Flashback:
Barak Obama - Judas Goat
Special Note - A
quote...."Cute, cuddly, harmless-looking, liberal Barack Obama. Now
there's a guy to get the U.S. back on track! If he can just 'win' the
primary (s)election process, and then the (s)election process after
that, what's it called...oh yeah, the (p)residential (s)elections,
he'll bring an end to the mindless massacring of innocent civilians for
profit that has come to define the "war on terror", and the American
people need never again be stirred out of their mind-numbing
complacency by stories of small brown children being decapitated by a
brave American teenager with a .50 caliber machine gun. I mean,
Viet-nam and My Lai was containable, it was successfully pitched as an
"American tragedy", but this Iraq business is getting out of hand!
After all, the harsh realities of war 'over there' are meant to stay
'over there', not ooze out of the carefully manipulated American daily
broadsheets and into the fragile mind of the average American. -- So
Obama's the man to fix it all, right? He'll stop the Republican rot! Or
am I missing something? -- Yeah, you guessed it, I'm missing something."
Heartwarming
Praise for Obama -- From a Monster
A quote...."In many essays, I have documented the specific ways in
which Barack Obama is the perfect embodiment of the
corporatist-authoritarian-militarist system that is inevitably
destroying the United States, as it lays waste to much of the world. If
you're interested in following the argument, you can start
here
and
here,
and follow the numerous links.
Happy
Hour: Breaking the Spell of Power
A quote...."This was written by an honest-to-god adult person, the
ever-savvy, hardnosed international journalist Jonathan Freedman. Would
it be a stretch to say that it is precisely this kind of thinking --
the awed and tingly verklemptitude toward those who have clawed and
gnawed their way into the bowels of power -- that has led us into so
many murderous disasters and criminal actions down through the many,
many years? "
On
the eve of Obama’s inauguration
A quote...."The inauguration of Barack Obama has become the occasion
for a tidal wave of media-orchestrated delusions and stupidities
designed to overwhelm and chloroform public consciousness. The junior
senator from Illinois is being compared, and is comparing himself, to
everyone from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Martin
Luther King, Jr. An observer of the wall-to-wall coverage of the events
leading up to Obama's swearing in as president might think he was
witnessing nothing less than the second coming." --
also posted at AmericanEveryman
Historical
Mystery of Bush's Presidency
Must Read - A
quote...."How could a significant number of American voters have
thought that an enterprise as vast and complicated as the U.S.
government could be guided by a person who had failed at nearly every
job he ever had, whose principal qualification was that his father,
George H.W. Bush, was fondly remembered as having greater personal
morality than Bill Clinton? -- Why did so many Americans think that a
little-traveled, incurious and inarticulate man of privilege could lead
the United States in a world of daunting challenges, shifting dangers
and sharpening competition? -- What had transformed American politics
so much that, for many Americans, personal trivia, like Al Gore’s
earth-tone sweaters, trumped serious policy debates, like global
warming, health care for citizens, prudent fiscal policies and a
responsible foreign policy? How could George W. Bush, who was born with
a shiny silver spoon in his mouth, sell himself as a populist everyman?"
"Part of the answer to this historical mystery can be found in the
complex relationship between the American people and mass media. The
multi-billion-dollar stakes involved in selling commercial products to
the world’s richest market also made the American people the most
analyzed population on earth. -- Controlling their
perceptions of reality and eliciting their emotions became more than
just art forms; they were economic imperatives." --
also posted at CommonDreams
"Americans" have during the
last sixty years selected their presidents as they have selected their
laxatives and their toilet paper....and their wars. A method of
mindless, vacuous, thoughtless, action that has led to the deaths of
millions and the bankrupting of a once great nation, a nation that to
this very day is still attempting to
tread the path of Empire, a path that has already led us to
moral corruption, spiritual perversion, terrible violence and economic
collapse. This total abdication of the people’s own responsibility to
choose wisely has not been altered at all by their
present dire circumstances, circumstances which are the direct result
of poor choices already taken....something that bodes ill for the next
four years. – mpg
The Gaza Attack - 17
Articles - Tuesday - [ Day 25 ] ========== ==========
========== ====
Now why can’t those damn
Palestinians just disappear?
Must Read - A
quote...."Jan 20, 2009 -- Sixty years ago, in the aftermath of a
European war, the Palestinians were made the sacrificial lamb,
slaughtered in the abattoir of Capital by their executioners, the
Zionists and their imperial paymasters. -- Unfortunately for Israel,
those damn Palestinians persisted in 'hanging around’, jammed into
refugee camps across the Middle East, ghettoized and relegated to third
class people in the land of their birth, Palestine. -- The
'traditional’ view is that expunging an entire nation from the face of
the Earth was somehow an atonement for European 'guilt’ over the Nazi
death camps. Looking back, I’m amazed that this idea ever gained any
kind of credibility, but it became the rationale for sixty years of
misery and death for the Palestinian people as well as a source of
destabilization for the entire Middle East. -- What it does reveal
however, is the deeply rooted racism in Western society, the product of
centuries of colonial domination."
The
bloody Israeli sojourn in Gaza - (RT-YouTube - 11 min 48 sec -
January 21, 2009)
Must View Video - A
quote...."January 21, 2009 -- Controversial American Jewish scholar and
specialist on the
Middle East, Norman Finkelstein, says Israel committed massive
atrocities in Gaza during the three-week war against Hamas militants."
Israel's scorched
earth policy - 20 Jan 09 - (AJ-YouTube - 2 min 16 sec - January 19,
2009)
Must View Video - A
quote...."January 19, 2009 -- Some Palestinians have accused Israeli
soldiers of destroying
their homes as they pulled back towards the border in the last 24 hours
of their 22-day war on Gaza. Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna saw some of the
evidence of what Palestinians describe as an Israeli scorched earth
policy."
Gaza's destruction
revealed - 20 Jan 09 - (AJ-YouTube - 3 min 51 sec - January 19,
2009)
Must View Video - A
quote...."January 19, 2009 -- The cessation of fighting in Gaza has
allowed the true scale
of destruction there to be revealed. Sherine Tadros reports from the
north of the strip on the despair of one father who says Israeli forces
shot and killed two of his daughters at close range."
Ban
Ki-moon calls attack on UN building 'outrageous' -
(AJ-YouTube - 2 min 23 sec - January 20, 2009)
Must View Video - A
quote...."United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on a visit to
Gaza, has called Israel's targetting of a United Nations building there
'outrageous', but Israel is unlikely to be held to account."
Outrage
and Impotence as Gaza Burned
A quote...."16:38 01/20/2009 -- United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon
expressed his "outrage" and the President of the General Assembly,
Miquel d'Escoto Brockmann, accused Israel of violating international
law. "Gaza is ablaze," he told the UN General Assembly, "it has been
turned into a burning hell."
Gaza
doctors struggle to treat deadly burns consistent with white phosphorus
Must Read - Contains Video
- A quote...."Tuesday 20 January 2009 17.11 GMT -- Dozens dying after
Israeli attacks from injuries 'unlike any seen before' that medics say
should not be fatal. -- Doctors in Gaza described today how they had
struggled to treat dozens of patients with terrible and unusually
deadly burns consistent with white phosphorus weapons, during Israel's
three-week war in Gaza. -- Nafiz Abu Shabaan, head of the burns unit at
Shifa hospital and the most senior burns surgeon in Gaza, said 60 to 70
patients had died in his unit during the war from severe burns that
were unlike any injury he had previously seen." --
also posted at WarInIraq
A Report
from Gaza - The Strongest Weapon of All
A quote...."January 20, 2009 -- Dr. Atallah Tarazi, a General Surgeon
at Gaza City’s Shifaa Hospital, invited us to meet him in his home, in
Gaza City, just a few blocks away from the Shifaa Hospital. -
Early this morning, he and his family returned to their home after
having fled five days earlier when the bombing attacks on Gaza City had
become so fierce that they feared for their lives. “Believe me,
when I would drive from the hospital to the place where my family was
staying, I prayed all the way,” said Dr. Tarazi, “because the Israelis
would shoot anyone on the roads at night.” --
also posted at PalestineChronicle
Israel
Intensified Assault in Final Days
A quote...."January 21, 2009 -- In the last days before Israel imposed
a unilateral cease-fire in Gaza to avoid embarrassing the incoming
Obama administration, it upped its assault, driving its troops deeper
into Gaza City, intensifying its artillery bombardment, and creating
thousands more displaced people. -- Israel's military strategy in Gaza,
even in what its officials were calling the "final act," followed a
blueprint laid down during the Lebanon war more than two years ago. --
Then, Israel destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure in a month of
intensive air strikes. Even in the war's last few hours, as a
cease-fire was being finalized, Israel fired more than a million
[actually closer to three million]
cluster bombs over south Lebanon, apparently in the hope that the area
could be made as uninhabitable as possible."
Israel
'admits' using white phosphorus munitions
A quote...."January 21, 2009 -- The Israeli military came close to
acknowledging for the first time yesterday its use of white phosphorus
munitions during the war in Gaza, but continued to insist that it did
not breach international law."
Gaza
Toll Passes 1,400 as More Bodies Are Recovered From Rubble
A quote...."Posted January 20, 2009 -- Bodies continued to be pulled
from the rubble that used to be the cities of the Gaza Strip today, and
the death toll in Israel’s 22-day way has now passed 1,400. 5,500
others were also wounded. In addition, two children in Gaza City were
killed when they found an unexploded shell from the conflict. ."
Israeli
troops meet pull-out ultimatum
A quote...."Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:07:44 GMT -- Israel has
completed its troop pullout from Gaza within the one-week deadline
Hamas had given Tel Aviv for its full withdrawal."
Israeli
Style 'Democracy' Spreads to Occupied West Bank
Special Note - Blogger Arrested
-
Action Alert - A
quote...."01/21/09 04:03:55 am -- You may have noticed that my
Associate, Khalid Amayreh, has not posted on this Blog (Desert Peace)
for the last few days. The following report will tell you why. In
collaboration with the occupational forces operating in the Palestinian
territories, he has been arrested. His crime? Speaking out against
injustice and corruption. The following was just sent to me by one of
my readers in Palestine….. I will report updates on this situation as
they become available." --
also
posted at Uruknet
Israel 'can be
tried for war crimes': Amnesty International
A quote...."Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:03:49 GMT -- Amnesty International says
the streets and alleyways of densely-populated Gaza are littered with
evidence of indiscriminate Israeli usage of incendiary weapons."
Travel
advisory issued for top IDF officers
Special Note -- A
quote....posted 01-20-09 -- "State expresses concern over
international human rights groups' intention to file war crimes charges
against military personnel with The Hague, local European courts; says
officers planning to travel must contact Judge Advocate General's
Office first " --
also posted at
WarInIraq
UN
demands end to Gaza blockade
A quote...."Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:17:31 GMT -- The UN humanitarian
chief says it is "absolutely critical" for Israel to open all border
crossings to the Gaza Strip immediately."
Why
Israel Won't Survive
A quote...."20 January, 2009 -- The merciless Israeli bombardment
of Gaza has stopped -- for now -- but the death toll keeps rising as
more bodies are pulled from carpet- bombed neighborhoods."
End - The Gaza Attack - 17
Articles - Tuesday - [ Day 25 ] ========== ==========
========== ====
Bush,
Rumsfeld should be pursued for torture: UN rapporteur
A quote...."The UN's special torture rapporteur called on the US
Tuesday to pursue former president George W. Bush and defence secretary
Donald Rumsfeld for torture and bad treatment of Guantanamo prisoners.
-- "Judicially speaking, the United States has a clear obligation" to
bring proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld, the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak said, in remarks to be broadcast on
Germany's ZDF television Tuesday evening."
U.S. seeks to
suspend Gitmo war crimes trials
Special Note --
This disgusting travesty of show trials
may finally be put out of its misery....perhaps, but true evil usually
survives in one form or another. - mpg -- A quote...."GUANTANAMO
BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The U.S. moved Tuesday to halt the Guantanamo
Bay war crimes trials, filing a late-night motion to suspend
proceedings until President Barack Obama's administration completes a
review of the system for prosecuting suspected terrorists." --
For more
on this issue see....The
Convenient Silence of Guantanamo Bay - 05-31-08 - mpg
Israel
isn’t the Only One Ramping Up Their Blogger PR Campaign
Special Note - A
quote...."Bloggers: If you suddenly find Air Force officers leaving
barbed comments after one of your posts, don’t be surprised. They’re
just following the service’s new “counter-blogging” flow chart. In a
twelve-point plan, put together by the emerging technology division of
the Air Force’s public affairs arm, airmen are given guidance on how to
handle “trolls,” “ragers” — and even well-informed online writers, too.
It’s all part of an Air Force push to “counter the people out there in
the blogosphere who have negative opinions about the U.S. government
and the Air Force,” Captain David Faggard says." --
For more on this issue see....Attempts
to Control the Internet
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
========== ====
Should
the US Pull the Plug on Israel? - Hosing Obama Israeli Style
A quote...."The last time the US restrained Israel in its never-ending
wars of aggression was when President Eisenhower pulled the plug on the
Anglo-French-Israeli effort to grab the Suez Canal in 1956.
-- Since then, we have not even chastised Israel when its actions
hurt the United States. During the 6-Day war in 1967, for example,
Israel attacked the USS Liberty, a Navy signals intelligence ship, in
international waters, and murdered over 30 American sailors. The
Israelis, of course, claimed it was an accident -- but the Israeli
claim was at least questionable, to put it charitably, because the
Israeli fighter bombers made multiple attack passes, before Israeli
gunboats machine gunned survivors in the water. Moreover, festooned
with antennas, the Liberty had a very distinctive profile and was
flying a huge American flag. Yet the US Congress never held an inquiry
into Israel's culpability (the only time in our history Congress failed
investigate the root causes of a Naval disaster) and the DoD inquiry
was as a disgraceful white wash."
Iraq
to Obama: We want early withdrawal
A quote...."Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:57:27 GMT -- Baghdad calls
for an early US departure from Iraq as President Barack Obama
officially takes control of White House affairs."
`Obama:
same destructive policy` - (RT-Video - 6 min 29 sec - January 20,
2009)
Video - A quote...."If
one really looks closely at the policies proposed by the Obama
Administration, they dont represent any kind of significant change,
says Adam Kokesh, an activist with the Iraq Veterans Against the War
organisation."
US
secures extra supply routes into Afghanistan
A quote...."The United States has secured extra supply routes for
foreign forces fighting in Afghanistan, said a top US general on
Tuesday ahead of a major troop surge and strategy overhaul under Barack
Obama."
Riots
Across the European Union
A quote...."January 20, 2009 -- Riots and demonstrations all across the
European Union against sweeping economic reforms."
Europe’s
winter of discontent
A quote...."A hurried resolution to the Ukraine-Russia gas war was
reached during a visit to Moscow by Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia
Timoshenko to meet with her Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin this
week. Ukraine finally agreed to pay higher European prices for Russian
gas in 2010, after a 20 percent discount in 2009."
The
structure of Russian gas imports.
INFOgraphics -- A
quote...."Major routes of gas pipelines connecting natural gas fields
in Western Siberia to export markets in Western Europe run via Ukraine."
Long on China, Short on the
United States
As long as China NEVER attempts to adopt a US-NRE
styled "bankster" regime, or allow US-NRE banksters access to
their economic and banking system, they'll do just fine. However if
they do
"business" with the banksters,
they'll endanger everything they've
accomplished so far. – mpg
--
Special Note
-- A quote...."The year is 1969. Chairman Mao is beginning to construct
underground escape tunnels throughout Beijing and anticipates a Soviet
invasion and bombardment within days. The PRC has just detonated its
first hydrogen thermonuclear device in Lop Nur and the countryside is
seething in a book-burning cultural revolution. To many foreign
observers, the end of China is imminent."
China
to expand its military reach
A quote...."China has said it plans to step up the modernisation of its
armed forces, expanding the military's global reach, but at the same
time calling on the incoming US administration to improve military
relations between the two countries." --
also posted at WarInIraq
China's
military awaits new satellites
A quote...."China wants to become the next big player in Global
Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology. Zhang Xiaojin, director
of the astronautics department at the China Aerospace Science and
Technology Corp, recently confirmed that China will complete its new
Beidou 2 or "Compass" GNSS consisting of 30 more satellites before
2015, with 10 or more new Compass satellites scheduled for launch over
the next two years."
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
========== ====
Roubini
Predicts U.S. Losses May Reach $3.6 Trillion (Update1)
He's wrong, the losses will be
much more extensive than that. -- For more on this issue see....1.3
Quadrillion and Counting 09-18-08 - mpg -- A quote...." Jan. 20
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. financial losses from the credit crisis may reach
$3.6 trillion, suggesting the banking system is “effectively
insolvent,” said New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, who
predicted last year’s economic crisis. -- “I’ve found that credit
losses could peak at a level of $3.6 trillion for U.S. institutions,
half of them by banks and broker dealers,” Roubini said at a conference
in Dubai today. “If that’s true, it means the U.S. banking system is
effectively insolvent because it starts with a capital of $1.4
trillion. This is a systemic banking crisis.”
25%
of Retailers May Go Bankrupt
A quote...."Retailing has always been a tough business. Now it’s
a brutal business. Some observers now predict that more than 25%
of retailers may go bust in the the next two years."
Will
the UK Lose its AAA Credit Rating?
A quote...."First Iceland, Greece and Spain lost their AAA sovereign
credit rating. -- Now, Bloomberg notes...."
"The U.K. government may lose its
top AAA credit rating after taking a 70 percent stake in Royal Bank of
Scotland Group Plc, credit-default swaps show."
British
government mounts new bank bailout amid warnings of economic collapse
A quote...."Britain's Labour government announced another massive bank
bailout on Monday. It comes just months after the same banks received a
£500 billion "aid" package from the government that included
buying up shares in Britain's leading high street banks and providing
loan guarantees and credit facilities."
Public
anger growing at 'irresponsible' [British] banks
A quote...."Public anger over the "irresponsible" lending of Britain's
banks intensified as MPs and unions criticised their conduct and even
Gordon Brown felt compelled to express his anger as the latest bail-out
package was announced." --
also
posted at RougeGov
Global
financial crisis hits ‘Saudi Kingdom’ hard
Special Note - A
quote...."Kingdom Holding, which has pumped billions of dollars into
Citibank, posts $8.26 billion loss for 4th quarter." --
For more on this sort of issue see....The
Green Light - 01-16-08 - mpg
Has the American, Israeli and/or
any other government directly or indirectly instructed or requested
that you write supporting any of their actions, policies or positions,
or helped to organize or in any way supported you in making any
writings?
The Gaza Attack - 18
Articles - Saturday - [ Day 22 ] ========== ==========
========== ====
The Lessons Of
Gaza In A Time Of Collapse And Rebirth
Must Read - A
quote...."16 January, 2009 -- It can no longer be hidden. What is
happening in Gaza is, transparently, ethnic cleansing - genocide. --
That genocide has been ongoing for sixty years, sometimes in intense,
rapid, and explosive junctures, sometimes more slowly, routinely – but
always, methodically. -- To see clearly the historical and cultural
trajectories toward genocide in Palestine or elsewhere, one has only to
map the intersection of stated intentions of the perpetrators and their
actions over time – or experience a sudden revelation or flash of deep
insight."
The
Flight of Reason
Action Alert - A
quote...."Sat, 17 Jan 2009 23:59 UTC -- The Enlightenment brought
with it the idea that Reason should govern the affairs of man thereby
ensuring Liberty. That Reason and Liberty have been hijacked by the
banking and corporate elites who engage in open war and genocide with
impunity has never been clearer than today. -- Reason has fled, all
rationality is gone, we are therefore called to act in defiance of the
genocidal murderers in Palestine. In just the same way as the economy
is being used to control us, we can exert similar pressure on Israel
by boycotting all Israeli goods, all
Israeli services and any company that does business with Israel however
small." - bold by website editor --
For a list of websites involved in the
boycott campaign see below....
Boycott
Israel Campaign
Boycott
Israeli Products Campaign
Boycott
Israel Company List
Boycott Israeli
Goods
ISRAELI
EMBASSIES WORLDWIDE + Israeli Company List for Boycott
Boycott
Aparthied Israel
Boycott
Israel campaign company list
Boycott
Israel campaign and list of companies to be aware of
Boycott Israel
NOW
We're heading into a Great
Depression folks.....if you want to punish
these companies, now is the time to act !!! - mpg
1000 tons of
explosives and white phosphorus dropped on Gaza in 22 days
A quote...."Jan 17, 2009 -- OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli
10th TV channel has disclosed that the Israeli occupation forces had
used half of the air force and launched at least 2500 air raids over
the past three weeks of attacks on Gaza Strip. - The TV military
correspondent said on Saturday that the Israeli warplanes had dropped
more than a thousand tons of explosives in that period.
Fresh
evidence of Israeli phosphorus use in Gaza emerges
A quote...."Saturday 17 January 2009 00.18 GMT -- Fresh evidence of the
firing of white phosphorus weapons by Israeli forces in Gaza has
emerged from witnesses heard by the Guardian and first hand accounts by
human rights groups of their use against civilians." --
also posted at CommonDreams
'Tungsten
bombs' leave Israel's victims with mystery wounds
A quote...."Sunday, 18 January 2009 -- Israel was facing demands for
war crimes investigations as it declared a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza
last night after a 22-day assault in which more than 1,200
Palestinians, a third of them children, were killed and 13 Israelis
died." --
For more on this issue
see....Specialized
Weapons Systems
The
Palestinians say: 'This is a war of extermination'
A quote...."Saturday 17 January 2009 -- Everyone says something new is
going on here; something different. The residents of Egyptian Rafah are
used to the sounds of rockets and shells exploding on the other side of
their border, but they've never heard the sounds they've been hearing
over the last 20 days. Twenty-five miles further into Egypt the general
hospital at el-Arish is used to receiving the Palestinian wounded. The
staff have never seen injuries like these before. The hospital
forecourt is swarming with ambulances, paramedics, press. The wounded
are raced into casualty." --
also
posted at CommonDreams & RougeGov
Israeli
tank shelling kills 11 in Gaza City
A quote...."2009-01-17 02:38:05 GAZA, (Xinhua) -- At least 11
Palestinians were killed in eastern Gaza City on Friday night, local
witnesses and medical sources said. -- Local witnesses said that
Israeli tanks did not enter Gaza City but opened fire at the Shejaya
neighborhood of eastern Gaza City."
Day 20
Of Israeli War On Gaza: Death Toll 1100, Wounded 5100
A quote...."16 January, 2009 -- Israel targets hospitals, United
Nations premises, Press offices, theaters and densely populated
buildings in west of Gaza. Additionally, people are being used as human
shields"
Israel's
unilateral cease-fire in Gaza goes into effect
A quote...."Prime Minster Ehud Olmert on Saturday night announced that
Israel's security cabinet has voted in favor of a unilateral cease-fire
in the Gaza Strip, which went into effect at 2 A.M. local time." --
For more on this issue see....Israel
Pauses (Politely) for the Emperor's Coronation - 01-16-09 - mpg
Israel
shelling Gaza despite ceasefire
A quote...."Sun, 18 Jan 2009 05:14:44 GMT -- An Israeli
helicopter hovering above the Gaza City continues to carry out fresh
strike despite a unilateral ceasefire announced by Tel Aviv."
Israeli
firing phosphorous after ceasefire
A quote...."Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:08:10 GMT -- Israel has shelled
Gaza with white phosphorus after it called for a unilateral ceasefire,
in an obvious violation of its own declaration."
Israel
shells UN school in Gaza
A quote...."January 17, 2009 -- A unilateral ceasefire would allow
Israel to avoid agreeing concessions with Hamas, such as easing the
18-month-old blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has prevented medical
aid and basic supplies from reaching the Palestinians."
Gazan
rockets still hitting Israel
A quote...."Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:08:13 GMT -- At least eight
rockets have hit southern Israeli towns shortly after premier Ehud
Olmert claimed all rocket launch pads were taken over by Israeli
forces."
Hamas
demands full Israeli withdrawal
A quote...."Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:55:49 GMT -- Hamas says
that it will not accept the presence of a single Israeli soldier in the
Gaza Strip as Israel's PM, Ehud Olmert announced a unilateral
ceasefire."
Day 22 of Israeli
War On Gaza - Informative Report on Gaza War: Death toll 1220, wounded
5350
A quote...."17-jan-2008 20:59 ECT -- Family Friend, I am writing to
make a request for a good
friend from Gaza (Amer Shurrab, UWCAD '01--03, Middlebury College
'08.5). He just found out his father and two brothers were attacked
while returning home from their farm during the 3-hr ceasefire. One
brother (Kassab Shurrab) died, but the father (Mohammed Shurrab -64)
and the remaining brother (Ibrahim-17) are now wounded and stranded in
an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) controlled area. It's been 16 hours and
emergency services are unable to reach them. The ambulances cannot
travel there without permission from the IDF, and local aid groups
claim that soldiers are blocking their access."
Israeli
Spokesman “Hamas killed Palestinian children to make us look bad”
Contains Video - A
quote...."The new Israeli state sponsored lie is that Hamas killed
their own kids; planted bombs and such, to make Israel look bad.
In order to support this lie, he uses the older lie, that Hamas
fighters run down the street holding up Palestinian kids as “human
shields”. There have been no credible documented cases of Hamas
using kids as “human shields” whereas there have been several
documented and filmed cases of Israeli soldiers doing just that. In
fact, they even went to their supreme court in order to try to make it
legal to use
Palestinians
as human shields."
Israel,
US Foil UN Condemnation
A quote...."23:43 , 01.15.09 -- WASHINGTON – Israel and the US
succeeded in preventing a United Nations announcement condemning the
Jewish state for its strike on a UN compound in Gaza Thursday.
The condemnation was proposed by Britain among other countries." --
also posted at ICH
Why
Did Congress Shamelessly Pander to Israel?
A quote...."January 17, 2009 -- Last week, soon after the Red Cross and
other humanitarian groups condemned Israel for blocking deliveries of
vital aid for wounded civilians in Gaza, and with the Palestinian death
toll at 700, the U.S. House and Senate passed resolutions that not only
blamed Palestinians for the bloodbath, but praised Israel for its
conduct of the assault."
For more on the two articles
shown above see....Judeo-Christian
C/C & US
Punishing
the Palestinians
A quote...."by Ralph Nader -- January 17, 2009 -- In the long
sixty-year tortured history of the Palestinian expulsion from their
lands, Congress has maintained that it is always the Palestinians, the
Palestinian Authority, and now Hamas who are to blame for all
hostilities and their consequences with the Israeli government.
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
========== ====
ACTION UPDATES....
Thousands
march in Rome to protest Israel's Gaza offensive
Action Update - A quote...."Last update - 21:24 17/01/2009 -- Thousands
of people waving Palestinian flags marched through Rome on Saturday in
a demonstration against Israel's offensive in Gaza. -- Some of the
demonstrators held banners with Nazi swastikas super-imposed on the
Star of David."
Europeans
keep up protests against Israel's Gaza war
Action Update - A quote...."Jan 17 03:38 PM US/Eastern -- Thousands of
protesters calling for Israel to stop its offensive in the Gaza Strip
rallied in European cities Saturday, even as Israel reportedly is
poised to declare a unilateral ceasefire."
Calls
for boycott of Israel at Dublin protest
Action Update - A quote...."01-17-09 -- An estimated six hundred people
participated in a demonstration against the Israeli assault on the Gaza
Strip which has cost over 1,200 lives since the violence started in
December."
Israeli
flags burnt in Gaza demonstration in Paris
Action Update - A quote...."PARIS, 17 Jan 2009 17:33:39 GMT --
(Reuters) - Several thousand people protested in France and Italy on
Saturday against Israel's military offensive in the Palestinian Gaza
Strip."
End - The Gaza Attack - 18
Articles - Saturday - [ Day 22 ] ========== ==========
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Systemic
Economic Crisis: The Sequence of Global Insolvency Begins
Special Note - Charts - A
quote...."In 2007, LEAP/E2020 announced that US banks and consumers
were both insolvent. More than a year ago, our team estimated that USD
10,000-billion worth in « ghost-assets » would vanish in
the crisis. Both announcements came in complete opposition with the
common opinion of that time; however they proved perfectly justified in
the months after. In the same line, LEAP/E2020 today estimates that a
new sequence of the fourth phase (so-called « decanting phase
») of the unfolding global systemic crisis has began: the
sequence of global insolvency."
Wall Street
becomes top Obama donor
Special Note - A
quote...."Barack Obama will be sworn in as the president of the United
States on Tuesday. -- Wall Street is the biggest Obama inaugural
ceremony contributor, despite having spent 2008 as its worst year since
the Great Depression. -- According to a study conducted by the Center
for Responsive Politics, executives of finance, insurance and real
estate companies and their family members have donated $7.1 million to
US President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural committee." --
For more on this issue see....Judeo-Christian
C/C & US - The Bailouts
Americans
Say Stop Bailing Out Banks
Who are Americans? They
don't exist anymore, all we got now is Neo-Romans. - mpg -- A
quote...."The government's financial bailout for troubled banks has
not worked so far, a majority of respondents to a national poll say,
and six in 10 don't want Washington to spend more money on the rescue."
Obama:
I 'always thought' Bush was a 'good guy' --
Are all you Obamatrolls getting the
message YET!?!? - mpg
Special Note - A
quote...."President-elect Obama must have either an enormous capacity
for forgiveness, or a short memory. On Friday night, he told CNN's John
King that he has
"always thought"
Bush was a "good guy." What a difference eight months can make. "
I mean, I think personally he is a good man
who loves his family and loves his country," said Obama. "
If you look at my statements throughout the
campaign, I always thought he was a good guy," Democrat Obama
said, when asked in a CNN interview whether he still stood by his
campaign trail criticisms of the Republican president." -- bold by
website editor --
For more on this
issue see....To
Forgive and Forget -- To Deny Justice -- Never !! - 01-16-09 - mpg
Iraqi
guards said to throw party for shoe-thrower
A quote...."BAGHDAD – The Iraqi journalist jailed since throwing his
shoes at President George W. Bush got a visit from his brother Friday
and a birthday party from his guards as he turned 30."
There
Are Still Many Unanswered Questions About GOP IT Guru's Tragic Plane
Crash
A quote...."New information surrounding the December plane crash which
killed GOP internet consultant Michael Connell casts doubt on some of
the rumors and speculation surrounding his death but doesn't close the
books on the circumstances surrounding the Republican technology star's
tragic end."
Russia to
open a ‘second front’ in gas war
A quote...."Russia and its partners are reaching agreements that may
finally unblock gas supplies to Europe. At the same time Moscow is also
forging ahead with planned pipeline routes that will bypass Ukraine."
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Bank
crisis reignites as US giants post massive losses
A quote...."Hopes that the global banking crisis was past its worst
were dashed yesterday when Bank of America was forced to accept $138bn
(£94bn) of government support and Citigroup unveiled new losses
of $8.3bn. -- The US announcements led another day of turmoil in the
international financial sector, with Barclays' shares plunging 25 per
cent in the last hour of trading on the London Stock Exchange." --
also posted at RougeGov
21,000
Jobs Worldwide Erased in Day as Recession Chokes Demand
A quote...."Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- At least 21,000 jobs were targeted
for elimination yesterday as employers from Hertz Global Holdings Inc.
to Advanced Micro Devices Inc. grappled with recession-choked demand."
--
also posted at BLN
Poole said he was very concerned
that the Fed could simply lend money to anyone, without constraint. --
In the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during the Cold War era,
economies were inefficient because they had a soft-budget constraint.
If a firm got into trouble, the banking system would give them more
money, Poole said. -- The current situation at the Fed seems eerily
similar, he said."