and, giving them a lot of benefits, prepared them to testify against me.
During my pre-trial hearing, the first two counts of my indictment were dismissed due to lack of facts and figures. Within two weeks, AUSA indicted me again, probably to cover up for their huge embarrassment. This hastily drawn up indictment was also full of factual errors and creative legal theories.
This time, in the bill of particulars/indictment, AUSA Farazani included the names of the following participants as co-conspirators in this "conspiracy."
1) Khalid Awan—me
2) Paramjit Singh Panjwar—Leader of Sikh Khalisto Commando Force (KFC), residing in Pakistan (not indicted).
3) Gurbax Singh—Indicted as co-conspirator #1
4) Baljinder Singh—Indicted as co-conspirator #2
5) Jatinder Singh—Residing in Texas (not indicted).
6) Dr. Pritpal Singh—Residing in California (not indicted).
Except for me, all the "co-conspirators" are elected leaders of the Sikh religion, a group of people known in Pakistani history books as the worst killers and rapists of the Pakistani nation, having killed, raped, burned and cut into pieces a hundred thousand Pakistani Muslim men, women, girls and infants during the world’s largest migration from India to Pakistan in 1947.
Sikh Background (a little history)
To better understand the game the U.S. government was playing with me and the Sikh people, a brief history is necessary. The mid-1980s to the mid-1990s was a decade of violent political opposition in Punjab, an area divided between India and Pakistan. The pattern of unlawful and indiscriminate arrests and killings during that time has left a lasting legacy of "catch and kill" police practices in the state. In the early 1980s, the Indian army attacked the Sikh Holy place called the Golden Temple in the Punjab State of India. About 10,000 civilian lives were lost while hundreds of people were detained without charge or trial and thousands of "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions were carried out by the police.
As a result, thousands of Sikhs fled to various countries for asylum. Many of the Sikhs who were living near Pakistan took refuge inside Pakistan, having the advantage of speaking the same language and the area being home to established holy places where Sikhs from all over the world came annually to perform their pilgrimage to the Pakistan side of the Punjab state. Pakistan is like a Vatican for the Sikhs, because the Sikh religion was started there and is the birthplace of their holy guru.
Paramjit Singh Panjwar (PMJ)
Among these Sikhs, PMJ also took refuge after members of his family were arrested and killed by the Indian police. In Pakistan he started producing videos about the attacks and killings of Sikhs by the Indian police, and started printing and distributing literature on the Sikh problems at the hand of the Indian government. He also started broadcasting a daily radio program and running various charities for Sikh families in India and Pakistan whose bread-winning family members had been killed by the Indian government.
I met PMJ during a visit to Pakistan when he was living next to my brother-in-law and I invited him to a wedding. He wrote his phone number down for me on a piece of paper. He also wrote down the number for Baljinder Singh, his friend in New York, because he was a community advocate for the Sikh people who might refer clients to me for immigration purposes. I kept the number, but did not call him.
The FBI had been after Baljinder Singh ever since he delivered a speech in front of the White House at the "Sikh Million March" on Washington in 2000. The FBI had called him for interrogation from 2000 to 2006, but was unable to arrest him. When they interrogated me on February 17, 2006, they told me they needed me to testify in court that the Pakistani government was taking care of terrorists in Pakistan and New York. It was Baljinder Singh, and Gurbax Singh, a close relative of PMJ, that they wanted me to testify against, and since they found his and PMJ’s phone numbers during their search of my office in New York after my arrest in 2001, they deputized their paid Sikh informant, Harjeet Singh, into my unit at MDC in 2006.
Harjeet told me he would be released from federal custody in the next six months and he wished to visit Pakistan for the annual Sikh pilgrimage there. He asked me if I knew some Sikhs in Pakistan who might take care of him during his visit. I replied that I did know Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who was there on asylum and introduced them over the phone.
The FBI then went to Baljinder and Gurbax Singh and convinced them to testify that I had transferred $4000 (two $2,000 transactions allegedly conducted between 1998 and 2002) from them to Pakistan on behalf of PMJ. In exchange for this, they dropped the charges they had against them and promised amnesty from the Indian government (for armed attack on Indian police) and U.S. green cards for them and their families.
PMJ has not been indicted by the U.S. nor convicted by the Indian courts of anything. No effort has been spent for his extradition by U.S. "terror war" ally, Pakistan, though the Pakistani government has, according to AI, handed over 700 Muslim citizens to the U.S. government.
According to my attorneys, no American citizen of the Christian faith nor of the Sikh faith has ever been arrested for providing material support to the KCF, even though the KCF is a Sikh organization that draws its support from members of the Sikh community.
I, on the other hand, a Canadian citizen of Pakistan origin and Muslim faith, on Sept 12, 2007, am the only person in the U.S. to be convicted of terrorism, on fake, fabricated and government purchased testimonies of the Sikh’s religious people, for transferring $4000. I was convicted and sentenced on three counts:
1) Conspiracy to provide material support (14 years)
2) Providing material support to foreign terrorists (10 years)
3) Money laundering to support terrorism (14 years)
Total: 38 years to run concurrently (14 more years in prison).
Jail
The government sent me to FCI Terre Haute Prison in Indiana, a "medium" prison with the exception of one isolated unit, called the "Guantanamo Bay on American Soil,"—Unit D, the "dog unit."
According to the history of this jail, this unit was built in the 1930s for Cuban people, after which it was used for convicted members of the Ku Klux Klan. Then it was used for death row inmates until its "permanent closure." It was re-opened with minor repairs for Muslim inmates because they are worse than death-row inmates—not because of their "crimes" but because of their religious beliefs.
We are denied many privileges according to BOP policy because we are Muslims. Visits must be through glass and phone calls and outgoing mail are routed through Washington D.C. The buildings are old and leaking so it’s cold in the winter, flying insects in the summer and air circulation is poor year round. Lead is seeping out of the walls and many inmates suffer chronic joint pain.
The government is trying to goad us to act violently so they can justify their claim that we are dangerous, but they have failed. According to the jail guards this Muslim unit is the most peaceful they have ever seen in any prison anywhere and they ask to be allowed to work here.
I agree that those guilty of terrorism should be prosecuted, but innocent people should not be targeted. Locking us down in this dirty, old, cold, leaking building and prohibiting us from hugging our children and restricting our calls to them will never bring peace to this country or make this nation safer.
To the American people:
I have been singled out, isolated and discriminated against because of my race and religion. I am being held here in detention against my will for crimes that I never committed. I am not a terrorist and I should not be treated like one.
The AUSA succeeded in getting a verdict against me from the jurors in December, 2006, with the help of the media glamorization of the "war on terror." I have been convicted of guilt by association; of making the FBI angry and vengeful by refusing both to work for them abroad in an undercover capacity and to testify against members of the Sikh religion using their fabricated statements; and of being a Muslim and native of Pakistan.
Isn’t it time that all humans are equal? Isn’t it time that everyone is free to choose his faith? Are human rights protected by law? We hear this, but we would like to see it – especially in this country called the United States of America that claims itself across the world as a champion of human rights.
This article was edited for publication in the hardcopy edition of The IO. The full-length version is posted online at The IO website under the Nov., 2008 update. You can correspond with Awan by writing to:
Khalid Awan, #50959-054, Federal Correctional Inst., PO Box 33, Terre Haute, IN 47808
(With thanks to Anne Wilder Chamberlain for her dedication and persistence in helping to tell Awan’s important story).
'Maximum 600 Palestinians died in Gaza' Jerusalem Post, Israel (Jan 22, 2009) Cremonesi interviewed Gazans who echoed Israel's insistence of how Hamas gunmen used civilians as human shields. One Gazan recalled civilians in Gaza ... 'Video: Palestinians in Gaza Reopen Smuggling Tunnels' - http://www.youtube.com/v/w1_CJXAzows
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292939271&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
BBC's way of how to legitimize monsters in the middle east
Forget BBC bias, BBC is totally anti Israel committed, 100% on the side of most radical Islamic group on the middle east, the Genocidal Hamas!
When it interviewed (Jan 18, 2009) the Hamas spokesperson in Syria Osama Hamdan (the monster who said that the purpose of the "resistance" is to wipe off Israel) it handled him in such a manner as if he is a "normal" and average statesman.
Despite the 'big words' by the jihadi group who on top of all has that stupidity of arrogance that is only laughable if it weren't such a serious bunch of bloody murderous thugs, but BBC's audacity of replaying Hamas' phrase of: '"giving" Israel a week to pull out', as if we all don't know that Israel pulls out or back in, when it sees the situation fit to do so.
Later on (on the same day) BBC said: who is responsible for the civilian causalities in Gaza will be disputed between Israel and Hamas, (besides the fact that BBC never to explain that its all Hamas fault, but I want to talk about BCC's worse part than just bias anyway) again this "en par" equation between a democratic free for all unique country in the middle east (where an Arab can get to highest position in Israel's govt.) vs the Islamic group that oppresses any non Muslims and acts towards a totalitarian repressive Caliphate.
AIR FORCE * ARMY * COAST GUARD * MARINES * NAVY
If you are going to be in Washington DC during the Inauguration you may want to attend the Blogfest event to Help Wounded Veterans. see http://www.usaservice.org/page/event/detail/4jqt3
Where were you when the world stopped turning?
“If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ebenezer Baptist Church, 4 February 1968.
HELP WOUNDED VETERANSSource: David Apperson, LIFE CLOUD
http://veterans.barackobama.com/page/community/post/president/gGxFK9
