Posts with the tag Democracy

Peace and Freedom to Tibet

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:20:35 EDT

From: PADMINI ARHANT
WWW.PADMINIARHANT.COM

Attention: Mr. Richard Gere
Chairman of the Board of Directors
International Campaign for Tibet

Dear Mr. Richard Gere,

I acknowledge your kind invitation to join you and millions of voices around the world in the Freedom Campaign for Tibet. I admire the passion, determination and zeal exhibited by the supporters towards the noble cause.

I share your concerns and views regarding the human rights abuse, violation and suppression of democracy in Tibet. Having been a resident of New Delhi, India, I’m all too familiar with the plight of the Tibetan population fleeing their homeland from persecution and unspeakable crime against humanity.

Please refer to http://www.padminiarhant.com for the remaining content.

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Democracy is not Perfect

Rock on Mr. President!! — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:20:34 EDT

“In a perfect world, "democracy" means that ultimately the greatest good for the most people, is the goal and the result.

Pragmatically, that means that the needs and wants of one faction are weighed against the needs and wants of the other faction(s), and a "compromise" that results in the greatest good is struck.

Essentially, that result ends up in "governing from the middle". In that all factions get SOME benefit, and in aggregate, the benefit accrues to the largest possible number.

Politics is the process of finding the point where that balance is met.

In today's USA political world, the right abandons all pretense of finding compromise. Compromise is the opposite of "succeed".

Also in today's USA political world, the right abandons all pretense of actual competency in the subject matter...their only goal is to "win" the political process, whatever "win" means in that context. They have reduced it to a simple sports game, without the usual athletic prowess normally associated with sports.” – Lexicon, HP, 9/09

Godlessness is Good

Christina Marlowe — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:09:19 EDT

Godlessness is Good

I am an atheist. I do no claim to have answers and, conversely, I do not believe that anyone else does either. And, if there truly IS a god, I am thoroughly off the hook for not believing in it/him/her--the only god that I would ever believe in would be a kind and loving and understanding god, and that god would really like the fact that I question such god's existence. I believe that actions are everything in life. We all control each and every moment that we live, totally and completely vis-a-vis our own actions, inactions, words, thought, etc. I do not put the onus on some other thing out there; I take full responsibility for everything that involves my own self. Furthermore I do not believe in repentance for sins or forgiveness for repeating mistakes. Instead, I choose knowingly and intentionally to always do the right thing with respect to living my life. I always do my very best each and every moment of each and every day. I have no hang ups; I am free. Free, that is, from the many and varying twisted and pathological idees fixe that almost every religion seems to impose on it's followers. I always do the right thing, having complete control of myself. I don't make mistakes, except maybe in math. I like to rant, I like to rave, I like to tell people what to do, but I really don't care if they listen...I AM the Jehovah of my own universe. I don't need to wear hair shirts to repent and I don't need to confess to anyone for sins because I don't "sin" in the first place. I am kind, loving, generous, understanding and intelligent. There is nothing in this world that I need or want for myself. I am perfect, PERFECT FLAWS AND ALL.

The question of just which of the many religion has it "right" and has the answers is asinine and useless. My contention is that I and I alone have it all right...get my point?
I kind of like the simplicity of what the 14th Dalai Lama has said. He said: "My religion is simple. My religion is kindness." End of story.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2009

Instead...

Instead of basic human kindness, the world is filled with unspeakable atrocities, mind boggling hypocrisy and countless criminal injustices. Many of these wretched and abhorrent behaviors are personified in organized religions and in the name of "god." So-called Christians are among the worst of offenders. I am a lifelong agnostic, bordering on atheist and, by my witnessing the absolutely reprehensible behavior and deranged beliefs by and of the most dogmatic right-wing fundamentalist religious types, I come to believe more than ever that religion is the root of all evil. I sincerely believe that religion, particularly the various and horrible forms of Christianity, is far more damaging than helpful. I do not believe that one can do one horrible deed after another and then simply repent and ask forgiveness; rather, you, um, to quote the bible "reap what you sow." In Buddhism it's called "Karma." And I am certain that every religion and belief system around the world has a word or phrase for it. What ever it is that you give out, you shall get it all back in spades; I don't believe in repentance or forgiveness; live your life with the best of intentions ALWAYS, and always do your best. That's really all there is to it. Be kind, generous and open-handed. Do not bean asshole or greedy, stingy tight-fisted and judgmental. It's all so very simple, why do so many religious people get it all so, well, so wrong?!?! If more so-called "good Christians" would actually follow the words and teachings of their hero Jesus Christ ( a great prophet, in my estimation) then they wouldn't be the hypocritical, right-wing, bigoted, judgmental cretins that so many of them are in reality. There is absolutely no excuse for such behavior from anyone in this world of ours. Look at yourselves, as you ruin the world!!!! And in the name of god, to boot!!!!! The current rise of Christian crusades, preaching creationism and strict fundamentalism, are more than just ignorant, stupid and vile; they are dangerous. These incomprehensible busybodies want the rest of the world to see things just as they do. Why can't these people just keep their mouths shut and be content in their own lives without trying to force their asinine and evil notions on others?

CHRIST(INA) MARLOWE

It is my contention that each religion has a basic and good foundation, and each has a measure of good words and good teachings. That being said, I think that once human beings, particularly those who don't practice looking closely at themselves and their own behaviors, that instead latch onto a certain book and then these people go on to ruin their own lives in such puzzling and crazy ways. Particularly if you're saddled with the belief that the almighty god is a jealous, nasty, ill-tempered and hateful god, um, that that bastard in the Old Testament. And if you spend your time believing in that, you're, well, you're just fucked.

Cheers,

Christ Marlowe

The blasphemy of Politics in Religion--

(Don't these morons know that the Constitution is purposely an utterly GODLESS document??)

As I cringe again and again at the fact that every single politician, Democrat and Republican alike, tries to pander to the organized religious institutions in our country, I become more resentful that religion of any kind should be an issue at all in the political arena. The presidential contenders in both parties are playing a game of one-upmanship as to whom has more faith in god whilst the word "god" should never, ever, enter the political arena at all. The most omnipresent danger in politics is religion--and time after time, particularly with the fanatical right-wing conservatives, it, religion, seems to be at the forefront; and this is indeed dangerous.

The so-called and much-more-often-than-not-so-good 'Christian' soldiers have been, still are and will continue to be devils incarnate: President Bush, Dick Cheney, Condaleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Carl Rove ( just to name a few ) have participated in the most impeachable offenses from the very beginning of their dictatorship; in fact, they are war criminals and repeatedly override the Constitution--there are no checks and balances left and they are ruling the world into irreparable oblivion and a quagmire so deep and dense that it's utterly mind boggling. Yet it's fascinating to watch, you must admit.

We are gaining momentum

Join us to make a difference — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:28:14 EDT

I am really encouraged by the progress being made with our Democratic Deliberation on the issue of Poverty in St. Louis. Our last meeting included a multi-cultural crowd who excited about change. So excited they are willing to work for it. We hope that more of you, who care about those who soiciety forgets will join us in our efforts. This Thursday at 6:00 p.m. we will have another meeting were we will discuss further actions and our mission statement. Please join in our efforts.

Democratic Deliberation on the issue of Poverty in St. Louis

Left Bank Books, 321 N. 10th Street (at the corner of 10th and Locust), 6:00p.m. Thursday July 23rd.

We are gaining momentum

Join us to make a difference — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:28:14 EDT

Democratic Deliberation on the issue of Poverty in St. Louis

Left Bank Books, 321 N. 10th Street (at the corner of 10th and Locust), 6:00p.m. Thursday July 23rd.

North Korea has Shot off Six Missiles in the Face of the UN Security Council

Peter from Carrollton, TX — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:17:10 EDT

North Korea has test fired six, count them SIX missiles in defiance of the UN Security Council. They have said they will act in defense to any actions taken by the UN. Obama says that they will not get the attention they crave. From what I have read, this means they aren’t going to do squat. They are going to let North Korea shoot missiles wherever they want as long as it doesn’t hit someone. Isn’t that like playing with fireworks? Light up a roman candle and shoot it into a crowd hoping it will miss everyone. All the while everyone stands around and shakes their finger and shakes their heads in disbelief. This is the type of world we live in today. We say that we will defend ourselves and the rest of the world in the name of Democracy and Peace yet we invade a country with no Weapons of Mass Destruction. If your looking North Korea has them for sure dude. We don’t need intelligence agencies to find out.

“The North appears to have launched a ground-to-ship missile into the East Sea shortly after 9pm Tuesday,” said the unnamed defence official. Pyongyang had already launched two missiles from its east coast earlier on Tuesday, after firing three on Monday.

With tensions on the Korean peninsula high, South Korea said it would join a US-led initiative to intercept ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction, a move that Pyongyang has previously warned it would consider “an act of war”.

They shot them into the ocean over and over. North Korea shoots off six missiles and we stand around saying, “Hey, stop that or we’re going to stop the shipment of solid gold Mercedes that you like so much.” I don’t know what type of diplomacy this is but, you bring that weak game to the playground and you won’t last a day.

By the way, all of the countries have said once before, “This is a provocative act and won’t be tolerated,” the first time they shoot it. After the sixth time they say, “lets just ignore them, maybe they will go away.”

Protest Against Obama's - Disheartening for an Ardent Supporter

Anila Ali — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:04:31 EDT

An die-hard believer in Obama's policies, I must say I was a little disappointed myself at his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. I wrote a pice in Pakistan Link and I add that to my blog as well. I was surprised to see so many supporters of the President protesting on Wilshire Blvd. while he was here in L.A. fundraising for DNC.

President's promise to us was that the war in Iraq would end in sixteen months but that seems unlikely with the present state of affairs. that leaves supporters like me, a little disheartened. We have destroyed two countries and taken them back to dark ages; we still have not been able to come up with a viable plan for both countries. For the sake of national security, the military plans aren't being shared with us, I hope business is not getting back to the way it was in D.C?

I was moderating a forum arranged by a non-profit organization, COPAA and a few Pakistani Students

organizations of Ca. The hope that was lit up like lightening when Obama took oath of office, dimmed a little when I heard, a very moderate professor say:

"I feel President Obama is going back on his promises to end wars."

The reason his comment resonates with me is that this American professor has traveled all over the Muslim world and is very aware of the ground realities. Another professor came to President's defense and

reminded the audience that he has done a lot in a short time; he is building bridges with the Muslim world which no President has done before.

As a Pakistani American, I urge the government of President Obama to hear us out. US governments meet officials in power in Pakistan, some of them very controversial and tainted with corruption, and they make deals with them. This makes the Pakistanis think that America makes deals only because of self-interest and forgets the ideals of her founding fathers, liberty, peace justice for all.

If America really wants to impact change and spread the ideals of democracy in Pakistan, it must sow the seeds of democracy by forcing political parties to hold elections within to choose their leaders. Pakistan is an inheritance of the landlords like the Chaudhrys and the Bhuttos. They are feudals, they own the land that the 40% of the iliterate Pakistani grow crops and live on. They are like the serfs in medieval times, they own allegience to these landlords and they have no choice but to stamp a vote for their mostly corrupt feudal lord. If we really want to democratize Pakistan, after the war on extremism is over, we must pressure Pakistani governement to have their political parties hold elections for their leadership. Why did Zardari become the chairman of his party? The old party big wigs of PPP are still unhappy with that decision.

These are the issues that trouble the minds of the young people in pakistan. That we Americans, want to impose democracy but only want leaders that are sympathetic to the west and have no respect for their choices. There are parties like the MQM that have leaders that have risen from the sheer hard work and merit, we must promote that thinking if we want to sincerely democratize Pakistan.

Transparency in our Government

James Ray — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:50:41 EDT

Greetings fellow Obama Supporters!

I trust that you are all doing well, and that you continue to support PRESIDENT OBAMA in his efforts to deliver on the promises he made during the 2008 Campaign. For the latest examples, have a look at an outstanding example of transparency just released today: Data.gov. This and other resources are always available on the the White House website.

On this topic of transparency in our government, I'm sure you've heard about the new legislation passed by Congress to improve fairness for consumers with respect to Credit Card providers. I hope you are also aware that the NRA and their political bloc managed to insert an addendum to this bill that has absolutely NOTHING to do with consumer lending practices. The addendum was to reverse a previous legal statute that prohibits carrying concealed weapons within our National Parks.

THIS is an outrageous example of the same OLD political process, concealing the work of special interests and hijacking the legislative process to achieve a goal that would not be achievable in an "open" process. Our democratic process will only survive if we take an active role in OUR government. WE must hold our legislators accountable to be sure that our representative government is truly representing US!

An Open Letter to President Barack Obama

Prosy — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:55:32 EST

Dear President Barack Obama, I understand you are moving our government to be more for the middle class, the workers and the small businesses, the elderly and the children. I would like to comment on how your speeches are coming across. Yes, you are being hands-on, pragmatic, and honest and trustworthy. Yet, we need more, as Los Angeles Times and other mainstream media are miscontruing your message and are spinning it to be what GOPs want it to be. For example the headlines of LA Times screamed out that "Obama's budget in the trillions has no details and specifics and just big on deficits." Then, the internet is coordinated in their misinformation and screams out that Karl Rove attended a conservative convention and said GW Bush is a failure and so is Obama. What are they doing?

I finally understood a semblance of what the GOPs are doing and how they actively undermined your budget in the House, except for the three Senators.

a. Use of abstract liberalism unmasking reasonable racism - regardless of economic circumstances, they are calling for individual rights, for smaller gov't, without mentioning GOPs inherited billion surplus, hid the war expenses in Iraq and a trillion deficit from GW Bush, who failed us because his policies took the economy to a freefall to almost a collapse, until you interceded. You on the other hand are being PRESUMED to be a failure, in the same vein as GW Bush, yet you have four years to perform . We need more Mr. Abess stories, of capitalists who prosper with " profits with honor" and not the Wall Street bankers who profit with dishonor. And we need you to give us the real deal. Also, convene a summit of the capitalists you want to see, who act honorably, like Warren Buffett, Loida Nicolas Lewis who shared her profits of millions with potato workers in the production line when she sold her business. Profits with honor and more stories of those. Profits with honor and more stories of those. Or the examples of Volkswagen who are simply cutting hours of production employees, a shared sacrifice, instead of laying off workers. We need examples of business being imaginative towards retaining workers at work.

2. Naturalization: Normalizing what is horrible and saying that's the way it is. We need to examine and call out the behaviors of businesses that squander workers and use this recession to pad more of their wallets. Start enforcing good labor laws and pass Employee Free Choice Act. In the 50s, we were unionized at 35%, today, it is at 7%, and middle class are diminished and union busting is on the rise. We have a right to organize, and when we do, we improve wages, health care and we grow our middle class.

3. Cultural racism - " they can't get it together ". By asking you to be more specific, to be more detailed, when you are still in the process of figuring things out, GOPs are working hard to say your presidency cannot get it together. Yet, you have flawlessly run a campaign that dismantled old ways of doing things. Please give us good news each day, and each week, hold a press conference and give us the progressive status of events, until they become a critical mass. Remember when you won the primary, each week, your campaign shared news of who endorsed you, we need the same, each week, a union or a business or a capitalist won over by your policies.

4. Minimization - declining significance that race is no longer a problem. Mr. President, the GI bill did not include black families and blacks were excluded from early equity - building, and now preyed upon by predatory lenders. So, it is now communities of color that are affected in greater terms by this housing crisis. We need enforcement of laws against predatory lenders and make it a true level playing field again.

I understand you want America to be post-racism, but we are in transition. And during that transition, Robert Gibbs can do a better job of educating and informing the reporters of what your program is, of the White House agenda instead of simply parsing words with reporters who frame the questions from their GOPs owned-newspapers. It is time we get good information. And Organizing for America has not a clue on how to organize like before in your campaign, they are floundering, they have no idea on how to engage us, and they are echoing what you are disseminating inwhitehouse.gov. That is not the purpose of Organzing for America, it should have stories of how non-profits are assisting, of what is good news of folks collaborating, of good actions taken by folks defending what is true in the media. They have no clue at all on how to move folks towards the desired goals of national purpose of revitalizing the middle class and working class and the small businesses. You need better organizers in Organizing for America that include not just whites, but folks of color.

A stroke of genius to have Michelle Obama inspire best practices and quality performance from federal agencies. We love you!

--

New Group on PerfSpot.com: Friends of Amy Goodman and Democracy NOW!

Andreas Klamm — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:11:35 EST

Friends of Amy Goodman and Democracy NOW!

By Andreas Klamm

New York City / London/February 2009/-- Important values such as health care, a good income, liberty, peace and democracy are very important not only to my American Brothers and Sisters but to many brothers and sisters in the entire world. Therefore I have created a new group on PerfSpot.com wich is called "Friends of Amy Goodman and Democracy NOW!" This new group is an UNOFFICIAL (not official) group of friends of the award winning journalist, broadcast journalist and author Amy Goodman, Juan Gonazlez and Democracy NOW!

The new groups web site can be found on:

http://www.perfspot.com/groups/democracynow

I do believe it is important to show as an token of love to precious people as Michelle and Barack Obama are or as Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez are that we do like their actions, TV programs and that we love them. Thats exactly what the new unofficial group on PerSpot.com is about, to show Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez and the Democracy NOW! - Team: You are providing an excellent TV and radio news hour and we love you.

Amy Goodman has received many awards. In December 2008 she has received the Right Livelihood Award which is referred as alternative NOBEL Prize by the Right Liveihood Foundation in Sweden.

Democracy NOW! is a daily educational TV and radio news hour which broadcast on more than 750 TV stations and 250 radio station in North Amercia and in the world.

The eduational TV and radio news hour Democracy NOW! is available on www.democracynow.org (Monday to Friday).

Amy Goodman, award winning journalist from Democracy NOW ! (www.democracynow.org) has received in December 2008 in the city of Stockholm in Sweden the Right Livelihood Award which is referred as the alternative Nobel Prize. Photo: Andreas Klamm, journalist (IBS TV Liberty, www.ibstvliberty.wordpress.com).

PerfSpot.com-Group: Friends of Amy Goodman and Democracy NOW!

The founder of PerfSpot.com-Group: Friends of Amy Goodman and Democracy NOW! the author, broadcast journalist and journalist Andreas Klamm believes like the award winning journalist, broadcast journalist and author, Amy Goodman from Democracy NOW! (www.democracynow.org ) that there needs to be an other answer then war.

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez broadcast Monday to Friday an independent news hour on more then 700 TV station and on about 250 radio stations in North America. Amy Goodman has received with her sister laureates, Dr. Monika Hauser, Asha Haji, Krishnammal Jagannathan the Right Livelihood Award, which is referred as the Alternative Nobel Prize, in the city of Stockholm in Sweden. The TV journalist Andreas Klamm has produced several television productions about the Right Livelihood Award in Stockholm in Sweden in December 2008 and had a chance to meet his colleague the journalist Amy Goodman and other precious women engaged in the aid efforts to help many people in many different places in this world.

Therefore he is writing in his books also about people which truly can be called a voice for peace such as Amy Goodman and many other people in the world.

Books written by the author and journalist Andreas Klamm:

FRANCE ( www.amazon.fr )

Liberty, Peace and Media: Amy Goodman And The Freedom Of The Press - Excellent Journalists In Extraordinary Times, Books on Demand Gmbh; Paris, France; (February 2009), 276 pages, author: Andreas Klamm, journalist Language: English / German, bi-lingual, ISBN-10: 2-8106-0269-7 , ISBN-13: 978-2-8106-0269-8 , (21 x 14,8 x 1,2 cm)

Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters 2, Human Rights, abuses and violations of Human Rights, international understanding, Editeur BOD Paris, France, (February 2009), 280 pages, author: Andreas Klamm, journalist, Language: English / German, bi-lingual, ISBN-10: 2-8106-0427-4, ISBN-13: 9-782-8106-0427-2, (21 x 14,8 x 1,2) cm

Germany ( www.amazon.de )

Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters :: Medienprojekt Menschenrechts-Reporter :: Edition 2008, No. 1, Human Rights, abuses and violations of Human Rights, international understanding: Books on Demand Gmbh; Edition 1, (October 2008), 272 pages, author: Andreas Klamm, journalist, Language: English / German, bi-lingual, ISBN-10: 3-8370-7243-6 , ISBN-13: 978-3-8370-7243-3 , (21 x 14,8 x 1,2) cm

British Newsflash Magazine :: Magazin-Buch: Edition 2008, No. 1, Themen und Berichte aus Politik, Soziales und Gesellschaft, Issues from politics, social affairs and society, 200 pages,author: Andreas Klamm, journalist, Publishing house /Publishing centre: Books on Demand Gmbh; Edition 1, (June 2008), Language: German with some articles in the English language ISBN-10: 3-8370-4600-1, ISBN-13: 978-3-8370-4600-7, (29,7 x 21 x 1,2 cm)

Die Kinder der John Baptist Mission in Togo: Mission und Hilfe für Kinder, (The children of the John Baptist Mission in Togo: Mission and help for children), 200 pages, author: Andreas Klamm, journalist, Publishing house / Publishing centre: Books on Demand Gmbh; Edition 1, (August 2008), Language: German with articles by co-authors in the French and English language, ISBN-10: 3-8370-5762-3, ISBN-13: 978-3-8370-5762-1, (21 x 14,8 x 1,2 cm)

The books can be ordered on www.andreasklamm.blogspot.com (international shipping available, wordwide !) or online book stores, such as www.amazon.de, www.amazon.fr, www.bod.de, www.bod.fr, www.alapage.com, www.buch.de, www.libri.de and many other book stores.

New York, London, February 2009

PerfSpot.com-Group: Friends of Amy Goodman and Democracy NOW!

Amy Goodman on IBS TV Liberty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG7s8XvcVrA, with Amy Goodman,

Jakob von Uexkuell and Andreas Klamm, IBS TV Libery, December 2008 from Sweden,

Stockholm.

Right Livelihood Award, IBS TV Liberty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-9thAhKTQI, Right Livelihood Award, with

Dr. Monika Hauser, Jakob von Uexkuell and Andreas Klamm, IBS TV Liberty,

Sweden, Stockholm, 2008. Production by Andreas Klamm, journalist, broadcast journalist

and author, IBS TV Liberty, www.ibstvliberty.blogspot.com, www.youtube.com/andreasklamm.

IBS TV Liberty on Right Livelihood Award

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGApBJ-VK2U, Right Livelihood Award, with

Asha Haji , Jakob von Uexkuell and Andreas Klamm, IBS TV Liberty,

Sweden, Stockholm, 2008. Production by Andreas Klamm, journalist, broadcast journalist

and author, IBS TV Liberty, www.ibstvliberty.blogspot.com, www.youtube.com/andreasklamm.

IBS TV Liberty on the Right Livelihood Award

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQV-gAugLns, Right Livelihood Award, with

Krishnammal Jagannathan , Jakob von Uexkuell and Andreas Klamm, IBS TV Liberty,

Sweden, Stockholm, 2008. Production by Andreas Klamm, journalist, broadcast journalist

and author, IBS TV Liberty, www.ibstvliberty.blogspot.com, www.youtube.com/andreasklamm.

IBS TV Liberty on the Right Livelihood Award

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuBChh7fC6U, Right Livelihood Award, with

Amy Goodman , Jakob von Uexkuell and Andreas Klamm, IBS TV Liberty,

Sweden, Stockholm, 2008. Production by Andreas Klamm, journalist, broadcast journalist

and author, IBS TV Liberty, www.ibstvliberty.blogspot.com, www.youtube.com/andreasklamm.

IBS TV Liberty: Freedom To Speak (Part II, Freedom Of The Press)

With Wafulla Ogutto publisher and journalist from Uganda and Andreas Klamm from IBS TV Liberty, Sweden, Stockholm, 2008. Production by Andreas Klamm, journalist, broadcast journalist

and author, IBS TV Liberty, www.ibstvliberty.blogspot.com, www.youtube.com/andreasklamm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPgOkg70WGI

IBS TV Liberty: Freedom To Speak (Part I, Freedom Of The Press)

With Wafulla Ogutto publisher and journalist from Uganda and Andreas Klamm from IBS TV Liberty, Sweden, Stockholm, 2008. Production by Andreas Klamm, journalist, broadcast journalist

and author, IBS TV Liberty, www.ibstvliberty.blogspot.com, www.youtube.com/andreasklamm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNQnLanXBGY

IBS TV Liberty

More information you will find on

Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters

* www.humanrightsrepoters.wordpress.com

* www.menschenrechtsreporter.blogspot.com

PLEASE: Do not forget to tune in to Democracy NOW with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez:

www.democracynow.org

How the media can help to defend democracy

Andreas Klamm — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:40:52 EST

How the media can help to defend democracy

By Andreas Klamm

New York / London. Since 1984 I am working as a journalist, broadcast journalist and author. Already in the early age of 16 years of age in 1984 I have noticed writing for the paper Daily Mail (Tagespost, Speyer am Rhein, Germany) that the media national and international has a very important role in concern to defend democracy.

Some people in the United States of America know what happened in Germany. In the years 1933 to 1945 people in Germany have suffered a lot because of the tyranny of the Nazi regime and the aftermath of World War II. The time of sorrow was not over in Germany in 1945. From 1945 to 1990 many people in Eastern Germany have suffered until 1989 / 1990 because in Eastern Germany has come to power another dictatorship regime.

Since about 20 years people in Germany and Eastern Germany have a real change to learn what a good democracy could stand for. However as we are all effected by the global financial crisis, global food crisis and many other serious threats we should be aware of the situation not to loose the freedoms and liberties such as granted by the Bill of Rights, the Constitution of the United States of America or as provided in the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights proclaimed three years after World War II in New York City by the United Nations (UN, www.un.org ) .

Because of the very special situation that my grandfather, a former FRENCH ARMY OFFICER Haedi Sabaot a FRENCH citizen is missing since 1945 after World War II I have been forced to think different. Already as a teenager I have been concernd about the threat, that France and Germany may could be at war each other again, as it has taken place in World War I and World War II.

For which country should I fight? Against the country where my grandmother Mrs. Martha Kolcaz was born - against Germany? or against the my grandfathers country which is France.

Already in early age I am came to the conclusion that best we can do is to avoid a new war between France and Germany because I could not make a serious decision on which side or which country I should fight for. So I became after serving for 15 months for the "enemy forces" the German airforce a pacifist. Therefore I got in trouble with the German Military Court.

Because the German Military Officers have been not willing to understand, that I am by no means willing to fight against my grandfather, the former FRENCH ARMY OFFICER and French citizen, Mr. Haedi Sabaot or his friends.

Working for democracy, peace and liberty is not always this is and it required that we are willing to work and labor hard to defend democracy, peacce and liberty.

The United States of America (U.S.A.) is known in all the world as the defender of democracy and therefore I do believe that it is important to support "our" U.S. President Barack H. Obama and his wife and even other people such as the journalist, broadcast journalist and author Amy Goodman which can be called a "true voice for peace."

There is no doubt, when the first Afro-American U.S. President of the United States of America got elected in 2008 Barack H. Obama became since he is in office also the most powerful man on this earth. Imagine if only our U.S. President Barack H. Obama would work for democracy, peace, joy, liberty, social welfare and other elementary and important issue. Certainly he would be able to move something but not enough.

Therefore I do believe it is very important that many other people, precious women and men will get involved in the American and international mission to work for democracy, liberty, peace, health care, social welfare and other important issues and will work together for something good.

Amy Goodman a relative of Holocaust victims and a precious journalist and author is one these precious American woman working hard for the freedom of the press, democracy, liberty and peace.

Amy Goodman has received recently in December 2008 the Right Livelihood Award, which is also known as Alternative Nobel Prize.

Producing media or even an independent radio and television news hour is hard labor. However Amy Goodman has seen as some other journalists, broadcast journalists and authors including me, that there must be another answer then war.

Because I have been looking for a way how to avoid war between two or more nations already in 1986 I came to the conclusion that by supporting international understanding we could perhaps contribute a very important work for peace, liberty and democracy.

To work together for something good, for peace, liberty and democracy is a duty to all people even in their own interest.

In these serious and some times in very difficult times there is a job to do for everyone. Every one not only U.S. citizen can get involved in working for democracy, liberty, peace and the recovery of the United States of American and its people and many other people in many different places in this world.

In 1986 I have founded in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom and in the German city of Speyer am Rhein, the international media network IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty, Radio IBS Liberty and IBS Television Liberty.

Radio IBS Liberty
IBS Independent Broadcasting Serivce Liberty

Radio IBS Liberty is an alternative public radio network which has been founded in 1986 in the English city of Leeds in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom and in the German City of Speyer am Rhein, Germany, as as part of IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty. It is an international and inter-cultural media network with about 12 affiliated other television and radio programs and other journalists, broadcast journalists and authors.

Radio IBS Liberty and IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty are independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations in the United Kingdom and in Germany that is known for its liberal political orientation. The public radio network in the United Kingdom, Germany and even other countries; it is operated by the IBS Independent Broadcasting Service media network with support from a small company based in London, Grace MedCare Ltd., United Kingdom and others.

Radio IBS Liberty has its own radio archives, housed in France, United Kingdom, Germany and other countries.

History

Early history

Radio IBS Liberty and IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty which is also known as Radio IBS Leeds, IBS Television Leeds (because of the place of its foundation) was founded in 1986 by the journalist and author of five books Andreas Klamm. He is also known as a pacifist. After the completion of his entire military service with the German Air Force in 1988-1989 for 15 months he filed for conscientious objector status, which was denied by German Military authories. The grandfather of Andreas Klamm is the former FRENCH ARMY OFFICER Haedi Sabaot and a French citizen, which brought the journalist, broadcast journalist and author in a serious conflict and caused him to start to think about the situation what could happen if there would be another war between France and Germany. The French Army Officer Haedi Sabaot is missing since 1945 after World War II. The founder of IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty has joined other conscientious-objectors. Andreas Klamm is working since 1984 as a journalist, broadcast journalist, radio and television producer and author. His grandmother has left in 1950 Germany for ever and became a citizen of AUSTRALIA in the city of Melbourne, State of Victoria.

He believes that international understanding could help to avoid wars and other conflicts.

Recent history, 2000s

Radio IBS Liberty has aired its own television productions from New York City in 2001 / 2002 related to the attacks on the World Trade Center during a special coverage.

Director of IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty and Radio IBS Liberty is since 1986 Andreas Klamm.

In 2000 new radio and television productions called "XXL-info.Compact", "XXL-info. Gesundheit", "XXL-info.Culture" and other programs have been launched and got international attention even in countries such as Japan.

Radio IBS Liberty is also producing educational radio and television programs for an inter-religious understanding such as faith programs about the Jewish, Muslim, Christian faith and religion and others. The idea to produce such programs in the German language and in the English language came through an inspiration through another radio program produced by BBC London (Britsh Broadcasting Cooperation)

In 2006 the co-operation with the international independent media project Libery and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters has been launched and Radio IBS Liberty providing news stories and radio programs in association with Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters.

As in the year of the foundation Radio IBS Liberty is still operating under NO- and even LOW-Budget conditions.

* Radio IBS Liberty, (http://www.radioibsliberty.blogspot.com )
* Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters (www.humanrightsreporters.wordpress.com )

The radio programs have been heard by listeners from about 40 different countries.

Although the situation is quite difficult for the independent radio network during times of a global financial crisis Radio IBS Liberty and IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty are continuing to expand its international services in the English, French and German language.

Programs

Since 1986 Radio IBS Liberty is producing news and information programs which do support international understanding.

In 2000 several new radio and television programs have been launced such as "XXL-info. Compact", "XXL-info. Culture", "XXL-info. Pflege und Soziales", "XXL-info. News", "XXL-info. Special" and others

Since 2006 the radio and television program "Libery and Peace Now!" Human Rights Reporters is produced in co-operation with the international media network "Liberty and Peace Now! Human Rights Reporters"

Most of the radio and television programs a are produced as an independent talk show or program that covers democracy, human rights and justice issues. In many cases the television and radio programs produced on the Radio IBS Liberty / IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty media network are a compilation of news, interviews, and documentaries.

Some of the programs produced by the staff of Radio IBS Liberty and IBS Television Liberty has been aired on different public-access television stations.

Productions in London: Since 2006 many of the radio and television productions by Radio IBS Liberty, IBS Television Liberty, the IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty are produced in London, United Kingdom, Paris (France) and close to the city of Ludwigshafen (Germany).

All radio productions are available as mp3-files /wav-files for people which want to order the productions (the fees for DVD´s and delivery have to be paid), as Radio IBS Liberty is operating its international radio and television productions under NO- and / or LOW-Budget conditions.

Stations

Radio IBS Liberty, IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty
Station Dial Number Location

Radio IBS Liberty (EN) London, United Kingdom
Radio IBS Liberty (DE) Speyer, Ludwigshafen,Germany
Radio IBS Liberty (DE) until 1990 105,4 FM Public Access Ludwigshafen,Germany

Board of directors, Radio IBS Liberty, international service

* Radio IBS Liberty Andreas Klamm

See also

* Radio4all.net (www.radio4all.net )

Further reading

* Klamm, Andreas, Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters, Edition 2008, No. 1, Human Rights, abuses and violations of Human Rights, international understanding: Books on Demand Gmbh (Germany); Edition 1 (October / November 2008), Language: English / German, bi-lingual, ISBN-10: 3-8370-7243-6 , ISBN-13: 978-3-8370-7243-3 The
* Klamm, Andreas, Liberty, Peace and Media: Amy Goodman And The Freedom Of The Press - Excellent journalists in extraordinary times, Books on Demand Gmbh; Paris, (France); (February 2009), Language: English / German, bi-lingual, ISBN-10: 2-8106-0269-7 , ISBN-13: 978-2-8106-0269-8

References

* IBS Liberty, IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty
( http://ibsliberty.wordpress.com )
* Radio IBS Liberty (www.radioibsliberty.blogspot.com)
* IBS TV Liberty (CH 1)- ( www.ibstvliberty.blogspot.com )
* IBS TV Liberty (CH 2) - ( www.ibstvliberty.wordpress.com )
* IBS TV and Radio Productions by journalist, broadcast journalist and author Andreas Klamm on You Tube.com ( www.youtube.com/andreasklamm )
* / Radio IBS Liberty, Productions on Radio 4 all ( http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/3628 )
* IBS Television Liberty, IBS Indpendent Broadcasting Service Liberty (www.ibstelevision.com )
* IBS Television Liberty on indieTV.tv ( http://35sm.0816studios.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29116&Itemid=0 )

External links

* Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters (www.menschenrechtsreporter.blogspot.com )
* 3mnewswire.org sharing programs with Radio IBS Liberty (www.3mnewswire.org )
* IBS TV Liberty on Twitter.com (www.twitter.com/IBSTVLiberty )
* Radio Indy Media (http://radio.indymedia.org/en/node/17034)
* Pressemitteilung Right Livelihood Award - Radio IBS Liberty Interview
(http://pressemitteilung.ws/node/140533 )
* Amy Goodman - Videos ( http://www.livevideo.com/media/tag/amy-goodman.aspx )
* Christian Radio Stations ( http://www.webring.com/hub?ring=christianinterne )
* Programs on Podbean ( http://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail?pid=22823 )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_IBS_Liberty

With additional information provided.

Radio IBS Liberty
IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty
Februar 2009
London, United Kingdom

Two journalists laboring hard for democracy: The award winning, journalist brodcast journalist and author Amy Goodman from Democracy NOW! on www.democracynow.org (right) which has received in December 2008 in the city of Stockholm in Sweden the Right Livelihood Award as known as the alternative Nobel Prize and the journalist, broadcast journalist and author Andreas Klamm (left) from Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters on www.humanrightsreporters.wordpress.com.

Amy Goodman is the first journalist which has received the alternative Nobel Prize, the Right Livelihood Award which is given by the Right Livelihood Foundation and Mr. Jakob von Uxekuell which used to be member of the European parliament.

I do believe that Amy Goodman is one of the world best journalists, broadcast journalist and authors and a good American citizen which is laboring hard for a good democracy. The television and radio program Democracy NOW! which Amy Goodman presents with Juan Gonzalez is excellent. In December 2008 we had a chance to meet in Stockholm in Sweden. It is a great honor to meet a precious woman and journalist like Amy Goodman is one.

Andreas Klamm, Journalist, broadcast journalist and author

Concerns

Michele Happe — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:10:11 EST

I have a lot of faith in Barack. I am concerned that he is capitulating too much to the Republicans. There are no longer any moderates in the republican party. Even Susan Collins secretyly took out protections for whistle blowers in the stimulus bill. This erodes democracy. It is time for Barack to say, "I tried, you refused, now I will do it my way".

Prosecutions are necessary for the previous administration or those crimes will be seen as condoned by us, meaning that those crimes are American crimes. Holder needs to persue those investigations to fruition. A commission is not enough. Our democracy is at stake.

Welcome Back To Democracy America

Ato Essandoh — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:34:35 EST

Okay so in my last post, I kinda got all up in President Obama’s grill concerning my feelings about the relative weakness of the economic stimulus bill. I impugned him over his rabid desire for bi-partisan support that seemed to allow the conservatives to water down the bill’s potency. "Why should we even deal with the Republicans?" I screamed. "They’re a dying breed! Dinosaurs belching out their last slimy chunk of political bile as they sink into the tar pit of irrelevance and obscurity!” And yet here were the Democrats, bending over backwards to include the conservatives’ feckless voodoo tax cuts while eliminating the meaty economy boosting programs that even our high school textbooks deem vital to stimulation. Oh what I’d have given for a Fathead poster of Mitch McConnell at which to throw my size thirteens…

And then it hit me. For the last eight years we’ve witnessed the executive branch dictating it’s messianic edicts to a subservient legislative branch. Tragically, we’ve gotten accustomed to it. Yet that’s not how it’s supposed to work. What’s supposed to happen is that congress is meant to legislate the policies that the president initiates. In other words, it’s congresses’ job to determine (through debate and negotiation) whether the president’s policies are sound, and if so, certify the funds and resources necessary to implement said initiatives. It’s called checks and balances. It’s one of the corner stones of our democracy. Mr. Obama is simply practicing civics! Eureka! This must be what it feels like to be in rehab!

Thus, although it’s excruciating to watch the republicans’ attempt to sabotage the only sound plan meant to pull us out of our financial crisis; endurance is paramount if we wish to restore the values that make our country great.

My apologies Mr. President, it’s going to take me a while to get used to all this participatory government stuff.

Now if we could only get these war crime hearings going…

Visit Moon Sun Star

coralights — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:07:45 EST

I use my MoonSunStar.com Blog to express my anger and frustration over the politics of economics and beyond. It's pretty heavy - if you are interested.

GEORGE WASHINGTON NEVER TOLD A LIE

coralights — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:02:39 EST

Looking back it seems I've learned what I know about our country in stages - each one separate, and at each point in learning, out of context with my world as I knew it at that time of learning. In our "formative" years most if not all of us were taught the same way I was, in chunks - and once school was over - the ladder of life swallowed us up - with no time to look back.

Welcome to US NY friends

Andreas Klamm — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:57:55 EST

Welcome to US NY friends

This is a blog with Barack Obama.com on www.barackobama.com. Since more then 24 years I do have friends in the United States of America and in New York City and other places in the United States of America. This blog is about ideas not only for the people of the United States of America and it will deliver information that it will be possible to restore America and even the situation for many other people in different countries around the world if WE THE PEOPLE are going not only to support Barack and Michelle Obama and the new administration but also will co-operate for something good - the PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the FRIENDS of the people of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA... a New York Fire Fighter wish me already in 2002 before the change, that soon I will become an American citizen after I have been helping him as a volunteer with the American Red Cross in New York City. As I am a French-Tunesian-German journalist, broadcast journalist and author of several books I have been not allowed to vote for the new and first Afro-American U.S. President Barack H. Obama. However I have supported some public campaign and I have written some articles about the new U.S. President Barack H. Obama which have got not only published on the world wide web but in the paper also in the English and German language. In 2008 I have written and published 3 books which deal with social affairs and human rights issues on the international basis in the English and German language. If you want to read a good book I do recommend my book "Liberty and Peace NOW ! Human Rights Reporters" which has been published in October 2008 in the English and German language. As a token and support for international understanding I do write and publish most of my books bi-lingual in two sometime even in more languages. My books can be ordered with www.amazon.de Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters :: Medienprojekt Menschenrechts-Reporter :: Edition 2008, No. 1, Human Rights, abuses and violations of Human Rights, international understanding, 272 pages, author: Andreas Klamm,m Journalist, publishing center / publishing house: Books on Demand Gmbh; Edition 1 (October 2008), Language: English / German, bi-lingual, ISBN-10: 3837072436 , ISBN-13: 978-3837072433

British Newsflash Magazine :: Magazin-Buch: Edition 2008, No. 1, Themen und Berichte aus Politik, Soziales und Gesellschaft, Issues from politics, social affairs and society, 200 pages, author: Andreas Klamm, Journalist, Publishing house /Publishing centre: Books on Demand Gmbh; Edition 1 (June 2008), Language: German with some articles in the English language ISBN-10: 3837046001, ISBN-13: 978-3837046007

Die Kinder der John Baptist Mission in Togo: Mission und Hilfe für Kinder, (The children of the John Baptist Mission in Togo: Mission and help for children), 200 pages, author: Andreas Klamm, Journalist, Publishing house / Publishing centre: Books on Demand Gmbh; Edition: 1 (August 2008), Language: German with articles by co-authors in the French and English language, ISBN-10: 3837057623, ISBN-13: 978-3837057621

Something To Explain About My International Family

You might be wondering how can a man or woman be an WORLD CITIZEN and international?

First, my grandfather Haedi Sabaot, is a FRENCH-TUNESIAN citizen and was a FRENCH ARMY OFFICER stationed in the Germany city of Kaiserslautern, Germany in 1945 after World War II.

He was born in North of Africa and he was a so called Black-African man.

He has been in LOVE with my grandmother, Mrs. Martha Kolcaz (born as Maier) and she has delivered a child: My mother in 1946.

People in Germany in 1945 have been still indoctrinated by the NAZI doctrine. The "Fuehrer" liked not this much so called coloured people and my grandmother was persecuted in the city in which she used to live.

In 1950 she has made the hard decision to leave GERMANY forever and she moved to the STATE OF VICTORIA, city of MELBOURNE in AUSTRALIA and even changed her citizenship from the German citizenship into the AUSTRALIAN citizenship.

Already when I have been a teenager I became the unpaid "family interpreter or translator" and all of the communication by phone with my own grandmother, Mrs. Martha was ONLY in the English language.

Certainly I wanted to be able to communicate with my own grandfather, a FRENCH-TUNESIAN citizen which is missing since 1945. Therefore I have studied and learned also the FRENCH language.

For some reason already in 1984 I became very excited about the AMERICAN DREAM and the United States of America and its people.

Therefore I have placed several ads with the Los Angelos Receycler and other papers which do offer ads for free and contacted some organization to find some pen pals in the United States of Amercia.

In 1984 I have been in the happy position to find some pen pals in the United States of America. Since that early time im in touch by regular mail, phone and in these days also by email and the internet with my FRIENDS in the United States of America.

However I do have a dream, which is to become an American citizen.

In 2001 / 2002 I have been traveling two times to New York City and the United States of America. I wanted to help the American people and therefore I became a volunteer with the American Red Cross, although I do hold a GERMAN passport.

Soldiers, policer officers and many other people got exicted about my nice uniform which I have brought with me from Germany as I am not only a journalist, broadcast journalist and author, but as a secondary profession a registered nurse (R.N.) and paramedic also.

In New York City a fire fighter got in trouble after his own house got hit by lighting. However I have made the decision to help him as good as possible. After our mission was completed in the midst of NEW YORK CITY the fire fighter has said in front of his colleague, my ARC supervisior and me: "I wish you that you will become soon an American citizen."

My hope is that the fire fighters good wishes will be heard in the right and good office, soon, as I am waiting so long and longing to become an American citizen.

In New York City I have been laboring hard, 18 hours and I have been meeting hundreds of people face to face. Even those which lost loved ones after 911 and I guess because if all the impressions and the hard work I got a bit traumatized by 911 also.

However it was a honor to help many people and to meet precious, wonderful and good American citizen, which will be a great example for me how to help the communities in New York City.

My favourite city in the United States of America is New York City, followed by Boston, Chicago, Seattle (because a friend lives close to this city) and some other cities.

In 1986 I became the founder of British Newsflash Magzine (which was called first The Newsflash but its title has been changed to British Newsflash Magazine to avoid any kind of misunderstanding). And in 1986 I became with some friends and colleague in the German city of Speyer am Rhein and the English city of Leeds, England the founder of IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty, Radio IBS Liberty, IBS Television Liberty, which is supporting international understanding since 1986.

The country where I want to live, work and marry is the United States of America and I am longing for to become an United States of America citizen. However because of my international family background in many ways (not in all !) I do think cosmopolitan and as a WORLD CITIZEN also.

For many reason I do believe the United States of America is the defender of democracy and a leader or a leading country in defending democracy and this is another reason for supporting the people of the United States of America.

In 2006 I became with other author the founder of the international media project "Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters" which is dealing with social issues and international human rights issues.

In December 2008 I had the great chance to meet a wonderful and excellent colleague in the city of Stockholm, Sweden as she has received there on the side of Krishnammal Jagannathan, Asha Hagi and Dr. Monika Hauser the Right Livelihood Award by the Right Livelihood Award Foundation which is also know as alternative Nobel Prize - the precious woman which I have been meeting and my colleague in her role as journalist, broadcast journalist and author is Amy Goodman from Democracy NOW!

However I do believe because of very precious citizen like her and so many others, the people of the United States of America and the United States of America are so special.

As U.S. President Barack Obama believes that America will be restored, I do believe the same thing and by the way I do believe President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and his children are precious and special, too.

Since 1984 I am working as journalist, broadcast journalist and author. Some awards from the department for political education I have received in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989.

To be a registered nurse (R.N.) and paramedic is a secondary profession only, since 1993. In the past I have been working also as an ITU (Intensive Therapy Unit) nurse for major German University Hospitals and for the Clementine Churchill Hospital in London in the United Kingdom, also.

Actually I do believe there are millions of precious American people and citizen and if the friends of those people will co-operate for SOMETHING GOOD I believe it will be possible not only to restore the situation of the people of the United States of Amercia and for many other people in many different places in this world also.

So far as possible I am trying to encourage on US NY friends my American FRIENDS to contiune to co-operate and work together for something good in the United States of America and in this world.

This is my hope and more information will follow, soon.

If you want to read some more information, please visit:

1. www.humanrightsreporters.wordpress.com

2. www.menschenrechtsreporter.blogspot.com

3. www.andreasklamm.wordpress.com

4. www.andreasklamm.blogspot.com

5. www.youtube.com/andreasklamm

6. www.regionalhilfe.de (Regional Aid about social issues)

7. www.britishnewsflash.org

My favourite television and radio programs comes from the United States of America.

It is Democracy NOW! with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and I can recommend for all of those which do support democracy to watch the educational television and radio programs, Monday to Friday on about 700 television and 250 radio stations int the United States of America or on the Democracy NOW! web site on www.democracynow.org .

Andreas Klamm, Journalist and author

London, United Kingdom,

February 2, 2009

international service

US NY FRIENDS

Inaugurating the People of America The Rebirth of Democracy

Vera from Jamaica, NY — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:47:30 EST

… As I migrated towards the Lincoln Memorial for the Opening Ceremony, I became amerced in a sea of people flowing rhythmically towards what some envision as a symbolic crusade. As I observed a well organized ceremony, my attention was often unconsciously interrupted to marvel at my surroundings of a micro-dynamic of what constitutes America. Once again…as I previously witnessed the “mending and uniting of the souls of America” in the eyes of its people at the Democratic Convention in Denver 2007, so I saw on this day, and days to follow… the “inauguration of The United States of America”. The inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009 invoked awareness and a force of unity that I once witnessed during the atrocity of 911. This truly was the “Rebirth of Democracy” as the voices of the people resounded at our nation’s capitol supportive of “CHANGE”. And so… we must, and shall do our part in support of said “change”. Congratulations President Barack Obama! Congratulations America!

- The Grassroots Democracy Group-

How I saved the world.

GlobalAlliance — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:07:13 EST

Your Honorable President,

this letter is in regards to an idea that will strengthen our ecomony, stabilize the Global market and ensure democracy has a sure foundation in tomorrows future generations to come. I have a website

wwwGlobalInternetAlliancecom

and believe it and Global Alliance can not only secure a succesful recovery for our Nation; but, increase Gross National Product to growth levels yet unseen. This idea will revolutionaize the way capitalism is done and ensure that the U.S. will not only lead the information age but allow for future U.S. children and families to flourish. This idea has been kept for fourteen years waiting for your arrival as President. The time has come; however, I need to get help on funding and mass media communication. Please take time to view the site listed above but it is in beta stage and several key factors that I have mentioned are missing. But here's the Mission Statement. "Global Internet Alliance is a Sovereignty of People who come together throughout the world to practice Democracy. Global Internet Alliance is a meeting place where people all over the Earth can meet at one location to unite, vote, and share information. Let us put our minds together and see what lives we can make for our future.By obtaining a census of votes throughout the world we can obtain real time opinions, polls, votes, and surveys on global issues. These votes will represent a true democracy throughout planet Earth. Democracy is essential for the preservation of freedom and natural resources of the Earth. Surveys and votes will be given to the mass media as a means to convey Global Internet Alliances objectives. Objectives will be voted on by Global Internet Alliance citizens and results of the elections will be given to its citizens via email. We the people can unite our minds, energy, and resources, to make a better place for our children and generations to come. Join Global Internet Alliance today and put another foot in the foundation of Freedom!" Please help me in my cause for freedom and the American way. Enclosed are contacts where I can be reached and any information which could help me would greatly be appreciated. Global Alliance needs Gov't grants or help with mass media coverage. Sincerely, Chris R. Koch(559) 221-0709(808) 965-8125 ChristopherKoch@hotmail.com

My opinion page on Barack's victory...

Lance from Ashburn, VA — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:57:25 EST

http://www.lancereviews.homestead.com/Obama_My_Opinion.html

Sacrifices Made for Democracy, Here and Abroad.

Karen from Coral Gables (Miami), FL. — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:33:49 EST

The events taking place are inspiring, uplifting, uniting a nation which is bruised and weary, witness to democracy at her finest. Electing our first African American president Barack Obama the day after honoring the man, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. whose courageousness and sacrifice made this possible shines an even more hopeful light on our democratic process. Just as families all across the nation are observing events of historic proportions, on TV, radios, the internet, blackberries, iPhones...Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, IM... military families too have their eyes glued to their TVs, the internet, IM, blackberries, etc. While the world is witness to the strength and resiliency of a well established democracy we are very aware of the continued struggles of a fledgling democracy in Iraq. While our nation is taking a huge step forward...in Iraq there are many days with steps forward and still other days with steps back. This past week the 82nd Airborne, 3rd BCT 'family' lost three fine young men. January 10, 2009, Staff Sergeant Justin Bauer, [24yrs, Loveland, Colo., 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division] and two others- January 16th and January 18th whose names have yet to be released by DoD. Amazing, how your heart can feel so joyful and filled with hope and at the same time the heavy anguish of knowing another mother, father, wife, husband, son, or daughter feels no joy or hope today nor tomorrow. Tomorrow as I witness and celebrate our democracy at its' finest hour ... I will be very mindful of the ultimate sacrifices these three young men and many others have made for the hope of an enduring democracy in the Middle East.

May Maggots Feed....

James — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:19:02 EST

It is almost over, this painful odyssey through a tortured and labyrinthian complex of 'Alice in Wonderland' horror. George Bush is almost out of there, exiting as if he was Himmler giving his last and fond farewell. He was strong. He was loyal. He acted in spite of his supposed ideals and against certain conservative principals. And on and on into more drooling stupidity, the kind of such that we have been graced with for eight years. Eventually, this shape-shifting fool will be seen to have killed more people, more deliberately, and with less mercy, than Joseph Stalin. He and his fat 'Jobba The Hut' crony Dick Cheney. "When the land was ruled by evil idiots' ought to be the autobiographical title....that this simpering wimp purports to intend to write. If he could write any more than his shaky signature.

There is a lot of talk, out here on the internet and in the media, about the likely fact that Obama and team will not prosecute or go after Bush and his bunch of thieving killer scumbags. That may be true. There is always a tendency of those, when they are just taking over, to want to get on with things. It is there time and they do not want to give any of that time away to those that preceded them. Our culture does not do that with the common man. Your speeding ticket is never forgotten or forgiven. It is paid for with money or in 'skin.' Your credit record is never forgiven. Your criminal record is certainly never forgiven or forgotten. No, you are a common citizen. That is what the culture demands of you. It does not demand that of the aristocracy, and we all know it. We just don't talk about it very much. The thought lays there, at the bottom of our collective and individual mind. It is not fair. It is not good for the future. It is only good for those who were the criminal leaders and good for those taking over. There was no huge outcry of outrage over the pardon of Richard Nixon. He was pardoned so we could 'heal,' as a country. Just the first lie of the new incoming administration of the time. Richard Nixon was pardoned for two reasons: he had information on his own activities he could have revealed to shock the nation senseless (he was having his enemies in this country killed!) and the Ford people wanted their power complete and immediate, not based upon going over the past. It was a disservice to all of us, and we are still paying a price for it this day. Our culture has become a culture of lies and we all know it. And we don't like it. But what can we do?

Obama may not have to 'go after' Bush and his henchmen. If things get bad enough here, then the normal system of justice will not be consulted. The people will simply apply democracy to those who so badly need it. And, oh, the argument put forth lately by our fascinating leadership in Congress is that the men and women who did those torturous deeds in our name should not be punished. They were, after all, like Jack Bauer, in 24, merely following orders. The show precedes or presages what is happening in real life. We are being sold a package (secretly, as in the show, we really applaud Jack's work, but only when nobody is looking or listening!) in new wrapping. Following WWII we have the Nuremberg Trials. The argument of the defense was exactly what we are talking about today. And it did not wash. The judges listened to the argument; we were merely following orders, and then hanged the followers one and all.

But we have time. And things do not seem to be improving across this land. Both Bush and Cheney, when they get to their respective ranches, should assure that they have some big strong walls and long clear fields of fire. And they need to stay awake nights. They are retiring, and they are going to get the type of retirement they deserve. Eventually, this culture is going to have spent enough time thinking and suffering. Never forget that maggots have to eat too.

from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

Bush defends honor of Lisa Marie Presley

Kenneth — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:48:45 EST

I saw in the paper two years ago while eating breakfast in a charming diner in West Oakland a picture of Junchiro Koizumi the prime minister of Japan trying on a pair of sunglasses once worn by Elvis in the presence of, in order away from him, Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley, George Bush, and lastly Laura Bush.

A singularly powerful image, A Japanese leader enmeshed in a peculiarly American romance or glamour, Looking through glasses or borrowing the perspective of the chief archetype of that glamour, a sotto vocce declaration of willingness to lay aside hard truth in favor of the sublime dream that is the central motif of American media.

A whirlwind tour had apparently been arranged for the Prime Minister. Below in the story written by two staff writers at the New York Times an event was described in which the Prime Minister grabs Lisa marie by the waist while singing Hold me Close after which George claps him on the shoulder and shakes his hand. This is seen by the writers as the president putting a stop to a morally questionable action or perhaps as the protection of Lisa Marie. This presumes either that Lisa Marie was unable to handle herself in that situation or that the Prime Minister was subject to an, by American standards, offensive moral ideology. This impression is intensified by describing the president as an ex drinking and incredibly fit hero wandering around in the palace of The King, who was famous for his lascivious and drug addled lifestyle.

One may at a casual glance presume that morality and law are very similar. In fact one may go so far as to assume that law is to society as morality is to interpersonal relations. This connection is dubious at best. Legally they are like heat and light, always co-existent but not the same.

We are the proud inheritors of a constitutional republic. In essence our political system, here in America, is a democracy tempered by a constitution. The function of the constitution is to disallow egregious insults on the rights of any citizen and to define the extent to which morals may intrude upon law.

Morals are subjective. One may find the exposing of flesh inappropriate. It would then behoove that person to wear a lot of clothing. Others however may feel or even be constrained by religion to wear as little as possible. The more politically inclined among these populations may make an effort to legislate their moral leanings, thereby infringing the rights of their opposition. This is made impossible, presumably, by the constitution by circumscribing the extent to which morals may intrude upon law.

The war on Terror is an interesting effort legally. It engages the misunderstood powers of the presidency in times of war and creates a schism in the crisp differentiation between moral beliefs and law. Examples are rife these days. Same sex marriage, pornography, school prayer, drug and alcohol policy, flag burning, abortion, all of these exploit subtle differentiations within the law concerning the separation of law and religion or moral ideology.

The degree of extremity of belief seems to be the turning point. If a group within the general population believes with sufficient extremity in a moral proposition it must then be considered by law. The law is, again, prevented by the constitution from legislating morality and from an abridging of the rights of the few by the vote of the majority.

What is Democracy

Vera from Jamaica, NY — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:46:16 EST

What is “Democracy”? The literature postulates that ancient Athens, Magna Carta, The English Bill of Rights, The Mayflower Compact, and John Locke are the sources of the US constitution. Moreover, the British philosopher, John Locke (1632-1704), among other notables, has postulate that people are the driving force of nations, not the rulers. He contended that people are born with inalienable rights, such as “life, liberty and property.” How is it then that government and others are allowed to oppose or challenge said rights of consensual beings? Although I object to the comparison of humanity (i.e., Slavery or The Holocaust, and the right that all people exist in equality of other beings), the rights of consensual adults to choose their mates is simply that…their right to do so. Don’t we have pressing issues to tend to in our Nation???? Let’s pursuit the “Change” our nation so desperately needs with a vengeance, and stay out of the bedrooms and lives of others. -The Grassroots Democracy Group - Vera

From citizen engagement to wise democracy

Tom from Eugene, OR — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:58:09 EST

I hear a lot of talk about citizen participation and public engagement, such as enabling citizens to track government decision-making and comment on it.

I'd like to offer some useful distinctions between

public participation/citizen engagement
deliberative democracy
collective intelligence
emergence-based practices
wise democracy.

Overhaul Economic System, Not Just the Economy

Gary from Palm Coast, FL — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:11:59 EST

President-elect Barack Obama, your proposal of a massive two-year stimulus package aimed at creating thousands of useful jobs is welcome news, showing that your are prepared to act boldly and swiftly. I hope you are as committed and will get prepared to overhaul our economic system, not just our economy. If you aren't, Americans can “bank” on another major meltdown happening again sometime in the future. It’s the system along with its political and social context that caused the meltdown. Therefore, once the stimulus package has started stimulating, I think you need to work on creating and applying in partnership with Congress long-term systemic reform measures. One measure absolutely necessary, for instance, would be to start phasing out our speculative economy and to gradually replace it with real markets of goods and services that are community-based. You could, in this order; 1) commission a blue-ribbon task force with diverse expertise to brainstorm a new economic system fit for America’s future, 2) commission a nationwide poll to ask Americans some very targeted questions so as to get a sense about what ordinary citizens’ visions are for the future of America and her children yet born, 3) establish for the first time a truly national economic policy, and finally, 4) start working on the first phase of creating our new economic system along with the accompanying political reforms needed (e.g., really effective campaign financing and lobbying reforms). Mr. President-elect, America’s future is in your hands to mold with the hopes, dreams, and help of the American people marching along beside you. Best wishes to you and for America's future.

Gary Brumback

Poem-ing to the Inauguration of President Barack Obama

Madama Ambi — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:07:45 EST

Madama reads Song of Myself by Walt Whitman.

click here to listen...scroll down to Pickle Player...

10:14 min.

. . . Here's My Concern . . .

Harold from Stafford, VA — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:25:24 EST

It may seem like a small thing, well a couple of things. You mentioned using your gut feelings. President Bush said something similar. That bothers me because I know that few people know Cognitive Therapy. That says that all feeling have a thought behind them. We have to bring the thought into mind and test it to see if it's true. Feelings have a thought or thoughts behind them and they can be true or false. Everything, then is subject to logic. If we have a gut reaction, it's often true. It shouldn't be dismissed easily at all, but you have to ask yourself, what does it mean. Why do I feel that way and since they are so important, even after understanding them it's good to keep looking for more information. The free world is hanging on those decisions. Scripture might say to test them to see if they are from God, that is to say, workable, reasonable, true and fit with everything else you know and believe. Sometimes it takes a lot of asking yourself questions, not making judgments, just asking for explanations. Those rules are consistent scripturally and scientifically, from the results of extensive study and confirmation. That's my first concern. If you need help, be humble, ask.
.......................................................
Secondly, the thought you expressed of working 16 hours a day, or some such. No way. If you follow the rules of how to think, ask if you don't know. Bush deligated, but didn't follow up on what they where doing. The government needs an administrator or many such, but it needs an inspired person overseeing. A good adminstrator is worth their weight in gold, but they still come a dime a dozen. Not many people are as inspired as your going to need to be. None were quit good enough except one. You also need to be listening to solutions from the people, 100 million strong. You have incredible geniuses out here. Why do all the work yourself? And intuition. Let the brain do the work and access it with intuition, better than a gut reaction. The rule is the same test it rigorously also, but only after you find out what sense it's trying to make and why the intuition came. It has a reason to be, so take it seriously. Why you had that intuition comes with the intuition. so look deaply into it. Don't listen to me. Test it yourself and listen to Einstein when he said, the only real thing is intuition, the only valuable thing is intuition. I believe that that saying is more important than his other theories, which he said he intuited also. Oprah said she followed her intuition. You can hardly find anyone famous who didn't. That's inspiration. Do that and you can get home to your family sometime and set a good example for all of us. You can do some work at home, but keep humble like me.

What Just Happened

Nona from Washington, DC — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:32:00 EST

What just happened? It wasn't until this afternoon that I got quiet and fully absorbed it. I shed some tears and got inspired. I allowed myself to be feel like an American - to feel at home here. Last night around midnight I hung an American flag that my cousin gave me as a house warming gift last year. Our flag post is mounted in the center front of our craftsman porch. I was saving that flag to see if the day would come when I truly felt like hanging it. It came last night.

On so many levels, I felt a sense of hope for this democracy - a word I have scarcely uttered in my adult life. I related completely to Michelle's "controversial" comment months ago that this was the first time in her adult life that she felt proud to be American. For the first time, I felt like this democracy could be real, and it could truly be for everyone. We, all the voters, for Obama and McCain, owned it yesterday. McCain gave the best speech of his entire campaign last night, and I believed him. Maybe "that one" truly is "the One". I know he is truly special, and he is making many of us look up and examine our spirituality.

I saw people happily standing in long lines yesterday morning - unhurried and unconcerned about getting to work or school late. A young AA man emerged with a huge grin on his face waving a large American flag. Though we all knew nearly 100% of DC would go for Obama (96% actually), he looked as if he believed his vote mattered - and it did. Our leader made everyone feel as if their participation matters, and so we did our duty. Now we dare to hope on many levels. We dare to believe that anything is possible, that anyone can achieve whatever they imagine, that there are ways out of bad situations, and that good things come to people who act with intelligence, discipline, class, and self-respect in the midst of ignorance, chaos, crudeness, and disrespect.

Amazingly, I believe that he will continue to improve American democracy and ideals, and inspire us to be our best as individuals and as a nation. I believe many people will be further convinced that they have more to do, to help find and implement solutions to our many challenges. We will look upon them as our challenges, as opposed to his challenges. We will support him, and will trust him to lead us to collective resolve and action. Many have said today that if our new president leads this country the way he ran this campaign, we will be OK. I believe that. I saw with my own eyes (in person and online) the numbers of people who took ownership of this campaign. At our election night party last night, when they called Virginia and Pennsylvania, those who had contributed in those states cheered loudest. We hugged and patted ourselves on the back. I believe our new president will inspire us to do more of that as we pull ourselves out of the mess we're in.

I am truly on a natural high. and I don't wanna come down.

Yes, I Will Times Nine.

Jim from Los Angeles, CA — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:35:19 EST

A personal accounting of my plans to help our country move forward and do the right thing for all.

I will continue to contribute towards the successful leadership of my country.

I will give my time and what little I can afford when it it necessary to help others.

I will continue to give my best ideas to those who can bring them into focus and make them happen.

I will continue what I have started that began with the Obama-Biden campaign.

I will continue to provide optimistic support to those around me in these troubled times.

I will keep an eye out on my government and make it know when I think it's veering off course.

I will communicate my best intentions and ideas to my representatives in Congress and the White House.

I will do my duty to uphold my devotion to liberty, honesty and wisdeom to support Deomcracy.

I will continue to believe.

Yes, I will!

"Change" is only the beginning.

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Sepi Gilani — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:20:37 EST

A Democratic Revolution in America

We shed blood, sweat and tears over the last weeks leading up to this election. I volunteered in New Hampshire a total of 9 days and made over 1200 calls for the Obama campaign from my home. I made 300 or so phone calls for the campaign on behalf of other organizations supporting the changes that I felt were essential for the country. We donated money and time. I put my practice of medicine and my family life on hold for this election. I met countless others who did much more than I.

But before the presidential campaign I had the opportunity of getting to know Barack Obama. He tells us about his upbringing and family values of hard work, and eternal optimism. He reads out loud his story in Dreams from my Father. His resonant voice and choice of words and imitation of people’s accents make the story come to life. He tells us about begging lepers who would knock on his home’s front door in Indonesia. He tells us story of how he got the scar on his arm.

I read about his political career in The Audacity of Hope. He won his seat in the Illinois state senate and later the US Senate by running a campaign based on truth, facts and respect for the opposition. He shares his ideals and ideas of community, fairness, faith and citizenship. He tells us about his first private jet flight as a senator. He tells us that his first kiss with Michelle tastes of chocolate.

He becomes the voice for our frustrations and carries our voice from the depths of America. He becomes the voice for all of us who want a better America. One without racism, wars of aggression, poverty, bail-outs, torture, rendition, pride, falling bridges in Minnesota, Abu-Ghuraib, failing levees in Louisiana, potholes, oil spills, snubbing the UN, plummeting dollar, terrorist attacks, orange alerts, wire-tapping, collateral damage, Monsanto, crumbling concrete, Enron, black outs in New York, bigotry, melting icecaps, Guantanamo, killing civilians, atomic bombs, propped up dictators, politics of hate and fear, Halliburton, outsourcing, flag covered coffins, endless consumption and stolen presidential elections.

He becomes a voice for the best in America. A country of justice, apple pie, equality, liberty, due process, Thanksgiving Day, movies, churches, innocent until proven guilty, Habitat for Humanity, telephones, Apollo 11, tractors, fortune cookies, “In God we Trust”, firefighters, jazz, diversity, airplanes, green cards, America’s Second Harvest, innovation, ice-cream cones, civil rights, baseball, state troopers, synagogues, green collar jobs, model T Fords, light bulbs, polio vaccines, mosques, Hershey’s, NIH grants, national parks, Google, temples, industry, rock n’ roll, Harley-Davidsons and pow wows.

Like powerful leaders of the past, he shows how active and peaceful resistance can take the form of a campaign. He proves to us that democracy can work. His experience and leadership provides the impetus. He showed us the way democracy works. Troops of people showed up in phone banks, and swing state offices. We shed sweat in the heat of the summer, walking, running, jogging and knocking on doors to discuss our nation’s issues. We broke out in cold sweat in unfamiliar labyrinthine apartment complexes with creaking stairs that smell of rot and decay. We shed tears when Obama gives his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention. He did so in front of a crowd of 100,000. We shed blood from the paper cuts. Hundreds of flyers, canvassing papers, maps and driving directions, freshly off the printers, cut our fingers: a paper cut that will not stop as you flip canvassing papers and phone call lists. But enough blood to stain the white pages of names of fellow Americans. And yes we shed a drop of blood in a bloodless revolution: a change so profound and deep and wide that the world takes notice. And once again we start a new path in the America for which we stand: one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

WE CAN AND WE WILL!!!!!!!!!!

CamiaJPM — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:52:37 EST

President Barack Obama,

You have brought me to higher heights than I have soared to in YEARS.

You have inspired me to believe in not only yourself, but all of us as well.

I believe in you.

I believe in us. I love you.

I support you.

But most of all, I wanted to thank you, your family and ALL the AMAZING Americans who have stood together, fought together, hoped together, prayed together and unified despite all the odds. All of us undoubtedly PATRIOTIC Americans have done our part to ensure that Obama's famous "Yes, we can!" grew into a "Yes, we can....And we did!!!"

The job is far from over though.

Now that the phenomenal Barack Obama is next in line for the 44th US Presidency,

let us not forget that we must continue to support our President by

coming together as a UNIFIED country to not only support our president, but nurture each other's communities, families and strangers who all dwell in such an amazing country.

Let us HELP Barack Obama bring this war to an end, restore our economy and ultimately the world's economy, eliminate environmental threats, support democracy and TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER, as our President wishes.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of those who have helped shape HISTORY.

God bless America!!!!!!!

Congratulations, Barack Obama, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A.!!!!!!!!!

FROM AN AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER IN LONDON, ENGLAND

The Original NYC Free Advice Man — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:47:08 EST

Dear President-Elect Barack Obama,

My sincere condolences and deepest sympathy upon the passing of your beloved grandmother.

As The Original New York City Free Advice Man I would like to congratulate you, your wonderful family, friends and all our fellow supporters, true Democrats, real Republicans, sensible Independents and others, for getting you elected the next President of Our United States of America! I am exceedingly grateful to you and Vice-President-Elect Joe Biden, whom I consider a friend, for putting up with all the senseless garbage and difficulties that our opponents threw at us during this long, testing and tiring campaign. You can count on me to provide you, your administration and our government any and all Quality Free Advice, Objective Criticism, Critical Insight and Foresight needed to help insure that the coming four years or more will be successful, especially in restoring Our American image and reputation abroad and our Constitution at home.

Having been a specific target of those who have unscrupulously, severely damaged our country I hope to have the opportunity to meet you and/or my friend Joe Biden (who was my preference until you’re very promising Iowa Caucus victory) and briefly discuss my very unpleasant experiences these past seven plus years. I also hope my YouTube endorsement video (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejts46Ll1Nk ) helped a little bit, and that all my other efforts at home (Maryland/DC) and here in London contributed to our success. Should you ever need the views/ideas/opinions of someone who truly thinks way outside of ‘the box’, then remember that The Free Advice Man is fully at your service. Consider me one of your National Philosophical Advisors!

Respectfully yours, best, J

ean-Pierre Ady Fenyo

Philosopher-at-Large

The Original New York City Free Advice Man ( www.infinitysociety.org/FREEADVICEMAN )

November 3, 2008 Edgware, London, England, UK Europe

Reflections

taj for live jelly — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:45:07 EST

People had somehow come to associate democracy with capitalism. They began to use the words interchangably. Some years back I wrote some letters, essays questioning that. To clarify:

Democracy does not equal capitalism.

Democracy is our form of government. For the people by the people.

Capitalism is our economic system. For some reason those who spoke up about it were shut up.

As church and state are separate, then so should state and business. Government has to regulate businesses too & should be unbiased & not paid hush hush mula to detour from their work.

That does not mean that government can't use business style management or have a dynamic work environment for their daily operation. They can be more efficient with less mistakes.

Capitalism by itself is not a perfect economic system, as proven, because one system unchecked can create an inbalance. Surplus. It is good take good points of various systems that work. That creates a balance & handle any extreme measures on either side.

:-) We never sent a Memo to the government saying the system of government has changed! I know I didn't. Did you? :-)

People cry of shortages in certain food items for an example some bigger grocery companies may have overstock in their warehouse. Sometimes it rots and they throw away. What a waste. Instead they should share information, and even can sell their items to another store that needs it at half price or at discount. They think it is okay to throw away.

Some of us share similar views because

u know why? because maybe even in the past 58 years or more, some decisions were made without looking at all sides.people became complacent & usa grew in numbers, everyone was not on the same page anymore. We were going in some wierd path. Industrialization did promote growth & trade but the side effects went unchecked. Many share similar ideas, because maybe we see that something is not working, in accordance with how it should be--an inbalance. we don't have a time machine to back to the past to do over, that is why we need to find what caused the problems, correct, find new solutions & change direction to move forward. and I think that many of us are ready to help with something we can bring to the table, to make this work. Help with different skills that we have, even at no cost if need be. That's why I feel that this new democratic team & people have what is needed at this point in time: A team of specialists ready to get back on track!

*a leader who is ready to revitalize,motivate & knows constitutional law
*a VP who is a good person, a veteran senator
*people with good intentions: Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, etc
*His family
*the team & people who stand side by side with them
*alot of heart & determination
*great human resources with
*unlimited brain power that's ready to work above & beyond capacity like some of his
supporters
*boundless energy & potential
*knowledge that people are important

#in this write up i include various thoughts, ideas & essaying from other pieces that I v written.

Electoral sobriety, and a great thing my conservative Republican father taught me

Dr. Jeffrey Kargel — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:55:52 EST

On our side, everybody seems to be in a state of exceeding cautious optimism. On the other side, there is foreboding and prayers for a miracle. My extended family is as split on this election as America is. Everybody seems to sense that it is a momentous election, perhaps like none other since who-knows-when (the Civil War era? The end of the Herbert Hoover era?). No matter who wins, I think one thing we're united on in this country, and that is the knowledge that the next President is going to have one helluva time. I don't think anybody in my extended family, or in America, is a Prophet, unless each one of us is a little part-time prophet and part-time oblivious prey to danger. Each one of us can take stock of where we are at the moment, and through the clouded goggles of our senses and mental faculties, with all our biases and experiences, come up with a best judgment of what our next step should be. Except in America, our steps include making a collective decision on who will lead us. And so here we are. One thing my father (a conservative Republican on the other side) and my mother (a conservative former Republican, like myself, on our side) taught me was that we, as citizens, need to be alert to current events, conscious and knowledgeable about history, and able to project our future as best our little prophet minds can project it. And then they taught me that every vote counts. Beyond that, we can be proactive and reactive in writing letters to the editor, in discussing politics with family and friends, and creating possible solutions to problems, befitting the fact that we live in a Democracy. And beyond that, some may pray, and some may donate to worthy causes, put their careers on the line, and some may take other actions, but always, in my family we know that we are citizens, and we take that very seriously. And so, with our little prophet minds, we have senses of optimism, or senses of pessimism, we have each taken lessons from the last 8 years, and the 8 years before that, and the 12 years before that, and we will take those lessons with us to the voting booth, if we have not already voted early. And so we will vote. This is America.

One Day Left!

Laurie from Great Falls, VA — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:38:36 EST

When I listen to the lies that McCain and Palin are repeating in their stump speeches, I am amazed. If you are worried about your taxes, just go to http://my.barakobama.com/taxes -- Not only can you see exactly what your taxes would be under Obama/Biden, but you can read the entire tax plan. And the same goes for every other policy.

Also, the great news, is the Obama campaign, a campaign that has changed the face of campaigning forever, and demonstrates the interactive, involved populace that Obama believes in and will foster in our country. Won't it be wonderful to have that kind of involvement, ways to actually make change in our communites, our country? Not to be treated as children, but as the involved and excited, educated and knowledgable country people that we are. What a total change -- we haven't had this kind of involvement since prior to the civil war, really, although we have had great surges of involvement (the Civil Rights movement being one great example).

Some of my work in India was about using the Internet to create dialog between women, older kids and men with their democratically elected representatives about things that they need and ways that they wanted to be involved. (Computers, generators and satelite hook ups that were donated to many rural villages, but training and interactive programming had to be developed.) It was exciting to get to my Stanford reunion later that year to see that a graduate group had taken up my project and were making the linkups truly work. They had gotten a government grant to do this work. Imagine if we could make this work in OUR country. Well, we have a great model in Barak's campaign outreach. Ways to get involved are made easy for everyone. Information is at the tip of your fingers. You can write to your friends about it or write your representatives, or even your President! True democracy at work...

Anyway, I am going to make some phone calls now, and join everyone else, people who are doing everything they can to insure that people hang out in the long lines and VOTE! Please VOTE! and if you have employees, let them VOTE without penalty, let them know. If you need to, send your staff an email tonight and tell them not to come in to work without having voted, no matter what time it is! Do everything you can to exercise your constitutional, patriotic right to vote. VOTE!

Blessings to you all,

Laurie

Laurie Sherman, PhD

Great Falls, Virginia, USA

The Calling of Democracy: Beginning of a New Age of Participation?

Ken from San Francisco, CA — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:41:59 EST

Well tonight I did some calling for Barack. The online system is great. Connecting with real people out of the blue is a fairly unpredictable pursuit. I spoke to a Republican who for voting for Barack, and I spoke to someone I thought was a Democrat who wouldn't tell me who he voted for because he thought I might be a shill for McCain. What I liked most about the experience was the ease of participation. Anyone can make a contribution from anywhere with a network connection even if you have a limited amount of time. There are a ton of reasons I want Barack Obama to win this election, most of which are written in other blogs posted here. One reason that isn't being discussed often enough is how extensively the mechanisms of democracy will have changed if he wins. Anyone can call or knock, anyone can blog, anyone can set up their own event. Technology is really making "by the people for the people" actually possible.

What intrigues me most about this angle of the campaign is what you do to harness all of this participation after such a revolutionary candidate gets elected. It seems to me that you would want to leverage all of these tools and more to make participation both online and in person a central premise of what it means to be an American. Barack's campaign is testament to the fact that many of us have a lot to contribute and will happily do so if the methods to do so are straightforward and provide feedback on how to make a difference.

Here's hoping this innovation in democracy continues......

Techno-Democratic

Michael Gaio — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:27:08 EDT

Following the Obama campaign over the last few months has been an exciting and inspiring time. The campaign has been conducted brilliantly, and can be considered perhaps the most well executed and progressive Presidential campaign of all of time. Of all the many facets of the campaign, the utilization of the internet and social media has been extraordinary--and likely a fundamental factor in the overall success of the campaign. Here, I want to outline the components of this new media campaign strategy, explore the implications of this trend as it can follow into the Presidency, and speculate on how the advents of communication technology and socially-driven politics suggest the emergence of 21st century democracy, and evolution of social change.

Pledge to Stand to Protect Voters and Their VOTES

Kira from Santa Barbara, CA — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:47:53 EDT

Dear Barak & Joe,

Please take this pledge to stand for the voters and their votes you care about so much. Thanks for being leaders we can believe in and respect.

About StandingForVoters.org

Standing for Voters is a project of Velvet Revolution and the Velvet Revolution Election Protection Strike Force.

VelvetRevolution.us ("VR") is a nonpartisan network of more than 120 organizations reaching millions of people demanding progressive change through our VR Electoral Reform, Media, and other campaigns. VR launched The Velvet Revolution Election Protection Strike Force in 2006 to address our deep concerns about the condition of the U.S. election system. Individual membership and organizational affiliation are free. Members and affiliates receive occasional emails from us about our action campaigns. Yourdonations are welcome and sustain our work. VR is a 501(c)(4) organization.

Velvet Revolution is a term coined to describe the peaceful road to change in countries where governments ignored the inalienable rights of the people. A few inspiring Velvet Revolutions occurred in the former Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, and of course, most recently in the Ukraine. The citizens of those countries, tired of corruption and arrogant power, joined together by the millions in sustained campaigns of opposition - they demonstrated, boycotted, petitioned, and engaged in strikes until the pillars of power were replaced by the halls of the people.

Endorsements

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Protect California Ballots
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Why Sign the Pledge or Super Pledge?

Recent events and changes to our election system have resulted in plummeting voter confidence. Around the nation, formerly enthusiastic supporters of local, state and national candidates have become disillusioned. As voters, we have reason to doubt that our candidates will take a stand to protect our votes and our democracy. Signing the Standing For Voters Pledge or Super Pledge is a clear way to tell voters that you care that all votes are counted, and counted accurately, and that you will do everything in your power to ensure that the elections are held to the highest standards. Show voters that you will champion the cause of democracy! Sign today!

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I, _________________, pledge to use my candidacy, whenever feasible, to advance the preservation of democracy. I will officially challenge the results of the election as provided by law if the combination of election conditions, incident reports and announced election results calls into question the reliability of the official vote count. I will wait until all valid votes are counted and all serious challenges resolved before declaring victory or conceding defeat. I will involve my campaign volunteers in actions to enhance the accuracy and verifiability of the election in which I am a candidate. I will speak out publicly during the pre-election period about the importance of fair, accurate and transparent elections and about this pledge. I will designate a liaison between my campaign and "Standing For Voters" so that "Standing For Voters" can alert me to any red flags they are aware of regarding my election.

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Fax the form to Standing For Voters 888-812-5735.

Alternately, you may scan your signed pledge form [go to their website] and email it. info@standingforvoters.org

With the exception of the note to Barak & Joe, all the above is from their website:

My Mind Progresses as my Body Regresses--What's Up With That?

Robbrian — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:29:39 EDT

Bon Mots and other favorite word compilations Thu 1/17/2008 7:46 AM Reading List "Under capitalism, man exploits man.
Under communism, it's just the opposite."J.K.GalbraithOver the past fifty years this incomplete list of my favorite books reveals the progression in my political and economic preferences. I've included links for those of you with different persuasions but sufficiently open minded to integrate differing points of view.

Vote Early! We did!

Debra from San Francisco, CA — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:46:42 EDT

If you live in a city where you can go to City Hall and vote early, we encourage it! Now that my vote on paper ballot, sealed and delivered with a number on both the ballot and tear-off that matches, I feel very secure that my vote will count. Given that some machines are flipping votes (you vote Obama, it flips to McCain), we need to be hyper aware that if we are going to use the machines, that doesn't happen. But to be safe, it is a relief to do it by paper, do at City Hall and do it early!

Need inspiration?

http://www.earcandleproductions.com/Democracy.mp3

a little treat for Democrats and the Republicans who love America, for real!

Ten days are short; Ten minutes are long

Yves Patrice — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:53:44 EDT

The election is 10 days from today. My girlfriend and I are both political junkies here in Quebec. We are both heavily involved here and have done many elections. We are both looking forward to see how elections are held in the US. This will be a learning experience for both of us and will be helpful to one of the most inspiring presidential candidates in US history.

This will be a great experience and we look forward to it. This blog will serve to spread our thoughts about what we see and enjoy.

Ten days in politics is awfully short, there's no time to waste as any undecided voters only have that much time before they make up their mind. Obama needs all the help he can get for election day and we'll do our part. It's not time for him to chose his rug for the Oval office yet and we need to work so that he has a chance to change that as well as a whole lot more!

Voters in any country only get one turn in the voting booth every cycle and that usually lasts less than 10 minutes. That's awfully short to make a choice they'll live with next four years. Lets make the next 10 days count. Yes we can.

What Obama presidency will really mean to the world?

Aamir — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:42:07 EDT

What Obama presidency will really mean to the world? This is the most heated election campaign that I have seen in my lifetime. Website, blogs, cable news and radio are all buzzing with speculations of the Nov 4th electoral map scenarios. People on both sides are excited about their candidate, but it is very likely that Obama will end up being our next president, barring any major political catastrophe. However, I don't believe people have fully grasped the idea of what will it truly mean to have Obama as our president. What does this show about the American people? What does it mean to rest of world? How will this momentous event be viewed by rest of the world?

Electing Obama as president sends a huge signal to the world on the following two fronts. first that the American people are decent, peace loving and compassionate nation, not the war mongers and trigger happy people that the world has come to know us as over the past 8 years. Secondly, it is a huge testimony to the power of democracy, democracy at it's best. People have the power to change and write their own destiny. These are two very powerful messages that will have an impact on the world around us, an impact bigger that any perceivable "Shock and Awe" military campaign. This event will once again bring the "true" America in front of the world, America, the land of free, a melting pot and land of opportunity. The very ideals that have been a powerful magnet for people who are in search of something that represents that "goodness" of mankind and propels us to reach us to our heights. Where color of skin, religion, creed has no bearing on one's success. Where one's ideas, ambition, desire and passion are the true indicators of one's success. This is the America that people remember and long to come to its shores. This is the America that had captivated the hearts and minds of millions upon millions of people across the globe and inspired them to abandon their homelands in search of the true human ideals. I believe this event will re-ignite the people around the world to look at America once again as a morale compass of the world, a shinning beacon that has weathered many storms over the years but the light has not dimmed but has gotten brighter.

America is and will always be the true beacon of democracy.

Democracy, the DNC, and Prosperity, not wealth...

Sarah from Decatur, IL — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:51:17 EDT

DEMOCRAT BY NECESSITY

I'm in total support for electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden. I've already voted for them at my home in Illinois. There is an open seat in my Congressional district (17th Illinois) and I've donated to and am working for Colleen Callahan, the Democratic contender for this office. I donated money to Elwin Tinklenberg in Minnesota after I heard the divisive bile spewed by his Republican opponent, Michelle Bachman.

My god! I've become a Democrat!

I've thought of myself as a non-partisan patriot in the past, but I now realize that with the archaic Electoral College system in place, we have a two-party system in the U.S. Third party candidates can virtually never be viable until we elect the President by popular vote. I doubt that I'll live to see that, even if it eventually happens.

SPREAD THE PROSPERITY NOT WEALTH

I heard Barack respond to "Joe the Partisan Shill" the other day and he used the term "spread the wealth around". This remark was twisted into 're-distribute the wealth' (which is what the Bailout did, what Social Security does, what taxes of any sort do), but the context of the conversation was really that Barack is in favor of 'spreading the prosperity' and seeing that everyone gets some piece of the pie. As it is, we are a social democracy and we don't agree that people should starve because they have been hurt by tough economic times.

"A return to prosperity" for all Americans. Does anyone really oppose that?

More about this later.

Democracy, the DNC, and Prosperity, not wealth...

Sarah from Decatur, IL — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:51:17 EDT

DEMOCRAT BY NECESSITY

My god! I've become a Democrat!

SPREAD THE PROSPERITY NOT WEALTH

"A return to prosperity" for all Americans. Does anyone really oppose that?

More about this later.

Democracy, the DNC, and Prosperity, not wealth...

Sarah from Decatur, IL — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:49:16 EDT

DEMOCRAT BY NECESSITY

My god! I've become a Democrat!

SPREAD THE PROSPERITY NOT WEALTH

"A return to prosperity" for all Americans. Does anyone really oppose that?

More about this later.

Democracy to Banana Republic in a Few Easy Steps

Dave — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:31:12 EDT

A reminder of all the things that went wrong over the last 8 years:
Democracy to Banana Republic in a Few Easy Steps

Urgent: Mortgage Foreclose and The Right to Vote.

Melanie — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:52:56 EDT

Republican 2008 election season tactics have sought to cash in on the notion that Senator Barack Obama might somehow not be American, Christian, or patriotic enough.

From Fox News to Sarah Palin rallies, these themes have hauled the snide and nasty spirit of McCarthyism into the 21st century. Let’s send it back to the days of poodle skirts, where it belongs.

It’s worth confronting the Orwellian abuse of language behind the snearing, and finger-pointing, to examine a fundamental issue at the very heart of American democracy: the right to vote.

How patriotic is it to undermine American democracy?

Chest-thumping Republican patriots in battleground states have announced that they plan to impede American democracy and seek to disenfranchise voters at the polls—by contending that anyone who has lost a home to mortgage foreclosure has forfeited their residency status.

They are betting of course, that those folks who have lost their homes to mortgage foreclosure aren't Republicans. For anyone who really wants to talk about "anti-American" behavior, let’s suggest this might be a mighty fine place to start.

In tonight’s final debate, John McCain should be challenged on this point, and asked whether he is prepared to publicly call back his party thugs from attacking Americans who seek to exercise their right to vote.

Unfortunately: that won’t happen.

So please: it is imperative that we all summon the best of American neighborhood spirit to combat these tactics aimed at subverting democracy.

Use this website’s Speak Out tool, and write to your local newspaper:

Insist that the struggling folks who have lost their homes should not lose their right to vote as well.

----------------

Here is an excerpt from a New York Times editorial on the subject, with the link to the full article below:

The foreclosure crisis could do considerable damage to the nation’s voting system. More than a million people have lost their homes in the past two years. And because voter registration is based on people’s residences, they could face politically motivated challenges at the polls.

The problem may be especially acute in the presidential battleground states. In Ohio, more than 5 percent of home mortgages are seriously delinquent or in the foreclosure process, and there were more than 67,000 foreclosure actions in the first half of 2008. Michigan and Florida have also been hard hit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/opinion/05sun2.html

A parable about Greed vs. Sharing

Catherine Max — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:16:43 EDT

Someone forwarded this parable to me and I thought it is worth thinking about in this atmosphere of panic,loss, and fear brought on by decades of greed and material excesses:

A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said.

'God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.

Suddenly he found himself in front of two doors.

He opened one of the doors and looked inside. In the middle of the room was a large round table with a large pot of stew in the center. The aroma was intoxicating and made the holy man's mouth water.

However the people sitting around the table were sad, pale and emaciated. They appeared to be starving. They had spoons with very long handles strapped to their arms.It was possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. So they sat there starving.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

God said, 'You have seen Hell.

The wise man then opened the door to the second room. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew, the aroma of which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but in this room the people were well-nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, 'I don't understand.

It is simple,' God said.

'The difference between these two groups requires but one skill. You see these people have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.'

For Those Who Encourage Hate Speech -- What You Reap Is America's Worst Nightmare

Vicki "Hussein" in New Mexico — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:35:29 EDT

I got a call from my neighbor last night. Her voice was supremely agitated: "Vicki, someone is taking the Obama signs down here in the neighborhood. He's screaming 'F__k Obama!' He took my sign and yours and the others on this street. I'm calling the police." I sigh. We waited a month for those signs, several hundred of us living in the East Mountains put together a thousand bucks and ordered the signs. They had only arrived today and almost all were scooped up eagerly by voters to proudly display their choice for President. This is America and we not only have freedom of speech, but we can choose our President and change our government non-violently on November 4, 2008. What a country! What kind of person tears down people's signs? Must be drunk, I told my neighbor. Then I check the news today, been abit out of touch. I see the ugly rallies for John McCain and Sarah Palin with some people screaming "Traitor!" and "Kill him!" when Barack Obama is mentioned by the Republican candidates. The people have been stirred up by the propaganda and false lies and are reacting like fascist hooligans ready to commit pograms. Someone will do stupid, hateful things in such a climate of fear and hatred. What is happening to our country? These American Talibans are being incited to destroy our democracy and do harm to people they don't agree with. From damaged and destroyed political signs, to violence and death threats. Americans everywhere,regardless of your political party, cannot remain silent. The lies, false innuendos, the stoking of racial fears, and the vitrolic hate speech must stop NOW. If we continue to have good people do nothing, we may well reap our worst nightmare...the loss of a democratic and free society. This is how it happens, first the government invokes fear, rallying the people with hate speech. Then, people begin to act out their fears, prohibiting other people's freedom of speech. Will our leaders in both parties say something to stop the insanity? Or will we see it stroked, tit-for-tat?

Military Deployment Inside America???

Tammy — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:05:23 EDT

Regardless of your party affiliation, I am asking everyone to stop a moment and think about the things you love that make this country great. I bet after you think a while, it all boils down to being able to live your live making your own choices and live what we think of as a normal life free of fear for making those choices: whether to be religious and how, having any kind of conversation with anyone, whether or not to own a gun, what kind of job you want, where you want to live, the kind of job or career you have, etc.

Let freedom ring again thoughout our great United States! For the last several years, we have been ruled by an administration that has instilled fear in us in order to rule us, an administration that has degraded the liberties guaranteed in our Constitution. Living in fear is not a free life and is instead a weakening of our great democratic republic. I ask you to contact your representatives and add your voice to mine. Say to them we want freedom, not fear, and demand they act to protect our freedoms. I share the below with you not to inspire fear, but instead to inspire patriotism.

I have recently heard some very disturbing news. On October 1st, what is sometimes called the Bush Brigade (brigade = 3000 - 4000 soldiers) was deployed somewhere inside the United States. this brigade reports directly to the president. In any other administration, I would give this action the benefit of the doubt. But our current president has shown that he has repeatedly been willing to lie to us and take illegal actions. Below is an excerpt from Naomi Wolfe's article on Huffington Post yesterday:

"First, the founding generation set a bright line to keep military from policing our streets in 1807 because they knew from their own experience how easily military forces -- King George's -- could subdue civilian society. The First Brigade is Bush's force: they are not answerable to Congress or to the Governors of states: they are answerable to the Commander in Chief. In an Alternet posting, I interviewed Air Force Colonel (retired) David Antoon who noted that the troops must obey the president, even if he asks them to arrest Congress or fire on civilians or attack media outlets. If they do not obey orders, he notes, they face five years in
prison.

We should not have to remind ourselves that these scenarios are unlikely to understand that this power is dangerous. Antoon himself calls the deployment 'ominous.' Troops on our streets makes us something less than a democracy: one definition of a police state is when a leader sends his own military units into civilian streets. Meanwhile the civilian policing of citizens is becoming more brutal. Hundreds of preemptive arrests took place in St Paul, dozens of journalists were arrested."

It is supposed to be illegal for these troops to enforce civil laws, but the president put a signing statement on the law that basically says he's going to ignore that portion of the law (found what I think is a conspiracy site after following a few links in the articles above, but the text quoted is directly from law documents). I'm not saying he has already used these troops, but the potential is there based on his disregard for personal liberties thus far:

"The use of U.S. troops in law enforcment duties is a complete violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act, which substantially limit the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement unless under precise and extreme circumstances.

Section 1385 of the Posse Comitatus Act states, “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

Under the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Bush on October 17, 2006, the law was changed to state, “The President may employ the armed forces to restore public order in any State of the United States the President determines hinders the execution of laws or deprives people of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”

However, these changes were repealed in their entirety by HR 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, reverting back to the original state of the Insurrection Act of 1807. Despite this repeal, President Bush attached a signing statement saying that he did not feel bound by the repeal.

The original text of the Insurrection Act severely limits the power of the President to deploy troops within the United States.

For troops to be deployed, a condition has to exist that, '(1) So hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or (2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws. In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.'”

Again, I share this information not to cause panic or fear. I have faith in our people and our democracy, and we can choose to make a difference. Please support our lawful government, and contact your representatives.

Senator McCain. Define "Free Nations"

Vanessa Edwards from Houston, TX — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:39:03 EDT

http://transpolitical.blogspot.com/2008/08/senator-mccain-define-free-nations.html

reprint from TransPolitical blog 8/13/08

“Georgia, Georgia, no peace – no peace I findJust this old, sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind” — Georgia On My Mind, Ray Charles But the Americans have no extra money. They have their own problems. They can provide financial assistance for two, three, four, or six months at most.” — Eduard Shevardnadze, former President of Georgia

Today Sen. John McCain enjoyed his own small Berlin moment with his “Ich bin ein Georgian” press confab.

It wasn’t as glorious as the Brandenburg gate. It also wasn’t even uttered in Georgia – whether in Europe or (as McCain would normally do a la his Obama Euro-trip shadowing, e.g. going to Berlin NH) whether in the U.S. in, say, Atlanta, Georgia. During a press statement made on the campaign trail in York PA, McCain said, “I speak for every American when I say … ‘Today we are all Georgians.’”

“My friends, we learned a great cost of the price of allowing aggression against free nations to go unchecked,” McCain added.

The last statement got me to wondering, in this world of nuanced politic-speak, what does Sen. McCain mean by free nations? How is that defined?

Racism and Obama

Daniel Baker — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:14:42 EDT

When I joined this website, I wrote that one reason I support Barack Obama is that his victory would be a victory over racism and prejudice. I realize now that I could be misinterpreted as meaning that Obama's opponents are generally racist. That's not what I meant at all. I have known a lot of conservatives and Republicans in my life, and most of them were not racist. Indeed, the unprejudiced majority of Republicans eagerly seek out and embrace African-American conservatives, to show to others and themselves that their policies are not motivated by any dislike of other races.

Nevertheless, while only a minority of Republicans are racists, the Republican party's program is much more attractive to racists than the Democratic. You don't have to hate black people to be against affirmative action, or in favor of states' rights, but both positions are easily capable of being abused by racists, and often have been. Racists are only one faction, and a small one, in the Republican coalition, but they still must be beaten for Obama to win.

When will the Obama Campaign Speak Out Against Voter Caging?

John from Westport, CT — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:04:27 EDT

In state after state - now including even Montana - the Republican Party is working to eliminate legitimate voters from voting roles, oftentimes in violation of state and Federal laws. I take it that the voter registration drives are designed in part to overcome this unfortunate crippling of the will of the people, but when will the campaign speak out against this practice? The silence is deafening in the face of blatant manipulation of our fundamental right to vote.

The Leader of the American War Heroes Makes A Statement

MoorAmerican — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:00:24 EDT

10/1/2008 – 34 Days before Election Day - - - Gospeltales of American War Heroes, recorded for the Library of Congress 2008

1836 - - - Statement by President John Hanson: Leader of the American War Heroes

The Presidential Election of 2008 in the United States of America is a Revolutionary War for CHANGE. The American People will change the nature and culture of national politics for the sake of peace and prosperity by putting their COUNTRY FIRST. For nearly eight years, the American People have endured the worst presidency in the history of the United States of America. Currently the 43rd Presidency is a DEAD DUCK BEING DEVOURED BY GREEDY RATS.

The well informed conclusion is that the 43rd Presidency of the United States of America in GOP Republican National Committee assembled, with lobbyists, and affiliated political associations in the Project for New American Century is THE AXIS OF EVIL. Americans from all walks of life that follow the Republican Party ideologue is THE ONLY ALQAEDA that inflicted irreparable destruction of the American People and the free world. They have shrewdly masked their terrorist cell networks in the American society. They all are nonetheless criminals that are herein charged with war crimes against humanity, whom we the People of America hold solely accountable for the present distress of the United States of America, as well as the free world.

The Project for the New American Century is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American leadership is good both for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle… the organization intends, through issue briefs, research papers, advocacy journalism, conferences, and seminars, to explain what American world leadership entails. It will also strive to rally support for a vigorous and principled policy of American international involvement and to stimulate useful public debate on foreign and defense policy and America's role in the world.

PNAC’s Statement of Principles is the core ideology of the national policy for the United States of America which is the root cause of the global distress of every kind. The short list of principals presently operating this organization are as follows: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush, Eliot A. Cohen, Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes, Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle, Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz, Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman, Stephen P. Rosen, Henry S. Rowen, Vin Weber, George Weigel, Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Chairman; Robert Kagan, Bruce P. Jackson, Mark Gerson, Randy Scheunemann, Ellen Bork, Deputy Director; Gary Schmitt, Senior Fellow; Thomas Donnelly, Senior Fellow; Reuel Marc Gerecht, Senior Fellow, Director of the Middle East Initiative; Timothy Lehmann, Assistant Director; Michael Goldfarb, Research Associate. George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, Governor Sarah Palin, Karl Rove, as well as numerous elected officials in Federal, State, and Local government and media personalities i.e. Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and FOX NEWS; serve as the leadership of this REPUBLICAN ALQAEDA TRUST… RAT’s! A bunch of GREEDY RAT’s! War Mongering RAT’s!

Be it known to the American People and the global family of sovereign nations that comprise the free world, RAT’s can no longer hide, abide, and operate in the United States of America. RAT’s ARE AN IMMINENT THREAT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE FREE WORLD.

The names of the RAT’s are being made public so the American voters can govern themselves under the provisions of the United States Constitution when they vote on Election Day, November 4, 2008. In less than 5 weeks, about 34 days from the date of this address, we will eradicate these RAT’s from American politics. We are confident in the resolve of the American people to elect the Trust Executive Administration Mastermind of Senator Barack Obama to be the 44th Presidency of the United States of America in Congress Assembled and give them the constitutional authority to conduct the business of our great nation.

Be very clear, this is a Revolution by the American People. It is the Patriot Act of 2008 for the Love of Country First. The American People do not have any respect of person nor do they owe anybody any apologies. This is a solemn demand to remove all RAT’s from Washington, D.C. along with the lobbyists that control them for special interests. ALL RAT’s are enemies of our nation and the free world.

The American People are a FREE Sovereign Citizenship and DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF ALL RAT’S IN PUBLIC OFFICE. ALL RAT’s running for government office are hereby ORDERED TO PERMANENTLY SUSPEND THEIR CAMPAIGNS AND RENOUNCE THEIR POLITICAL ALLEGIANCE TO THE AXIS OF EVIL, LOBBYISTS, AND ALQAEDA.

The present economic crisis and worldwide distress requires the American people to unite to eradicate the country of war mongering greedy RAT’s. All Citizens of the United States of America eligible to vote are encouraged to register as Democrats or Independents. VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS SHOULD BE CHANGED IMMEDIATELY. The Republican Party in its present form should be dissolved and outlawed. The Republican Party should be removed from ALL VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS. The GOP Republican party brand belongs to the American People. NO RAT HAS ANY LEGAL OR LAWFUL CLAIMS ON THE BRAND. Therefore, to preserve the legacy of the original GOP and to unify the voting electorate, we humbly request the beloved Senator from the Empire State of New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton to be entrusted with the brand and form another Democratic Congressional Caucus based on the five principles of LOVE, TRUTH, FREEDOM, PEACE, and JUSTICE.

We encourage the Democratic leadership, comprised of honorable trustworthy statesmen of admirable integrity to perform this work in the next few days. Your serious attention to this national emergency to secure our country’s future peace and prosperity is greatly appreciated. As always, any intelligence worth communicating, which first reaches me, shall be related with unreserved freedom, candor & punctuality. May Heaven still continue to smile on our efforts!

WHO REALLY OWNS YOUR MONEY? Part One: The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation

Paisano — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:21:45 EDT

WHO REALLY OWNS YOUR MONEY? Part One: The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation

As the average American’s wealth continues to be whittled away by tumultuous markets, the rising cost of living, and the disastrous lack of leadership being displayed in the Nation’s Capitol, folks are just beginning to realize they have no idea who or what is in control of their wealth.

Many assume that the players they see and hear about on TV - like Hank Paulson, Ben Bernenke, or Alan Greenspan - work for the US Government, because that is who signed their paychecks. It is an easy mistake to make, as they look like Civil Servants in most every way: They are appointed by the President, they are confirmed by the full Congress of the United States, and they are paid with US Tax Dollars. Civil Servants then, right?

Well, no - not necessarily.

Most folks know absolutely nothing of the basic facts about how our finances are administered. They are unaware that the Federal Reserve is a privately owned company who’s shareholders are not citizens nor patriots, and who have no interest in the continued success of the United States beyond what we were able to offer them as a Super Power over the better part of the last century.

Just watch as the financial power centers are slowly shifted from the United States to the far east, particularly China, who’s system of government-controlled “free trade” has made them the fastest growing Empire in history. They don’t have to worry about what a Congress or constituents might think, no protesters to drive by, no subpoenas to dodge. Oh, and the environmental and human rights laws…

Totalitarianism geared towards textbook Fascism is a much more favorable environment for Capitalism to thrive in than is our Representative Democracy, which has outlived it’s usefulness since the development of the Multinational Conglomerate.

After years of unrestrained borrowing and spending, during which time the vast majority of our fundamental production capabilities and jobs were displaced and reestablished over-seas using subsidies provided by American tax dollars, the United States has lost it’s title as the best place in the world to keep and grow your money. We have essentially lost our AAA rating with the world. We are insolvent, and the world is running on us.

How can we tell?

How about the $700BB withdrawal they are working on for Wall Street and foreign-owned banks? How about the GSE bailout? And the record number of recent trips banks have made to the discount window - the one they opened up to gamblers 9investment banks) months ago? FDIC funds for Indy Mac and others? And how many transactions like Countrywide’s $11.5BB loan from the Federal Home Loan Bank System do we know about? Or all the treasuries being auctioned to provide liquidity?

And we are still borrowing and spending - just like they keep asking us to. Aren’t you glad your Social Security is not in the stock market right now? They already talked us into 401K’s that are quickly losing their value, both in the markets and through inflation and devaluation. And they have already tricked us into taking all the equity out of our homes to finance our lifestyles, which are lavish by world-wide standards. What freedoms and advantages we enjoy in our lives are not the norm, and those freedoms and advantages are being eroded so rapidly as to be almost imperceptible.

The false confidence that we as a people collectively hold that this State of Grace that we have enjoyed and have been blessed with for so long in this country will somehow continue unabridged for perpetuity is our hubris, and now our tragedy is realized as the final chapters of our great saga reveal our fate.

The foundations for this wholesale withdrawal of our Nation’s wealth were first laid when the Federal Reserve System was developed, which will be covered in later posts. The crisis at hand today demands we look at some of the relevant parts players that are acting to subvert our Rights, our Middle Class, our National Security and the Constitution of the United States, before we get into the history.

I was worried that nihilistic, neo-liberal ‘neo-cons” were setting the stage for Fascism under some delusion called the Project for the New American Century dreamed up by the Bush family and their minions, but I was wrong. They started setting up all the mechanisms in earnest by the early 1990’s under President Bill Clinton, who I always thought was too chummy with George Herbert Walker Bush-41 and was really a closet Right-Winger.

Isn’t he singing McCain’s praises now when he is supposed to be bucking for Obama? It will not surprise me a bit when McCain dumps Sarah Palin and announces - no, not Joe - but Hillary C as his running mate. Probably just paranoia, but I would not put it past the Clintons or old Turd-Blossom Carl Rove.

Anyway, the point is of this series is to reveal some of the “undisclosed” workings of our financial system, which as it turns out has long been an un-natural, undemocratic and un-constitutional marriage of private power and public funds for generations, and to shed some light on these unprecedented actions of our Federal Government which are technically displays of classic Fascist principles:

Various scholars attribute different characteristics to fascism, but the following elements are usually seen as its integral parts: socialism, nationalism, class collaboration, populism, militarism, totalitarianism, dictatorship, collectivism, statism, social interventionism, and economic planning… Fascist governments nationalized key industries and made massive state investments. They thought private property was to be regulated to ensure that "benefit to the community precedes benefit to the individual." They also introduced price controls and other types of economic planning measures. Fascists promoted their ideology as a "third way" between capitalism and Marxian socialism.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation is the biggest Bank in the World that you have probably never heard it. They happen to be the registered owners of 99% of all paper (stocks, bonds, securities, etc.). Scary, but true. And they have a perfectly good reason for it - with electronic trading, it is impossible to make timely changes to registered ownership of the paper.

The DTCC retains registered ownership while you as the peasant investor have the designation of beneficiary of the instruments. More on all of that below. First, lets see what the DTCC has to say about itself:

DTCC, through its subsidiaries, provides clearing, settlement and information services for equities, corporate and municipal bonds, government and mortgage-backed securities, money market instruments and over-the-counter derivatives. In addition, DTCC is a leading processor of mutual funds and insurance transactions, linking funds and carriers with their distribution networks.

DTCC's depository provides custody and asset servicing for 3.5 million securities issues from the United States and 110 other countries and territories, valued at $40 trillion. In 2007, DTCC settled more than $1.86 quadrillion in securities transactions.

DTCC operates through six subsidiaries - each of which serves a specific segment and risk profile within the securities industry:

National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC)

The Depository Trust Company (DTC)

Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC)

DTCC Deriv/SERV LLC

DTCC Solutions LLC

EuroCCP Ltd.

DTCC's customer base extends to thousands of companies within the global financial services industry. DTCC serves brokers, dealers, institutional investors, banks, trust companies, mutual fund companies, insurance carriers, hedge funds and other financial intermediaries - either directly or through correspondent relationships. Increasingly, DTCC's customers operate both in the U.S. and overseas, where DTCC continues to provide them with services.

In the U.S., DTCC provides critical services to the markets for U.S. Government and mortgage-backed securities, and to all U.S. equity marketplaces, including the New York Stock Exchange, The Nasdaq Stock Market, the American Stock Exchange, and regional U.S. markets, as well as electronic trading and communications networks (ECNs).

All services provided through the clearing corporations and depository are registered with and regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The depository is also a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve System and a limited purpose trust company under New York State banking law.

Wow - can you believe these guys are this central to everything that is going on and we have not heard a peep out of them? Wouldn’t you think that their expertise might come in handy right now? Maybe they are - but not for the benefit of you and me.

Why is there so much secrecy in our financial system? Why is so much of the system, and our wealth, controlled by so few people who are so far removed from the law and the Constitution? And how is it they have been getting away with it for so long?

(From a 2003 article The unknown 20 trillion dollar company, and you think mine are long! So here are excerpts) About the DTCC:

Jim McNeff, Director of Training for the DTC… stated "the DTC is a brokerage clearing firm and transfer center. We're a private bank for securities. We handle the book entry transactions for all banks and brokers. Every bank and brokerage firm must secure their membership with us in case they become insolvent, so your assets are secure with DTC". Yes, you read that correctly. The DTC is a private bank that processes every stock and bond (paper securities) for all U.S. banks and brokerage houses. The big question is this; Just who gave this private bank and trust company such a broad range of financial power and clout?

This is another in the list of Federal Agencies like the IRS, FDIC, SEC, and the like who have amazingly broad powers yet little oversight by or subordination to any branch of government. Have you eve heard of an audit by the GAO of the Federal Reserve? You won’t, they are not a government agency, just the “Board” and it’s “Chairman” are, formerly Alan Greenspan and currently Ben Bernenke. The Federal Reserve Board are only an “advisory council” for the President and the families that own the FED, but they are not the decision makers. (More on the Fed in subsequent articles).

The reason the public doesn't know about DTC is that they're a privately owned depository bank for institutional and brokerage firms only. They process all of their book entry settlement transactions. Jim McNeff said "There's no need for the public to know about us... it's required by the Federal Reserve that DTC handle all transactions". The Federal Reserve Corporation, a/k/a The Federal Reserve System, is also a private company and is not an agency or department of our federal government, according to the 1998 Federal Registry. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors is listed, but they are not the owners. The Federal Reserve Board, headed by Mr. Alan Greenspan, is nothing more than a liaison advisory panel between the owners and the Federal Government. The FED, as they are more commonly called, mandates that the DTC process every securities transaction in the US. It's no wonder that the DTC (including the Participants Trust Company, now the Mortgage-Backed Securities Division of the DTC) is owned by the same stockholders as the Federal Reserve System. In other words, the Depository Trust Company is really just a 'front' or a division of the Federal Reserve System.

Don’t we deserve to know why this is from someone, especially now, like the media or our elected officials? I guess not, so here is more:

"DTC is 35.1% owned by the New York Stock Exchange on behalf of the Exchange's members. It is operated by a separate management and has an independent board of directors. It is a limited purpose trust company and is a unit of the Federal Reserve." -New York Stock Exchange, Inc.

The banks and brokers are merely custodians for their clients. By federal law (SEC), they cannot hold any assets in the customer's name. The assets must be held in the name of DTC's holding company, CEDE & Co. That's how DTC has more than $19 trillion dollars of assets in trust... or is it really in "trust" if the private Federal Reserve System is technically holding it in their "unknown" entity's name?

Obviously, if stock and bond certificates you've purchased aren't in your name, then the "holder" (the Federal Reserve System) could theoretically refuse to surrender them back to you under a "national emergency" according to the Trading with the Enemy Act (as amended).

Between the market crash and terrorism attacks, I don’t think the powers that be will have too much trouble manufacturing more “national emergencies” with which to further erode our Constitutional Rights. Remember the Patriot Act? They have not even begun to use that on us yet.

And it appears President Clinton has paved the way for a Gulag Society with his 1994 Executive Order 12919 (which I will also examine in subsequent articles). Right now though, the DTCC:

Simply put, the Depository Trust Company absolutely controls every paper asset transaction in the United States as well as the majority of overseas transactions, and they now physically hold (as of April 1999) 99% of all stock and bond book-entrys in their street name, not the actual owner's names.

REGISTERED HOLDER- A Registered Holder literally possesses, owns, and holds, his stock or bond with his name appearing on the face of the certificate. The company that issued the certificate has registered the owner's (holder's) name on their official books. This is the safest way to own a paper asset. You literally possess the fully registered certificate and only you can transfer or sell it. By all Rights and definition of law, you are the owner. You have it, you hold it, you possess it, and you keep it. You have the complete control over it.

BENEFICIAL OWNER- A Beneficial Owner is nothing more than a beneficiary, "One who is entitled to the benefit of a contract"- A Dictionary of Law, 1893. All book-entry stocks and bonds you purchase make you the beneficial owner, not the registered holder. The owner of a book-entry stock or bond is the entity or name that it is registered under.

Even the name of the shadow company that is the agent of who knows, possibly the IMF according to this article: CEDE. Can you believe that. CEDE. I kills me.

CEDE- To surrender possession of, especially by treaty. See Synonyms at 'relinquish'." -American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd Edition of 1992.

And that is just the plan, just as soon as everything gets a little more chaotic in our once static lives. Living in an Empire at it’s peak is like living in the eye of the hurricane - and if you lived your whole life there under the still, blue skies, you really have no idea what is heading your way.

It's quite obvious that the stock markets are going to 'crash and burn' at some future date and for some 'unknown' reason… The Great Depression is about to be repeated, and it will be as deliberate and manipulated as the first one that began with the stock market crash of 1929. We are, without a doubt, on the brink of the Mother of all economic Depressions.

Remember, this was penned in 2003. Pretty prophetic in light of this weeks news. So, how does your portfolio look now?

Your broker sends you a fancy accounting every month of your purported holdings, along with dividend and interest payments paid. The fact is, you only receive the benefit of ownership (interest and dividends) without holding title to your property. You are at the mercy of the registered owner, the DTC. If you don't believe this is true, then call your broker right now and ask them who's name is listed as the Registered Holder of your book-entry stocks and bonds. If you're lucky, the broker will tell you "why of course you're the Beneficial Owner", then you'll know the truth. He may emphasize to you that the stocks and bonds are being held in "safe keeping" for your own protection. This is broker language for "your stocks and bonds are held by the DTC in their street name as the creditor".

I tried it, and they don’t like to talk about it. At all. I had the feeling they did not understand it completely either, but they swore it was only for expedience and nothing sinister. Fine. But why a private company, and why all the cloak and dagger mystery surrounding what is purported to be the most regulated, the most transparent of all industries?

The reality is that the very history of the Federal Reserve is much more akin to that of conspiracies, Masons and secret inner circles of power. I can’t blame the conspiracy theorists, when you examine even the most tame of the accusations, you find a hell of a lot more mysteries than answers. One more point from the article that I am looking into:

A greater consideration is just exactly who does the DTC hold these securities for? As the owner, who has the DTC pledged these securities to? Our research points to the Federal Reserve System, an international private banking cartel with major offices found in Moscow, London, Tokyo, and Peking. By treaty with the United Nations and in compliance with the Bretton Woods Agreement, the DTC under regulation of the Federal Reserve System has pledged all those stocks and bonds to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These are the same paper securities found in your IRA and pension fund accounts, as well as in your brokerage account. Remember, you don't own them.... you're just a beneficiary.

The truth is, the securities you purchased and paid for with your hard earned money is collateral for the United Nations which is backed by the Federal Reserve System and it's associated agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund. Is it any wonder that the UN can operate year after year with increasing budgets, but without sufficient funds? The UN has nearly $19 Trillion of backing and reserves, thanks to millions of duped Americans. We are financing the New World Dis-Order with our stocks and bonds.

Sounds so ominous, but then again it doesn’t when we go back to some of the text that DTCC has provided about themselves and some of their initiatives on their own website. Remember, they technically own your securities, they are a private corporation that only serves banks, and they use whatever fees they collect to increase their world-wide monopoly. From DTCC:

DTCC Organizes GREAT Collaboration with Global Peers: More than 40 delegates from 11 infrastructure organizations across the globe came together in New York in July for the first annual Global Relations Exchange and Training (GREAT) workshop hosted by DTCC. The program is aimed at cultivating relationships among colleagues from international clearers and depositories, and fostering collaboration on key trends shaping operations practices in today’s capital markets.

Robert Hegarty, managing director and practices leader, Securities & Investments and Insurance from the independent research firm the Tower Group, discussed in his presentation on securities industry trends the demographic shifts transforming the capital markets, and the challenges facing securities and investment firms and infrastructure organizations.

“There has been – and will continue to be – a major shift of wealth creation from the west to the east and, along with that shift, massive numbers of potential clients to win and service. Companies that don’t embrace this new global marketplace will miss their opportunity to determine their future,” said Hegarty.

Having several of DTCC’s executives meet with these international delegates demonstrates the priority the organization places on gaining a more global perspective. “The sessions were extremely productive in helping us gain a better sense of the value foreign markets place on our services, and the potential business opportunities we all have outside our home borders,” said Patrick Kirby, DTCC managing director, Asset Services.

The DTCC is bigger than GM, GE, Google, Microsoft and many other mega-companies - all added together. Are you sure you never heard of them? Maybe you should take a look for yourself, and then come back to YourMortgageOrYourLife.com for some more surprises.

The color of money

Nanci — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:57:02 EDT

I guess now we know why the color of money is green--for cowardice. The Republican House cares less about the future of the country, and indeed the world, than about their personal political image. True, the vote for the Bailout (or whatever buzz name you want to use) was a no-win proposition for any politician. There was no guarantee of success, sort of like the stock market (interesting, eh?), and could easily come back to haunt the Representatives in the future. The problem being it could figure negatively in a vote in as near future as this election. None of them were willing to risk that for the good of the country. It's called something that is the opposite of courage--it is called cowardice.

I am so proud to support Barack Obama, a man who has principles and will stand by them and stand for them. A man who does less to manipulate the truth for his gain than most politicians. You can tell in the debates and as he speaks that his vision for American politics is one of collaboration and not partisan politics. Obama puts the health and future of the nation ahead of his personal gain. Rare, and if America passes up the chance for that vision, how long will it be until we see it again? I have more faith in Americans, and I think we will have that visionary as our next President. I see him standing behind the Presidential seal and in front of the US flag leading the country to a new era of respect, compassion, educational excellence, and prosperity. Oh, it won't come all at once, and it will take quite a bit of work to undo the damage of the last eight years, but that is so much better than the alternative.

Those who did not understand the bill placed before Congress should read all they can to understand it. They should ask their congressman to explain their vote (or non-vote, since many just refused to put their name on the record) and to tell them why they felt the consequences would not be felt by the average American. Remember these were Republicans boycotting a Republican Administration. Who lead them? McCain was in Washington when the deal fell apart. Most of this is political posturing, and we will have to have some sort of monetary support for Wall Street. It may not come in time to prevent much pain as it stands defeated today. We will see. The Republicans have gone home to campaign and tell more lies. I'd only say, again, find the truth for yourself about what has occurred today before casting your vote.

Aside from the short view of this election, I have some trepidation for the direction in which the Nation is headed. As more and more banks and financial institutions are swallowed by the few, I wonder what happens when the financial welfare of the country is controlled by a few, say three, major corporations. Is that a free market? Is that even capitalism? Is that the kind of power we are willing to give to a few men? People for years have been afraid of communism and socialism. What about fascism? Are we willing to see it emerge, ever so slowly, and to remain silent? Are we willing to let the man who supports division and exclusion win over the man who supports inclusion and collaboration?

All I am saying is educate yourself about the facts, then take a stand, and let your Congressman know that you hold him accountable to the truth and to some sort of integrity. The fate of democracy is threatened, I believe, as never before in our history and not by outside forces, but from within. Only a vigilant populace will keep democracy free. Stand up and be heard.

VOTE FOR A CHANGE IN THE DIRECTION OF OUR PRECIOUS GOVERNMENT! VOTE FOR OBAMA!!!

Top 10 Goals for Our Presidency in 2009

Jeffrey Quintero — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:26:46 EDT

PLEASE JOIN AND PROMOTE THIS NEW GROUP:Top10Goals

This group will focus on defining the -Top 10 Goals- for our next president to commit to achieving in 2009.

This could serve as the bases for creating a very specific, bottom-up originated, agreement between "we the people" and Barack Obama.

IMAGINE...

Obama-a symbol of democracy

Spiral — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:30:07 EDT

Scope-a symbol of freedom.
Dome-a symbol of democracy.
Nanotechnology and advanced materials can significantly reduce the cost of building symbol-house of democracy and freedom.

Liars, and the Lying Lies They Are Telling You

Paisano — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:19:26 EDT

http://yourmortgageoryourlife.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/liars-and-the-lying-lies-they-are-telling-you/

Excerpt:

"Like a lot of folks who are completely flabbergasted by the Government's repeated efforts to whitewash and gloss-over the all of the gross negligence, malpractice and criminality of this - The Worst Financial and Constitutional Crisis in Our Nation's History - I decided last night i would look up some of what the guys and gals at the Federal Reserve, Treasury, SEC, and FDIC were up to between 1997 and 2007, and how they could have not seen any of this coming until apparently this week.

I say apparently because the bureaucrats and sycophants are all maintaining that this whole fiasco is as big a surprise to them as it is to Mom-and-Pop getting foreclosed upon in their Golden Years.

I know they are lying, and you know they are lying.

So once again we will play the cat and mouse game of "who knew what and when" as the Crooks all disappear into retirement with their $Trillions of stolen loot, the Politicians will blowhard and achieve little, and the whole thing will fade away from the headlines with time and the advantage of a short American attention span.

But for now, while every is watching and mad as hell, I am going to try my best to do my little part in exposing the hypocrisy and bald-faced lies being spewed around Washington DC and the mainstream press. I was on-line all morning and found so much material that I had to abandon my original post and choose just one document to focus on today - the 2002 Annual FDIC Report..."

Bill Clinton

Fred in VT — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:01:34 EDT

Bill Clinton seems to be distancing himself from Obama and I think I know why. He is angry over Barack's win in the primaries. Mr. President, there is too much at stake in this election to be indifferent. All of us Independents and democrats alike want your involvement in this process, and we need you. I hope you will become a person who will outwardly support Mr. Obama because if the he looses, our country will become something other than what it was meant to be.

Granny Goes Viral - Viral Video, That Is!

Brady — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:36:18 EDT

Well - it's full steam ahead for my grandmother and her blog. She is consistently posting thoughts to her webiste at 85andchange.com, and her fan base keeps growing. She continues to receive great feedback from old and young. Everyone seems to be so appreciative that a senior citizen has spoken up and made it easier for other senior citizens to fall in line. As we saw in the numbers today - senior citizens are really starting to break for Barack Obama and Joe Biden! Others have said how they are so grateful that she has provided them a way to bridge a gap between grandparents and grandchildren and given them something to talk about with each other.

And if writing on her blog was not enough - she now has a video, too! You can find her video at her website (85andchange.com) or you can find it on You Tube! My smart, hip grandmother speaks up any chance she has and lets people know they are never to old - or young - for change!

Just this week, Granny Gobama met a couple influential people - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend & Alice Travis Germond - not to mention Heather Tom, as well! Meeting all of these women was a thrill for her. She found Kathleen Kennedy to be a thoughtful and inspiring speaker, and Alice Germond to be so enthusiastic and energetic.

Please take a moment to visit her site and pass the link on to anyone who may read (or watch) about why it is important for seniors, and everyone, to think long and hard about this important upcoming election - and why they should seriously consider voting for Barack Obama!

Conspiracies and Headlines - What’s the Difference?

Paisano — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:28:46 EDT

Latest: Conspiracies and Headlines - What’s the Difference?

Here is a a collection of today's best in far-out and conspiratorial theories surrounding the financial nationalization and surrendering of our democracy.

If you like conspiracies, you'll love this. If you want only straight news, believe it or not, you'll love this too.
Here is a a collection of today's best in far-out and conspiratorial theories surrounding the financial nationalization and surrendering of our democracy.
If you like conspiracies, you'll love this. If you want only straight news, believe it or not, you'll love this too.

But You Keep Voting for Them

Paisano — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:20:22 EDT

http://yourmortgageoryourlife.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/they-are-killing-you-but-you-keep-voting-for-them/

EXCERPT:

"I have had multiple government entities monitoring my website since I started it only weeks ago. If enough people want to see them, I will post the records of their surveillance for you. Why is your government spending your money monitoring stuff I freely post for everyone to read? I am about as dangerous as a rug-burn, but it is happening anyway. The Constitution also protects us from having our land taken by the government and given to another private party, but it is happening anyway. Who is policing the government? Or is it a free-for-all, get yours and to hell with everyone else?

The Constitution also protects us from government suppression of our freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and a free press. But the government regularly takes extreme and violent measures to suppress these rights: Setting up “Free Speech” cages far away from political events to hide dissent; Raids on private property and false arrests of peaceful protesters; Ruby Ridge; Renditions; False Imprisonment; Torture; No Habeas Corpus; Military Tribunals in stead of Courts of Law."

Privatizing Profits and Socializing Losses: How the Rich are Staying Rich

Paisano — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:16:58 EDT

http://yourmortgageoryourlife.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/privatizing-profits-and-socializing-losses-how-the-rich-are-staying-rich/

Exerpt:

"We pay taxes - and not on Our “profits” mind you - We pay taxes on the money We use to buy food, fuel, clothes for Our kids, and everything else We have to fork out to get by every month.

They want Us to pay for it. All of it. When I think about that I forget to breath for a minute. The don’t just want Us to pay for it, they are making Us pay for it, and We will pay for generations to come.

Paulson and Berneke are asking for a Blank Check to bailout people who had profited from the lax oversight and underwriting for years - and Pelosi Purse-strings has pledged to roll over on anything and push a bill through hastily, so they can all go home for a long vacation.

Congress probably will not even read it. You know they are not writing it, they will leave that to the lawyers and Corporate Lobbyists - you know, the “Experts.” "

GSE Failures are Actually a Massive Regional Bank Bailout in Disguise: How the FED is planning to get the Lipstick on this Pig

Paisano — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:51:39 EDT

http://yourmortgageoryourlife.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/gse-failures-are-actually-a-massive-regional-bank-bailout-in-disguise-how-the-fed-is-planning-to-get-the-lipstick-on-this-pig/

Excerpt:

"The foreign money would seem like an economic blessing at first, but would soon reveal itself to be a deep wound to our nation‘s sovereignty, as foreigners will be able to by-pass the Federal government to gain almost direct control of our entire economy from the bottom up. And the Feds let them because they know the only alternative would be nearly complete insolvency of the Regional Banks and a seriously broken link in our financial food chain.

Yes, the heroes will be the men in black with thick accents and few loyalties to you or me, and we will regret having ever made their acquaintance.

But there is hope, a deviously simple plan that works well on so many different levels. First, have the GSE’s continue buying up all the garbage loans they can get their hands on as fast they can, continuing to undermine their trillion-plus dollar portfolio. Ultimately the GSE’s collapse, and Federal Government steps in with a lulu of a taxpayer funded bailout."

This is the end… No safety or surprise, the end…

Paisano — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:47:52 EDT

http://yourmortgageoryourlife.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/this-is-the-end-no-safety-or-surprise-the-end/

Excerpt:

"Speechless. Imagine something like this walking around your city - say, checking your ID and such. Now imagine it with a 60 caliber machine gun mounted on it, walking around your city - say, checking your ID and such. Welcome to the 21st century."

Fascist Coup Takes Power in United States - Democracy Suspended

Paisano — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:45:14 EDT

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/1357734-congressional-powers

Report

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/welcome-to-the-final-stag_b_127990.html

"It seems this time around, the Bush family is trying the more subtle approach to open bloodshed: first create a crisis, then under the guise of addressing that crisis, overthrow democracy. Yes, it does sound terribly conspiracy-theory-esque when explained just this way. But what else does one call a criminal conspiracy to destroy Congressional powers permanently, alter Judicial powers permanently, and steal public funds? "

"No time needs to be wasted on hearings as we already now have in writing, formally as presented to Congress, the intentions of this administration to nullify Congressional powers permanently, to alter Judicial powers permanently, and to openly steal public funds using as blackmail the total collapse of the US economy if these powers are not handed over. You do see how this is blackmail, do you not? You do see how this is a manufactured crisis precisely designed to be used as blackmail, do you not?"

Privatizing Profits and Socializing Losses: How the Rich are Staying Rich

Paisano — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:39:04 EDT

http://yourmortgageoryourlife.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/privatizing-profits-and-socializing-losses-how-the-rich-are-staying-rich/

Excerpt:

"We pay taxes - and not on Our “profits” mind you - We pay taxes on the money We use to buy food, fuel, clothes for Our kids, and everything else We have to fork out to get by every month.

Congress probably will not even read it. You know they are not writing it, they will leave that to the lawyers and Corporate Lobbyists - you know, the Experts. "

Open Letter to Senator Obama

Karoli — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:09:28 EDT

Dear Senator Obama,

Since January of this year, I've been absolutely committed to getting you elected. I've donated to your campaign, I've canvassed for you, I've volunteered to work in the office around the corner, and I've even put my marriage into severe stress by refusing to sit idly by and once again allow my Republican spouse to cancel out my vote.

But I need your help. And I need it now.

I knew it was going to be a rough campaign. I even suspected that Sarah Palin would be the choice for their ticket after seeing her profiled earlier this year. Why didn't you?

I also suspected that the Republicans would use every single weapon at their disposal, including the financial markets, race, war, and terrorism (their little deck of fear) to intimidate voters into electing them.

But I believed you when you called upon us to be the New American Majority. This is what I wrote in February:

"As American as Apple Pie"

Curtis — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:46:57 EDT

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-organizer18-2008sep18,0,3509197.story
From the Los Angeles Times

Community organizers have deep roots in democracy

The title may be nebulous, but the job of helping citizens bring about change -- once held by Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama -- is 'as American as apple pie.'

By Richard Fausset
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 18, 2008

DETROIT — The elementary school moms didn't ask a lot of questions about this man Bill. They were too eager to tell him -- to tell anybody -- about the loose and snarling pit bulls, the gun-toting gangsters, and the dogcatchers and police who always seemed to come too late.

The principal, Helena Lazo, had introduced him simply: "Bill nos va a ayudar." Bill is going to help us.

When Bill O'Brien faced the five women at Roberto Clemente Learning Academy, he encouraged them to enumerate the problems plaguing their Southwest Detroit neighborhood. He propped an elbow on a table and listened.

When they had finished, he asked, with an impish grin: "So what else do kids do after school around here, besides shoot guns and let dogs loose on you?"

O'Brien, 60, stands out in this tough industrial neighborhood of working-class blacks, Appalachian whites and Latino immigrants. He is balding and tall, with the pinkish hue of an Irishman who has spent too much time in the sun. This morning, his open-collared dress shirt was tucked into a pair of gray slacks. He looked like a priest, perhaps, or a kindly English teacher.

He has, in fact, been both of those things, but for the last 30 years O'Brien has mostly been a professional community organizer. As job titles go, he is aware it is a nebulous one: For years, he said, he struggled to explain his work to his own mother.

These days, however, it isn't just his mother who is asking. Because Barack Obama spent a few years after college as a community organizer, the nation is weighing whether this little-understood job is a suitable prelude to the presidency.

Obama, the Democratic nominee, holds up his three years of organizing on Chicago's South Side, along with his stints in the U.S. Senate and Illinois Legislature, as proof of his commitment to public service.

Republicans have taken a harsher view: At the GOP convention this month, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani drew a big laugh by simply uttering the phrase "community organizer" -- then adding, after a stand-up comedian's pause, "What?"

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee and former mayor of Wasilla, said that a small-town mayor is "sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."

Some liberals contended that the attacks carried racial undertones because Obama, like many other community organizers, worked largely with poor minorities.

The confusion over the role of community organizers may stem from the fact that, by their own admission, anyone can qualify to be one, so long as they take a lead in motivating people to bring about change. The title could apply to the leaders of the Boston Tea Party or to modern-day antiabortion protesters.

Robert Fisher, a professor of social work at the University of Connecticut, argues that organizing, with its focus on helping citizens make their voices heard, is "as American as apple pie."

But O'Brien's style of organizing, like Obama's, also belongs to a specific tradition, one closely allied with the labor movement, the civil rights struggle and Christian peace and justice movements.

Both Obama and O'Brien worked for a time for nonprofits aligned with the Gamaliel Foundation, a group inspired by the work of Saul Alinsky, who organized poor neighborhoods around the Chicago stockyards in the 1930s. This month in the National Review, writer Stanley Kurtz cited Obama's organizing work as a "connection with the world of far-Left radicalism."

O'Brien winces at the idea that his is partisan work. The problems he tries to solve, he says, are practical.

Like the problems the mothers were having on the streets around the Roberto Clemente school. Everybody was complaining at the parents' meetings, they told him, but nothing was getting done.

"OK. Let's imagine the dogcatcher or the City Council person comes to your parents' meeting," O'Brien said, leaning casually in his chair. "You could demand something of him not on the telephone but in front of 100 people."

Audrey Troyer, 43, cocked an eyebrow. "You know what they'd tell us?" she said. "That they are short-handed."

"Do you believe it?" O'Brien asked.

The group agreed there were probably enough dogcatchers but it was more likely they were in the neighborhoods that complained louder. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, O'Brien told the women. They needed to squeak.

O'Brien gently suggested the next stage of the plan: Let the moms go talk to five equally ticked-off friends and persuade them to attend a meeting the next week. There, they could plan an even bigger meeting.

And maybe they could pressure public officials to show up at that bigger meeting. Maybe the parents could force them to promise more cops, more animal control. It is a tactic common to the Alinsky organizing style, one also used by Obama: Hold a big meeting and extract public promises -- the way to organize power for people who can't afford campaign donations.

The women left the room energized and chatty, even though all they had done was agree to another meeting. Later, O'Brien was asked if he'd seen the joke circulating on the Internet: What's the difference between a "community organizer" and a Chihuahua? The Chihuahua will eventually shut up.

O'Brien laughed. Organizing, he said, involves a lot of talking, a lot of meeting. All that organizers usually have, he said, is talk -- the reason he thinks the job is tougher than being a mayor.

"We start with no money, we start with no relationships, we start with nothing," he said. "You have to be a teacher, you have to be a strategist, you have to be a politician. . . . But you don't have any power backing you up."

On this day, O'Brien would have four meetings -- including those with another school principal, the producer of a benefit concert, and the organizers of an anti-crime summit in his own neighborhood, a few miles north. At the end of the day, he hadn't achieved much more than promises to hold more meetings.

But O'Brien was not dismayed. He had built a big movement before on little more than talk.

He first came to Southwest Detroit in 1991 to work for Most Holy Redeemer, the big neo-Renaissance Catholic church built for the German and Irish factory workers of another era. But those factories were closing, many whites had fled, and the neighborhood was fraying. Drugs and gangs were spreading, and a new wave of Latinos had moved in, their language and culture estranging them from the old-timers.

O'Brien had left the priesthood eight years earlier. As a Jesuit, he had taught high school. He also had done a little organizing, believing it was a different way of doing God's work. A product of the '60s, his heroes were people like Martin Luther King Jr. and the Kennedy brothers.

"Look," he said. "If somebody were to tell me tomorrow that there is no God, I'd still do this work. Because it's fun."

In Southwest, he began by asking the same question he asked the women at the school: What would you like to see fixed?

At first, he took on small quality-of-life projects. Touring the neighborhood now in his beat-up Toyota Camry, he can still point them out with pride.

There was the concrete sound barrier walling off the freeway from a string of modest backyards. It didn't exist until he sent dozens of locals to the state Capitol to complain.

There was the cheerful park across the street from the Waterfall Missionary Baptist Church, with its fancy playground equipment. It had been a ratty place until he threatened to bus the Baptists downtown to embarrass the parks department.

There were the corner bodegas, which he had pressured into covering up their porn magazines and ending the sale of drug paraphernalia.

He also pointed out the work yet to be done, pulling the Camry up to a mound of trash that had built up in an empty lot near Cesar Chavez High School. The principal had already complained to him.

"You see?" he said, gesturing toward an old sofa among the weeds. "This is what the students walk by every day."

By 1994, O'Brien had built a coalition of more than 20 churches, which later grew into a larger regional group called MOSES, a Gamaliel-affiliated group that still exists.

His agenda became more ambitious: In 1994, his group pressured then-Mayor Dennis Archer to tear down hundreds of abandoned houses. In 1996, they convinced President Clinton's drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, to designate Greater Detroit a "high-intensity drug trafficking area," which unlocked millions in federal funds to fight the drug war.

His chief tactic was the big, Alinsky-style meeting. It was a kind of theater, he said, that could even annoy the elected officials who generally shared his goals. Sometimes they complained that his mau-mauing fouled up sensitive coalition building.

Paul Tait, executive director of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, remembers watching colleagues promise MOSES they'd do more about public transportation issues -- then never make good on their pledges.

Many of those promises, Tait said, could only have been fulfilled by asking voters to tax themselves for more buses and trains. Selling such an idea, he said, often requires more than a boisterous meeting.

"Those tactics, with some issues, work fine," Tait said. "But more complicated challenges that we have for public policy require different tools in the toolbox."

In 2003, O'Brien went to work directly for the Gamaliel Foundation, coordinating the work of organizers in five states. But he eventually burned out on the bureaucracy. He missed the streets.

In May, he was hired by a local nonprofit, Southwest Solutions, to start over again. The agency was founded in 1979 with a focus on mental health but has since taken on the more expansive goal of rebuilding the community. It hired O'Brien to address the plant closings and drug epidemics, the dropout rates and the dearth of block clubs.

Back on the streets of Southwest, O'Brien noticed that the factory jobs were even scarcer -- now the jobs, especially for Latinos, were in construction and restaurants. A generation of black factory workers were dying off; their children had moved away, and now their houses were full of renters with tenuous ties to the neighborhood. The gangs he had fought so hard to get rid of seemed to be experiencing a resurgence.

O'Brien's work hasn't made him rich; he said he makes about as much as an assistant high school principal. He considers the job a calling. His wife is also a community organizer.

"This is what we do," he said. "This is what I do."

It was late afternoon, and O'Brien was hanging around in the halls of another public school, Phoenix Academy. It was back-to-school night, and O'Brien was hoping the principal, Norma Hernandez, would introduce him to some motivated parents.

But the parents were too busy meeting teachers. O'Brien found himself in the cafeteria, talking to four sophomores who, as it turned out, had been dabbling in grass-roots organizing themselves.

Last year, the students had received a small grant to start a neighborhood website. Now, said 15-year-old Danyell Daniels, they were trying to organize clubs representing each micro-neighborhood.

"There used to be a lot of block clubs around here," O'Brien told her.

"Yeah," Danyell responded. "That's what my mom said."

"But how do you work toward that?" O'Brien asked.

The students kicked around a few ideas with the man with the puzzling job. They told him their plans would be refined at their upcoming meeting.

O'Brien made a point of inviting himself to it.

A good Democracy requires the right information

Stephen Liem — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:25:13 EDT

Ever since Gore lost to W, and then Kerry to W (again), I often asked my self: can the majority of the American people be really that stupid again this time around? But, then, after all, it is democracy and the "people" have spoken, so we should take it as is, right? Wrong! In the current climate of smear campaign especially coming from the McCain/Palin ticket, where half-truths and outright lies are becoming the truth when repeated often enough,democratic outcome of a democratic system based on uninformed population cannot be fulfilled according to the ideal of our Founding Fathers. The issue at hand is not about who we should vote for, but rather, have we voted with the right information at hand, with our full realization of the risks and outcomes, and have they (the candidates) presented the issue objectively?. Uninformed democracy is hardly a democracy. Intentionally misleading the voters to vote for a candidate, is definitely not democracy. With all of the spin-doctors out there, and all the lies that people now believed as true, I cannot help but be reminded in the Soviet style communism of propaganda. The "commie" invented the "agitprop" department whose function was to "agitate the mass through propaganda". Sounds like McCain/Palin is an expert at this. McCain/Palin, for the sake of our Founding Father's ideal of Democracy, I challenge you: "Stop the agitation, stop the propaganda, let's build this country by dealing with its issues."

The Physics of Democracy

Jason Zimba — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:45:13 EDT

Welcome to my first blog post on my.barackobama.com!

I'm a math and physics professor at Bennington College, in Vermont. This year I'm on leave working on education policy in the foundation sector.

Although it will make for a long sort of introduction, I'm linking here to a recent post from my usual blog, entitled "The Physics of Democracy". (I tried pasting it into the "Extended Post Text" section but it doesn't seem to be showing up.)

Please join us

Jill and Andrew — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:50:24 EDT

The Scottsdale for Obama Group will be hosting a meet and greet Wednesday, 9/17/2008 at Coffee Plantation Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85260. We will discuss everything from canvassing, to recruiting and everything in between. If you are unavailable to meet us please feel free to post any ideas you may have to promote events and get voters support.
-Jill
"We are the change we've been waiting for"

"Republic" does not mean "democracy"

Johann — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:07:52 EDT

A republic does not implicate a democracy.

A republic means a state ruled by the people, or just some of the people.
Conservatives would like this regime to be a rule by them, and traditionally this has been wealthy families entrenching their grip.

A "weak" leader in terms of intelligence, wisdom and reasoning is a de facto power transfer to his "counsel".

Theocracy or Democracy?

Lila Caffery — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:18:08 EDT

Our local Catholic paper, SF Catholic, just published our Archbishop's chastisement of our Speaker, Nancy Pelosi's remarks on Catholic teaching on "when life begins". In it he leaves in doubt whether he would give her communion as she is questioning the "doctrine". She has said that Thomas Aquinas said that it begins "when the embryo "quickens" or in 40 days. I have not checked this out but I do know that Kennedy's assertion that he was not going to serve the Pope but the people got him elected as our first Catholic president. Now what Nancy, Biden, Kerry and thousands of Catholic politicians believe is really not the point. The point is that we are not a theocracy and we cannot dictate to the electorate our particular religious beliefs. The bishops don't seem to get that.They are interested in making sure that only pro-life Catholics get elected.
The Catholic vote is harnessed by these men (no women yet) to scold any wayward thinkers into voting Republican to save their souls! The Catholic Church has become a "wholly owned subsidiary" of the Republican Party. I strongly disagree both with that choice and the Bishops crossing the line in promoting candidates based solely on their pro-life stand. It can't be helped if they are also for "unjust" wars. They should lose their (our) tax-exempt status for this egregious meddling in our free and secret vote.

Election Ads

Monica F. Koziol, OCP — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:22:32 EDT

Dear Barack, Michelle, Joe and Jill:

I am so proud to suppport you! I have been watching the campaign ads on "corporate" media stations and am disgusted with the oppositions' use of negative attacks which twist your words to fit their agenda! I know it's par for the war before the elections. {I am a Chicagoan born and bred}
When Senator Clinton was campaigning, her campaign manager wanted suggestions about what they'd [supporters} like to see and hear from Hillary. Well, I thought that you would like to hear from me - for what it's worth.

I wonder if you, Senator Obama could come out plainly in an ad to say that you are not running for office to slander {their words}, malign, or bicker about the facts of your campaign that are at the forefront of voters in this Election year---and that you are running only two ads- The one where you speak about equal pay so that your daughters can achieve an equal footing and living wage as our sons -- AND to talk about the issues and plans you have to bring about a genuine change. By listening to the people - by letting the people become informed at your website, by involving the people in their government. By being in touch with the people who are not just the middle-class, or the upper-class but those who are classified as the working-poor in this country. Because these are serious times and it is the time to stop mudslinging and name calling. It is the time for Democracy for the people and by the people; no matter what their class.

I wonder if this would place you in the position you were before - above the fray. note: Please don't cave into them. We need you!

Blessings to all of you, this is a challenging road to the White House, and I want you to represent me, my friends and my family!

Please visit my website:http://www.economicturn.net

Enough! This election is NOT about Obama!

Margotb822 — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:31:10 EDT

This election is not about Obama. It needs to be a referendum on the business of the past eight years.

Enough!

Palin....Theological Fascist?

jude jones — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:02:36 EDT

I know folks throw that "fascist" label around for everything they don't like and every little thing that sounds even slightly authoritarian. Let me begin by saying that the word 'fascist' should be reserved for things that are, in fact, 'fascist'. I'll set aside the fact that the Wiki entry on fascism reads like it was written to describe the Right Wing in this country (and perhaps was, depending on who edited it), and focus on the kind of merging of corporations, state, and nationalist identity that has traditionally been the cornerstone of fascism.

Here's the statement from Sarah Palin that I've been contemplating all night. It occurs in her discussion (in her church) of the gas-pipeline project she was championing:

"I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that.”

She is a political leader telling people what to PRAY for, and that something to pray for is "unifying people and companies" as an instance of necessary divine "will".

That the invocation of God's will for the advantaging of political initiatives is in and of itself fascist could be argued. But Sarah is going even further here into what appears to be explicitly fascist thinking: That God's will demands ("has to be done") the merging of people and companies for the special project of a special political personality (hers and her administration's). Merging people and companies in the name of a nationalist identity, and in the intimate reality that is 'prayer' among believers?? pretty close.....pretty close.

"We the people" are the government, are we not? Whether talking populist about simple pockets of 'folk' or about the state as such, the unification of people and companies for ideological advance via the intimate process of praying is about as close a recommendation of explicit fascist movement as I've seen by anyone in our political menagerie. Wherever the popular "we" are, there too is our form of government. Uniting that "we the people" with "companies" is step one in thinking in a fascist manner about how our system should work.

Of course her openly espoused policy stands, as far as they've been shared with us, do not all lend themselves to the 'fascist' label. But the missionary zeal at the base of her thinking, especially its allegiance to seeing her politics as aligned with God's will (including the Iraq War as a "task from God") and commandable as prayer, is nothing short of alarming. My own vetting process for a Vice President would find this by itself an exclusionary factor for anyone seeking office in this country, no matter what their other merits might be (and in that I grant that Mrs. Palin has many merits). No surface merits compensate for a deep-seated theology that shapes, guides and impels ones entire world-view in the direction of a form of nationalism inimical to America. Her extreme and absolutist position on abortion (no exceptions for rape and incest despite her state having the highest rates of both) pales in comparison to the troubling merger of monied and divine interests in a perfect storm of raw power. At the very least this is a nascent theological fascism, which when fully gestated could not help but spawn a political fascism through, say, being given the keys to the White House--the most powerful "bully pulpit" in the world.

Don't know if anyone has seen this-Just more proof Palin is WRONG.

Bobbi Miller-Moro — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:08:19 EDT

(This is from a Bryn Mawr college grad to her fellow alums)
Dear classmates -
As an Alaskan, I am writing to give all of you some information on Sarah Palin, Senator McCain's choice for VP. As an Alaska voter, I know more than most of you about her and, frankly, I am horrified that he picked her.

NEED YOUR COMMENTS! I wrote a story to Sarah Palin on my blog on Yahoo Shine,

Bobbi Miller-Moro — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:43:51 EDT

I have been trying to keep up with the Republican comments. The Democrats are standing up, but perception is everything. This was one of the last comments I made on my own blog. Please go there and comment!

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/money/mother-of-five-fights-back-wake-up-sarah-palin-250800/

"We Cannot Turn Back" from a speech before more than 84,000 people, DNC, 2008, Barak Obama for President

jeffrey — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:11:17 EDT

This story just in from the International Herald Tribune

Did anyone think it would happen? Just the other day, I was wondering, "Have we viewers forgotten about Pakistan? Take a look.

Bhutto's widower elected in PakistanBy Jane Perlez and Salman Masood
Sunday, September 7, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who has little experience in governing, was elected president of Pakistan on Saturday by a wide margin.

Zardari, 53, who spent 11 years in jail on corruption charges that remain unproved, succeeds Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month under the threat of impeachment. He is expected to be sworn in on Monday or Tuesday, Pakistani officials said.

Zardari has the tacit approval of the United States, which views him as an ally in the campaign against terrorism. He has promised a tougher fight against members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda ensconced in the nation's tribal areas, from where they mount assaults on American and NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan.

His election coincides with a stepped-up effort by the United States to root out the Taliban and Al Qaeda from the tribal areas. American commandos attacked militants in a village near the Afghan border on Wednesday, in what American military officials said could be a continuing campaign in Pakistan's tribal region.

Zardari becomes president amid increasing evidence that the Pakistani government and military face almost overwhelming difficulties in battling the militants, who now virtually control the tribal areas. In a reminder of that challenge, a suicide bomber killed at least 30 people and wounded 80 at a police checkpoint near Peshawar on Saturday.

Official results from voting in the two houses of Parliament and four provincial assemblies showed that Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, won 481 of 702 votes. His closest competitor, Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, won 153 votes, and a third candidate, Mushahid Hussain Syed, received 44 votes.

After Bhutto was killed in December, Zardari became the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which was founded by Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and is considered to be almost a cult of the Bhutto dynasty.

Zardari led the party to victory in a parliamentary election on Feb. 18 and formed a coalition with Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.

That coalition collapsed last month amid recriminations over the reinstatement of some 60 judges fired by President Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule in November.

In a sign of conciliation, Sharif telephoned Zardari on Saturday to congratulate him on his victory and pledge his support, according to television accounts of the call.

The White House issued a supportive statement on Saturday. "The United States congratulates Asif Ali Zardari on his election as president," said Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman. "President Bush looks forward to working with him, Prime Minister Gilani and the government of Pakistan on issues important to both countries, including counterterrorism and making sure Pakistan has a stable and secure economy."

Zardari's aides have promised that as president, Zardari would agree to the elimination of a constitutional provision that allows the president to dismiss Parliament, long considered a weak institution.

The minister of information, Sherry Rehman, a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said the relationship between the presidency and Parliament would be better balanced under Zardari, resulting in a "new era of democratic stability." Rehman added, "Today, every Pakistani can raise his head with pride."

After the vote, Zardari spoke briefly outside the prime minister's residence. Flanked by his two teenage daughters, Bakhtawar and Asifa, Zardari said he would uphold the democratic philosophy of Bhutto.

"Parliament will be sovereign," he said. "This president shall be subservient to the Parliament."

But there was considerable skepticism among politicians and in the news media that Zardari would agree to a diminution of power. An editorial on Saturday in the daily newspaper Dawn said it hoped that "his commitment to make himself a titular head of state will not waver."

Most Pakistanis looked on the presidential vote with considerable indifference, a sharp contrast to the excitement during the campaign leading to parliamentary elections.

In the Aabpara market in Islamabad, some storekeepers viewed Zardari's victory as a foregone conclusion.

Several said it was good for Pakistan to have a president and a prime minister from the same party, reflecting the official line of the Pakistan Peoples Party. "He can be a good president because the whole party is behind him," said Malik Zahoor, 50.

But some vendors said the corruption charges against Zardari made him unsuitable for the presidency.

"He's a certified thief," said Akhlaq Abbasi, 60, the owner of a fabric and tailoring shop.

Correction:
Notes:

Democracy Now! Video Footage

Bobi McBratney - AD 13N Neighborhood Leader Las Vegas, Nevada — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:58:20 EDT

This is a "Must See" video of the arrest of reporter Amy Goodman at the RNC. I am so dismayed that this woman was arrested for allegedly disrupting the peace. The video footage clearly shows that she was peacefully inquiring about her fellow co-worker reporters that had been bloodied and arrested.

"Link TV's John Hamilton talks to "Democracy Now!" host Amy Goodman about her recent arrest at the RNC, as well as that of her producers."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R9eB1Mkg0I&eurl=http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/51915-rnc-amy-goodman-on-being-arrested

Mother of five fights back: Wake Up Sarah Palin

Bobbi Miller-Moro — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:21:49 EDT

Not only is this a strait forward open letter to Sarah Palin, but included at the end is the facts on WHERE THE CANDIDATES STAND ON THE ISSUES. No one can claim ignorance. This is about facts, truth and lies.

I am a 35 year old working, middle class mother of five living in So. California. I have been a Republican since my great ancestor Richard Stockton, signed the Declaration of Independence. I am an ex-police officer, and now I own my own business. This is the first time I changed my party.

Sarah " SarahCuda" Palin Humor-Pass it on

Bobbi Miller-Moro — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:53:20 EDT

Sarah Palin told Mother Nature to calm down and stop spoiling her party: Gustav immediately dropped to Cat 2

When Sarah Palin smiles, Chuck Norris hides.

Arab Muslims first class citizens in Israel whereas Israeli Jews are second class citizens

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:31:07 EDT

Palestinian Arab Muslims first class citizens in Israel whereas Israeli Jews are second class citizens?

Imagine, Israeli non Arabs (i.e., Jews) have to put up with:1) Back stabbing -- example #1:Constant finding out on more and more Israeli Arabs aiding genocide bombers (whether with info or more than that), stabbing the very Israel, they're citizens of, thus indirectly murdering their fellow Israelis, the Israeli Jews...2) Back stabbing -- example #2:

The Israeli Arab parliament members constantly whine about being "second class" citizens, after getting free education and achieving whatever they achieve, inside equal-rights & equal-access democractic Israel. As payback, these back stabbers are tarnishing Israel's image all over, especially on Arab global media.

3) Uneven rights -- Arab's advantage over Jews:

Israeli Arabs (unlike Israeli Jews) are exempt from serving in Israeli army (which is naturally for the protection of all Israelis), still they enjoy the same rights as Israeli Jews: voting, education, free speech, etc.

4) Now the favorite part: Israeli Courts (& often security) favor Israeli Arabs over Jews
Who's second class now?

5) Wait, there's more: Israeli government allowing Arabs more rights far MORE than Jews, blatantly, especially in access to land.

Who's second class now?
Favoring Arabs over Jews Inside Israel
Fact Sheet #24:
Israel's Security Fence Every effort is being made to exclude Palestinian villages from the area within the fence and no territories are being annexed... Israel's Supreme Court took up the grievances of Palestinians and required the government to move the fence in the area near Jerusalem to make things easier for the Palestinians. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/talking/24_fence.html

Fence Rulings: Democracy in Action Israel's Supreme Court sided with the Palestinians in a precedent-setting decision Wednesday, ordering the government to reroute part of its West Bank ... http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/critiques/Fence_Rulings_Democrac y_in_Action.asp

Divesting from Morality [Jews can't live in Arab states or in the Palestinian Authority but] ... Israeli Arabs sit in the Knesset, serve on the Israeli Supreme Court and ... http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/dershowitz/Articles/morality.html

Nightmare or Dream (Eugene Narrett, PhD) May, 2000 When Jews try to collect other debts from Arabs, the same ingratitude emerges, not just from the Arabs, but enforced by Israeli courts where "the chances ...
http://www.freeman.org/m_online/may00/narrett.htm

Arabs, Muslims first class citizens in democratic Israel? (Temple Mount shut to non-Muslims on election eve) http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? cid=1139395680496&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Temple Mount shut to non-Muslims on election eve
The Temple Mount - was closed to Jews today in response to Muslim threats of violence if Jews were allowed to visit. ... (July - 2004) [clearly more rights to Arabs in Israel than for any Jews] http://www.ourjerusalem.com/ourjerusalem/story/oj20040728.html

Expulsion from 'Peace House' in Hevron?... The extreme-left group Peace Now has been pressuring Peretz to expel the Jewish families, claiming that Jews should need special government permission to buy Arab houses. The group has made no similar request requiring special permission for Arabs to buy Jewish homes.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/121909

Army Declares Hevron Closed to Jews - Inside Israel - Israel News ...Arabs then sued in Israel's Supreme Court against what they called the "infiltration" of the Jews to the stores, and the Court ruled in their favor ...
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3? id=96728

Moreover, when it comes to residential land, the ILA sometimes offers Israeli Arabs more favorable terms from than it does to Israeli Jews. Thus, the ILA charged the equivalent of $24,000 for a capital lease on a quarter of an acre in new Jewish communities near Beersheva while Bedouin families in the nearby community of Rahat paid only $150 for the same amount of land.16 In a different case, when a Jewish policeman from Beersheva, Eleizer Avitan, applied to the ILA to lease land in a Bedouin community under the same highly subsidized terms available to the Bedouins, the ILA refused to lease him land there under any terms, so he sued. Israel's Supreme Court ruled in favor of the ILA, saying that what might be viewed as ILA discrimination against the Jewish citizen Avitan was justified as affirmative action for Bedouin citizens.17
http://www.meforum.org/article/370

In several cases, where Palestinian farmers utilized the Israeli court system to lodge complaints that the army was unnecessarily taking land without proper military purpose, the Israeli High Court of Justice decided in favor of the plaintiffs. The army site at Beth El (near Ramallah) is the best-known case, and probably one of the few cases in all of world history where the legal system of the victorious country decided in favor of the defeated, contrary to the security-related demands of the army. The IDF was forced to move its base about ten kilometers further west, to accommodate the land claims of the local Palestinians. http://www.think-israel.org/meir-levi.settlements.html

Israel's Supreme Court is among the finest courts in the world today. ... We see that the Israelis routinely decide in favor of the Palestinians against their own government... http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp? ID=13590

Israeli Court: Israel must re-route (the life saving anti-terror) barrier (because of inconvenience of some Arab 'Palestinians) August 2007
http://news.yahoo. com/s/ap/20070904/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_barrier_9

Israel's Supreme Court is perhaps the worst enemy and offender favoring Arabs over Jews in its self-image of supreme fairness and justice. It has given its "supreme" ruling against an area of peace and security which should be left to military and security experts - a supreme ruling against the security barrier and separation fence against terrorism in support of a similar stupid ruling by the Arab-Islamist controlled U.N. International Court of Justice (or Injustice as the case may be). What about the rights of Jews in Arab controlled and dominated lands and nations? Are there any? http://www.opinioneditorials.com/guestcontributors/gfitleberg_20050130.html

Israeli text book tells Arab story - World - theage.com.au Israel approves school text book acknowledging to country's minority ... what had been British-ruled Palestine prompted an invasion by Arab armies and the ... http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/israeli-text-book-tells-arab- story/2007/07/23/1185043028015.html

Affirmative Action ? the Israeli Edition It is now official. Last week, the Israeli Council on Higher Education decided to make Jews second class citizens within Israeli universities. Yes, after 1,300 years in which Jews were discriminated against in the Middle East and discrimination in favor of Arabs took place, the semi-governmental Council on Higher Education has decided that Israeli universities must discriminate in favor of Arab. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/844

More on Arabs, Muslims (first class citizens inside Israel) having more rights than Jews in Israel Jerusalem holy sites

The Israeli government shied away from ensuring the right of Jews to pray on the temple Mount, opting instead to grant the Muslims the right to administer the Mount. Jewish prayer was immediately forbidden.

Regardless of what the Judaic law says about permitting Jews on the temple mount, the issue of Arabs, Muslims INSIDE Israel's democracy having far more rights is overwhelming.

http://www.templeinstitute.org/gallery_45.htm

---

PA Arab Squatters Remain on Jerusalem Property
16 November 07 11:38by Ezra HaLevi(IsraelNN.com) Yitzchak Herskovitz, in his eighties, continues to battle Arab squatters in the courts as yet another eviction was postponed Sunday.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/SendMail.aspx? print=print&type=0&item=124251

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(Arab Racism even inside Israel, So Israel is a free democracy and Arabs are elected into high offices.... whereas in "Palestinian" controlled areas a Jew... can't even live there - Islamic apartheid & Judenrein!
What then do Arab representatives do instead?
Stab Israel in the back and call for it's destruction and for it to be a fascist 'Arab Only State'....)
Arab MK: 'Palestine Belongs to Arabs, Not Jews' - News Briefs ...Tibi wrote in the editorial that Palestine belongs to its Arab residents, not to the Jewish occupiers. Tibi told Palestinian Authority Arabs in Ramallah ...

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/130741
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Gov't Allows Arabs To Squat on Jewish Farmland 22:19 Jan 07, '07
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=118929 [again the Israeli very govt. gives more rights to Israeli-Arabs intruders over Israeli-Jews].

(IsraelNN.com) The Civil Lands Administration has allowed Arabs from Yatta,
near Hevron, to squat on land 10 miles away that has been farmed by Jews for
10 years. Nearby residents of Beit Yatir, in the southern Hevron Hills,
protested on the property Friday, claiming that the presence of the Arabs
presents a danger to the area.
"Their tractors are unlicensed and they drive them on the roads at night
without lights," said a Yatir spokesman. Army officers who arrived on the
scene confirmed that the Arabs left their identity cards at a nearby
checkpoint because they had no permit to live on the grounds, but Civil Lands
officers later said temporary permission would be given until the dispute is
settled in the courts.

---

Jew Fights for his home, invaded by Arab Squatters

http://esseragaroth.blogspot.com/2007/07/jew-fights-for-his-home.html
July 2007

Yitzhaq Hershkovitz is fighting to regain control of his house from Arab squatters in "East" Jerusalem.

The INN TV Report with Aharon Deutch can been viewed by clicking here http://www.israelnationalnews.com/TV/?act=one&id=1988

...After a 15-year fight, Mr. Hershkovitz finally obtained a court order to have the squatters removed. Yet, the police has not been helpful in enforcing the evacuation. One of the issues was that the Arabs were keeping their goats hidden inside the house, which apparently is against the zoning regulations. However, every time the police arrived to execute the order, or rather do a pre-execution investigation, the goats are taken outside through the back an and hidden somehow. There is now a stay on the eviction order.

Fortunately, he has been getting some support from friends, including the Defense-training and Torah-study, IBF Canine Unit, based in K'far Tapu'ah.

I'll try to find out more information about what can be done to assist and support him.

Again, and again, Israeli Arabs are often favored OVER Israeli Jews, Did somebody (in the Arabist camp) say "apartheid"?

Israeli Arabs are first class citizens over Israeli Jews!

___

israelinsider: politics: Police order Temple Mount closed ahead of demo by Jewish activists
(April 7, 2005)
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/5288.htm

---

One Jerusalem -- Blog -- Help Keep Jerusalem United! After spending over an hour discussing Israel's challenges I came away with the ... Anyway, since Olmert prefers to beat and threaten Jews in Hebron, ...
http://www.onejerusalem.org/blog/archives/2006/01/israels_challen.asp

The Jewish struggle Against Arabs in Israel Wherever there's a problem with Arabs, a new "disengagement" plan?
http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/4511.htm

Supreme Court Rulings - Jews Protest in Jerusalem to protest against the recent anti-Jewish rulings of the Israeli Supreme Court. ...
http://www.ahavat- israel.com/protest/rulings.php

An Israeli Supreme Court ruling did not deny that the land was Jewish-owned, but ordered the Jews to be moved out in order that ... sinners not go unpunished. ... http://www.ourjerusalem.com/action/story/protest- against-the-pogrom-in-amona.html

"The Hell of Israel Is Better than the Paradise of Arafat the 200000 Arab residents of Jerusalem preferred to remain under Israeli ... In fact, most of the Arabs in the city prefer to live under Israeli rule ...
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2534

Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which an Arab can file a case against his country in the Supreme Court. Israel's Supreme Court is among the finest courts in the world today. It enforces the rule of law on a daily basis against inevitable abuses that occur when a nation is at war. As we look at the United States Supreme Court this week there are two big cases -- the Hamdi case and the Padilla case. At question is if we can detain and hold terrorist combatants at Guantanamo indefinitely, while deciding if they are prisoners of war or common criminals.
One has only to look to Israel, which see resolved these things 20 years ago.
We see that the Israelis routinely decide in favor of the Palestinians against their own government. In 1989, Justice Brennan, perhaps the most liberal justice in America's court, went to Israel at the invitation of Justice Aharon Barak of the Israeli Supreme Court. Brennan said, "God forbid that terrorism should ever come to the shores of the United States. At least we in America have the model to help balance the needs of security against the needs of liberty. That model is Israel."
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp? ID=13590

---

URGENT: Free Daniel Pinner b4 23.3.06 [Archive] - Israel Forum Daniel claims that he only shot in the air to disperse the Arab attackers. The judge favored the testimonies given by several Arabs, despite countless ...
http://www.israelforum.com/board/archive/index.php/t- 9920.html

Creating a Palestinian Apartheid State?
http://www.freeman.org/m_online/jan05/pasko.php

There are currently 12 Arabs elected to the 120-member Israeli Knesset representing Arab nationalist, communist and Islamic parties. There is an Arab justice on the Israeli Supreme Court. This is apartheid? (Dec - 2006) http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA122706.07B.gurwitz.1 dd1635.html

Myths VS Facts

Human Rights in Israel and the Territories Today, within Israel, Jews are a majority, but the Arab minority are full citizens who enjoy equal rights. Arabs are represented in the Knesset, ... http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf18.html

Israeli Arabs: Expectations and Realities, Abdel Rahman Zuabi, Deputy President of the Nazareth District Court, became the first Arab to sit on Israel's Supreme Court. ... http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp478.htm

A Free People in Our Land: The Status of the Arab Sector in Israel ... an Arab Justice was appointed to the Supreme Court and Arab ...
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Facts+about+Israel- +The+State/A+Free+People+in+Our+Land-+The+Arab+Sector.htm

Israeli Arab explodes Mideast 'lies'
Lebanese woman says she discovered freedom in Jewish state... "As a Middle Easterner brought up on this patent 'Israel is a racist state' propaganda, I discovered it is total hate-inspired nonsense," she said." I've seen with my own eyes what kind of society Israel is. I consider Israel to be one of the most multi-racial and multi-cultural countries in the world. There are no racial restrictions on becoming a citizen of Israel like there are in many Arab countries. Remember, Jews can't live in the neighboring Arab Kingdom of Jordan or in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
She explained that more than 100 different countries of the world are represented in the population of Israel.
"Consider how the Israeli government spent tens of millions of dollars airlifting more than 40,000 black Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1984 and 1991," she said. "Since 2001 Israel has reached out to help others taking in non-Jewish refugees from Lebanon, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, Liberia, Congo and even Bosnian Muslims. How many such refugees have the 22 states in the Arab league taken in? The Arab world won't even give Palestinian refugees citizenship in their host countries."
She added that more than 1 million Arabs are full Israel citizens, that an Arab sits on the Supreme Court of Israel, that there are Arab political parties expressing views inimical to the state of Israel sitting in the Knesset, that women are equal partners in Israel and have complete human rights.
"Show me an Arab nation with a Jew in its government," she challenged. "Show me an Arab country with half as many Jewish citizens as Israel has Arab citizens. I'll borrow some of your academic freedom now and say that Arab nations are the real racist and oppressive states."
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43175

Israelis aren't 'racist' - they're worried
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? cid=1167467807212&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

"Apartheid"? The High Court and leading Israeli Arab Politicians http://www.beyondimages.info/b53.html

AJN - Israeli Arab involvement in terror grows Since the intifada began in September 2000 -- and Israeli Arabs rioted in sympathy ... scores of Israeli Arabs have been detained for alleged contacts with ..
http://www.ajn.com.au/pages/archives/intifada/0028-intifada- 02.html

Twisted Words and Phrases (2) More examples of Arab propaganda, giving new meaning to old words.
http://www.factsandlogic.org/ad_87.html

FLAME: The Arabs of Israel: Are they (really) a "persecuted minority? Like all other Israeli citizens, they have full rights to vote and to hold elective office. Both Arabs and Druze hold seats in the Knesset, the Israeli ...
http://www.factsandlogic.org/ad_08.html

Middle -East-Info.org - Arabs and Muslims in Israel Israeli Arabs and Muslims have the right to vote and to hold public office, ... They have full rights to citizenship. They are free to speak their minds. ...
http://www.middle-east- info.org/gateway/arabsinisrael/index.htm

Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict To the contrary, today one-fifth of Israel's citizens are non-Jews, including over one million Arabs, and Arabic is an official national language. ... http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=414

Arab Refugees and the Right of Return After the end of hostilities in 1949, there were 140000 Arabs in Israel. ... the Jews lived for generations as second-class citizens in a primitive, ... http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/refugees.html

The Jewish Refugees From Arab Countries - Israel's War Against ...Jews had never been more than "second-class citizens" under Arab rule, the report says, but their life became "simply untenable" after Israel appeared. ...
http://www.israel-wat.com/jewishrefugees_eng.htm

The Arabs of Israel (Part 1) Israel is first and foremost a society of Jewish immigrants. ... The Arabs of Israel became bi-cultural and bi-lingual citizens, educated in accordance with ... http://www.wzo.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=24

IHC [In Muslim countries] Ethnic minorities such as Azeris, Arabs, Kurds, Turkomans and Baluchis, are treated as second-class citizens. Women in Iran are struggling for their rights, ...
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl? source=3/e/050720029

Israeli Arabs: Expectations And Realities
http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp478.htm

WorldNetDaily: Israel: Island of justice in the Middle EastIsrael's High Court has ruled that the route, along which a 25-mile barrier ... in the Middle East, Israel is committed to justice for Jews and Arabs alike. ...
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39242

Myths & Facts - Human Rights in Israel and the Territories... the Israeli Supreme Court also ruled that the government cannot allocate land based on religion or ethnicity, and may not prevent Arab citizens ...
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf18.html

Israeli Arab appointed as a JNF [Jewish National Fund...] director despite court appeal ...Israeli Arab appointed as a JNF director despite court appeal-News and commentary relating ... where there are MKs from the Arab sector," .
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/878859.html

Lying About Discrimination With Statistics And let's not hear any nonsense about Israeli universities discriminating against Arabs, because they all discriminate in favor of Arabs under affirmative action ...
http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/21226/Lying_About_Discrimination_ With_Statistics.html

The Jewish struggle Against Arabs in Israel [and Courts favoring Arabs in Jews' historic land and that was redeemed by Jewish money]
http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/4511.htm

Arab Treatment of Palestinians There is much information regarding Israel's treatment of Palestinians. However there is not much out there discussing Arab treatment of Palestinian ...
http://www.themiddleeastnow.com/arabtreatmentofpalestinians.html

The "Brutal" Israeli Occupation? Every Arab who fell under Israeli "occupation" was free to live his life ... The Israeli treatment of captured populations had a lot in common with the ... http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/4/29/31242.shtml

AN ANSWER TO THE NEW ANTI-ZIONISTS: THE RIGHTS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE TO A SOVEREIGN STATE IN THEIR HISTORIC HOMELAND http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp507.htm

A Free People in Our Land: The Status of the Arab Sector in Israel For the first time, an Arab Justice was appointed to the Supreme Court and Arab deputy ministers have served in Israel's Government. Arab citizens serve in ... http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Facts+about+Israel- +The+State/A+Free+People+in+Our+Land-+The+Arab+Sector.htm

YI Guide to the Israeli-Palestinian Dispute Distorting Israeli Arab RealityThe co-existence of Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel has long been a model for ... Miller's first claim -- that Israeli Arabs lack 'access to military or ...
http://www.youngisrael.org/israel.htm

Critiques Distorting Israeli Arab Reality http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Distorting_Isra eli_Arab_Reality.asp

The missing piece http://powerlineblog.com/archives/013494.php

Review of The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands. The volume contains some first-class talent, mostly Israel academics, and they cover ... http://www.danielpipes.org/article/817

Dennis Prager -- First they came for Israel, then they came for America . ... everywhere in the Arab and Muslim worlds are usually second-class citizens at best and terribly ...
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0206/prager020706.php3

israelinsider: Views: A virtual tour of (so called) "Apartheid" Israel... a dhimmi (second class citizen) and an enemy of their state. ... In the Apartheid State of Israel there are almost one million Arabs. ...
http://web.israelinsider.com/views/6787.htm

JIMENA Jews Indigenous to the Middle East & North Africa were considered dhimmi, a "protected" group of second-class citizens. ... On May 15, 1948, five Arab armies invaded Israel with the intention of ...
http://www.jimena.org/faq.htm

The nature of the Jewish state Israeli Jews are a variegated people ? many look just like Arabs and vice versa. The charge of racism as we know it in the U.S. is no more than liberal ...
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp? ARTICLE_ID=34396

Myths & Facts - Israel?s Roots?The Jews have no claim to the land they call Israel.? ... During the British mandate alone, more than 100000 Arabs emigrated from neighboring countries and ...
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf1.html

Myths & Facts - Human Rights in Israel and the TerritoriesArabs in Israel have equal voting rights; in fact, it is one of the few places in ... More than one million Arabs live as free and equal citizens in Israel. ...
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf18.html

Jewish and Israel News from New York - The Jewish Week,In fact, according to UN statistics, more Jews were displaced from Arab countries ... as the rights of Jewish refugees are no less legitimate than those of ...
http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3? artid=5486

In the years that followed, the Israelis made their desert bloom. They built the only industrialized economy in the entire Middle East. They built the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. They treated the Arabs who remained in Israel well. To this day the very large Arab minority, which lives inside the state of Israel, has more rights and privileges than any other Arab population in the entire Middle East. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp? ID=4454

'Arabs have good life under Israel'"I am sure that the Palestinian [Arabs] in Israel have more rights than in any other Arab country
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/394

The productivity and tolerance of the Jews in the state they created have given birth to an Arab citizenry inside Israel of more than one million people. ...
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/horowitz041002.asp

For non-Jewish citizens of Israel, the answer to all these questions is "Yes. Unequivocally." Israeli Arab citizens are by law equal to Jewish citizens; they enjoy the same rights and are legally protected from discrimination. Non-Jews enjoy every freedom that democracies recognize, including freedom of worship, the free expression and exercise of religion, equality of financial, material, and employment opportunity, political power, and all legal rights. Indeed, Israel's Declaration of Independence demands nothing less. According to the Declaration, the Jewish state "will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions." Israel's Arab citizens have, in fact, reached positions on Israel's Supreme Court and have elected powerful parties in the Israeli Knesset that fully participate in Israeli political life.
http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp507.htm

UJC -- Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Brief Guide for the ...And who knows better than the citizens of Israel, who include Holocaust survivors and refugees from communist lands and from Arab extremism, how dangerous ...
http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=68620

Like "apartheid South Africa". ... non-Muslims are treated as second-class citizens (the despised Dhimmi). ...
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/critiques/Pilger_Pilfers_the_Truth.a sp

Misc.

Jihad Watch: Slain Israeli Arab's father begs for sanity in PA My message first of all to the religious leaders, the Palestinian leadership, ... who reside as Israeli Arab citizens, repect the land they live in, ...
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/001716.php

Arutz Sheva - (Israel National News) Throughout the Arab world, women are routinely treated as second-class citizens or worse. In Saudi Arabia, women are prohibited by law from driving cars...
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/article.php3?id=488

Stand up now, or miss our chance

Jennifer Smolen — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:10:54 EDT

We have done enough complaining, enough storytelling, enough comiserating to know that the United States are in a world of trouble. We have not been setting the example required of the US to retain our solid reputation and standing globally. We have not been taking care of "the people" or ensuring the basics are covered (healthcare and basic personal rights) in order to afford our states the chance to concern themselves with local infrastructure and creating the backdrop for us to create our own opportunities for us to enjoy those renowned inalienable rights. Without the education and preventive health care for children (which goes back even farther to conscious family planning, prenatal health and nutrition, and pregnancy care), our children cannot take on the responsibility that is theirs, serving as a successful and thriving future generation of leaders and participants.

This is the time for anyone who has had the feeling that something needs to be done about this, to stand up, speak (and act) now, or forever hold your peace. Forever is a long time. The Obama campaign website (my.barackobama.com) is great about providing ever-new opportunities for participation and making a difference for our country through this year's presidential election. I encourage you to take an active part in your democratic process, so that we may regain our democracy that is our responsibility to nurture, and our right.

An Open Letter to Senators Obama & Clinton

Unknown user — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:14:37 EDT

PROFESSOR HOVHANNESS I. PILIKIAN, B.A. in Eng. Lit. (American Uni of Beirut),

B.Sc. Hons. in Psych. (Open Uni), M.A. in Soc. Anth. (Sch of Oriental & African Studies),

Gulbenkian Foundation Scholar in Econ. (LSE) (London Uni),D.A.A.D-Fellow (Uni of Munich),

D.G.G.B, Dip. Th. Pr. (R A D A), Cert. Hum (Open),

Adamian Award (Ministry of Culture – Armenian S.S.R.), F.R.A.I.,

Contributor to Encyclopaedia Britannica

10th August 2008

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

Dear Senators Clinton and Obama,

You may like to know that my personal letter (dated 1st July, copy below) to your good selves is now an Open Letter published on the Web on

http://www.gibrahayer.com/index.php5?&page_id=21&path=29,21

My letter contains (1) A new Theory of History – that History advances by mindset-shifts,

(2) A radical historical interpretation of Warmongering – that it manifests masculinist obsessions contingent on the rape of women and the murder of ‘their’ children, and finally

(3) A proposition for a new socio-economic paradigm – universal CHILD-WELFARE, for all, to achieve global peace... with the sound-bite;

All For Child-Welfare and Child-Welfare For All

Yours truly

Professor Hovhanness Israel Pilikian.

***

Initially Exclusive to the Addressees 1st July 2008

Entirely Private and Totally Confidential

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)

713 Hart Senate Office Building

District of Columbia 20510-1305, Washington DC

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

780 Third Avenue Suite 2601

New York, NY 10017

Dear Senators Clinton and Obama,

If only the two of you would join hands, there can be no reasonable doubt that you two shall win the forthcoming presidential election, from that moment onwards ... and assuming that you shall resist all electoral fraud from the Republicans – for the very good reason that, with baited breath, the whole world expects America to change. The horrendous neo-Cons succeeded not only destroying Iraq, with Depleted Uranium bomb-winds blowing towards the Israeli nation they pretended to defend ... the inhuman neo-Cons destroyed as much America’s good name, dragging it into the sewage of History. The American people deserve desperately your healing powers to pull them out of History’s murderous mires of genocidal sludge.

Senator Obama is absolutely right that America is ready for change – and Senator Clinton has the right idea for that change – hence this letter to provide the clinching philosophical argument and deep conceptual grounding of your cause to make it irresistible for the whole world to adopt.

I think Human civilization evolves by paradigmatic shifts in Mindset – by which I mean that a nation’s mind – meaning the communitarian-brain – is re-wired through the processes of social relations and modern communications-media into certain ways and patterns of communal thinking.

Mankind’s History hitherto, alas, has manifested the Primates’ barbaric survivalist mindset of crude brutal power for its own sake. It took millennia for the parochial Italian Renaissance humanism to follow, and several centuries for the French Revolution to reflect and universalize by then the re-wired mindset of the Renaissance humanism. The American Revolution earlier for the first time in history had affected an ethical mindset shift by exemplifying the concept of Power-To-do-Good, and not for its own crude sake. Unfortunately the neo-Con Bushites wished to revert to the Malthusean-Hobbsean Jungle Law, demeaning the principles of the American Revolution. Thus, overall, human history hitherto (even at its best with the American Revolution, never mind now in the genocidal dumps with the Bushists) has manifested the humanoid Darwinist mindset of the proto-fascist (and Nazi) masculinist brain-wiring, set on the oppression and rape of women and children, and the elimination of ‘useless people’...

I shall propose to you a new paradigm to wire-up a new mindset to evolve in our post-modern human brain, if only the United States of America, as the dominant world-power, would agree through yourselves to pioneer its globalization ... Like a panacea, it shall solve all socio-economic problems, including all dangers from Climate change, which must be turned into the single most important issue of international politics. And it is this, and where Mrs Clinton already possesses the inkling by virtue of her maternal instinct – CHILD-WELFARE – pure and simple, it must be made the single slogan, the cornerstone of ALL complex policies held together in consistency. In the immortal words of Britain’s Silver Poet, Alexander Pope – “The Child is the Father of Man”.

History hitherto has been the ruthless product of bi-gender competitiveness, the male always oppressing, dominating and ultimately raping the female – well-proven by antique myths – females, be they divine or mortal, are always ‘ravished’ against their will – and endless modern warfare – even today, now, women are being raped in ... Zimbabwe, and everywhere else where genocidal wars are active, stretching back in time to Herodotus – the first Historian who lived in the 5th c. BC, and whose very first paragraphs record the gang-bang by Phoenician sailors of the free ‘feminist’ women of Argos – thus, according to the Herodotusean historical record, the very first of the countless series of world wars have begun with a ... gang-bang, literally, a group rape by foolish men of a group of innocent women!

The only way this awful bi-polar human stupidity can be eliminated once and for all from the disturbed human psyche and sexualized Freudian mindset is by creating a focus on a deeper perspectival third-dimension ; the child-and-its-welfare.

Both genders must focus all life-force on tending a healthy child, literally and metaphorically, in a healthy geophysical and social environment – it can become the measuring stick and guideline for all ethical human behaviour and action, individually, on the micro-, and politically on the macro-levels.

Marriage throughout history and in all cultures is played out as a power-game for the benefit of the adults in the game – Divorce in the West consequently, has been riddled with adult partners’ power-obsessive narcissism – their children as mere inconvenient extensions of their egos. In Britain, child-welfare is a byword for corrupt legal practices, and serving equally as political football for governmental publicity stunts.

A new categorical imperative in the style of Emmanuel Kant, one of the great thinkers of all time, in my proposed new paradigm would be – Do nothing that will shame your children, and you in their eyes - Adopting this as the cornerstone of all social and couple relations – it may reduce Divorce, one of the great Western social ills hitherto based on parental narcissism and gratification rather than the needs of child-welfare. And Hollywood film-industry shall produce less public nudity, if actors considered the shame of their children felt at their parental pornographic exposure.

Thou shalt not do anything that harms a child – which ensures that paedophilia for example, never takes hold of society – there are serious high-powered post-modern attempts in Anglo-America to render it acceptable ... And the British American Tobacco (BAT) company would be stopped immediately from the crime of selling tobacco to African children!

Thou shalt not kill children, or their mothers, can serve as grounds for all wars all over the world to be stopped – a good reason to dismantle globally the military-industrial complexes, against the inhuman dangers of which President Eisenhower first of all so wisely warned the American nation back in the 1950’s. A very simple undeniable post-modern historical fact is that America is armed to its teeth and ... toes with thousands of nuclear bombs - it simply does not need more of any ordenance! You need not waste a cent more on further armaments - instead, release all those trillions onto societal health and well-being!!! According to the Bible, Peacemakers are the children of God – I can never understand how and why an American Christian can ever be a warmonger.

Child-welfare must force the realization of Mrs Clinton’s humanitarian policies of universal health-insurance for the people of America – the first and only one of its kind (overdue) in American History. And according to the new paradigm I am proposing, Thou shalt not kill children and their mothers, now add to it – and their fathers, and grandparents – We all are the children of God!

And now to the ultimate problem of all global problems – Climate Change, which is a deceptive turn of phrase to camouflage the horrendous evil truth of destroying the very Oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere we need to breathe second-by-second ... Never mind polar ice-caps melting, oceans rising, we are (like the foolish individuals who smoke cigarettes on the micro-level) as nations destroying on the macro-level by-the-second the very Oxygen we need to survive and live by! Such destruction is evidence of sheer human cultural stupidity – dumping each year 7 billion tonnes of pollutants in the atmosphere of this sweet little child-planet.

Even the Nobel-prize winning Mr. Al Gore won’t dare speak the truth – the global car and aviation industries are satanic evils that need be controlled, transformed and absolutely rationalized, not-expanded. There can be no stupid glee and Big Business hand-rubbing in the lunatic economic predictions that China shall be helped to have ... 900 million cars in the next decade.

Hitherto, the planet Earth was conceived as a ‘mature woman’ – Mother Earth/ Mother Nature – and messed about, abused and finally ‘proudly’ raped by the Macho-male-warmonger-idiot. At the odd occasion in history when a Woman had acquired such power – Queen Elizabeth the First of Britain, and Catherine the Great of Russia – they have strangely morphed into the macho-male paradigm – with Ms Madeleine Albright, the elder Bushite lacking any female nurturing instincts, declaring infamously to the world that the death of half a million Iraqi ... children is a price worth paying for the discomfiture of one male idiot – the banana-tyrant Saddam Hussein, ex CIA operative and ordained murderer of Abdul Karim Kassem, his predecessor.

If one conceives of this planet – a grain of dust in the vastness of the universe – as yet another little child of the great Creator – then the politicians must do EVERYTHING to save it from the violent stupidities of bi-gender power-obsessed politics, as my noble wife Clarice puts it, “child-planet is precious, in need of care and protection, like all children”.

All for child-welfare – and Child-welfare for all should be the hub of the new neural network out of which the new mindset of the future mankind can and must be wired before we destroy ourselves through sheer stupidity – narcissistic greed and waste of our planet’s resources.

Only thus, dear ... President Obama, and Vice-President Clinton, can you change America, and the rest of the world, into a new order and Pax Americana, not by genocidal warmongering all over the world that is reducing day-by-day the very Oxygen we need to breathe merely to live as God’s little children!

Yours truly

Professor Hovhanness Israel Pilikian.

8th July 2008.

P.S. Please forgive me for the awkward lay-out, as I do not know enough computers to have done a better job ...

You Can’t Be President: The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America

Chinni — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:34:41 EDT

Rick MacArthur: “You Can’t Be President: The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America”

As the Democratic National Convention begins in Denver, Democracy Now! speaks to Harper’s publisher Rick MacArthur on his new book You Can’t Be President. MacArthur says that the popular notion that any American can become president only reinforces the “destructive national delusion that widespread, up-from-the-ground, truly popular democracy, both political and economic, really exists in America.” To assume that, he says, is equal to believing that Santa Claus exists.

..The barriers to entry to politics in the United States are—the principal one is that you cannot raise money on the level of an incumbent congressman or an incumbent politician..
..he goes around saying he doesn’t take money from lobbyists. Well, it’s true that he doesn’t take money from registered lobbyists, but only a child or a naïf would think that corporate lawyers or Washington lawyers don’t lobby informally in front regulatory commissions and in front of members of Congress, and Obama has been all over the corporate law community..
..Howard Dean was, I think, a genuine and authentic independent. He was kind of a centrist or a liberal Republican, if you look at him on the ideological scale, but he was a real threat to the Democratic Party establishment, because he was able to raise so much money on the internet and from small contributors..
..And the Clintons had to stop this. And so, the faction around the Clintons that wanted Kerry to lose, because Kerry had to lose for Clinton to run in 2008, they organized a 527 group to hit Dean in Iowa, which has never been written enough about, and they raised money from all these Clinton loyalists..
..And this is something that you have to understand in order to understand why Barack Obama is so cautious. He doesn’t want to take on the central funding apparatus of the Democratic Party. He wants to take it over. He wants to take it away from the Clintons, and the Clintons are very, very unhappy..
..It’s not an ideological fight, it’s a fight over power. There is very little difference between Obama and Clinton on the big issues of the day. And the Clintons are still running. Hillary Clinton is hoping very much that Obama will lose and that she can present herself in 2012 on the “I told you so” ticket...
..There was a meeting up in Westchester just a month ago between Clinton fundraisers and Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chairman who’s working, I think—I don’t know if she’s finance chairman, but she’s very involved in raising money for McCain. Lynn Forester De Rothschild, she’s been quoted in the papers saying that she’s not happy with the Obama fundraising apparatus. It’s like two corporations trying to merge, and one of the corporations doesn’t really want to be taken over. The Clinton corporation is hoping, really, that the Obama corporation will bankrupt itself and fall apart and that they can resume their drive for power in four years..

Re: Israel's Great Multi-racial, Multi culture, Cosmopolitan society

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:59:06 EDT

Re: Israel's Great Multi-racial, Multi culture, Cosmopolitan society

... Next, Harrison looks at definitions of fascism. The phenomenon is not confined to the political Right, since the USSR was as fascist as the Third Reich. Nor is it absent in the Third World. The inability to distinguish between people and their leaders is a fallacy often made by patronising Western intellectuals. As for the [racist Arabs'] accusation that Israel is a "racist, apartheid" state, the author argues that it is instead a nearly textbook example of a multicultural society. There are Black Israelis and Arab Jews and anyone can convert to Judaism. In Israel the holy places and right to worship of all religions are respected, which is not the case over vast areas of the planet.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Resurgence-Anti-semitism-Liberal-Opinion-Philosophy/dp/0742552276

-------

ISRAEL'S NEXT TOP MODEL (you can't get more multi racial, more multi color than that)

This year (2006) marked the second season of the reality tv competition searching for Israel’s Next Top Model (the show is a knock off of Tyra Bank’s program “America’s Next Top Model”). The three finalists are depicted in this picture. All are Israeli young women. Two are Jewish, one is Muslim. Kristine, the blond model was born in Russia. Mimi, the black model was born in Ethiopia.
Her family belongs to the group of courageous Ethiopian Jews who braved starvation, exposure to the elements, wild animals, brutal marauders and exhaustion to escape Ethiopia by WALKING to the Holy Land. Niral, the brown haired beauty on the left, was born in Israel to a Muslim-Israeli family.
Niral won the competition and is now , Israel’s Next Top Model.

See more at: Israel the GEM!

GOP to Supplant the UN?

Peach McD — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:13:04 EDT

We know that the GOP despises the UN, and wishes it would shut up and go away. But I just found out about their plan to make that happen, thanks to a post on this site from Bill Marjenhoff on the Citizens of the World for Barack Obama group blog. McCain's foreign policy platform includes a first year summit with hand-picked leaders to form a new org called the 'League of Democracies'. Doesn't that sound purdy? Here's McCain's website speaking:

Pakistan is at last finding its voice. The US would be wise not to gag it

Chinni — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:13:49 EDT

Pakistan is at last finding its voice. The US would be wise not to gag it

Mohsin Hamid - The Guardian, Friday August 22 2008

..As a democracy, Pakistan's role in this drama is likely to change because a great tension at the centre of the US-Pakistan alliance will increasingly be exposed. That tension, in a nutshell, is this: most Pakistanis are anti-America. For a combination of reasons, and despite evident fondness for American products and individuals, my impression is that most Pakistanis have extremely negative views of the US as a geopolitical player..
..The anti-America sentiment suggests that Pakistanis would like greater independence in their relationship with the US. But the moribund state of Pakistan's economy and the fraught nature of its security situation make the country utterly dependent on US aid and eager for hi-tech American weaponry. The challenge facing Pakistan's new leaders is to explain that Pakistanis cannot have both. If they are to satisfy their constituents, they will need to articulate a plan for increasingly putting Pakistan's interests first while gradually reducing the country's reliance on the US.
The US, for its part, will need to adjust to a Pakistan in which anti-America sentiment could seriously undermine US interests. The US can best do this by offering Pakistan not the appearance of an alliance but the equality and mutual respect that constitutes the substance of one. Pakistan's people have already demonstrated through the ballot that they reject the Taliban worldview, and the number of Pakistanis who died in terrorist attacks last year alone exceeds the number of Americans killed on 9/11..

The 'Israel Lobby' Myth

Martha from Washington, DC — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:34:28 EDT

The 'Israel Lobby' MythBy George P. Shultz Posted September 9, 2007
Israel is a free, democratic, open, and relentlessly self-analytical place. To hear harsh criticism of Israel's policies and leaders, listen to the Israelis. So questioning Israel for its actions is legitimate, but lies are something else. Throughout human history, they have been used not only to vilify but to establish a basis for cruel and inhuman acts. The catalog of lies about Jews is long and astonishingly crude, matched only by the suffering that has followed their promulgation.
Defaming the Jews by disputing their rightful place among the peoples of the world has been a long-running, well-documented, and disgraceful series of episodes across history. Again and again a time has come when legitimate criticism slips across an invisible line into what might be called the "badlands," a place where those who should be regarded as worthy adversaries in debate are turned into scapegoats, targets, all-purpose objects of blame.
In America, we protect all speech, even the most hurtful lies. We allow a virtual free-for-all by which laws are adopted, enforced, and interpreted. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent yearly to influence this process; thousands of groups vie for influence. Among these are Jewish groups that have come under renewed criticism for being part of an all-powerful "Israel lobby," most notably in a book published this week by Profs. Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer.
Jewish groups are influential. They also largely agree that the United States should support Israel. But the notion that they have anything like a uniform agenda and that U.S. policy in Israel and the Middle East is the result of this influence is simply wrong.
One choice. Some critics seem overly impressed with the way of thinking that says to itself, "Since there is a huge Arab Islamic world out there with all the oil, and it is opposed to this tiny little Israel with no natural resources, then realistically the United States has to be on the Arab side and against Israel on every issue, and since this isn't the case, there must be some underhanded Jewish plot at work." This is a conspiracy theory, pure and simple.
Another tried and true method for damaging the well-being and security of the Jewish people and the State of Israel is a dangerously false analogy. Witness former President Jimmy Carter's book Palestine—Peace Not Apartheid. Here the association on the one hand is between Israel's existentially threatened position and the measures it has taken to protect its population from terrorist attacks, driven by an ideology bent on the complete eradication of the State of Israel, and, on the other, the racist oppression of South Africa's black population by the white Boer regime.
The tendency of mind that lies behind such repulsive analogies remains and is reinforced by the former president's views, spread across his book, which come down on the anti-Israel side of every case. These false analogies stir up and lend legitimacy to more widely based movements that take the same dangerous direction.
Anyone who thinks that Jewish groups constitute a homogeneous "lobby" ought to spend some time dealing with them. For example, my decision to open a dialogue with Yasser Arafat after he met certain conditions evoked a wide spectrum of responses from the government of Israel, its political parties, and American Jewish groups who weighed in on one side or the other. Other examples in which the United States rejected Israel's view of an issue, or the view of the American Jewish community, include the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia and President Reagan's decision to go to the cemetery at Bitburg, Germany.
The United States supports Israel not because of favoritism based on political pressure or influence but because the American people, and their leaders, say that supporting Israel is politically sound and morally just.
We are a great nation. Mostly, we make good decisions. We are not babes in the woods. We act in our own interests. And when we mistakenly conclude from time to time—as we will—that an action or policy is in America's interest, we must take responsibility for the mistake.
So, on every level, those who blame Israel and its Jewish supporters for U.S. policies they do not support are wrong. They are wrong because, to begin with, support for Israel is in our best interests. They are also wrong because Israel and its supporters have the right to try to influence U.S. policy. And they are wrong because the U.S. government is responsible for the policies it adopts, not any other state or any of the myriad lobbies and groups that battle daily—sometimes with lies—to win America's support.
George Shultz was secretary of state from 1982 to 1989. This is excerpted from his introduction to The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control by Abraham Foxman (Palgrave Macmillan).

http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2007/09/09/the-israel-lobby-myth.html

Energy Policy, Timely Action, and our Core Values are Pivotal to America’s Future

Dr. Jeffrey Kargel — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:13:18 EDT

Every period of history has written its own future; that’s the nature of the Universe. One moment conditions and strides into the next. That’s obvious. However, there are relatively stable times when likely future paths are more predictable or more controllable and less prone to deleterious derailments than other times. This is not one of those stable times. It’s not stable economically, politically, or environmentally. There are times so precarious, due partly to careless human management of affairs on our planet and partly just because of physics and geology, that decisions or events pushed one way would create a totally different future than decisions or events pushed another way. Precarious times make fertile grounds for revolutions. Think about the time of the World War II years and the development of the Cold War. Or the American Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution. The question during such revolutionary times is always which way to go? Whose revolution will it be? Whose strength will become dominant and whose world order will prevail over the others? Whose ideals will become embedded in society and institutions of the future? And now we ask, whoever comes to dominate the new order, will logic and respect prevail, or will one disaster presage the next in a cascading sequence of traumas delivered to everybody and everything on the globe? Or will this century be much less about domination and much more about sound persuasion and allowance for being different?

Will China replace America as the pre-eminent economic and military power, and if so, what path will they take in their superpower management of our planet, including the global environment and America’s and the democratic free world’s economies and political institution? Will Russia’s relations with the West take a turn back to the Cold War? Will neglect of real issues in the Islamic World press them to take increasingly militant stances, including support for al Qaeda, and will our continuing response render democracy and freedom something of the past? Will increasing American dependence on foreign petroleum spur opposition to America and the democratic free world by China, Russia, and al Qaeda all in the same generation? Surely we cannot struggle against all three at once. Fortunately, the possibility exists that we might need not struggle against any one of them, if we and they are wise. If I wax too optimistic about this, at least we can avoid a global free-for-all. We can avoid it, but will we? Will we destroy ourselves and all the ideals America has grown to represent by trying vainly to tackle foreign adversaries in short-sighted and ineffective ways? Will uncontrolled fear drive America and the democratic free world to embrace step-wise lowering of our standards of freedom and technological encroachments on our privacy, such that eventually individuals and unsanctioned groups have no standing with increasingly totalitarian-minded governments? Will we do to ourselves what no totalitarian ideology has been able to achieve?

The threats are not only about human relations. Will growth in global burning of fossil fuels bring on climatic shifts so profound that the major economies and powers of the world collapse under the burdens and damages wrought by this generation’s decisions? Will climate change or depletion of nonrenewable resources be foremost in wringing failure from civilization’s technological success?

The decisions and paths taken over the next few years will substantially determine our American path and the global future. These times are as serious and globally consequential as any time in history, for better or worse.

I ask some serious questions, as though there may be a dire fate we are thrusting ourselves into. However, I am optimistic that America will reassert itself as a positive force in the world; reassert its insistence that all men and women are created equal and embody the individual and collective pursuit of happiness; reassert itself through the power of knowledge, logic, and compassion as well as through steadfast opposition to ideologies—foreign-born and domestic-- that would overturn a millennium of human progress in well being and civic freedom. I am optimistic that if we try to be better as a people, work even harder than ever, keep and reinforce our core values when devaluation threatens, then we will be as successful as geology and physics and logic can make us. I believe--not in some blind-follows-the-blind way, but in a "trust but verify" type of way-- that Barack Obama has the ideas, the advisors, the good sense, and the boldness that will be needed to take us where we must go. I am optimistic about America and about our world.

Motivational Note

Friends of President Barack Obama — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:19:02 EDT

Even though it may not look like it or feel like it, you are making progress.

Continue working towards progress instead of perfection.

Nothing or no no one is perfect.

Just keep taking steps.

Keep making those phone calls.

Continue following your plan.

Remain focused on your goal.

Do what you have to do right now to get to the next level.

Complete every task.

Keep every promise and commitment.

Don't look back.

Stay on track.

Let no one weaken your walk of faith and determination.

Remain teachable.

Place yourself in a blessing position by associating with people on-the-grow.

Talk with teachers.

Walk with winners.

Climb with champions.

Study successful people.

Something great is about to happen for you!

Start giving thanks right now before you can even see the outward manisfestation of your prayers and desires.

Everything you do from this day forward will take you further away or closer to your potential for successful living.

-by Dr. Jewel Diamond Taylor, Motivational Speaker & Author

Let's Get Serious: Can Obama Really Win?

Marjani — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:56:33 EDT

How many of you out there actually believe Obama is GOING TO BE President?

Between our beliefs that America can belong to The People again, and Kim Clement's prophecy, Obama is slated to become President on November 4 or sometime shortly thereafter, and to be inaugurated in January of 2009.

However, The Repugs have stolen elections before...what's to stop them from doing in this one?

Why not think ahead...to the IMF, the World Bank, even the Illuminati ... the "real owners" of this nation that George Carlin often said spend all of their time f-ing everyone else for their own profit, and killing other people's children while keeping their own children safe from harm.

There was a time when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had more people listening to him than did the President of the United States. Right now, Obama is doing the same. Obama has more listeners and a broader outreach than the President himself, the vice-president, who has been industriously silent on the frontlines (who's watching Cheney right now and what is he up to? why has he sorta kinda 'disappeared' from view?), AND the world is definitely paying more attention to Obama than to McCain, which is why they keep calling him The One and The Celebrity. BUT, we all know that if Obama weren't running for office no one would be listening to McCain at all beause he really has nothing of worth to say.

Problem is, Mr. Average Joe Citizen has sat on his duff and let "Big Government" run our lives for so long, how much as actually spun out of control over the years? Who are the 'powers-that-be' that will only let Obama go so far before snatching the chair from under him?

I'm not preaching about the politics of fear or engaging in the semantics of conspiracy theories, I'm talking about reality.

Reality, meaning everything from two-faced people who smile about Obama to your face, but who would never vote for him simply because, though he is the best candidate, he is still a shamelessly professed "Black" man, with a black wife, and black children who have no business at Camp David during vacations unless they're serving lunch, cleaning toilets, takig notes, or sweeping the fireplace chimney. To them, that's all he will ever be - popularity or no popularity.

I am hoping Obama is taking a "working vacation" in Hawaii, and I am glad he is pacing himself and taking time out to breathe and relax before jumping back in the frying pan again, but some folk will even take his "breathers" for granted and call him out his name for needing a time out here or there.

And IF this is a legitimate election, rather than one that will be set up in the Supreme Court again, what about "the experience factor?" McCain does have 18 years government experience over Obama, though more of it is because of familial connections than actual self-achievement. I know white women 20 years my junior who have 10 years more experience than me simply because they were afforded opportunities in the span of my 35-year long career that never came my way.

But "experience" is the very reason McCain ought to be retired. President is a job he is much too old to handle. He is not ready, nor is he prepared to preside over all the people of all races and all nationalities -- he is only ready and prepared to preside over his own little special interest group of Caucasian power elite, just as many presidents before him did and with the exception of very few, while continuing to push the rest of us aside.

Of course, McCain's constituents either don't see what everyone else does, or at least they don't want to see it for obvious reasons. Obama is a Life Manager by his actions -- one who understands balance and equality in all things, and how to budget and manage money, as no other president-elect ever has before.

Today, Obama is wielding the same political sphere of influence and power as did Dr. King, just before the Poor People's Campaign was to take place -- and, in a sense, he is truly taking up the mantle and the gauntlet where Dr. King left off. King was a man who was in position to march and demonstrate for the rights of ALL workers and people in The Beloved Community who were being played, used, abused, ignored, and had their industry and hard work and hard-won gains (those of ALL races) taken for granted while the mob and the power elite and the corporate elite ran ramshod over this nation and turned it into a den of thieves and illicit gain.

However, when the power elite and corporate upper crust were threatened by the power King was earning by the truckloads, they had him snuffed out as they then credited racism and viral hatred (the politics of individual emotions run amuck) for a death that was actually endorsed and co-signed by the federal government, just as were the deaths of the Kennedys and several others who were assasinated. Hillary Clinton knows that, or is aware of it, or she wouldn't have said what she said about Robert Kennedy at The Ambassador in L.A. during the time that she was campaiging.

I realize Obama is not worried about it, or least that's what he and Michelle say and want us to believe, to help us 'be not afraid,' BUT the bottom line is that IF Obama is going to succeed, then the ENTIRE NATION of those outside of those power elite circles are going to have to rally around him day and night -- not just now, but even after he's elected; even if it has to be done in shifts around the nation, yeah -- around the globe.

We've got to do everything that we can to let these controlling b-words know that this is OUR country, too; not just theirs -- and that we want our nation and our lives and our right to privacy back and our children back home -- and that they can't just arbitrarily manipulate The Constitution to force people to do their will for their own personal profit and gain at the expense of our children while simultaneously keeping their own children out of harm's way.

Now is the time to end this once and for all. One nation, indivisible.

And even more than that, if this is truly the good and just nation that its patriot-citizens say it is, and Obama actually wins come November, will it be business as usual between blacks and whites -- or will true racial equality, on all sides, finally be within our reach? Will The Beloved Community be actualized, realized, and manifested at last?

Prior to this time, many thought black people were plain ignorant when the truth is that they had nothing to vote for and nothing to hope for before now, not even in the Clintons (who were still white at the end of the day). If America needs to be ONE NATION, it is past time to give its citizens who didn't believe there was any hope the hope that things can and will get better in the future. {Remember: Some people thought blacks don't read either, until they discovered that black people weren't reading because most of the stuff that was written had nothing to do with them and wasn't having any real impact on their lives one way or the other.}

Yet and at the same, many black Americans think Obama has some duty outside of serving ALL the people that is strictly theirs, and this, too, is untrue. Just because he IS Black doesn't mean he owes black people anything. If black folk don't/can't/won't stand up for themselves, no one has to do it for us--not even Obama, whether we like his Cosby-esque "blame the victim" motif or not.

Kapish?

Can Obama really win? It depends on how willing we all are to see to it that Big Government knows we're damn sick and tired of their crap and aren't taking it any more.

Obama isn't 'The One,' but he is the right one to lead us, and right now his wisdom is certainly comparable to that of King Solomon's. He is abundantly blessed with it, as is spoken of in the Book of Proverbs. Maybe he (Obama) humbly and graciously asked God for wisdom in his quiet prayer time, and God granted his prayer, because he certainly has it.

Obama 08

de Tocqueville says...

David — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:07:04 EDT

"The first of the duties that are at this time imposed upon those who direct our affairs is to educate democracy, to reawaken, if possible, its religious beliefs; to purify its morals; to mold its actions; to substitute a knowledge of statecraft for its inexperience, and an awareness of its true interest for its blind instincts, to adapt its government to time and place, and to modify according to [people] and conditions. A new science of politics is needed for a new world."--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America 1835

Be The Tidal Wave

Margotb822 — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 01:29:57 EDT

Obama is just the symbol, we are the real catalyst for change. Let's be the tidal wave to wash some much needed change through our government!!

Be The Tidal Wave

Chomsky on the Obama phenomenon

Chinni — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:31:30 EDT

Noam Chomsky Interviewed by Vincent Navarro

on May 13 '08

..Popular opinion in the United States has been very well studied, mainly because the business classes, who run the country, want to have their finger on the public pulse - for the purpose of control and propaganda. You can only hope to control people's attitudes and opinions if you know a lot about them, so we know a lot about public opinion. In the last election, 2004, most Bush voters were mistaken about his views on major issues - not because they're stupid or uninterested, but because the elections are a marketing system. This is a business-run society: you market commodities, you market candidates. The public are the victims and they know it, and that's why 80% think, more or less accurately, that the country is run by a few big interests looking after themselves. So people are not deluded, they just don't really see any choices.
The Obama phenomenon is an interesting reaction to this. Obama's handlers, the campaign managers, have created an image that is essentially a blank slate. In the Obama campaign the words are hope, change, unity - totally vacuous slogans said by a nice person, who looks good and talks nicely - what commentators call "soaring rhetoric" - and you can write anything you like on that blank slate. A lot of people are writing on it their hopes for progressive change. In the campaign, as the Wall Street Journal correctly notes, issues have received little attention. Personal characteristics are the key element. It's character that's up front.
But, yes, the support for Obama is a popular phenomenon, and I think it reflects the alienation of the population from the institutions. People are grasping at a straw: here's a possibility that maybe somebody will stand up for what they want. Even though he's not saying so, he looks like the kind of person who might do it. It's quite interesting to look at the comparisons that are made. Obama is compared to John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan - Kennedy and Reagan were media constructions, Reagan particularly. He probably didn't even know what the policies were, but he was a creation of the media. He wasn't particularly popular, incidentally, but the media created the image of this wonderful cowboy who would save us, and so on and so forth.
The Kennedy administration was more in control; they were the first ruling group to understand the power of television and they created a kind of charisma through good public relations: the image of Camelot, this marvelous place, with wonderful things happening, and a great president. When you look at the actual actions, it's grotesque. Kennedy is the president who invaded South Vietnam and launched a major terrorist war against Cuba, and we could go on and on about it. His administration was responsible for establishment of the Brazilian neo-Nazi dictatorship. The coup took place right after Kennedy's assassination, but the ground was prepared by the Kennedys and led to a horrible plague of repression over Latin America, and on and on. But the image of Camelot is there, and imagery is very important when you are trying to control a dissident population.
Actually, the United States is far from a fascist country, that's a bad analogy. But the similarity to fascist propaganda techniques is quite striking, and it's not accidental. The Nazis explicitly, consciously, and openly adopted the techniques of American commercial advertising, and said so. They took a few simple ideas, stressed them over and over again, and made them look glamorous - that was the technique of American commercial advertising in the 1920s and it was the model that the Nazis explicitly adopted, and it's the model of business propaganda today.
So, yes, the Obama phenomenon, I think, reflects the alienation of the population that you find in the polls: 80% say the country is run by a few big interests. While Obama says we are going to change that, there's no indication of what the change is going to be. In fact, the financial institutions, which are his major contributors, think he's fine, so there's no indication of any change. But if you say "change," people will grasp at it; you say "change" and "hope," and people will grasp at this and say, OK, maybe this is the savior who will bring about what we want, even though there is no evidence for it..

Arab Muslim Apartheid world vs democratic Israel the gem in the jungle

Martha from Washington, DC — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:42:16 EDT

Arab Muslim Apartheid world vs democratic Israel the gem in the jungle

With the elections (in Israel) over, and as the political machinations surrounding the formation of the new Israeli government reach their height, it is of note that in "apartheid Israel" (which is also accused by the Palestinians of "ethnic cleansing"), around 12 Arabs, Bedouin and Druze will sit in Jerusalem's 17th Knesset. That's 10% of the parliament. Exactly how many Jews are represented in the parliaments of Cairo, Rabat, Amman, Baghdad, Damascus or even Ramallah?
http://dfrankfurter.livejournal.com/73264.html

Not one media representative will use the true applicable word: Apartheid & Racism where it belongs, i.e. Islamo Arab world.
All of it!

Arabs, Muslims, First class Citizens in Israel - Re: Arabists' racist "apartheid" slur against ISRAEL the EQUALITY DEMOCRACY

Odonald from New York, NY — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:58:22 EDT

Palestinian Arab Muslims first class citizens in Israel whereas Israeli Jews are second class citizens?
Imagine, Israeli non Arabs (i.e., Jews) have to put up with:

1) Back stabbing -- example #1:

Constant finding out on more and more Israeli Arabs aiding genocide bombers (whether with info or more than that), stabbing the very Israel, they're citizens of, thus indirectly murdering their fellow Israelis, the Israeli Jews...

2) Back stabbing -- example #2:

The Israeli Arab parliament members constantly whine about being "second class" citizens, after getting free education and achieving whatever they achieve, inside equal-rights & equal-access democractic Israel. As payback, these back stabbers are tarnishing Israel's image all over, especially on Arab global media.

3) Uneven rights -- Arab's advantage over Jews:

Israeli Arabs (unlike Israeli Jews) are exempt from serving in Israeli army (which is naturally for the protection of all Israelis), still they enjoy the same rights as Israeli Jews: voting, education, free speech, etc.

4) Now the favorite part: Israeli Courts (& often security) favor Israeli Arabs over Jews
Who's second class now?

5) Wait, there's more: Israeli government allowing Arabs more rights far MORE than Jews, blatantly, especially in access to land.

Who's second class now?

Favoring Arabs over Jews Inside Israel's equality-democracy ... here are References and info...