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The Salvation Army: It gets worse
Mary Shaw
It's that time of year again. At shopping centers everywhere, representatives from the Salvation Army, dressed in their paramilitary attire, ring their bells and aggressively invite your holiday donations. And I always see people eagerly throwing money into their big red kettles. I suspect that most of these generous individuals aren't aware of what their dollars are actually funding.
Last year I wrote a column titled "The Salvation Army's red kettle of trouble", in which I outlined the Salvation Army's long and disturbing history of religious coercion, abuse, and intolerance. An excerpt:
I have spoken with a number of people who have sought assistance from the Salvation Army in the past, particularly for disaster relief. I was told of how these people were preached to and forced into praying with the Salvation Army folks to their Christian God as a prerequisite for receiving services. If you're Jewish, tough. If you're Hindu, tough. Gotta pray their way, to their God, or else you're not worthy of assistance. It's quid pro quo. Gotta take advantage of people when they're most vulnerable. Contrast this with the secular Red Cross, which just wants to help disaster victims, not save their souls. (In the interest of full disclosure, I personally received help from the Red Cross when my apartment building burned down in 2001. They were extremely helpful and compassionate, and expected nothing in return.)
On A Parent's Death And Minding Your Tongue In The U.S.A.
By Emily Spence
I'll be quite frank. I'm never completely comfortable in discussing certain persons, such as Fidel Castro, on the phone, nor forwarding e-mail content concerning them, such as his Visiones Alternativas - Reflections of Fidel:The moment of truth about the recent Copenhagen events. Certainly, it would be so much easier to simply avoid certain topics altogether in communications because there so often are direct or indirect repercussions for involvements in particular matters, as is inferred at Ex-Snoop Confirms Echelon Network - 60 Minutes - CBS News:
"Everywhere in the world, every day, people's phone calls, emails and faxes are monitored by Echelon, a secret government surveillance network. No, it's not fiction straight out of George Orwell's 1984. It's reality..."
We learn more fully about this spy activity from a Transcript of 60 Minutes on Echelon:
"KROFT: ... Is it possible for people like you and I, innocent civilians, to be targeted by Echelon?
Bended Knees: Zionist Power in American Politics
By James Petras
“Obama wants to see a stop to settlements: Not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions”. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, May 2009
“What the prime minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements…..is unprecedented, there has never been a precondition, it’s always been an issue within negotiations.” Hillary Clinton, BBC, November 1, 2009 (my emphasis)
“The US administration understands what we have always said … that the real obstacle to negotiations is the Palestinians (calling for a freeze on settlements)”. Israeli Minister of Science and Technology Daniel Hershkowitz, November 1, 2009 (my addition).
“America, stop sucking up to Israel!” Gideon Levy, Israeli journalist, Haaretz, November 1, 2009.
“US Zionists are sticking it to America, 24/7”, Anonymous Staff Official, Washington D. C., October 31, 2009.
Senate Speech Heralds New Social Movement Seeking Health Care for All
By Margaret Flowers, Katie Robbins and Andy Coates
Sen. Sanders Single Payer Speech Came About Thanks to Persistent Efforts of 'Medicare for All' Advocates in the Face of Congress Trying to Ignore the Will of the People
This week the sincere effort of millions of people across the nation once again proved effective in the face of determined opposition from the White House and Congress, as single payer health reform reached another milestone in its historic journey.
Neo-Catholics and Neo-Cons: An Unholy Alliance (Satire)
by William Hughes
“Just when I discovered the meaning of life, they changed it!” - George Carlin
To: Guardian of the Holy Index of Proscribed Books at the Vatican
From: Your Deep Cover, Ever Faithful Agent in Godless America
You want to know, Your Worshipfulness, how bad things are here, then consider this: The “National Enquirer,” a weekly scandal sheet, is selling out faster than President Barack Obama can break his campaign promises! All you hear about is Tiger Woods and his bimbos. Every day, there’s another expose’. This pleases TV-Talk-Show guru David Letterman and ex-Presidential candidate, John Edwards. Why? Because it pushes their sexual dalliances to a back burner. I’m writing to let you know that there is a disturbing new book out--“The Neo-Catholics: Implementing Christian Nationalism in America.” The author is Betty Clermont.
Morgan Stanley Just Walks Away from Huge Mortgages
If you did that, they'd call it immoral
Over at The Agonist, Numerian offered up a short, powerful explanation of what's happened with Wall Street bailout recipient, Morgan Stanley. The former investment bank bought five properties in San Francisco as the market verged on a sharp downturn. Their value fell precipitously. The office buildings lost 50% of their value at purchase.
Numerian's piece shows that the cosmetic terms used to differentiate Morgan's “structured default” are no different than individual home owners who abandon their mortgages for purely financial reasons.
“Morgan Stanley doesn't look at it that way, not when it comes to its own behavior. It only expects you, the consumer and homeowner, to have moral attitudes about financial decisions. With the corporations, morality doesn't enter into it; it's just business. That is why it is very, very important for strategic defaults by firms like Morgan Stanley to be dressed up as something different - as a negotiation done voluntarily for mutual agreement. And after all, Morgan Stanley itself isn't going bankrupt, just the subsidiary that bought these properties is acting like it's bankrupt.
ee Morgan Stanley Defaults, Numerian, The Agonist
Morgan Stanley received $10 billion in federal bailout funds as Wall Street high fliers faced collapse. in 2008. Just months after the citizen subsidy, Morgan gave 438 executives seven figure bonuses.
Waging Peace: Mass Arrests at White House Antiwar Rally
by William Hughes
Washington, D.C. - On Monday, Oct. 5, 2009, just after noon and under a warm sun, 61 activists were arrested at the White House for failing to obey a police order to move off the sidewalk. The nonviolent “Civil Resistance” protest was the largest such antiwar demonstration at this particular site since President Barack Obama took office, in January, 2009.
Hundreds more activists participated in the spirited event, but chose not to get arrested. Some of those detained by the police wore orange jump suits and black hoods. A few had even chained themselves to the White House fence on the North Lawn. Included in that gutsy group was “Peace Mom,” Ms. Cindy Sheehan. She has been one of the most visible and passionate opponents of the Iraq War. Her son, Casey, age 24, a U.S. Army Spc., was killed in Baghdad on April 4, 2004. He had been assigned to the 1st Calvary Division. Ms. Sheehan has indicated that she will soon move from her home state of California to Washington, D.C., to spend more of her time creating a strong grass roots movement that will bring about real change in the U.S.
Lebanon’s Ebenezer Scrooge
Franklin Lamb, Beirut
Jeffrey Feltman
Surely we should all have known better. It was just too good to last. It seemed to some Americans in Lebanon that nearly all the Lebanese and their political leaders were ready to try to more of less work together for the good of the country. Many even seemed to be getting excited about Christmas. Several of the diverse sects’ zaim’s (leaders) were seen on TV enjoying attending public lightings of Christmas trees, praising the new unity government and some humming their favorite holiday tunes during family visits to places like the crowded Beirut and City Malls.
The potentially widespread contamination of the soil of Gaza due to Israeli bombing
A Study done by Professors Mario Barbieri, Maurizio Barbieri and Paola Manduca
Summary of the press release, in a press conference held jointly with Al Shifa doctors and Health Ministry representatives.
We have analyzed the content of 35 elements in 4 craters derived from: 2 bombing events in Gaza in 2006, one in Beit Hanoun, one in Jabalia camp, and 2 bombings in 2009, both in Tufah, the Gaza suburb. We have also analyzed the powder remaining inside a shell of an exploded White Phosphorus bomb THS89D112-003 155MM M825E1 collected at Al Wafa in January 2009.
Kevin Cooper - Victimized by American Injustice
by Stephen Lendman
On November 30, the US Supreme Court denied Kevin Cooper justice by not reviewing his wrongful murder conviction despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence. Cooper is Black and was framed for a multiple homicide he never committed. He's imprisoned on death row at San Quentin State Prison, Marin County, CA, a victim of American injustice.
Savekevincooper.org documents his case and efforts to exonerate and release him, so far in vain and unlikely unless a new governor grants clemency or pardons him after taking office in January 2011.
On January 30, 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied him clemency, saying at the time:
"I have carefully weighed the claims presented in Kevin Cooper's plea for clemency. The state and federal courts have reviewed his case for more than eighteen years. Evidence establishing his guilt is overwhelming (and despite his) mentoring of others (and other) commendable (acts his) is not a case for clemency."
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