[CTRL] Another reason to develop oil out of ANWR
-Caveat Lector- Yet another reason to diversify our oil sources by developing oil out of ANWR http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/12/AR2006051200967.html Remember:More people have died in Ted Kennedy's car than have died in United States Commercial Nuclear Power plant operations visit my web site at http://www.info-quest.org Visit my energy page at http://www.info-quest.org/Energy.html Check out the latest on the anwr drilling project http://www.anwr.org visit my blog at http://info-spectrum.blogspot.com My ICQ# is 79071904 See the Pledge of alleginace to the flag that the 9th circuit court of appeals doesn't want you to say. for a precise list of the powers of the Federal Government linkto: http://www.info-quest.org/Enumerated.html www.ctrl.org DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/ A HREF=http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/;ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Blind Eye to Culture of Abuse - Mormon offshoot
-Caveat Lector- Blind Eye to Culture of Abuse - Children of a polygamist sect have been exploited, molested for years By David Kelly and Gary Cohn, 5/12/06 Colorado City, Ariz. "For half a century, while polygamous members of this remote enclave engaged in widespread sexual abuse and child exploitation, government authorities on all levels did little to intervene or protect generations of victims. Here in the sparsely populated canyon lands straddling Arizona and Utah, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or FLDS — an offshoot of Mormonism — live by their own rules." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-sect12may12,0,3267921.story?coll=la-home-headlines www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/ A HREF=""ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
Re: [CTRL] Anti US Imperialism Not Religion Motivates Muslim Extremists
-Caveat Lector- It's no fun at all debating with you. You are just too silly. Thank you for this post. Now look at it again and explain how these people are NOT your enemy. By the way, it's not that the good folks described below are in leu of the religious lunatics. It's that they are IN ADDITION to the religious lunatics. It doesn't matter that the US corporate owned government is as guilty as hell for theft and crimes against the third world. That does not justify the intent of the Muslim world to commit mass murder inside the US against civillians. That's the point! R. - Original Message - From: flw2 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: CTRL@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 6:14 AM Subject: [CTRL] Anti US Imperialism Not Religion Motivates Muslim Extremists -Caveat Lector- A Terrifying Truth About Terrorism http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051001912.html Who supports terrorism in the Middle East? Not the people you'd expect, according to Dalia Mogahed of the Gallup Organization. Surveys in eight Muslim countries revealed that supporters of terrorism -- defined as those who applauded the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- were no more religious than other Muslims and tended to be better-educated and more affluent. The polls found those who regularly attended prayer services were no more likely to back terrorism than those who did not. Nor were Muslims who agreed that religion was an important part of your daily life. About 25 percent of all Muslims with higher-than-average incomes supported the Sept. 11 attacks -- slightly more than those who had below-average incomes or were poor. Among high school or college graduates, 44 percent held extremist views, compared with 38 percent of less-educated Muslims. And the unemployed were no more likely to back terrorism than those who worked full time, according to the poll of 8,000 Muslims in October. What did distinguish terrorism supporters? Belief in self-determination, Mogahed found. Extremists were only about half as likely as moderates to believe that the United States would allow people in the Middle East to fashion their own political future. www.ctrl.org DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceâ?not soap-boxingâ?please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'â?with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâ?is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/ A HREF=http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/;ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om www.ctrl.org DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/ A HREF=http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/;ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
Re: [CTRL] Anti US Imperialism Not Religion Motivates Muslim Extremists
-Caveat Lector- It's no fun at all debating with you. You are just too silly. Thank you for this post. Now look at it again and explain how these people are NOT your enemy. Any facts that contradict your simplistic world view of 'us vs them' is obviously beyond your understanding. Then again pseudo-zionist 'armchair commandos are too pathetic to be taken seriously. flw www.ctrl.org DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/ A HREF=http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/;ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Brit Teachers Union To Boycott Israeli Apartheid Policies
-Caveat Lector- NY TIMES May 14, 2006 A British Teachers' Union Weighs a Boycott of Israeli Teachers By ALAN COWELL LONDON, May 13 Britain's biggest union for college and university teachers plans to ask its 67,000 members to consider boycotting Israeli lecturers who do not publicly dissociate themselves from what it called Israel's apartheid policies. The language is from a resolution to be put before the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education at its annual conference in Blackpool from May 27 to 29. The move has reopened a fiery debate that seized another college union, the Association of University Teachers, last year. In response to appeals from 60 Palestinian organizations, the Association of University Teachers voted in April 2005 to boycott two Israeli universities, saying it would bar faculty members from Haifa and Bar-Ilan Universities from taking part in academic conferences or research with British colleagues. Less than a month later, the association voted to overturn the boycott when numerous advocates, including a group of Nobel laureates, argued that university campuses in Israel enjoyed vigorous political debate and were not the most appropriate institutions to boycott. This year, however, the Association of University Teachers, with 40,000 members, plans to merge with the larger National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, just after its conference in Blackpool. The contentious resolution is one of two relating directly to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first, concerning Hamas's victory in Palestinian elections, enjoins British academics to continue to help protect and support Palestinian colleges and universities in the face of the continual attacks by Israel's government and to contact the Palestinian Authority government to reaffirm that support. That resolution accuses Britain of displaying outrageous bias against Hamas. The European Union, the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization with which they refuse to have dealings, especially so long as it declines to recognize Israel and renounce violence. It is the second resolution up for approval that will revive last year's arguments over the boycott of Israeli academicians. The second resolution notes continuing Israeli apartheid policies including construction of the exclusion wall, and discriminatory educational practices. And it invites members to consider their own responsibility for ensuring equity and nondiscrimination in contacts with Israeli educational institutions or individuals, and to consider the appropriateness of a boycott of those that do not publicly dissociate themselves from such policies. David Hirsh, a lecturer in sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and a member of a group called Engage, established last year to fight the boycott call, said the new resolution was nastier than the 2005 campaign because it was asking the National Association to legitimate private, personal boycotts. It's a sanctioning of private discrimination, he added. Shalom Lappin, a philosophy professor at King's College, London, and another supporter of Engage, called the boycott call a form of inquisition, of McCarthyism. No other national group is being identified in this way, he said in a telephone interview. There's no call for a boycott of American academics if they don't stand up against the occupation of Iraq. The union's leaders declined to discuss the boycott resolution before the meeting. But the British Committee for Universities of Palestine, a group which advocates a boycott, says on its Web site (www.bricup.org.uk) that Israeli policy, including the construction of a so-called security barrier, is making everyday life, to say nothing of teaching and research, ever more difficult for our Palestinian colleagues. It said Israeli academics supporting their Palestinian counterparts were few in number (less than 1 percent) and institutionally, Israeli universities are at worst active supporters of Israeli state policy, at best in passive compliance with it. Especially in the current climate of rising Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, boycott is among the clearest and least violent forms of action in resisting occupation and injustice at an international level, the committee's Web site said. An academic boycott is both a personal and a collective act made in solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues whose academic freedom is currently denied. It was not clear whether the National Association's conference would approve the resolution. Additionally, it remained uncertain what effect the approval of a boycott resolution would have on the proposed merger of the National Association with the Association of University Teachers just a few days after the conference. Zvi Heifetz, the Israeli ambassador in London, said in a statement that the boycott call would distance
[CTRL] The Inevitable Collapse of the Greenback
-Caveat Lector- The Inevitable Collapse of the Greenback By Mike Whitney Al-Jazeerah, May 3, 2006 The ultimate financial impact of trading oil in Euros rather than dollars is a complex one, but according to many experts, such a move could lead to a collapse in value for the American currency, potentially putting the U.S. economy in its greatest crisis since the depression era of the 1930s. Petro-euro: a reality or distant nightmare for the US? Al Jazeera Today, Iran fired the first shot in a battle that will ultimately change the global economic system. Mehr News Agency announced that the long-anticipated Iran Oil Bourse (OIB) will open sometime next week on Kish Island competing head-on with the US dollar. Currently, all oil transactions are denominated exclusively in greenbacks (via the London and New York oil exchanges) giving the US a virtual monopoly on the oil trade and maintaining the dollars position as the worlds reserve currency. This privilege has allowed the US to generate massive deficits as well as a national debt of $8.4 trillion without fear of economic collapse but, the times they are a-changin. If Iran proceeds with its plan, the central banks around the world will convert some of their reserves into euros sending billions of dollars back to the America. This will result in either recession or depression. The notion that the bourse poses a serious threat to the US economy has been widely dismissed as a left-wing, internet-conspiracy theory. In fact, there is nothing conspiratorial about it, unless the fundamental law of supply and demand no longer applies. If fewer people want the greenback it becomes worthless. Is that conspiratorial? Articles about the bourse have magically disappeared from the internet. The more reputable accounts of the potential disaster have slipped into a cyber black-hole. No matter. If the bourse opens next week then gold will shoot into the stratosphere while jittery currency traders continue to edge away from the shaky greenback. The Bush administration has done irreparable damage to our currency. Under the guidance of the Federal Reserve, Bush has increased government spending by 35% while raising the national debt a whopping $3 trillion. The only thing keeping the dollar on its lofty perch is the oil trade and that may soon change. The dollar fell steadily during Bushs first years in office as currency traders recognized Bushs intention to enshrine deficit spending as a permanent function of government. The greenback has managed to keep its head above water due to shaky lending practices in the mortgage industry (which sluiced trillions into domestic housing) and because of the estimated $2.3 trillion circulating in oil transactions. The increase in oil prices has allowed the Fed to keep the printing presses going at full-tilt while Bushs friends were making off with hundreds of billions in lavish tax cuts. Now, it appears that the game is over. Oil thirsty nations will be free to purchase petroleum in a stable currency leaving Uncle Sam to flail away in ocean of red ink. Nearly 70% of the reserves in the worlds central banks are currently denominated in US dollars. This monopoly allows the US to purchase valuable resources with fiat currency and maintain enormous deficits without hyper-inflation. It is the perfect rip-off. The administration has shown its willingness to go to war and kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people to defend this global extortion-racket. However, forces are in play now that will make it impossible to maintain the present system. If the Fed increases interest rates much more the $9 trillion housing bubble will burst, and if it doesnt raise rates, the $2 billion of cash inflows the government needs each day to cover its trade deficit will evaporate. It is a lose-lose situation. The opening of Irans bourse will only hasten the inevitable decline of the dollar and a death-spiral for the American economy; that is why Congress passed the Iran Freedom Support Act last week (even before the Security Council had made its recommendations!) Hidden in the small print of the legislation is a clue that reveals Congress real intentions: The Congress declares that it is the policy of the United States to deny Iran the ability to support acts of international terrorism .by limiting the development of Irans ability to explore for, extract, refine, or transport by pipeline petroleum resources. Yes indeed; Irans plan to sell oil in euros is now tantamount to an act of international terrorism, a clear sign of the importance that Washington attaches to the coming bourse. The fate of the greenback is entirely the result of Bushs enormous tax cuts, profligate spending, and a deeply-flawed foreign policy agenda. By now, Bush and co. had expected to topple regimes in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan and Somalia. If his 5 year campaign had been
[CTRL] Quote of the Day
-Caveat Lector- The Qaeda cell that hijacked American Flight 77 and plowed into the Pentagon was based in the same town, Laurel, Md., as the N.S.A., and for months, the terrorists and the N.S.A. employees exercised in some of the same local health clubs and shopped in the same grocery stores. Frank Rich, 5/14/06 NY Times www.ctrl.org DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/ A HREF=http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/;ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Press Censors Iran Letter
-Caveat Lector- http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/press_censors_iran_letter.html PRESS CENSORS IRAN LETTER BIG NEWS ACROSS WORLD,BUT NOT HERE IN AMERICA Mainstream Mum on Iran Letter Irans Ahmadinejad quizzes George Bush on human rights, Sept. 11 investigation, Christianity, Israel, terrorism, Americas looting of the world and more . . .Presented here is the abbreviated text of a letter written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and addressed to President George W. Bush. Although the mass media in America has mentioned the letter in passing, few Americans have actually had the opportunity to read it. It is the first direct communication between the governments since the U.S. embassy was stormed and hostages seized in 1979. American Free Press is pleased to provide this slightly edited version so that readers can draw their own conclusions about the Iranian leader.MR. GEORGE BUSH,PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:For some time now I have been thinking how one can justify the undeniable contradictions that exist in the international arenawhich are being constantly debated especially in political forums and among students. Many questions remain unanswered. These have prompted me to discuss some of the contradictions and questions. . . .Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ, the great messenger of God, feel obliged to respect human rights, present liberalism as a civilization model, announce ones opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and WMDs, make [opposition to] War and Terror his slogan, and finally, work toward the establishment of a unified international communitya community which Christ and the virtuous of the Earth will one day govern, but at the same time, have countries attacked; the lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed. . . .Or because of the possibility of the existence of WMDs in one country, it is occupied, around 100,000 people killed, its water sources, agriculture and industry destroyed, close to 180,000 foreign troops put on the ground, sanctity of private homes of citizens broken, and the country pushed back perhaps 50 years? At what price?Hundreds of billions of dollars spent from the treasury of one country and certain other countries, and tens of thousands of young men and womenas occupation troopsput in harms way, taken away from family and loved ones, their hands stained with the blood of others, subjected to so much psychological pressure that every day some commit suicide and those returning home suffer depression, become sickly and grapple with all sorts of ailments; while some are killed.On the pretext of the existence of WMDs, this great tragedy came to engulf both the peoples of the occupied and the occupying country. Later it was revealed that no WMDs existed.Of course Saddam was a murderous dictator. But the war was not waged to topple him, the announced goal of the war was to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction. He was toppled along the way toward another goal, nevertheless the people of the region are happy about it. I point out that throughout the many years of the war on Iran, Saddam was supported by the West.Mr. President, I am a teacher. My students ask me how these actions can be reconciled with the tradition of Jesus Christ, the messenger of peace and forgiveness. There are prisoners in Guantanamo Bay who have not received trials, have no legal representation, their families cannot see them and are obviously kept in a strange land outside their own country. There is no international monitoring of their condition and fate. No one knows whether they are prisoners, POWs, accused or criminals. Investigators have confirmed the existence of secret prisons in Europe, too.Young people, university students and ordinary people have many questions about the phenomenon of Israel. Throughout history many countries have been occupied, but I think the establishment of a new country with a new people is a new phenomenon that is exclusive to our times. Students are saying that 60 years ago such a country did not exist. They show old maps and try, [but] we have not been able to find a country named Israel. I tell them to study the history of World War I and II. One of my students told me that during World War II, in which tens of millions of people perished, news about the war was quickly disseminated by the warring parties. After the war, they claimed 6 million Jews had been killed. Six million people that were surely related to at least 2 million families. Again let us assume that these events are true. Does that logically translate into the establishment of the state of Israel in the Middle East or support for such a state? How can this phenomenon be rationalized or explained? Mr. President, I am sure you know howand at what costIsrael was established: Many thousands were killed in the process; Millions of indigenous people were made refugees; Hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland, olive
[CTRL] The Weakness of Empire
-Caveat Lector- http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_05_22/feature.html May 22, 2006 IssueCopyright © 2006 The American Conservative The Weakness of Empire History has not dealt kindly with imperial ambitions, and America, however benevolent her intent, cannot hope to be an exception. by Michael Vlahos Something remarkable happened on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Commentators began to declare, in somewhat exultant tones, that America had at last become a true empire. America was of course also a benevolent empire, they insisted, but that nod to altruistic tradition could not hide their excitement that America had at last joined the greatest empires of the past. Implicit in these giddy declarations was the assumption that empire was an exalted state of power and possibility, not so unlike Rome at its zenith. Ironically, and for a historical instant, they were right. But there is one inescapable aspect of empire that the commentators missed. Empires are weak. It is republics in contrast that are strong. The United States is a republic that has been operating like an empire, and it has suffered for it. If we look at the gold standard for empireRomewe can see why. First of all, what is an empire? Empire has less to do with scale of realm or of power than it does with one single feature. Simply, it is a polity where politics itself revolves around the person of the emperor. This differs from the politics of kingship. Kings represent and embody a densely woven social fabric. They preside over a society of aristocracy: an extended family of rule, where the king is also father. Empires in contrast often emerge from republics. Thus Rome has been a favorite model for American commentators precisely because its successful passage from republic to empire seems close to ours. Such post-republican emperors often inhabit the complex politics of multiple competing constituencies. These groups and factions continue to do political business within a republics constitutional framework transformed. Thus emperors find themselves consulting with and cajoling senates or assemblies; and unlike kings, they may owe their very legitimacy to these bodies. Weakness 1: The Imperial Person But the making and the doing in politics swirl around the imperial personindeed, politics is dependent on the imperial person. This is the first weakness of empire: because politics revolves around the emperor, the rise and fall, success and failure of state policy is ultimately his alone. The imperial situation is thus one of continuing and always worrisome vulnerability because no matter how many supporters or factions an emperor marshals, they can vanish in an instant. No matter that they have been handsomely bought off with perquisites and gifts, no matter that they are kept in line with threats and periodic cruel example. Failure of an imperial venture puts imperial authority itself instantly at risk. Thus emperors do their utmost to ensure that politics is stuffed with reliable personal retainers. Longstanding official empires are a bit easier on the imperial person: there may be a tradition of a submissive bureaucracy and a compliant senate, and so the emperors legitimacy is less at the mercy of policy failure. But crisis immediately opens up the prospect of rival claimants and coups, usurpations, and civil wars. A republics robustness, in contrast, derives from its ability to replace an elected leader and his government with relative ease. This is consecrated in the U.S. Constitution by mandated quadrennial elections of its executive. Our constitutional framework is still in place, but after 9/11 it shifted operating practice to the imperial. Basically, 9/11 created an imperial dispensation. Through it the president took on the mantle of the office of commander in chief, which under the circumstances was perfectly natural. But then he went further and announced a state of perpetual wara war of generations, a hundred years warand so transformed himself into an imperial person. The transformation here was from episodic commander in chiefwhen and where circumstances warrantedto permanent generalissimo. His primary identity was now that of the military commanding person. U.S. tradition and precedent limited the office of commander in chief both to the duration of a specific emergency and in terms of presidential powers. The Cold War chipped away at congressional authority to limit presidential powers. But the breathtaking 9/11 attacks drove the president to expand these powers further and make them truly open-ended. Here the imperial transformation was not simply about power. Even more persuasively, it operated in the realm of authority and expectation. The popular climate was such after 9/11 that Americans seemed to share the prospect that American energies now revolved again around a great world struggle. Here of necessityor so everyone thoughtthe entire conduct and control of this struggle should be
[CTRL] Nation of Immigrants and Emigrants II
-Caveat Lector- http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/cgi-bin/hardright.cgi/Nation_of_Immigrant_20060504144229.html?seemore=y Thursday, May 04, 2006 Nation of Immigrants and Emigrants II Juarez Border towns are always dangerous places, because criminals can cross the border, commit a crime, then slip back into their own country. El Paso is one of the least violent cities in the US, but Ciudad Juarez, though peaceful compared with the capital, has among the highest murder rates in Mexico. While some of the crimes can be attributed to the drug wars, a more puzzling question is the high number of women who have been murdered, both in Juarez and in other parts of Chihuahua state. Part of the problem, apparently, is caused by migrants from southern Mexico. Juarez officials naturally like to blame outsiders for the violence, but there is some truth to the story that poor men and women in southern Mexico come to Juarez hoping to take advantage of the opportunity to work in the Maquiladora factories. The women, once they find work, wish to control their money and go out with their friends on the weekends. This liberation leads to conflicts with husbands boyfriends, who take revenge by beating and killing the women. Carlos Fuentes has memorably portrayed the life of these young women in one of the stories of The Crystal Frontier. Mexicans seeking a scapegoat point the finger of blame at the US, whose Maquiladora program has lured hundreds of thousands of immigrants. They are not entirely wrong. We established these programs under the guise of doing good, but the real point was cheap labor, with no concern for what happened either to Mexicans or to displaced American workers. The usual tensions and conflicts that have always marked the US-Mexican border have become acute in recent decades. As in Sicily, the huge profits to be made by importing drugs into the US have produced a fierce competition between rival drug lords and between the gangs and the police. The Mexican police and military play an ambiguous role. In some cases their conflicts with the drug smugglers result from their attempts to enforce the law; in others they are more interesting in extorting bribes; in still others they are merely criminals. One of the most effective death squads hired by the drug cartels, Los Zetas, consists of former Mexican soldiers. Mexicans complain, with some justice, that a large number of the hired killersa majority, according to some Mexican officialsare US citizens. Of course most of these US citizens are of MExican background, so perhaps it is only fair for us to return a favor There are plenty of dishonest cops in the United States and even entire police forces that have been corrupted. In Mexico, however, corruption and criminality are more the rule than the exception, and border cities like Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, and Juarez resemble battle grounds. Caught in the middle are Mexican journalists, whose courage in reporting on the drug wars has made them a target. There is also suspicion in Juarez that soldiers from Ft. Bliss routinely cross the bridge into Mexico in order to commit crimes. The story, though absurd on the face of it, may be not entirely fantastic: the FBI reports major gang activity among Ft. Bliss soldiers. There is growing evidence that gang-bangers are being recruited by our increasingly mercenary military, but this is a story in progress. Two Cultures of Violence Mexico and the United States are both known as violent countries, but there are important differences in the styleand the incidenceof criminal violence. Both are complex countries with varying ethnic and regional traditions. For example, the states of the American South are proverbial for their high homicide rates, but, in contrast with the large cities of the North much of the killing in the South is done for personal motives. Crimes of violence in the US can also be broken down by ethnicity: Black and Hispanic Americans account for well over half the violent crimes, while the rate for white Americans is in line with Western Europe. In 1999, the US homicide rate, over all, was 5.7 per 100,000. This is a high rate compared with most countries in Western Europe: Italy (2.25), Belgium and England/Wales (1.41), and Ireland (.62), but America seems safe when compared with Mexico, which despite very strict gun laws, has a homicide rate of 17.58-over three times the US rate. It is difficult to make comparative generalizations, but according to the Overseas Security Advisory Council (a federal advisory committee whose mission is to advise Americans on security issues in foreign countries): In the categories of murder, rape and robbery, Mexicos Distrito Federal (Mexico City and the surrounding region) posts 3 to 4 times the incidence of these crimes than does New York City, greater Los Angeles or Washington, D.C. What this means when Mexicans enter the US can be measured by the fact that in 2003, while about 27% of
[CTRL] The Iranian President's Letter to Bush: A Sincere Olive Branch
-Caveat Lector-
http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
The Iranian President's Letter to Bush: A Sincere Olive Branch
by Michael A. Hoffman IIThe letterto President Bush by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an earnest follower of "prophet Jesus," isa sincere olive branch.But the ("non-existent") Israeli lobby will not allow Bush to embrace it or even discuss it fairly.Here we are, allied with Israelis who despise Christ, while seeking to nuke a nation that holds Him in highest esteem.Somewhere in hell, the devil is laughing.The best English translation ofAhmadinejad's letter is here:http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ahmadinejad0509.pdf It is smudged and difficult to read in parts, but it is uncensored, whereas the English translation widely quoted in the establishment media is excerpted from an incomplete text at the Le Monde website in France (linked to and touted by the New York Times on its website on May 9 and 10, 2006). Le Monde's version in English is here:http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,[EMAIL PROTECTED],36-769886,0.html The Le Monde version has been redacted.Here are examples. A portion ofLe Monde's English translation ofPresident Ahmadinejad's letter, recommended by the New York Times and most of the media:"I point out that throughout the many years of the...war on Iran Saddam was supported by the West."Here is what the Iranian President actually wrote:"I point out that throughout the many years of the imposed war on Iran, Saddam was supported by the West."The word "imposed" has been omitted because it suggests that Saddam started the war with the Islamic Republic of Iran (which is true) and that the war that was imposed upon Iran by Saddam was supported by the West (i.e. the Reagan administration --also true).Another example ofLe Monde's faulty English translation, quoted throughout the US media:"The lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed and on the slight chance of the
of a
criminals in a village city, or convoy for example the entire village, city or convey set ablaze."Here is what the Iranian President actually wrote:The lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed and on the slight chance of the presence of a few criminals in a village, city, or convoy for example, the entire village, city or convoy set ablaze."One useful aspect of the censorship is that we have prima facie evidence of what the Cryptocracy most fears; in this passage, the revelation of America's tactic of collective punishment of civilians, exactly what the Nazis were excoriated for in their retaliation against terrorist acts on the part of Communist partisans and the French Resistance.In the American version of this war crime, entire Muslim villages, cities and convoys are incinerated for Talmudic motives.The White House under Bush is Talmudic in thought, word and deed. In the eyes of the US government (not just among Israelis), the Arabs and Muslims are not human beings, they are "Amalek."Those who know little or nothing of Moses Hess and how he planted an Old Testament-hating meme in the German extreme right that preceded and shaped Hitler, will blame this modern Amalek identification on the Old Testament. But note bene, Yahweh in the Old Testament declared that He would "blot out the memory of Amalek forever."(Exodus 17:14). It is the rabbis in their sacred praxis, in defiance of God, who keep the memory of Amalek alive. This is a crucial point.In 2004, a group of esteemed rabbis, heads of yeshivas from the West Bank and the Yesha Rabbinical Council, as well as Yuval Sharlo, a head of a yeshiva in Petah Tikva , Eliezer Melamed, the head of Har Bracha yeshiva; Haim Druckman, the head of the Bnei Akiva religious youth group; Rabbi Sholom Elyashiv, inspired by the late Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, Rabbi Mordehai Eliyahu, Chabad Lubavitch rabbis, the Bostoner Rebbe, Arlou Rebbe, Sanz Rebbe, and the Pikuah Nefesh rabbinic organization, issued a public call to the Israeli government to escalate its destruction of civilians in the occupied territories, even at the cost of innocent Arab lives, declaring that "the Israeli army should show less regard for the welfare of the Palestinian civilians" if "terrorists are hiding in their midst," i.e. in a village, city or convoy(cf. Haaretz, Sept. 7, 2004).The rabbis issued their order not only to the Israeli army but to the US armed forces and its Commander-in-chief, through the Orthodox Judaic neo-cons surrounding Bush.This is why Le Monde and the New York Times, together with numerous other media who will quote from the Le Monde translation of the Iranian leader's letter, will not publish the Iranian letter as it was written. To do so would be to reveal the degree to which anger at US war crimes is perfectly appropriate and legitimate, but more importantly, the fact that those war crimes have as their root, the exterminationist philosophy of Talmudic, rabbinic killers.Ahmadinejad seems to be a
