Posts with the tag aid

What is bias in the middle east conflict? [March, 2009]

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:57:01 EDT

What is bias in the middle east conflict? [March, 2009]

Arabs’ racist killing (specifically) Jews *, is accepted “freedom fighting’'.

Israelis worried of Arab terror *, branded as “racists”.

War crimes, crimes against humanity by Palestinian Arab leadership - regime in Gaza * * * of using Arab civilians, making sure their kids die, for the “greater good (Jihadi-fascism’s goodness) of making Israel look bad…” * * * * * * *, using hospitals *, schools, UN medical vehicles * *, even aid material sent by humanitarian Israel * for murder, targeting at Israeli civilians, - shoved aside, ignored *.

Israel’s humane army’s extreme measures not to hit civilians (including 250,000 warning phone calls to Arab residents to evacuate a particular area designated to be included in an op., knowing full well terrorists can cease the opportunity and flea, as well as risking young soldiers’ lives in going door to door) * * * * aiming only at Hamas terrorists is denounced of “random shooting” and “war crimes”.

[Arab led pressure forcing Israel to conduct] Uprooting Jews from their homes and their ancestors’, AKA Transfer * * AKA Arab Palestinian Apartheid * is “good for peace”.

Transfer of Arabs (who don’t have more than 2 or 3 generations of history in Judea / Israel / Palestine * * * *) is “apartheid, fascist and racist” * (AKA Avigdor Lieberman).

While Hamas or even “Moderate” Fatah refuses to recognize Israel *, international aid is flowing their way.

UN is “busy” condemning Israel * * on whatever is being told (forced) by the global Arab Muslim oil lobby.

Andreas Klamm, journalist, author, nurse (R.N.) and paramedic

Andreas Klamm — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:57:00 EST

Andreas Klamm, journalist, author, nurse (R.N.) and paramedic

This is only a very brief introducing. Since 1984 I am working as a journalist, broadcast journalist and author of several books. Since 1984 I am working for the commercial mass or main stream media and for alternative and international media in the English and German language.

In 1984 I have founded www.3mnewswire.org and the Rundfunk- und Programmarbeitsgemeinschaft fuer Film, Funk und Fernsehen (RPF) which stands for Broadcasting and Program association for film, broadcasting and television.

In 1986 in the German city of Speyer am Rhein and in the English city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England I became the founder of IBS Independent Broadcasting Service Liberty, Radio IBS Liberty, and IBS Television Liberty which is also known as IBS Television Leeds and Radio IBS Leeds.

Already as a teenager when I have 16 years of age I have produced 8 hour live Radio programs with the beginning of private broadcasting in Germany in 1984.

Some awards and promotions I have received for some of my television productions already only two years later, in 1986, 1988, 1987, and 1989 from a Department of State for Political Eduation.

In 1996 I used to be a member of a German political party one of the biggest ones in Germany.

Only as a secondary profession which is good also in 1993 after a training of three years I became a registered nurse (R.N.) and later also a paramedic. Since 1986 I am working both as journalist, broadcast journalist and author in the United Kingdom, Germany and even in other countries.

Also a a registered nurse (R.N.) I have been working both in Germany and in the United Kingdom. Still in 2006 I have been working as an ITU nurse with the Clementine Churchill Hospital in London and with the big massive University Hospitals in Germany.

For more information please go to www.andreasklamm.blogspot.com and www.andreasklamm.wordpress.com Andreas Klamm

February 11, 2009

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

Andreas Klamm, French-German Journalist, broadcast journalist and author

The book can be found on: 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, 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

Loan Titans Paid McCain Adviser Nearly $2 Million

Chris — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:11:19 EDT

The McCain campaign has decided that the New York Times is not real journalism. The stinging article below may be why...

September 22, 2008Loan Titans Paid McCain Adviser Nearly $2 Million By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and CHARLES DUHIGG

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

Mr. McCain, the Republican candidate for president, has recently begun campaigning as a critic of the two companies and the lobbying army that helped them evade greater regulation as they began buying riskier mortgages with implicit federal backing. He and his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, have donors and advisers who are tied to the companies.

But last week the McCain campaign stepped up a running battle of guilt by association when it began broadcasting commercials trying to link Mr. Obama directly to the government bailout of the mortgage giants this month by charging that he takes advice from Fannie Mae’s former chief executive, Franklin Raines, an assertion both Mr. Raines and the Obama campaign dispute.

Incensed by the advertisements, several current and former executives of the companies came forward to discuss the role that Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager and longtime adviser, played in helping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac beat back regulatory challenges when he served as president of their advocacy group, the Homeownership Alliance, formed in the summer of 2000. Some who came forward were Democrats, but Republicans, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed their descriptions.

“The value that he brought to the relationship was the closeness to Senator McCain and the possibility that Senator McCain was going to run for president again,” said Robert McCarson, a former spokesman for Fannie Mae, who said that while he worked there from 2000 to 2002, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac together paid Mr. Davis’s firm $35,000 a month. Mr. Davis “didn’t really do anything,” Mr. McCarson, a Democrat, said.

Mr. Davis’s role with the group has bubbled up as an issue in the campaign, but the extent of his compensation and the details of his role have not been reported previously.

Mr. McCain was never a leading critic or defender of the mortgage giants, although several former executives of the companies said Mr. Davis did draw Mr. McCain to a 2004 awards banquet that the companies’ Homeownership Alliance held in a Senate office building. The organization printed a photograph of Mr. McCain at the event in its 2004 annual report, bolstering its clout and credibility. The event honored several other elected officials, including at least two Democrats, Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania and Representative Artur Davis of Alabama.

In an interview Sunday night with CNBC and The New York Times, Mr. McCain noted that Mr. Davis was no longer working on behalf of the mortgage giants. He said Mr. Davis “has had nothing to do with it since, and I’ll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.”

Asked about the reports of Mr. Davis’s role, a spokesman for Mr. McCain said that during the time when Mr. Davis ran the Homeownership Alliance, the senator had backed legislation to increase oversight of the mortgage companies’ accounting and executive compensation. The legislation, however, did not seek to change their anomalous structure as private companies with federal support.

The spokesman, Tucker Bounds, also noted that the Homeownership Alliance included nonprofit organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the Urban League. “It’s not controversial to promote homeownership and minority homeownership,” Mr. Bounds said. More than a half-dozen current and former executives, however, said the Homeownership Alliance was set up mainly to defend Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by promoting their role in the housing market, and the two companies paid almost the entire cost of the group’s operations.

“They were financed largely, possibly exclusively, by Fannie and Freddie,” said William R. Maloni, a Democrat who is a former head of industry relations for Fannie Mae. “We thought it would be helpful to have someone who was a broadly recognized Republican to be the face of the organization, and that person became Rick Davis.” Mr. Maloni added, “Rick, for that purpose, turned out to be quite good.” (Several executives said Mr. Davis’s compensation was not unusual for the companies’ well-connected consultants.)

The federal bailout of the two mortgage giants has become an emblem of what critics say is the outdated or inadequate regulatory system that allowed the financial system to slide into crisis this summer.

At the time that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recruited Mr. Davis to run the Homeownership Alliance in 2000, they were under new pressure from private industry rivals and deregulation-minded Republicans who argued that the two companies’ federal sponsorship gave them an unfair advantage and put taxpayers at risk. Critics of the companies had formed their own Washington-based advocacy group, FM Watch. They were pushing for regulations that would deter the companies from expanding into new areas, including riskier and more profitable mortgages.

Mr. Davis had recently returned to his lobbying firm from running Mr. McCain’s unexpectedly strong 2000 Republican primary campaign, which elevated Mr. McCain’s profile as a legislator and Mr. Davis’s as a lobbyist.

“You can say what you want about free-market distortions, but people like the system because it gets them into houses cheap,” Mr. Davis said to Institutional Investor magazine in 2000, adding that he would run the advocacy group out of his Alexandria, Va., lobbying firm.

The organization also hired Public Strategies, a communications firm that included former Bush adviser Mark McKinnon. Mr. Davis wrote letters and gave speeches for the group. In April 2001, he sent out a press release headlined, “It’s Tax Day — Do You Know Where Your Deductions Are? For Most Americans, They’re in Your Home.”

But by the end of 2005, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were recovering from accounting problems and re-examining costs, former executives said. The companies decided the Homeownership Alliance had outlived its usefulness, and it disappeared.

John Harwood contributed reporting.

McCain Supporter, Pat Buchanan, calls for the aid of Joe Biden

Blue Girl in South Carolina — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:56:37 EDT

How could a story this BIG be missed by News Media outlets and the public????

In an August article by McCain supporter, Pat Buchanan -- Buchanan calls for Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden to investigate just exactly who started the Cold War II between Russia and the United States. If John McCain and Sarah Palin are such quality leaders, why then is Buchanan wanting Sen. Joe Biden, Vice Presidential candidate for future president ot the United States, Barack Obama, to be the one to investigate this issue? Evidentally, in a very important OP-Ed, Buchanan wrote about this dilemma, and did not call on his own party's candidate to help or direct such an important investigation? What does this say about foreign affairs and communication skills for John McCain and Sarah Palin?

Start of article and Link to full story below:

******************************************************************************

By Pat Buchanan

If Cold War II is coming, who started it, if not us?

The swift and decisive action of Putin's army in running the Georgian forces out of South Ossetia in 24 hours after Saakashvili began his barrage and invasion suggests Putin knew exactly what Saakashvili was up to and dropped the hammer on him.

What did we know? Did we know Georgia was about to walk into Putin's trap? Did we not see the Russians lying in wait north of the border? Did we give Saakashvili a green light?

Joe Biden ought to be conducting public hearings on who caused this U.S. humiliation.

The war in Georgia has exposed the dangerous overextension of U.S. power. There is no way America can fight a war with Russia in the Caucasus with our army tied down in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nor should we. Hence, it is demented to be offering, as John McCain and Barack Obama are, NATO membership to Tbilisi...see FULL story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20080819/cm_uc_crpbux/op_337089

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..

Russia Never Wanted a War

Chinni — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:04:13 EDT

Russia Never Wanted a War

By MIKHAIL GORBACHEV - August 19, 2008

..Tskhinvali was in smoking ruins and thousands of people were fleeing — before any Russian troops arrived. Yet Russia was already being accused of aggression; news reports were often an embarrassing recitation of the Georgian leader’s deceptive statements.
It is still not quite clear whether the West was aware of Mr. Saakashvili’s plans to invade South Ossetia, and this is a serious matter. What is clear is that Western assistance in training Georgian troops and shipping large supplies of arms had been pushing the region toward war rather than peace..
..Those who rush to judgment on what’s happening in the Caucasus, or those who seek influence there, should first have at least some idea of this region’s complexities. The Ossetians live both in Georgia and in Russia. The region is a patchwork of ethnic groups living in close proximity. Therefore, all talk of “this is our land,” “we are liberating our land,” is meaningless. We must think about the people who live on the land.
The problems of the Caucasus region cannot be solved by force. That has been tried more than once in the past two decades, and it has always boomeranged.What is needed is a legally binding agreement not to use force. Mr. Saakashvili has repeatedly refused to sign such an agreement, for reasons that have now become abundantly clear..

Yes We Can - Yes We Must!

Phil from Bethesda, MD — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:00:53 EDT

Back in December last year, while his candidacy still looked pretty iffy, I first heard Barack Obama speak the words "Yes We Can" and, like so many others, became immediately inspired. As he himself is the first to realize, his whole life is an example of how the most seemingly impossible things can and do happen. We can each and all of us make a difference and I believe that we must, if America and the planet as a whole are to keep the various looming catastrophes that we face from becoming a terrible legacy for our children.

So I sat down to write a book, something I had always wanted to do but had never found the motivation and the discipline to get started on. As an international consulting economist, I have been able to see a lot in many parts of the world during the last 30+ years. Like Barack Obama, I am bicultural, having been born to a Latin American Mother and American Father who was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer at the time. My upbringing and early childhood spent in places as diverse as Nicaragua, Lebanon and Holland gave me the opportunity to broaden my horizons from the start, and both the inherent goodness of all peoples and the senselessness of so much avoidable human suffering and so much destruction around the world made an early impression on me.

The book is entitled "YES WE MUST! Fix Our Broken System" and it is available for purchase online on LULU.COM. Proceeds from the first 1,000 copies are going to be donated entirely to the FairShare Foundation, an organization that makes small loans to poor people in different parts of the world.

I urge you to read it. Let's then get together with Barack Obama and with one another to make the real and lasting changes that are needed to bring justice, health and happiness to all the people that share the Earth and the marvelous gift of life with us.

We CAN do it. I know that for a fact. www.lulu.com/content/2485478

hillary

mikie — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:37:33 EDT

you should ask hillary to be you vp ... it is good for the world !!!

I know, you would have to live with bill ... he is not really that bad a guy ... he has lots of good skills ...

but think of it like this ... remember those family reunions

WFP: Myanmar Cyclone - FLASH UPDATE

Chesco Bill — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:13:13 EDT

Dear Friends:

Because we know that the well-being of hungry people in desperate need is important to you, we would like to share an up-to-the-minute report on the situation on the ground in Myanmar. When Cyclone Nargis hit the coast of Myanmar on May 3, it flattened homes, flooded streets and killed people. The UN now estimates that the death toll may reach 100,000.

How WFP is helping:

The World Food Program (WFP) was one of the first organizations to provide aid, drawing on the food supplies already in the country from ongoing WFP projects in Myanmar, started in 1994.
These emergency food supplies were immediately delivered to survivors in the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy delta.
Already, WFP has dispatched a total of more than 700 tons of rice, high-energy biscuits and beans - that's enough food to feed close to 100,000 people.
Taking a lead among aid organizations, WFP is coordinating operations, communications and logistics for the humanitarian community to ensure that an uninterrupted supply chain of life-saving relief items reach people in the affected areas.
WFP plans to continue to provide life-saving food assistance for 750,000 people for six months, until the next harvest.
The World Food Program has estimated it will need $120 million to provide this urgent assistance.

As you are aware, distribution of aid in Myanmar is severely restricted. The most effective way to ensure that humanitarian aid is reaching those who truly need it is to support organizations with pre-existing operations in Myanmar that are authorized to deliver life-saving assistance.

It is the support of our loyal donors that allows WFP to respond so swiftly and effectively to crises like this one in Myanmar. Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

Karen Sendelback
President and CEO
Friends of the World Food Program
----------------------------------------------------------
© 2008 Friends of the World Food Program
1819 L Street, NW | Suite 900 | Washington, D.C. 20036
Tel: 202.530.1694 | Fax: 202.530.1698 | E-mail: info@friendsofwfp.org | www.friendsofwfp.org

Friends of the World Food Program is a U.S. based non-profit organization that works to increase awareness of global hunger and raise funds to support WFP operations around the world.

Friends of the World Food Program

Chesco Bill — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:37:04 EDT

Dear Friend:

Thousands of people have lost their lives and thousands more are homeless after a powerful cyclone crashed into the southern coast of Myanmar on Friday. The cyclone tore down houses, flooded streets, and left people without food, clean water, and shelter.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) responded to the crisis in a swift and effective manner. Within days of the disaster, WFP began distributing food in the southern coastal regions of Myanmar hardest hit by powerful Cyclone Nargis. Already, 54 tons of rice have been dispatched to the area and thousands of people have received ready-to-eat high energy biscuits (HEBs), which can be easily delivered and consumed. WFP also plans to airlift additional food supplies to the coastal areas that have been cut-off from access as soon as possible.

Time is of the essence and we are already reaching storm victims with food. We are mobilizing all possible resources to save lives given the massive disruption in food, water and shelter caused by this storm," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran. WFP plans to provide life-saving food assistance for 630,000 people for six months until the next harvest.

The World Food Program needs your help to continue to provide much needed food assistance to the people of Myanmar. Thank you so much for your support.

Cyclone survivors use a small motor boat
to escape the devastated port of Yangon.

Sincerely,

Karen Sendelback
President and CEO
Friends of the World Food Program

Friends of the World Food Program is a U.S. based non-profit organization that works to increase awareness of global hunger and raise funds to support WFP operations around the world.

Where do we go from here?

Jarene — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:26:49 EST

Hi. This is my first blog and my first post.

Obviously, this issue of poverty is one that I am very passionate about.

Most states offer some form of public assistance to those who are trying to survive while earning wages that are below the national poverty level. I used to be there. Going through the "public assistance process" is very uncomfortable and demeaning in a lot of cases. As a single mother who was trying to return to school for my bachelor's degree, I found it very difficult to get the assistance that I needed. Because I wanted to go to school rather than work a minimum wage job full time, I was denied cash and child care assistance. However, I did receive much needed health care and food stamps. On a more personal level I felt that going to school was actually frowned upon and unsupported by my social workers. I was required to go to a "Work First" program, where I was told that I was accused of lying about being a University of Michgan student. I was discouraged from attending classes and instead spend seven hours at a facility searching for jobs online and being bussed around town, filling out any and every minimum wage job application. Now for some, there may not be anything wrong with that, but for me I felt like it was not a permanent solution to my problem.

What do you think individual states should do to address this poverty issue? I appreciate your comments.

Threat 09: Terrorism

Roberto David de Steele y Vivas — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:00:36 EST

Cannot win a "war" against a "tactic"

Law enforcement can resolve this

Too much on military, not enough on aid

The Fight for PBIs

Jason Zimmerman — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 06:44:23 EDT

During the countless fundraising galas, grassroots speeches, and general presidential events during a campaign, many candidates choose to forego some of the duties of their office to stay competitive. Barack Obama does not agree with that course of action. He has actually STEPPED UP his actions in Washington. One of the issues that he has been aggressively pursuing is an issue vitally important to post-secondary education in our country: the issue of pre-dominantly Black Institutions (PBI) and their absence from the Higher Education Act.

The Higher Education Act focuses on aid given to students attending public colleges and universities, and one of the sections within the act addresses Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCU, colleges established after the Civil War but before 1964 that were designed for African-American students who were shut out of mainstream white institutions. However, their are similar colleges that were established after 1964 but are not included as beneficiaries, and these are known as PBIs.

Does it make sense that two similar schools with the same student body make-up differ in financial aid because of the year they were founded? No, and Senator Obama is fighting to make sure that PBIs are included in the Higher Education Act when it comes up for renewal in Congress later this year.

“To restore America’s competitiveness, we must invest in the success of traditionally underrepresented groups,” Obama said. “This bill provides a good start in reaching that goal.” Obama has always supported HBCUs, and giving PBIs the same benefits is just one of the ways that he is using his influence in Congress to ensure a better education and a better life for all Americans.

If you want to know more about HBCUs, or PBIs, or even Obama’s fight, head over to Diverse Education, for an informative article on the issue.