Pages: << 1 ... 1250 1251 1252 1253 1254 1255 1256 1257 1258 1259 1260 ... 1262 >>
The Media Response to Venezuelan Elections
Stephen Lendman
On November 23, Venezuela held regional and local elections for governors, mayors and other municipal offices. Over 5000 candidates contested in 603 races for 22 state governors, 328 mayors, 233 state legislative council members, 13 Caracas Metropolitan area council members, and seven others for the Alto Apure District Council.
As mandated under Article 56 of the Bolivarian Constitution: "All persons have the right to be registered (to vote) free of charge with the Civil Registry Office after birth, and to obtain public documents constituting evidence of the biological identity, in accordance with the law."
It's a constitutional mandate to let all Venezuelans vote. Once registered, none are purged from the rolls, obstructed, or prevented from having their vote count like so often happens in America. In Venezuela, democracy works.
Hey, Prez-Elect Obama: Say 'Thanks' to Alan Greenspan!
by William Hughes
“The secret for success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” - Benjamin Disraeli
In ancient Greece, some of its celebrated playwrights, such as Aeschylus, used a device called the “Deus ex Machina,” in order to resolved a badly tangled plot. Usually, it represented some kind of divinity, whose intervention into the lives of the characters portrayed generally proved fortuitous. In the 2008 presidential election, the winner, Democratic Sen. Bararck Obama, was ready for his opportunity, but he also had help--big time--from above! There was a point in this bitterly fought campaign, where the GOP’s John McCain was able to forcefully dominate the race by making “national security” the pivotal issue. All of that, however, abruptly changed when the massive tsunami, known as the Wall Street-Financial Meltdown, hit home. (1) Billions of dollars in wealth disappeared over night. Bottom line: The Prez-Elect can mostly thank Alan “Bubbles” Greenspan, ex-czar for 18 years of “The Fed” for that meltdown and for his victory on Nov. 4, 2008. (2)
Brutish Empire Calls for A New Hjalmar Schacht
by John Hoefle
Schacht was the empire's man on the scene, as head of the
Reichsbank and then, Minister of Economics under Hitler
We have repeatedly warned that the Anglo-Dutch Liberal empire is using the death of the global financial system to eliminate the nation-state system and impose a global, fascist, corporatist dictatorship upon the world. One does not need inside information to see this; one merely need examine the policies being pushed by the international banking crowd and take them to their natural conclusion. The push for fascism is, to use H.G. Wells' term, an "open conspiracy."
However, it is always useful to receive confirmation of their intent from inside the enemy camp: According to reliable sources, there is an active discussion within the halls of HSBC's London headquarters of the need for a new Hjalmar Schacht.
Two-time Refugee and a Tent in Occupied East Jerusalem
eileen fleming
Photo by me of Um Kamal/Mrs. Khurd taken one day before
she became a widow.
[Occupied East Jerusalem] Less than a five minute walk from my room at the Ambassador Hotel, Fawziya Khurd and international supporters began living in a tent, because the Israeli police enforced a court order to throw her and her spouse, Mohammed out of their home, which they had been living in since 1956. The day before my last visit, Mrs. Khurd/Um Khammal [mother of Kammal] became a widow when Mohammad expired secondary to the stress of home eviction by Israel.
At 3:30 AM on November 9, 2008, Reverend Richard Toll was awakened in his hotel room in the neighborhood when the Israeli Occupying Forces/IOF broke down the door of the home of the Al Khurd family. Rev. Toll told me [during the final day of Sabeel's 7th Annual Conference: The Nakba: Memory, Reality and Beyond] that he was jarred awake by a woman's pain filled scream that was indescribable.
Victory for Venezuela’s Socialists in Crucial Elections
James Petras
The pro-Chavez United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won 72% of the governorships in the November 23, 2008 elections and 58% of the popular vote, dumbfounding the predictions of most of the pro-capitalist pollsters and the vast majority of the mass media who favored the opposition.
PSUV candidates defeated incumbent opposition governors in three states (Guaro, Sucre, Aragua) and lost two states (Miranda and Tachira). The opposition retained the governorship in a tourist center (Nueva Esparta) and won in Tachira, a state bordering Colombia, Carabobo and the oil state of Zulia, as well as scoring an upset victory in the populous state of Miranda and taking the mayoralty district of the capital, Caracas. The socialist victory was especially significant because the voter turnout of 65% exceeded all previous non-presidential elections. The prediction by the propaganda pollsters that a high turnout would favor the opposition also reflected wishful thinking.
Vanished - How the BBC disappears the news
by William Bowles
This from GazaFriends on the kidnapping of 15 Palestinian fishermen and 3 foreign nationals in international waters by the Israeli navy:
20 November, 2008 — "Darlene Wallach is in a new prison in Ramle, a men's prison, but she's in a section reserved for illegal immigrants.
"She wanted to pass on this information, "We were fishing about 7 miles off the shores of Gaza. The Israeli soldiers came on board the three boats via four Zodiacs. The frogmen came up and over each boat. They used a taser on Vik while he was still on the boat, then tried to push him backwards onto a sharp piece of wood. He jumped into the sea to avoid being hurt more than he already was and was in the water for quite a while.
Strangling the King's opponents: Swaziland's 'war on terrorism'
Dr. Jabulane Matsebula
When King Mswati III addressed the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2008, the emphasis of his speech was on the threat of terrorism. His speech was a carbon copy of what is now an outdated political discourse that dominated global politics in the turn of the 21st century. Out of touch with the shift in global politics, he sounded hollow when he called upon the world to unite and fight terrorism. World unity was achieved in 2001 but discourses about the threat of terrorism have receded from the centre stage of global politics. The recent 63rd Session of the UN General Assembly and the presidential election in the United States of America are examples of this shift in global politics. Whilst world leaders focused their attention on the global financial crisis and climate change, King Mswati III looked like a yesterday man. Nobody paid attention to him and he returned home a disillusioned, embarrassed and a frustrated man.
Obama preserves our way of life
Mickey Z.
Awakened by the muffled, distant howls of slaughtered Indians, Uncle Sam rises from his bed and hits the light switch…blissfully, purposefully unaware of how valley fills enable him to gain access to that electricity day after day.
***
Here’s how The Sierra Club begins its discussion of mountaintop removal mining: “In places like Appalachia, mining companies blow the tops off mountains to reach a thin seam of coal and then, to minimize waste disposal costs, dump millions of tons of waste rock into the valleys below, causing permanent damage to the ecosystem and landscape.” That is a valley fill.
Lurching Toward Gomorrah: More Signs of An Unstoppable Economic Meltdown
by Stephen Lendman
Crisis denialists are still around but are slowly and grudgingly giving way to the reality that global capitalism is in serious crisis as recession lurches toward depression in a continuing downward spiral.
Nearly every new data release confirm it. On November 19, housing starts and permits hit record lows, according to the Commerce Department. At an annual 791,000 rate last month, they were the lowest they've been since number tracking began in 1959 and are down 4.5% from a revised 828,000 September reading.
Centrism, Paris and the Futility of Barack Obama
By Gaither Stewart
(Paris) Some cities are open to surrounding plains or the open seas and the eternal firmament overhead. Port cities and plains cities in fact place no limits. Such cities are to be seen, possessed and participated in. They don’t need to hold onto secrets. Other cities are self-sufficient, turned in on themselves and have no need for the outside world. The latter cities hold the most intimate of secrets, shared only between the city and its own. In such great but closed cities like Prague or Paris which curb encroachments from the rest of the world you probably feel a justified longing for space.
<< 1 ... 1250 1251 1252 1253 1254 1255 1256 1257 1258 1259 1260 ... 1262 >>
