By Numerian

An interesting observation was made today by the pollster for Martha Coakley, the hapless Democratic candidate for the Massachusetts senate seat held almost forever by Ted Kennedy. It appears polls are showing that the voters, especially independents who would normally vote Democratic in a liberal blue state like Massachusetts, have instead run to support the Republican candidate as the agent of change. Wasn’t that supposed to be Barack Obama’s signature tune?

Massachusetts voters have given up on President Obama as an agent for anything but the status quo, and this is most evident in his willingness to dole out trillions of dollars in direct and indirect support to the banks. The Massachusetts polls show this issue to be foremost on the minds of the voters.

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by Stephen Lendman

In The Prince, Machiavelli (May 1469 - June 1527) wrote:

"The mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous, and if anyone supports his state by the arms of mercenaries, he will never stand firm or sure, as they are disunited, ambitious, without discipline, faithless, bold amongst friends, cowardly amongst enemies, they have no fear of God, and keep no faith with men."

In an August 11, 2009 Global Research article titled, "The Real Grand Chessboard and the Profiteers of War," Peter Dale Scott called Private Military Contractors (PMCs) businesses "authorized to commit violence in the name of their employers....predatory bandits (transformed into) uncontrollable subordinates....representing....public power in....remote places."

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A FILM REVIEW BY GILAD ATZMON

I urge every person on this planet to watch Yoav Shamir’s Defamation, a documentary about anti Semitism.

Editor's Note: Video cannot be watched from within the United States on You Tube – “This video contains content from Channel 4, who has decided to block it in your country.”

Preview at left.

To watch the entire film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P512xaLDVdk or here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/defamation/4od-3022029

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Franklin Lamb Beirut

John McCain dropped in on Beirut last weekend en route to Israel to join fellow US Senator Joe Lieberman in agreeing with their hosts that, a just as he told them during the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama was real bad for Israel. McCain, fundraising for his 2010 reelection bid, emphasized that the Obama administration’s hint that the US might just possibly consider withholding a few largely superfluous loan guarantees to pressure Israel on settlements was a joke. Their hosts were likely pleased with assurances that no way would John and Joe allow Congress or Obama to pressure Israel.

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by Stephen Lendman

Frederic Dupoux/Getty Images

In her book, "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," Naomi Klein explores the myth of free market democracy, explaining how neoliberalism dominates the world with America its main exponent exploiting security threats, terror attacks, economic meltdowns, competing ideologies, tectonic political or economic shifts, and natural disasters to impose its will everywhere.

As a result, wars are waged, social services cut, public ones privatized, and freedom sacrificed when people are too distracted, cowed or in duress to object. Disaster capitalism is triumphant everywhere from post-Soviet Russia to post-apartheid South Africa, occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, Honduras before and after the US-instigated coup, post-tsunami Sri Lanka and Aceh, Indonesia, New Orleans post-Katrina, and now heading to Haiti full-throttle after its greatest ever catastrophe. The same scheme always repeats, exploiting people for profits, the prevailing neoliberal idea that "there is no alternative" so grab all you can.

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By: Peter Chamberlin

The war for the future of the human race is more about truth –vs- lies, than it is about a physical contest between hostile adversaries. The strangest part of it all is that no one is seeking absolute vindication in this war of perceptions as either a liar or a “truth” teller. No one wants to pin down the other side for telling obvious lies. Why is that? Everybody has something to hide in the war on terror.

Dig too deeply, or expose the most dangerous lies strung together to tie-up the world in a state of permanent limited war, and the flimsy alliances and “coalitions of the willing” begin to fall apart. The utter hypocrisy of the entire “war on terror” brings to the front all the worst traits of mankind, in an endeavor that is the most stupendous fraud ever perpetuated upon the human race.

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Mary Shaw

The failed attempt on Christmas Day to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane has some people calling for racial profiling. In fact, a recent USA Today/Gallup poll shows that an alarming majority of Americans support ethnic profiling. However, I contend that this is a misguided reaction that can actually be counterproductive. And the attempted Christmas bombing is no excuse for it.

First of all, what kind of profile are we supposed to be concerned about? After 9/11, people looked suspiciously at Middle-Eastern-looking individuals. But the would-be Christmas bomber was a black man from Nigeria. He and many other high-profile terror suspects have fallen short of the Middle-Eastern profile, as Bruce Schneier recently pointed out in a New York Times blog post:

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By Vincent L. Guarisco

Henry Kissinger is on record calling us a bunch of "useless eaters." Is Monsanto a depopulation tool of his liking?

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS." ~~Mahatma Gandhi

I am a person with strong moral and ethical convictions and, as a proud parent who cares, I have read many child development books -- most of them have a couple of things in common -- they say it’s imperative to feed our kids a well-balanced diet and they strongly advise us to lovingly hug our children as often as we can. If this is true, then I’m no longer blurry about something. The mystery is revealed; Mr. Henry (kiss of death) Kissinger is a bad-ass example of "bad nutrition" and cruel "child neglect."

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by Stephen Lendman

With all their woes, the last thing Haitians needed was the calamitous earthquake (the most severe in the region in over 200 years) that struck Port-au-Prince, surrounding areas, and other parts of the country on January 12 at about 5PM (2200 GMT), devastating the capital, possibly killing hundreds of thousands, injuring many more, and disrupting the lives of millions of people already overwhelmed by other crushing hardships.

An AP report said "journalists found the damage staggering even for a country long accustomed to tragedy and disaster." Many hundreds of thousands lost everything, including loved ones.

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by Gilad Atzmon

The Israeli government doesn’t think twice before it orders a genocidal attack against civilians. Israeli military leaders do not think twice before they drop bombs on one of the most densely populated places on the planet. They also do not hesitate whether to use artillery shells against a UN refugee shelter. The Israeli people do not think twice before they approve en masse their army’s inhuman tactics. But for some bizarre reason, the Israelis are devastated to find out that the rest of humanity is coming to terms with their true nature. Once again it is a Turkish TV drama that exposes the Israelis for what they are. A murderous collective motivated by vengeance.

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