Movie Recommendation: Innocent Voices

This is a recommendation I do not make lightly. It is about a young child trying to grow up during El Salvador's civil war in 1980. I lived in Los Angeles, almost the same age as the main character at the time and vividly remember all the El Salvadorians there who had fled the violence. The drug gangs we paid to distribute the CIA coke like R13 and their many facsimiles since that time stood testament to the true evil behind that slaughter; Us: the U motherfucking S of goddamn A, as fucking usual. It brought tears so many times I honestly don't know how I made it through ... and it was just a movie. This, my friends, is how you make enemies that would see themselves die just to make you bleed. Grab a fine Malbec and let your soul live for a moment. Simply see on your screen, in your safe living room, what would have been your life if you're my age and happened to have been born in El Salvador. It is available for instant watch on Netflix.

Pepe Escobar « Interview with AW's Scott Horton

Pepe discusses his latest articles and gives some deep insight on the situation with Iran. He also goes on to re-confirm a lot of what I've blogged about previously regarding Syria, with some additional detail. Well worth your 26 minutes and 7 seconds to listen to this well traveled man.

Pepe Escobar « Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton

Russell Means

This is a superb interview with one of my favorite people, Russell Means. He changed my perspective when I was young. I heard him on the radio giving a speech titled, "In order for the World to live, Columbus must die." That speech was so profound to my young ears, that I cannot reasonably put it into words. Long live the Lakota.

Must Read Articles !!

Pepe Escobar with a Monster Grand Slam well worth your time. If you read nothing else this week, read this:

Tomgram: Pepe Escobar, Sinking the Petrodollar in the Persian Gulf | TomDispatch



Peter Kofod begins to explain what I have known since I was in high school in the late 80's. We are fascists and it's only getting worse.

http://www.dollarvigilante.com/blog/2011/12/15/fascism-for-dummies.html

SOPA/PIPA Debacle far from over

PCWorld's Christina DesMarais reports that on the same day the online Anti-SOPA protests were taking place last week, Congresscritter Darrell Issa was busy trying to offer up another steaming pile of legislation called the OPEN act. They already have the powers they are clamoring for, as the recent takedown of Megaupload demonstrates. This is yet another attempt by the corrupt and soulless vermin that slither and scurry about in the relatively dark and moist cavities of the so-called Halls of Power, to codify into law the garroting of the Internet as we know it. Read the article here.

Al Qaida/Mossad/CIA operatives vs Iraqi Feds

A Qatari news outlet, based in Houston Texas, reported based upon an Iraqi Interior Ministry statement, on Saturday that 20 operatives of an AQ front called the Islamic State of Iraq were confronted by an unreported number of Iraqi Feds. The sole reported death was one Majid Hassan Ali, said to be the leader. The rest, including two Palestinians, were arrested. The interesting part is what they were caught with:

Federal police officers recovered magnetic “sticky bombs”, roadside bombs, and several bags of explosives, as well as weapons and ammunition as a result of the operation, according to the statement.

Magnetic Sticky Bombs? Now that rings a bell, doesn't it? Since Al Qaida, the CIA, MI6, and Mossad are all pretty much the same damn thing, we know who's running the show there. This is the same shit they pull all over the world, the same guys who we're told were behind 9/11...

Are gears beginning to turn yet?

Immortal Technique: Ultimas Palabras

A new American revolution has begun,
Not against the forces of a colonial kingdom
But a rebellion against an oppressor that has risen among us,
It is not a foreign invasion we have to fear,
Rather the threat of a force within our nation
That has usurped what was once a dream of having the greatest democracy ever known to man,
We now live in a world where the population has grown exponentially,
And the planet is running out of resources to sustain us all,
We in the inner-city and those struggling in the suburban ghettos may not realize it yet,
But make no mistake,
The people who control the technology and run every enterprise that makes up our world,
Have seen this coming for a long time,
The ideas of renewable energy,
Global warming,
The idea of collectively working,
Were purposefully bought out, derailed, demonized, or corrupted,
In favor of an economic structure designed by a monetary caste system,
In a desperate attempt to convince us that we need to maintain that extravagant existence,
They've pretended we might share in their dream,
That we can justify any inhumanity in its name,
Out of this blind ignorance was born the curse of slavery,
Many of the founders of this nation were themselves Masons,
That is not a Left wing or Right wing conspiracy theory,
It is a widely known and accepted fact,
So then explain to me how a nation founded by men,
Who not only understood the long and complicated history of Europe,
But also that of Africa,
Could permeate such a lie in convincing the American public,
That one race of men was superior and one inferior,
When in fact we know that all the early men,
The men who created civilization and every aspect of what we see today,
The foundation of all human life,
Were from Africa,
The greatest cowardice of course came not with slavery itself,
Unfortunately,
But with the excuses for slavery,
For if America had been as brave as the Roman Empire and all other empires that have come after her,
And claimed "No, we were just stronger and that's why we took you",
Then when slavery was over racism would've probably followed in suit,
But instead it was the social lie,
The religious lie that was told,
That stayed in the mind of people,
That seperated one human being from another,
In order to distract us from the issues of class and freedom,
They created issues around religion and race to dominate the world for centuries to come,
Some claim that they respect that they respect the culture of life in this country,
They cry out for indignity of children that are slaughtered before they are born,
But God has not penetrated their souls,
For they have no empathy,
Nothing in their cold hearts for the 100s of 1,000s of lives we have taken in our wars overseas,
For that which they call "collateral damage",
Which the are the burnt and damaged children of the world,
They have no prayers for them,
Only snide commentary on the internet and laughter in their hearts,
And yet you claim to be one with God,
Huh,
We talk about immigration in this country,
Might doesn't make right ladies and gentleman,
It just makes right now,
What we are saying to the rest of the world,
Is one day when America grows weak,
One day when her legions falter,
On the day when her economy crumbles,
China, Russia, Europe, whatever power has arisen,
All you have to do is come here and conquer us in a few military excursions,
And then you too can set up shop here,
And in 100 years you can tell every red-blooded American,
"No, you are an illegal human being,
I am the true citizen,
I have all the rights,
You have no rights",
Maybe you forgot how you got this country,
Maybe you take for granted the blood, the sweat, the tears,
That the people who live in practical serfdom shed everyday,
For we may not run America, but we make America run,
We talk about the Law,
Yet,
How many indignities have been legal in the past?
How many treaties with Native Americans have we broken?
How many international laws have we violated?
And,
Speaking of laws,
How can a corporation be regulated by a government that is funded and controlled by corporations?
How can there be accountability,
For people who see a profit margin above the lives of Americans?
Above the lives of human beings in other countries?
We have taken the soul out ourselves and placed them inside machines,
My words of course,
Will be marginalized, demonized,
In typical fashion,
Anytime you dare to question the power structure they say you hate America,
No, I love this country,
I see its beauty everyday in its people,
And I love it a lot more than those who have abandoned the American worker,
That have chose to exploit and try to take away benefit she has,
Those that attempt to make excuses for every atrocity committed,
In the name of supposed freedom,
Those who demand accountability from everyone,
But offer none themselves,
Who favor contracts over lives,
Who favor invasion and control over organic democracy overseas,
The greatest flaw that any intelligent person has is to think they're smarter than everyone else,
And so the government has planted its spies amongst us,
We have planted our spies among them,
They have infiltrated every branch of the American government,
They have retrieved names, data, hard numbers,
The paper trail that will expose those that truly control this country,
Those that control the political parties,
Those that control the oil industry,
The energy,
Those that stand behind the companies faceless,
Whose names have never been revealed,
Until tod.. [GUNSHOT]

Pepe Escobar: The US-GCC fatal attraction

Asia Times Online :: The US-GCC fatal attraction

There's no way to understand the larger-than-life United States-Iran psychodrama, the Western push for regime change in both Syria and Iran, and the trials and tribulations of the Arab Spring(s) - now mired in perpetual winter - without a close look at the fatal attraction between Washington and the GCC. [1]

GCC stands for Gulf Cooperation Council, the club of six wealthy Persian Gulf monarchies (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates - UAE), founded in 1981 and which in no time configured as the prime strategic US backyard for the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, for the long-drawn battle in the New Great Game in Eurasia, and also as the headquarters for "containing" Iran.

The US Fifth Fleet is stationed in Bahrain and Central Command's forward headquarters is based in Qatar; Centcom polices no less than 27 countries from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia - what


the Pentagon until recently defined as "the arc of instability". In sum: the GCC is like a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf magnified to Star Trek proportions.

I prefer to refer to the GCC as the Gulf Counter-revolution Club - due to its sterling performance in suppressing democracy in the Arab world, even before Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia over a year ago.

Cueing to Orson Welles in Citizen Kane, the Rosebud inside the GCC is that the House of Saud sells its oil only in US dollars - thus the pre-eminence of the petrodollar - and in exchange benefits from massive, unconditional US military and political support. Moreover the Saudis prevent the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) - after all they're the world's largest oil producer - to price and sell oil in a basket of currencies. These rivers of petrodollars then flow into US equities and Treasury bonds.

For decades virtually the whole planet has been held hostage to this fatal attraction. Until now. Read more.

Atlanta Jewish Times: Assassinate Obama

Israeli media outlet Haaretz bring us coverage of Atlanta Jewish Times' recent op-ed by some guy named Andrew Adler. In this op-ed he is claiming, as usual, Iran to be the big bogeyman and gives a rundown of options for Netanyahu's extremist government. Haaretz writes:

Adler, who has since apologized for his article, listed three options for Israel to counter Iran’s nuclear weapons in an article published in his newspaper last Friday. The first is to launch a pre-emptive strike against Hamas and Hezbollah, the second is to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and the third is to “give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.”

 Now we have all kinds of fallout from this. From the director of the American Jewish Committee in Atlanta to Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League talking head, they're once again foaming at the mouth. This time it's about one of their own, and it's an American J-Street type and not the Ultra-Orthodox variety that spits on little schoolgirls and whatnot. You just can't make this shit up.

Israel's Government is Terrified of Dr. Ron Paul

We have long known that influence is bought and sold in Washington and the mass media. You can't even have a realistic discussion about Washington's so called "special" relationship with the extremely right wing Israeli government of Netanyahu in the mass media. They won't even entertain such discussion. Meanwhile our tax dollars continue to float one of the richest Socialist nations on earth. A nation that has in abundance, by hook or by crook, the best military hardware the United States has or will have (F-35) and a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons. They have some of the best medical care for free, including chocolate massages, and a heavy duty industrial and tech sector. We feed them Billions a year to have massages with snakes while our people starve and get taxed to provide Bonuses for Banksters.

Now we have Dr. Ron Paul who has always been opposed to foreign military aid, scaring the bejeezus out of them. To the point that they have abandoned their usual cloak and dagger games of trying to ignore him, smear him, or otherwise attempt to sideline him in the mass media and have come out swinging hay-makers. Whenever you see a boxer stop jabbing, stop the footwork, and just start swinging wildly; it doesn't bode well for that fighter.

Now we have reports that they've dusted off none other than neocon darling William Kristol to form a "Super PAC" for the express purpose of attacking Ron Paul. They pull ol' Kristol out whenever the establishment needs a blowjob, as I've mentioned before. Since the Congressman's record is near spotless, the best they've been able to come up with is some whining about losing the War OF Terror, and alienating poor defenseless, homeless, and stinking from eating out of the rubbish Israel. They didn't stop there. A top Netanyahu supporter and gambling mogul Sheldon Adelson just cut a check for Five Million Dollars to none other than Rooty Toot Noot Gingrich. Probably in an effort to simultaneously attack Dr. Paul and float The Goldman Sachs Ken Doll as above such petty squabbles when the Newtered One inevitably accedes and endorses him for the nomination. This will, in turn, lead to a very boring presidential race between which Big Bankster Whore fellates Israel sufficiently. Infowars, as usual, hits a grand slam with their coverage. Check the article out here.

Welcome to America, Don't Drink the Water

What do Nazi doctors, drinking water and, Prozac have in common? A toxic substance which is intimately tied to the number one cause of death worldwide. Many medical and scientific studies have established this as fact. Sodium Fluoride (NaF) is some nasty, nasty shit folks. 

Risk and Safety Phrases.
R25 – Toxic if swallowed.
R32 – Contact with acid liberates very toxic gas.
R36/38 – Irritating to skin and eyes.
S1/2 – Keep locked up and out of reach of children.
S22 – Do not breathe dust.
S36 – Wear suitable protective clothing.
S45 - In case of accident or if you feel unwell, seek medical advice immediately (show the label whenever possible.)

Get a water filter that removes it and be sure to include vitamin D in your diet. Either get lots of sun, take supplements (pills are the least desirable form), or eat good fish. Don't play with your health or your family's, stop consuming fluoride asap.

Do the Iranians not want democracy?

From Mossadegh to Lumumba, Hamas to the Muslim Brotherhood it is clear as day that any resource rich 3rd world nation attempting to implement reforms and Organic Democracy will be subverted, corrupted, and ultimately crushed in favor of a simple minded authoritarian. The only way the west can get what it wants is to put a complete idiot in power with absolute power. The only way an idiot can lead people is through fear, intimidation and violence. From Reza Pahlavi to Joseph Mobutu, Nuri Al-Maliki to Hamid Karzai, the west doesn't care what they do or have done as long as it gets what it wants (total control by the Banksters). If this doesn't make you want to try and democratize such a nation, you're not alone. The moment you try and do right by your people, there will be the west waiting in the wings with truckloads of cash and shiny things to make sure your own people tear you to shreds. Does anyone still wonder why people like Khamenei sit at the top? As long as the resource rich nations are unable to defend themselves against the west's machinations, we will have this dynamic in play.

"Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws." - Mayer Amschel Rothschild

Google Is Already Using SOPA-Like Censorship

Web giant blacklists websites, follows government orders to remove material. Paul Joseph Watson keeps knocking them out of the park:

Despite Google’s much-heralded support for the anti-SOPA movement, the web giant is already enforcing SOPA-like policies of its own, blacklisting legitimate websites from its news aggregator and following government orders to remove material from its search results and You Tube.

So there it is folks, like I said this SOPA/PIPA circus was a scrap between industry titans, big money, and big government. The only winners here are the Congresscritters that get to be bombarded with cash, thanks to Citizen's United.

Assange: Madison's view on government is still unequaled

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, interviewed by Rolling Stone's Michael Hastings, levels both barrels and blasts away. As usual, he hits the bulls eye. Here's a plump and juicy quote:

"From the glory days of American radicalism, which was the American Revolution, I think that Madison's view on government is still unequaled," he tells me during the three days I spend with him as he settles into his new location in England. "That people determined to be in a democracy, to be their own governments, must have the power that knowledge will bring – because knowledge will always rule ignorance. You can either be informed and your own rulers, or you can be ignorant and have someone else, who is not ignorant, rule over you. The question is, where has the United States betrayed Madison and Jefferson, betrayed these basic values on how you keep a democracy? I think that the U.S. military-industrial complex and the majority of politicians in Congress have betrayed those values."

Go here to read the rest of the excellent article or just click the picture below.

This is what happens when you keep slapping the Hornet's Nest

The Iranian response to the murders of its scientists seems to be right on the money and is bound to dramatically increase the consumption of antacids at Mossad and CIA headquarters. No worries, they'll just go beat on their bitches from the MeK and tell them to go make 'em a sammich before they accidentally fall down the stairs again. To read the Infowars article go here.

Minister of Science, Research, and Technology Kamran Daneshjo also told a press conference on Monday that “three hundred talented students at Sharif university and about a thousand brilliant students at the country’s universities have applied in recent days to change their major and start studying nuclear physics and nuclear engineering.”

UN Security Council fails on Syria resolution

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has failed to agree on a resolution regarding the unrest in Syria following talks on a Russian draft resolution proposed in December 2011.

On Tuesday, the 15-member Security Council held talks for about four hours on the proposed Russian resolution on Syria but the meeting ended inconclusively.

On December 15, 2011, Russia proposed its draft resolution on Syria and called on “all parties” in Syria to end the months-long unrest.

However, Western powers have disagreed with the Russian resolution and proposed changes to the draft document.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said in a press conference after the Tuesday Security Council meeting that the West’s proposed changes to the draft resolution had “in essence emasculated” the document and removed text affirming Syria’s sovereignty.

“These most important, key clauses were simply crossed out by our Western partners. We cannot accept that approach,” Gatilov added.

Russia rejects any resolution that could lead to a Western intervention in Syria.

In October last year, Russia and China vetoed a European draft resolution on Syria that sought to impose sanctions on the country.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011, with demonstrations being held both against and in favor of President Bashar al-Assad.

Damascus says “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” are responsible for the unrest, which it says is being orchestrated from abroad.

On Saturday, Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said Arab countries should send troops into Syria. It is the first time an Arab leader has publicly called for military intervention in the country.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry censured the Qatari ruler’s remark in a statement on Tuesday, saying that Damascus will oppose any attempt to violate its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Syrians have repeatedly expressed solidarity with the government over the past weeks.

On January 11, Assad joined thousands of government supporters in the capital Damascus and said Syria will “undoubtedly triumph over foreign conspiracies.”


Similar/Related Articles from Infowars:

US welcomes Russian shift on Syria at UN Security Council but won’t back draft resolution
‘Outraged’ US leads Security Council walkout after no Syria sanctions
Syria sanctions: ‘outraged’ US seeks fresh resolution after double veto blow
UN Security Council Vote Challenges Hidden Agenda on Syria
Russia: Foreigners working against Syria
Russia and China veto UN resolution against Syrian regime
Clinton: Iran sanctions draft to go to full UN Security Council today
Russian push to investigate Libyan civilian deaths “cheap stunt” — United States
Attack Omen? UN Removes Staff from Syria
U.N. Security Council Passes Libya No-fly Resolution
NATO says will not intervene in Syria
US persuades Security Council to impose new Iran sanctions

The Enemy Expatriation Act: No different than the Nazi Nuremberg Laws

HR 3166 and S 1698 is some scary shit people. Combined it with USAPatriot and the NDAA and this is supposed to be Freedom and Democracy®. If these bills pass and become law, we are in for it. You can be indefinitely detained, stripped of citizenship, all assets seized, tortured, and they can go after your family. We the people of the United States of America (not this Nazi fucking Homeland bullsh-t), protest this latest in a series of totalitarian "laws" in the strongest terms. This is completely unacceptable.

Anthony Gregory: Free-Speech Restrictions Are Indecent

From one of my favorite anarchists, Anthony Gregory, comes this indictment of the FCC and their free speech hypocrisy. Hypocrisy being a foundation of the Empire's policies whether they be fiscal, social or foreign:

Television technology has changed dramatically in the years since 1972, when comedian George Carlin first joked about the seven words you can never say on TV. The proliferation of cable television has brought those words and a slew of other vulgarities to the boob tube--and during prime time, no less. It is therefore anachronistic for the Federal Communications Commission to enforce one set of decency standards for broadcasters and another set for the cable television industry. But not only that, it’s also indecent for the government to restrict free speech, according to Independent Institute Research Editor Anthony Gregory.

“The real obscenity exists in trusting government officials, whether in robes or suits, with the authority to override our freedom of expression and speech,” Gregory writes in a commentary for the Huffington Post. The piece was prompted by last week’s oral arguments in FCC v. Fox, a Supreme Court case that originated from the agency’s imposition of fines against Fox Television Stations for broadcasting obscenities dropped by Cher and Bono during televised awards programs. The manner in which federal officials acquired legal authority over the airwaves illustrates the pitfalls of treating a resource as common property, Gregory explains. And the result disincentivizes private producers to set language protocols and police themselves.

The Federal Radio Act of 1927 claimed that the airwaves are “common property,” worthy of federal regulation “in the public interest.” But private interests played an important part—perhaps the decisive role—in the establishment of regulations that followed. This outcome could have been predicted. In the 1920s Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover held conferences on broadcasting regulations to solicit input from industry leaders. “The top industrialists tended to favor more federal control to prevent competitors from jumping on the radio at increasingly lower overhead costs,” writes Gregory. In the late 1940s, the same anti-competitive ethos was applied to the budding television industry. The artificial scarcity of broadcast airwaves has long served as a rationale of subsequent government regulation of television and radio stations and networks—and an excuse to help restrict competition in favor of entrenched special interests. At root, however, the greatest problem with federal restrictions on the television and radio industries (and on mass communication in general) is that they are an affront to liberty, and an unconstitutional one at that.

The Indecency of the FCC, by Anthony Gregory (Huffington Post, 1/11/12)

Venezuela is done with Bankster Court

OPEC Member Venezuela, speaking through Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, has reaffirmed its intentions to withdraw from the International Center for Settlement of Investor Disputes (ICSID), a minion of the World Bank. Last week Hugo Chavez announced that they were done playing with Exxon Mobil and their crocodile tears regarding Venezuela's nationalization of its petroleum resources. International Business Times reports that the Oil Giant "is seeking billions, but a recent decision by the International Chamber of Commerce ruled more in Venezuela's favor, ordering the country's state-run oil company to pay ExxonMobil $908 million, a sum just above the company's book value of its former assets in the Orinoco Basin."
Sounds to me like Venezuela is going to be the target of yet another coup attempt, like 2002.

Bankster Angry! Bankster Smash!!

WaPo: Top 10 Reasons the US is no longer the land of the free

While it's not by any means a complete list or properly justified for each bullet point, You probably wont see this on Letterman and if you have an aversion to the WaPo, I'll give you the rundown of Jonathan Turley's article in cut-n-paste format, that way you don't contaminate yourself by surfing there (don't worry I'll get dirty for you):

Indefinite detention

Under the law signed last month, terrorism suspects are to be held by the military; the president also has the authority to indefinitely detain citizens accused of terrorism. While the administration claims that this provision only codified existing law, experts widely contest this view, and the administration has opposed efforts to challenge such authority in federal courts. The government continues to claim the right to strip citizens of legal protections based on its sole discretion. (China recently codified a more limited detention law for its citizens, while countries such as Cambodia have been singled out by the United States for “prolonged detention.”)

Arbitrary justice

The president now decides whether a person will receive a trial in the federal courts or in a military tribunal, a system that has been ridiculed around the world for lacking basic due process protections. Bush claimed this authority in 2001, and Obama has continued the practice. (Egypt and China have been denounced for maintaining separate military justice systems for selected defendants, including civilians.)

Warrantless searches

The president may now order warrantless surveillance, including a new capability to force companies and organizations to turn over information on citizens’ finances, communications and associations. Bush acquired this sweeping power under the Patriot Act in 2001, and in 2011, Obama extended the power,including searches of everything from business documents to library records. The government can use “national security letters” to demand, without probable cause, that organizations turn over information on citizens — and order them not to reveal the disclosure to the affected party. (Saudi Arabia and Pakistan operate under laws that allow the government to engage in widespread discretionary surveillance.)

Secret evidence

The government now routinely uses secret evidence to detain individuals and employs secret evidence in federal and military courts. It also forces the dismissal of cases against the United States by simply filing declarations that the cases would make the government reveal classified information that would harm national security — a claim made in a variety of privacy lawsuits and largely accepted by federal judges without question. Even legal opinions, cited as the basis for the government’s actions under the Bush and Obama administrations, have been classified. This allows the government to claim secret legal arguments to support secret proceedings using secret evidence. In addition, some cases never make it to court at all. The federal courts routinely deny constitutional challenges to policies and programs under a narrow definition of standing to bring a case.

War crimes

The world clamored for prosecutions of those responsible for waterboarding terrorism suspects during the Bush administration, but the Obama administration said in 2009 that it would not allow CIA employees to be investigated or prosecuted for such actions. This gutted not just treaty obligations but the Nuremberg principles of international law. When courts in countries such as Spain moved to investigate Bush officials for war crimes, the Obama administration reportedly urged foreign officials not to allow such cases to proceed, despite the fact that the United States has long claimed the same authority with regard to alleged war criminals in other countries. (Various nations have resisted investigations of officials accused of war crimes and torture. Some, such as Serbia and Chile, eventually relented to comply with international law; countries that have denied independent investigations include Iran, Syria and China.)

Secret court

The government has increased its use of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has expanded its secret warrants to include individuals deemed to be aiding or abetting hostile foreign governments or organizations. In 2011, Obama renewed these powers, including allowing secret searches of individuals who are not part of an identifiable terrorist group. The administration has asserted the right to ignore congressional limits on such surveillance. (Pakistan places national security surveillance under the unchecked powers of the military or intelligence services.)

Immunity from judicial review

Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration has successfully pushed for immunity for companies that assist in warrantless surveillance of citizens, blocking the ability of citizens to challenge the violation of privacy. (Similarly, China has maintained sweeping immunity claims both inside and outside the country and routinely blocks lawsuits against private companies.)

Continual monitoring of citizens

The Obama administration has successfully defended its claim that it can use GPS devices to monitor every move of targeted citizens without securing any court order or review. (Saudi Arabia has installed massive public surveillance systems, while Cuba is notorious for active monitoring of selected citizens.)

Extraordinary renditions

The government now has the ability to transfer both citizens and noncitizens to another country under a system known as extraordinary rendition, which has been denounced as using other countries, such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan, to torture suspects. The Obama administration says it is not continuing the abuses of this practice under Bush, but it insists on the unfettered right to order such transfers — including the possible transfer of U.S. citizens.



These new laws have come with an infusion of money into an expanded security system on the state and federal levels, including more public surveillance cameras, tens of thousands of security personnel and a massive expansion of a terrorist-chasing bureaucracy.

Some politicians shrug and say these increased powers are merely a response to the times we live in. Thus, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) could declare in an interview last spring without objection that “free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.” Of course, terrorism will never “surrender” and end this particular “war.”

Other politicians rationalize that, while such powers may exist, it really comes down to how they are used. This is a common response by liberals who cannot bring themselves to denounce Obama as they did Bush. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), for instance, has insisted that Congress is not making any decision on indefinite detention: “That is a decision which we leave where it belongs — in the executive branch.”

And in a signing statement with the defense authorization bill, Obama said he does not intend to use the latest power to indefinitely imprison citizens. Yet, he still accepted the power as a sort of regretful autocrat.

An authoritarian nation is defined not just by the use of authoritarian powers, but by the ability to use them. If a president can take away your freedom or your life on his own authority, all rights become little more than a discretionary grant subject to executive will.

The framers lived under autocratic rule and understood this danger better than we do. James Madison famously warned that we needed a system that did not depend on the good intentions or motivations of our rulers: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

Benjamin Franklin was more direct. In 1787, a Mrs. Powel confronted Franklin after the signing of the Constitution and asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got — a republic or a monarchy?” His response was a bit chilling: “A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”

Since 9/11, we have created the very government the framers feared: a government with sweeping and largely unchecked powers resting on the hope that they will be used wisely.

The indefinite-detention provision in the defense authorization bill seemed to many civil libertarians like a betrayal by Obama. While the president had promised to veto the law over that provision, Levin, a sponsor of the bill, disclosed on the Senate floor that it was in fact the White House that approved the removal of any exception for citizens from indefinite detention.

Dishonesty from politicians is nothing new for Americans. The real question is whether we are lying to ourselves when we call this country the land of the free.

Antiwar.com fails some more

Today Antiwar.com, who is usually decent at giving us a daily roundup of the MSM (although not nearly in the same league as Infowars.com), again fails miserably in their Syria coverage. They post that the Qatari Emir Pushes for an attack on Syria. The monarchy in Qatar, as some of you know, owns Al-Jazeera. What they conveniently fail to mention is that the statement was made over two months ago. This is something that the commenters point out and helpfully provide a link to. Antiwar.com's many failings have been compiled and excoriated by Boilingfrogs in an article by Maidhc O'Cathail which is well worth the read. I still include them on this blog's ticker because as I mentioned, they're a decent place to get a compilation of mass media sources, even if a lot of them are a day or two months old... Margaret Griffis' Iraq Casualty Reports are useful. Try not to read too much into their opinions; however, as I personally got tired of reading Raimondo awhile back because of his steadfast 9/11 denials and propagation of the official lie. How can you trust his reporting on The Empire when he can't even get the Reichstag fire straight in his own head?

Bush “did nothing” about Mossad using US passports to recruit terrorists

Current and former American intelligence officials have accused Israeli spy operatives of posing as US citizens to recruit members of a Pakistani terrorist group in a covert war against Iran. As some of you might remember, ABC News broke the story in 2007 about U.S. support for the listed terrorist organization Jundallah. Now it looks like there's some back and forth about whose baby they really are. No matter which tentacle gets the credit, one thing is for certain, they belong to The Empire (RIP Chalmers Johnson, you are greatly missed). 

NAACP: Ron Paul is no Racist

"Texas Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul is not a racist and is being smeared as one because he is a clear threat to the political establishment, says Nelson Linder, Austin president of the NAACP.

Speaking out against the charges when they first surfaced during the last Republican primary in 2007, Linder said he has personally known Paul for 20 years and heard him speak out against police oppression in minority communities, racial biases in mandatory drug sentencing, and favorably about late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

Most informed people already knew this, but the presstitutes keep spewing their standard pickup line when it comes to Dr. Paul, so I thought it worthwhile to once again point this out.

Things moving too fast?

Paul Joseph Watson hits another home run. The Iran war timetable is all out of whack. Syria is being stubborn which means Hezbollah's flank is still relatively secure. The US and Israel have postponed their massive war gaming exercises until this summer, which dovetails nicely with the October Surprise event we mentioned earlier; which would be the pretext to cement Obama as the next "War President". Within 90 days or so, there will be some kind of air power operating overtly over Syria to try and finish their bloody Coup D'etat. Then comes the flank attack on Hezbollah through the Bekaa Valley as I've mentioned before. There's already Al Qaida scouts laying the groundwork in that area.

China looks to replace Iranian Oil

Everyone has their price, for the Chinese it's a decision between replacing Iranian oil or incurring the wrath of The Empire. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was in Saudi Arabia this weekend to discuss more access to their oil. Saudi Arabia, Angola, and Iran make up the bulk of China's oil imports. Iran is eyeballing its Gulf State neighbors suspiciously as it warns about them trying to make up for what the sanctions and embargo take off the market. Meanwhile The Empire plays its usual games, as they are still waiting for Syria to collapse. The provocations keep piling up; however, Iran's No First Strike policy is serving it well so far. Both current and former Mossad chiefs keep saying that Iran isn't an existential threat out of one corner of their mouths, but at the same time engaging in a covert war of assassinations, sabotage, cyber warfare, and terrorism in an effort to provoke a response. As I posted earlier, there is no lack of action going on there in an effort to get the Iranians to lose their cool.

Ron Paul Surging in Palmetto State

South Carolina is going to be an interesting primary, as Ron Paul has just secured a key endorsement from State Senator Tom Davis. This tends to happen when people take a good hard look at what choices they are faced with. Let's hope the rest of South Carolina awakens.

Civilians will be targetted

From Killing hope, Iraq 1990-1991 Desert holocaust:

" On 12 February, the Pentagon announced that "Virtually everything militarily ... is either destroyed or combat ineffective." Washington Post, 13 February 1991, p. 22, citing Rear Admiral Mike McConnell, intelligence director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Yet the next day there was a deliberate bombardment of a civilian air raid shelter that took the lives of as many as 1,500 civilians, a great number of them women and children; this was followed by significant bombardment of various parts of Iraq on a daily basis for the remaining two weeks of the war, including what was reported for the 18th in The Guardian of London as "one of [the coalition's] most ferocious attacks on the centre of Baghdad." : The Guardian (London), 20 February 1991, p. 1, entitled: "Bombs rock capital as allies deliver terrible warning"

What was the purpose of the bombing campaign after the 12th? The United States said it thought that the shelter was for VIPs, which it had been at one time, and claimed that it was also being used as a military communications center, but neighborhood residents insisted that the constant aerial surveillance overhead had to observe the daily flow of women and children into the shelter. Western reporters said they could find no signs of military use. An American journalist in Jordan who viewed unedited videotape footage of the disaster, which the American public never saw, wrote:

They showed scenes of incredible carnage. Nearly all the bodies were charred into blackness; in some cases the heat had been so great that entire limbs were burned off. ... Rescue workers collapsed in grief, dropping corpses; some rescuers vomited from the stench of the still-smoldering bodies: Laurie Garrett (medical writer for Newsday), "The Dead", Columbia Journalism Review (New York), May/June 1991, p. 32.

Said White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater after the bombing of the shelter: It was "a military target ... We don't know why civilians were at this location, but we do know that Saddam Hussein does not share our value in the sanctity of life."

More from '91:

" The civilian population suffered in the extreme from therelentless bombing. Middle East Watch, the human-rights organization, has documented numerous instances of the bombing of apartment houses, crowded markets, bridges filled with pedestrians and civilian vehicles, and a busy central bus station, usually in broad daylight, without a government building or military target of any kind in sight, not even an anti- aircraft gun."

Again and Again:

"Those who tried to escape the bombing horror in Iraq by fleeing to Jordan were subjected to air attacks on the highway between Baghdad and the Jordanian border -- buses, taxis, and private cars were repeatedly assaulted, literally without mercy, by rockets, cluster bombs and machine guns; usually in broad daylight, the targets clearly civilian, with luggage piled on top, with no military vehicles or structures anywhere to be seen, surrounded by open desert, the attacking planes flying extremely close to the ground ... busloads of passengers incinerated, and when people left the vehicles and fled for their lives, planes often swooped down upon them firing away. ... "You're killing us!" cried a Jordanian taxi driver to an American reporter. "You're shooting us everywhere we move! Whenever they see a car or truck, the planes dive out of the sky and chase us. They don't care who we are or what we are. They just shoot." His cry was repeated by hundreds of others. ... The US military, it appears, felt that any vehicle, including those filled with families, might be a cover for carrying military fuel or other war materiel, some perhaps related to Scud missiles; and even carrying civilian fuel was a violation of the embargo."

This was a scene that repeated itself again and again in 2003. Not even the Wikipedia could spin this one:

"At 4:30 am the morning of 13 February, two F-117 stealth fighter/bombers each dropped a 2,000 pound GBU-27 laser-guided bomb on the shelter. The first cut through ten feet of reinforced concrete before a time-delayed fuse exploded. Minutes later the second bomb followed the path cut by the first bomb. People staying in the upper level were incinerated by heat, while boiling water from the shelter's water tank killed those below. At the time of the bombing there were hundreds of Iraqi civilians in the shelter. More than 400 people were killed; reports vary and the registration book was incinerated in the blast. The dead were overwhelmingly women and children because men and boys over the age of 15 had left the shelter to give the women and children some privacy. The blast sent shrapnel into surrounding buildings, shattering glass windows and splintering their foundations. The shelter is maintained as a memorial to those who died within it, featuring photos of those killed. According to visitors' reports, Umm Greyda, a woman who lost eight children in the bombing, moved into the shelter to help create the memorial, and serves as its primary guide."

That shelter features in this documentary:








Comprehensive post-World War II government studies had concluded that "the dread of disease and the hardships imposed by the lack of sanitary facilities were bound to have a demoralizing effect upon the civilian population", and that there was a "reliable and striking" correlation between the disruption of public utilities and the willingness of the German population to accept unconditional surrender. In the Iraqi case there was a further motivation: to encourage desperate citizens to rise up and overthrow Saddam Hussein. Said a US Air Force planner: 

Big picture, we wanted to let people know, "Get rid of this guy and we'll be more than happy to assist in rebuilding. We're not going to tolerate Saddam Hussein or his regime. Fix that, and we'll fix your electricity."

Civilians have always been targeted and nothing is going to change that. They will die by the millions like always. There are currently over 2 Million Iraqi war widows. Anyone who cavalierly proposes that there was "oh about 100,000 dead give or take" is a lying shit and deserves to be sent to the next war zone dressed as a civilian. Let's see how much shit they talk then.