http//:www.artlyst.com takes a virtual tour of the Occupy London protest at St Paul's Cathedral where the infamous Banksy has installed a sculpture of a Monopoly Board with a down and out Mr Moneybags panhandling.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Banksy Occupy London Protest
http//:www.artlyst.com takes a virtual tour of the Occupy London protest at St Paul's Cathedral where the infamous Banksy has installed a sculpture of a Monopoly Board with a down and out Mr Moneybags panhandling.
Judge hits blogger with $US2.5 million charge for not being a journalist
In a case that’s sending a frightening message to the blogger community, a US District Court judge ruled that a blogger must pay $US2.5 million ($2.45m) to an investment firm she wrote about — because she isn’t a real journalist.
As reported by Seattle Weekly, Judge Marco A. Hernandez said Crystal Cox, who runs several blogs, wasn’t entitled to the protections afforded to journalists — specifically, Oregon’s media shield law for sources — because she wasn’t “affiliated with any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television system”.
The Obsidian Finance Group sued Cox in January for $US10 million for writing several blog posts critical of the company and its co-founder, Kevin Padrick. Obsidian argued that the writing was defamatory. Cox represented herself in court.
The judge threw out all but one of the blog posts cited, focusing on just one (this one), which was more factual in tone than the rest of her writing. Cox said that was because she was being fed information from an inside source, whom she refused to name.
Anonymous - Declaration of Supercedence
The Emergent Reality Network Presents: Declaration of Supercedence (original) PHASE I
Learn more:
http://www.anonyops.com/
http://www.whatis-theplan.org/
http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/
http://www.thevenusproject.com/
http://zemerge.com/blog/
http://www.peakmoment.tv/
http://magnatune.com/
Greetings. Fellow Citizens of all nations.
We, as anonymous we like to take this time to offer this Declaration of Super Cedence,
To this end, we will continue to make every effort to focus our direct attention and address the obsolete and irrelevant political and economic system that have created this global crisis.
We So Declare:
We are a planet at war with itself. We are not here to fight.
We have acknowledged the time has come, to surrender.
We surrender all systems that have failed to sustain our survival.
We So Declare:
We acknowledge that the current political system of checks and
balances are broken beyond the repair of traditional voting and representation.
We will NOT, participate with any system that is, unsustainable.
We So Declare:
We are here to supersede. We can form a new Global Autonomous Collective.
A Global Consensus, that is designed to provide A sustainable,
peaceful and cooperative coexistence with all life.
We So Declare:
We, as a nation of supercedence, have acknowledged that our right to self governance
is a continual dynamic process of the emergent reality of self expression.
We So Declare:
Therefore, the choice of self participation will be given many meanings by many individuals,
by which the many, will choose to remain anonymous.
We so Declare:
We all have a choice. We can be part of the problem or part of the solution.
The choice is yours. The time has come to Wage Peace.
We so Declare:
We are a global uprising.
We are a cry form the heart of the world.
We can succeed.
Occupy Earth.
We so Declare:
If the government shuts Down the Internet, the internet will shut down the government.
We are united by one, dived by zero. Knowledge is freedom.
We so Declare:
We are not afraid. We are not alone. We are everywhere. We are the future.
We are the 99 percent.
We so Declare:
We are anonymous. We are legion. We DO not forgive. We DO not forget.
Expect. us.
Scientist: “The Murdoch Media Empire Has Cost Humanity Perhaps One or Two Decades in Battle Against Climate Change.”
So, when The Australian claims in its editorials to support the peer-reviewed science, it is really just an insurance clause for when the tide inevitably turns against their campaign of misinformation.
The Murdoch media empire has cost humanity perhaps one or two decades of time in the battle against climate change. Each lost decade greatly increases the eventual economic costs, the devastation to our ecosystems, and the suffering of future generations….
Read the real science, ask the real experts.
The editors sitting around the table in that meeting room in Surry Hills need to reflect on their culpability.
10 Signs You Might Be a Slave
The definition of slavery is not nearly as clear as it used to be when we could see the physical chains and whips that shackled human laborers. Therefore, it’s more vital than ever to identify the abstract ways in which humanity is confined.
More...
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Video posted online shows greater repression in Tibet
By J. Michael Cole, Taipei Times
Recently leaked footage of a crackdown by Chinese security forces in Tibet indicates that the level of repression against Tibetans appears to be much more serious than generally acknowledged by the international community.
Recently leaked footage of a crackdown by Chinese security forces in Tibet indicates that the level of repression against Tibetans appears to be much more serious than generally acknowledged by the international community.
A video posted on the exile Tibetan Web site TibetOnline.tv on Wednesday showed a raid by a Chinese SWAT team comprising about 100 People’s Armed Police (PAP) officers on what is believed to be Unit 2 of Dode Village, near the Sera monastery northeast of Lhasa.
The quality footage, which is believed to have been shot in 2008, displays an unprecedented show of force by Chinese authorities, with SWAT teams, accompanied by numerous dogs and an armored vehicle, assuming attack formation and aiming assault rifles at sleeping villagers. In all, four confused-looking men and one elderly woman are taken away. Each is forced to stare into the camera and provide details to the cameraman, who is presumably a PAP member.
Islamic Cleric Bans Women from Cucumbers, Bananas for Sexual Thoughts: True or False?
The Internet has been blazing and people are appalled, but apparently the Islamic cleric living in Europe was quite serious. The Islamic cleric said women should not touch or handle or be close to cucumbers or bananas to avoid any "sexual thoughts."
Claiming that the fruits and vegetables "resemble the male penis," the Islamic cleric said bananas, cucumbers and more, including carrots and zucchini could make women "think of sex" and they should be handled by a third party if they are to eat them to avoid arousal.
The story was reported on the Egyptian news site Bikya Masr, and the "Times of India" ran the a story in response titled, "Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas" which got it all started. The cleric, unnamed, was quoted in the story in Bikya Masr as saying women should not get close to bananas or cucumbers.
Biocompatible graphene transistor array reads cellular signals
Researchers at Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) and the Juelich Research Center have demonstrated, for the first time, a graphene-based transistor array that is compatible with living biological cells and capable of recording the electrical signals they generate.
Bioelectronic applications have been proposed that would place sensors or even actuators inside a person’s brain, eye, or ear to help compensate for neural damage. Pioneering research in this direction was done using the mature technology of silicon microelectronics, but in practice that approach may be a dead end: Both flexible substrates and watery biological environments pose serious problems for silicon devices; in addition, they may be too “noisy” for reliable communication with individual nerve cells.
Of the several material systems being explored as alternatives, graphene seems very well suited to bioelectronic applications. Graphene’s distinctive combination of characteristics makes it a leading contender for future biomedical applications requiring a direct interface between microelectronic devices and nerve cells or other living tissue. It offers outstanding electronic performance, is chemically stable and biologically inert, can readily be processed on flexible substrates, and should lend itself to large-scale, low-cost fabrication.
The latest results from the TUM-Juelich team confirm key performance characteristics of graphene and open the way for further advances toward determining the feasibility of graphene-based bioelectronics.
The Liberation Theology of Jesus
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3to provide for those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
4They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. 8For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.
10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Sermon for Community Christian Church of Springfield MO on December 11, 2011 by Dr. Roger Ray.
Visit us online at http://spfccc.org
For the text of this sermon visit http://archives.spfccc.org/2011/12/liberation-theology-of-jesus.html
China Joins Russia, Orders Military To Prepare For World War III
A grim Ministry of Defense bulletin issued to Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev today states that President Hu has “agreed in principal” that the only way to stop the West’s aggression led by the United States is through “direct and immediate military action” and that the Chinese leader has ordered his Naval Forces to “prepare for warfare.”
Hu’s call for war joins Chinese Rear Admiral and prominent military commentator Zhang Zhaozhong who, likewise, warned this past week that “China will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a Third World War,” and Russian General Nikolai Makarov who grimly stated last week, “I do not rule out local and regional armed conflicts developing into a large-scale war, including using nuclear weapons.”
The raising of global tensions between the East and West was exploded this past fortnight when Russian Ambassador Vladimir Titorenko and two of his aides retuning from Syria were brutally assaulted and put in hospital by Qatar security forces aided by CIA and British MI6 agents attempting to gain access to diplomatic pouches containing information from Syrian intelligence that the United States was flooding Syria and Iran with the same US-backed al Qaida mercenaries who toppled the Libyan government.
Hu’s call for war joins Chinese Rear Admiral and prominent military commentator Zhang Zhaozhong who, likewise, warned this past week that “China will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a Third World War,” and Russian General Nikolai Makarov who grimly stated last week, “I do not rule out local and regional armed conflicts developing into a large-scale war, including using nuclear weapons.”
The raising of global tensions between the East and West was exploded this past fortnight when Russian Ambassador Vladimir Titorenko and two of his aides retuning from Syria were brutally assaulted and put in hospital by Qatar security forces aided by CIA and British MI6 agents attempting to gain access to diplomatic pouches containing information from Syrian intelligence that the United States was flooding Syria and Iran with the same US-backed al Qaida mercenaries who toppled the Libyan government.
Further evidence in these diplomatic pouches, this bulletin says, reveals that the United States is preparing an “ultimate solution” to the Middle East Crisis should nuclear war break out by attacking Syria and Iran with lethal biological agents intended to kill tens of millions of innocent civilians.
Occupy the Ports – Citizen Journalism Coverage
Tomorrow (December 12, 2011) will be a huge day for citizen journalism coverage. Occupy the Ports is slated to be the largest West Coast Occupy protest yet. Please be sure to follow Ustream, Livestream and Twitter hashtag #D12 for live coverage of this event.
The following citizen journalists will be covering this event live (please comment with any other citizen journalists and links that will be covering Occupy the Ports):
- OakFoSho (Spencer Mills) in Oakland (unconfirmed)
- Tim Pool with The Other 99 in Los Angeles starting at 5 a.m. PST on uStream
See also:
‘Occupy’ activists look to block West Coast ports
Media Justice and the 99 % Movement
Whistleblowing, transparency and the future of journalism: Q&A with Ira Stoll
NYPD Facebook probe raises free speech question
The Facebook group was titled "No More West Indian Day Detail," referring to police patrol for a raucous annual Brooklyn parade.
Sprinkled among the frustrations aired about regulating the crowded, loud, often-violent event were comments that were more offensive. Some called the parade, held in a predominantly black neighborhood, "ghetto training," and a "scheduled riot." Others referred to participants as savages.
The West Indian Day Parade celebrates the culture of the Caribbean islands and is one of the city's largest outdoors events. Food carts with spicy dishes and fresh fruit crowd a stately parkway and dancers shimmy wearing revealing feathered costumes.
But it's often surrounded by violence. Following the parade this year, a woman was shot to death while sitting on her stoop with her daughter, as police exchanged gunfire nearby with an armed man who'd opened fire on another person moments before. And others were shot to death during celebrations in 2003 and 2005.
"Maybe next year they should hold it on Riker's Island," one of the Facebook posts read, referring to the city's main jail.
At least 20 such comments made on the page may have come from police officers, New York Police Department officials said this week. Internal affairs detectives are interviewing officers under oath and getting subpoenas for computer records. Departmental charges could be brought, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
We’re Here, We’re Protesting, Get Used To It
The Occupy Wall Street protests have America’s rulers worried. They seem to have few real answers to the desperate situation of so many people, other than stupid insults (Republicans), slick platitudes (Democrats), and police in riot gear.
Commenting on the police harassment of occupy camps, British musician Brian Eno, visiting Zuccotti Park in New York in November with fellow artist Laurie Anderson, remarked, “It’s all done to discourage people, to wear people down so it just becomes too annoying to carry on.” It’s unlikely the harassment will work. Those who have tasted the power of the streets are talking truth not so much to power as to each other. In doing so they are discovering a sense of their own power, to remake politics and society. Such experience bodes well for the future.
Europe’s Transition From Social Democracy to Oligarchy
By Michael Hudson
December 11, 2011 "Information Clearing House" --- The easiest way to understand Europe’s financial crisis is to look at the solutions being proposed to resolve it. They are a banker’s dream, a grab bag of giveaways that few voters would be likely to approve in a democratic referendum. Bank strategists learned not to risk submitting their plans to democratic vote after Icelanders twice refused in 2010-11 to approve their government’s capitulation to pay Britain and the Netherlands for losses run up by badly regulated Icelandic banks operating abroad. Lacking such a referendum, mass demonstrations were the only way for Greek voters to register their opposition to the €50 billion in privatization sell-offs demanded by the European Central Bank (ECB) in autumn 2011.
The problem is that Greece lacks the ready money to redeem its debts and pay the interest charges. The ECB is demanding that it sell off public assets – land, water and sewer systems, ports and other assets in the public domain, and also cut back pensions and other payments to its population. The “bottom 99%” understandably are angry to be informed that the wealthiest layer of the population is largely responsible for the budget shortfall by stashing away a reported €45 billion of funds stashed away in Swiss banks alone. The idea of normal wage-earners being obliged to forfeit their pensions to pay for tax evaders – and for the general un-taxing of wealth since the regime of the colonels – makes most people understandably angry. For the ECB, EU and IMF “troika” to say that whatever the wealthy take, steal or evade paying must be made up by the population at large is not a politically neutral position. It comes down hard on the side of wealth that has been unfairly taken.
A democratic tax policy would reinstate progressive taxation on income and property, and would enforce its collection – with penalties for evasion. Ever since the 19th century, democratic reformers have sought to free economies from waste, corruption and “unearned income.” But the ECB “troika” is imposing a regressive tax – one that can be imposed only by turning government policy-making over to a set of unelected “technocrats.”
To call the administrators of so anti-democratic a policy “technocrats” seems to be a cynical scientific-sounding euphemism for financial lobbyists or bureaucrats deemed suitably tunnel-visioned to act as useful idiots on behalf of their sponsors. Their ideology is the same austerity philosophy that the IMF imposed on Third World debtors from the 1960s through the 1980s. Claiming to stabilize the balance of payments while introducing free markets, these officials sold off export sectors and basic infrastructure to creditor-nation buyers. The effect was to drive austerity-ridden economies even deeper into debt – to foreign bankers and their own domestic oligarchies.
This is the treadmill on which Eurozone social democracies are now being placed. Under the political umbrella of financial emergency, wages and living standards are to be scaled back and political power shifted from elected government to technocrats governing on behalf of large banks and financial institutions. Public-sector labor is to be privatized – and de-unionized, while Social Security, pension plans and health insurance are scaled back.
This is the basic playbook that corporate raiders follow when they empty out corporate pension plans to pay their financial backers in leveraged buyouts. It also is how the former Soviet Union’s economy was privatized after 1991, transferring public assets into the hands of kleptocrats, who worked with Western investment bankers to make the Russian and other stock exchanges the darlings of the global financial markets. Property taxes were scaled back while flat taxes were imposed on wages (a cumulative 59 percent in Latvia). Industry was dismantled as land and mineral rights were transferred to foreigners, economies driven into debt and skilled and unskilled labor alike was obliged to emigrate to find work.
Pretending to be committed to price stability and free markets, bankers inflated a real estate bubble on credit. Rental income was capitalized into bank loans and paid out as interest. This was enormously profitable for bankers, but it left the Baltics and much of Central Europe debt strapped and in negative equity by 2008. Neoliberals applaud their plunging wage levels and shrinking GDP as a success story, because these countries shifted the tax burden onto employment rather than property or finance. Governments bailed out banks at taxpayer expense.
It is axiomatic that the solution to any major social problem tends to create even larger problems – not always unintended! From the financial sector’s vantage point, the “solution” to the Eurozone crisis is to reverse the aims of the Progressive Era a century ago – what John Maynard Keynes gently termed “euthanasia of the rentier” in 1936. The idea was to subordinate the banking system to serve the economy rather than the other way around. Instead, finance has become the new mode of warfare – less ostensibly bloody, but with the same objectives as the Viking invasions over a thousand years ago, and Europe’s subsequent colonial conquests: appropriation of land and natural resources, infrastructure and whatever other assets can provide a revenue stream. It was to capitalize and estimate such values, for instance, that William the Conqueror compiled the Domesday Book after 1066, a model of ECB and IMF-style calculations today.
This appropriation of the economic surplus to pay bankers is turning the traditional values of most Europeans upside down. Imposition of economic austerity, dismantling social spending, sell-offs of public assets, de-unionization of labor, falling wage levels, scaled-back pension plans and health care in countries subject to democratic rules requires convincing voters that there is no alternative. It is claimed that without a profitable banking sector (no matter how predatory) the economy will break down as bank losses on bad loans and gambles pull down the payments system. No regulatory agencies can help, no better tax policy, nothing except to turn over control to lobbyists to save banks from losing the financial claims they have built up.
What banks want is for the economic surplus to be paid out as interest, not used for rising living standards, public social spending or even for new capital investment. Research and development takes too long. Finance lives in the short run. This short-termism is self-defeating, yet it is presented as science. The alternative, voters are told, is the road to serfdom: interfering with the “free market” by financial regulation and even progressive taxation.
There is an alternative, of course. It is what European civilization from the 13th-century Schoolmen through the Enlightenment and the flowering of classical political economy sought to create: an economy free of unearned income, free of vested interests using special privileges for “rent extraction.” At the hands of the neoliberals, by contrast, a free market is one free for a tax-favored rentier class to extract interest, economic rent and monopoly prices.
More...
December 11, 2011 "Information Clearing House" --- The easiest way to understand Europe’s financial crisis is to look at the solutions being proposed to resolve it. They are a banker’s dream, a grab bag of giveaways that few voters would be likely to approve in a democratic referendum. Bank strategists learned not to risk submitting their plans to democratic vote after Icelanders twice refused in 2010-11 to approve their government’s capitulation to pay Britain and the Netherlands for losses run up by badly regulated Icelandic banks operating abroad. Lacking such a referendum, mass demonstrations were the only way for Greek voters to register their opposition to the €50 billion in privatization sell-offs demanded by the European Central Bank (ECB) in autumn 2011.
The problem is that Greece lacks the ready money to redeem its debts and pay the interest charges. The ECB is demanding that it sell off public assets – land, water and sewer systems, ports and other assets in the public domain, and also cut back pensions and other payments to its population. The “bottom 99%” understandably are angry to be informed that the wealthiest layer of the population is largely responsible for the budget shortfall by stashing away a reported €45 billion of funds stashed away in Swiss banks alone. The idea of normal wage-earners being obliged to forfeit their pensions to pay for tax evaders – and for the general un-taxing of wealth since the regime of the colonels – makes most people understandably angry. For the ECB, EU and IMF “troika” to say that whatever the wealthy take, steal or evade paying must be made up by the population at large is not a politically neutral position. It comes down hard on the side of wealth that has been unfairly taken.
A democratic tax policy would reinstate progressive taxation on income and property, and would enforce its collection – with penalties for evasion. Ever since the 19th century, democratic reformers have sought to free economies from waste, corruption and “unearned income.” But the ECB “troika” is imposing a regressive tax – one that can be imposed only by turning government policy-making over to a set of unelected “technocrats.”
To call the administrators of so anti-democratic a policy “technocrats” seems to be a cynical scientific-sounding euphemism for financial lobbyists or bureaucrats deemed suitably tunnel-visioned to act as useful idiots on behalf of their sponsors. Their ideology is the same austerity philosophy that the IMF imposed on Third World debtors from the 1960s through the 1980s. Claiming to stabilize the balance of payments while introducing free markets, these officials sold off export sectors and basic infrastructure to creditor-nation buyers. The effect was to drive austerity-ridden economies even deeper into debt – to foreign bankers and their own domestic oligarchies.
This is the treadmill on which Eurozone social democracies are now being placed. Under the political umbrella of financial emergency, wages and living standards are to be scaled back and political power shifted from elected government to technocrats governing on behalf of large banks and financial institutions. Public-sector labor is to be privatized – and de-unionized, while Social Security, pension plans and health insurance are scaled back.
This is the basic playbook that corporate raiders follow when they empty out corporate pension plans to pay their financial backers in leveraged buyouts. It also is how the former Soviet Union’s economy was privatized after 1991, transferring public assets into the hands of kleptocrats, who worked with Western investment bankers to make the Russian and other stock exchanges the darlings of the global financial markets. Property taxes were scaled back while flat taxes were imposed on wages (a cumulative 59 percent in Latvia). Industry was dismantled as land and mineral rights were transferred to foreigners, economies driven into debt and skilled and unskilled labor alike was obliged to emigrate to find work.
Pretending to be committed to price stability and free markets, bankers inflated a real estate bubble on credit. Rental income was capitalized into bank loans and paid out as interest. This was enormously profitable for bankers, but it left the Baltics and much of Central Europe debt strapped and in negative equity by 2008. Neoliberals applaud their plunging wage levels and shrinking GDP as a success story, because these countries shifted the tax burden onto employment rather than property or finance. Governments bailed out banks at taxpayer expense.
It is axiomatic that the solution to any major social problem tends to create even larger problems – not always unintended! From the financial sector’s vantage point, the “solution” to the Eurozone crisis is to reverse the aims of the Progressive Era a century ago – what John Maynard Keynes gently termed “euthanasia of the rentier” in 1936. The idea was to subordinate the banking system to serve the economy rather than the other way around. Instead, finance has become the new mode of warfare – less ostensibly bloody, but with the same objectives as the Viking invasions over a thousand years ago, and Europe’s subsequent colonial conquests: appropriation of land and natural resources, infrastructure and whatever other assets can provide a revenue stream. It was to capitalize and estimate such values, for instance, that William the Conqueror compiled the Domesday Book after 1066, a model of ECB and IMF-style calculations today.
This appropriation of the economic surplus to pay bankers is turning the traditional values of most Europeans upside down. Imposition of economic austerity, dismantling social spending, sell-offs of public assets, de-unionization of labor, falling wage levels, scaled-back pension plans and health care in countries subject to democratic rules requires convincing voters that there is no alternative. It is claimed that without a profitable banking sector (no matter how predatory) the economy will break down as bank losses on bad loans and gambles pull down the payments system. No regulatory agencies can help, no better tax policy, nothing except to turn over control to lobbyists to save banks from losing the financial claims they have built up.
What banks want is for the economic surplus to be paid out as interest, not used for rising living standards, public social spending or even for new capital investment. Research and development takes too long. Finance lives in the short run. This short-termism is self-defeating, yet it is presented as science. The alternative, voters are told, is the road to serfdom: interfering with the “free market” by financial regulation and even progressive taxation.
There is an alternative, of course. It is what European civilization from the 13th-century Schoolmen through the Enlightenment and the flowering of classical political economy sought to create: an economy free of unearned income, free of vested interests using special privileges for “rent extraction.” At the hands of the neoliberals, by contrast, a free market is one free for a tax-favored rentier class to extract interest, economic rent and monopoly prices.
More...
World Revolution 2011... Violence is never the answer... But neither is apathy...
Violence is never the answer.... But neither are ignorance, apathy, inaction, or wishful thinking...
It doesn't matter whether you are protesting authoritarian government in a North African police state, protesting austerity measures in an indebted European country or pro-corporation policies in an global economic centre.
We are a plurality of voices. And we will be heard!
Fast, Furious and Outrageous
Wayne Madsen has learned from his contacts within the Beltway intelligence community that Jared Lee Loughner is an “MK-ULTRA” programmed assassin and that US District Judge John Roll and Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords were targetted for assassination. The reason for the decision to target Judge Roll and Congresswoman Giffords has to do with their knowledge of the malicious and purposeful arming of Mexican drug gangs along the US-Mexico border by US intelligence agency assets in an effort designed to destablize the Mexican government. This towards the end of making Mexico more dependent on US military aid and protection from its private security contractors.
Chatham House: Lobbyist link with leading think tank
Britain's most prestigious think tank published a report by a lobbyist on a subject in which his client had a direct interest, The Independent has learnt.
An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) found an article about Kyrgyzstan written by an associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank which did not mention his involvement with the country. A seminar on democratic reform in Bahrain was also funded by a lobbyist working for the Kingdom.
[ ... ]
A Chatham House seminar on democratic reform in Bahrain was also funded by a lobbyist working for the Kingdom. The seminar in April last year, entitled "Democratic Institutions and Community Relations in Bahrain", was criticised for the "propagandistic" language of its speakers.
( Via UK journalist Tony Gosling)
Heroes Villainized: FBI to investigate 9/11 first responders for terrorism
A provision in a new draft of the 9/11 healthcare bill will force the FBI to investigate tens of thousands of cops, firefighters, construction workers and others for ties to terrorism by comparing names to those on the Terrorism Watch List. Survivors of 9/11 who risked their lives to help others and today face debilitating health problems are not being accused of terrorism themselves. The new bill would require anyone interested in receiving medical care under the new law be screened. Those who refuse will not be allowed to receive care. Jim Ryder, the director of political affairs at the Feal Good Foundation in New York said this is unnecessary and wrong.
Umbrella union: 10 myths about Greece and the crisis
There is a wonderful short documentary doing the rounds on the Internet at the moment courtesy of The New York Times. Directed by Errol Morris, the film focuses on the presence of the so-called “Umbrella Man” at the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. With the help of private detective and former philosophy professor Josiah Thompson, Morris paints the picture of the apparently sinister presence of a man holding a black umbrella on a sunny day in Dallas exactly at the point where Kennedy was shot.
However, Thompson goes on to point out that the Umbrella Man eventually came forward and explained that he was holding the umbrella as a protest against the appeasement policy of JFK’s father, Joseph P. Kennedy, when he was US ambassador to Britain before the Second World War. The umbrella was a visual reference to the British prime minister at the time, Neville Chamberlain, who also carried one.
“If you put any event under a microscope, you will find a whole dimension of completely weird, incredible things going on,” says Thompson, adding that the Umbrella Man episode is a “cautionary tale.” “If you have any fact which you think is really sinister; forget it man, because you can never think up all the non-sinister, perfectly valid explanations for that fact,” he says.
As incongruous as the two events are, perhaps there is a lesson that we can take from the story of the maligned Umbrella Man going into this week’s momentous European Union leaders’ summit. One of the main reasons that we have arrived at the point where the future of the euro and the EU itself is hanging in the balance is that too many decision-makers within the Union and the eurozone have spent the last two years chasing shadows, or men with umbrellas if you will, rather than addressing the real issues.
For much too long, this crisis — which Europe now unanimously admits is a systemic one — was approached as if it was a symptom of the failure of one country: Greece. Rather than treat Greece as the weakest link in a chain that would be tested to its limits, the eurozone chose to view it as the font of all Europe’s woes. The fact that a more comprehensive strategy to tackle the euro’s weakness is now being sought is tantamount to an admission that the wrong strategy was adopted.
The blinkered view that persisted over the past couple of years was built on certain myths that went largely unchallenged and became established in public discourse, much to the damage of both Greece and the eurozone. These myths have since given rise to other tales that threaten to undermine any possibility of recovery, even at this late stage. For this reason, perhaps now would be a good time to address some of the misnomers and misconceptions of the past months.
Bailout Total: $29.616 Trillion Dollars
There is a fascinating new study coming out of the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. Its titled “$29,000,000,000,000: A Detailed Look at the Fed’s Bail-out by Funding Facility and Recipient” by James Felkerson. The study looks at the lending, guarantees, facilities and spending of the Federal Reserve.
More...Tom Hodgkinson: 'Boris ought to know his Plato'
It seems that Boris Johnson has firmly embedded himself on the side of the oligarchs over the Occupy London affair. With breathtaking lack of courtesy he has described the protesters as "hippies" and "crusties" and boasted at a bankers' lunch that the only way to deal with them was to cycle past them quickly. Yes, I'm aware that there is a bit of ribbing going on, and he is not entirely lacking in good humour. But his refusal even to think about this very intelligent protest is distressing and, in fact, simply stupid.
This is what the people want: a real democracy, government by the people, and not by a clique comprising top politicians and CEOs. In Ancient Athens, something close to this was achieved.
More...
Mr Johnson's myopia is, though, perhaps natural, and if Boris knew his Plato, which he ought to, having been to Eton and everything, then he would recognise in the protests, riots and strikes that have marked this year a sign that the people ain't happy with the situation. He would also recognise himself as being a member of the short-sighted oligarchy – oligarchy meaning "control by a wealthy minority". Reading Plato's Republic, I was struck by the parallels with a typical cycle that he describes. In Platonic terms, it would seem that an oligarchy has taken over UK plc, and that this oligarchy has made too many loans, thereby pauperising the people, and now fails to see what is happening right beneath their noses: that the people are talking about revolution. The good news, though, is that a real democracy may be in store:
Plato writes that when the pursuit of riches remains unchecked, resentment breeds: "Doesn't oligarchy change into democracy in the following way, as a result of lack of restraint in the pursuit of its objective of getting as rich as possible?"
"Tell me how."
"Because the rulers, owing their power to wealth as they do, are unwilling to curtail by law the extravagance of the young, and prevent them squandering their money and ruining themselves; for it is by loans to such spendthrifts or by buying up their property that they hope to increase their own wealth and influence."
[ ... ]
This is what the people want: a real democracy, government by the people, and not by a clique comprising top politicians and CEOs. In Ancient Athens, something close to this was achieved.
More...
Occupy Wall Street and the Rediscovery of Politics
“In taking to the streets with their peculiar brand of leadership and organization, the Occupy Wall Street movement taps into a deep American tradition of outdoor politics: for much of American history, the motor of progressive political change was the assembly of the people out-of-doors, coming together to debate and organize beyond the prescribed avenues of official political reform.”
[ ... ]
The practice of Occupation offers radical answers to three basic political questions:
1. Who are the legitimate political leaders?
2. How do they govern themselves?
3. Where do they govern?
Moscow faces biggest protest in years
The biggest opposition rally in recent Russian history has taken place in the capital. The protest against the results of Russia’s December 4 parliamentary election has drawn an estimated turnout of between 25,000 and 40,000.
The rally has been held on Bolotnaya Square, in Central Moscow, on December 10 between 2 pm and 6 pm.
The square is almost empty, except for media crews and a few groups of youngsters, say police.
Earlier the Interior Ministry reported around 25,000 people gathered at the scene. However opposition leaders claim up to 40,000 on the square.
Before the rally police have blocked access to the squares adjacent to the Kremlin and have restricted entry to Red Square.
Security in the capital has been stepped up with police trucks and Interior Ministry troops surrounding the scene. Moscow police say security will be tightened in the city until nightfall to prevent possible incidents.
People who came out to protest in central Moscow today were of all ages and backgrounds, reports Itar-Tass news agency. There were young people, the middle-aged and pensioners. Many came with white ribbons, balloons and flowers. Supporters of different parties and movements were present on Bolotnaya Square. Banners belonging to the liberal Yabloko party, the Communists, the “Solidarity” movement and the Russian Federation of Car-Owners could be seen.
More...
See also: Can the democratic spring spread to Russia?
The rally has been held on Bolotnaya Square, in Central Moscow, on December 10 between 2 pm and 6 pm.
The square is almost empty, except for media crews and a few groups of youngsters, say police.
Earlier the Interior Ministry reported around 25,000 people gathered at the scene. However opposition leaders claim up to 40,000 on the square.
Before the rally police have blocked access to the squares adjacent to the Kremlin and have restricted entry to Red Square.
Security in the capital has been stepped up with police trucks and Interior Ministry troops surrounding the scene. Moscow police say security will be tightened in the city until nightfall to prevent possible incidents.
People who came out to protest in central Moscow today were of all ages and backgrounds, reports Itar-Tass news agency. There were young people, the middle-aged and pensioners. Many came with white ribbons, balloons and flowers. Supporters of different parties and movements were present on Bolotnaya Square. Banners belonging to the liberal Yabloko party, the Communists, the “Solidarity” movement and the Russian Federation of Car-Owners could be seen.
More...
See also: Can the democratic spring spread to Russia?
Statement from the Movement to Capture the Remaining Figures of the Old Regime
From Tahrir Documents:
Acquired 25 November 2011
Click here to download the original.
- The Movement to Capture Remaining figures of the Old Regime is following the current events on the ground in Egypt with great concern; it feels a great degree of sadness over the martyrs and those injured in the ongoing movement in the Arab Republic of Egypt’s squares…- The Movement wishes to emphasize that it condemns the Ministry of the Interior and police units for the excessive use of force in dealing with peaceful demonstrations.
- The Movement places complete responsibility on the leadership of the Cabinet, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces for the martyring and injury of dozens from among the people’s sons by the Central Security Forces. It also holds those powers responsible for the deterioration of the security situation in the country, which in turn reflects the setbacks which the Revolution is witnessing (i.e. the attempts to sidestep or purposefully abort the Revolution and reproduce the deposed regime).
- The immediate transfer of power to a council of civilian leadership chosen by popular agreement and that will take up administration of the country’s affairs in a revolutionary framework has become unavoidable. This council will realize the f the Revolution’s very legitimate demands in accordance with the people’s will without restrictions or conditions, as a way of uniting our ranks—a shot in the country’s arm which will affirm only the best of intentions toward the Egyptian people’s Revolution.
If you want security for this country, then this is your last chance.
With this in mind, we announce a halt to our campaign to capture the remaining figures of the old regime and a boycott of the elections that are being carried out in an illegitimate framework. We will demand that all national forces boycott them and sit-in in Tahrir until the transfer of power is completed.
God protect Egypt
General Coordinator: Sharif Diyab
[phone numbers redacted]
Translated by Paul Kohlbry
Translation reviewed by Emily Drumsta
Theory & Event - Claiming Division, Naming a Wrong
From Project MUSE:
Volume 14, Number 4, 2011 Supplement
E-ISSN: 1092-311X
Volume 14, Number 4, 2011 Supplement
E-ISSN: 1092-311X
Subject Headings:
In lieu of an abstract, here is a preview of the article.
The movement opened up by Occupy Wall Street is the most exciting event on the US political left since 1968. As in '68, the current movement extends globally, encompasses multiple grievances, and is being met by violent police responses. Also as in '68, an economic wrong, the wrong of capitalism, is at the core of the political rupture.
In May 1968, a general strike shut down the French economy. Students occupied the Sorbonne and workers occupied factories. In September 2011, inspired by revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, the occupation of the Wisconsin State Capitol, and the 15 May movement of the squares in Spain (as well as by the occupation movements that in recent years have accompanied protests over cutbacks in education and increases in tuition in California, New York, and the UK), protesters in New York occupied Wall Street. That Wall Street was actually the nearby privately owned Zuccotti Park didn't really matter. What mattered, and what opened up a new space of political possibility in the US, was that finally people were waking up—after forty years of neoliberalism's assault on the working and middle class and after a decade of rapacious class warfare in which the top one percent saw an income increase of 275% (their share of the national income more than doubling) while most of the rest of the country saw an income increase of roughly 1% a year. 1 Instead of continuing in the fantasy that "what's good for Wall Street, is good for Main Street," the occupation claimed the division between Wall Street and Main Street and named this division as a fundamental wrong, the wrong of inequality, exploitation, and theft.
The movement's early slogan, "We are the 99 Percent," quickly went viral. It spread in part because of the Tumblr collection of images and testimonials to the hardships of debt, foreclosure, and unemployment, a "coming out" of the closet imposed by the conceit that everyone...
The Goal is Not to Occupy it is to End Corporate Rule
With encampments being closed across the country it is important to remember the end goal is not to occupy public space, it is to end corporate rule. We seek to replace the rule of money with the rule of people. Occupying is a tactic but the grand strategy of the Occupy Movement is to weaken the pillars that hold the corporate-government in place by educating, organizing and mobilizing people into an independent political force.
The occupations of public space have already done a great deal to lift the veil of lies. People are now more aware than ever that the wealth divide is caused by a rigged economic system of crony capitalism and that we can create a fair economy that works for all Americans. We are also aware that many of our fellow citizens are ready to take action – extreme action of sleeping outside in the cold in a public park. And, we also now know that we have the power to shift the debate and force the economic and political elites to listen to us. In just a few months we have made a difference.
Occupying public space involves a lot of resources and energy that could be spent educating, organizing and mobilizing people in much greater numbers. There is a lot to do to end corporate rule and the challenges of occupying public space can divert our attention and resources from other responsibilities we have as a movement.
When we were organizing the Occupation of Washington, DC – before the occupation of Wall Street began – we were in conversation with movements around the world. The Spanish Indignados told us that an occupation should last no more than two weeks. After that it becomes a diversion from the political objectives. The occupation begins to spend its time dealing with poverty, homelessness, inadequately treated mental illness and addiction – this has been experienced by occupies across the country.
Occupying for a short time accomplishes many of the objectives of holding public space – the political dialogue is affected, people are mobilized and all see that fellow citizens can effectively challenge the corporate-state. Staying for a lengthy period continues to deepen these goals but the impacts are more limited and the costs get higher.
What to do next? The Occupy Movement needs to bring participatory democracy to communities. Occupiers should develop an aggressive organizing plan for their city. Divide the city and appoint people to be responsible for different areas of the city. Depending on how many people you have make these areas as small as possible. Develop plans for house-to-house campaigns where you knock on doors, provide literature, ask what you can do to make their lives better. Do they need snow removed? Clothes? If so, get the occupy team to fulfill their needs, find used clothes, clean their yard – whatever you can do to help. This shows community and builds relationships.
Russian Federal Security press to delete saturday #10dec events in social networks
LETTER TRANSLATION
[ENG]
The Russian Federal Security Service Director General of “Vkontakte SA” Durov P.V.:
Concerning the appeal on vkontakte.ru.
Dear Pavel Valerievich,
Based on Federal Law 144 of August 12 1995 page 9 of the Federal Code, No. 149 of 27.07.2006 “On information, information technologies and data protection” – please cessation of activity of the FOLLOWING groups of “vkontakte.ru”
(list of events on social networks calling for demonstrations in several Russian cities for Saturday)
Signed. Manager: Ruchiyev A.V.
Military tanks in the Moscow outskirts
Source
"By Imbeciles Who Really Mean It": Lost Verities And Dirty Hippies
Because of the wealth inequities inherent to capitalism, in order to prevent social unrest, the system is reliant on creating false narratives that foster misplaced and displaced class resentment. These tales are very potent, because they serve as palliatives for the enervating states of shame inflicted on the population at large by their enslavement to the free market.
Accordingly, because the vast majority of the populace are deemed “losers,” due to how the system is rigged, techniques must be created and maintained to displace the rage, born of a sense of powerlessness, that grips the system’s exploited underlings.
OWS is beginning to change the narrative … align it with reality – and that is an alarming development for the 1 percent; hence, the retooled, amped-up propaganda campaign we’re seeing signs of at present.
More...
Accordingly, because the vast majority of the populace are deemed “losers,” due to how the system is rigged, techniques must be created and maintained to displace the rage, born of a sense of powerlessness, that grips the system’s exploited underlings.
OWS is beginning to change the narrative … align it with reality – and that is an alarming development for the 1 percent; hence, the retooled, amped-up propaganda campaign we’re seeing signs of at present.
More...
‘Occupy Earth’ is Growing
Much needed 'Occupy' levity:
The Occupy Earth encampment at the corner of Milton and Hecate in downtown Nanaimo has doubled in size, and is much better provisioned, than when I first visited the camp a few days ago. These little green dudes really know how to mount an occupation!
More...
Some other recent examples of 'Occupy' Art:
Occupy Movement Goes Underwater in New Art Exhibition
Occupy Calgary sculpture worth thousands of dollars, gaining public support
The Occupy Earth encampment at the corner of Milton and Hecate in downtown Nanaimo has doubled in size, and is much better provisioned, than when I first visited the camp a few days ago. These little green dudes really know how to mount an occupation!
More...
Some other recent examples of 'Occupy' Art:
Occupy Movement Goes Underwater in New Art Exhibition
Occupy Calgary sculpture worth thousands of dollars, gaining public support
Will a stake through the heart work against Wall St. and the Pentagon?
A whole lot of high-profile exorcizing has taken place during 2011:
Church Group Performs ‘Exorcism’ On Steps Of JPMorgan
“We are asking the almighty gods to chase the demons out of Chase.”
Frustrated by the lack of action from JP Morgan Chase in offering assistance to families facing foreclosure, clergy members across New York City and Long Island gathered in front of the bank’s Park Avenue headquarters to close their accounts. Clergy include Rev. Ramirez, Bishop Findlayter, Rev. Malcolm and Elder Seaton.
Greek Orthodox priest performs ritual to banish parliament
Mexico holds National Exorcism Congress for the 5th time
The Catholic Church has Eucharistic Congress, international Youth Congress and Family Congress held regularly in different countries. But this is the first time I heard of Exorcism Congress. Apparently Mexico has already hosted the event five times. Very timely indeed since the incidence of diabolical possession grew over the past decades all over the world, that even Hollywood was prompted to produce movies with the same theme. But in Mexico, even the laity are invited to attend the said congress to aid them in differentiating between possession and mental disorders.
Exorcists stage conference in Poland to tackle ‘vampires’
Vampires, the devil’s deceit and mental illness are among the hot topics for some 300 exorcists who flocked to Poland this week from as far away as Africa and India for a week-long congress.
Held at Poland’s Roman Catholic Jasna Gora monastery, home to the venerated Black Madonna icon, this year’s congress “examines the current fashion for vampirism in Europe and the world-over, schizophrenia and other mental disorders as well as the devil’s deceit during exorcism,” according to the monastery’s radio station.
Levitate Wall Street
Is Capitalism the Religion of Money? Will the Majority Exorcise the Money Trust?
CAPITALISM IS THE OLDEST TECHNOLOGY FOR DOMINATING MAN AS SLAVE OR SERVANT. ITS POWER DERIVES FROM MIND MANIPULATION. CAPITALISM IS MADE SECURE, ENDURING, AND INFALLIBLE BY CONCEALING ITSELF AS A RELIGION OF MONEY. AS SUCH, ITS DOCTRINES ARE FABULOUSLY FRAUDULENT.
Capitalism concealed as a Religion of Money can best be unconcealed using Hobbes' Theory of Authority and Power. This doctrine is well explained in Stephen Holmes' Introduction to Behemoth.1 Using Hobbes' doctrine as foundational ground, the following analogic arguments can be advanced:
The Church has been veiled up as the Mediator between Man and God. Banks too have been veiled up -- as Intermediaries between Man and Capital. Both the Church and Banks have posed as gatekeepers2 -- to Heaven or Hell, and to Fortune or Misfortune, respectively.
The secret of religious Authority has been the Psychological Manipulation of the People's Beliefs.3 Both Clergymen and Bankers have posed as intermediaries with special powers. Both have extracted Submission through Fear or "Anxiety" -- Fear of Excommunication and Damnation,4 or fear of Bankruptcy and Financial Ruin. The Church's Psychological dominion has required control over the Scriptures, their Interpretation, and Propaganda.5 Psychological dominion by the Mighty has required control over the Laws and over the Media -- today's perfect Tool for Mass Manipulation. The current increase in the Monopolization of the Media in the United States and in Canada is a bad omen of things to come.
The Essence of Mind Manipulation consists in first divorcing Man from his Conscience, then in Taking Control of his Behavior. The Indoctrination has been Codified as follows: without Obedience to the Church, the Individual is left without Protection from Evil and Damnation.6 This same fiction obtained with the Money Trust: without Obedience and Servitude, the Individual is Vulnerable to Dangers. He must therefore Govern Himself Accordingly.
Fraudulent doctrines. Fraudulent doctrines, masquerading as Religion, have been assailed by the best philosophers. "[A]rtificial religion encourages all the cruelties done in association, conspiracies, seditions, robbery, ambushes, attacks on towns, pillages . . . Each one marches gaily off to crime under the banner of his saint" wrote Voltaire.7 Of course, exposing evil, fraud, and malice is not easy. According to Voltaire, one runs the risk of being "accused of atheism by fanatics and rascals, and condemned by fools."8
The unconcealers of fraudulent doctrines can rest assured; they are in good company. The accused, the censored, the excommunicated, the exiled, etc., include: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Paul, Dante, Luther, Galileo, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Voltaire, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Paine, Russell, Bohm, Pauling, etc.
To understand the Darkness in Capitalism it helps to understand the "Darkness in Religion."9 Of all the philosophers, probably none assailed more vigorously this Darkness than Hobbes, and none mocked it better than Voltaire. The "Power Ecclesiastiques," Hobbes wrote, was nothing but "Usurpation" disguised as "Gods Right"10 [original spelling retained]. Hobbes accused the Pope and the Roman Clergy of his time of having been the chief beneficiaries from "unlawfull Power" derived from "dark Doctrines."11 "Ecclesiasticall Dominion," he argued, was a horrible mischief maintained through a "Vain Philosophy"12 -- Infallibility of the Pope, Exemptions and special privileges for the Clergy, Power over the Sacramentation of Marriage, intelligence collection from Auricular Confession,13 Canonization powers, Demonology and Exorcism, Power to Excommunicate,14 etc.
Inspired by these revelations, thinking cynics may deduce that all may not be for the best with Capitalism:
Is Capitalism the Religion of Money? Is it a Dark Doctrine for Dominating Man as Object to be Exploited?
Are the Powers, Privileges, and Indulgences of the Money Trust qua Religion Unlawful?
Is the Doctrine of the Marketplace Infallible? Is the Marketplace a Fabulous Usurpation disguised as Free Exchange?
Are Banks the Churches of Capitalism, and Bankers its Clergy?
Are Loan Applications Auricular Confessions?
Are Credit Bureaus -- the Money Trust's instrument for maintaining an Index of Credit Information -- the Capitalist version of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum?
Are defilement and harassment practices and procedures of Collection Agencies the Capitalist version of the Inquisition's Malleus Maleficarum?
Is Bankruptcy the Capitalists' Power to Excommunicate?
To challenge the Evils of Capitalism, one must grasp the essence of its Power qua Religion. Based on Hobbes' unconcealment, one can see that the Mighty's struggle for mastery of Man as Servant is not secure and cannot be permanent because:
"THE POWER OF THE MIGHTY HATH NO FOUNDATION BUT IN THE OPINION AND BELIEF OF THE PEOPLE"15 [my emphasis].
Gulling and Duping. Hobbes believed that the Papacy was a "Kingdom of Fairies" -- a Kingdom which could only exist in "the Fancies of ignorant people . . . "16
The Power of the Papacy endured as long as Fear could be used to Seduce the people.17 Hobbes' revelations mean that the Mighty command power by gulling the multitude; and that their Authority is based on psychologically duping the vast majority of the people. By analogy: the Power of Capitalists endures as long as Capitalists can use Fear to Manipulate Psychologically the People. As soon as Obedience to Fear-based Authority is withheld, the Unmerited Power of Rapacious Capitalists Crumbles.
Hobbes' philosophy of political power has a modern version: "X has authority over Y if Y follows the rule that he obey X."18
From Encroachment to Reformation. Hobbes alleged that the papacy "encroached upon the rights of kings."19 The encroachment resulted in Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth Exorcising the Ecclesiastics, and, thus, "cast[ing] them Out."20
The encroachment of the Church was most ruinous for the papacy. In Germany, Martin Luther embraced Reformation. In Switzerland, Ulrich Zwingli did the same; so did John Calvin in France and in Switzerland. The Power and Authority of the Church to mediate between Man and God would never be the same. For Luther and his followers, "sola fide" (faith alone)21 -- not the Church -- became the road to man's salvation. Calvin went much further: salvation is secondary,-- the "chief end of human life" is "'[t]o know God by whom men were created.'"22
Capitalism veiled as Religion is most dangerous to Man. Hobbes' unconcealments reveal these truths:
Fear-based Authority is the Greatest Fraud ever perpetuated on Man.
When a Church Encroaches upon the Rights of the People, it is Exorcised.
THE PRESCRIPTION FOR SAVING CAPITALISM FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM SHOULD NOW BE CRYSTAL CLEAR: THE DARWINISTIC NET ADVANTAGES OF THE MONEY TRUST OVER THE CITIZEN MUST BE ELIMINATED BY THE LEGISLATURE. IF THEY ARE NOT, BOTH THE MONEY TRUST AND THE LEGISLATURE RISK BEING EXORCISED AND CAST OUT BY THE MAJORITY. THE REFORMATION IS NOT LIMITED TO ENCROACHING PAPACIES, IT CAN OVERCOME AND CONSUME ANY CHURCH THAT ENCROACHES ON THE RIGHTS OF MAN -- IRRESPECTIVE OF DENOMINATION. ...
Will exorcism work against deadly demons? Hard to say, but it will take an improvement over these previous efforts:
Exorcise The Pentagon
A snippet from the BBC/Granada documentary "It Was 20 Years Ago Today." The documentary is focused on the release of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" as well as the culture surrounding it.
This segment features Abbie Hoffman, Alan Ginsberg and others discussing the exorcism of the Pentagon, Oct 21, 1967.
Exorcising the Pentagon - October, 1967
All through the history of the Fugs in the '60s, the war in Vietnam throbbed like an ever-seething soul sore. However much we partied, shouted our poetry and strutted around like images of Bacchus, we could never quite get it out of our mind. It was like that Dada poetry reading that Tristan Tzara gave in 1922 in Paris, with an alarm clock constantly ringing during the reading. The war was THE alarm clock of the late '60s.
It seemed as if the war might become permanent, so there were big demonstrations planned for October of 1967 to surround the nerve center of the war-- the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Somebody came up with the idea of holding an Exorcism of this mystic pentagonal citadel of napalm and incineration.
I agreed to write and create the actual Exorcism. Tuli and I rented a flat bed truck and a sound system. The Fugs and a group of San Francisco Diggers climbed aboard and joined the protest march across the bridge from D.C. to the Pentagon. We positioned ourselves on the edge of a parking lot a few hundred feet from our target, while tens of thousands of marchers walked past, and I intoned a sing-song litany of exorcism after which we all began to chant "Out, Demons, Out!" over and over for about fifteen minutes. Filmmakers Barbara Rubin and Shirley Clarke filmed the chanting, while magician/ filmmaker Kenneth Anger positioned himself beneath the truck and performed his own ritual of exorcism. It was quite an afternoon.
When we had finished the exorcism, we walked onto the lawn in front of the Pentagon where lines of armed soldiers with rifles thrust forward stood guarding the entranceway. We were carrying dozens of yellow daisies. We paused in front of the young and obviously nervous soldiers and gently shoved some stems into some rifle barrels, then glanced back over our shoulders as we walked away, marveling at the vision of white petal jutting from dark metal.
It was a famous thing we did, and people praised us for our audacity, yet the Vietnam War went on for another seven years. So much for "Out, Demons, Out!" You can learn more about the big demonstration at the Pentagon in Norman Mailer's Armies of the Night.
After the exorcism, The Fugs began their final series of performances at The Players Theater in Greenwich Village. Personnel had changed. We had assembled a very talented musical line-up: Charles Larkey on bass, Ken Pine on guitar, Dan Kootch on guitar and violin, and Ken Weaver on Drums. Richard Alderson recorded some of these final shows of 1967, which closed on New Year's eve at the Players Theater.
Exorcist curses Cubs
The superstitious Chicago Cubs summon Greek Orthodox priest Reverend Father James L. Greanias of St. Iakovos Church in Valparaiso, Indiana to exorcise the Cubs dugout before Game 1 of the NLDS. Cubs are swept by L.A. immediately, leading all to wonder if he cursed them instead
Priest Blesses Chicago Cubs Dugout With Holy Water
Rev. James L. Greanias, a Greek Orthodox priest was brought into Wrigley Field to remove the curse before Game 1 of last year's playoffs. Check out as Greanias and Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney blessed the dugout with holy water.
What is certain is that something desperately needs to be done:
Occupying Our Minds
It’s stark, but dividing the world up into the 1% (the self-perpetuating elite currently laying claim to the lion’s share of the world’s wealth) and the 99% (everybody else) is certainly focussing people’s minds.
It tells us instantly that Capitalism 1.0 (or Capitalism 1%) has proved itself to be a monumental failure. The implicit deal on which it was based – that it was OK for the rich to get richer if everyone else shared in the process, if jobs were created, public services protected, infrastructure maintained, the environment looked after, and our children’s interests given due regard – has been so comprehensively betrayed as to leave the lucky 1% with no place to hide.
It tells us instantly that the fantastical illusion that took possession of our minds and our dreams – that year-on-year increases in production and consumption on a finite planet, indefinitely into the future, was a feasible proposition – must now be exorcised once and for all.
Church Group Performs ‘Exorcism’ On Steps Of JPMorgan
“We are asking the almighty gods to chase the demons out of Chase.”
Clergy Perform Exorcism On Chase Bank To Banish 'Demons Of Selfishness, Avarice' from New York Communities for Change on Vimeo.
Frustrated by the lack of action from JP Morgan Chase in offering assistance to families facing foreclosure, clergy members across New York City and Long Island gathered in front of the bank’s Park Avenue headquarters to close their accounts. Clergy include Rev. Ramirez, Bishop Findlayter, Rev. Malcolm and Elder Seaton.
Greek Orthodox priest performs ritual to banish parliament
Mexico holds National Exorcism Congress for the 5th time
The Catholic Church has Eucharistic Congress, international Youth Congress and Family Congress held regularly in different countries. But this is the first time I heard of Exorcism Congress. Apparently Mexico has already hosted the event five times. Very timely indeed since the incidence of diabolical possession grew over the past decades all over the world, that even Hollywood was prompted to produce movies with the same theme. But in Mexico, even the laity are invited to attend the said congress to aid them in differentiating between possession and mental disorders.
Exorcists stage conference in Poland to tackle ‘vampires’
Vampires, the devil’s deceit and mental illness are among the hot topics for some 300 exorcists who flocked to Poland this week from as far away as Africa and India for a week-long congress.
Held at Poland’s Roman Catholic Jasna Gora monastery, home to the venerated Black Madonna icon, this year’s congress “examines the current fashion for vampirism in Europe and the world-over, schizophrenia and other mental disorders as well as the devil’s deceit during exorcism,” according to the monastery’s radio station.
Levitate Wall Street
Is Capitalism the Religion of Money? Will the Majority Exorcise the Money Trust?
CAPITALISM IS THE OLDEST TECHNOLOGY FOR DOMINATING MAN AS SLAVE OR SERVANT. ITS POWER DERIVES FROM MIND MANIPULATION. CAPITALISM IS MADE SECURE, ENDURING, AND INFALLIBLE BY CONCEALING ITSELF AS A RELIGION OF MONEY. AS SUCH, ITS DOCTRINES ARE FABULOUSLY FRAUDULENT.
Capitalism concealed as a Religion of Money can best be unconcealed using Hobbes' Theory of Authority and Power. This doctrine is well explained in Stephen Holmes' Introduction to Behemoth.1 Using Hobbes' doctrine as foundational ground, the following analogic arguments can be advanced:
The Church has been veiled up as the Mediator between Man and God. Banks too have been veiled up -- as Intermediaries between Man and Capital. Both the Church and Banks have posed as gatekeepers2 -- to Heaven or Hell, and to Fortune or Misfortune, respectively.
The secret of religious Authority has been the Psychological Manipulation of the People's Beliefs.3 Both Clergymen and Bankers have posed as intermediaries with special powers. Both have extracted Submission through Fear or "Anxiety" -- Fear of Excommunication and Damnation,4 or fear of Bankruptcy and Financial Ruin. The Church's Psychological dominion has required control over the Scriptures, their Interpretation, and Propaganda.5 Psychological dominion by the Mighty has required control over the Laws and over the Media -- today's perfect Tool for Mass Manipulation. The current increase in the Monopolization of the Media in the United States and in Canada is a bad omen of things to come.
The Essence of Mind Manipulation consists in first divorcing Man from his Conscience, then in Taking Control of his Behavior. The Indoctrination has been Codified as follows: without Obedience to the Church, the Individual is left without Protection from Evil and Damnation.6 This same fiction obtained with the Money Trust: without Obedience and Servitude, the Individual is Vulnerable to Dangers. He must therefore Govern Himself Accordingly.
Fraudulent doctrines. Fraudulent doctrines, masquerading as Religion, have been assailed by the best philosophers. "[A]rtificial religion encourages all the cruelties done in association, conspiracies, seditions, robbery, ambushes, attacks on towns, pillages . . . Each one marches gaily off to crime under the banner of his saint" wrote Voltaire.7 Of course, exposing evil, fraud, and malice is not easy. According to Voltaire, one runs the risk of being "accused of atheism by fanatics and rascals, and condemned by fools."8
The unconcealers of fraudulent doctrines can rest assured; they are in good company. The accused, the censored, the excommunicated, the exiled, etc., include: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Paul, Dante, Luther, Galileo, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Voltaire, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Paine, Russell, Bohm, Pauling, etc.
To understand the Darkness in Capitalism it helps to understand the "Darkness in Religion."9 Of all the philosophers, probably none assailed more vigorously this Darkness than Hobbes, and none mocked it better than Voltaire. The "Power Ecclesiastiques," Hobbes wrote, was nothing but "Usurpation" disguised as "Gods Right"10 [original spelling retained]. Hobbes accused the Pope and the Roman Clergy of his time of having been the chief beneficiaries from "unlawfull Power" derived from "dark Doctrines."11 "Ecclesiasticall Dominion," he argued, was a horrible mischief maintained through a "Vain Philosophy"12 -- Infallibility of the Pope, Exemptions and special privileges for the Clergy, Power over the Sacramentation of Marriage, intelligence collection from Auricular Confession,13 Canonization powers, Demonology and Exorcism, Power to Excommunicate,14 etc.
Inspired by these revelations, thinking cynics may deduce that all may not be for the best with Capitalism:
Is Capitalism the Religion of Money? Is it a Dark Doctrine for Dominating Man as Object to be Exploited?
Are the Powers, Privileges, and Indulgences of the Money Trust qua Religion Unlawful?
Is the Doctrine of the Marketplace Infallible? Is the Marketplace a Fabulous Usurpation disguised as Free Exchange?
Are Banks the Churches of Capitalism, and Bankers its Clergy?
Are Loan Applications Auricular Confessions?
Are Credit Bureaus -- the Money Trust's instrument for maintaining an Index of Credit Information -- the Capitalist version of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum?
Are defilement and harassment practices and procedures of Collection Agencies the Capitalist version of the Inquisition's Malleus Maleficarum?
Is Bankruptcy the Capitalists' Power to Excommunicate?
To challenge the Evils of Capitalism, one must grasp the essence of its Power qua Religion. Based on Hobbes' unconcealment, one can see that the Mighty's struggle for mastery of Man as Servant is not secure and cannot be permanent because:
"THE POWER OF THE MIGHTY HATH NO FOUNDATION BUT IN THE OPINION AND BELIEF OF THE PEOPLE"15 [my emphasis].
Gulling and Duping. Hobbes believed that the Papacy was a "Kingdom of Fairies" -- a Kingdom which could only exist in "the Fancies of ignorant people . . . "16
The Power of the Papacy endured as long as Fear could be used to Seduce the people.17 Hobbes' revelations mean that the Mighty command power by gulling the multitude; and that their Authority is based on psychologically duping the vast majority of the people. By analogy: the Power of Capitalists endures as long as Capitalists can use Fear to Manipulate Psychologically the People. As soon as Obedience to Fear-based Authority is withheld, the Unmerited Power of Rapacious Capitalists Crumbles.
Hobbes' philosophy of political power has a modern version: "X has authority over Y if Y follows the rule that he obey X."18
From Encroachment to Reformation. Hobbes alleged that the papacy "encroached upon the rights of kings."19 The encroachment resulted in Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth Exorcising the Ecclesiastics, and, thus, "cast[ing] them Out."20
The encroachment of the Church was most ruinous for the papacy. In Germany, Martin Luther embraced Reformation. In Switzerland, Ulrich Zwingli did the same; so did John Calvin in France and in Switzerland. The Power and Authority of the Church to mediate between Man and God would never be the same. For Luther and his followers, "sola fide" (faith alone)21 -- not the Church -- became the road to man's salvation. Calvin went much further: salvation is secondary,-- the "chief end of human life" is "'[t]o know God by whom men were created.'"22
Capitalism veiled as Religion is most dangerous to Man. Hobbes' unconcealments reveal these truths:
Fear-based Authority is the Greatest Fraud ever perpetuated on Man.
When a Church Encroaches upon the Rights of the People, it is Exorcised.
THE PRESCRIPTION FOR SAVING CAPITALISM FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM SHOULD NOW BE CRYSTAL CLEAR: THE DARWINISTIC NET ADVANTAGES OF THE MONEY TRUST OVER THE CITIZEN MUST BE ELIMINATED BY THE LEGISLATURE. IF THEY ARE NOT, BOTH THE MONEY TRUST AND THE LEGISLATURE RISK BEING EXORCISED AND CAST OUT BY THE MAJORITY. THE REFORMATION IS NOT LIMITED TO ENCROACHING PAPACIES, IT CAN OVERCOME AND CONSUME ANY CHURCH THAT ENCROACHES ON THE RIGHTS OF MAN -- IRRESPECTIVE OF DENOMINATION. ...
Will exorcism work against deadly demons? Hard to say, but it will take an improvement over these previous efforts:
Exorcise The Pentagon
A snippet from the BBC/Granada documentary "It Was 20 Years Ago Today." The documentary is focused on the release of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" as well as the culture surrounding it.
This segment features Abbie Hoffman, Alan Ginsberg and others discussing the exorcism of the Pentagon, Oct 21, 1967.
Exorcising the Pentagon - October, 1967
All through the history of the Fugs in the '60s, the war in Vietnam throbbed like an ever-seething soul sore. However much we partied, shouted our poetry and strutted around like images of Bacchus, we could never quite get it out of our mind. It was like that Dada poetry reading that Tristan Tzara gave in 1922 in Paris, with an alarm clock constantly ringing during the reading. The war was THE alarm clock of the late '60s.
It seemed as if the war might become permanent, so there were big demonstrations planned for October of 1967 to surround the nerve center of the war-- the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Somebody came up with the idea of holding an Exorcism of this mystic pentagonal citadel of napalm and incineration.
I agreed to write and create the actual Exorcism. Tuli and I rented a flat bed truck and a sound system. The Fugs and a group of San Francisco Diggers climbed aboard and joined the protest march across the bridge from D.C. to the Pentagon. We positioned ourselves on the edge of a parking lot a few hundred feet from our target, while tens of thousands of marchers walked past, and I intoned a sing-song litany of exorcism after which we all began to chant "Out, Demons, Out!" over and over for about fifteen minutes. Filmmakers Barbara Rubin and Shirley Clarke filmed the chanting, while magician/ filmmaker Kenneth Anger positioned himself beneath the truck and performed his own ritual of exorcism. It was quite an afternoon.
When we had finished the exorcism, we walked onto the lawn in front of the Pentagon where lines of armed soldiers with rifles thrust forward stood guarding the entranceway. We were carrying dozens of yellow daisies. We paused in front of the young and obviously nervous soldiers and gently shoved some stems into some rifle barrels, then glanced back over our shoulders as we walked away, marveling at the vision of white petal jutting from dark metal.
It was a famous thing we did, and people praised us for our audacity, yet the Vietnam War went on for another seven years. So much for "Out, Demons, Out!" You can learn more about the big demonstration at the Pentagon in Norman Mailer's Armies of the Night.
After the exorcism, The Fugs began their final series of performances at The Players Theater in Greenwich Village. Personnel had changed. We had assembled a very talented musical line-up: Charles Larkey on bass, Ken Pine on guitar, Dan Kootch on guitar and violin, and Ken Weaver on Drums. Richard Alderson recorded some of these final shows of 1967, which closed on New Year's eve at the Players Theater.
Exorcist curses Cubs
The superstitious Chicago Cubs summon Greek Orthodox priest Reverend Father James L. Greanias of St. Iakovos Church in Valparaiso, Indiana to exorcise the Cubs dugout before Game 1 of the NLDS. Cubs are swept by L.A. immediately, leading all to wonder if he cursed them instead
Priest Blesses Chicago Cubs Dugout With Holy Water
Rev. James L. Greanias, a Greek Orthodox priest was brought into Wrigley Field to remove the curse before Game 1 of last year's playoffs. Check out as Greanias and Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney blessed the dugout with holy water.
What is certain is that something desperately needs to be done:
Occupying Our Minds
It’s stark, but dividing the world up into the 1% (the self-perpetuating elite currently laying claim to the lion’s share of the world’s wealth) and the 99% (everybody else) is certainly focussing people’s minds.
It tells us instantly that Capitalism 1.0 (or Capitalism 1%) has proved itself to be a monumental failure. The implicit deal on which it was based – that it was OK for the rich to get richer if everyone else shared in the process, if jobs were created, public services protected, infrastructure maintained, the environment looked after, and our children’s interests given due regard – has been so comprehensively betrayed as to leave the lucky 1% with no place to hide.
It tells us instantly that the fantastical illusion that took possession of our minds and our dreams – that year-on-year increases in production and consumption on a finite planet, indefinitely into the future, was a feasible proposition – must now be exorcised once and for all.
WikiLeaks Spy Files: GAMMA
- Tactical IT Intrusion Portfolio: FININTRUSION KIT
- Remote Monitoring & Infection Solutions: FINSPY
- IT Intrusion Training Program: FINTRAINING
- Remote Monitoring & Infection Solutions: FINSPY MOBILE
- Tactical IT Intrusion Portfolio: FINUSB SUITE
- Tactical IT Intrusion Portfolio: FINFIREWIRE
- Tactical IT Intrusion Portfolio: FINUSB SUITE
- Remote Monitoring & Infection Solutions: FINFLY LAN
- Remote Monitoring & Infection Solutions: FINFLY WEB
- Remote Monitoring & Infection Solutions: FINFLY ISP
Related Links:
http://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/list/company-name/gamma.html
https://www.gammagroup.com/Default.aspx
http://wikileaks.org/The-Spyfiles.html
http://LeakSource.wordpress.com
The Norwegian Bilderberger Scam
If you live in Norway remember: You have plenty of money, you are not in financial crisis as your government tells you, and you should look out for vultures circling the skies.
There’s an explanation for this: it's called Oil. If one studies the Bilderberg list of 2011 one will find that Oil, Finance and Social Media were all well represented. And so are the usual suspects; the Norwegian Crown Prince attends the Bilderberger meetings frequently.
One could use common sense logic, or intuition, and maybe come to the conclusion that part of the agenda was to manipulate oil, develop a strategy for Gadhafi, and tighten the Internet surveillance agenda. Since the meeting, for example, Facebook has come up with new "innovative" ideas for voluntarily being spied on, Apple launched its "iCloud" and so on.
And of course there's the additional plan to push the PIIGS over the economic cliff as soon as they are sucked dry of the very last Euro and their middle classes, sending them into economic slavery.
Now, back to the Bilderberger Norway design and Royalty and Oil. A most toxic mix.
Did you know that Norway is one of the strongest economies in the world? People in Norway certainly don’t. Norway is richer than Bahrain and, yet, austerity measures are imposed on the Norwegian people with cuts in their welfare system. In fact, Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world to live for food, housing, and general necessities.
Yet Norway has an estimated 3.1 trillion crowns in her Oil Foundation. That equals more than 533 billion USD. That’s about 106,640 USD for each person in Norway. Now, I'm not a number geek, but this is a lot.
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| Dees Illustration |
Søren Dreier, Activist Post
There’s an explanation for this: it's called Oil. If one studies the Bilderberg list of 2011 one will find that Oil, Finance and Social Media were all well represented. And so are the usual suspects; the Norwegian Crown Prince attends the Bilderberger meetings frequently.
One could use common sense logic, or intuition, and maybe come to the conclusion that part of the agenda was to manipulate oil, develop a strategy for Gadhafi, and tighten the Internet surveillance agenda. Since the meeting, for example, Facebook has come up with new "innovative" ideas for voluntarily being spied on, Apple launched its "iCloud" and so on.
And of course there's the additional plan to push the PIIGS over the economic cliff as soon as they are sucked dry of the very last Euro and their middle classes, sending them into economic slavery.
Now, back to the Bilderberger Norway design and Royalty and Oil. A most toxic mix.
Did you know that Norway is one of the strongest economies in the world? People in Norway certainly don’t. Norway is richer than Bahrain and, yet, austerity measures are imposed on the Norwegian people with cuts in their welfare system. In fact, Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world to live for food, housing, and general necessities.
Yet Norway has an estimated 3.1 trillion crowns in her Oil Foundation. That equals more than 533 billion USD. That’s about 106,640 USD for each person in Norway. Now, I'm not a number geek, but this is a lot.
More...
Nonviolence and Its Violent Consequences
Back in the 1990′s pacifism and it’s sister dogma, “Non-Violence,” had paralyzed the once thriving Earth First! movement. It was argued that cooperation with the authorities was somehow not violent (Despite those same authorities carrying weapons and working for a state with a nuclear arsenal) but sabotaging machinery made one akin to a mass murderer. Tackling and attempting to citizens arrest people breaking the windows of Nike town was not violent, but harming the property of people who own slave-run factories abroad was “just as bad” as owning those factories yourself. Many books and pamphlets were written at the time to counter this nonsensical, non-strategic, non-resistance movement, most famously Ward Churchill’s Pacifism as Pathology. Still, for it’s conciseness and applicability to wilderness defense (and offense!) movements, nothing beats William Meyers “Nonviolence and Its Violent Consequences.” Given the current rhetoric of many in the Occupy movement who see sabotage as violence, while working within the system as somehow not violent, this booklet has suddenly become a must read once more.
Generation WE: The Movement Begins...
Generation WE: The Movement Begins... from Generation We on Vimeo.
Millennials are the largest generation in American history. Born between 1978 and 2000, WE are 95 million strong, compared to the 78 million Baby Boomers.
WE are politically, socially, and philosophically independent, and are spearheading a period of sweeping change in America and around the world.
The new book, Generation We, explains the emerging power of our Millennial Generation, and shows how WE (and older people who think the way WE do) are poised to change our nation and our world for the better.
Three Years since the Greek Insurrection
To commemorate Alexis’s life and the efforts of all who set out to avenge his death, we’re offering selections from an interview we did with comrades in Greece the following year, when the riots were over but momentum was still fresh. The interview serves as a sort of historical snapshot, documenting the heady optimism of the time but also the realization of how vast the barriers to revolution still were. A great deal has changed since then; Greece has witnessed a series of new tragedies and clashes, while Greek anarchists have simultaneously seen their tactics embraced by broad sectors of the population and lost the initiative as the shortcomings of their strategies became apparent. Yet this interview is timelier than ever, as it grapples with the question of how to make the most of a high point of struggle. This may be relevant in North America sooner than anyone expects.
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The real definition of Terrorism - by Glenn Greenwald
The FBI yesterday announced it has secured an indictment against Faruq Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa, a 38-year-old citizen of Iraq currently in Canada, from which the U.S. is seeking his extradition. The headline on the FBI’s Press Release tells the basic story: “Alleged Terrorist Indicted in New York for the Murder of Five American Soldiers.” The criminal complaint previously filed under seal provides the details: ‘Isa is charged with “providing material support to a terrorist conspiracy” because he allegedly supported a 2008 attack on a U.S. military base in Mosul that killed 5 American soldiers. In other words, if the U.S. invades and occupies your country, and you respond by fighting back against the invading army — the ultimate definition of a “military, not civilian target” — then you are a . . . Terrorist.
Here is how the complaint, in the first paragraph, summarizes the Terrorism charge against ‘Isa:
By “outside of the United States,” the Government means: inside Iraq, ‘Isa’s country. The bulk of the complaint details conversations ‘Isa allegedly had over the Internet, while he was in Canada, with several Tunisians who wanted to engage in suicide attacks aimed at American troops in Iraq; he is not alleged to have organized the Mosul attack but merely to have provided political and religious encouragement (the network of which he was allegedly a part also carried out a suicide attack on an Iraqi police station, though ‘Isa’s alleged involvement is confined to the attack on the U.S. military base that killed the 5 soldiers along with several Iraqis, and the Terrorism indictment is based solely on the deaths of the U.S. soldiers).
In an effort to depict him as a crazed, Terrorist fanatic, the complaint includes this description of conversations he had while being monitored:
Is that not exactly the mindset that more or less anyone in the world would have: if a foreign army invades your country and proceeds to brutally occupy it for the next eight years, then it’s your solemn duty to fight them? Indeed, isn’t that exactly the mentality that caused some young Americans to enlist after the 9/11 attack and be hailed as heroes: they attacked us on our soil, and so now I want to fight them?
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