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Latest North/South Korean Exchange
by Stephen Lendman
Last March, North Korea was falsely blamed for sinking a South Korean ship, a topic an earlier article addressed, accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/06/south-korean-ship-sinking-another-false.html
Seoul said there's "no other plausible explanation....The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that (a) torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine," even though none was detected in the area.
At the time, evidence suggested a false flag, manufactured to blame the North. The incident occurred near Baengnyeong Island opposite North Korea. US Navy Seals and four US ships were conducting joint exercises in the area. The torpedo used was German, not North Korean as claimed. Germany sells none to Pyongyang. Yet it was blamed for what it didn't do, what apparently was Pentagon-manufactured mischief.
Sarah Palin and the missing “F” word
Alan Hart
Sarah Palin (or her publisher) chose a title for her latest book with three “F” words -America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and the Flag. But surely there’s something missing. Another “F” word. One with four letters. What could it be? (My answer in a moment).
As she embarks on a 16-state tour to promote her new book, Republican leaders are said to asking themselves what the hell they can do to stop her emerging as the party’s frontrunner for the race to the White House in 2012. They fear that if she did secure the nomination, it would almost certainly guarantee a second term for Obama if he seeks it or a first term for Hillary Clinton if he doesn’t. (My own guess is that while Republican leaders are agonizing about how to stop Palin, Democratic party leaders are considering whether or not they should seek to prevail upon Obama to stand down in favour of Hillary).
The right to demonstrate is the sign of a healthy democracy - And yet it sends many kids to years in detention
by Roland Michel Tremblay
As a Court Clerk in a criminal court, most cases just leave me totally indifferent. You could easily think I have lost my heart about such things a few years ago, incapable to feel anything now either for the defendants or their victims. True, I admit it. When you see it every day, the same sort of cases one after the other, you quickly become insensitive to it all. But not this time.
Even when they all cry their soul out, whether they are faking it or not. Beware of the crocodile tears, and then it seems, it is always just that, crocodile tears. If I can't feel the need to cry most of the time, then it must be fake all the time, I'm usually so emotional.
Fame is Fleeting -- and so are your rights
By Brian Dowing posted by Michael Collins
(Julius Caesar’s letter to the citizens/subjects regarding frontier checkpoints)
Salutations, esteemed fellow Romans!
I write you from Gaul, site of another of our many legions’ encampments around the world. The auguries tell me that there are growing objections, both in the Forum and Senate, to the system of searches upon travelers coming into our territories from barbarian regions along our expansive periphery, especially southern Arabia and Mesopotamia.
Securitas Republicae, a part of Rome’s government akin to our legions, has ordered these searches to better safeguard our freedoms from those who hate us for those freedoms. This, I’m sure you will agree, will improve the safety and wellbeing of the citizens of our Republic, ignorant and churlish and ungrateful though they be. [Strike that last part? -JC]
Tester Amendment to food 'safety' bill puts lipstick on a pig
By Rady Ananda
Food Freedom
The voice of controlled opposition wants Americans to believe that the Tester Amendment to S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, elevates the bill to something we should adopt. The Tester Amendment puts a bandaid on a head wound. It does not stop the most lethal agency in American history from seizing control of the food supply from farm to fork.
Even though Big Ag now opposes S 510, we should continue to oppose the bill, as it amounts to federal assault on food freedom. Agribusiness giants have always opposed the exemption provided in the Tester Amendment. Now that it's included in the current form of S.510, they're only making clear that they oppose giving any wiggle room to competition. But from their sudden opposition to S 510, because it now includes an amendment they have always opposed, the public is being lulled into a false sense of confidence in S 510.
The Tester Amendment amounts to putting lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig, and it still needs to be slaughtered.
Destructive Neoliberal Austerity
by Stephen Lendman
Instead of vitally needed stimulus, Washington and European governments dictate austerity. The pretext of deficit reduction is being used to transfer more wealth to those already with too much, plus the usual canard over the urgency to save national banking systems.
In other words, make ordinary people bear the burden of bailing out banking giants responsible for the severest economic crisis since the Great Depression. How? The usual IMF solution, involving preservation of capital at the expense of workers - a package including wage and benefit cuts, less social spending, privatization of state resources, mass layoffs, deregulation, lower "onerous" taxes, maintaining corporate debt service, and harsh crackdowns against resisters.
The Era of Pain Avoidance is Over
By Numerian
Erskin Bowles: former Chief of Staff to President Clinton and prior to that a North Carolina businessman. Alan Simpson: at age 79, fourteen years senior to Erskin Bowles, and a former Republican senator from Wyoming. Alice Rivlin: also age 79, and Clinton’s former budget director. Peter Domenici: age 79, and a former Republican senator from New Mexico. These four people are the principal players in a set of competing proposals to do something about the US federal debt. They all have what Washington calls “gravitas”, which is a certain respectability that comes with age and experience. They also display that precious quality of “bipartisanship” which makes them supposedly immune from political bias. That’s why you get these Republican-Democrat partnerships: Simpson-Bowles, and Domenici-Rivlin. You would trust these people, wouldn’t you, to give you the cold, hard truth that politicians cannot deliver?
You shouldn’t. These people are good at delivering cold, hard truths in terms of areas of the budget to cut, and new sources of revenue to tap, which together over the long run will bring deficits down to zero and reduce the interest burden of the national debt to something manageable. But they won’t give you a vision of America under these new fiscal conditions. Reading through their proposals, we are left to imagine what America would be like in such a permanent state of austerity.
The Windy City Makes Waves for Peace, Equity and Justice in Palestine
by Stephen Lendman
The suburban Chicago-based Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (CJPIP) "is a diverse, community-based group dedicated to organizing activities and educational events that advance the cause of peace and justice for both Palestinians and Israelis."
It supports:
-- "equal rights and access to resources (equitably) based on" social, economic, environmental, and political justice principles;
-- peace and equal justice;
In terror prosecution cases, justice does not mean convictions
Mary Shaw
On November 17, in federal court in New York City, Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was convicted of a single charge of conspiracy in connection with the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. He was acquitted of 284 other counts against him. Ghailani was the first Gitmo detainee to be tried in federal court rather than a military commission. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January.
Some on the right are pointing to the acquittals as proof that trying terrorism suspects in a civilian court does not work. But these critics are conveniently ignoring the fact that four other defendants in the same bombings had been sentenced in 2001 - also in federal court - to life in prison without parole. Ghailani could face a similar sentence, and will serve at least a minimum of 20 years.
Profit Ties between Phony Terror Alerts, Airport Security and L-3 Communications
By Steve Scheetz and Rady Ananda
COTO Report
Since September 11, 2001, the US government has been operating with a demand for the understanding of the people. We, as part of this demand, are to allow certain limitations on our liberty in order to gain a certain level of security. But, given the questionable nature of what are likely exaggerated threats, coupled with Congressional enrichment from these expensive security technologies, the U.S. public is losing both liberty and security, as well as money.
Former director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge revealed details about how terrorism alerts are used. Among other things, Ridge admits that he was pressured to raise the terror alert to help Bush win re-election in 2004. According to the Associated Press, “He said the episode convinced him to follow through with his plans to leave the administration; he resigned on Nov. 30, 2004.”
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