29 Sept 2009

Sex abuse rife in other religions, says Vatican

The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its paedophilia crisis by saying the Catholic church was "busy cleaning its own house" and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger.

vatican-priests

In a defiant and provocative statement, issued following a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva, the Holy See said the majority of Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not paedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males.

The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that "available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse.

He also quoted statistics from the Christian Scientist Monitor newspaper to show that most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common.

The Guardian

Blackmail by spooks exposed

An unprecedented public meeting in Camden on Wednesday will condemn the role of the British secret service in the blackmail and intimidation of British citizens and asylum-seekers in a bid to turn them into informers.

For decades, MI5 has blackmailed and threatened individuals it believes may be in a position to spy on their communities, but the practice, although well-known in certain communities, has not been widely reported.

mi5logoThe meeting follows the brave step taken by five British Muslim community workers from London to blow the whistle on MI5's attempts to recruit them through coercion and intimidation.

Now, a number of community and campaign groups have joined together to expose the spooks and urge others who have suffered similar experiences to come forward.

Les Levidow of CAMPACC told the Star: "We had known about systematic blackmailing by MI5 going back decades through our work with the Kurdish community, who continue to be targeted in this way, especially in the case of refugees. Our only surprise was that anyone had gone public about it."

Morning Star

Honduras restricts liberties to prevent rebellion

Interim government leaders have suspended constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties in a pre-emptive strike against widespread rebellion Monday, three months to the day since they ousted President Manuel Zelaya in a military-backed coup.

Zelaya supporters said they would ignore the decree issued late Sunday and march in the streets as planned. Some already had arrived in the capital, Tegucigalpa, from outlying provinces.

HondurasCoup

"Hondurans, do not let them (succeed in the coup)."

The measures – announced just hours after Zelaya called on his backers to stage mass protest marches in what he called a “final offensive” against the government – are likely to draw harsh criticism from the international community, which has condemned the June 28 coup and urged that Zelaya be reinstated to the presidency and allowed to serve out his term, which ends in January.

Officials also issued an ultimatum to Brazil on Sunday, giving the South American country 10 days to decide whether to turn Zelaya over for arrest or grant him asylum and, presumably, take him out of Honduras. They did not specify what they would do after the 10 days were up.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva responded, saying that his government “doesn’t accept ultimatums from coup-plotters.”

More at the Mike Chambers Live Website

Also see Honduras Coup Leaders Suspend Civil Rights on CBS

28 Sept 2009

G20: Epic Undercover Police Fail

Three undercover officers attempt to infiltrate a March Against Police Brutality at the University of Pittsburgh, but fail miserably due to their horrendous disguise attempts.

Girl, 14, Dies After Having Cervical Cancer Vaccination At UK School

A 14-year-old girl has died shortly after she was given a cervical cancer vaccine at school. An "urgent" investigation is now under way by a health authority following the tragedy in Coventry.

Gardasil

The teenager became ill at Blue Coat Church of England School after having the HPV (human papillomavirus) jab and was then taken to the city's University Hospital where she later died.

She had had the vaccine as part of the national immunisation programme to protect women against the disease. A small number of other girls at the school also reported mild symptoms, such as dizziness and nausea, but were not admitted to hospital.

Sky News

Berlusconi is the only one who won’t have Michelle Obama’s hugs!

A dinner was organized for the G20 leaders in Pittsburgh and Michelle Obama received the guests by kissing and hugging except for one…

obama_sarkozyGordon Brown (Prime Minister of the UK) got his hug and kiss, the same for Angela Merkel (German Chancellor) and Stephen Harper (Canadian Prime Minister); Nicolas Sarkozy (French President) and even Dimitry Medvedev (Russian President) got it too but Silvio Berlusconi (Italian Prime Minister) only got a formal handshake!

obama_berlusconi More pictures on Izismile.com

Norman G. Finkelstein: The Holocaust Industry

"I sometimes think," writes Norman G. Finkelstein, whose parents survived the Warsaw ghetto and the concentration camps, "that American Jewry 'discovering' the Nazi Holocaust was worse than its having been forgotten. True, my parents brooded in private; the suffering they endured was not publicly validated. But wasn't that better than the current crass exploitation of Jewish martyrdom?"

finkelstein
That is the first bombshell in Finkelstein's acrimonious new book, in which he declares the recent successful pursuit of multibillion-dollar reparations from German industrial giants and Swiss bankers "an outright extortion racket." Finkelstein's downright pugilistic book delivers a wallop — mostly because few authors have had the courage or nerve to say, as he does, that the Nazi genocide has been distorted and robbed of its true moral lessons and instead has been put to use as "an indispensable ideological weapon." It's a provocative thesis that makes you want to reject it even as you are compelled to keep reading by the strength of his case and the bravura of his assertions. What Finkelstein calls "The Holocaust" — the packaged story as distinguished from the actual historical events — has become a "prize alibi" for Israeli war crimes, a cudgel for money-hungry Jewish organizations and profiteering lawyers, and a spark plug for the recrudescent ranks of anti-Semites in Europe.

More on Norman G. Finkelsteins website

G20 in Pittsburgh USA

25 Sept 2009

Prince Charles urges people to abandon car in favour of walking and public transport

The Prince, who has two Jaguars, two Audis, a Range Rover and still drives an Aston Martin given to him by the Queen on his 21st birthday, said developers had a duty to put public transport and the pedestrian at the heart of their housing schemes.

Prince Charles

Speaking about the “domination of the car over the pedestrian”, the future King said: “We must surely be able to organise ourselves... in ways in which we are not dependent on it to such a great extent for our daily needs."

The Prince said the principle of “elevating the pedestrian above the car” was one of the guiding factors of Poundbury – his model development in Dorset. The importance of “pedestrian friendly public space” is central to the Poundbury ethos.

This kind of public transport-oriented development is fundamental to achieving the ultimate goal of a low carbon community, and it is very likely that such communities, far from being austere, will actually become the sought-after places where people will choose to live and spend their time.”

Telegraph

David Icke talks to Freedom Central in Amsterdam

Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10; Part 11; Part 12; Part 13

David Icke Website

Military Attacks American Citizens With Sound Weapons & Tear Gas At G20

National Guard, police, and other military units attacked American citizens with tear gas and deployed sound cannons today in response to an “unpermitted protest” as bedlam hit the streets on the first day of the G20 summit in downtown Pittsburgh.

The First Amendment is officially dead in the United States. If this isn’t martial law then we don’t know what is. Associated Press photographs show National Guard troops in full fatigues with active duty military running checkpoints that make the roadblocks in Iraq positively friendly. Like Iraq, America is now a conquered nation occupied by troops whose primary function is to oppress anyone who tries to express the freedoms that they once enjoyed.

Infowars.com

More UK veterans in justice system than soldiers serving in Afghanistan

The number of former servicemen in prison or on probation or parole is now more than double the total British deployment in Afghanistan, according to a new survey. An estimated 20,000 veterans are in the criminal justice system, with 8,500 behind bars, almost one in 10 of the prison population.

SONY DSC

The proportion of those in prison who are veterans has risen by more than 30% in the last five years.

The study by the probation officers' union Napo uncovers the hidden cost of recent conflicts. The snapshot survey of 90 probation case histories of convicted veterans shows a majority with chronic alcohol or drug problems, and nearly half suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression as a result of their wartime experiences on active service.

Those involved had served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. They are most likely to have been convicted of a violent offence, particularly domestic violence.

The Guardian

24 Sept 2009

Gazprom Wins Final Approval to Build Disputed Petersburg Tower

OAO Gazprom, Russia’s natural-gas exporter, won final approval from the city of St. Petersburg to build what may become Europe’s tallest skyscraper, overcoming objections from local residents and UNESCO.

gazprom

St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko awarded Gazprom exemptions to the former czarist capital’s zoning laws that allow for the 400-meter (1,300-foot) Okhta Center project to proceed, the city government said in a statement today.

St. Petersburg’s 306-year-old historic city center may be removed from the World Heritage Site list if the skyscraper is built, UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, warned last month. Designed by U.K.-based RMJM Architects, the Okhta Center will serve as the headquarters for state-run Gazprom’s oil unit, OAO Gazprom Neft, and include a concert hall, art museum, hotel and a business center.

“This is a monstrous, barbaric decision,” said David Sarkisyan, director of the Moscow Museum of Architecture. “This tower is a symbol of political ego and people will always resent it,” Sarkisyan said by phone from the Russian capital.

Bloomberg.com

Military Checkpoints in the US

WeAreChange Ohio traveled to Newport, Kentucky to investigate the military checkpoints that appeared around the downtown area on September 6, 2009. Officially, this was done for traffic control purposes during the annual Riverfest celebration that is held on both sides of the Ohio River.
Military Police from the U.S. Army National Guard performed a series of tasks throughout the day, which included aiding the local police to close bridges across the river, and to reverse traffic along Monmouth Street in Newport.

We Are Change Ohio

Qaddafi Hijacks Spotlight at U.N.

In his first appearance at the United Nations, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi railed against the Security Council, saying it should be called the "Terrorism Council."

After briefly congratulating President Barack Obama on his first U.N. appearance as president, Qaddafi launched into an attack of the U.N. charter and the makeup of the Security Council, saying the institutions are outdated and unfair. The Libyan president said the U.N.'s General Assembly was "like a décor" for the permanent members of the Security Council.

The five permanent members of the Security Council are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. All five hold veto powers. There are an additional 10 rotating members, including Libya, whose membership ends this year. "This is terrorism," Qaddafi said through a translator. "Anyone who says 'I am higher than the General Assembly' should leave and be alone."
The Libyan leader's speech ran 1 hour and 36 minutes, no threat to the record set by Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 1960, at 4 1/2 hours. Speakers are supposed to limit themselves to 15 minutes.

CBS News

22 Sept 2009

Al Gore Talks about Global Governace and the NWO

Calais Immigrant 'Jungle' Evacuation: French Police Begin Dismantling Camp

French police have begun an operation to clear a notorious immigrant squatter camp on the outskirts of Calais.

Police public order teams gathered at local barracks in the French port, ahead of an operation to detain illegal immigrants and demolish the make-shift camp, known as 'the Jungle'.

As the first dozen officers entered the camp a small group of rights activists formed a human chain trying to bar access to the migrants, shouting "no border, no nation, stop deportation".

Police started leading out the migrants one by one who followed without resistance amid the angry shouts of the protesters and with dozens of journalists looking on.

A dozen immigrants who were refusing to move were dragged and carried out of the camp by police.

Some migrants were still eating their breakfast in tents when police descended on the site.
The main focus is on an area about half a mile south-east of the main port, known as the 'Pashtun jungle' due to the fact it is largely populated by Afghan migrants.
It is estimated there are currently around 300 migrants living in the Pashtun jungle, which is significantly fewer than in previous months.

Sky News

19 Sept 2009

Anger at Iranian Holocaust denial

The Iranian president's latest denial of the Nazi Holocaust has drawn strong condemnation from Western powers.

Speaking in the capital, Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust was a "a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim".

Holocaust_

Germany said the comments were a "disgrace to his country" while the US said they would "isolate Iran further". Mr Ahmadinejad made the remarks at an annual rally where opposition supporters clashed with police.  BBC NEWS

Colombia scraps scandal-hit agency

Colombia's state intelligence agency is to be dismantled following a series of scandals involving it agents, the Bogota government has said.  
More than 40 agents have been accused of illegally tapping the telephones of judges, journalists, human rights workers and opposition politicians.

DAS

"The DAS will be dissolved in order to make way for a new civilian intelligence agency," Felipe Munoz, the intelligence agency chief, said in a statement posted on Colombia's presidential website on Friday.
"A definitive change is needed."

A bill will be presented to congress next week proposing the end of the DAS and outlining the structure of the new intelligence agency, according to the statement. Munoz said that the majority of the current agency's 6,000 employees would be transferred to the criminal investigative unit of the police and other investigative bodies.  More on Al Jazeera

Poles, Czechs: US missile defense shift a betrayal

Poles and Czechs voiced deep concern Friday at President Barack Obama's decision to scrap a Bush-era missile defense shield planned for their countries.

obama-medvedev

"Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back," the Polish tabloid Fakt declared on its front page.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski said he was concerned that Obama's new strategy leaves Poland in a dangerous "gray zone" between Western Europe and the old Soviet sphere.

Recent events have rattled nerves throughout central and eastern Europe, a region controlled by Moscow during the Cold War, including the war last summer between Russia and Georgia and ongoing efforts by Russia to regain influence in Ukraine. A Russian cutoff of gas to Ukraine last winter left many Europeans without heat.

"Russia is testing us. It is testing how much we are afraid of it. It's pity that we won't be able to complete the test," said former Czech President Vaclav Havel.

The Associated Press

Former CIA Chiefs Ask Obama to Stop CIA Probe

Seven former CIA directors sent a letter to President Obama on Friday urging him to use his authority to reverse Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to re-open and pursue cases of prisoner abuse within the CIA in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

ciaIn August, Holder appointed a U.S. prosecutor to begin a criminal probe of CIA questioning of terror suspects during the Bush administration, reversing the course set by the Bush administration. The investigation potentially exposes CIA employees and agency contractors to criminal prosecution.
"Attorney General Holder's decision to re-open the criminal investigation creates an atmosphere of continuous jeopardy for those whose cases the Department of Justice had previously declined to prosecute," the former officials wrote. "Moreover, there is no reason to expect that the re-opened criminal investigation will remain narrowly focused."

CBS News

18 Sept 2009

Almost 4 million Kenyans on food aid as drought deepens

The devastating drought sweeping across Kenya is causing widespread hunger, thirst and, in the case of cattle, death. Pictures of hundreds of cow carcasses being tipped into a mass grave near Nairobi highlight the scale of the natural disaster – and the clumsy or even negligent efforts of the government to deal with it.

kenya

Aware that the drought was likely to cause pastoralists to lose significant parts of their herds, the government announced a 500m shilling (£4.1m) plan last month to buy weak animals from farmers for 8,000 shillings (£65) each. The plan provided for the animals to be transported by truck to the Kenya meat commission depot in Athi River, a town near Nairobi, where they would be held, fed, and slaughtered, with the meat sold to recoup costs.

But many of the trucks transporting the cows hundreds of miles from as far away as north-eastern province, had insufficient water and food on board, causing large numbers of animals to die along the way. Of those that arrived alive, many soon perished owing to a lack of pasture in the holding bay.

The botched operation has caused anger and embarrassment among MPs, especially given that the government has been asking donors for urgent financial help in feeding the nearly 10 million Kenyans who are food insecure.

The Guardian

17 Sept 2009

Has Osama Bin Laden been dead for seven years - and are the U.S. and Britain covering it up to continue war on terror?

Written by political analyst and philosopher Professor David Ray Griffin, former emeritus professor at California's Claremont School of Theology, it is provoking shock waves - for it goes into far more detail about his supposed death and suggests there has been a cover-up by the West.

The book claims that Bin Laden died of kidney failure, or a linked complaint, on December 13, 2001, while living in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains close to the border with Waziristan.

osama

His burial took place within 24 hours, in line with Muslim religious rules, and in an unmarked grave, which is a Wahhabi custom.

The author insists that the many Bin Laden tapes made since that date have been concocted by the West to make the world believe Bin Laden is alive. The purpose? To stoke up waning support for the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To understand Griffin's thesis, we must remember the West's reaction to 9/11, that fateful sunny September day in 2001. Within a month, on Sunday, October 7, the U.S. and Britain launched massive retaliatory air strikes in the Tora Bora region where they said 'prime suspect' Bin Laden was living 'as a guest of Afghanistan'.

This military offensive ignored the fact that Bin Laden had already insisted four times in official Al Qaeda statements made to the Arab press that he played no role in 9/11.

More on Mail Online

US to Pump Thousands of ‘Combat Enablers’ Into Afghanistan

Top US defense officials say that roughly 3,000 additional troops, which are classified not as combat troops but rather “combat enablers,” will be deployed to Afghanistan in the coming days.

afghanistan

Officials say the decision was made roughly two weeks ago, which puts it at about the same time that the Pentagon was publicly announcing that it was pulling 14,000 support troops from the nation to add 14,000 more “trigger pullers” to the conflict.

Rather, it now seems that the non-combat troops are being replaced by the combat troops, and then new non-combat troops are being added as well, effectively an escalation of the number of troops involved in the conflict under the guise of adding “non-combat” troops. This escalation comes in addition to the expected request of another 20,000 troops from Gen. McChrystal.

Antiwar.com

15 Sept 2009

UN condemns 'war crimes' in Gaza

There is evidence that both Israeli and Palestinian forces committed war crimes in the recent Gaza conflict, the official UN report says.

gaza

The report criticises Israel for using "disproportionate force" and "collective punishment " during the three-week assault ending January 2009. It also condemned Palestinian rocket attacks, which sparked the offensive.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166.

Israel, which had refused to co-operate with the UN fact-finding team, said the report was "clearly one-sided".

BBC NEWS

Schwarz zu Blau

Today some German music by Peter Fox. More here

Photo a Big Problem for Petite Prez

It was a short photo-opportunity that's turned into a long story. Something about French President Nicholas Sarkozy's visit to an auto parts plant in northern France didn't measure up.

sarkozy_meets-small-children
None of the workers in the white coats chosen to stand around Sarkozy was taller than the French president, who's listed in the program as five-foot-five and is known to be a little vertically sensitive. Sarkozy surrounded by shorter people does not happen often - and this wasn't an accident.

presindents
The President's aids are accused of busing in workers who satisfied one small criteria: size. When one worker was asked if she was chosen for her size, she replied, "oui."
Sarkozy's office says the idea they shrunk the audience is stretching the truth, but the French public has become used to their president's attempts to gain stature.

CBS News

Morales: US planning coups in Latin America

The Bolivian president has accused the United States of planning coups in Latin America after Washington reached an agreement with Colombia over military bases.
"In Latin America, where there is a US military base there are military coups," Evo Morales told Bolivian immigrants living in Spain on Sunday.

evo_morales
Morales along with his allies in South America have repeatedly criticized the deal between Colombia and the US that would give the US military access to seven Colombian bases for a 10 year period.
"To the social movements of Europe and the world: Help us put an end to military bases in Latin American," he said, citing the Bolivian constitution that bans foreign bases on its soil.
According to US officials, American troops will continue to be involved in helping Colombia in counter-drug operations and in supporting its fight against leftist rebels.

Press Tv

Hillbilly Anti-Obama protest

hillbilly

This event had been promoted as a taxpayer “tea party,” but the crowd’s concerns were wide ranging, from outrage at ACORN and Obama’s socialist cadre known as Czars, to Obama’s untruthfulness. Protesters also displayed signs mocking Nancy Pelosi and others for smearing the grassroots movement as “astroturfers” and as an angry mob.

whatreallyhappened.com

13 Sept 2009

The ghost fleet of the recession

on a sleepy stretch of shoreline at the far end of Asia, is surely the biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history. Their numbers are equivalent to the entire British and American navies combined; their tonnage is far greater. Container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers - all should be steaming fully laden between China, Britain, Europe and the US, stocking camera shops, PC Worlds and Argos depots ahead of the retail pandemonium of 2009. But their water has been stolen.

ghost-fleet

They are a powerful and tangible representation of the hurricanes that have been wrought by the global economic crisis; an iron curtain drawn along the coastline of the southern edge of Malaysia's rural Johor state, 50 miles east of Singapore harbour.  More on Mail Online

11 Sept 2009

Charlie Sheen's Video Message to President Obama

Gay Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing finally gets apology for 'appalling' persecution

Gordon Brown last night issued a posthumous apology to Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing for the 'appalling' way he was punished for being gay.

The Prime Minister said he was 'deeply sorry' for the inhumane treatment of the Cambridge mathematician  -  53 years after his death.  Mail Online

Turing reported a crime to the police. During the investigation Turing acknowledged a sexual relationship with Murray. Homosexual acts were illegal in the United Kingdom at that time, and so both were charged with gross indecency under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, the same crime that Oscar Wilde had been convicted of more than fifty years earlier.

alan turing

Turing was given a choice between imprisonment or probation conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido. He accepted chemical castration via oestrogen hormone injections, which lasted for a year. One of the known side effects of these hormone injections was the development of breasts, something which plagued Turing for the rest of his life.

Turing's conviction led to the removal of his security clearance, and barred him from continuing with his cryptographic consultancy for GCHQ. At the time, there was acute public anxiety about spies and homosexual entrapment by Soviet agents, possibly due to the recent exposure of the first two members of the Cambridge Five, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, as KGB double agents. Turing was never accused of espionage but, as with all who had worked at Bletchley Park, was prevented from discussing his war work.  Wikipedia

10 Sept 2009

Jesus Christ, The Musical

Israeli Government Ads Warn Against Marrying Non-Jews

The Israeli government has launched a television and internet advertising campaign urging Israelis to inform on Jewish friends and relatives abroad who may be in danger of marrying non-Jews.
The advertisements, employing what the Israeli media described as “scare tactics”, are designed to stop assimilation through intermarriage among young diaspora Jews by encouraging them to move to Israel.

Assimilating

The campaign, which cost US$800,000 (Dh2.9 million), was created in response to reports that half of all Jews outside Israel marry non-Jews. It is just one of several initiatives by the Israeli state and private organisations to try to increase the size of Israel’s Jewish population.
According to one of the advertisements, voiced over by one of the country’s leading news anchors, assimilation is “a strategic national threat” and warns that “more than 50 per cent of Diaspora youth assimilate and are lost to us.”

The National Newspaper - AlterNet

Spain's top judge appears in court

Baltasar Garzon, Spain's most well-known judge, has appeared before the country's supreme court accused of overstepping his authority in a case involving Spanish civil war atrocities.

The court agreed in May to investigate a complaint from an ultraconservative group that accuses Garzon of knowingly acting without jurisdiction in ordering an inquiry into abuses of civilians by forces loyal to General Francisco Franco, Spain's former leader.

spain

Garzon, who became famous for indicting Augusto Pinochet and Osama bin Laden, made no comment to journalists as he arrived at court on Wednesday in a rare case of a Spanish judge being formally probed in legal proceedings.

A handful of supporters cheered Garzon as he went in a side entrance for a closed-door session.

Among those standing outside the court was Gervasio Puerta, 88, who fought against Franco in the war and ended up spending eight years in jail. He said: "It is an injustice to try a person who wants to defend those of us who suffered under Franco." 
Garzon's 2008 investigation was the first in official inquiry in Spain and was widely seen as seeking an indictment of the Franco government itself.

Al Jazeera

US Girl Scouts prepare for war, hurricanes, pandemics, terror attacks and other disasters

The United States wants to enlist its 3.4 million Girl Scouts in the effort to combat hurricanes, pandemics, terror attacks and other disasters.

girlscouts

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a campaign Tuesday to entice the blue, brown and green-clad multitudes to be even more prepared, with the promise of a new patch if they pitch in.

The young scouts will be able to emblazon their sashes or vests with the patch if they undergo the training which readies them for an emergency. "This new preparedness patch will increase citizen preparedness and enhance our country's readiness for disasters," said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in a statement.

"As a former Girl Scout, I know the 'Be Prepared' motto well, and I look forward to working with the Girl Scouts to spread the preparedness message to all of our nation's citizens."

The move is part of a month-long government effort to make Americans better able to cope with natural and man-made disasters.

Yahoo! News

Putin: The dark rise to power

Ten years ago this month, Russia was rocked by a series of mysterious apartment bombings that left hundreds dead. It was by riding the ensuing wave of fear and terror that a then largely unknown Vladimir Putin rose to become the most powerful man in the country. But there were questions about the nature of those bombings - and disturbing evidence that the perpetrators might actually have been working for the Russian government.

putin_shooting-gun In the years since then, the people who had been questioning the official version of events began one by one to go silent or even turn up dead.

Kavkazcenter.com

GQ Censors Article About False Flag Bombings in Russia

9 Sept 2009

U.S. Marines In The Caucasus

On August 21 the chief of the U.S. Marine Corps, General James Conway, arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to begin the training of his host country's military for deployment to the Afghan war theater under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
"During the meeting the sides discussed a broad spectrum of Georgian-U.S bilateral relations and the situation in Georgia's occupied territory."  Occupied territory(ies) meant Abkhazia and South Ossetia, now independent nations with Russian troops stationed in both.

us marines caucasus
Conway met with Georgian Defense Minister Davit (Vasil) Sikharulidze, who on the same day gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he said that the training provided by the U.S. Marine Corps could be employed, in addition to counterinsurgency operations in South Asia, in his country's "very difficult security environment."

U.S. Marines and Green Berets have become regular fixtures in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Kuwait and the Horn of Africa over the past decade. With the widening of the Afghan war they are soon to take up permanent residence in the capital of Pakistan, in the Caucasus, in the Black Sea region and the Caspian Sea Basin among other locales.

globalresearch.ca

8 Sept 2009

Britain is 'surveillance society'

Uluru being 'used as a toilet'

Some people who climb Uluru are using it as a toilet, a tour operator in Alice Springs says.

uluru

"If the wishes of the traditional owners prevail that the full closure of the rock should progress in terms of climbing, we'll respect that."

ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Karzai says United States wants to manipulate him

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has accused the United States of denouncing his friends and family in an effort to undermine his own position and make him more malleable.

In a wide-ranging interview with Le Figaro daily, released on Monday, Karzai also condemned a NATO airstrike last week on hijacked fuel tankers, and said he supported a mooted shift in U.S. military tactics in Afghanistan.

karzai

Karzai, who is closing in on a first-round victory in last month's presidential election, revealed strained relations with the United States and said U.S. criticism of his running mate, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, was actually aimed at him.

"The Americans attack Karzai in an underhand fashion because they want him to be more tractable. They are wrong. It is in their interest ... that Afghanistan's people respect their president," he said, referring to himself in the third person.

"It is in no-one's interest to have an Afghan president who has become an American puppet," he added.

Reuters AlertNet

7 Sept 2009

Poor pay, worse jobs and terrible bonuses too - sexism in the city lives

Women (in the UK) earn around 80% less than men in performance-related pay at some of the UK's leading finance companies, revealing a "shocking disparity", according to an official inquiry by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Findings also show more than eight out of 10 women starting new jobs are paid lower average salaries than men.

The "massive gender gap" is one of the highest in the UK economy and entrenched by recruitment patterns, said the commission. It is calling for an overhaul in recruitment practices in the industry which provided 1.3 million jobs in Britain last year.

superheros

The disparity is revealed after the inquiry, the first of its kind, questioned 44 top firms which between them employ almost one quarter (22.6%)of finance sector workers. A key factor is believed to be the sector's age profile, where the majority of workers are between 25 and 39, the age at which women have childcare responsibilities.

The commission's inquiry found women earned an average of £2,875 in annual performance pay compared to £14,554 for men.  The Guardian

See also: 'Justice League' Cancellation Could Lead to 'Superhero Gap'

6 Sept 2009

Israeli soldiers fire on Al Jazeera correspondent

Missing channel pirate ship carried Russian arms for Iran

A cargo ship that vanished in the Channel was carrying arms to Iran and was being tracked by Mossad, the Israeli security service, according to sources in both Russia and Israel.

The Arctic Sea, officially carrying a cargo of timber worth £1.3m, disappeared en route from Finland to Algeria on July 24. It was recovered off west Africa on August 17 when eight alleged hijackers were arrested. The Kremlin has consistently denied that the vessel was carrying a secret cargo. It claims the ship was hijacked by criminals who demanded a £1m ransom.

Arctic_Sea

The official version was challenged by sources in Tel Aviv and Moscow who claimed the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, Russia’s most advanced anti-aircraft weapon, while undergoing repairs in the Russian port of Kaliningrad.

Mossad, which closely monitors arms supplies to Iran, is said to have tipped off the Russian government that the shipment had been sold by former military officers linked to the underworld.

The Kremlin then ordered a naval rescue mission which involved destroyers and submarines. Any evidence that the Kremlin had let advanced weaponry fall into the hands of criminals or be sold to Iran would be highly embarrassing, so military officials believe a “cover story” was concocted.

Times Online

Take more babies away from bad parents

Many more UK children need to be taken into care at birth to stop them being damaged beyond repair by inadequate parents, the chief executive of the children's charity Barnardo's has told the Observer.

baby

Martin Narey called for less effort to be directed at "fixing families that can't be fixed" and for social workers to be braver about removing children at risk .

After revelations about the neglect and dysfunctional background of two young brothers from Doncaster who viciously attacked an 11-year-old boy and his nine-year-old nephew, social workers have once again come under fire for failing to intervene at an early stage.

The Observer

Israel furious at claim it harvests Palestinian organs

Government officials and commentators in Israel described the report as anti-Semitic and libellous.

Above an article that quoted claims made by Palestinians, Aftonbladet, Sweden's largest-circulation daily newspaper, carried the headline: "Our sons are plundered for their organs". The article alleged Israeli authorities sanctioned such acts because of a shortage of organs in the country.

palestinian

Daniel Seaman, who heads Israel's government press office, said the article played on "vile anti-Semitic themes".

Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman, said officials had met Sweden's ambassador to Israel and had "protested" about the article. He said a formal complaint would be issued soon.

The Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv also condemned the article, saying that it was "as shocking and appalling to us Swedes as it is to Israeli citizens".  Telegraph

Swedish article on organ harvesting was cheap and harmful journalism - Haaretz

Obama adviser Van Jones resigns

Van Jones, an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly "green jobs" with the White House Council on Environmental Quality was linked to efforts suggesting a government role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.

Madonna in Israel but not to the West Bank

Madonna is winding up her world tour in, of all places, the Prime Minister of Israel's residence.

madonna-israeli

Madonna poses with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara

She is not embarking on a political career. Benjamin Netanyahu just seems to be the last person she's got round to in a long list of assignments on her trip here.

She has also been to the Western Wall, the holiest place Jews can pray. She has paid respects at the graves of dead Kabbalah rabbis, while receiving scorn from living ones for her immodesty and not-so abstemious lifestyle.

The Queen of Pop has dined with the Queen of Israeli politics, opposition leader Tzipi Livni. And a real Queen laid on a helicopter for her to visit the legendary ruins of Petra over the border in Jordan.

What she has not done is meet Palestinian leaders or bothered to go into the West Bank, apparently.

Sky News

Yemeni group denies fresh fighting

Houthi fighters in northern Yemen have denied government accusations that they have broken a ceasefire aimed at allowing humanitarian aid into the conflict zone.

Mohammad Abdel-Salam, a spokesman for the Houthi fighters, said on Saturday that the fighting had stopped.

houthi

The government is "making up excuses to keep the conflict going", The Associated Press news agency quoted Abdel-Salam as saying.

Earlier, a military spokesman said dozens of people had been killed and wounded in Yemen's Hafr Sufyan and al-Malahid regions of northern Saada province just hours after the ceasefire went into effect. No official confirmation of the toll was available.

Sanaa had announced a unilateral ceasefire in its Scorched Earth offensive against the Houthi fighters on Friday. The move was intended to allow humanitarian aid into a conflict zone that has created thousands of refugees.

Al JazeeraYemen Times - Profile: Yemen's Houthi fighters  on Al JazeeraAlso see the Zaidiyyah entry in Wikipedia (Houthi are a Zaidi movement)

4 Sept 2009

Bank Of America Asks Armless Man For Thumbprint, Then Denies To Cash His Check

All Steve Valdez wanted to do was cash a check from his wife during his work break. Bank of America insisted that Mr. Valdez provide a thumbprint to verify his identity, which he was unable to do because he was born with no arms. Despite the bank teller acknowledging this, and Mr. Valdez providing two forms of photo identification, the bank still refused to cash his check.

HuffingtonPost

Gabon riots follow Bongo poll win

Soldiers have clashed with opposition supporters after Ali Bongo, the son of Gabon's long-time ruler Omar Bongo, was declared the winner of the country's disputed presidential election.

ali_bongo

Pierre Mamboundou, a rival of Bongo's, was seriously wounded in the capital, Libreville.

Rioting also broke out in Port Gentil in the central African nation's oil zone, French media reported.

Opposition supporters in Port Gentil, Gabon's second-largest city, set fire to France's consulate general after Bongo's victory was announced, witnesses said.

Prisoners who had been set free or escaped from a local jail were roaming the streets and set fire to a petrol station, a resident told French state radio France Info.

Al Jazeera English - Africa - Gabon riots follow Bongo poll win

3 Sept 2009

We Are All One

Watch this inspiring short film now! - Indigenous Native American Prophecy links all of life and the future of our planet

Change the global markets to protect the future of our beautiful world. Every single person should make aware choices to contribute to help our environment. Spread the understanding that everyone has an individual power to make a difference, we are the consumers in this world, what we don't buy, doesn't sell.

We Are All OneWatch large HD version on YouTube

WWF Strongly Condemns Unauthorized Ad Campaign

wnf

“WWF strongly condemns this offensive and tasteless ad and did not authorize its production or publication. It is our understanding that it was a concept offered by an outside advertising agency in Brazil. The concept was summarily rejected by WWF and should never have seen the light of day. It is an unauthorized use of our logo and we are aggressively pursuing action to have it removed from websites where it is being currently featured. We strongly condemn the messages and the images portrayed in this ad. On behalf of WWF, here in the US and around the world, we can promise you this ad does not in any way reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people of our organization.”

WWF

2 Sept 2009

Moskou in slow-motion

United for Truth

United for Truth is a citizen initiative. A European platform - not an organization - that unites people, various peaceful Non-Governmental and Non-Profit organizations over Europe. The main goal is to give every citizen the possibility to learn about the things they cannot learn about via the various mainstream media, and therefore we organize this third meeting in front of the US embassy (12:00pm) and front of the EU parliament (16:00pm) in Brussels on September 11th, 2009. Something wasn't right about the way the 9/11 attacks occurred and about how those tragic events had been "used" since that moment. We demand a real, criminal and independent investigation. We want the power to be back to the people.

We strongly reject any form of racism, fascism, any form of integrism or extremism and try to be straight forward, we believe we are doing a great job in being Big Brothers worst nightmare: we think (and act) by ourselves! ... What about you?

Check platform / Check the partners

United for Truth European 9/11 Truth Protest

Was Bubonic Plague Knight's Templar Revenge?

The Knights Templar were a military and religious order that also accumulated great wealth through their banking and lending practices. They were disbanded and brought under the Inquisition in 1307. They transferred their massive gold and silver holdings to Switzerland and turned their fleet of vessels into Pirates that plundered the vessels of Catholic Europe.

Black_Death

Did the disbanded and heavily persecuted Knights spread the Bubonic Plague against their enemies in Europe? They definitely had a strong motive(s).

1. They wanted revenge on the Catholic Church and those monarchs that had caused their downfall.

2. They wanted to create a new Templar Republic on the ashes of the Catholic Monarchies of Europe. "Order out of Chaos"

3. The Plague was definitely brought into Europe by sea from the East (Turkey). Templar Ships were by far the dominant force on the sea, whether as "disguised" merchant vessels or as Pirate Vessels that flew the Templar battle flag (skull and bones) and traveled the East-West Route more than any other organization.

plague

4. The map above shows that the Plague started in Europe in areas once dominated by the Templars, like Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. The plague on these islands would have effected the Knights Hospitallers (who had taken over the Templar holdings and replaced them in the Catholic Church) at the very heart of their order.

5. The spread of the Plague throughout Europe also destroyed the faith of many that followed Catholicism and opened the door for the Protestant revolution in areas still under the Templar influence (Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain etc.)

6. The plague hit only a few decades after the order was formally destroyed.

It was the Templars and their descendants that gained the most from the spread of the plague and the plague did originate in the heart of the Knights Hospitallers who were sworn enemies of the Templars. The disease also struck a mortal blow to the Catholic Church in many parts of Europe.

The descendants of these same mass murderers still govern our world through Free-masonry and the Illuminati. They control the worlds economy and currencies. They own our military, which pursues their goals, and they still want Plato's Republic established under one world government. Add to that, their desire for one master race at the expense of all others and it seems to me that the "Biological warfare" option is still very much on the table with these global criminals.

"Dead Man Musings"

1 Sept 2009

John Pilger: Obama Is A Corporate Marketing Creation

John Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US.

Wakeymedia2 (see some great Pilger documentaries)