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Unsettling Signs: Buzzwords, Politics and US Elections
Ramzy Baroud
There are a few buzzwords that every American politician, aiming for high office must utilize, even if disingenuously, to have a reasonable chance at getting elected.
President-elect, Barak Obama’s constant use of terms like ‘hope’ and ‘change’ contributed greatly to the overwhelming support he has experienced by the American public. Many, admiringly so, have overcome a legacy of racial division and prejudice that has defined America for decades, if not centuries. In that regard, voting to office a bi-racial candidate is truly an historic event.
Europe should speak to Hamas now
Khalid Amayreh
There is no doubt that Hamas, the main Palestinian Islamic movement, is becoming more rational, more pragmatic and more moderate, at least in comparison to its formative years. This is why it is imperative that member-States of the European Union (EU) either collectively or individually should initiate a meaningful dialogue with Hamas as soon as possible. Needless to say, such a dialogue would be expedient to all parties involved as well as to the cause of peace and stability in the Middle East.
Israel, along with her guardian-ally, the United States, and the bulk of EU States, sought to destroy Hamas by imposing an especially harsh blockade on occupied Palestine following Hamas’s electoral victory in 2006.
Index Research: US -Israel Missile Defense Cooperation
Sarah Meyer
Were the numerous 'missile shield' stories on 12 November 2008 designed to impress Obama and his AIPAC war hawk team with the need for a continuation of an obscenely expensive “NATO” Missile Defense programme? Could the US financial crisis be helped by lessening the absurd amounts of money given to Israel for its defense?
U.S. Installs Missile Defense Radar in Israel
12.11.08. nti. The United States has completed installation of a missile defense radar station in Israel that will be operated by the first permanent deployment of U.S. troops in the nation, Haaretz reported yesterday. The detachment would consist of about 120 personnel working under the U.S. European Command. … / Israel is particularly concerned about Iran’s missile capabilities. / In addition to the radar, the United States has agreed to rapidly provide missile launch detection data collected from U.S. satellites, according to Defense News. / “Since they threw in [the launch warnings], it's become a whole new ball game. We're looking at a very generous gift from the United States, even if it means we have to compromise on sovereignty by having U.S. troops deployed here,” the expert said. / The radar is the same model as the system the United States erected in Japan in 2006.
Beware of the Obama hype. What 'change' in America really means
John Pilger
My first visit to Texas was in 1968, on the fifth anniversary of the assassination of president John F Kennedy in Dallas. I drove south, following the line of telegraph poles to the small town of Midlothian, where I met Penn Jones Jr, editor of the Midlothian Mirror. Except for his drawl and fine boots, everything about Penn was the antithesis of the Texas stereotype. Having exposed the racists of the John Birch Society, his printing press had been repeatedly firebombed. Week after week, he painstakingly assembled evidence that all but demolished the official version of Kennedy’s murder.
This was journalism as it had been before corporate journalism was invented, before the first schools of journalism were set up and a mythology of liberal neutrality was spun around those whose “professionalism” and “objectivity” carried an unspoken obligation to ensure that news and opinion were in tune with an establishment consensus, regardless of the truth. Journalists such as Penn Jones, independent of vested power, indefatigable and principled, often reflect ordinary American attitudes, which have seldom conformed to the stereotypes promoted by the corporate media on both sides of the Atlantic. Read American Dreams: Lost and Found by the masterly Studs Terkel, who died the other day, or scan the surveys that unerringly attribute enlightened views to a majority who believe that “government should care for those who cannot care for themselves” and are prepared to pay higher taxes for universal health care, who support nuclear disarmament and want their troops out of other people’s countries.
The Art of the Possible on the Brink of Upheaval
Les Visible
Greetings and salutations on this fine Italian morning. I thought we’d move away from all this talk about the New World Order; Zio-Krays and Gallo’s, PC-Nazis, Schmoo epidemics, Biblical plagues and all the other looming evils and uncertainties that have turned the world into a chiaroscuro Wellbutrin-junkie world and look into some of the more positive things that are being worked on around the world.
This year, I’ve got a bumper olive crop since nearly all 76 of my trees are producing at the same time. My almond trees were also outstanding as well. I have had to lay out around 500 meters of net five meters wide to catch them all. I think that’s a lot of olives. My various succulent efforts are booming and blooming and I hope to have them become a major feature of the landscape in time. I am in love with succulents and never knew there were so many until I got into it.
Most people know that I am very interested in The Devic Realm and I had some conversations with my local entities about the situation where I live and you can form your own conclusions about the reality of the affair but it’s there to be seen that I’m getting more olives than one might ordinarily expect when I haven’t done anything to my trees. There are other surprises as well but I won’t be going into them today. Some of you may be familiar with The Art of the Possible on the Brink of Upheaval. The Art of the Possible on the Brink of Upheaval. Findhorn and what they accomplished there. I’m not going to comment on this particular organization or what might be the state of it today. We all know what happens when fame and notice, encounter money and influence.
GOP History: 100 Years of Crooks, Liars and Failures
Len Hart
In a bit over 100 yeas, the GOP loosed upon an unsuspecting nation the likes of Calvin Coolidge, Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover, Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. Coolidge said little and did less. Harding died in the middle of a scandal --the Tea Pot Dome Scandal.
The exact cause of Harding's death was never learned because Mrs. Harding refused to allow an autopsy. She also declined the casting of a death mask. And the body was embalmed immediately, before it ever left the hotel. All this led to rumors that Mrs. Harding had poisoned the President while they were alone together shortly before his death, perhaps with the help or knowledge of Dr. Sawyer.
A New Political Party Is Needed
Joel S. Hirschhorn
Set aside any Obama euphoria you feel. The other important news is that third-party presidential candidates had a miserable showing this year, totaling just over one percent of the grand total with 1.5 million votes nationwide, compared to some 123 million votes for Barack Obama and John McCain.
It couldn’t be clearer that Americans are not willing to voice their political discontent by voting for third-party presidential candidates. The two-party duopoly and plutocracy is completely dominant. The US lacks the political competition that exists in other western democracies. Without real political competition there is insufficient political choice.
A key problem is that for many years, third parties have not offered presidential candidates that capture the attention and commitment of even a modest fraction of Americans, unlike Ross Perot (8.4 percent in 1996 and 18.9 percent in 1992), and John Anderson (6.6 percent in 1980).
Global Economic Tremors
Stephen Lendman
On October 28, the Financial Times' columnist Martin Wolf wrote: "Preventing a global slump must be the priority." He cited Nouriel Roubini back in February listing "twelve steps to financial disaster," all of which the US took and dragged the whole world down with it.
Priority one is to rescue it and avoid a possible depression. "Given the near-disintegration of the western world's banking system, the flight to safe assets, the tightening of credit to the real economy, collapsing equity prices, turmoil on currency markets, continued steep declines in house prices, rapid withdrawal of funds from hedge funds and ongoing collapse of the so-called "shadow banking system." More worrisome is that "next year could be far worse" so what does Wolf think should be done?
Obamania: a collective, frightening madness
Gabriele Zamparini
Hangover. How long is it going to last? For some newborn babies, all their life:
The U.S. election has triggered a new generation of mini Barack Obamas with parents in Kenya and the United States naming their newborns after the new president-elect.
That's not a new phenomenon. Naming babies after saints, prophets, kings, popes and charismatic leaders is as old as the human civilization. Sometimes the babies live long enough to survive the fortune of their original. During the '30s of last century, in Germany and Italy the names Adolph and Benito were quite popular; the same for Joseph in Russia and around the world among Communism followers. More recently, people started to name their babies after show-business' celebrities, actors, singers, football players or just someone who appears on TV!
Driving Your Liberties Away: Biometrics and ‘Enhanced’ Drivers Licenses
Christopher Parsons
Privacy advocates across Canada have been struggling to prevent the Ontario provincial government from passing legislation that will see radio identifiers and biometric data inserted into future Ontarian drivers licenses. In spite of their efforts to raise the government’s awareness of the privacy dangers accompanying the proposed licenses, it appears as though their work may been in vain: Bill 85 is now in its final reading, and is widely expected to be passed on November 17th, or shortly thereafter, when the reading continues.
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