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Reviewing Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt:" Part I
Stephen Lendman
This is the first of several articles on Ellen Brown's superb 2007 book titled "Web of Debt," now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells "the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." Given today's global economic crisis, it's an appropriate time to review it and urge readers to digest the entire work, easily gotten through Amazon or Brown's webofdebt.com site. Her book is a remarkable achievement - in its scope, depth, and importance.
In the forward, banker/developer Reed Simpson said:
"I have been a banker for most of my career, and I can report that even most bankers (don't know) what goes on behind (top echelon) closed doors....I am more familiar than most with the issues (Brown covered, and) still found it an eye-opener, a remarkable window into what is really going on....(Although many banks follow high ethical practices), corruption is also rampant, (especially) in the large money center banks, in one of which I worked."
Australia joins the Asia Pacific arms race
Zachary Fillingham
Summary
A recently released defense white paper by the Australian government signals Australia’s entry into a widening Asia Pacific arms race.Asia Pacific map
Analysis
The white paper, titled “Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030,” suggests that a new strategic reality is dawning in the Asia Pacific region, one in which Chinese power and influence is fast filling the vacuum left by a waning American presence in the region. To prepare for this new security environment, the Australian government has proposed a substantial boost in defense spending, amounting to $72 billion over the next twenty years. The money will most notably be spent on new submarines, air warfare destroyers, frigates, cruise missiles, and 100 Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighters.
Farewell to Gaza’s courageous Priest
Stuart Littlewood
I hear that Fr Manuel Musallam, the Catholic priest in Gaza, has finally retired at 71. His is a hard act to follow.
Many of us feared that ill health had forced him to hang up his cassock last year, but he returned to the fray to be with his community during their darkest hour when Israel’s psychopaths, with a nod from America and the EU, unleashed their blitzkrieg intended to finally crush the isolated and half-starved Gazans.
Unreported or Underreported Real Pandemics, Not Fake Ones Like Avian and Swine Flu
Stephen Lendman
In his April 29 Global Research.ca article, F. William Engdahl discussed "Flying Pigs, Tamiflu and Factory Farms" and shed light on the current swine flu hysteria - hyped by the same folks who engineered the 2006 (H5N1) Avian Flu scare that had more bark than bite. But it proved hugely profitable for drug makers like Roche and Gilead Sciences, the company Donald Rumsfeld led as chairman from 1997 - 2001 and remains a major shareholder. Although he won't discuss his "private finances," he's likely benefitting handsomely from the current panic.
Earlier Avian Flu reports were like the following:
-- numerous ones from public health journalists saying governments are "thoroughly unprepared" for a pandemic flu outbreak; as a result, it could lead to potential "societal breakdown, chaos, and panic;"
Waiting For The World To Answer
Ayman T. Quader
"Ahmad was a lovely little five-year old boy."
It was an ordinary morning December 2008. Children were playing and having fun. They were digging between the rocks to get some space for their childhood.
This is the story of Ahmad , a little boy without sin who was killed on that morning. Ahmad was known among his friends as lively, bustling boy.
Ahmad and his family live in Al Zahra district in the middle of the Gaza Strip, exactly next to the building of the Civil Defense. On the morning of December 27th, Ahmad took his breakfast, put on his boots and went out to go for playing in his nearby garden.
THROW THE BUMS OUT - ALL OF THEM, Senate Millionaires Kill Mortgage Assistance for Citizens
The United States Senate took a swipe at the spirit of May Day in a spectacular show of callous indifference when it voted down a bill to provide limited assistance to citizens at risk for losing their homes. The final vote was 45 in favor, 51 opposed to Senator Richard Durbin's (D-IL) mortgage assistance bill. The original version of the bill covered some but not all of those requiring assistance. The final version was even more restricted. It applied to only homeowners currently in foreclosure as a result of actions prior to the start of 2009.
The denial of assistance to citizens by Senators is ironic given the fact that the origins of the current economic crisis came from Senate legislative actions in 1999 and 2000.
When, Where the Pope Inspires No Hope
Nicola Nasser
Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to be the third pontiff to visit the Holy Land from 8 – 15 May, following in the footsteps of Paul VI in 1964 and John Paul II in 2000, on a mission officially described as a “pilgrimage” and one of “peace and reconciliation.”
However, the Pope will be stepping into “a diplomatic minefield,” where the Catholic highest spiritual authority will be unmercifully scrutinized by the protagonists of the one hundred year old Arab – Israeli conflict for the Holy Father’s every step, word and handshake, which would force him into the defensive in an impossible balancing act that will rule out any hope his presence is supposed to inspire, especially among the down-trodden Arabs of Palestine, whether those who are “Israelis” living as second class citizens since 1948 or those Palestinians living under the Israeli military occupation since 1967.
Scientists speak out: coal-fired power stations are responsible for global warming
David Karoly of the School of Earth Sciences, Melbourne University
"Today, the owners of every coal-fired power station in Australia will receive a letter from myself and six other leading climate scientists. We have made it clear that their emissions are directly responsible, in part, for the impacts of climate change being felt in Australia and abroad. (letter attached). Our intention is to ensure the coal industry is fully accountable for their pollution and the damage it causes. Debate will continue on the fringes but, within the scientific community, there is wide and deep consensus that climate change is an unprecedented and urgent threat to the planet as we know it. We are at a key point in history and failure to act decisively now will have severe ramifications for generations to come. Coal-fired power stations are incompatible with action that reflects the urgency of climate change. As such, we have asked the recipients of the letters to have the far-sighted courage to work with our government and us to urgently replace coal-fired power plants with zero-carbon energy sources and energy efficiency programmes. As scientists, we have refrained in general from proposing policy, but when the direction we continue to take in this country is so clearly at odds with the scientific evidence, we have no choice but to speak out.
The consequences are too severe to do otherwise."
What MLK might say regarding the 61st Anniversaries of Israel and Nakba
eileen fleming
In his regards to Israel on it 61st year of existence, President Obama reiterated, "The United States was the first country to recognize Israel in 1948, minutes after its declaration of independence [and] looks forward to working with Israel to advance our common interests, including the realization of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East."
The 1948 Declaration of the Establishment of Israel affirms that, "The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations."
All Torture Evidence Will Lead to Dick Cheney
Allen L Roland
In pursuit of the Waterboard gang, any investigation will eventually lead to the grand Inquisitor himself, Dick Cheney ~ who saw himself as the all powerful shadow president. Cheney's fingerprints will eventually be found on all executive branch abuses of power including torture and the 9/11 conspiracy or cover-up:
Make no mistake about it, to Dick Cheney and his neocon co-conspirators, the cold war never ended and continues to this day. For eight long years, it was a Cheney / Bush administration where Bush was the oblivious stooge / cheerleader while Cheney not only positioned and moved all the pieces on the grand global chess board but was also the grand Inquisitor utilizing torture, rendition and assassination when necessary to accomplish his neocon agenda.
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