Israels indflydelse Religiøse bevægelsers indflydelse Præsidentvalget 2004 Internationale valgobservatører Præsidentmord De hemmelige tjenester Forfatningsproblemer ved start af ny krig
ACLU Congressional Scorecard - http://scorecard.aclu.org Et godt instrument til at holde styr på, hvad de valgte faktisk gør !!
"I am personally tired of being lectured on democracy by the representatives of a government whose citizens gained universal adult suffrage 20 years after we did. It seems that I am not alone"
John Maxwell, 210304. Og det kan han jo nok have ret i. John bor på Jamaica og henviser formentlig med vi til Haiti !!
En vits: Why has the United States never had a coup? Because it doesn't have a U.S. embassy!
Michael Parenti, Democracy For the Few, A Review By Stephen Lendman ICH 300707.
I've always thought that the highest form of patriotism is to criticise your own govemment in a time that it is doing wrong in your opinion. Silence in the presence of unlawful conduct by your own government is the most unpatriotic thing you can do. (fhv. justitsminister (under Johnson) Ramsey Clark i et interview med Al Ahram Weekly i nov. 2006.)
241011, Totally Corrupt America: Paul Craig Roberts. Information Clearing House.Trhe fmancial crisis, which is very much still with us, did not result from accident or miscalculation; neither did it result because of a flaw in Alan Greenspan's theory, as he told Congress when a feeble effort was made to hold him accountable. ... As Reckless Endangerment [bog af Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner] shows, fraud characterized every stage of the process from the fraudulent borrower incomes and credit scores that mortgage issuers gave to unqualified buyers, through the securitization of the mortgages and their triple-A investment grade ratings by the rating agencies (Standard & Poor's especially, but also Moody's and Fitch) to the investment banks that sold what the banks knew was junk to investors around the world as investment grade securities. Indeed, Goldman Sachs was simultaneously betting against the mortgage derivatives that it was selling to clients. Investment banks, such as Goldman Sachs, which once considered it a matter of honor to represent the interests of customers, took advantage of the trust that had been built up in the past to commit fraud against customers in order to advance the banks' short-term profits and the out-sized multi-million dollar managerial bonuses that these fraudulent profits produced. Morgenson and Rosner provide a number of unique accounts of how those benefitting from fraud were able to defeat laws that were passed that would have held them to account. For example, the state of Georgia passed perfect legislation that held predatory lending to account. William J. Brennan Jr. and Georgia Govemor Roy E. Barnes got the Georgia Fair Lending Act hrough the state legislature. It was a model for other states. As the federal regulators had thrown in the towel, the state laws would have prevent[ed] the worst part of the financial crisis, it [if] not prevented the crisis altogether. The Georgia law only lasted a few months, because the rating agencies saw that their enormous profits from issuing fraudulent investment grade ratings were threatened by the law. The corrupt rating agencies mischaracterized the consumer protection act as a jihad by regulators. Standard & Poor's declared that it would no longer allow Georgia mortgages to be placed in mortgage securities that it rated. ... These kind of mafia strong-armed tactics in order to protect at all costs the short-term mega-bonuses that drove the totally fraudulent system have never been held accountable or punished. Totally innocent people are held indefinitely and tortured by the US govemment for no other reason than to convince the gullible public that they are endangered by terrorists, but those who wiped out the home ownership and retirement pensions of millions of Americans now hold high and honorable positions on corporate boards and US regulatory agencies. ... Regulators turned a blind eye to obvious criminal fraud, and were rewarded with lucrative positions in the financial community. The same for the US senators and representatives who repealed Glass-Steagal and other financial regulations. For example former US senator Phil Gramm who spearheaded the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. which separated commercial from investment banking, the repeal of which set up the financial crisis, was rewarded by being made vice chairman of the mega-bank UBS, a Swiss global financial services company. What Taibbi, Morgenson and Rosner make clear is that while monster criminals continue to collect their multi-million dollar annual incomes, depressed single mothers, deserted by the men who fathered their child, are sent to prison for having small quantities of illegal drugs to boost their depressed spirits, and their children are put out to adoption. This is "justice" in America where there is "freedom and democracy.'
"USA er i meget høj grad en etpartistat, hvor det herskende parti består af to fraktioner, der konkurrerer om kontrollen med regeringen." Chomsky, p. 175.
[A]t der må konstrueres et ideologisk system, som kan garantere, at befolkningen forbliver passiv, uvidende og apatisk, og at ingen af disse forhold forstås af de dannede, velformulerede og politisk aktive klasser i USA, ja i verden i det hele taget. ( Chomsky, p.19).
Der er måske trods alt håb - hvis USA skulle indføre demokrati. Kun 53 % siger i en meningsundersøgelse i april (Rasmussen) at kapitalisme er bedre end socialisme !!
Men nok alligevel ikke. Næste præsidentvalg bliver jo et valg mellem pest og kolera - som valget mellem Bush og Kerry - eller stiller Rand Paul op ?
USA har officielt ytringsfrihed. Man har en fin lov om offentlighed i forvaltningen, Freedom af Information Act. Men allerede i 1917 måtte man ikke kritisere USAs regering og militærnægtere torteredes - endda de hellige (Mennoniter).
Til demokrati hører åbenhed og gennemskuelighed i forvaltningen. Derfor har Obama fået en Transparency Award. Men den blev overrakt på et hemmeligt møde uden presseadgang. Så det er samme sag, som hans Nobel Fredspris.
060511, Yahoo! News, U.S. labor urges trade pact with Bahrain be suspended.
310311, David Bromwich, Huffington Post, The CIA, the Libyan Rebellion, and the President. One of Barack Obama's first acts as president was to say that Guantanamo must go. It did not go. Soon after, he said that the Israeli settlements must go. They expanded. Obama made his peace in the end with Guantanamo and the Israeli settlements. He restarted the military tribunals at Guantanamo -- a feature of the Bush-Cheney constitution which he once had explicitly deplored - and recently went out of his way to defend the Guantanamo-like abuse (compulsory nakedness and sleep deprivation) inflicted on an American prisoner, Bradley Manning, in the Marine Corps brig at Quantico. ... He approved the enforcement of a no-fly zone, which has turned out to mean, as Robert Gates said it would, an air war backing the rebels against the government of Libya. [Det er meget sørgeligt, at udenrigspolitisk fornuft i USA kun træffes hos forsvarsministeren - men jeg håber den smitter !] ... Not only is it the case that many in the rebel party fought to kill Americans in Iraq: that Al Qaeda has backed the rebellion: and that even the supreme commander of NATO forces, Admiral Stavridis, had lately been disturbed by "flickers" of an al Qaeda force within the rebellion. ... According to Mazzetti and Schmitt, the CIA and its British equivalent MI6 scoured Libya as far back as 2003, initially in the effort to persuade Muammar Gaddafi to give up his nuclear weapons program. When that effort succeeded. the intelligence operatives went away, or so Mazzetti and Schmitt suggest. When the February protests began and a crackdown followed, the CIA and MI6 went back into Libya and picked up the old connections. What are they doing now on the ground? Arranging targets for air strikes with the help of U-2 spy planes and a Global Hawk drone. Also learning of and creating links between the rebel groups to facilitate enhanced advisory work at a later date. In short, doing everything but fight, it would seem; but Mazzetti and Schmitt add that "dozens" of British special forces accompany the operatives from the CIA and 116. What do special forces do? ... Adams [der er i artiklen link til Adams] sketches the career of the former chief military officer of Colonel Gaddafi's army, Khalifa Hifter, who was recently appointed to lead the rebel army. (The article does not say who appointed him.) The ascent of Hifter is a study in itself. After leading Gaddafi's disastrous war against Chad in the late 1980s, Adams reports, General Hifter (also known as Haftar, Hefter, and Huftur) retired to "suburban Virginia," where he has lived for much of the last two decades. It has been reported elsewhere that the suburb in question is Vienna, Virginia: five minutes from CIA headquarters at Langley. However the facts are to be explained, this close associate of an African dictator whom American officials have long regarded as a dangerous madman somehow obtained easy entrance to the U.S. And his safe return to Libya was facilitated at a remarkably opportune moment. ... Yet one thing is clear, thanks to Mazzetti and Schmitt. "Several weeks ago, President Obama signed a secret finding authorizing the CIA to provide arms and other support to Libyan rebels." It is said that the arms have not yet been sent; but the timing is interesting. The order was signed just about the moment that President Obama was lauding the triumph of non-violence in Egypt. The Times reporters wisely let the serial flat reiterations of "no comment" from leading officials speak for themselves. ... All the external parties are in Libya for different reasons. Things could not have gotten this far without the CIA. But the president was also heeding pressure from Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron; and what those European leaders wanted was an assured supply of oil for Europe. Italy, meanwhile, is fearful of an influx of refugees. ... His Nobel Prize speech in December 2009 had foreshadowed the declarations on Monday: [der er link til den]: 'The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places ike the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened selfinterest -- because we seek a better future. [En militaristisk holdning, som svarer til andre Nobel fredsprismodtagere, som Kissinger, Shimon Perez m.fl.] ... [mandag] But when our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibihty to act. ... Obama goes a big step further. He reserves the right to respond to spiritual threats and not just physical ones -- threats to our "values" as well as our "interests" ... the ordinary rules of evidence no longer even have to be flouted by forgery. Rules of evidence simply do not apply here. Our values are what we say they are. .... Robert Gates's opposition to any U.S. involvement in Libya always made obvious sense. Compared to Obama, Gates is a strict interpreter of interests as distinct from values. .... Gates's opposition to the Libya adventure, however, now makes a different kind of sense. Before he returned from Texas A&M to serve as George W. Bush's second secretary of defense, Gates had been deputy director of the CIA under William Casey. He held the office for three years, starting in April 1986, but his first nomination to serve as director of the CIA was sunk by his association with the Iran-Contra scandal. Gates, if any one, knows a bungled CIA operation when he sees one. ... Did Power and Rice know the extent of CIA and MI6 involvement in the rebellion? The question should be asked of them. And did Hillary Clinton know? One would have thought she must; but then there's the memory of another secretary of State, Colin Powell, who suspected but did not know the dingy quality of the evidence on which he based his argument to the UN General Assembly for the bombing and invasion of Iraq. Similar questions arise about some other persons who, by the manner of their cheering for Obama's undeclared limited war, have offered a retroactive justifications for any kind of war, limited or unlimited, open or secret. To this category belong opinion-makers like William Kristol and Robert Kagan, who are well connected in the national security establishment; and the architect of the Iraq war, Paul Wolfowitz, who as a guest on This Week on March 20 said the U.S. should support the rebels even if we don't know who they are. Wolfowitz could not have meant what he seemed to be saying. It follows that must have known and meant something he preferred not to say. ... Friedman's column also contained a few odd, excited sentences bursting with the pride of secret knowledge: "Welcome to the Middle East of 2011!! You want the truth about it? You can't handle the truth." Even in a writer as vain and slapdash as Friedman, the contempt for democratic discussion in such a passage is astounding; yet it may give a clue to the tenor of his sessions with Obama. One recalls that another influential Times reporter, James Reston, obeyed a request of the White House and toned down the paper's prediction of the Bay of Pigs invasion. When he strutted for his readers, "You can't handle the truth," did Friedman know that the Times had decided not to repeat the mistake, and that in he next 24 hours Obama's need of luck would greatly increase? ... For now, the president is committed to two propositions. Muammar Gaddafi must go. And - as if this went hand in hand with the first - major involvement by the U.S. in Libya will last for days not weeks. He has also promised there will be no "boots on the ground". (Or does this, too, compass a mental reservation? Does it mean only official U.S. armed forces boots?) ... The fact that President Obama, several veeks ago, signed a secret finding to authorize the CIA shipment of arms to the rebels in Libya, may with profit be compared to two passages from a short speech about Libya that he delivered on February 23: 'The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and it is unacceptable. So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters and further punish the people of Libya. These actions violate international norms and every standard of common decency. This violence must stop. So let me be clear. The change that is taking place across the region is being driven by the people of the region. This change doesn't represent the work of the United States or any foreign power.' Obama made those assertions five weeks ago. He confirmed them by implication on Monday. The words were either false when spoken or else so misleading as to evade falsehood by a hair's-breadth equivocation. The appeal against armed violence, by the leader of a superpower who either has just approved or is about to approve the shipment of arms to a rebel force in a civil war, fits the common idea of mendacity.
I marts 2011 må man ikke skrive for en 3. palæstinensisk intifada på Facebook (290311, Haaretz, Facebook removes page calling for a 'Third Palestinian Intifada') men gerne brænde en Koran af !!! (020411, The Guardian, Terry Jones defiant despite murders in Afghanistan over Qur'an burning | Jones er præst i Florida.
230311, Haaretz, Guy Rolnik, Warren Buffett: The U.S. is moving toward plutocracy. .... The last time I interviewed you was in October 2007, four months before the collapse of Bear Stearns and 10 months before Lehman Brothers' fall - and you didn't see it coming. "I wish I had seen it coming. I knew we had something of a housing bubble, but the way it hit like a tsunami in the housing market -I did not expect that." What would you say are the key lessons you took from the financial crisis? They are not new lessons. Never owe any money you can't pay tomorrow morning. Never let the markets dictate your actions. Always be in a position to play your own game. Never take on more risks than you can handle. But all of those were old lessons, unfortunately. .... 30 million people had their money in money market accounts. They did not have FDIC insurance and the first three days of the week following Lehman, $175 billion disappeared from those accounts. ... "No, I think capitalism is terrific. .... But certainly there are a couple of lessons that come out of what happened a few years ago. "One is excessive leverage leads to trouble. Wherever it pops up, not necessarily in the banking system, it can be in households, but the idea that you have to leverage yourself to buy something you can't pay for in its entirety, it has its merits and limitations. "It's kind of like alcohol. One drink is fine, but 10 will get you in a lot of trouble. ... There should be some ways of controlling leverage, and that applies to individuals with home mortgages. The idea of people buying houses at 2%-3% down is going to lead to trouble. ... "We are still a democracy, but we have moved in my lifetime towards a plutocracy. We do not have a plutocracy, I want to emphasize that, but the distribution of wealth and the influence of wealth have moved in that direction. "If you look at the 1992 top-400 tax retums in the United States, the average income for those 400 people was $45 million per person. The last available figures show $340 million per person - that is eight for one in a period when the average worker went no place. "The average tax rate for the top 400 went from 28% down to 16.6% during the same period, so we have had a system where as people have gotten richer and richer, they have been favored by taxation and have gotten richer to a greater degree. To my mind that is a bad trend, and it will probably get corrected in time. The rich have more influence in politics than they did 50 years ago." ... Mistakes don't bother me. I try to never do anything that would jeopardize the wellbeing of the whole place. So I build into the decisions I make the fact that I am going to make mistakes."
Correct me if I am wrong, I don't see any alternative energy companies in your portfolio either. .... Maybe one reason to refrain from technology investments is while they have good PR, in many companies - looking ten or twenty years back - most of the value went to employees or the promoters or the management. Not even very successful companies created much profit for shareholders. Maybe technology is not an industry for investors but rather for employees and managers? ... "Every line in the tax code is there because someone was fighting for it. The people who care about that line are concentrated and focused on it, and people who are affected by that line are diffused and really not even aware of it. "In a democracy there is always going to be a lot of attempts to use political influence. It is up to the democracy to prevent that from getting extreme for any group. Money plays a part, but a cohesive voting group takes a part, and the only thing more important than politics and money is votes."'
Et af de midler, der bruges til at skræmme amerikanerne til at acceptere indskrænkninger i demokratiet, er grænsekontrollen med røntgen etc. Den er tydeligvis generende og føles krænkende af mange amerikanere. Og den er heller ikke effektiv. Og finder man noget bliver det søgt skjult. San Diego News/ICH, 100211, Weapon of Mass Destruction Found in U.S.': Shock Confession of Customs Officer A portofficial has admitted that a 'weapon of mass effect has been found by 'partner agencies' in the U.S., raising major questions over a possible government cover-up.
Lighed for loven er en væsentlig del af demokratiet. Men det gælder ikke for folk med arabiske navne. 270810, )Democracy Now! - How a Hero in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina Was Arrested, Labeled a Terrorist and Imprisoned. Today, a personal story of a national tragedy. Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-born New Orleans building contractor, stayed in the city while his wife and children left to Baton Rouge. He paddled the flooded streets in his canoe and helped rescue many of lis stranded neighbors. Days later, armed police and National Guardsmen arrested him and accused him of being a terrorist. He was held for nearly a month, most of which he was not allowed to call his wife, Kathy. ... [hans oplevelser beskrives i] novel Zeitoun by the celebrated writer Dave Eggers. ... At McSweeney's, we have a small publishing company in San Francisco, and we have a series called Voice of Witness that uses oral histoiy to illuminate human rights crises around the worid. And the first book in the series was about the wrongfully convicted and exonerated here in the US. And right when that book was coming out, Katrina hit, and so we talked to a lot of friends that we had in Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Atlanta, and people fanned out and began interviewing New Orleanians who had fled the storm. And when we started getting the transcripts back and the tapes back from the iterviewers, I saw the story of the Zeitouns. ... And so, in every way, they really do embody the American Dream: hard work, family and a dedication to one's neighbors. You could see how one of the reasons that he stayed behind when the storm hit was to take care of his clients' homes. ... And hundreds of others did what was known as "Katrina time," where they were lost in the system. Records weren't kept. Some people weren't allowed to make phone calls or meet with lawyers - or any one - for upwards of a year. And so, it was a complete meltdown of the system, unfortunately. [beskrivelsen af arrestationen er ubehagelig.] ... And after we finish, brought us to the - where the bus line up, have like - been designed like Guantanamo Bay jails, you know, like wire and like fence wires and almost like, I think, fifteen-, twenty-foot-high, and we have like cages. ... You have all kind of very high-tech equipment there, have a lifter, a crane, have a machine with big wheels to prepare to drive in the water. I mean, very high-tech equipment there, and this can be used to rescue people, better to build a jail. I mean, I was surprised. I mean, all kind of machineries you can imagine is there. ... [KATHY ZEITOUN] By the next day, we didn't hear from him. Then we went to the Red Cross building, and then we put in a missing person's report. ... [Eggers] And so, that's when there were visited by Homeland Security representatives, and that's when they had a very strange circumstance where another man was put in their cage and sort of - in an attempt, Zeitoun believes, to get them talking, would try to provoke them with anti-American rhetoric. It was very Strange. ... No one was really tracking them and others, because very good record keeping was not being kept. And they weren't subject to the same rights of prisoners at Hunt, who had been processed adequately. ... A nd Ralph Gonzales, one of the arresting officers from New Mexico, told me - he said he had been led to believe that they were entering a war zone and that what they were sent there to do, fully armed with machine guns and body armor and, you know, armed to the teeth, was an operation for command and control. ... Yeah. you know, first he had, you know, a very bad cut on his foot, and it was getting infected while he was at Camp Greyhound. ... But he couldn't get help. Doctors would go to and fro, and they wouldn't stop to help him. ... he got no medical attention there.
200810, ICH, Phil Rockstroh, Part Tinker Bell, Part Predator Drone: The Fantasy of the Presidency as Deus ex Machina. ... When,for example, an American city drowns in floodwater and Americans are drowning in economic woes, US presidents know how to act like a president - but not act as president. The soundbites make the man; not the man makes the soundbites. ... Although, in reality, they do serve their true constituents... the corporate elite - the forces behind the rising level of authoritarian control over the lives of the people of the nation, both of ordinary citizens and the political class. ] ... the implicit threat of being cast into the nation's urban gulag archipelago of homelessness coerces most into compliance with the dictates of the corporate oligarchs. ... corporatism establishes an authoritarian order by way of a series of overt bribes and tacit threats. This social and cultural criteria causes an individual to become cautious. ... In contrast, FDR came from the ruling class; he knew their ways wasn't tempted by the rewards and adulation that come with privilege. He was born into it, could never lose its advantages, and it held no novelty for him ... Rather, Clinton was a big talent. He was Byronic in his expansive nature. And like Byron he could claim, in all honesty, he could love a thousand women (and not only women, but varieties of constituents) in a thousand different ways, all at once. He was a romantic at heart in an age of crackpot realists. He was a large presence in a small-minded time. And this is how his trouble in the 1990s, and ours, in the present time, began. ... Clinton's periodic, erotic contretemps were not the problem; it was his and his advisor's flights of economic fancy that had real consequences for those of us do live at ground level among the debris and ash resultant from the inevitable fiery crash of their vanity and cupidity.
150710, New York Times - ELISABETH BUMILLER, Senate Records Show Doubts on '64 Vietnam Crisis. In an echo of the debates over the discredited intelligence that helped make the case for the war in Iraq, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday released more than 1,100 pages of previously classified Vietnam-era transcripts that show senators of the time sharply questioning whether they had been deceived by the White House and the Pentagon over the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. [I et demokrati ville det være utænkeligt, at ledende politikeres tvivl i et så vigtigt anliggende som krig/fred holdes hemmeligt i mere end 50 år !!!] ... Still, the transcripts show the outrage the senators were expressing behind closed doors. "In a democracy you cannot expect the people, whose sons are being killed and who will be killed, to exercise their judgment if the truth is concealed from them," Senator Frank Church, Democrat of Idaho, said in an executive session in February 1968. ... In the end, however, the senators did not further pursue their doubts. As Mr. Church said in one session that was focused on the staff report into the episode if the committee came up with proof that an attack never occurred, "we have a case that will discredit the military in the United States, and discredit and quite possibly destroy the president. He added that unless the committee had the evidence to substantiate the charges, "The big forces in this country that have most of the influence and run most of the newspapers and are oriented toward the presidency will lose no opportunity to thoroughly discredit this committee.' [!!! Der er kun én mulig konklusion ! OJ]
070710, ICH, John Pilger, The Charge of the Media Brigade. Gennemgår pressens indsats FOR krig. Jeg var til den store visning af Armadillo i mange af landets biografer med efterfølgende diskussion. Panelsammensætningen passer til Pilgers beskrivelse af The Media Brigade. Der var ingen til at rejse spørgsmålet om krigsforbrydelser i forbindelse med danske soldaters drab på sårede afghanere. Der var ingen repræsentant for modparten - udover de afghanere, der udtalte sig - gennem tolk - i filmen. Deres budskab var dog klart: "Tag hjem". Så Pilgers beskrivelse dækker også det danske demokrati.
070610, Truth Dig, - Chris Hedges, The Christian Fascists Are Growing stronger. ... There will be a relentless promotion of Christian "values," already under way on Christian radio and television and in Christian schools, as information and facts are replaced with overt forms of indoctrination. The march toward this terrifying dystopia has begun. It is taking place on the streets of Arizona, on cable news channels, at tea party rallies, in the Texas public schools, among militia members and within a Republican Party that is being hijacked by this lunatic fringe. ... The Democrats have refused to repeal the gross violations of international and domestic law codified by the Bush administration. This means that Christian fascists who achieve power will have the "legal" tools to spy on, arrest, deny habeas corpus to, and torture or assassinate American citizens - as does the Obama administration. ... Those who embrace this movement see life as an epic battle against forces of evil and Satanism. ... The cult of masculinity pervades the movement. Feminism and homosexuality, believers are told, have rendered the American male physically and spiritually impotent. Jesus, for the Christian right, is a muscular man of action, casting out demons, battling the Antichrist, attacking hypocrites and castigating the corrupt.
120109, Sam Hamod, Ph.D. America's Continuing Fight Against Democracy. I want America to be the beacon for democracy that allways felt we were and that our government said we were. Unfortunately, as I look at the world from events in my lifetime. it appears that after we defeated Hitler and Japan, we forgot about our true mission of democracy and its attendant morality.
240507, The Los Angeles Times, George S. McGovern, Cheney Is Wrong About Me, Wrong About War.
260907, ICH, Daniel Ellsberg 'A Coup Has Occurred' (Text of a speech delivered September 20, 2007) "...-which will be also accompanied by a total suppression of dissent in this country, including detention camps....It is increasingly clear with each new book and each new leak that comes out, that Richard Cheney and his now chief of staff David Addington have had precisely that in mind since at least the early 70s. Not just since 1992, not since 2001, but have believed in Executive govemment, single-branch government under an Executive president - elected or not - with unrestrained powers. They did not believe in restraint...A number of times I took an oath of office which is the same oath of office taken by every member of Congress and every official in the United States and every officer in the United States armed services. and that oath is not to a Commander in Chief, which is not mentioned. It is not to a fuehrer. It is not even to superior officers. The oath is precisely to protect and uphold the Constitution of the United States."
110107, Information Clearing House, James Petras, Who Rules America? Den fhv. sociologiprofessor (Binghamton University, New York) gennemgår systemet og den herskende klasse ud fra en klar klassesynsvinkel. En lang, men velskreven og vigtig artikel.
04071776, The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies, The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.
Tracked in America Et website, der beskriver USAs forfølgelse af egne borgere i et historisk perspektiv. Interviews, fotografier og personlige beretninger.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations
050198, The Frontier Post, Abid Ullah Jan, Nazis of the Nineties, Friedrich Hayek advarede i "The Road to Serfdom" i 1944 amerikanerne om, at de var, filosofisk og økonomisk, på samme vej som nazisterne. Jan forudser også at terrorismen og forebyggende angreb skal spille en rolle i den udvikling.
170103, ICH, Impeachment Resolution Against President George W. Bush, by Francis A. Boyle, Professor of Law
090306, John L. Mann "Dear Howard, I'm writing to say goodbye" en afskedssalut til det - i det mindste skin - døde demokratiske parti. Særdeles velargumenteret. Mange af argumenterne har også gyldighed her. Bl.a om det betænkelige i, at virkelig politisk magt i dagligdagen udøves af private firmaer, der som eneste formål har at skabe profit, som altså nu skal leveres af skatteyderne. Vagtselskaber og lejesoldatselskaber nævnes som eksempler. Og forsikringsselskabernes snylten på sundhedssektoren - endnu så længe kun et lille problem her - men det kommer med WTOs åbning af markedet for tjenesteydelser.
"A careful reading of history might give us another safeguard against being deceived. It would make clear that there has always been, and is today, a profound conflict of interest between the government and the people of the United States. This thought startles most people, because it goes against everything we have been taught. ..... It Starts early, in the first grade, when we are compelled to "pledge allegiance" (before we even know what that means), forced to proclaim that we are a nation with "liberty and justice for all." And then come the countless ceremonies, whether at the ballpark or elsewhere, where we are expected to stand and bow our heads during the singing of the "Star-Spangled Banner," announcing that we are "the land of the free and the home of the brave." Howard Zinn, 200306, The Progressive. [Var det derfra Hitler-Jugend fik ideen ? OJ]
USA er jo heller ikke for gode til at organisere troværdige valg !
Fhv. vicepræsident Albert Gore holdt, 160106, en tale i Constitution Hall i Washington, hvori han siger, at den amerikanske forfatning er i alvorlig fare - og understreger det vigtige i, at der genskabes respekt for loven. En vigtig tale, som rør væsentlige dele af USAs problemer netop nu. Bush lader Scott McClellan svare, at Clintonregeringen selv havde ladet FBI foretage en husundersøgelse uden retskendelse (hos en fhv. CIAmedarbejder, Aldrich Ames), 170106, LocalNewsLeader. Paul Craig Roberts, Independent Institute, efterlyser en presseindsats til forsvar for forfatningen, 180106. Gore selv svarer ved at forlange en særlig undersøgelse, 170106.
Raw Story, sept. 2005. Carter siger: Gore vandt præsidentvalget i 2000.
090206, ICH. James Rothenberg: "Det politiske system er ikke råddent. Det virker, som altid, effektivt. Rygraden er sponseringssystemet. Politikere har gode hukommelser. De ved, hvem de skylder noget. Prostitution er en profession, det hævdes at være den ældste. Politik er en forretning.....Der var ingen efterretningsfejl vedørende Iraq. Invasionen var ikke en fejl. Heller ikke torturen. I stedet handlede begavede rationelle mennesker i amerikansk udenrigspolitiks bedste tradition, helt tilbage fra vor store nations fødsel, med rødhuderne som de første fremmede.... Amerikanere er vel trænede i hvordan de skal tænke. Det kommer så naturligt fra fødslen af, at vi slet ikke mærker træningen. Den grundlæggende tanke er, at Dit Land ved bedre. Se mest gennemført uddannde amerikanere behandler det som et udødeligt dogme, at vort land altid og overalt er en kraft for det gode i verden... Vi er ikke en nation der bygger på lov, trods præstelige besværgelser"
"Resultatet er blevet, hvad den australske forsker Alex Caley beskriver som »et propagandastyret demokrati«, hvor det såkaldte »frie initiativ« i den folkelige bevidsthed identificeres med »alt det, der er værd at værne om,« mens »interventionistiske velfærdsorienterede regeringer og stærke fagforeninger (de eneste organer, der er i stand til at bryde selskabernes totale dominans i samfundet)« identificeres med »diktatur, undertrykkelse og tilmed undergravning af samfundet." Chomsky, p. 179.
"Men systemets institutionelle struktur er i sit væsen fjendsk over for selvstændig tænken, og det kan næppe overraske, at det er en ting, der så sjældent bæres til skue....Noget af det samme gælder med visse variationer på skoler og universiteter og af tilsvarende årsager. ... De to hovedprincipper, so : - at statens opgave er at tjene den private magt på den hjemlige og internationale arena, og at de ideologiske institutioners opgave er at sørge for, at befolkningen forstår mindst muligt af den samfundsmæssige virkelighed - er altså dybt rodfæstede i samfundets institutionelle struktur og yder stor modstand mod forandring." Chomsky, p. 187. [At denne fjendtlighed mod selvstændig tænkning er hæmmende for forskning og udvikling er selvindlysende. At "magtens mænd" forstår det, så vi et eksempel på, da Sovjetunionen brillerede i rummet. Da blev det nødvendigt med en akademisk frihed i USA - som helt naturligt indskrænkedes igen, da faren var drevet over. Den smittede jo af på andre dele af samfundet; med virkelig kritik af bl.a. Vietnamkrigen til følge].
"But the "free world" we are told, as embodied in the United States and Great Britain, is different to the rest of the world since our actions are dictated and sanctioned by a moral authority and a moral passion condoned by someone called God. Some people may find this difficult to comprehend but Osama Bin Laden finds it easy." Harold Pinter, The Independent, 141005.
En styrke i det amerikanske demokrati, har været den stærke tradition for, at embedsmænd protesterer (optræder som Whistleblower), hvis regeringen går for vidt ud over sine beføjelser, som Mark Felt (Deep Throat) gjorde det under Nixon (040605). Det ser ud til, at Bushregeringen er bedre end tidligere regeringer, til at komme efter whistleblowers, se f.eks. sagen om Sibyl Edmonds og juni 2005.
"I realiteten blev Nixons virkelige forbrydelser omhyggeligt holdt ude fra Watergate-afræren." Chomsky, p. 181.
011205, History News Network. Historieprofessor Lawrence S Wittner, State University of New York: "How Presidents Use the Term "Democracy" as a Marketing Tool"
November 2004 er vi nået dertil, at det tyrkiske parlaments menneskerettighedskommissions formand Mehmet Elkatmis siger :"The US administration is committing genocide ... in Iraq".
111104, USA får kritik for Guantanamo - specielt de britiske fanger - i den engelske regerings rapport om menneskerettigheder.
Susan Sontag, i hendes tale ved modtagelsen af Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels, citerer Lawrence: "America was on a Europe - destroying mission, using democracy - particularly cultural democracy, democracy of manners - as an instrument. And when the task is accomplished, he went on, America might well turn from democracy to something else." Hun skriver også: "It is the genius of the United States, a profoundly conservative country in ways that Europeans find difficult to fathom, to have devised a form of conservative thinking that celebrates the new rather than the old." (Talen kan findes hos www.tomdispatch.com ).
Den frie presse er ikke længere værdsat: afvisning af Sue Smethurst, New Idea, Australia, se også Pressefrihed
Hamsa Mohammed, 22 år studerende ved Baghdad's universitet:
"We don't have the right to say anything about what the Americans are doing..... We are calling for democracy. We want our voices to go out in the world with no fear. But that is not possible because we are not free.."
Hele teksten findes på: http://207.44.245.159/article3377.htm
Det svarer jo meget godt til at man ikke må demonstrere mod Bush på hans
møder rundt omkring. F.eks. blev en FEMAarbejder (FEMA: Federal Emergency
Management Agency) lagt i håndjern og sendt hjem for at bære en anti-Bush
T-shirt ved 4. juli mødet i Charleston. Almindelige deltagere skulle have
billet for at høre Bush - og for at få billet skulle man opgive: navn,
adresse, fødselsdato og -sted, samt social security nummer, Charleston Gazette,
080704.
Sam Hamod (former professor at Princeton University, former Director of The National Islamic Center of Washington, DC, an advisor the the US State Department):
"But I, and we all, face a new dilemma. The lawyer client priviledge is almost gone, note the case of the lawyer defending some of the defendants in the original Trade Towers bombings, Lynne Stewart. She is now on trial for simply defending her clients and having answered a simple question at a press conference...She was... charged with aiding ... terrorism - and to this day, she is imprisoned" Flere eksempler gives, retssystemets problemer med Patriot Act diskuteres.
Hele teksten findes på http://207.44.245.159/article3413.htm
Det er en aparte form for ytringsfriheds- og dermed demokratiopfattelse, der ytrer sig i de amerikanske trusler om at få flyttet NATOs hovedkvarter bort fra Bruxelles, fordi en belgisk domstol har optaget en sag om general Tommy Franks krigsforbrydelser til behandling. Og vi ved jo at da de Gaulle var obsternasig i 1960erne blev NATO flyttet.
Det er samme "demokrati"-opfattelse, som Tom Lehrer tog afstand fra med "until someone can be elected, of whom we can approve" i "Send the Marines", og i.h.t. Christian Science Monitor skyldes det, at Saeb Erekat gik, at han blev træt af netop den stil.
Chisun Lee skriver i The Village Voice, 060803, om "Muffling the left", "effort to gag anti-Bush causes" om administrativ chicane mod NGOer.
Eric Boehlert skriver i Salon om Al Lorentz, officer i hæren, som anklages for at have skrevet: "Why we cannot win" på Lew Rockwell, anklagen "disloyalty" kan give 20 års fængsel. Der afsløredes ingen hemmeligheder i analysen, 290904.
Joseph Stiglitz, skriver i Globalization and its discontents, p. 171: "Treasury viewed the issue as too important to let the president [Clinton] have an important role in making the decisions."
På p. 185 skriver han (om Kina's overgang til markedsøkonomi): "Township and village public enterprises were central in the early years of transition. IMF ideology said that because these were public enterprises, they could not have succeeded. But the IMF was wrong. The township and village enterprises solved the governance problem, a problem to which the IMF gave scant attention, but which underlay many of the failures elsewhere. The townships and villages channelled their precious funds into wealth creation and there was strong competition for success. Those in the townships and villages could see what was happening to their funds; they knew whether jobs were being created and incomes increased. Although there may not have been democracy (???? exactly this remark is what I question; O.J.), there was accountability.
Det er også en side af den amerikanske demokratiopfattelse, at man accepterer de meget store indkomstforskelle, se f.eks. Jay Shaft for en beskrivelse heraf.
Det allerværste ved den mærkelige amerikanske demokratiopfattelse er, at den smitter af hos alle verdens mere eller mindre autoritære herskere, som f.eks. når den indonesiske regering vil internere 200000 personer i Aceh i lejre , for at forhindre folkelig støtte til GAM.
General Pervez Musharraf, der er lige så valgt præsident i Pakistan, som Bush er i USA, er i vanskeligheder, fordi en amerikansk rapport røber i hvilken udstrækning han har hjulpet Bush i Afghanistan. Man burde vel lade pakistanerne bestemme, hvad deres flyvebaser skal bruges til ?
Den 21. maj 2003 gav Andrew Natsios, chef for USAID, en tale til en konference afholdt af InterAction, samarbejdsgruppe for 136 hjælpeorganisationer, hvor han gav udtryk for irritation over, at de sultende og syge irakiske og afghanske børn ikke forstod at den hjælp de modtog kom fra George W Bush. USAID har også fortalt NGOer med humanitære kontrakter, at de ikke kan tale direkte med medierne, allen henvendelser skal gå gennem Washington (Naomi Klein i Globe & Mail, 200603). Hun rapporterer også at American Enterprise Institute driver NGO Watch, som udgør en slags sortlistning af NGOer, der kritiserer Bush.
Sunday Herald, 060703, har en artikel om problemerne i forbindelse med valgkampsfinansiering.
In most precincts the actual counting of the ballots is concealed from the public, and nobody is allowed to see inside the voting machines, or review the computer software that counts the ballots. 70 % of all votes in America are counted by machine, and nobody, not private citizen, not local election official, nobody, is allowed to examine how it all works. (Whatreallyhappened). All the voting machines used in the United States come from just 3 companies. Og de mangler en mulighed for manuel revision, programmerne er åbne for manipulation o.s.v. Australia has designed a system which is safer and carries an audit trail (The New Zealand Herald)
Nader's Grønne listes som terrorist mistænkte.
De fascistiske tendenser i Patriot Act m.v. startede allerede under Reagan, se John Stockwell: The secret wars of the CIA, slutningen.
Nogen af problemerne i Patriot Act gennemgås i Wired (200404) i et interview med David Cole, juraprofessor ved Georgetown University. Cole understreger også risikoen for at udnyttelsen af bestemmelserne skrider. Han siger at mange uskyldige mennesker op gennem historien er blevet overvåget og sat bag lås og slå, som eksempel nævnes FBIs mangeårige overvågning af Martin Luther King Jr.
Thom Hartmann, "When democracy failed", sammenligner med Tyskland i 30erne.
I henhold til Toronto Star, 261003, har Secret Service under Bush en politik med at spærre protesterende demonstranter inde i særlige områder under præsidentbesøg, også omtalt i SFGate, 040104
Anvendelsen af tortur er vel kun en naturlig følge af denne demokratiopfattelse.
Den republikanske National Committee advarer 060304 TV stationer mod at bringe annoncer fra MoveOn.org Voter Fund.
Rumsfeld skelner mellem Old Europe og New Europe, men som Chomsky skriver: "The governments of Old and New Europe were distinguished by a simple criterion: a government joined Old Europe in its iniquity if and only if it took the same position as the vast majority of its population and refused to follow orders from Washington."
Indimellem vinder The American Constitution en lille delsejr, SFGate, 040104, som regel kun for en kortere tid (samme artikel) eller for en mindre gruppe, som de 157, der var uden for no-protest-zone, under WTO demonstrationerne i Seattle (Christine Clarridge, Seattle Times, 311203)
På World Economic Forum i Davos, Januar 2004, bad vicepræsident Cheney EU om at gå sammen med USA om en demokratisering af den arabiske verden fra Iraq til Mauretanien. Den arabiske Ligas generalsekretær, Amr Musa, havde et godt svar "De kan da først lave demokrati i Iraq, som de har lovet" og Fyrst Turki bin Faisal fra den saudiske kongefamilie syntes at det var hyklerisk at prædike demokrati, når man ikke ville anerkende den demokratisk valgte leder af det Palæstinske Folk, Yasir Arafat. Det kan man jo kun være enig med ham i. Og mon ikke interessen for demokratisering af Mauretanien er forsvundet nu, hvor man har fået en baseaftale ?
Robert Kuttner: "America as a One-Party state": gennemgår de tricks som Tom DeLay bruger for at gennemtrumfe partidisciplin, gerrymandering (ændret afgrænsning af valgdistrikter for at begrænse mindretallets repræsentation i kongressen), om de reducerede muligheder for andre end den centrale partiledelse for at stille (ændrings)forslag. The American Prospect, 020104.
Et særskildt problem ved det amerikanske demokrati er militærindustriens stærke indflydelse. Mere herom kan man se dels i artiklen om USAs økonomi, dels i de økonomiske artikler (findes på ugebreve)
Det er i god overensstemmelse med den amerikanske demokratiopfattelse, at man forbyder Moqtada al Sadr at deltage i valget i Iraq. Ikke noget med frihed for Loke såvelsom for Thor her, The Guardian, 080604.
Når Huset endelig tager sig sammen til at nedsætte et udvalg til at undersøge anklager mod den republikanske majoritetsleder Tom DeLay for at have modtaget ulovlige penge til valgkampen, så er 4 af 5 replublikanske medlemmer af udvalget personer, der har modtaget penge til deres valgkamp fra en fond styret af DeLay, (AP, 160704). Så er resultatet vist sikret. Men ikke demokratiet !
170804, Reuters skriver at whistleblower vedr. Abu Ghraib torturen, Joseph Darby, trues på livet, så hans familie nu lever under beskyttelse.
201104, School orders boy to cover his T-shirt.
281104, Tim Weiner i New York Times: "Lockheed Martin doesn't run the United States. But it does help run a breathtakingly big part of it". USAs største militærentreprenør (næsten 22 milliarder USD i 2003). Men også med store kontrakter indenfor den civile administrations informationsteknologiske områder. Postsortering, skatteudskrivning, folkepensionsudbetalinger, rumraketter og lufttrafik. Dataanalyse for FBI og CIA. Firmaet henter 80 % af sin indkomst hos den amerikanske regering. Man har labet et mobil fingeraftrykslaboratorium, der kan linkes til FBIs arkiv og anvendes i felten. LM driver et overvågningssystem i havnene i Philadelphia og Camden, N.J. LM forbereder at udstede biometriske identitetskort til 6 millioner amerikanske transportarbejdere. Forhenværende højereståede Lockheedmedarbejdere er viceministre (secretary) for flåden og transport, chef for spionsatellitstyrelsen. Også Hadley der forventes at blive ny Sikkerhedsrådgiver kommer fra Lockheed. [Man kan vist roligt kalde Lockheed Martin USAs Krupp.]
071204, Dave Lindorff skriver i CounterPunch: "Med en dogmatisme som ligner religiøs iver lærer amerikanske skoler sine elever - eller prædiker for dem, at kapitalismen er det bedste system og at det amerikanske politiske system er en model for verden, alligevel chokerer de udbombet-udseende amerikanske bymidter besøgende fra Europa, ja selv fra de mere udviklede lande i Asien. Fattigdommen i USA svarer til en mellemstor 3.verdensnation midt i blandt os - men skjult - med millioner af amerikanske børn, der vokser op sultne, dårligt klædte, uuddannede og fanget i en cyklus af fattigdom og desparation."
211204, Arianna Huffington skriver at Republikanerne har en plan om at ændre forfatningen ved at afskaffe muligheden for filibuster mod udnævnelser indenfor retsvæsenet. Det vil betyde, at det bliver meget lettere at indsætte nye ultrakonservative dommere.
Teresa Whitehurst beskriver i CommonDreams, 281204, betydningen af uddannelse og hvordan Students for Academic Freedom arbejder for det modsatte. Der er klart lagt op til heksejagt på alle ikke-neocon lærere !!!
090105, Boston Herald, Kongressen vedtager at i en nødsituation, hvor er større antal medlemmer ikke kan møde, kan nødlovgivning vetages af de tilstedeværende ! Det giver gode muligheder for en fascistisk magtovertagelse.
130105, AP. En dame kan ikke opretholde sin forsikring - fordi hun er politisk aktiv - og det endda i det ene af krigsmaskinens partier, det demokratiske parti.
100205, Don Wycliff: "This absurd practice of governing anonymously" i Chicago Tribune.
230205, Forklarer Der Spiegel, hvorfor der ikke blev et åbent borgermøde i Mainz. Det var planlagt. Men så viste det sig, at amerikanerne kun ville have et møde med aftalte spørgsmål og et venligt publikum. Det ville/kunne det tyske udenrigsministerium ikke love. I stedet blev der et møde med omhyggeligt sorterede unge erhvervsledere - helt i overesstemmelse med den amerikanske demokratiopfattelse.
250305, The Nation. George McGovern, præsidentkandidat 1972, "Patriotism is Nonpartisan". Indlægget kan læses derhen, at han synes han må forsvare sig mod anklager for at være upatriotisk. Men bortset fra det foruroligende i at det skulle være nødvendigt indeholder det en del fornuftige synspunkter.
180505, San Francisco Chronicle. Pentagon, regeringen, Kongressen har svært ved at holde styr på pengene. GAO savner ordentligt regnskab for 1000 milliarder USD hos forsvaret. For 7 år i træk er der kludder i regnskaberne. Og så har man tabt 56 fly, 32 tanks og 36 raketkommandoenheder - [mon de er landet hos islamisterne ?].
190505, Bloomberg. Kun 35 af de adspurgte var tilfredse med Kongressens arbejde. Det har sikkert noget med de mange penge, der bruges på lobbyarbejde at gøre. Her er en genemgang af Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon sagen. Næsten 87 millioner USD fra indiansker stammer er inde i billedet.
310505, New York Times. Ralph Nader (forbrugeradvokat og præsidentkandidat for et 3. parti) og Kevin Zeese (direktør for DemocracyRising.US) siger at sammenligner man Clintons småløgne om sexuelle lege med med Bush' og Cheneys løgne som begrundelse for overtrædelse af hjemlig og international lov, så må man sandelig se at få rejst rigsretssag mod de 2.
150605, Karen Kwiatkowski på LewRockwell vil myrde staten. Www.whatreallyhappened.com understreger, at den amerikanske forfatning (Title 18, Part I, Chapter 47, § 1001 forbyder regeringen at lyve, hvorfor Bushregeringen er ulovlig. Uafhængighedserklæringen pålægger amerikanere en pligt til at kaste en sådan regering ud.
220605, Democracy Rising. Fhv. oberst Sam Gardiner interviewes af Kevin Zeese. Gardiner beskriver, hvordan administrationen har anvendt disinformation og psykologisk krigsførelse - mod sin egen befolkning. En god gennemgang med talrige eksempler.
300605, ACLU. California National Guard spionerer mod fredsmøder.
300605, Detroit Free Press. En 33 årig jordaner, der kom til USA i 2001 er fængslet som mulig terrorist efter at have besøgt terroristwebsider.
300605, American Conservative. Scott McConnell: "How they get away with it". Bl.a. forklarer han, hvorfor der ikke er den samme protest, som der var mod Vietnam. Hæren er frivillig, af arbejderklasseoprindelse. De har meldt sig frivilligt for at få et ordentligt betalt job og en collegeuddannelse, som de ellers ikke ville have råd til. De etableredes børn har ikke besvær med skulle finde på veje at undgå at blive sendt af sted. Arbejdsmarkedet ser også anderledes ud, der er mange arbejdsløse, ansættelsessikkerheden er ringe, der er tale om lavtkvalificerede servicejobs.
Georgia (!) forsøger sig med at gennemføre en lov om fotoidentifikation som betingelse for at stemme - det vil betyde at færre sorte stemmer, siger American Civil LibertiesUnion og andre borgerretsgrupper, 080705. Brev til Justitsministeriet. Brev fra Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox til Georgias guvernør.
250705, The Crisis Papers, Ernest Partridge: "The GOP [republikanerne] to win in 2006 - Unless...". Sålænge private firmaer samler valgresultaterne med hemmelig software, kan republikanerne vinde - uanset hvad folk stemmer - som de har gjort ved de 3 seneste valg. Han beskriver også, at pressen har accepteret at få mundkurv på i forbindelse med behandling af valgfusksager.
160805, Dennis Morrisseau stiller op som republikaner til kongressen i Vermont og forsøger at få andre "borgerkandidater" frem over hele landet. Han lover Bush en rigsretssag.
Daily Times, 210805 har endnu et eksempel på den besynderlige fornemmelse for demokrati, der er så udbredt i USAs embedsstand. Alan Eastham Jr. medarbejder ved ambassaden i Islamabad forhandler med Wakil Ahmed repræsentant for talibanerne i Afghanistan i 1998. Wakil siger, at man ikke bare kan udlevere bin Laden for, så ville folket afvise taliban; hertil svarer Eastham: "en politisk ledelses rolle er at forme den offentlige mening, ikke at afvise at handle, fordi man tror at opinionen er imod".
100905, UPI/Monsters and Critics. Advokat ved Texas' indenrigsminister Elizabeth Reyes blev fyret, 060905, efter, 030905, at have udtalt sig om Karl Roves ejendomsbesiddelser og retten til skattefradrag. Henvendelsen til ministeriet fra Washington Post blev internt henvist til hende.
190905, Village Voice. NYPD afbrød Cindy Sheehans tale på Union Square i New York, som kulmination på politiets chikane af en flerdages protest mod krigen på New Yorks svar på Hyde Park.
131005, Editor&Publisher beretter om et angreb fra Det hvide Hus' talsmand Scott McClellan på journalisten Helen Thomas, der viser at McCarthyånden er genopstået.
071105, Los Angeles Times. All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena risks losing its tax-exempt status because of a former rector's remarks in 2004. [H]e criticized the war in Iraq, saying that Jesus would have told Bush, "Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster ."
Internationale Valgobservatører
Ud fra en erindring om den tekniske kvalitet af afviklingen af præsidentvalget 2000 har Pax Christi USA besluttet at stationere internationale valgobservatører i Florida under præsidentvalget 2004. (Reuters, 080304)
En del af anledningen er de forskellige maskiner, der anvendes. En anden del er den rensning af valglisterne, som Catherine Harris, daværende Secretary of State i Florida, lod foretage. Den fjernede 90000 personer fra valglisterne. Hun hyrede et privat firma Database Technologies for 2.3 millioner USD, tidligere er opgaven udført af statens tjenestemænd til en beregnet omkostning på 5700 USD. Greg Palast har også skrevet lidt om kvaliteten af det arbejde og det firma, der stod for det. Greg Palast skriver, 200604, at de politikere, der er valgt har lille/ingen interesse i at finde frem til stememmetoder, der sikrer at de 2 millioner stemmer, der af en eller anden grund ikke tælles med kan komme med. Han foreslår, at man går over til at stemme på papir - som vi andre.
Og det ser ud til at skulle gentages ved præsidentvalget 2004, Sun-Sentinel, 080604
210904, et stort problem med den amerikanske form for demokati er finansieringen af valgkampen. Der findes ret præcise regler, som imidlertid omgåes i stor udstrækning. Således rejses der nu sag mod 3 af husets republikanske majoritetsleder Tom DeLay's folk for uregelmæssigheder med "fund-raising" i Texas i 2002.
061004, det er bemærkelsesværdigt, at 50 % af vælgerne ikke stemmer i USA, i h.t. SF Gate artiklen ligger USA på 139te pladsen m.h.t. valgdeltagelse. (Det hænger selvfølgelig sammen med at kandidaterne repræsenterer to forskellige udgaver af samme krigsparti - OJ). OECD skal have betegnet 60 % af de 16 - 25 årige amerikaner som funktionelle analfabeter ! Artiklen ligger også hos Information Clearing House.
121004, 7 amerikanske grupper anmoder FNs ECOSOC om at stille stemmeafgivningskontrollanter til det amerikanske præsidentvalg. Man er ikke helt tilfreds med, at OSCE vil kontrollere - fordi OSCE er regeringens inviterede gæster.
250105, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jesse Jackson & Greg Palast: "Black voters in United States disproportionately disenfranchised. Der er 2 millioner stemmer, der ikke er talt. De fleste fordi man navender tællemaskiner, der ikke kan placere dem - af forskellige grunde. I Florida har en sort amerikaner 9 gange så stor en risiko for at havne i den gruppe som en hvid. Og i New Mexico har en latino 5 gange så stor risiko som en hvid. Dertil kommer "provisional ballots", stemmer der er afgivet, men hvor der skal ske en identitetskontrol for vælgeren. De er bare blevet smidt ud.
200205, Paul Harris skriver i The Observer om den fire presse, der ikke længere findes i USA. Jeff Gannon, der var ansat til at stille uskyldige spørgsmål til præsidentens pressekonferencer, Armstrong Williams, der for 240.000 USD skrev for undervisningsministeriet. Regeringsvideoer, der udsendes uden at det fremgår, at de kommer fra regeringen. Hertil kommer så de rigtige journalister, der presses ud - nogle er nævnt i artiklen.
I Kinas menneskerettighedsrapport for USA 2003og for 2004. findes også et par relevante betragtninger om det amerikanske demokrati.
230305, Florida Today en leder klager over videofilmning af demonstranter. Demonstranterne betegnes i rapporten som "persons of interest", sheriffens talsmand begrunder det med "Protesting in an anti-government assembly".
150805, samme Charles Merciera:" De amerikanske [militærindustri]koncerners yderste mål: at skaffe sig kontrol over universiteterne". Om koncernernes kontrolstrategi.
se også: www.blackboxvoting.com
Planlægger CIA et Kup inden valget i 2004 - det mener Michael C Ruppert, som er både velorienteret og en god analytiker, se på http://www.fromthewilderness.com: "Coup d'etat: The real reason Tenet and Pavitt resigned from the CIA on June 3rd and 4th. Bush, Cheney indictments in Plame case looming", 080604. Andre frygter et terrorangreb - måske stiltiende tilladt - eller direkte iværksat - af regeringen, WSWS, 250504.
Efter at Tenet er trådt ud af tjeneste, kan han afhøres i en evt. sag mod præsidenten http://www.fromthewilderness.com: "Coup d'etat: The real reason Tenet and Pavitt resigned from the CIA on Hune 3rd and 4th. Bush, Cheney indictments in Plame case looming", 080604.
Ruppert slutter med et håb om, at det der følger ikke vil blive værre !!!
I forvejen står valget mellem Bush & Kerry og det er ikke et valg mellem pest og kolera, men mellem to stammer af anthrax !
Det besynderlige er jo, at virkelige politiske spørgsmål er de to partier enige om og enige om ikke at diskutere. Når et enkelt medlem af kongressen tager et af partiernes overordnede valgslogans på ordet og stiller et konkret forslag i overensstemmelse med det, så bliver det stemt ned, oftest i bedste samdrægtighed.
Det gjaldt anskaffelse af "protective body armor" personligt beskyttelsesudstyr til soldaterne. Hverken millionærerne i kongressen eller deres sønner har jo brug for det.
Det gjaldt ordentlige boligforhold til soldaterne - forslaget opererede med at financiere det ved at reducere Bush's skattenedsættelse for 200000 amerikanere med over 1 million USD/år fra 88000 USD til 83000 USD.
For nu bare at nævne det, begge partier er for militæret, flere eksempler findes på In These Times, 080604.
Se også "Protest the twin parties of the War Machine." og Ruth Conniff: "Don't be silent about things that matter", 220205
151004, skriver Steven Zunes i CommonDreams, at det vigtigste - i betragtning af den ringe forskel mellem de 2 krigspartiers præsidentkandidater - ved valget er, at forhindre genvalg af de senatorer, der støttede invasionen af Iraq. Og det er vel en brugbar strategi til at få et budskab igennem.
010905, CounterPunch. John Walsh understreger, at demokraterne er for militæret. De er ikke - som det ofte påstås - uden rygrad til at protestere mod krigen - de er for den. Befolkningen er imod, så det ville sikre en valgsejr at lede modstanden. Demokraterne er ligeglade med vælgerne. De har den samme skjulte støttekreds som republikanerne, oliemagnaterne, AIPAC, og baronerne i det militær-industrielle kompleks og dem, der tjener på imperiet, fra banker til Bechtel. Da Ted Kennedy udtalte sig for en øjeblikkelig tilbagetrækning i Januar blev han undsagt af næsten hele den demokratiske ledelse. Og det at han fik god presse på det viser, at det ikke er pressens skyld at demokraterne "ikke tør". Ikke en eneste demokrat har besøgt Cindy Sheehan.
160804, New York Times beskriver Floridas politis bestræbelser på at hæmme sortes valgdeltagelse.
170804, Paul Krugman, New York Times, gennegår nogle af valgets tekniske problemer - og råder til at afgive "absentee ballot".
Der manipuleres med alt under en præsidentvalgkamp - sågar olieprisen, Stan Moore, 210804.
Man går helt ned til, at Secret Service besøger folk på deres arbejdsplads, hvis de kører rundt med anti-Bush stickers på bilen, Salt Lake Tribune, 010904.
Og 1800 blev spærret inde i New York under det republikanske partikonvent, The Village Voice, 020904.
Og militæret tilbyder tropperne at stemme - pr fax eller e-mail - via et privat firma - og kun, hvis de giver afkald på retten til hemmelig stemmeafgivelse, New York Times, 030904 (Denying the troops a secret ballot).
080904, Jesse Jackson beklager sig over de professionnelle reklame- og lobbyfolks indflydelse på Kerry's kampagne.
Public Integrity har en opgørelse over de største donatorer til Kerry og Bush, ikke overraskende er 4 af de 10 største donorer fælles.
Anne - Marie Cusac giver i "Bullies at the voting booth" en beskrivelse af alle de manøvrer republikanere foretager for at lægge hindringer i vejen for sorte vælgeres stemmeafgivelse, The Progressive, october 2004.
Medlem af Repræsentanternes Hus, Henry A Waxman beskriver, 170904, de mange tiltag Bush administrationen har foretaget for at indskrænke offentligheden i forvaltningen.
270904, The Independent behandler FBIs intimidering af de sorte vælgere i Florida's storbyer med sigte på at forhindre deres deltagelse i præsidentvalget.
280904, Jimmy Carter beskriver nogle basale internationale forudsætninger for et fair valg, som mangler i Florida, bl.a. en upartisk valgkommission, at mekanikken i valgproceduren er ens og kendt af vælgerne, at der er en revisionsstrimmel på de elektroniske stemmemaskiner, m.fl. The Guardian.
111004, Nader angriber Kerry for at støtte krigen i Iraq.
111004, Et af de mærkelige træk ved det amerikanske "demokrati" er holdningen til kandidater fra andre partier. StudentLife skriver om arrestation af 3. partikandidater, der ville deltage i debatten ( Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Party & David Cobb, Green Party).
031104, Common Dreams. John Stauber beretter fra Wisconsin, at Russ Feingold, den eneste US senator, der stemte mod Patriot Act og krigen i Iraq vandt stort. Det hjælper altså at give folk et reelt valg og ikke bare 2 forskellige cloner af krigspartiet.
Valgsvindel beskrives af Greg Palast, 051104, WSOCTV, 051104, Newsnet5, 051104, AP, 051104, "But volunteers provided anecdotal evidence of voting problems in every state they monitored", Washington Dispatch, 051104, Duma-medlem Alexei Ostrovsky, 031104, Palm Beach Post, 051104, Franck Blancheri, director of Studies and Strategi, Foundation of Europe, 051104, ".. US democracy, which has become the sick man of the world's democracies.." (i den artikel er der en oplistning af strukturproblemer i valggennemførelsen), Larry Chin, 051104, Michael Keefer, 051104, Thom Hartmann, 061104 (han mener de optiske scannere er problemet, men beskriver i øvrigt en TV udsendelse med Bev Harris, hvor hun viser, hvor nemt det er at ændre på data - uden at det kan ses - i den centrale computer), wanttoknow, 101104, KOBTV, 091104, Greg Palast på Official wire, 131104, The Guardian, 211004 - en 20 personers udenlandsk gruppes konklusioner; 121104, MoveOn mail om 6 kongresmedlemmers krav om en undersøgelse. 171104, The Nation om omtællingen i New Hampshire, Ida Briggs og Diebold. 181104, Thom Hartmann på Commondreams om Bev Harris' arbejde med/mod stemmemaskinerne. 301104, Jesse Jackson i Chicago Sun Times. 011204, Brian Mooney i Boston Globe, "Election Day Problems", en oversigt, 031204, 4 medlemmer af Repræsentanternes Hus skriver til Ohio's state sekretær, der er valgansvarlig, 071204, The Free Press om Ohio election fraud, 6 timers ventetid, 81 maskiner i reserve. "Blandt meget andet er kravet om en ny afstemning i Ukraine et tilbagevendende emne blandt vrede Ohio-borgere", CommonDreams 281204 om yderligere Ohio problemer. Thom Hartmann, 030105. Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff, 050105. Så var der faktisk hele 5 senatorer bag kritikken af valgfusk i Ohio, 060105. Gore Vidal: "Something rotten in Ohio", The Nation, 100605. 110805, Yahoo/AP Det republikanske parti betaler advokatregningerne for James Tobin, der er anklaget ved en forbundsdomstol i New Hampshire for ved valgene i 2002, at have søgt at blokere det demokratiske partis telefoner på valgdagen, hvad der kan have været afgørende for valget af John Sununu. Anklagen findes på http://wid.ap.org/documents/tobinindictment.pdf . 061005, Salon, Undertrykte en journalist med forbindelse til republikanerne en historie, der kunne have kostet Bush Det hvide Hus ? (Det handler om fmd. for Bush-Cheney 2004 kampagnen i Lucas county, Ohio, som måske har svindlet med kampagnemidler). 261005, The Free Press. Government Accountability Office (GAO), en slags udvidet rigsrevision har lavet en rapport over de elektroniske valgmaskiner, som de anvendtes ved præsidentvalget i 2004. Undersøgelsen kommer efter anmodning fra John Conyers fra Husets retsudvalg, der modtager klager over valget. Der var modtaget 57000 klager. De elektroniske maskiner er leveret og arbejder under privat firmakontrol. Softwaren er privat, ugennemskuelig og uden udskrift eller anden kontrolmulighed. Man stemmer ved at røre ved skærmen. GAO fandt: Noge maskiner kodede ikke de afgicne stemmer eller en system log; det var muligt at ændre de filer, der viser og bestemmer hvad der sker med stemmen, så den kan ændres til at give stemmen til en anden kandidat, sælgerne installerede ikke-certificerede udgaver af softwaren lokalt, adgangen til stemmenettet var ikke sikret med password på alle maskiner - det betyder, at man gennem én enkelt sådan ikke-sikret maskine kunne komme ind på nettet og ændre systemets funktion, adgangen til nettet havde også megen genbrug af bruger ID og nemme passwords. Nøglerne, der skulle sikre adgangen til det fysiske system var nemme at dirke og kopiere. Derudover er der i artiklen en liste over problemepisoder. 010606, RollingStone, Robert F Kennedy, jr. Was the 2004 Election Stolen ?
020306, Chris Floyd, Moscow Times. Så har Californias valgansvarlige, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, godkendt anvendelsen af Diebolds valgmaskiner til næste valg. Det skulle sikre valget af en Bushemand i 2008. Og det skete mod hans egne eksperters rådgivning.
101104, Alternet fortæller om valgets lyspunkter. 7 antikrigssenatorer, der er genvalgt med god margin. Det kunne tyde på, som også CommonDreams, John Stauber (se ovenfor) beretter, at "det mindre onde" ikke har nogen appel, men et reelt alternativ har.
Jan Øberg, "4 more Bush Years: What exciting opportunities !", 111104, specielt betragtningerne om EUs rolle og muligheder peger fremad, men også forslaget om personlig økonomisk boycot af USA bør enhver tage til sig. Det gjorde jeg allerede, da Bush stjal præsidentembedet - selvom det er ærgerligt ikke at kunne handle hos Amazon - netop nu, hvor der er så mange interessante nye bøger.
121104, Carolyn Baker: "How "progressives" gave the election to Bush".
Joseph Kay, 301104, på World Socialist Web Site, "US intervenes in disputed Ukraine Election: Who the hell asked you, Mr Powell ?" har en god sammenligning mellem USAs og Ukraines valg og Valgresultat vs exit poll.
110105, Sheila Samples hylder medlem af repræsentanternes hus John Conyers (D, Michigan), for arbejdet med valgfusk.
Valgresultatet: 79 millioner stemte ikke, 62 millioner stemte på Bush og 59 millioner på Kerry, Michael Ventura: "America No. 1 ?", 030205.
210405, Salon, Sidney Blumenthal. Bush mødtes 040604 med Paven i Vatikanet. En uge senere sendte kardinal Ratzinger [senere pave Benedict 16] et brev til de amerikanske biskopper, hvori han slår fast, at man skal nægte altergang til de katoliker, der er for "frit valg" om abort; at en katolsk politiker, der taler for fri abort også skal nægtes denne. Enhver katolik, der stemte for ham ville samarbejde med det onde og også være uværdig til den hellige nadver. Denne opfattelse blev udsendt i et hyrdebrev til alle præster i valgkampens sidste uger. I 2004 fik Bush 52 % af de katolske stemmer mod 46 % i 2000.
[Vi ser altså den nye pave - der var medlem af Hitlerjugend som meget ung - gentage den støtte til det ekstreme højre, som kendetegnede Pius den 12 (?), som indgik konkordat med Hitler og støttede Mussolini.]
311005, AP. Rapport. 30 borgere i Ohio, som totalt indsamlede 4.1 million USD til Bush' valgkamp har hentet 1.2 milliard USD fra det offentlige. [det er ikke det hele, der er korruption, men alligevel, OJ].
071005, ICH. Al Gore: "American Democracy in Trouble". En vigtig artikel, god og seriøs - måske lidt kedelig. LÆS DEN. Han siger bl.a. at der læses for lidt, landet er invaderet og besat af TV. Det betyder, at ideernes markedsplads ikke længere findes. TV stationer giver ikke adgang til almindelige borgere. I en international undersøgelse af pressefriheden kom USA ind på 27ende pladsen. TV koncentrerer sig om ligegyldige personsager (Michael Jackson) i stedet for vigtige spørgsmål for klodens fremtid (den globale klimakrise).
"The final point I want to make is this: We must ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible to all citizens without any limitation on the ability of individuals to choose the content they wish regardless of the internet service provider they use to connect to the Worldwide Web. We cannot take this future for granted. We must be prepared to fight for it because some of the same forces of corporate consolidation and control that have distorted the television marketplace have an interest in controlling the Internet marketplace as well. Far too much is at stake to ever allow that to happen."
261006, Washingt Post, Report Warns of Potential Voting Problems in 10 States.
090106, FindLaw: Van Bergen: "The Unitary Executive: Is The Doctrine Behind the Bush Presidency Consistent with a Democratic State ?" Hun argumenterer godt for, at præsidentens beføjelser er og bør være begrænsede af forfatningen. Hun illustrerer - uden at anvende ordet misbrug - at Bush misbruger "presidential signing statements", kommentarer med vejledning i fortolkning af vedtagen lov. Fra 1917 til og med Clinton var det totale antal af den slags tilføjelser 322. Bush alene har udstedt mindst 435 !
230106, Insight. Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst
010206, Atlanta Progressive News. Nu er der 17 for en rigsretsproces mod Bush. 14 medlemmer af Huset har skrevet under på John Conyers forslag.
100306, FindLaw. John W Dean, "The Broken Branch An Unusual Lawsuit Takes Congress to Task" Senatet og Huset har vedtaget hver sin version af en lov om reduktion af underskuddet (S 1932). Den slags fejl plejer man at rette med ny lovgivning. Men nu er den ene version bare blevet underskrevet af præsidenten. Det strider selvfølgelig mod forfatningen. En Alabama advokat har anlagt sag herom.
160306, Democracy Rising. Nu starter antikrigsbevægelsen en vælgerkampagne, www.VotersForPeace.US. 46 % af de amerikanske vælgere skulle tilslutte sig et løfte om ikke at støtte en præsidentkandidat, der ikke lover en hurtig afslutning af krigen i Iraq.
200306, ICH, Mike Whitney. Så skulle der være blæst afgang for Bush - og det fra dem der bestemmer. Kongressen har stilfærdigt nedsat en Iraq Study Group, under ledelse af James A Baker (gammel ven af Bush familien og advokat for unge Bush i forbindelse med præsidentvalget i 2000). Gruppen består af stærke politiske folk, der oftest opererer bag kulisserne, fhv. New York borgmester Rudolph Giuliani, chefen for Woodrow Wilson Center, Lee Hamilton, fhv CIA Director Robert Gates, fhv Clinton rådgiver Vemon Jordan, fhv Clinton stabschef Leon Panetta, fhv forsvarsminister William Perry, fhv Senatorer Chuck Robb, og Alan Simpson. Opgaven skal være at forklare præsidenten og det amerikanske folk, at "krigen er forbi, vi har tabt." At folk, der normalt optræder i kulisserne kommer frem, kan tagrs som udtryk for at situationen er endnu værre end den ser ud. Der kan forventes en venligt formuleret rapport, men konklusionen er givet. "There's no telling what the media's response will be. Some will see it as a conspiracy by panicky Americans Mandarins who want to wrest power from the small cadres of fanatics and neocons that surround the president. In fact, that is exactly the case." Det virker dog som om Whitney har nogen ikke klart udtalte tvivl: "After years of struggle, Baker and company have finally created the one-party system of their dreams with a jovernment that is unaccountable to the people, the law, or its political base. Unfortunately, he's about to learn what others have known for some time; the nation is in the vice-hke grip of homicidal maniacs who have no intention of relinquishing power or admitting defeat." [min fremhævning, OJ]
200306, Muckraker. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), der stiler efter at indtage Det hvide Hus i 2008, hsr hyret Terry Nelson til senior rådgiver for sin valgorganisation, "Straight Talk America PAC." Nelson spillede en rolle i Tom DeLays pengevaskaffære. Så straight talk betyder nok ikke at talen vaskes REN.
210306, Democracy Now. Interview med Kevin Phillips (forfatter til: "American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century". Han taler om Bushs anvendelse af religionen. "This man is a national embarrassment"..."What you've got is that 45% of American Christians believe in Armageddon, and the more religious ones, the fundamentalists and evangelicals more than anybody else. So, my assumption is that the Bush electorate is probably 50 to 55 % people who believe in Armageddon and probably more or less the same numbers who believe that the Antiehrist is already on earth."..." Back in 1999 and 2000, as George W. was prepanng to run, it's been reported or acknowledged that he told three or four different groups of preachers, conservative organizations, that he felt that God had called him to run for president. Well, he gets in the White House, and he's not doing terribly well, but 9/11 comes along, and this is a massive revitalization of his politics in the sense of a chance to create a conflict between good and evil and, in essence, rally his flock. And at that point in time, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reported he did a survey of religious right leaders, and they agreed that God had chosen Bush for this moment. And he concluded the piece for the Post by saying this was the first time in history that the leader of the religious right nationally was the President of the United States. And I believe that's how they felt." (160306, Salon, Michelle Goldberg. Phillips forudsagde og var en central figur i skabelsen af strategien for republikanernes overtagelse af magten. Han mener, som Barbara Tuchman, at en forældet energipolitik, en intolerant og irrationel religiøs iver og en knusende gæld er fælles træk for imperiers sidste tid. Ligesom et skift i økonomien fra produktion til "financialisation", at tjene pengene ved at flytte dem rundt. "[A] whole armory of swords of Damocles dangling over a bloated, dispirited and anxious country. Peak oil - the point at which oil production maxes out -- seems to beapproaching, with disastrous consequences for America's economy and infrastructure. Global warming is accelerating and could bring us many more storms even worse than Katrina, among other meteorological nightmares. The spread of Avian Flu has Michael Leavitt, secretary of health and human services, warning Americans to stockpile canned tuna and powdered milk. It looks like Iran is going to get a nuclear weapon and the United States can't do anything to stop it. Meanwhile, America's growing religious fanaticism has brought about a generalized retreat from rationality, so that the country is becoming unwilling and perhaps unable to formulate policies based on fact rather than faith...[T]he precedents of past leading world economic powers show that blind faith and religious excesses -- the rapture seems to be both - have often contributed to national decline, sometimes even being in its forefront." Phillips bog udmærker sig især ved at sætte de mange tråde - der nok kan findes andetsteds - ind i en sammenhæng. Et økonomisk sammenbrud kunne gøre mange forgældede amerikanere til gældsslaver, der bare betaler af på en voksende gæld, uden mulighed for konkurs [??, OJ], hvad der ville medføre et socialt sammenbrud. Han forudser ingen politisk løsning. Man har haft for travlt med at lave om på valgdistrikterne, til at mere liberale kræfter kan sejre. Og skulle en mere liberal præsident blive valgt, vil han lide Clintons skæbne.
020406, Washington Post, Kevin Phillips: "How the GOP Became God's Own Party". GOP er den officielle forkortelse for der republikanske parti. Sammenfiltringen af ekstreme kristne sekter og politik hsr fjernet USA fra sin tradition for at satse på et oplyst, velinformeret vælgerkorps. Det farlige er at en stor del [af de stemmeafgivende] vælgere tror på Harmageddon, som en realitet, der i bibelen er forudset til at skulle ske nu. Kaos i Mellemøsten er forspillet til Jesus' genkomst.
070406, CounterPunch. DAVID VEST The Rebuking and Scorning of Cynthia McKinney
230406, K Gajendra Singh konstaterer, at generalernes oprør mod Rumsfeld faktisk i sin yderste konsekvens er et militærkup. [Men lejligheds har selv den slags jo spillet en positiv rolle - og der er jeg tilsyneladende enig med Fidel Castro, 220406, Zmag, OJ]. Der er tale om den værste uoverensstemmelse mellem militæret og en amerikansk regering siden Truman fyrede general MacArthur i 1951.
120506, ICH, Greg Palast. Firmaet ChoicePoint Inc. har over en milliard regeringskontrakter indenfor sikkerhedssektoren. For 5 år siden opdagede Greg Palast at ChoicePoint Inc. har en database med 16 milliarder registreringer om amerikanere. Det var ChoicePoint Inc., der leverede listerne over 94.000 "forbrydere" til valgkommissionen i Florida forud for 2000 valget. Srudiet af listerne viste meget få forbrydere, men mange sorte. Nu vil ChoicePoint Inc. opbygge en database over DNAtests. Firmaet er i forvejen hovedleverandører af DNAdata til FBI.
070606, Greg Palast: 1927 again. Oversvømmelsen af New Orleans i 1927 førte til valget af Huey Long til guvernør og senere til senator. I 1935 blev han skudt. Han mente, at regeringen var til for borgernes skyld. Den præsident, der sendte 18 vandrensningsanlæg, 50 tons mad, 2 mobile hospitaler, eftersøgningshold og 20 generatorer til New Orleans var CHAVEZ. Planlægningen af redningsopgaverne efter næste oversvømmelse er privatiseret - og ser ud til at være fraværende.
170606, ICH, Jason Miller, Exceptional Americans Manifest Their Destiny: And to Hell with the Consequences... "Contrary to the "catapulted propaganda", Enron, Haditha, and Abu Ghraib were not isolated incidents or the work of a "few bad apples". American savagery and oppressive behavior pervades our society and predates our nation's birth. Building its patriarchal wealth on the backs of Black slaves and cheap labor while acquiring its territory through Native American genocide, predatory exploitation of non-Anglos, the poor, women, and the working class emerged as a pillar of America's socioeconomic "success" before we even declared our independence...Consider some of the freedoms the United States is spreading: 1. Freedom to work under miserable conditions for a pittance. 2. Freedom to exist in an environment permeated with depleted uranium. 3. Freedom to sell precious resources to soulless multinational corporations at garage sale prices. 4. Freedom to experience a Kafkaesque nightmare including arrest with no charges, no trial to determine guilt or innocence, the endurance of torture, and indefinite detention. 5. Freedom to realize the inherent inferiority of one's culture, religion, and language, and to cast them aside like sacks of rank-smelling garbage. 6. Freedom to be maimed or kiled if one dares to reject the "gifts" of these freedoms...In fact, critical analysis reveals that the manifestation of Capitalism in the United States has been as morally repugnant and vicious as the regimes the champions of our system love to cite as evil. Those believing otherwise are in deep denial. Domestically, Americans enslaved millions (3.9 million according to the 1860 census) and committed genocide against the millions of indigenous inhabitants whose land they stole."
230606, The Guardian, Greg Palast, Democracy in chains. US Republicans are planning to change the law to stop black, Hispanic and Native American voters going to the polls in 2008.
070706, Chicago Sun Times, Andrew Greeley: "Cheney really wants U.S. dictator"
200906, Gary North: "Why Bush Will Become the Textbooks' Worst President". "Let me assure you, I do not share this view. Any President who can start and then lose two brushfire wars, thereby revealing for the whole world to see that the American empire is a spent force, can't be all bad...George W. Bush is not quite so verbally incoherent as his father, but at times he sounds really stupid. His father did not sound stupid. He sounded like a man who tripped over his tongue. Much of the time, the son sounds as though his brain has gone AWOL."
Om problemerne med "the 2 parties of the war machine", "det mindste onde":
Carolyn Baker: Why I will not vote in 2004, 040504, dansk
James Petras: US Presidential elections: A view from the left, 281004, dansk.
"det mindste onde", af John Pilger, 230804
Nu ser det ud som om MoveOn er blevet træt af netop det, og vil forsøge at få gendannet et progressivt parti. De siger, idet de henviser til, at grædrødderne gennem MoveOn gav 300 millioner USD til Kerrys kampagne at "Nu er det vores parti: Vi købte det, vi ejer det, og nu vil vi have det tilbage". (Rundskrivelse til alle tilmeldte, 101204, "Who will lead the Democratic Party".
100605, AlterNet, John R MacArthur beklager at Deans ledelse af det demokratiske parti fortsætter linien. 100605, CommonDreams, Thom Hartmann har den modsatte opfattelse.
Mærkelige metoder i det parlamentariske liv
280705, Medlem af Repræsentanternes Hus, Henry Waxman skriver til husets "speaker" J. Denis Hastert om en tilføjelse på 30 sider og 1.5 milliarder USD til Energiloven, som er indført i loven efter at konferencen mellem Huset og Senatet om loven var afsluttet. Administrationen af 75 % af summen går til et privat konsortium i Tom DeLays valgdistrikt. Halliburton er medlem af konsortiet.
270106, World Socialist Web Site. Bush mine safety official walks out of Senate hearing into Sago disaster. Bush regeringen er ikke interesseret i arbejderbeskyttelse. Og dens respekt for demokratiske spilleregler kan også ligge på et meget lille sted.
230306, LewRockwell, Tom Engelhardt, What Ever Happened to Congress ? Interview with Chalmers Johnson. "We've never given Mikhail Gorbachev credit. Most historians would say that no empire ever gave up voluntarily. The only one I can think of that tried was the Soviet Union under him."
080406, Washington Spectator, Bill Moyers "A Culture of Corruption Let's Save Our Democracy by Getting Money Out of Politics". The majority may support such broad social goals as affordable medical coverage for all, decent wages for working people, safe working conditions, a secure retirement, and clean air and water, but there is no government "of, by, and for the people" to deliver on those aspirations...Since President Bush was elected the number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled. That's 16,342 lobbyists in 2000 and 34,785 last year: 65 lobbyists for every member of Congress. The total spent per month by special interests wining, dining and seducing federal officials is now nearly $200 million. Per month.
150506, Democracy Now, Greg Palast on His New Book "'Armed Madhouse and the subtitle is Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf ?. China Floats, Bush Sinks, the Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left and Other Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Class War". Chavez tilbyder USA olie til 50 USD/barrel. Mod en garanteret mindstepris. Men USA/Bush er ikke interesseret, bl.a. fordi Chavez ikke som Saudiarabien vil købe USA Treasury Bonds for pengene. Chavez har faktisk hævet 20 milliarder USD i Federal Reserve. Gulfstaterne ligger inde med Treasury Bonds for 2000 milliarder USD. [Det er de penge USA lever af og den sum vokser med olieprisen. Derfor og fordi Bush/Cheney/Rice har personlige aktiver i olieindustrien, har USA intet mod stigende oliepriser, OJ]. Bush har fået oliprisen op fra 18 til 70 USD/barrel, det er hans "mission accomplished". ExxonMobils aktiver er steget med 1000 milliarder USD under Bush II, næstefter Enron har ExxonMobil samlet givet mest til Bush' valgkampagner. Venezuela ønsker sine oliereserver opvurderet, så man kan overtage ledelsen i OPEC, det er Chavez' største synd. Bush familien har jo tætte forbindelser til de saudiske fyrster. Bush/republikanerne stjal valgene i 2000 og 2004 ved at 3.6 millioner afgivne stemmer ikke blev talt med. Først og fremmest sortes og spanskamerikanske. Det samme planlægges for 2008.
260506, Allan Uthman: "Top 10 Signs of the Impending U.S. Police State". (Forsøg på at censurere internet i en påstået kamp mod børneporno - "den lange krig" - USA Patriot Act - Fangelejrene - Stemmemaskinerne - Bush's indskrænkende underskriftsudtalelser - aflytning uden retskendelse - aærlige zoner for demonstranter - jagten på "whistleblowers" - udrensningen i CIA. Det er vel ikke rigtig politistat, snarere et almindeligt diktatur.
160606, ICH, David Sirota, Trivializing Corruption. Meget af ståhejen om korruptionsaffærer er afledningsmanøvrer, så man ikke kommer til at interessere sig for virksomhederne virkelige indflydelse.
110806, CounterPunch, Rep. CYNTHIA McKINNEY: "Take Our Country Back! Something is Happening Around the World. "I first got into trouble when I was compelled in 1991, while serving in the Georgia Legislature, to speak against George Herbert Walker Bush's war against Iraq. And during a point of personal privilege, I declared that I could not support any of George Bush's reasons for war. ....We care about the dignity of all the world's people. ...Our country is too rich to tolerate such poverty in our midst ....There's something special about these women.[mødre til dræbte soldater] Their names aren't Deborah, or Esther, or Ruth. But they are women for these times. Women, called to make peaceful revolution." [Det er en fantastisk pige !!!].
220806, The Phoenix, HARVEY SILVERGLATE, "Pardons are forever". Hvordan præsidenten kan beskytte sine folk mod retsforfølgelse - også mod forfatningsbrud ?
030906, ICH, Mickey Z.: "The other 9/11". Citerer Kissinger for følgende godbid (om Chile): "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people". Uanset om citatet er korrekt eller ej, illustrerer det et problem i den demokratiske holdning hos ledende politikere i USA.
070906, The Observer, "The myth of fair elections in America". Paul Harris egentlig skulle det være enkelt, en person, en stemme. Tæl dem, den der har flest vinder. Det skulle være enkelt. Men i USA kikser det. En årsag er at valgene afholdes efter lokale regler. Valget stjæles ikke ovenfra - det er brudt helt nede fra bunden.
130906, Democracy Now, Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten: "The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century" Gebbemgår strategien og nogen af knebene, der anvendes.
220906, TomDispatch, Tom Engelhardt: "Lost in a Bermuda Triangle of Injustice". Så er Abu Ghraib tømt og skal overleveres til quislingregeringen - til museum eller til genbrug ? Men fangerne er stadig fanger. USA har bygget et nyt flot fængsel for 60 millioner USD. Tom mener, at USA verden over holder 15000 fanger - incommunicado. - Der sker ingen genopbygning i Iraq, men fængslet, en kæmpeambassade og et antal militærbaser bygges. - Halvdelen af de, der arbejder på National Counterterrorism Center er ansat i et privat firma. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), havde i 1999 9 firmaer i arbejde, i 2003: 3512 og nu 33890. Sikkerhedsfirmaer er en stor ny industri, som i tilfælde af et større terroristangreb i USA, Europa eller Japan vil 12-dobles til 730 milliarder USD pr 2015, siger et firma (!), der følger udviklingen i industrien. Alt dette er sket/sker uden politisk debat. [Det må være voldsomt fristende for de firmaer, der arbejder i sektoren, at foranstalte et "terrorangreb", her er det virkelig rævene, der er sat til at vogte gæs. OJ].
041006, ICH, Dave Lindorff, The Real Foley Scandal is Much Bigger than Foley. "It's a sad commentary on the state of American democracy, on the instincts of the American citizenry, and on the standards and judgement of the American newsmedia that the unsavory advances of a pathetic Forida congressman can have the nation in high dudgeon, while the ramming through of a patently illegal piece of legislation undermining a crucial 13th century civil liberty (habeas corpus), and the Fourth and Eighth Amendments of the constitution, and the secret planning for an illegal and catastrophic attack on Iran, both merit almost no complaint or mention."
081006, WorldNetDaily. Should presidents be allowed to serve more than 2 terms? Bills introduced in Congress to repeal 8-year restriction of 22nd Amendment The 22nd Amendment states; "Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President , for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once." Ændringen får ingen betydning for den nuværende præsident Bush - men måske kommer der en 3. - eller farmand vil tilbage ?
101006, ICH, James Petras, Elections In The USA: Justice And The Perversion of Justice. Undrer sig over, at en enkelt kongresmands forkærlighed for drenge vækker større forargelse blandt fundamentalistiske kristne end det daglige massemord i Iraq. "What is essential in perpetuating the charade of basically a "one party" system, dedicated to defending imperial wars abroad and overseeing decay and authoritarianism at home, is the illusion of "party competition." To maintain this illusion of choice in the face of a wide elite consensus, a "sideshow" is needed; preferably a show in which the minor perverts of one party can be paraded and denounced by the puffed-up moralists of the opposing party. Without this show of moral indignation and a dose of salacious titillation, voter abstention might even exceed the usual 65% for US Congressional elections."
191006, Bush Says He May Ignore New War-Funding Law. Kongressen har bedt om, at næste års forsvarsbudget skal indeholde udgifterne til krigene i Iraq og Afghanistan. I sit signing statement fortæller Bush, at det vil han nok ikke, han tager samtidig 22 andre forbehold overfor loven. [Meget besynderlig form for demokrati, OJ].
251006, LRB, Tony Judt: "Bush's Useful Idiots - The Strange Death of Liberal America". Hvorfor har amerikanske liberale bare affundet sig med Bush' katastrofale udenrigspolitik ? Hvorfor har regeringens vedblivende angreb på borgerrettigheder og international ret kun givet anledning til så lidt opposition og vrede fra dem, der plejede at bekymre sig mest om den slags ? Kort sagt, hvorfor har USAs liberale intelligentsia i de senere år holdt hovedet så lavt ? I en tid hvor forholdet mellem lønnen til en direktør og den til en faglært arbejder er 412:1, er den liberale intellektuelles plads stort set overtaget af en beundringsværdig lille gruppe af møgrensende journalister, Seymour Hersh, Michael Massing og Mark Danner, der skriver i New Yorker og The New York Review of Books. En mig-selv-først opfattelse har spredt sig og lammet den kritiske intelligentsia. De, der kritiserer krigen i Iraq, kritiserer den "inkompetente krigsledelse", ikke selve den katastrofale invasionskrig. "Clinton-generationen" af amerikanske liberale har en overdådig begejstring for voldelig politisk forandring - på andre folks vegne. De fleste af dem bakker op om Israel, som i 50 år har bygget hele sin nationale strategi på forebyggende krige, overdreven gengældelse og bestræbelser på at ændre hele Mellemøstens kort. Det fører til selvmodsigelser som den mellem Bush' proklamerede ønske om at bringe demokrati til den muslimske verden og hans nægtelse af at gribe ind, da de eneste fungerende skrøbelige demokratier i den muslimske verden - Palæstina og Libanon - blev ignoreret og siden ødelagt af den israelske allierede. Der er en blind plet, der ikke bare er etisk, men også politisk: hvis amerikanske liberale "ikke opfattede/forstod" hvorfor deres krig i Iraq ville få den forudsigelige effekt at fremme terrorisme, gavne de iranske ajatollaer og forandre Iraq til et Libanon [under borgerkrigen, må han mene], så kan vi ikke forvente, at de forstår eller bekymrer sig over, at Israels brutale overreaktion risikerer at forandre Libanon til Iraq [af i dag]. Fritz Stern: "Five Germanys I Have Known" citeres for at nedbrydningen af demokratiet starter med den liberale ånds tavshed.
271006, ICH newsletter: Exclusive: Hillary Clinton On Israel, Iraq And Terror: Clinton Says U.S. should Only Support Democratic Elections When Certin That The Outcome Favors U.S. / Israel. http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/19734/
301006, ZMag: Interview by Stephen R. Shalom: "Perilous Power: The Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy Dialogues on Terror, Democracy, War, and Justice By Noam Chomsky and Gilbert Achcar. Edited by Stephen R. Shalom. Boulder, CO; Paradigm Publishers, 2006. Illustrerer USAs m.fl. mærkelige syn på demokrati således: "[José María Aznar [Spanien] joined in this war declaration right after polls in Spain showed that the wa var had the support of 2 percent of the population, so therefore he's the great hope for democracy. The Turkish government was bitterly condemned for lacking democratic credentials - that was the phrase that was used - because it went along with the opinion of 95 percent of the public." (Det handler om starten på Iraqkrigen].
041106, Mother Jones, Sasha Abramsky, Just Try Voting Here: 11 of America's Worst Places to Cast a Ballot (or Try). New Poll Tax, Machine Meltdowns, Incompetence, Foul Play, Gerrymandering, Failing to Register er bare nogen af problemerne.
081106, ICH, Charles Sullivan Voting in the absence of Choice. Det er jo en situation vi andre også står i. (Her i Sverige godsejerens parti eller det nye arbejderparti). Det er dog mere ekstremt i USA - og så spiller pengene der en endnu større rolle.
121106, ICH, Mike Whitney, Cheney's Revenge. "Cheney knows that the story about a "Democratic sweep" is utter nonsense....Cheney was betrayed and his plans for one-party rule have been intentionally subverted. Even his seat next to the throne has been jettisoned to make room for Papa Bush's friend and CIA-alum, Robert Gates....The Democrats had nothing to do with the ferocious media-blitzkrieg which pummeled the Bush team day-in and day-out. It was all the handiwork of big-money Republicans who lost their place at the policy-table when Cheney and Rummy decided they would run the whole shebang by themselves."Den analyse kan meget vel være rigtig, men jeg ser ikke, hvordan Whitney kan forene de "voksnes" indgreb med en tro på, at han kan komme igen: ". Cheney may be down, but he's not out. And, unfortunately, nothing has really changed. Cheney hasn't abandoned his plan for global domination and he still has plenty of agents lurking in the shadows who will carry out his agenda."
131106, ICH, Paul Craig Roberts: "Are Democrats Turning A Blind Eye to Civil Liberty ?" If Democrats cannot bring themselves to rectify the inhumane and barbaric practices that now pass for US justice, then they, too, have failed the American people.
161106, The Independent, Pelosi Backs Democrat Tainted By Scandal For Top Position. John Murtha bakkes op af Pelosi som leder af Husets demokratiske flertal - trods en kraftig duft af korruption. Lidt uklogt når hun eller har lovet "the most honest, the most open, the most ethical Congress in US history".
241106, ICH, K Gajendra Singh, The US Empire -Beginning of the End Game. "It is quite clear that such hopes based on "US constitutional system of 'checks and balances' did not materialize. (se også Davidson for et perspektiv på den sag). The system has degenerated and collapsed and needs drastic overhaul. It is morphing into a dictatorship, with Patriot laws, racial profiling, unauthorized telephone tapping and spying in universities .The retraction of liberties in UK is equally bad, with big brother watching every move on video cameras and hundreds of British born and bred Muslims ready to volunteer even as suicide bombers....There are lobbies galore, more than 50 for each Congressman, which spend US$ 2.4 Billion (Billion) a year in wining, dining and corrupting the lawmakers...Most of the Congressmen are millionaires and each term enriches them further .No wonder the poor in US remain neglected, their number increasing and income disparities widening. There are 37 million poor, one in every four blacks. The top 1 percent of the population now owns 33.4 percent of US wealth while the bottom 50 percent has 2.5 percent..."
241106, ICH, James Petras, Economic Empire building: The Centrality of Corruption. "More than ever before in US economic history, the principal US banks, oil companies, manufacturers, investment houses, pension and mutual funds all depend on exploiting overseas nations and peoples.... Globalization, so-called, is a euphemism for the increasing importance of competing empires intent on redividing the world. Corrupting overseas rulers is central to securing privileged access to lucrative resources, markets and enterprises...While orthodox, free market economists emphasize the role of innovation, managerial skills, leadership and organization in securing competitive advantages and increasing rates of profit ("market forces"), in real life these factors are frequently secondary to political factors, namely multiple forms of corruption in securing economic advantage.... In their European conquests, neither Stalin nor Hitler took over and profited from so many enterprises as have the Western MNCs over the past two decades....Corruption is especially prevalent in several sectors of MNC overseas operations, Arms sales, involving billions annually, is rampant with corruption as the military-industrial firms bribe state officials to purchase US weaponry. Military purchases, most with no real security value, deplete local treasuries of funds, while raising profit margins for arms industries and the institutional investors who engage in overseas investments...transfers wealth from national-public use into private foreign gain. It [corruption] weakens the public authorities' leverage over policy and increases the decision-making power of the MNCs. It transfers lucrative resources to foreign private hands. It widens and deepens internal class inequalities and undermines 'good governance...Despite tight labor markets, high profits, rising productivity and economic growth, living standards of workers in the West continue to decline, contrary to classical economic theory. This is in large part due to political intervention based on corrupt relations between corporate capital and the state, both in the imperial countries and overseas."
021206, Det er et mærkeligt demokrati, hvor præsidenten, uden retsprøvelse, kan udnævne folk til terrorister. Det kan han så heller ikke siger U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins i en sag anlagt af The Humanitarian Law Project, MSNBC.com/AP: Bush can't designate groups as terrorists. (Samme historie har Washington Post, 291106.)
191206 skriver ICHs nyhedsbrev: By Bernard Simon in Toronto "The US Army is considering measures to force striking workers back to their jobs at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Kansas in the face of a looming shortage of tyres for Humvee trucks and other military equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan. - http://tinyurl.com/yasps8 Meget demokratisk !
170107, Union of concerned scientists, The EPA Closes Its Libraries, Destroys Documents.
220107, Information Clearing House Blog, K Gajendra Singh, Persian Chess Moves. Som sædvanlig en lang og grundig artikel. "The media is owned and manipulated by corporate interests who fund elections and employ lobbies with a US$ 2.4 billion treasure chest to get favourable laws enacted Thus the interests of the poor and the middle classes remain neglected."
260107, FindLaw's Writ, John W. Dean, The Controversy over Curtailing Habeas Corpus Rights: Why It Is a Bad Day For The Constitution Whenever Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Testifies. Belyser visse besynderlige sider af det amerikanske politiske system. Habeas Corpus' historie beskrives.
020507, The Guardian, Tape 'reveals order' to shoot Vietnam protesters. Det drejer sig om skudepisoden på Kent State University hvor et antal fredeligt demonstrerende studenter blev skudt af Nationalgarden. Hidtil har man hævdet, at soldaterne reagerede i panik. Nu er ordren til at skyde fundet på et 37-år gammelt lydbånd. (Der er link til båndet).
060207, Information Clearing House Blog, Farhad Manjoo, How to fix campaign financing forever for $50. Et af de helt store problemer i det amerikanske "demokrati" er pengenes indflydelse. Manjoo præsenterer et forslag, der er stillet af 2 professorer ved Yale Law School, Bruce Ackerman og Ian Ayres. Som Manjoo refererer det går det ud på, at hver vælger udstyres med et virtuelt beløb på 50 USD, som han/hun kan fordele på kandidaterne. Beløbet betales af statskassen og gives anonymt. Alle bidrag til valgkampen i øvrigt skal gives via en forbundsmyndighed, som anonymiserer bidraget. Ideen med at man kan stemme med dollars i kampagnebidrag er i hvert fald ok. Det gør det muligt for andre end de rigeste også at deltage. Det er mere tvivlsomt, om man kan holde kilden til alle andre bidrag hemmelig for modtageren. Det kommer i hvert fald til at kræve et offentliggjort regnskab for hver kandidats valgkamp. Det fremgår ikke af Manjoos fremstilling om det er med i forslaget. Og som han skriver, hvad vil ikke være en forbedring i forhold til situationen nu ?
100207, Boston Herald, Pentagon lies with stats. Det officielle tabstal for Afghanistan og Iraq er 23000. Men ser man på det faktiske antal sårede, så er det 53000. Det officielle tal tager kun dem med, der er såret i kamp, ikke dem, der er væltet med en bil el. lign.
120207, ICH, Ray McGovern, Wake Up! The Next War Is Coming. Den indeholder en opfordring til formanden for Senatets efterretningsudvalg, demokraten Jay Rockefeller til at vågne op og standse den krig, der forberedes, bl.a. med falske efterretninger, mod Iran. Formanden har ret til at se de originale rapporter og fortælle, hvor lidt de officiøse lækager holder. Og så efterlyser han - straks - en ny National Intelligence Estimate (NIE).
230407, Common Dreams, The GOP's Cyber Election Hit Squad. "There is more than ample documentation to show that on Election Night 2004, Ohio's "official" Secretary of State website - which gave the world the presidential election results - was redirected from an Ohio government server to a group of servers that contain scores of Republican web sites, including the secret White House e-mail accounts that have emerged in the scandal surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's firing of eight federal prosecutors....On Election Night 2004, the Republican Party not only controlled the vote-counting process in Ohio, the final presidential swing state, through a secretary of state who was a co-chair of the Bush campaign, but it also controlled the technology that allowed the tally of the vote in Ohio's 88 countiesto be reported to the media and voters....On Election Night 2004, many of the totals reported by the Secretary of State were based on local precinct results that were impossible. In Clyde, Ohio, a Republican haven. Bush won big after 131 percent voter turnout. In Republican Perry County, two precincts came in at 124 percent and 120 percent respectively. In Gahanna Ward 1, precinct B, Bush received 4,258 votes despite the fact that only 638 people voted for president...That report, "Preserving Democracy; What Went Wrong in Ohio," cited near-impossible vote totals, including 19,000 votes that were mysteriously added at the close of tallying the vote in Miami County....These records from poll books where voters sign in, to examining the actual ballots themselves - were not publicly accessible until last year, under orders from Ohio's former Republican Secretary of State. Baiman compared the number of voters who signed in with the total number of votes attributed to precincts. He found hundreds of "phantom" votes, where the number of voter signatures was less than the reported vote total. That discrepancy also suggests vote count fraud."
250407, ICH, Monica Benderman, Truth Revisited: A Letter to our Congress. "The truth is different: When the passion and commitment of our government equals the salary they have voted for themselves, when the canpaign promises are no longer forgotten after the elections, when I can look a senator in the eye, or a president, or a secretary of defense, and know that he will remember words he spoke to me in the truth of his actions, THEN AND ONLY THEN, will our government begin to come close to deserving what all of our soldiers and their families have sacrificed in the name of freedom for America."
030507, ICH har en tale af Cynthia McKinney, We Will Not Be Divided.
110507, Baltimore Chronicle, Dave Lindorff, Impeach Bush or Get Rid of the Impeachment Clause. Talking with members of Congress, one hears the same refrain: "I know Bush and Cheney have committed impeachable crimes, but impeachment is a bad idea." Der præsteres 3 undskyldninger. 1. Det vil aflede opmærksomheden fra hovedmålet at standse Iraq-krigen. 2. Rigsretssag skaber skel og 3. Offentligheden er imod rigsretssag. Ingen af dem holder. Og den 4. undskyldning, som sjældent ytres offentligt - at så bliver Cheney præsident, holder nok heller ikke. Det republikanske parti ville sørge for, at han gik af i god tid inden valgkampen i 2008 formentlig inden Bush blev gået !
160507, Foreign Policy in Focus, Michael Shank [interviews] Chomsky Takes on the World (Bank). "There are a number of issues. One is the unitary executive conception. The Republican Party happens to be right now in the hands of a very extreme fringe....What they basically want, to put it simply, is a kind of an elective dictatorship....the executive branch should dominate the other branches. That's an effective mode of ¦ authoritarian control, natural for those whose dislike of democracy goes beyond the norm....neither party is willing to face the consequences of a withdrawal from Iraq....there's almost no public discussion of the issues involved in the war. Why did we invade? Why don"t we want to get out?...Truth to power would be: why are you invading Afghanistan, what right do you have to commit crimes against peace and against humanity? But that question never came up....Thaf's why you can have debates such as those going on now about whether Iran is interfering in Iraq. You can only have that debate on the assumption that the United States owns the world...[om Pelosis besøg i Syrien] If you clon't believe in an elective dictatorship, everyone has that right, even the local congressman, even you and I. If it's a free democratic country you don't have to follow the orders of the dear leader. The whole discussion is ridiculous. And the fact that she has to defend herself is ridiculous...Take Wolfowitz. The charges against Wolfowitz are maybe correct but pretty minor compared to his record....He was the ambassador to Indonesia under Reagan. He was one of the strongest supporters of Suharto, who was one of the worst monsters in the modern period... Here's a man who strongly opposes democracy, who strongly opposes human rights. That's not the myth. The myth is his great ideals. But in his actions, he supported a hideous dictator and in fact he supported extreme corruption....Through the 1970s, the World Bank and the Intematiqnal Monetary Fund were pressuring countries to take loans, borrow, and create huge debt. They argued that it was the right thing to do. In the early 1980s, with the Volcker regime in Washington, the whole system collapsed and the countries that had taken the debts were hung out to dry. Then the World Bank and the IMF pressured them strongly to introduce structural adjustnnent programs - which means that the poor have to pay off the debts incurred by the rich. And of course there was economic disaster all over the world.... In fact, the United States itself has instituted an intemational regime that regards these debts as totally illegitimate. They're called odious debts. It's the notion that the United States introduced when we "liberated" Cuba. The United States didn't want to pay off the debts to Spain, so they were dismissed accurately as illegitimate, later called odious debts. The people of Cuba had no responsibility for them."
180507, WND, Patrick J.Buchanan: But who was right - Rudy or Ron ? "After the debate, on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," came one of those delicious moments on live television. As Michael Steele, GOP spokesman, was saying that Paul should probably be cut out of future debates, the running tally of votes by Fox News viewers was showing Ron Paul, with 30 percent, the winner of the debate...Lest we forget, Osama bin Laden was among the mujahedeen whom we, in the Reagan decade, were aiding when they were fighting to expel the Red Army from Afghanistan. We sent them Stinger missiles, Spanish mortars, sniper rifles. And they helped drive the Russians out. What Ron Paul was addressing was the question of what turned the allies we aided into haters of the United States...Of the 10 candidates on stage in South Carolina, Dr. Paul alone opposed the war."
190507, LewRockwell, Karen Kwiatkowski, Ron Paul Rocks!
290507, Daily Kos, Cindy Sheehan "Good Riddance Attention Whore". Hun giver op nu. Det er ikke mærkeligt, men synd.
310507, Truthdig, Scott Ritter, Repudiation, Not Impeachment. (Afvisning, ikke rigsretssag). "The arrogance associated with the concept of the unitary executive is prevalent throughout mainstream American political life....When America elects a leader who states clearly that he or she will work with their equal partners in governance, the Congress, for the good of the country, and who will acknowledge the supremacy of law set forth in the form of binding legislation passed by the will of Congress, void of any limiting or contradicting "presidential signing statement," then we will finally have a leader who is truly worthy of the title "President of the United States of America...Repudiation is a strong term, defined as "rejecting as having no authority or binding force," to "cast off or disown," or to "reject with disapproval or condemnation." In my opinion, the complete repudiation of the presidency of George W. Bush is the only recourse we have collectively as a people to not only seek redress for the wrongs committed by the Bush administration, but also to purge society of this cancer that threatens to consume and destroy us as a whole, and which would continue to manifest itself in our system of governance even after any impeachment proceedings...I fear not the bloody rebellion of an outraged citizenry, but rather the passive submission of a shameful mass which betrays the cause of liberty and freedom through the abandonment of the Constitution, and the obligations of citizenship derived thereof, in favor of the narcotic of' consumerism...Repudiate the notion of a "unitary executive...Instead, embrace the empowerment of education. Embrace active citizenship. Embrace the rule of law, as set forth by the Constitution. Do all of this and, in the end, if conditions and circumstance warrant, impeach President Bush and any of those in his administration so deserving "
040607, Los Angeles Times, William T. Vollmann, The Great Exception. For hundreds of years, the rules didn't seem to apply to America the Perfect. "I wish I could blame him alone for the degradation of the America I loved. Unfortunately, Americans not only voted for this man, but after he proved himself to be a criminal, they reelected him."
040607, ICH, Charles Sullivan, Over Hill, Over Dale: The Militarization of Culture. "A very disturbing commercial ... ends with the statement, "Northrop Grumman: Defining the future." ...No one who views the advertisement is going to run out and buy an advanced weapons system from Northrop Grumman. Thus one must ponder the real purpose of the ad.....If "Northrop Grumman is indeed defining the future, America - and the world - are in deep trouble ...The glorification of war is nearly ubiquitous in the culture...Like the forees portrayed in the television ad, they are a well financed, well organized array of seemingly disparate forees fighting as one. Who are they fighting ? We the people. Democracy. Truth. Peace. Organized labor. Working class people the world over."
210607, The Examiner, Military reviews placing special ops on U.S. soil
210607, FFF, Jacob G. Hornberger, Tyranny and the Military Commissions Act. "Despite the fact that the MCA has received just a modicum of publicity from the mainstream press, it is undoubtedly the most ominous and dangerous piece of legislation in our lifetime. By suspending habeas corpus for foreigners, by adopting the executive branch's "enemy combatant" designation for both Americans and foreigners, and by establishing military tribunals for foreigners, the law not only entails a fundamental reordering of our criminal justice system but also effectively places the U.S. military in control of the American people....It might be tempting for some Americans to say, "No big deal, because foreigners don't count." But that is a grave error because history has shown that when citizens permit their government to deprive one class of people of critically important rights, it's only a matter of time before the government will do the same to other groups....Rich or poor, powerful or weak, everyone who was detained by the federal government on criminal charges has been entitled to the Great Writ along with such important procedural rights as due process of law, right to counsel, trial by jury, and the right to crossexamine adverse witnesses...With the MCA, however, the Congress and the president pulled a neat little constitutional trick. The Constitution permits the Congress to determine what cases the federal courts will have jurisdiction to hear, and Congress used the MCA law to deprive the federal courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus cases brought by foreigners...Does the fact that habeas corpus was canceled only for foreigners mean that Americans are immunized from the arbitrary arrests, torture, and indefinite detentions to which foreigners will be subjected under the MCA? No, because slipped into the law was the president's and the Pentagon's post-9/11 concept of "enemy combatants" in the war on terrorism. That concept applies not only to foreigners but also to Americans. "
250607, Global Research, Michel Chossudovsky, Building a Justification for Waging War on Iran ? "Under martial law, the military would take over several functions of civilian government including justice and law enforcement....NSPD 51 allows the sitting president to declare a "national emergency" without congressional approval...While NSPD 51 has the appearances of a domestic national security decision, it is, nonetheless, an integral part of US foreign policy. It belongs to a longstanding military national security agenda. Were NSPD 51 to be invoked, Vice President Dick Cheney, who constitutes the real power behind the Executive, would essentially assume de facto dictatorial powers, circumventing both the US Congress and the Judiciary, while continuing to use President George W. Bush as a proxy figurehead....In which case, a national emergency is declared, Northern Command deploys its forces on air, land and sea. Several functions of civilian government are transferred to NORTHCOM headquarters, which already has the structures which enable it to oversee and supervise civilian institutions. Code red alert would suspend civil liberties, including public gathering and/or citizens' protests against the Administration's decision to declare martial law....Legislation inherited from the Clinton administration, not to mention the post 9/11 Patriot Acts I and II, "blurs the line between military and civilian roles", it allows the military to intervene in judicial and law enforcement activities even in the absence of an emergency situation....In 1999, Clinton's Defense Authorization Act (DAA) extended those powers (under the 1996 legislation) by creating an "exception" to the Posse Comitatus Act, which would allow the military to be involved in civilian affairs "regardless of whether there is an emergency".
260607, ICH, Eva Liddell, The Mind in Chains. Why They Want to Fire Ward Churchill. " From the first grade on and up through the university system citizens are systemically taught not to judge for themselves. We are taught we have freedom of speech but we are trained not to think."
290607, (Chomsky), Imminent Crises: Threats and Opportunities. "Governments typically regard their populations as a major enemy, and keep them in ignorance of what is happening to them and planned for them."
010707, ICH, K Gajendra Singh, Gen Taguba Unveils Abu Ghraib, US Gulag. " The abused are only Iraqis!' "Even the US electorate's demand last November to bring back US troops home from Iraq has been totally ignored. Some government of the people this!....The current direction of US led Western civilization, if you can call it so, is hurtling along retrograde evolution of human animal; away from the divine and spiritual moorings and identity as all religions discovered intuitively over millennia to a world of heedless and headless consumerism like an unerring laser towards self-destruction, Nuclear bombs and cold nights or climate catastrophes and apocalypse. "
040707, ICH, Ray McGovern, Unimpeachably Impeachable. Don't Make It Harder Than It Has To Be. "What makes this a no-brainer is that the administration has proudly admitted to sponsoring an electronic surveillance program that violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. On December 17, 2005, a day after the New York Times front-paged an article on the administration practice of eavesdropping on Americans without the required court warrant, administration front man George W. Bush bragged about authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without the court order required by FISA. The president stated defiantly. "I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al-Qaeda and related groups.... In keeping with Thomas Jefferson's warning that the only remedy for the kind of situation in which we find ourselves is removal of the high officials responsible, some courageous members of the House of Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of Dennis Kucinich's (D-Ohio) bill to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. I find it highly instructive that seven of the eleven co-sponsors are African American, with women leading the way...Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan), like Barbara Jordan a member of the Committee on the Judiciary in 1974, heard her words then but seems to have forgotten them....If true, this is a sad thing, for Conyers is now chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, with jurisdiction over the impeachment process. Thus, he has real power but, inexplicably, he has chosen to acquiesce in the ban on even bringing impeachment up. That ban was imposed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Califomia), a person born to such privilege she would not recognize oppression if she tripped over it."
170707, ICH, PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS, Impeach Now. Or Face the End of Constitutional Democracy. "Bush has put in place all the necessary measures for dictatorship in the form of "executive orders" that are triggered whenever Bush declares a national emergency."
200707, Novosti, White House preparing to stage new September 11 - Reagan official (Paul Craig Roberts)
200707, Global Research, Michel Chossudovsky, Bush Executive Order: Criminalizing the Antiwar Movement. "The Executive Order entitled "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq", issued on July 17th....In May 2007. Bush issued a major presidential National Security Directive (National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive NSPD 51 /HSPD 20) which would suspend constitutional government and instate broad dictatorial powers under martial law in the case of a "Catastrophic Emergency" (e.g. Second 9/11 terrorist attack)." Teksten af 170707 gengives.
220707, Oregonian, Veteransforcommonsense, Jeff Kosseff, Congressman DeFazio Asks, but is Denied Access to Government Plans. Vi har hørt meget om USA, som det åbne, demokratiske land. Det er tydeligvis historie, hvis det nogensinde var andet end en myte. Den plan, som kongresmedlemmet (han er endda medlem af Husets, Homeland Security Committee) ikke kan få, er planen for regeringens førelse efter en større terroristhandling. Jeg føler mig hensat til Storstrøms Amts udvalg for teknik & miljø i de første måneder af mit medlemsskab. Men her kom vi da tilbage til at lade loven gælde !
040807, Skånskan. ALF RONNBY, Glimtar av USA. "Myten om friheten i USA lever starkt. Men jag vet inget land i Västeuropa som är så auktoritärt som USA. Hos myndigheterna är allt regelstyrt och formalistiskt in absurdum och uppburet av paragrafryttare. Polisen kan uppträda som om de äger landet." [USA er meget afvekslende. Jeg mindes eksempler, der giver Ronnby ret: Immigrationofficers på JFK i New York, opfører sig netop sådan. Men ham der modtog os i Minneapolis var direkte venlig ! Til gengæld synes jeg det lignede en film fra Tyskland i 30erne, da ALLE - og det var mange - til et rodeo i Minnesota, eller var det Iowa, rejste sig for senator Andersson. OJ].
100807, ICH, Francis A. Boyle Fighting the Democrats' Complicity with Bush "To the contrary, the new Democrat-controlled Congress decisively facilitated these serial Nuremberg crimes against peace on May 24,2007 by enacting a $95 billion supplemental appropriation to fund war operations through September 30.2007." Boyle gennemgår relevante dele af den amerikanske forfatning.
230807, Truthdig, Scott Ritter, Why Cheney Really Is That Bad. "Granted unprecedented oversight over national security and foreign policy by executive order in early 2001, many months prior to the terror attacks of 9/11, Cheney has single-handedly steered America away from being a nation among nations (albeit superior), operating (roughly) in accordance with the rule of law, and toward its present manifestation as the new Rome, a decadent imperial power bent on global domination whatever the cost."
240807, The Guardian, Naomi Klein, Democracy's new dawn is on CCTV; the securify state as infotainment So keen are America's leaders to hear dissent they're videotaping the dissenters. Welcome to a world of total surveillance. "As protesters gathered recently outside the Security and Prosperity Partnership summit in Montebello, Quebec, to confront George Bush, Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, and Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister. Associated Press reported this surreal detail: "Leaders were not able to see the protesters in person, but they could watch the protesters on monitors inside the hotel...Protesters in Montebello complained that while they were locked out, chief executives from about 30 of the largest corporations in North America - from Wal-Mart to Chevron - were part of the official summit....SPP is described in the leaders' final statement as an "ambitious" plan to "keep our borders closed to terrorism yet open to trade"...Next, the Boston Globe reported on plans to link thousands of CCTV cameras on streets, subways, apartment buildings and businesses into networks capable of tracking suspects in real time. "
260807, U.S. Martial Law Timeline
120907, Newsweek, Spy Master Admits Error. "In a new embarrassment for the Bush administration's top spymaster, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell is withdrawing an assertion he made to Congress this week that a recently passed electronic-surveillance law helped U.S. authorities foil a major terror plot in Germany."
130907, DEMOCRACY NOW, "Democracy While Black" - Rev. Lennox Yearwood Arrested, Charged with Assault While Entering Petraeus Hearing. "The Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip Hop Caucus, was tackled by six Capitol police officers after he tried to enter the Petraeus hearing on Monday. Rev. Yearwood was injured in the incident taken to hospital. He was later charged him with felony assault of a police officer."
180907, ICH, Paul Craig Roberts, America Is No More. "Naïve Americans who think they live in a free society should watch this video filmed by students at a John Kerry speech September 17, Constitution Day, at the University of Florida in Gainesville. En student, der med Greg Palasts bog Armed Madhouse i hånden spurgte Kerry, hvorfor han så hurtigt kapitulerede, når han nu faktisk havde vundet valget. Han spurgte også om Kerry ville støtte "impeachment" af Bush. Så greb politiet ind og studenten fik en omgang med de elektriske kvægdrivere (Taser), som politiet nu bruger. Der er link til en videooptagelse af hændelsen. Det værste er faktisk, at hverken publikum eller Kerry greb ind !! Roberts beskriver at også sikkerhedsvagterne i lufthavnene er meget bevidste om deres magt: "Airport Security harasses and abuses people who do not fit any known definition of terrorist. Nalini Ghuman, a British-born citizen and music professor at Mills College in California was met on her return from a trip to England by armed guards at the airplane door and escorted away. A gestapo goon squad tore up her US visa, defaced her British passport, body -searched her, and told her she could leave immediately for England or be sent to a detention center."
250109, SFC, David Sirota, U.S. Moving Toward Czarism, Away From Democracy. History's great American parables teach that if anything unified our founders, it was a deep antipathy to dictatorship. As bourgeois revolutionaries from Boston to Philadelphia courageously split with the British crown in 1776 they created three equal branches of government to prevent, in the words of James Madison, "a tyrannical concentration of all the powers" in a president's hands. ... In recent years, this culture of "presidentialism," as Vanderbilt Professor Dana Nelson calls it, has justified the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretaps and a radical theory of the "unitary executive".
301209, ICH, John Pilger Welcome to Orwell's World 2010 In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell described a superstate called Oceania, whose language of war inver[n?]ted lies that "passed into history and became truth.' Who controls the past', ran the Party slogan, 'controls he future: who controls the present controls the past'." ... In two speeches ... the Nobel Peace Prize winner affirmed that peace was no longer peace, but rather a permanent war that "extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan" to "disorderly regions and diffuse enemies". .... To the people of Afghanistan, ...he said wittily: "We have no interest in occupying your country." In Oceania, truth and Iies are indivisible. According to Obama, the American attack on Afghanistan in 2001 was authorised by the United Nations Security Council. There was no UN authority. He said the "the world" supported the invasion in the wake of 9/11 when, in truth, all but three of 37 countries surveyed by Gallup expressed overwhelming opposition. He said that America invaded Afghanistan "only after the Taliban refused to turn over [Osama] bin Laden". In 2001, the Taliban tried three times to hand over bin Laden for trial, reported Pakistan's military regime, and were ignored. Even Obama's mystification of 9/11 as justification for his war is false. More than two months before the Twin Towers were attacked, the Pakistani foreign minister, Niaz Naik, was told by the Bush administration that an American military assault would take place by mid-October. .... Under the disturbing General Stanley McCrystal, who gained distinction for his assassination squads in Iraq, the occupation of one of the most impoverished countries is a model for those "disorderly regions" of the world still beyond Oceania's reach. This is a known as COIN, or counter-insurgency network, which draws together the military, aid organisations, psychologists, anthropologists, the media and public relations hirelings. Covered in jargon about winning hearts and minds, its aim is to pit one ethnic group against another and incite civil war: Tajiks and Uzbecks against Pashtuns. ... Something similar is planned for Afghanistan. People are to be forced into "target areas' controlled by warlords bankrolled by the Americans and the opium trade. That these warlords are infamous for their barbarism is irrelevant. "We can live with that," a Clinton-era diplomat said of the persecution of women in a "stable" Taliban-run Afghanistan. ... Behind much of this are the Israelis, who have long advised the Americans in both the Iraq and Afghanistan adventures. Ethnic-cleansing, wall-building, checkpoints, collective punishment and constant surveillance - these are claimed as Israeli innovations that have succeeded in stealing most of Palestine from its native people. And yet for all their suffering. the Palestinians have not been divided irrevocably and they endure as a nation against all odds.
030810, AP, Jesse J. Holland, High Court Trims Miranda Warning Rights Bit by Bit. You have the right to remain silent, but only if you tell the police that you're remaining silent. You have a right to a lawyer - before, during and after questioning, even though the police don't have to tell you exactly when the lawyer can be with you. If you can't afford a lawyer, one will be provided to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you, which, by the way, are only good for the next two weeks? ... The high court has made clear it's not going to eliminate the requirenent that police officers give suspects a Miranda warning, so it is tinkering around the edges ... 'It's death by a thousand cuts," Fisher said. .... The court placed limits on the so-called Miranda rights three times during the just-ended session. Experts viewed the large number of rulings as a statistical aberration, rather than a full-fledged attempt to get rid of the famous 1966 decision. The original ruling emerged from police questioning of Ernesto Miranda in a rape and kidnapping case in Phoenix. It required officers to tell suspects taken into custody that they have the right to remain silent and to have a lawyer represent them, even if they can't afford one. ... However, the court did approve one state version of the Miranda warnings hat did not specifically inform suspects that they had a right to have a lawyer resent during their police questioning. ... The high court said for the first time that a suspect's request for a lawyer is good for only 14 days after the person is released from police custody. The 9-0 ruling pulled back from an earlier decision that said that police must halt all questioning for all time if a suspect asks for a lawyer. Police can now attempt to question a suspect who asked for a lawyer - once the person has been released from custody for at least two weeks — without violating the person's constitutional rights and without having to repeat the Miranda waming. ... And finally, the court's conservatives used their 5-4 advantage to rule that suspects must break their silence and tell police they are going to remain quiet if they want to invoke their "right to remain silent" and stop an interrogation, just as they must tell police that they want a lawyer. ... But Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority's decision "turns Miranda upside down."
030810, Truthdig - Chris Hedges, Why the Feds Fear Thinkers Like Howard Zinn. ... the FBI, which released its 423-page file on Zinn on July 30, saw him as a threat. ... He was rather an example of how genuine intellectual thought is always subversive. ... The cold, dead pages of the FBI file stretch from 1948 to 1974. ... Hoover, who took a personal interest in Zinn's activities, on Jan. 10,1964, drew up a memo to include Zinn "in Reserve Index Section A," a classification that permitted agents to immediately arrest and detain Zinn if there was a national emergency. Muslim activists, from Dr, Sami Al-Arian to Fahad Hashmi. can tell you that nothing has changed. ... There rarely were hearings. The victims did not see any purported evidence. They were usually abruptly terminated. Those on the blacklist were effectively locked out of their professions. ... Zinn served on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He took his students out of the classroom to march for civil rights. Spelman's president was not pleased. "I was fired for insubordination," Zinn recalled. "Which happened to be true. Zinn in 1962 decried "the clear violations by local police of Constitutional rights" of blacks and noted that "the FBI has not made a single arrest on behalf of Negro citizens." ... Zinn and the radical Catholic priest Daniel Berrigan had travelled together to North Vietnam in January 1968 to bring home three prisoners of war. ..."During the Pentagon Papers jury trial, Zinn stated that the 'war in Vietnam was a war which involved special interests, and not the defense of the United States,' " his FBI file reads. [Hvor lidt forandring - Obama !!!] ...
050810, guardian, Suzanne Goldenberg, Gulf oil spill: White House accused of spinning report. While the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico has been capped, experts claim up to 75% of it is still in the water. .... Recent reports seem to say that about 75% of the oil is taken care of and that is just not true," said John Kessler, of Texas A&M University, who led a National Science Foundation on-site study of the spill. The fact is that 50% to 75% of the material that came out of the well is still in the water. It's just in a dissolved or dispersed form." ... Like other scientists, she said the report failed to explain how it reached its estimates on he amount of oil that was biodegraded naturally, or dispersed with chemicals. ... Even the White House's own estimates still left a spill five times the size of that from the Exxon Valdez, she said, with long-term consequences that would be unknown for years to come. .... However, such nuances were overshadowed by the White House, which staged a high-profile event on Wednesday to announce that the well had stopped flowing, and that the consequences of the spill were not as catastrophic as once feared. ... "Even if there is not a drop of oil out there, and it had truly magically vanished, it would still be an environmental disaster caused by the toxic shock of the release of 5m barrels of oil."
270111, .Guardian, Did Congress approve America's longest war?:
270111, Rand Paul: End Aid to Israel: - pro-Israel lobbies slam Republican Senator's call
hernu
er en af de ting, det har skortet på gennem hele USAs historie. Det er stadig et problem. Congresman Corrine Brown sagde, 160704, i kongressen (!!!): "Jeg kommer fra Florida, hvor I og andre deltog i, hvad jeg kalder De forenede Staters statskup. Vi er nødt til at sikre os at den slags ikke sker igen. Gentagne gange efter det valg, hvor I stjal valgresultatet, har I sagt her, at vi skulle se at komme over det. Nej, vi kommer ikke over det og vi ønsker valgobservatører fra resten af verden". Denne bemærkning blev slettet fra det officielle referat. Fr. Brown blev frataget sin taleret for resten af dagen. Der var vist et tilsvarende tilfælde i Reichtag, hvor Rosa Luxemburg blev frataget ordet. Der er langt til Grundtvig's "Frihed for Loke såvel som for Thor" - som kendetegner et sandt demokrati !
280704, Indymedia, Medea Benjamin fra Codepink: Kvinder for fred, demonstrerede under fru Kerrys tale under det demokratiske partis konvent med et banner: "Stop besættelsen af Iraq". Hun blev lagt i håndjern og slæbt ud. Hendes kommentar: "Vi formodes at have talefrihed overalt i USA, ikke bare i et afspærret område, der ser ud som en del af Guantanamo-lejren".
260904, Skriver Frederic Sweet i Intervention Magazine om hvordan det Hvide Hus' Secret Service begynder at ligne et andet SS. 2 gymnasieelever afvises - trods gyldig billet - fra et pro-Bush-valgmøde - og det allerede i bussen på vej der til. SS truer dem med arrestation, hvis de ikke straks tager hjem (de har arbejdet for Kerry's kampagne).
En federal marshall (hvad det så er for en) sletter en journalists båndoptagelse af en forelæsning Højesteretsdommer Antonin Scalia, holdt for gymnasieelever.
2 studenter med gyldig billet afvises fra et Bush valgmøde, den ene har været erhvervspraktikant på Ohios demokratiske parti.
På et valgmøde på et gymnasium bortvises en pige fordi hun bærer en T-shirt med et gennemkrydset W.
Alle indsatser sker ved Bush' SS.
270904, International Herald Tribune, skriver om behandlingen af asylansøgere. Ikke at vi har noget at lade USA høre der. Men det er alligevel nyt, at de sidder i fængsel.
311004, Sydney Morning Herald beretter om USAs censur af Al Jaziras video med Osama bin Laden.
McCarthytidens metoder har igen fundet anvendelse i USA.
Ward Churchill skriver 030205 i Dissident Voice om, hvad han virkelig har sagt, hvad der har givet anledning til en frygtelig kampagne for at han skal fyres fra University of Colorado. Hans udsagn kan kort sammenfattes således:
1. Går man ud fra de argumenter, Pentagons talsmænd giver for udvælgelsen af "militære" mål, f.eks. i Baghdad [jeg tænker snarere på TVstationen i Beograd, OJ], så gør det, at World Trade Center indeholdt et CIAkontor, WTC til et lovligt militært mål.
2. De af ofrene for 9-11 som bare passede deres arbejde - for CIA, for de firmaer, der udbytter verden iøvrigt - uden at tænke på konsekvenserne for dem det går udover, de optrådte som "små Eichmænn". Eichmann passede og perfektionerede netop sit arbejde med koordinationen af transporter - uden at tænke på, hvad det medførte. At uskyldige døde er i militær logik bare "collateral damage". //140606, ICH, Ward Churchill "My Trial By Media"
310105, Greg Toppo, i USA Today: "US students say press freedoms go too far", afslører en uhyggelig, faktisk fascistisk tendens: 75 % mener at det er forbudt at brænde det amerikanske flag, som en politisk demonstration; 74 % synes det skal være forbudt. Kun 51 % synes at pressen skal kunne skrive frit !!
300305, SFGate har en historie om forbud mod offentlig udstilling af de frygtelige cementkopier af klassiske marmorstatuer til placering i haven - ikke fordi de er en forbrydelse mod den gode smag, men fordi de udstiller nøgenhed !!!!
210805, Newsday/AP. 2 demonstranter mod krigen såret på march i Pittsburgh, begge bragt til hospitalet, den ene efter anvendelse af Taser, den anden med hundebid.
250106, The Progressive. Clear Creek Elementary School i Bloomington, Indiana har fyret en lærer, fordi hun, på spørgsmålet fra en elev, om hun ville deltage i en fredsmarch, svarede, at når hun kørte fordi en march, der havde et skilt med "giv et båt for freden", så gav hun hornet et tryk.
020306, ICH, Charles Sullivan: "To understand American policy in historical context we must divorce ourselves from the old paradigm that has been ingrained in us - America as a classless democratic republic. This is simply a popular myth."
april 2006, The Future of Freedom Foundation, Anthony Gregory: "American Democracy Indicted", En anmeldelse af James Bovard: "Attention Deficit Democracy". Undersøgelser afslører en massiv uvidenhed om de politiske forhold. Bogen har også et kapitel om de hemmelig operationer i udlandet tilbage fra Clintons tid (støtten til UCK).
290506, New York Times, Paul Krugman: "Swiftboating the Planet" Beskriver behandlingen af NASA klimatologen James Hansen, som i 1988 vidnede for Senatet om drivhuseffekten. Olieselskaberne iværksatte en kampagne, der skulle så tvivl om klimaændringerne og sidst i 1990erne blev det til en kampagne mod dr Hansen med falske grafer osv.
011006, Washington Post, Tariq Ramadan: "Why I'm Banned in the USA"
171006, ICH, Bush's S.S. Grills 14Year-Old. SS er her ikke SchutzStaffel med Secret Service, som har til opgave at beskytte præsidenten. Den farlige 14-årige var endda en pige. Hun havde produceret en plakat i skolens formningsundervisning, med ordene Kill Bush.
170706 ?, 84 % af den amerikanske befolkning afviser en militær indsats i Libanon.
En medvirkende årsag til, at Israel har kunnet skaffe sig sin fantastiske indflydelse over USAs udenrigspolitik, er den amerikanske opfattelse af at være noget særligt (American exceptionalism), af at have en særlig forpligtelse ("manifest destiny"), som var det ideologiske grundlag for at rydde Amerika for indianere og overtage landet. Israel har samme selvopfattelse, kun er "indianere" skiftet ud med "arabere".(Zinn, Boston Review, 241106 - Wampsuttas tale, Thanksgiving 1970, BlackCommentator 207). "American exceptionalism was never more clearly expressed than by Secretary of War Elihu Root, who in 1899 declared, "The American soldier is different from all other soldiers of all other countries since the world began. He is the advance guard of liberty and justice, of law and order, and of peace and happiness." At the time he was saying this, American soldiers in the Philippines were starting a bloodbath which would take the lives of 600,000 Filipinos." (Zinn)
190910, ICH, John Mearsheimer, American Public Opinion and the Special Relationship With Israel. ... The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has just released a major study of how he American public thinks about foreign policy. It is based on a survey of 2500 Americans, who were asked a wide variety of questions, some of which have bearing on Israel. Their answers make clear that most Americans are not deeply committed to Israel in any meaningful way. There is no love affair between the American people and Israel. ... If anything the evidence indicates that if the American people had their way, the United States would treat Israel like a normal country, much the way it treats other democracies [kan en apartheidstat kaldes demokratisk ??, OJ] like Britain, Germany, India, and Japan. ... In this survey, conducted in June 2010, a clear majority of Americans (56%) say that if Israel were to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, Iran were to retaliate against Israel, and the two were to go to war, the United States should not bring its military forces into the war on the side of Israel and against Iran" "While Americans have strongly negative feelings toward the Palestinian Authority ... a strong majority of Americans (66%) prefer to 'not take either side' in the conflict.
190910, ICH, Dave Lindorff, Israeli Company Hired by State Government to Spy on Pennsylvanians and Other Americans. The surprise disclosure that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through its state Homeland Security Agency, along with a number of local police departments in the state, have been employing a private Israeli security company with strong links to Mossad and the Israeli Defense Force grows increasingly disturbing when the website of the company, called the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, is examined. ... topics as: "Tactical Advantage in Combat," "Civilian Battlefield," 'Undercover/Plainclothes Tactical Operations," "Israeli Shooting Techniques,' "Arena Combat," "Hard Entry (Arrest)" and "Principles of Night Operations." ... All information gathered by the firm's staff of "former law enforcement, military and intelligence professionals" is sent to the Israeli leadquarters of the TAM-C for processing - a move which effectively insulates it from discovery by any surveillance victims who might seek disclosure under federal or state Freedom of Information laws, or who might sue in court for violation of their civil liberties. ... But ITRR does much more than just monitor terrorists. Indeed, it seems to be far too busy monitoring legitimate, non-violent and completely legal protest organizations and other political groups to do much real anti-terror work.
180910, Salon, Glenn Greenwald, The "Obscenity" of Comparing Americans to "Kitlers and Terrorists": ... The Nuremberg Trials established the proposition that "aggressive war" which is what the attack on Iraq unquestionably was - is the supreme crime ("The central crime in this pattern of crimes, the kingpin which holds them all together, is the plot for aggressive wars"). ... That's the whole point: those who are so upset by this comparison (how dare you compare Americans to the Taliban) have ingested the tribalistic, propagnadistic delusion that no matter what we do, We are always fundamentally different and better than Them.
250810, American Conservative - Philip Giraldi, Mossad in America. Israeli intelligence steps up its activity in the U.S. and gets away with it. ... The reality is that Israel's intelligence agencies target the United States intensively, particularly in pursuit of military and dual-use civilian technology. Among nations considered to be friendly to Washington, Israel leads all others in its active espionage directed against American companies and the Defense Department. ... Israel is believed to have the ability to monitor nearly all phone records originating in the United States, while numerous Israeli air-travel security companies are known to act as the local Mossad stations. .... There have been a number of cases reported to the FBI about Mossad officers who have approached leaders in Arab-American communities and have falsely represented themselves as "U.S. intelligence." ... These Arab-Americans turned down the requests for cooperation, and some of the contacts were eventually reported to the FBI, which has determined that at least two of the Mossad officers are, ironically, Israeli Arabs operating out of Israel's mission to the United Nations in New York under cover as consular assistants. In another bizarre case, U.S.S. Liberty survivor Phil Tourney was recently accosted in Southern Califomia by a foreigner who eventually identified himself as an Israeli government representative. Tourney was taunted, and the Israeli threatened both him and journalist Mark Glenn, who has been reporting on the Liberty story. Tourney was approached in a hotel lounge, and it is not completely clear how the Israeli was able to identify him. But he knew exactly who Tourney was, as the official referred to the Liberty, saying that the people who had been killed on board had gotten what they deserved. ... the Justice Department refuses to initiate any punitive action or prosecutions of the Mossad officers who have been identified as involved in the illegal activity.
200810, Russia Today. Declassified: Massive Israeli Manipulation of US Media Exposed ... Antiwar - Grant Smith, The Israel Lobby Swims The Atlantic. ... Gareth Porter views it as part of an overarching strategy to keep the U.S. from restoring productive relations with Iran. ... The Atlantic (and others) received hefty rewards for trumpeting Israel's most vital - but damaging - PR initiatives across America. Unlike today, back in the 1960s Israel and its lobby were battling mightily to draw American attention away from the entire subject of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. ... "Most of the press seemed finally to accept the thesis that the reactor [Dimona] was being built for peaceful purposes and not for bombs. ... William Laurence in the New York Times stressed Israel 's peaceful intent, in contrast to Arthur Krock who vanted the reactor placed under international safeguards. Arab protagonists in this country - including those in the State Department who raised all the fuss initially - used the occasion to try to cast doubt on Israel's friendship toward the U.S." [AZC report]. ... The committee confronted two major news items challenging Israel: fallout from the "Lavon Affair" (a cover-up of failed false-flag Israeli terrorist attacks on U.S. government facilities in Egypt) and American peace proposals calling for the return of some expelled Palestinian refugees to their homes and property in Israel. The Israeli government and its U.S. lobby invested heavily in arguing against the return of Palestinian refugees through The Atlantic, according to yet another secret AZC report [.pdf]. ... "Interested friends are making arrangements with the Atlantic for another reprint of the Gellhorn article to be sent to all 53,000 persons whose names apear in Who's Who in America. ... It is clear from contemporary news reports and the heavily redacted Senate record that the AZC and the Jewish Agency seriously violated IRS regulations and the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act.
030607, arizonarepublic, 'USS Liberty' veterans demand investigation. "Conclusions submitted in October 2003 to the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense by the USS Liberty Veterans Association, Inc., in demanding a congressional investigation into the aborted rescue during the attack of the USS Liberty and subsequent alleged cover-up....1. That on June 8,1967, after eight hours of aerial surveillance, Israel launched a two-hour air and naval attack against USS Liberty, the world's most sophisticated intelligence ship, inflicting 34 dead and 173 wounded American servicemen (a casualty rate of 70 percent, in a crew of 294);...4. That there is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew; evidence of such intent is supported by statements from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Undersecretary of State George Ball, former CIA Director Richard Helms, former NSA Directors Lt. Gen. William Odom, USA (Ret.), Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, USN (Ret.), and Marshal Carter; former NSA deputy directors Oliver Kirby and Maj. Gen. John Morrison, USAF (Ret.); and former Ambassador Dwight Porter, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon in 1967;...6. That fearing conflict with Israel, the White House deliberately prevented the U.S. Navy from coming to the defense of USS Liberty by recalling Sixth Fleet military rescue support while the ship was under attack; evidence of the recall of rescue aircraft is supported by statements of Capt. Joe Tully, Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, an Rear Admiral Lawrence Geis, the Sixth Fleet carrier division commander, at the time of the attack;" (More information: www.ussliberty.org).
050805, Direland/Information Clearing House. Doug Ireland. AIPAC er ansvarlig for adskillige politikeres nederlag gennem årene. Den ringeste kritik af Israel fører til en kampagne som får den kritiske ud. Tom Roemers nederlag som formand for det Demokratiske partis Nationalkongres nævnes som eksempel.
090805, TomPaine. Robert Dreyfuss spekulerer om journalister virkelig er mere modige overfor historier, der involverer Det hvide Hus, end dem, der involverer Israel.
160606, July/August 2006, Foreign Policy, Zbigniew Brzezinski, A Dangerous Exemption. "Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have rendered a public service by initiating a muchneeded public debate on the role of the "Israel lobby" in the shaping of U.S. foreign policy. ...Mearsheimer and Walt are critical of the proIsrael lobby and of Israel's conduct in a number of historical instances. They are outspoken regarding Israei's prolonged mistreatnnent of the Palestinians. They are, in brief, generally critical of Israel's policy and, thus, could be labeled as being in some respects antiIsrael. But i an antiIsrael bias is not the same as antiSemitism."
180706, TomPaine: "Neocons Rise From Mideast Ashes" Nu troede vi lige, at de voksne havde genvundet kontrol med USAs udenrigspolitik. Men vi glemte at det neoconservative parti i globalt. "The key question: Is the Israeli offensive designed as a calculated effort to catapult the hard-right, Neoconservative ideologues back to power in Washington ? "
100806?, ICH, Pro-Israel PAC Contributions to 2006 Congressional Candidates. En liste over, hvad hver kandidat har fået fra proisraelske lobbyorganisationer.
280806, Chicago Tribune, Frank James: "Two scholars [John Mearsheimer, Stephen Walt] say pro-Israel lobby has warped U.S. policy". Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., foreslog en øjeblikkelig våbenhvile i Libanon og sagde at Israel gik for vidt overfor libanesiske civile. Kongresmedlemmet måtte hen og undskylde !! John Mearsheimer og Stephen Walt planlægger et svar på de mange angreb de blev udsat for efter artiklen i London Review of Books.
021006, UConn Advance, Americans should scrutinize government actions, says Zinn. I et foredrag 260906, sagde Zinn, "Vi er idag i den situation, at en lille gruppe mænd har overtaget regeringen. De har bragt os ind i krige. De har taget landets rigdomme og bortødet dem på militære operationer...Pressen fungerer kun som regeringens ja-mænd." At det kan lade sig gøre tilskriver Zinn tabet af historien, en histori-amnesi. Han citerer så præsident James Polk før krigen mod Mexico... de har udgydt amerikansk blod på amerikansk grund og fortæller at i præsidentens dagbog stod: Det ville være godt at have California !
111006, Guardian, "US free speech row grows as author says Jewish complaints Stopped launch party". Den britiske forfatter Carmen Callil har skrevet "Bad Faith", om Louis Darquier, den Vichy embedsmand, der var ansvarlig for jødedeportationerne. I postscriptet sammenligner Callil jødeforfølgelserne med forfølgelsen af palæstinenserne i Israel og de besatte palæstinensiske områder. Det må man ikke ! Mødet på den franske ambassade i New York, hvor bogen skulle være præsenteret blev aflyst !!!! Andre møder har haft samme skæbne, bl.a. et med Tony Judt om Israel lobbyen.
271006, ICH newsletter: Exclusive: Hillary Clinton On Israel, Iraq And Terror: Clinton Says U.S. should Only Support Democratic Elections When Certin That The Outcome Favors U.S. / Israel. http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/19734/
120107, Forward, Top Dem Wesley Clark Says 'N.Y. Money People' Pushing War With Iran. Det fremgår af artiklen, at nogen [formentlig ikke Forward, OJ] kritiserer Clark for antisemitisme på den baggrund. Det siger noget om, hvor stort Israels pres på USA er.
110207, Har Gaby Wood, en gennemgang af balladen om historikeren Tony Judt i The Observer.
170507, ICH, James Petras The Pro-Israel Lobby and US Middle East Policy: The Score Card for 2007. En grundig gennemgang.
091007, Guardian, David Goldberg, Madness this way lies. Om Catholic University of St Thomas i Minnesota, som aflyste sin invitation til Desmond Tutu fordi: : "We had heard some things he said that some people judged to be anti-Semitic." Den sag omtales også af Juan Cole, 081007, der gengiver fakultetets protestskrivelse til universitetsledelsen.
For at forstå betydningen heraf, skal du læse Margaret Atwood: "The handmaid's Tale".
Men enten var den indflydelse mindre under 1. Verdenskrig, eller også gælder den kun nogen religiøse grupper, og altså ikke f.eks. Mennoniter.
091003, Daily Star, Donald Wagner, Christians And Zion: British Stirrings A series of 5 articles on Christian Zionism. "John Nelson Darby (1800-81)...placed a restored Israel at the center of his theology, claiming that an actual Jewish state called Israel would become the central instrument for God to fulfill His plans during the last days of history. Only true ("born again") Christians would be removed from history prior to the final battle of Armageddon through the Rapture based on his literal interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4;16...One of the most important figures in the development of Christian Zionism was the Anglican chaplain in Vienna during the 1880s, William Hechler, who became an acquaintance of Herzl. Hechler saw Herzl and the Zionist project as ordained by God in order to fulfill the prophetic scriptures. He used his extensive political connections to assist the Zionist leader in his quest for an international sponsor of the Zionist project. Hechler arranged meetings with the Ottoman sultan and the German kaiser. but it was his indirect contacts with the British elite that led to a meeting with the politician Arthur Balfour. That meeting in 1905 would eventually lead to Balfour's November 1917 declaration on a Jewish homeland, which brought the Zionists their initial international legitimacy."
Rob Boston fra Church and State gennemgår de 10 væsentligste politiske magtfaktorer i det religiøse højre, 070706, "The Top 10 power Brokers of the Religious Right".
160906, - Channel 4 Documentary - Runtime 100 Minutes. The Doomsday Code. Om dem der tror på åbenbaringernes bog, som en forudsigelse om ting, der vil ske (nu !). Hele halløjet er også en god forretning. Tim LaHaye's Christian fiction series: "Left Behind", har solgt 63 millioner bøger. Og der sælges overlevelsespakker til de stakkels syndere, der ikke bliver løftet op på skyen. Ugandas præsident Museveni er med i den bevægelse.
271006, The Council for the National Interest: "Christian Zionism: An Egregious Threat to U.S. - Middle East Understanding." Gruppen mener, at Jesus genkomst og den efterkommende genskabelse af Paradiset, forudsætter, at jøderne får kontrol med hele "Det hellige Land". [Ikke med i artiklen er, at der kommer et stort slag mellem jøder og muslimer/andre, som ender i en ny syndflod - mens den pågår løftes "de retfærdige" op fra jorden ("redemption")]. Denne mærkelige sekt vinder stigende indflydelse og har allieret sig med andre om at styre den amerikanske mellemøstpolitik. Zogby har lavet en opinionsundersøgelse, der viser at 31 % af amerikanerne tror mere eller mindre på dette. 53 % af amerikanerne mener at Gud har givet jøderne Israel (en Pew undersøgelse). 59 % af amerikanerne tror at profetierne i Book of Revelations, hvilken af Biblens bøger det nu er, vil blive virkeliggjort ! Det virkeligt spøjse er, at de kristne zionister også mener, at de jøder, der ikke omvender sig til kristendommen, vil gå under i denne anden syndflod.
311206, Truthdig, Chris Hedges, Chris Hedges: America's Holy Warriors. Det kristne højre har en bevidst plan om at sætte sig på alle feltpræstjobs (og er over 50 %) og sikre sig positioner i retsvæsenet. "This effort signals the final and perhaps most deadly stage in the long campaign by the radical Christian right to dismantle America's open society and build a theocratic state...Erik Prince, the secretive, mega-millionaire, right-wing Christian founder of Blackwater, the private security firm that has built a formidable mercenary force in Iraq, champions his company as a patriotic extension of the U.S. military...Air Force and Army generals and colonels, filmed in uniform at the Pentagon, appeared in a promotional video distributed by the Christian Embassy, a radical Washington-based organization dedicated to building a "Christian America." "
030507, ICH, Robert Koehler, The Crusaders, "The Christian Taliban is Running the Department of Defense. Selvom Forfatningen indeholder: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of."
070907, IPS, Interview with Mikey Weinstein "We're Dealing with a Christian Taliban" "Last month, the Pentagon pulled the plug on a plan to dispatch so-called "freedom packages" to U.S. troops in Iraq that included Bibles, proselytising materials in English and Arabic, and an apocalyptic computer game in which "soldiers for Christ" battle satanic "Global Community Peacekeepers". The scheme was derailed in part because of the efforts of Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which seeks to protect the wall separating church and state in the United States armed forces...IPS: What is it about the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs that has made it a breeding ground for Christian Dominionists? MW: Well, first we thought it was that there was this nexus of what I refer to as the "Protestant Vatican" - in fact many people refer to it as that. Colorado Springs has over 100 of this nation's largest evangelical fundamentalist Christian organisations centred right there for some reason...Let me make this clear. I'm doing this Q&A with you guys today as a man at war with the gun smoke in my face. We are not at war with Christianity or evangelical Christianity. We have many evangelical or non-evangelical christians who massively support what our organisation, the Military Religious Freedom Centre, is doing. We are at war with a small subset of evangelical Christianity [known as] "Dominionist Christianity" and it represents about 12.6 percent of the American public or about 38 million people...The Christian Embassy was a little known, under the radar, extreme right-wing fundamentalist organisation that was operating in Washington DC and ministering, if you will, only to the glitterati and cognoscenti -- that is to say the senior people at the State Department, members of Congress, and political appointees, specifically in the Pentagon. If you go MilitaryReligiousFreedom.org you'll see their slick, 11-minute video. It opens up with the Christian Embassy stating that there are 25,000 men and women in the corridors and rings of the Pentagon and through the use of daily prayer breakfast and bible studies and outreach events the Christian Embassy is "mustering all of them into an intentional relationship with Jesus Christ." It's really astonishing to see. To see senior members of he U.S. military and political appointees prostituting themselves with regard to the oath they took to the constitution and supporting the biblical worldview of just this one particular group...Basically what we're facing are Fundamentalist, Dominionist Christians that are preying — P-R-A-Y and P-R-E-Y -- on non-Fundamentalist Christians including in many respects other evangelical Christians that are just not fundamentalist Christians, telling them that, "you may think you were Christian enough for us but you're not. And as a result, you will burn eternally in the fires of Hell along with the Jews.""
011007, Guardian, Atheists arise: Dawkins spreads the A-word among America's unbelievers. "Prof Dawkins appeared as one of the stars of the Atheist Alliance convention in Crystal City, Virginia, at the weekend."
201106, Guardian, Shane O'Sullivan, Did the CIA kill Bobby Kennedy ? 050668 vinder John F Kennedys bror Robert primærvalget i California. Det fejrer han på Ambassador hotel i Los Angeles og kort efter midnat skydes han af den unge palæstinenser Sirhan Sirhan. Der er uoverensstemmelser mellem TVfilmen/vidneudsagn, der placerer Sirhan et stykke foran Kennedy og obduktionsrapporten, der siger, at det dræbende skud kom tæt bagfra. Sullivan har prøvet at identificere de bipersoner, der optræder på TVfilmen/fotos og mener at have identificeret 3 personer, der kendes fra hemmelige CIAaktioner.
Ganser, Daniele: NATO'S SECRET ARMIES, p. 70. Da John F Kennedy blev præsident ændredes USAs politik overfor Italien. Kennedy havde sympati for PSI. Det passede hveren udenrigsminister Dean Rusk eller ambassadør Frederick Reinhardt i Rom. Sidstnævnte mødtes med CIA folkene Thomas Karamessines og Vernon Walters og diskuterede, hvordan man kunne stoppe Kennedy. På p. 272-3 er der en reference til en italiensk bog.
Bush har gennemført dekreter, signing statements, presidential orders, der tillader ham at erklære krigstilstand, at sætte militæret ind i USA, at regere uden parlamentarisk kontrol. Han har altså samme beføjelser, som Hitler efter Ermächtigungsgesetz !. Og : the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, 3-4000 mand med kamperfaring fra Iraq står parat i USA. Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out "Crowd Control", Naomi Wolf, AlterNet, 08/10/08. Citat: "U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman: "and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no." og det handler om Repræsentanternes Hus' behandling af loven om skatteyderbetalt tilskud til bankernepå ½ - 1 trillion (1000 milliarder) dollars. Artiklen har også dele af et interview med U.S. Air Force Colone! and patriot David Antoon: ""If the President directed the First Brigade to arrest Congress, what could stop him?" "Nothing."
Kun en impeachment/rigsretssag kan stoppe ham !
070109, Pakistan Daily, A Military Dictatorship Coming To America. THE WORSENING ECONOMIC CRISIS has prompted the US Army War College to issue a report urging the use of military troops to contain possible civil unrest throughout America.
Entitled, Strategic Shocks in Defense Strategy Development, issued on November 4,2008, the report argues that the US military must prepare for a "violent domestic dislocation provoked by an economic collapse."
The report was authored by Nathan Freier.
PUPPET-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA has appointed 3 four star military officers to his cabinet since his election on November 4, 2008. - Coming To A "Theatre" In Your Neighborhood Soon.
131209, Bill Moyers interview med Howard Zinn, The People Speak. Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport. Video and transcript. HOWARD ZINN: Exactly. I remember when I was going to, you know, high school and learning, it was such a thrilling story to read about the Transcontinental Railroad. You know, and the meeting of the two union pacific - you know, the golden spike and all of that. But I wasn't told that this railroad was built by Chinese and Irish workers who worked by the thousands - long hours, some- many of them died in sickness, and overwork, and so on. I wasn't told about these working people. ... Yeah, that is very troublesome for people at the top. They're willing to let people think about mild reforms and little changes, and incremental changes, but they don't vant people to think that we could actually transform this country into a peaceful country, that we no longer have to be a super military power.
190311, The Star. Anti-war activists arrested near White House. More than 100 anti-war protesters, including the man w/ho leaked the Pentagon Papers, were arrested outside the White House on Saturday in demonstrations marking the eighth anniversary of the U.S-led war in Iraq. ... One chant that was repeated was: "Stop the War! Expose the Lies! Free Bradley Manning!'
190710, Washington Post Dana Priest and William M. Arkin, Top Secret America. A hidden world, growing beyond control. ... * Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks. * Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored. ... Today's article describes the government's role in this expanding enterprise. Tuesday's article describes the government's dependence on private contractors. Wednesday's is a portrait of one Top Secret America community. On the Web, an extensive, searchable database built by The Post about Top Secret America is available at http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/. ... CIA Director Leon Panetta, who was also interviewed by The Post last week, said he's begun mapping out a five-year plan for his agency because the levels of spending since 9/11 are not sustainable. ... This is a national security enterprise with a more amorphous mission, defeating transnational violent extremists. Much of the information about this mission is classified. That is the reason it is so difficult to gauge the success and identify the problems of Top Secret America, including whether money is being spent wisely. The U S intelligence budget is vast, publicly announced last year as $75 billion, 21/2 times the size it was on Sept. 10, 2001. But the figure doesn't include many military activities or domestic countertenrorism programs. ... The second problem. Even before the first director, Ambassador John D. Negroponte, was on the job, the turf battles began. The Defense Department shifted billions of dollars out of one budget and into another so that the ODNI could not touch it, according to two senior officials who watched the process. The CIA reclassified some of its most sensitive information at a higher level so the National Counterterrorism Center staff, part of the ODNI, would not be allowed to see it, said former intelligence officers involved. ... Every day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls and other types of communications. The NSA sorts a fraction of those into 70 separate databases. ...Their work is greatly enhanced by computers that sort through and categorize data. But in the end, analysis requires human judgment, and half the analysts are relatively inexperienced, having been hired in the past several years, said a senior ODNI official. Contract analysts are often straight out of college and trained at corporate headquarters. .... The ODNI doesn't know exactly how many reports are issued each year. but in the process of trying to find out, the chief of analysis discovered 60 classified analytic Web sites still in operation that were supposed to have been closed down for lack of usefulness. ... the overload of hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and annual reports is actually counterproductive, say people who receive them. Some policymakers and senior officials don't dare delve into the backup clogging their computers. ... Another senior defense official recalls the day he tried to find out about a program in his budget, only to be rebuffed by a peer. "What do you mean you can't tell me? I pay for the program," he recalled saying in a heated exchange.
280710, The Future of Freedom Foundation (fff), Sheldon Richman, Government Has Run Amok Since 9/11. Those who understand the exploitative nature of big government suspected that the U.S. response to the 9/l1 attacks had little to do with the security of the American people and much to do with power and money. Still, the magnitude of the scam, as revealed by the Washington Post last week, is astonishing. .. Now the truth is out: the post-9/11 activity has been an obscene feeding frenzy at the public trough. Any resemblance to efforts at keeping Americans safe is trictly coincidental. ... It would be a mistake to chalk up the government's conduct to bureaucratic bumbling. ... Since 9/11 no fewer than 263 intelligence and counterterrorism organizations lave been "created or reorganized."
I USAs forfatning (constitution) står, at det er Kongressen, der erklærer krig. Det kan juraprofessoren Barack Obama, ikke læse: 200311, Washington Times, Timothy P. Carney, Flippant Beginning to Another War "Today I authorized the armed forces of the United States to begin a limited action in Libya in support of an international effort to protect Libyan civilians." The wording is striking because it recalls the "Authorization of the Use of Force," in Iraq an authorization that Congress provided. .... It seems pretty clear to me that the Constitution does not give the President the authority to start an offensive war with no Congressional approval. Candidate Obama agreed with me. Here he is in 2007: "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. .... But maybe Obama doesn't think 112 Tomahawk Missiles and a pledge to shoot down Libyan aircraft flying in their own airspace counts as "war" - in which case we have to wonder if we can ever know what he means by any word.
200211
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