Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Tres momentos con Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
Esquivel va de un lado para el otro en el Palacio de las Convenciones de la Habana. Concede entrevistas, interviene en los debates, saluda a viejos y nuevos conocidos. Su presencia inspira respeto. Y todo el mundo quiere escuchar sus palabras, la mezcla de sabiduría y experiencia de un hombre de más de 70 años, que no sólo es uno de los Premios Nobel de la Paz, sino también arquitecto, escultor, y un veterano luchador por los derechos y la soberanía del pueblo de la América Latina.
AZTLAN: Minuteman vigilante movement fizzles out
It is now clear that the Minuteman vigilante movement was more of a media driven circus than a serious effort by "redneck gringos" to stop the migration of Mexicans to Aztlan. Immigration from Mexico is today greater than before the Minuteman vigilante movement according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center. Looking back to the much publicized launching of the movement in Tombstone, Arizona, it was probably prophetic that it was done so on "April Fools Day". More reporters showed up in Tombstone than vigilantes to what Susan Carroll of The Arizona Republic called, "a media-inflated stunt." There were no more than 150 vigilantes from across the USA that participated in the opening event.
The Minutemen turned out to be nothing more than obese lawn-chair vigilantes. The beer guzzling riff-raff from across America may have been scared by a statement purportedly made by a leader of the Mara Salvatruchas that they would be confronted by his organization. The vigilantes were informed that "The Mara Salvatruchas are known to cut the testicles of their enemies to feed them to their vicious dogs and to sever the heads off their opponents to play football soccer with them." This statement itself turned out to be an "April Fools Joke" but it sent shivers up the spine of many of the anti-Mexican vigilantes.
The Minutemen turned out to be nothing more than obese lawn-chair vigilantes. The beer guzzling riff-raff from across America may have been scared by a statement purportedly made by a leader of the Mara Salvatruchas that they would be confronted by his organization. The vigilantes were informed that "The Mara Salvatruchas are known to cut the testicles of their enemies to feed them to their vicious dogs and to sever the heads off their opponents to play football soccer with them." This statement itself turned out to be an "April Fools Joke" but it sent shivers up the spine of many of the anti-Mexican vigilantes.
The coup that wasn't
Scott Ritter was the former US marine captain tasked with finding Saddam Hussein's weapons. Now, in this first detailed account, he reveals how the CIA plotted to use a UN weapons inspection to overthrow the Iraqi regime - and how fiasco turned to tragedy when it failed
'This is big, Scott," Moshe Ponkovsky said. "We don't share this with anyone." Israel's military intelligence was already assisting us at Unscom (the United Nations Special Commission, which ran the UN's weapons inspections programme in Iraq) by scrutinising the "take" from the American U-2 spy-plane flights over Iraq. It had proved an unorthodox but fruitful relationship for Unscom: the Israeli analysts had proved far superior to the CIA's. But what I was now proposing to the Israelis was a dramatic expansion of this intelligence-sharing.
The Invention of Porno Torture
Lynndie England, the Army private photographed holding a naked Iraqi by a dog leash, has been convicted leaving behind a nagging question: how far up does the responsibility go? By no means is Lynddie England alone. She is the scapegoat of a larger US Torture Establishment. A related question that demands scrutiny is the widespread use of porno torture. Photos and stories emanating from Abu Gharib and Guantanamo, the military prisons that would live in infamy, reveal that American soldiers, CIA interrogators, and military contractors, all have engaged in porno torture against Muslim detainees. Unofficial stories circulating on the internet are beyond belief. But even official acknowledgement, though exposing only tip of the iceberg, furnishes credible clues that porno torture has been, and probably still is, a favorite tool to degrade and torment Muslim detainees.
Argy-bargy a sweet list of conspiracy-minded questions about New Orleans
Here (or here) is a sweet list of conspiracy-minded questions about New Orleans. I am particularly fond of number 2:
"Who owned the huge barge that was catapulted through the wall of the Industrial Canal, killing hundreds in the Lower Ninth Ward - the most deadly hit-and-run accident in U.S. history?"
On the mystery barge (for more, scroll down to the comments by Brad Ott here and here):
"A loose barge may have caused a large breach in the east side of the Industrial Canal floodwall that accelerated Hurricane Katrina's rising floodwaters in the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish, Army Corps of Engineers project manager Al Naomi said Monday.
Naomi said the barge was found on the land side of the floodwall, leading corps officials to believe it could have crashed through the wall and sent a huge amount of water - which was already pouring over the top of the wall - into the neighborhoods immediately downriver.
'We have some pictures that show this very large barge inside the protected area. It had to go through the breach,' Naomi said. 'The opening is a little bit wider than the barge itself. One would think it's the barge that did it.'
If it did strike the floodwall, Naomi said, the barge would have 'precipitated a tremendous collapse' that would have quickly flooded the Lower Ninth Ward and then St. Bernard Parish. The breach is 'ultimately in my opinion what got (St. Bernard) Parish flooded,' Naomi said."
The reason this story isn't getting more play is that the politically-connected corporation that negligently failed to secure its barge would be facing a multi-billion dollar liability claim. You can add that claim to the fact that the storm surge wasn't high enough to go over the floodwalls, meaning that they failed due to negligent construction, presumably due to cost-cutting by corrupt subcontractors employed by the Army Corps of Engineers (for some Army boondoggles, see here). This story is just starting. Watch for Bush to try to sneak in some kind of liability limitation to protect the guilty.
"Who owned the huge barge that was catapulted through the wall of the Industrial Canal, killing hundreds in the Lower Ninth Ward - the most deadly hit-and-run accident in U.S. history?"
On the mystery barge (for more, scroll down to the comments by Brad Ott here and here):
"A loose barge may have caused a large breach in the east side of the Industrial Canal floodwall that accelerated Hurricane Katrina's rising floodwaters in the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish, Army Corps of Engineers project manager Al Naomi said Monday.
Naomi said the barge was found on the land side of the floodwall, leading corps officials to believe it could have crashed through the wall and sent a huge amount of water - which was already pouring over the top of the wall - into the neighborhoods immediately downriver.
'We have some pictures that show this very large barge inside the protected area. It had to go through the breach,' Naomi said. 'The opening is a little bit wider than the barge itself. One would think it's the barge that did it.'
If it did strike the floodwall, Naomi said, the barge would have 'precipitated a tremendous collapse' that would have quickly flooded the Lower Ninth Ward and then St. Bernard Parish. The breach is 'ultimately in my opinion what got (St. Bernard) Parish flooded,' Naomi said."
The reason this story isn't getting more play is that the politically-connected corporation that negligently failed to secure its barge would be facing a multi-billion dollar liability claim. You can add that claim to the fact that the storm surge wasn't high enough to go over the floodwalls, meaning that they failed due to negligent construction, presumably due to cost-cutting by corrupt subcontractors employed by the Army Corps of Engineers (for some Army boondoggles, see here). This story is just starting. Watch for Bush to try to sneak in some kind of liability limitation to protect the guilty.
Special Report:Katrina/Rita Fallout Part Two - Martial Law: The Pretext Is Now Set
In the Aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita it has become obvious that not only will another terror attack on US soil provide the pretext for a police state crackdown, so will a natural disaster.
I'm not going to once again go over in depth the police state showcase that was New Orleans in the days after Katrina, but let us recap a few key points:
FEMA has been deliberately sabotaging relief efforts in New Orleans, making things worse than need be.
FEMA, its officials and the people it employs have a long history of incompetence, corruption, fraud and criminality.
The Federal Government has illegally initiated total gun confiscation of law abiding citizens and forcibly removed them from their property in New Orleans. Federal forces have led criminal gangs of police in an America-killing gun grab.
---
When The United States of America become Oceania their goal is complete. As the masses sleepwalk into this scenario the few that are still awake are becoming more active and waking up more people. We have to move on this now, there is no more time for procrastination. Everyone should be writing reports like this one, everyone should be waking up their families and friends. We are in an Information War. Are we going to stand by and be the generation who go down in history as the weak, poor saps that allowed themselves to be ruled over by brutish warmongering power hoarding criminals elites? Or are we going to go down in history as the generation that defeated tyrannical violent warmongers by standing up and being counted? Through peaceful, progressive intelligent outreach and the reclaiming of our freedom.
America's Next Election Nightmare
The new poster-child for how not to run elections is Cathy Cox, the Secretary of State of Georgia. Only she comes with an added twist. She won't merely be helping to run someone else's campaign in next year's mid-terms; she will be running for office herself.
Cox, a Democrat, was the first Secretary of State to champion and purchase an all-electronic touch screen voting system for her state. She persuaded Georgia to spend an initial $54 million on a hitherto untried Diebold system in 2002, and has tried ever since to parlay the e-voting revolution she helped launch into a bid for the Georgia governorship in November 2006. "Advancing the e-government revolution," is the slogan on her website.
Preparando a Assembléia Popular: Mutirão por um Novo Brasil
Representantes das pastorais e movimentos sociais, entidades e organizações populares, que fazem parte dos processos da 4ยช Semana Social Brasileira da CNBB e das Assembléias Populares: Campanha Jubileu Sul/Brasil e Campanha contra a ALCA estiveram reunidos em Brasília, nos dias 23 a 25 de setembro para planejar a "Assembléia Popular: Mutirão Por um Novo Brasil". Os debates deram-se em torno dos eixos que nortearão a assembléia, da metodologia, e da preparação de um instrumento que recolha as reflexões já feitas para facilitar o aprofundamento dos debates e propostas. Com a participação de mais de 10 mil pessoas o evento se realizará nos dias 25 a 28 de outubro, em Brasília, DF.
Saudi Preferential Treatment - Hospital Skipped Its Own Patients
Surgeons at St. Vincent Medical Center bypassed nine of the hospital's own patients on a regional liver transplant waiting list before they inappropriately gave the organ to a Saudi national who ranked 52nd, hospital officials said Tuesday.
What is clear is that the Saudi national received a liver that should have gone to a patient at UCLA Medical Center who was much higher on the transplant list. Moreover, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia paid St. Vincent $339,000 for the Saudi patient's transplant and hospital care, plus undisclosed fees to the doctors,
What is clear is that the Saudi national received a liver that should have gone to a patient at UCLA Medical Center who was much higher on the transplant list. Moreover, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia paid St. Vincent $339,000 for the Saudi patient's transplant and hospital care, plus undisclosed fees to the doctors,
Kneel Before The Meteorologist At last, one scientist BushCo will definitely -- albeit resentfully -- listen to. Sometimes
So now we know. This is what it takes. This is how far the nation has to crumble and this is how many people have to die and this is how many tens of billions it has to cost and this is how far his dirt-low poll numbers have to fall before Bush will finally come out and say he agrees with one of those godforsaken gul-dang book-learned scientist types.
You know the ones. Those informed and well-educated data-crunchers he normally despises like a kid hates broccoli and whom he normally thinks are lower 'n a snake's belly to a mud puddle and whom the GOP normally treats the way a cockroach treats a dunghill. Which is to say, not very well at all.
Etan Thomas's Field Trip For Conservatives
In his electrifying speech at Saturday's antiwar march, the basketball star said he'd like to take the country's right-wing Republicans on a trip to the 'hood.
Editor's Note: The following is a transcript of NBA star Etan Thomas's speech at DC's anti-war march on Washington, Sept. 24, 2005. Thomas is a power forward for the Washington Wizards, and is the author of a book of poems entitled More Than An Athlete.
Giving all honor, thanks and praises to God for courage and wisdom, this is a very important rally. I'd like to thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts, feelings and concerns regarding a tremendous problem that we are currently facing. This problem is universal, transcending race, economic background, religion and culture, and this problem is none other than the current administration which has set up shop in the White House.
In fact, I'd like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to get big yellow buses with no air conditioner and no seatbelts and round up Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie, Katherine Harris, that little bow-tied Tucker Carlson and any other right-wing conservative Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a trip to the hood.
"Suppose...": Arguments for an Impeachment Resolution
Suppose it could be proven that the integrity of the vote-counting in the 2004 election had been seriously compromised, and that Bush-Cheney probably lost. What would you do about it?
Suppose it could be proven that the Bush Administration told huge lies to get the U.S. military into Iraq, thus leading to the deaths of thousands of American soldiers, the maiming of tens of thousands of others, the deaths of more than 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians? What would you do about it?
Suppose it could be proven that the Bush Administration effectively has turned over the writing of pollution-control legislation to the corporations that create much of the pollution? What would you do about it?
Suppose it could be proven that the Bush inner circle knew that a huge terrorist attack was about to go down in the Fall of 2001 and chose, for whatever reason, to ignore the warnings. What would you do about it?
Suppose it could be proven that high officials of the Bush Administration, for political reasons, deliberately revealed the identity of a covert CIA officer, and that of a CIA mole inside Osama bin Laden's inner circle? What would you do about it?
Suppose it could be proven that the Bush Administration told huge lies to get the U.S. military into Iraq, thus leading to the deaths of thousands of American soldiers, the maiming of tens of thousands of others, the deaths of more than 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians? What would you do about it?
Suppose it could be proven that the Bush Administration effectively has turned over the writing of pollution-control legislation to the corporations that create much of the pollution? What would you do about it?
Suppose it could be proven that the Bush inner circle knew that a huge terrorist attack was about to go down in the Fall of 2001 and chose, for whatever reason, to ignore the warnings. What would you do about it?
Suppose it could be proven that high officials of the Bush Administration, for political reasons, deliberately revealed the identity of a covert CIA officer, and that of a CIA mole inside Osama bin Laden's inner circle? What would you do about it?
Cardigan Sweater Doesn’t Fit Bush
Bush finally woke up to the energy crisis.
Too bad he slept through it for the first four and a half years of his Presidency.
He and Dick Cheney pooh-poohed the idea of energy conservation even as Cheney issued a report in the spring of 2001 that showed we’d be even more dependent on Middle East oil by the year 2020 than we are now.
Cheney derided conservation as a "sign of personal virtue," adding that "it cannot be the basis of a sound energy policy."
At the time, Cheney thought invading Iraq was the basis of a sound energy policy.
At the time, he thought forcing other oil producing nations to favor ExxonMobil was the basis of a sound energy policy.
Still does.
Too bad he slept through it for the first four and a half years of his Presidency.
He and Dick Cheney pooh-poohed the idea of energy conservation even as Cheney issued a report in the spring of 2001 that showed we’d be even more dependent on Middle East oil by the year 2020 than we are now.
Cheney derided conservation as a "sign of personal virtue," adding that "it cannot be the basis of a sound energy policy."
At the time, Cheney thought invading Iraq was the basis of a sound energy policy.
At the time, he thought forcing other oil producing nations to favor ExxonMobil was the basis of a sound energy policy.
Still does.
Bush breaks first commandment of governing - Administration gives us Waste, Fraud and Abuse galore
The Big Whew blew over Texas, leaving Port Arthur underwater and whole lot of stress across the state. It is highly stressful to be in a car with two adults, three children, the dog and the cat for a 12-to-20 hour trip from Houston to Austin, Dallas or San Antonio. It is also stressful to have two adults, three children, their dog and their cat move into your 1,200-square-foot house with you, especially if your sister-in-law thinks anyone who criticizes George W. Bush is a tool of Satan.
Stress-sensitive groups like Alcoholics Anonymous were doing land-office business in Texas this weekend, while bartenders served up the KatrinaRita. Austin, of course, was also having a music festival and offering free yoga and aromatherapy sessions to hurricane refugees. Austin musicians have adopted New Orleans musicians en masse: You're practically no one if you haven't got a Neville in your guest room.
Stress-sensitive groups like Alcoholics Anonymous were doing land-office business in Texas this weekend, while bartenders served up the KatrinaRita. Austin, of course, was also having a music festival and offering free yoga and aromatherapy sessions to hurricane refugees. Austin musicians have adopted New Orleans musicians en masse: You're practically no one if you haven't got a Neville in your guest room.
25 Questions about the Murder of New Orleans
We recently spent a week in New Orleans and Southern Louisiana interviewing relief workers, community activists, urban planners, artists, and neighborhood folks. Even as the latest flood waters from Hurricane Rita recede, the city remains submerged in anger and frustration.
Indeed, the most toxic debris in New Orleans isn't the sinister gray sludge that coats the streets of the historic Creole neighborhood of Treme or the Lower Ninth Ward, but all the unanswered questions that have accumulated in the wake of so much official betrayal and hypocrisy. Where outsiders see simple "incompetence" or "failure of leadership," locals are more inclined to discern deliberate design and planned neglect -- the murder, not the accidental death, of a great city.
In almost random order, here are twenty-five of the urgent questions that deeply trouble the local people we spoke with. Until a grand jury or congressional committee begins to uncover the answers, the moral (as opposed to simply physical) reconstruction of the New Orleans region will remain impossible.
Indeed, the most toxic debris in New Orleans isn't the sinister gray sludge that coats the streets of the historic Creole neighborhood of Treme or the Lower Ninth Ward, but all the unanswered questions that have accumulated in the wake of so much official betrayal and hypocrisy. Where outsiders see simple "incompetence" or "failure of leadership," locals are more inclined to discern deliberate design and planned neglect -- the murder, not the accidental death, of a great city.
In almost random order, here are twenty-five of the urgent questions that deeply trouble the local people we spoke with. Until a grand jury or congressional committee begins to uncover the answers, the moral (as opposed to simply physical) reconstruction of the New Orleans region will remain impossible.
- Só o petismo salvará o PT --- O PT morreu? viva o PT!
O cadáver goza de boa saúde. Depois do anúncio fúnebre reiterado em manchetes, colunas, programas de auditório, editoriais e no horário nobre dos jornais televisivos, produzidos pela mídia mercantil, o PT mostra o vigor que a esquerda precisa para se reconstruir. 315 mil militantes do partido compareceram para votar no primeiro turno das eleições internas, na maior demonstração de força organizativa e política de um partido na história brasileira, em meio à mais furiosa campanha bushista da mídia, com caráter totalitário, contra o PT.
Challenges for the Brazilian Left by Frei Betto
Within the sector of the Brazilian left which did not take up arms there was a certain tone of "didn’t I say so?" when the other sector started to fall apart, with the kidnapping of the American ambassador Charles Elbrick, in Rio [de Janeiro] in September 1969. History almost always makes abrupt turns in our analysis of current conditions, in our forecasts, in our gloomy predictions clothed in heavy overcoats of supposedly scientific concepts. Who is the intellectual or political leader who foresaw the fall of the Berlin Wall?
"Didn’t I say so?" exclaimed the Trotskyists when the crimes of Stalin came to light, denounced by Krushchev. And pro-Soviet elements toasted with vodka on seeing the gang-of-four, in China, unleash the "cultural revolution", a wave of ideological fundamentalism which planted terror in the name of "authentic proletarian communism". Its Latin American version was the Shining Path, in Peru, which assassinated compañeros that "wavered ideologically".
"Didn’t I say so?" exclaimed the Trotskyists when the crimes of Stalin came to light, denounced by Krushchev. And pro-Soviet elements toasted with vodka on seeing the gang-of-four, in China, unleash the "cultural revolution", a wave of ideological fundamentalism which planted terror in the name of "authentic proletarian communism". Its Latin American version was the Shining Path, in Peru, which assassinated compañeros that "wavered ideologically".
Dónde está la voz del pueblo?
"Un gobierno responsable ante las cámaras se convierte también, a la larga, en un gobierno responsable ante el pueblo y, por tanto, en un gobierno que responde, un gobierno que está atento a, y se ve influido por, la voz del pueblo"
de Partidos y sistemas de partidos. Marco para un análisis (1980)
Giovanni Sartori
Muchas veces es prudente, como oportuno, recurrir a las reflexiones de pensadores en política como es el caso del epígrafe.
Argentina, y como consecuencia los ciudadanos argentinos, se enfrenta a un nuevo desafío electoral con la renovación parcial de las legislaturas nacionales que se llevará a cabo dentro de treinta días.
de Partidos y sistemas de partidos. Marco para un análisis (1980)
Giovanni Sartori
Muchas veces es prudente, como oportuno, recurrir a las reflexiones de pensadores en política como es el caso del epígrafe.
Argentina, y como consecuencia los ciudadanos argentinos, se enfrenta a un nuevo desafío electoral con la renovación parcial de las legislaturas nacionales que se llevará a cabo dentro de treinta días.
La tendencia al caos
Durante 180 años, desde la fundación de esta república, las clases dominantes han oscilado entre dos extremos: modelo de orden, paz y trabajo o bien tendencia al caos. Es obvio que proclaman el primero cuando tienen en sus manos las riendas del poder y, en cambio, se deslizan hacia el desorden cuando buscan crear condiciones para el caos, al sentir que peligra su poderóo.
Hoy, por el empuje de los sectores populares movilizados desde el año 2000, los grupos de poder se contorsionan. Una parte, intenta penetrar los ámbitos en que aquellos se mueven, otra se refugia en instituciones que puedan manejar para sus maniobras; son muy pocos los que comprenden que deben asumir la nueva realidad.
Un poco de historia
Hoy, por el empuje de los sectores populares movilizados desde el año 2000, los grupos de poder se contorsionan. Una parte, intenta penetrar los ámbitos en que aquellos se mueven, otra se refugia en instituciones que puedan manejar para sus maniobras; son muy pocos los que comprenden que deben asumir la nueva realidad.
Un poco de historia
Powwow With God
The current President of United States finds himself in God's company more often than any other modern American President.
One has been hearing about George Bush's close encounters with God for years now. We have all heard about how God talks to the President, giving him instructions on how to conduct foreign policy (particularly: which countries to invade). Quite evidently, President George W. Bush did a good job at following orders because he got reelected to a second term.
President Bush has never disputed the story, recounted in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, that he himself told the Palestinian leadership, "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam". Then we have a similar account, courtesy of The Globe and Mail, of the President telling the Canadian Prime Minister he was carrying out divine commands.
As recently as Wednesday 21st September 2005, while speaking at a luncheon for the Republican Jewish Coalition 20th Anniversary, Mr. Bush said he had been "thinking a lot" and came to the conclusion that, "they [the terrorists] are the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish they had caused it." As there is no way of knowing what other people have in their minds, it can be safely assumed that it is once again God talking to President Bush.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)