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100 Years Is Enough: Time to Make the Fed a Public Utility
by Ellen Brown
December 23rd, 2013, marks the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve, warranting a review of its performance. Has it achieved the purposes for which it was designed?
The answer depends on whose purposes we are talking about. For the banks, the Fed has served quite well. For the laboring masses whose populist movement prompted it, not much has changed in a century.
Thwarting Populist Demands
The Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913 in response to a wave of bank crises, which had hit on average every six years over a period of 80 years. The resulting economic depressions triggered a populist movement for monetary reform in the 1890s. Mary Ellen Lease, an early populist leader, said in a fiery speech that could have been written today:
100 Years of Financial Terrorism
by Stephen Lendman
December 23, 1913 will live in infamy. Three days before Christmas, House members passed the Federal Reserve Act (FSA).
On December 23, Senate members did so. President Woodrow Wilson was a tool of big money. He was JP Morgan's man in Washington. He signed FSA into law straightaway. He acted disgracefully.
So did Congress. It passed FSA in the middle of the night. Most congressional members hadn't read it.
They wouldn't have understood it anyway. It was cleverly worded to deceive them. Only its creators knew its purpose. Ellen Brown explained what happened as follows:
"In plain English, the Federal Reserve Act authorized a private central bank to create money out of nothing, lend it to the government at interest, and control the nation's money supply, expanding or contracting it at will."
Weeks before FSA was enacted, the 1913 Revenue Act became law. It imposed a federal income tax. It did so to pay bankers interest on America's money. It let taxpayers do it.
Rogue State Israel
by Stephen Lendman
Israel is no democracy. It never was. For sure it's not now. Its current government is its worst ever. It's dominated by right-wing ideologues.
Belligerence, state-sponsored terrorism, militarized occupation, racist persecution, settlement expansions, and neoliberal harshness reflect official policy.
Netanyanu's a world class thug. His coalition partners are militantly hardline. They're ideologically over the top.
They abhor peace, stability, equity and justice. Their policies reflect racist hate. They prioritize occupation harshness. They threaten regional security.
They consider Palestinians "foreigners." They call them "infiltrators." So-called peace talks assure none at all. They're a sham.
Netanyahu demands unconditional surrender. He wants Palestinians denied all rights. He has full US support.
Israeli author Eyal Megged calls Netanyahu's government "fascist." He does so for good reason.
An Obama Presidency: More of the Same - Only Worse (Part 1)
By Larry Pinkney
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board
If the masses of people in this nation knew or had known the pertinent facts pertaining to the war mongering “we can fight the war better,” pro-apartheid Zionist, corporate Wall Street-backed, slippery tongued Barack Obama, it is doubtful they would have been so thoroughly bamboozled and hoodwinked to their own detriment and that of the world. Wall Street and the corporate media, however, have, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, engaged in a relentless, ruthless, and absolutely unprecedented campaign of corporate branding and marketing on behalf of Barack Obama, with the peoples of the United States as their targets.
Assuming that the corporate Wall Street elite and its concomitant opinion-forming, omission, and misinformation machinery of the U.S. corporate media successfully installs their favorite choice - Democratic Party Republicrat Barack Obama - as the first colored President of the U.S. Empire, the majority of people in the United States are in for a rude awakening in the form of increased economic austerity, internal political repression, deepened racial disharmony, external U.S. military adventurism, and an endless stream of misleading disinformation from the corporate government. The peoples of the world will face intensified imperialistic and military assault and attempts at U.S. hegemony. This time, however, the imperialism of the U.S. Empire will be conveniently spearheaded, condoned and rationalized by its newest and most potent weapon: the dangerously double-talking “Emperor” in black face - Barack Obama. Moreover, in one fell and foul swoop, the corporate / military elite of the U.S. Empire intends to utilize Barack Obama as the “messiah” (created by none other than corporate America and its corporate media) to neutralize and destroy the ongoing Black liberation struggle for justice and equality in this nation, and in people’s liberation struggles throughout the world.
Washington Abuses Indian Diplomat
by Stephen Lendman
India's New York consular official was targeted. Devyani Khobragade is Deputy Consul General. On December 12, US marshals abused her.
They arrested, handcuffed, detained, and strip-searched her multiple times. India's government had to post a $250,000 bond for her release.
She's charged with visa fraud and failing to pay her Indian maid proper wages. True or false doesn't justify treating her abusively.
Doing so compromised her diplomatic immunity. Her lawyer, Daniel Arshack, said she'll plead not guilty.
Her diplomatic status protects her from prosecution, he said. Regardless of pending charges, she deserved respect.
Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, she should have enjoyed full diplomatic immunity. Host countries are obligated to provide it.
It grants foreign officials free movement and travel. It requires treating them respectfully. All appropriate steps must be taken. Article 29 states:
"The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving State shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity."
The Enduring Power of Zionism’s Propaganda Lies
By Alan Hart
Evidence that the mainstream media is not prepared to balance Zionism’s propaganda lies with the truth of history as it relates to the making and sustaining of the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel was on display in the BBC’s obituary tribute to David Coleman who died at the age of 87 on 21 December. The face and voice of BBC Television’s sports coverage for the best part of half a century, he was in Munich for the 1972 Olympics where, according to the commentary of the BBC’s tribute to him, “Arab gunmen held hostages and then killed the Israeli athletes.”
The truth about the killing of the nine Israeli athletes who were taken hostage by Fatah’s Black September terrorists after they had killed one is as summarised in Chapter 8 of Volume Three of the American edition of my book Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews, which is subtitled Conflict Without End? Here now is that summary which contains some context and runs to two and a half book pages.
Making War, Not Peace in Syria
by Stephen Lendman
On January 22, so-called Geneva II peace talks begin in Montreux, Switzerland. On January 24, they'll continue in Geneva.
They're dead on arrival before beginning. Radicalized elements dominate anti-Assad forces. They reject peace.
So does Washington. Syria is Obama's war. US-supported death squads wage it. Obama didn't target Syria to quit. He wants Assad ousted.
New Iran Sanctions Bill
by Stephen Lendman
Last July, House members overwhelmingly passed new Iranian sanctions. A companion Senate bill didn't follow. Members of both parties want one.
On December 19, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez (D. NJ) headlined his press release: "Twenty-Seven Senators Introduce the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act (NWFI)."
Fiddling around while Syria burns
Michael Collins
The rebels with power don't want to attend the peace conference or can't for political reasons and the rebels that can attend lack any power.
Syria is a swirling cauldron of battles and tragedies as the thirty-day countdown begins for the January 22, 2013 United States-Russia sponsored peace talks in Montreux, Switzerland. (Image)
Syrian government sources reported between 80 and 100 killed in Adra, an industrial town northwest of Damascus. Al Qaeda aligned Al Nusra rebels and the Saudi sponsored Islamic front entered the town on December 12 after a series of defeats in the surrounding area. Reports indicate that Christian and Druze Syrians were singled out. According to local workers, rebels infiltrated factories then began shooting workers. Workers staged a protest on December 20 demanding a response by the United Nations and support from the International Labor Organization.
Battles between the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and rebels heated up in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, and the mountainous Qalamoun region near the border with Lebanon.
US Death Squad Diplomacy in Syria
by Stephen Lendman
Radicalized elements dominate anti-Assad aggression. Salafist extremists are heavily involved. They comprise Washington's main fighting force. They get active US support.
Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, and other groups hold territory in northern Syria. In November, the Islamic Front was created. Zahran Alloush heads it. His father, Mohammed, is a Salafist cleric.
Zahran controls about 50 brigades. He commands tens of thousands of fighters. Saudi Arabia funds them. They're waging US proxy war on Syria. Saudi analyst Jamal Khashoggi said: "For us in Saudi Arabia, the worst scenario is to let (Assad) survive. He has to go."
So-called moderate anti-government elements are weak by comparison to extremist ones. They're ineffective. They get little Western support. It's earmarked for US backed death squads.
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