151 Congressmen Profit From Iraq War

Democrats Top The List


[By Ralph Forbes, American Free Press | Monday, 28 April, 2008.]
Who profits from the Iraq war? More than a quarter of senators and congressmen have invested at least $196 million of their own money in companies doing business with the Department of Defense (DoD) that profit from the death and destruction in Iraq. According to the latest reports, 151 members of Congress invested close to a quarter-billion in companies that received defense contracts of at least $5 million in 2006. These companies got more than $275.6 billion from the government in 2006, or $755 million per day, according to FedSpending.org, a website of the watchdog group OMBWatch.

Congressmen gave themselves a loophole so they only have to report their assets in broad ranges. Thus, they can be off as much as 160 percent. (Try giving the IRS an estimate like that.) In 2004, the first full year after the present Iraq war began, Republican and Democratic lawmakers—both hawks and doves—invested between $74.9 million and $161.3 million in companies under contract with the DoD. In 2006 Democrats had at least $3.7 million invested in the defense sector alone, compared to the Republicans’ “only” $577,500. As the war raged on, so did the billions of profits—and personal investments by Congress members in war contractors, which increased 5 percent from 2004 to 2006.

Investments in these contractors yielded Congress members between $15.8 million and $62 million in personal income from 2004 through 2006, through dividends, capital gains, royalties and interest. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who are two of Congress’s wealthiest members, were among the lawmakers who garnered the most income from war contractors between 2004 and 2006: Sensenbrenner got at least $3.2 million and Kerry reaped at least $2.6 million. Members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees which oversee the Iraq war had between $32 million and $44 million invested in companies with DoD contracts. War hawk Sen. Joe Lieberman (IConn.), chairman of the defense-related Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, had at least $51,000 invested in these companies in 2006. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who voted for Bush’s war, had stock in defense companies, such as Honeywell, Boeing and Raytheon, but sold the stock in May 2007.

Of the 151 members whose investments are tied to the “defense” (war) industry, as far as we know, not one of them offered to donate their bloodstained profits to the national treasury to offset the terrible debt they have imposed. Has one of them even offered to donate one cent of their war profits to lessen the debt that increases more than $1 million a minute? When our boys and girls are wounded the government bills them to return their reenlistment bonus. They have to return any pay they received while they were hospitalized. They have to pay for their helmets and uniforms that are destroyed in the hell of war. But they keep on fighting for these politicians’ right to keep their war profits.

• Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) $3,001,006 to $5,015,001
• Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) $250,001 to $500,000
• Rep. Kenny Ewell Marchant (R-Tex.) $162,074 to $162,074
• Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) $115,002 to $300,000
• Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) $115,002 to $300,000
• Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) $100,870 to $100,870
• Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) $65,646 to $65,646
• Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) $50,008 to $227,000
• Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) $50,001 to $100,000
• Rep. Stephen Ira Cohen (D-Tenn.) $45,003 to $150,000

(Link.)

4 Million Iraqi Orphans

500,000 Of Them Living On The Street. Some Liberation...


(Video running time: 2m:57s)

Killing Off The Elderly

"Anti-psychotics can double risk of death and triple risk of stroke in people with dementia, heavily sedate them and accelerate cognitive decline." -Jeremy Wright, Chairman of the Parliamentary Group On Dementia

[By Jenny Hope, Daily Mail | Monday, 28 April, 2008.]
Thousands of dementia patients are being given dangerous anti-psychotic drugs just to keep them quiet, an official report has found. The medication, which could increase the risk of premature death, is prescribed to control agitation, delusions, sleep disturbance and aggression. It is not licensed to treat Alzheimer's. But an official investigation has found that care-home staff are using the drugs as a first resort to control the behaviour of difficult patients with dementia.

A report from the all-party parliamentary group on dementia warns that almost three-quarters of those taking the drugs, up to 105,000, are given them inappropriately - at a cost of more than £60million a year. There is also evidence that side effects can double the risk of users dying prematurely. The report, called A Last Resort, says there is no regulation of their use and urges the Government to stop their over-prescription. M.P.s are calling for three-monthly checks on Alzheimer's patients taking "dangerous" anti-psychotic drugs, to review their condition.

Jeremy Wright, chairman of the all-party group, said: "A Last Resort shines a light on one of the darkest areas of dementia care. Anti-psychotics can double risk of death and triple risk of stroke in people with dementia, heavily sedate them and accelerate cognitive decline. The Government must end this needless abuse. Best practice guidelines are not enough - safeguards must be put in place to ensure anti-psychotics are always a last resort." (Full story here.)

Humanzees?

[By Jenny Hawthorne, The Scotsman | Tuesday, 29 April, 2008.]
A leading scientist has warned a new species of "humanzee," created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting. In an interview with The Scotsman, Dr. Calum MacKellar, director of research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, warned the controversial draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill did not prevent human sperm being inseminated into animals. He said if a female chimpanzee was inseminated with human sperm the two species would be closely enough related that a hybrid could be born. He said scientists could possibly try to develop the new species to fill the demand for organ donors.

He said scientists could possibly try to develop the new species to fill the demand for organ donors. Other hybrid species already created include crossed tigers and lions and sheep and goats. Dr. MacKellar said he feared the consequences if scientists made a concerted effort to cross humans with chimpanzees. He said: "Nobody knows what they would get if they tried hard enough. The insemination of animals with human sperm should be prohibited. The Human Fertilisation and Embryo Bill prohibits the placement of animal sperm into a woman. The reverse is not prohibited. It's not even mentioned. This should not be the case." He said if the process was not banned, scientists would be "very likely" to try it, and it would be likely humans and chimps could successfully reproduce. (Full story here.)

Hamid Karzai Tells U.S. And Britain: Stop Arresting The Taliban

Afghan President Says U.S. And British Troops Are Undermining His Authority And Stopping Insurgents From Laying Down Their Arms


[By Jason Burke, Guardian.co.uk | Sunday, 27 April, 2008.]
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has called on British and American troops to stop arresting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, saying that their operations undermined his government's authority and were counter-productive. The stinging attack, made in an interview with the New York Times published yesterday, is the latest in a series of rows between Western governments with troops in Afghanistan and the elected leader of the country. Western diplomats expressed surprise at the Afghan leader's criticism and the Foreign Office played down the row yesterday.

Karzai said he wanted American forces to stop arresting suspected Taliban members and their supporters, saying that fear of arrest and their past mistreatment were discouraging them from coming forward to lay down their arms. "It has to happen," he said. "We have to make sure that when a Talib comes to Afghanistan... he is safe from arrest by the coalition." Efforts at winning over Taliban fighters or sympathisers are mired in confusion: N.A.T.O. allies in Afghanistan are divided over the exact nature of the amnesty or "reconciliation programme" for insurgents.

Karzai also attacked the number of civilian deaths inflicted by the coalition. Although levels of "collateral damage" inflicted by N.A.T.O. operations have dropped substantially, deaths still continue. Two women and two children were killed recently in an air raid by N.A.T.O. troops on a suspected Taliban position after a firefight. "I want an end to civilian casualties," the Afghan president said in the interview. "And as much as one may argue it's difficult, I don't accept that argument." (Full story here.)

Four Children Among Seven Palestinians Killed In Latest Israeli Massacre

[Ma'an News Agency | Monday, 28 April, 2008.]
Seven Palestinians were killed, including a mother and her four young children, and at least seven others were injured when Israeli tanks shelled a house in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, witnesses and medics said. Palestinian medics identified the mother, Khadra Abu Mu'attaq, and her children Ahmad Abu Mu'attaq, three-year-old Hana Abu Mu'attaq, four-year-old Salih Abu Mu'attaq, and six-year-old Rudayna Abu Mu'attaq, medics reported.

The family was inside the house, eating breakfast at the time of the shelling. A student, 17-year-old Ayyub Atallah, was killed on his way to school. His friend Mu'tasim Sweilim was injured. The sixth Palestinian killed was a member of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, named Ibrahim Al-Hjuj. He was also identified by medical sources. Muawiya Hassanain, the Gaza-based director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, confirmed that the deaths took place after Israeli forces fired on the Abu Ma'tuq family home in Beit Hanoun.


Witnesses reported that Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded Beit Hanoun early on Monday morning and began firing on residential houses. On Sunday night Israeli forces raided the town of Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, seized 40 Palestinians, and used bulldozers to destroy agricultural lands, witnesses said. The Israeli forces withdrew at midnight. (Link.)

Nevada G.O.P. Cancels Convention Over Ron Paul Delegate Majority

[By Anjeanette Damon, Reno Gazette-Journal | Saturday, 26 April, 2008.]
After a super-majority of Ron Paul supporters captured control of the Republican state convention Saturday, state party officials abruptly canceled the event without electing delegates to the national convention. Early in the day, state delegates supporting Paul’s continued pursuit of the Republican nomination voted through a rules change that forced the state party to abandon its pre-set ballot of potential national convention delegates and open up the race to the rest of the state delegates. The vote followed a rousing speech by Paul of Texas, who said his presidential campaign will continue as long as he has support.

But as the convention continued into the evening, chairman Bob Beers said the party’s contract for the hall at the Peppermill Resort Casino had expired and the event would be rescheduled. “Due to a rules change that left us on an overtime basis, we will recess the convention until a date that we are going to announce next week,” Beers told a shocked crowd, which stood silent for a few seconds before erupting in boos. As Beers was escorted out of the building, a short-lived effort to rescue the convention was launched by party activist Mike Weber. Although several hundred Paul supporters stayed, they weren’t strong enough to make a quorum to continue the convention.


...Paul supporter Chloie Leavitt, of Overton, left angry. “I do blame Bob Beers,” she said. “But not only Bob Beers. This was an organized effort to promote the agenda of a few people, the party leaders, over we the people.” Although he is the presumptive nominee, McCain came in third in the Nevada Caucuses, the first step in nominating delegates to the county, state and national conventions. That left him with few natural supporters at the state event. Paul, who came in second in the Nevada Caucuses, actively worked to ensure his supporters attended both the county and state conventions.

Earlier in the day, former Gov. Mitt Romney, who won the Nevada Caucuses, delivered a speech calling for a unified backing of McCain. “I know Americans are going to choose a great patriot, a man who has been tested and proven,” he said to loud cheers. But Paul’s 10-minute speech drove the crowd of 1,200 delegates into frenzied applause. They interrupted him repeatedly with standing ovations. Acknowledging that he likely won’t win the nomination, Paul said his presidential campaign will continue as long as he has supporters. “Our campaign has continued, is doing well and improving, even though we know exactly what the numbers are,” Paul said. “But the message is worthwhile. Your vote can really count if you vote for limitation of government power and spending.” (Full story here.)

American W.W.II Poster
[Courtesy of Alan Watt | CuttingThroughTheMatrix.com]

Zimbabwe Crackdown - Babies And Children Seized In Government Raids

M.D.C. Spokesman Describes Situation As "Civil War," Calls On International Community To Intervene


[By Christina Lamb and John Makura, TimesOnline | Sunday, 27 April, 2008.]
Scores of children and babies have been locked up in filthy prison cells in Harare as Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, sinks to new depths in his campaign to force the opposition into exile before an expected run-off in presidential elections. Twenty-four babies and 40 children under the age of six were among the 250 people rounded up in a raid on Friday, according to Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Yesterday they were crammed into cells in Southerton police station in central Harare. “This is ruthlessness of the worst kind. How can you incarcerate children whose mothers have fled their homes hoping to give their children refuge?” asked an emotional Chamisa yesterday. “In Mugabe’s Zimbabwe even children are not spared the terror that befalls their parents.”

The families were rounded up from MDC headquarters, where they had sought refuge from violence in the countryside. Thought to be directed by top military officers, Operation Where Did You Put Your Cross? has prompted thousands to flee. They are trying to escape the so-called war veterans, who are attacking people and burning down hundreds of houses for voting “incorrectly” in last month’s elections. “What we’re seeing is an undeclared civil war,” said Chamisa. “It’s genocide. This situation is out of control, it’s now beyond the capacity of the MDC alone. It requires the region, the continent, the international community to act.”

The regime’s strategy is to ensure that by the time of the run-off, Mugabe would have a clean sweep in rural areas, where 70% of Zimbabweans live. A police officer admitted yesterday that he had been instructed not to interfere with war veterans as they carry out their campaign of terror. (Full story here.)

The Lord Giveth… And The E.U. Taketh Away

“The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights sets out in a single text, for the first time in the European Union’s history, the whole range of civil, political, economic and social rights of European citizens and all persons resident in the E.U.

They are based, in particular, on the fundamental rights and freedoms recognised by the European Convention on Human Rights”

- The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

[By Greg O'Brien, Wise Up Journal | Friday, 25 April, 2008.]
It all sounds wonderful doesn’t it, that is until you actually look at the details and see that just like the Patriot Act in America it does the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to do. To find out its true intent you have to essentially read it back-to-front. Just like the Lisbon Treaty all the wonderful stuff is put in at the beginning and all the real intent is saved for the end or masked in protocols, legal explanations etc. Most people won’t read it all (or even just read a summary text), and people who have only read the good parts trust the rest will be similar, they then go ahead voting without understanding the full implications. If you set a utopian tone at the beginning psychologically we assume that is how the entire text will read and we tend to block out conflicting messages later on, otherwise know as cognitive dissonance. When you read it “back to front” you get some disturbing results. Here are a few examples from the E.C.H.R. to give you the real intent from the official E.U. Charter of Fundamental Rights website:

[bolded text is added by the author.]

"Article 2. Right to Life

a) Article 2(2) of the ECHR:
‘Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this Article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary:

➠ in defence of any person from lawful violence;

➠ in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained;

➠ in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection.’ “

The E.U. says that if the state’s law enforcement officers can deprive you of your right of life, in other words murder you, while attempting to arrest you or during a riot, and legally your execution “shall not be regarded’ as breaking the law/article of the right to life. How many times do we have to be reminded that not reading slick lawyer “small print” can be perilous?

“b) Article 2 of the Protocol No 6 to the ECHR:
‘A State may make provision in its law for the death penalty in respect of acts committed in time of war or of imminent threat of war; such a penalty shall be applied only in the instances laid down in the law and in accordance with its provisions…”

That’s right the E.U. endorses the Death Penalty!!! You may have never heard that before when listening to the politicians or media glorifying the E.U. but there it is in black and white on their official website. Individuals can be given the death penalty for “acts committed” (who decides what these acts) in a time of war or of even the threat of war (war on terrorism).

Now here is the nice intro that politician’s can promote:

“1. Everyone has the right to life.

2. No one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed.”

Article 52 of the E.U. Charter of Fundamental rights also states the level/scope of them and that a “limitation on the exercise of the rights and freedoms” can be made “provided for by law” (those “small prints”). It also goes a step further by saying “limitations may be made” if it is in the E.U.’s ‘interest’ (define interest?).

“Article 52

1. Any limitation on the exercise of the rights and freedoms recognised by this Charter must be provided for by law and respect the essence of those rights and freedoms. Subject to the principle of proportionality, limitations may be made only if they are necessary and genuinely meet objectives of general interest recognised by the Union or the need to protect the rights and freedoms of others.”

Next we look at liberty, you would think the E.U. would be all for personal freedom, after all it promotes itself as caring for the citizens and being an example for the rest of the world, but again we find more lies. Here is the “small print” for restrictions to be placed upon you:

“Art 6. Right to liberty and security

(d) the detention of a minor by lawful order for the purpose of educational supervision or his lawful detention for the purpose of bringing him before the competent legal authority;

(e) the lawful detention of persons for the prevention of the spreading of infectious diseases, of persons of unsound mind, alcoholics or drug addicts or vagrants;”

And here is the easy to read selling point for public consumption:

“1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his liberty save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law:”

Next comes free speech, of course the E.U. must be a guardian of free speech, after all we’re told that we in the west have levels of free speech unheard of in the rest of the world. That free speech is the cornerstone of a free and democratic society, but again if we look at the text we get a completely different picture:

“Art 11. Freedom of expression and information
2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.”

Again the nice show piece intro:

“1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.”

The E.U. has documented in it’s protocols, legal explanations etc that it endorses the death penalty, not punishing law enforcers that kill a person during arrest, killing people for rioting, detaining alcoholics, detaining minors for educational supervision, and restricting speech for protection of disclosure of information, morals, maintaining the authority, reputation…

They say that in the former U.S.S.R. people had a highly developed mistrust of the government and knew that most of the news they read in the papers or seen on the TV was a complete distortion of the truth. The public learned how to interpret the truth by reading between the lines and reversing what was being said. We in the E.U. have been ‘asleep’ and naively trusting of politicians and the media for so long that we haven’t developed these skills of discernment. We have taken too much for granted but we cannot afford to do this any longer. We are sleepwalking into a nightmare and unless we start waking up very quickly it will be too late. A NO vote in Ireland to the Lisbon Treaty can actually stop the charter from becoming legally binding and save half a billion people from living under it. (Link.)

E.U. Charter of Fundamental Rights

Government To Quiz Households On Sex Lives And Salaries

[By Lewis Carter, Telegraph.co.uk | Monday, 21 April, 2008.]
More than 500,000 people a year are to be questioned about their sex lives and salaries by Government inspectors, it has emerged. Officials will ask for information about former sexual partners, contraception and how long couples have lived together before getting married. The 2,000-question survey, which will be carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), has prompted fears of further data security breaches as both names and addresses will be logged by inspectors.

Critics also say the £3.5 million-a-year cost will be a waste of money as people tend to lie about their private lives and begrudge intrusion into personal matters. Eric Pickles, the shadow communities secretary, said: "Day by day, the liberty and privacy of the British public is being undermined by Labour's surveillance state. People will be shocked that taxpayers' money is being spent on intrusive surveys. Now state spies want to log and record who sleeps with whom and how often. Not even the Stasi went this far."

Inspectors will ask the questions as part of the new Integrated Household Survey. They will visit 200,000 homes at random each year and question each occupant, meaning that about 500,000 individuals will take part. One of the questions asks: "Have you ever had a baby - even one who only lived for a short time?" Interviewers are warned: "Exclude: Any stillborn; Include: Any who only lived for a short time."

The survey features intimate questions on exact dates when relationships ended, and the precise amount of money people take home. There will also be 35 questions on contraception, such as whether men have had vasectomies, the brands of Pill women use, and whether they have ever taken the morning-after Pill.

Frank Furedi, a professor of sociology at Kent University, said: "When researchers ask about sexual habits there is a very strong tendency for people to clam up, or to say what they think they want to hear. "I would resent being asked these questions and I don't think the Government should be doing it." A spokesman for the ONS said the survey was the most efficient way of meeting the Government's "information needs". He said that all names and addresses would be deleted from the files once they arrived in the main office.

Above The Law

N.Y.P.D. Detectives Acquitted In 50-Shot Killing Of Unarmed Sean Bell On His Wedding Day


[By Tom Hays, Associated Press | Friday, 25 April, 2008.]
Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that put the N.Y.P.D. at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower. Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict in a Queens courtroom packed with spectators, including victim Sean Bell's fiancee and parents, and at least 200 people gathered outside the building. The verdict provoked an outpouring of emotions: Bell's fiancee immediately walked out of the room. His mother cried. Outside the courthouse, which was surrounded by scores of police officers, many in the crowd began weeping as news of the verdict spread. Others were enraged, swearing and screaming "Murderers! Murderers!" or "K.K.K.!"

Bell, a 23-year-old black man, was killed in a hail of gunfire outside a seedy strip club in Queens on Nov. 25, 2006 — his wedding day — as he was leaving his bachelor party with two friends. Officers Michael Oliver, 36, and Gescard Isnora, 29, stood trial for manslaughter while Officer Marc Cooper, 40, was charged only with reckless endangerment. Two other shooters weren't charged. Oliver squeezed off 31 shots; Isnora fired 11 rounds; and Cooper shot four times. The officers, complaining that pretrial publicity had unfairly painted them as cold-blooded killers, opted to have the judge decide the case rather than a jury. The judge indicated that the police officers' version of events was more credible than the victims' version. "The people have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that each defendant was not justified" in firing, he said.

A conviction on manslaughter could have brought up to 25 years in prison; the penalty for reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, is a year behind bars. The case brought back painful memories of other N.Y.P.D. shootings, such as the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo — an African immigrant who was gunned down in a hail of 41 bullets by police officers who mistook his wallet for a gun. The acquittal of the officers in that case created a storm of protest, with hundreds arrested after taking to the streets in demonstration. (Full story here.)

Face Scanning For U.K. Air Passengers

[By Owen Bowcott, Guardian.co.uk | Friday, 25 April, 2008.]
Airline passengers are to be screened with facial recognition technology rather than checks by passport officers, in an attempt to improve security and ease congestion, The Guardian can reveal. From summer, unmanned clearance gates will be phased in to scan passengers' faces and match the image to the record on the computer chip in their biometric passports. Border security officials believe the machines can do a better job than humans of screening passports and preventing identity fraud. The pilot project will be open to U.K. and E.U. citizens holding new biometric passports.

But there is concern that passengers will react badly to being rejected by an automated gate. To ensure no one on a police watch list is incorrectly let through, the technology will err on the side of caution and is likely to generate a small number of "false negatives" - innocent passengers rejected because the machines cannot match their appearance to the records. They may be redirected into conventional passport queues, or officers may be authorised to override automatic gates following additional checks. Ministers are eager to set up trials in time for the summer holiday rush, but have yet to decide how many airports will take part. If successful, the technology will be extended to all U.K. airports. (Full story here.)

Washington, You're Fired!

Excerpt from William Lewis' new film, Washington, You're Fired! This 11-minute segment focuses on the recent "terror" laws that have ravaged our Constitution and set the stage for the U.S. to be swept into Martial Law on the whim of any president, and examines the new "Thought Crime Bill," H.R. 1955, which is now making its way through Congress.


Video posted by TheAlexJonesChannel @ YouTube.
(Running time 10m:59s)

WashingtonYoureFired.com

A Conversation With Hermann Göring

[From Nuremberg Diary, by Gustave Gilbert | Snopes.com]

Excerpt:

We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

“Why, of course the people don’t want war,” Goering shrugged. “Why would some poor farmer want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.”

“There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.”

“Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

G.M. Crops Won't Curb World Hunger

On The Contrary, Genetic Modification Actually Reduces Crop Yields


[By Geoffrey Lean, The Independent | Sunday, 20 April, 2008.]
Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis. The study – carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the U.S. grain belt – has found that G.M. soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields.

Professor Barney Gordon, of the university's department of agronomy, said he started the research – reported in the journal Better Crops – because many farmers who had changed over to the G.M. crop had "noticed that yields are not as high as expected even under optimal conditions". He added: "People were asking the question 'how come I don't get as high a yield as I used to?'" He grew a Monsanto G.M. soybean and an almost identical conventional variety in the same field. The modified crop produced only 70 bushels of grain per acre, compared with 77 bushels from the non-G.M. one. The G.M. crop – engineered to resist Monsanto's own weedkiller, Roundup – recovered only when he added extra manganese, leading to suggestions that the modification hindered the crop's take-up of the essential element from the soil. Even with the addition it brought the G.M. soya's yield to equal that of the conventional one, rather than surpassing it.

The new study confirms earlier research at the University of Nebraska, which found that another Monsanto G.M. soya produced 6 per cent less than its closest conventional relative, and 11 per cent less than the best non-G.M. soya available. (Full story here.)

Unleashing The Bugs Of War

[By Mark Thompson, Time | Friday, 18 April, 2008.]
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, that secretive band of Pentagon geeks that searches obsessively for the next big thing in the technology of warfare, is 50 years old. To celebrate, DARPA invited Vice President Dick Cheney, a former Defense Secretary well aware of the Agency's capabilities, to help blow out the candles. "This agency brought forth the Saturn 5 rocket, surveillance satellites, the Internet, stealth technology, guided munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles, night vision and the body armor that's in use today," Cheney told 1,700 DARPA workers and friends who gathered at a Washington hotel to mark the occasion. "Thank heaven for DARPA."

Created in the panicky wake of the Soviets' launching of Sputnik, the world's first satellite, DARPA's mission, Cheney said, is "to make sure that America is never again caught off guard." So, the Agency does the basic research that may be decades away from battlefield applications. It doesn't develop new weapons, as much as it pioneers the technologies that will make tomorrow's weapons better.

So what's hot at DARPA right now? Bugs. The creepy, crawly flying kind. The Agency's Microsystems Technology Office is hard at work on HI-MEMS (Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical System), raising real insects filled with electronic circuitry, which could be guided using GPS technology to specific targets via electrical impulses sent to their muscles. These half-bug, half-chip creations - DARPA calls them "insect cyborgs" - would be ideal for surveillance missions, the agency says in a brief description on its website.

Scientist Amit Lal and his team insert mechanical components into baby bugs during "the caterpillar and the pupae stages," which would then allow the adult bugs to be deployed to do the Pentagon's bidding. "The HI-MEMS program is aimed at developing tightly coupled machine-insect interfaces by placing micro-mechanical systems inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis," DARPA says. "Since a majority of the tissue development in insects occurs in the later stages of metamorphosis, the renewed tissue growth around the MEMS will tend to heal, and form a reliable and stable tissue-machine interface." Such bugs "could carry one or more sensors, such as a microphone or a gas sensor, to relay back information gathered from the target destination."

DARPA declined Time's request to interview Dr. Lal about his program and the progress he is making in producing the bugs. The agency added that there is no timetable for turning backyard pests into battlefield assets. But in a written statement, spokeswoman Jan Walker said that "living, adult-stage insects have emerged with the embedded systems intact." Presumably, enemy arsenals will soon be well-stocked with Raid. (Link.)

Australia Threatens To Arrest Chinese Olympic Torch Guards

[By Nick Squires, Telegraph.co.uk | Thursday, 24 April, 2008.]
Up to 10,000 Chinese Australians were expected to converge on Canberra for the Olympic torch relay in the hope of drowning out the protests of around 3,000 anti-China demonstrators. Even before the latest leg of the controversial relay began, five people were arrested over anti-China protests in Sydney. Two protesters used the Sydney Harbour Bridge to stage a demonstration, while others unfurled a banner in the script of the Coca-Cola logo, which read: "Enjoy Compassion, Always Tibet."

The protests came as John Stanhope, the Australian Capital Territory chief minister, argued with Chinese torch officials at a joint press conference. Qu Yingpu, a Chinese spokesman, said Beijing's now infamous blue-tracksuited torch attendants could take matters into their own hands if a torchbearer was threatened. He said the guards would "use their bodies to form a kind of defence." But a furious Mr. Stanhope, who was sitting alongside Mr. Qu, said Australian police had been instructed to arrest the Chinese attendants if they attempted to take "a policing role." He later ordered police to "read the riot act" to the Chinese attendants. (Link.)

Nine-Year-Old Palestinian Child Beaten By Eight Israeli Soldiers

[Translated by Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center | Saturday, 19 April, 2008.]
Israeli army troops assualted nine-year old Palestinian Saqer al-'Aramen from the town of al-'Ezariah in Jerusalem on Friday evening. Muqith Abu Roomy, director of the Media office of Asrana center in Jerusalem reported that an Israeli force comprised of 8 soldiers heavily beat the child while he was on his way home. Soldiers claimed they were confused by a toy-gun the child was playing with.

The child was hospitalized as he received injuries to his head and different parts of his body. Medics declared that he's also psychologically hurt and confused as a result of battering. Abu Roomy called upon the Human Rights organizations, the Arab League, the Quartet Committee and the United Nations to provide protection for Palestinian Children. A number of Palestinian children were killed and others wounded by Israeli army gun-fire when troops claimed that they were confused by toy-guns the children were playing with. (Link.)

18 Veteran Suicides A Day

[By Maggie Shiels, BBC News | Monday, 21 April, 2008.]
U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are suing the government, claiming inadequate care is leading to an increase in suicides. A San Francisco court will hear the class action lawsuit against the Department of Veteran Affairs. The veterans say the department has been unable to deal with the growing incidence of depression and suicides.

In court papers the two non-profit groups representing the veterans write "that failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides." "The bottom line is that we're not taking care of the veterans and we need to change that," says lead lawyer, Gordon Erspamer. An average of 18 war veterans kill themselves each day - five of them under Department of Veteran Affairs (V.A.) care - according to a December e-mail between top department officials that has been filed as part of the federal lawsuit. (Full story here.)

Qatar Says China To Receive Gas Diverted From U.S. And Europe

[By Ayesha Daya and Anthony DiPaola, Bloomberg | Saturday, 19 April, 2008.]
Qatar, the world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas, is diverting supplies destined for the U.S. and Europe to China because the Asian country pays more, Qatar's oil minister said today. A supply agreement this month between Qatar and China "is a diversion'' from Europe and the U.S., "not new production,'' Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told reporters as he arrived in Rome for the International Energy Forum. "We are not in the charity business. Whoever will give me the best price, I will follow him.''

PetroChina Co. and China National Offshore Oil Corp., the nation's biggest owners of liquefied natural gas terminals, signed accords with Qatar on April 10 to import the fuel as early as 2009. Qatar refused to supply Israel with the gas, known as LNG, during a meeting with Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on April 15 because it doesn't have sufficient extra supply, Attiyah said. "I met her and I told her we are not capable of selling gas to Israel. We are sold out,'' he said.

Qatar, which holds the world's third-largest gas reserves after Russia and Iran, is producing 31 million tons of LNG a year. Annual output will rise to 77 million tons a year by 2010. (Link.)

Food Rationing In The U.S.A.

"Where's the rice?"

[By Josh Gerstein, New York Sun | Monday, 21 April, 2008.]
Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, California yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy. "Where's the rice?" an engineer from Palo Alto, California, Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.” The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.

“You can’t eat this every day. It’s too heavy,” a health care executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. “We only need one bag but I’m getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it,” the elder man said. The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap. “Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history,” a sign above the dwindling supply said. (Full story here.)

Our Reign Of Terror, By The Israeli Army

In Shocking Testimonies That Reveal Abductions, Beatings And Torture, Israeli Soldiers Confess The Horror They Have Visited On Hebron


[By Donald Macintyre, The Independent | Saturday, 19 April, 2008.]
The dark-haired 22-year-old in black T-shirt, blue jeans and red Crocs is understandably hesitant as he sits at a picnic table in the incongruous setting of a beauty spot somewhere in Israel. We know his name and if we used it he would face a criminal investigation and a probable prison sentence. The birds are singing as he describes in detail some of what he did and saw others do as an enlisted soldier in Hebron. And they are certainly criminal: the incidents in which Palestinian vehicles are stopped for no good reason, the windows smashed and the occupants beaten up for talking back – for saying, for example, they are on the way to hospital; the theft of tobacco from a Palestinian shopkeeper who is then beaten "to a pulp" when he complains; the throwing of stun grenades through the windows of mosques as people prayed. And worse.

The young man left the army only at the end of last year, and his decision to speak is part of a concerted effort to expose the moral price paid by young Israeli conscripts in what is probably the most problematic posting there is in the occupied territories. Not least because Hebron is the only Palestinian city whose centre is directly controlled by the military, 24/7, to protect the notably hardline Jewish settlers there. He says firmly that he now regrets what repeatedly took place during his tour of duty. But his frequent, if nervous, grins and giggles occasionally show just a hint of the bravado he might have displayed if boasting of his exploits to his mates in a bar. Repeatedly he turns to the older former soldier who has persuaded him to speak to us, and says as if seeking reassurance: "You know how it is in Hebron."


The older ex-soldier is Yehuda Shaul, who does indeed "know how it is in Hebron," having served in the city in a combat unit at the peak of the intifada, and is a founder of Shovrim Shtika, or Breaking the Silence, which will publish tomorrow the disturbing testimonies of 39 Israelis – including this young man – who served in the army in Hebron between 2005 and 2007. They cover a range of experiences, from anger and powerlessness in the face of often violent abuse of Arabs by hardline Jewish settlers, through petty harassment by soldiers, to soldiers beating up Palestinian residents without provocation, looting homes and shops, and opening fire on unarmed demonstrators.

The maltreatment of civilians under occupation is common to many armies in the world – including Britain's, from Northern Ireland to Iraq. But, paradoxically, few if any countries apart from Israel have an NGO like Breaking the Silence, which seeks – through the experiences of the soldiers themselves – as its website puts it "to force Israeli society to address the reality which it created" in the occupied territories.

The Israeli public was given an unflattering glimpse of military life in Hebron this year when a young lieutenant in the Kfir Brigade called Yaakov Gigi was given a 15-month jail sentence for taking five soldiers with him to hijack a Palestinian taxi, conduct what the Israeli media called a "rampage" in which one of the soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian civilian who just happened to be in the wrong place, and then tried to lie his way out of it. Our interviewee tells us he was "many times" in groups that commandeered taxis, seated the driver in the back and told him to direct them to places "where they hate the Jews" in order to "make a balagan" – Hebrew for "big mess."


Then there is the inter-clan Palestinian fight: "We were told to go over there and find out what was happening. Our [platoon] commander was a bit screwed in the head. So anyway, we would locate houses, and he'd tell us: 'OK, anyone you see armed with stones or whatever, I don't care what – shoot.' Everyone would think it's the clan fight..." Did the company commander know? "No one knew. Platoon's private initiative, these actions." Did you hit them? "Sure, not just them. Anyone who came close ... Particularly legs and arms. Some people also sustained abdominal hits ... I think at some point they realised it was soldiers, but they were not sure. Because they could not believe soldiers would do this, you know."

Or using a 10-year-old child to locate and punish a 15-year-old stone-thrower: "So we got hold of just some Palestinian kid nearby, we knew that he knew who it had been. Let's say we beat him a little, to put it mildly, until he told us. You know, the way it goes when your mind's already screwed up, and you have no more patience for Hebron and Arabs and Jews there. "The kid was really scared, realising we were on to him. We had a commander with us who was a bit of a fanatic. We gave the boy over to this commander, and he really beat the shit out of him ... He showed him all kinds of holes in the ground along the way, asking him: 'Is it here you want to die? Or here?' The kid goes, 'No, no!' Anyway, the kid was stood up, and couldn't stay standing on his own two feet. He was already crying ... And the commander continues, 'Don't pretend' and kicks him some more. And then [name withheld], who always had a hard time with such things, went in, caught the squad commander and said, 'Don't touch him any more, that's it.' The commander goes, 'You've become a leftie, what?' And he answers, 'No, I just don't want to see such things.'


"We were right next to this, but did nothing. We were indifferent, you know. OK. Only after the fact you start thinking. Not right away. We were doing such things every day ... It had become a habit... And the parents saw it. The commander ordered [the mother], 'Don't get any closer.' He cocked his weapon, already had a bullet inside. She was frightened. He put his weapon literally inside the kid's mouth. 'Anyone gets close, I kill him. Don't bug me. I kill. I have no mercy.' So the father ... got hold of the mother and said, 'Calm down, let them be, so they'll leave him alone.'" (Full story here.)

Website: Shovrim Shtika - Breaking The Silence

Police Draw Firearms, Handcuff 10-Year-Old Boy For Being Too Noisy

[By Andrew Seymour, Ottawa Citizen | Thursday, 17 April, 2008.]
The parents of a 10-year-old boy who was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a police cruiser for being too noisy intend to file a complaint against Ottawa police today, alleging that at least one officer went too far in the way he treated their son. Thomasz and Santana Gurzynski say police drew their firearms before entering their Norberry Crescent apartment and scratched the back of their son, Lucasz, while forcing him to sit down for questioning without an adult present. Mrs. Gurzynski, 35, believes it was an overreaction by police, who were responding to a neighbour's complaint that the Grade 5 student and five friends were playing video games too loudly and play fighting with wooden sticks.

"They shouldn't be that loud, but the punishment didn't fit the crime," said Mrs. Gurzynski, who was walking home from her mother's nearby house with her husband when the police arrived and apprehended her son shortly after 5 p.m. on Sunday. Lucasz said he and his friends had been playing video games and fighting with the wooden sticks for about 40 minutes when a male neighbour yelled at them to quiet down and threw an empty beer can at their balcony, breaking a window. Frightened, Lucasz said he and his friends left the apartment. When he returned with a 12-year-old female friend between five and 10 minutes later, three police officers were waiting for him in the hallway.

After he unlocked the apartment for the police, two of the officers drew weapons and kicked the door open before returning the guns to their holsters. Lucasz said one officer then grabbed him by the shoulder and sat him down on a chair, scratching his back. He said the officer spotted a knife in the kitchen and told Lucasz that, if he had been holding it when they came in, he would have been tased. "After they finished questioning me, they handcuffed me," Lucasz said yesterday, adding the officers ignored his request to speak to an aunt who lives in the same building.

Throughout the questioning, Lucasz alleged, the officers used foul language. "They called me a b-i-t-c-h," Lucasz said, spelling out the word instead of saying it. "They kept on swearing at me like a criminal." Lucasz, who was placed in the back seat of a police cruiser, said he was in tears when his parents arrived at the apartment about 20 minutes later. He was later released into their custody. "I thought I was never going to see my parents again because they said something about child services," Lucasz said, adding he was still having nightmares about the incident. (Full story here.)

The New Sex Change Program For Children

Q & A With Dr. Norman Spack



[By Pagan Kennedy, Boston Globe | Sunday, 30 March, 2008.]
Children have cut themselves. In some cases, 9- or 10-year-old kids have staged suicide attempts. The little boys sob unless they're allowed to wear dresses. The girls want to be called Luke, Ted, or James. Their parents, desperate to know what is wrong, go online and type "gender disorder." And what they find is that, even now, decades after doctors performed the first sex changes in America, there's little help for transgender children.

Even the care of transgender adults remains a medical backwater in the United States; in fact, we do not even know how many people in this country have gone through sex changes, because doctors simply did not bother to keep track of patients. Until recently, children with cross-gender feelings rarely received modern medical care - and certainly not hormone shots. After all, who would allow a child to redesign his or her body? But in the past few years, some doctors have come to believe that kids should be allowed to have some control over how they grow up. Dr. Norman Spack, 64, argues that transgender kids tend to be much happier - and less likely to harm themselves - when they're able to live in their preferred gender role.

Last year, the pediatric endocrinologist started a new clinic at Children's Hospital Boston; it is one of a few in the world to give children treatments that change their bodies. Working on a model borrowed from Dutch researchers, Spack uses drugs to delay the first stirrings of youngsters' puberty, granting them a few more years before they develop bodies that are decidedly male or female. The effects of these puberty-blocking drugs are reversible; that is, patients can later change their minds. Unfortunately, this is not the case with hormones. Therefore, Spack prescribes estrogen and testosterone to only a few teenagers - after months of consultation with the patient, his or her caregivers, and psychiatrists. When kids take this step, they are rewriting their own future: The hormones have a powerful, pervasive effect, changing their height, breast development, and the pitch of their voices.

IDEAS: When are children old enough to declare what gender they will be?

SPACK: All I know is that when I see preadolescents, they have been dressing in the underwear of the other sex for years. These kids are almost certainly transgendered. They're a unique population of patients. By the time a kid comes in to see me, both parents have agreed that the child is in danger and needs some form of intervention. And that has led to heavy-duty counseling for the child and parents. Therefore I see young people and families who have been evaluated by skilled professionals.

IDEAS: At what age do you give kids drugs to delay puberty?

SPACK: The puberty-blocking drugs work best at the beginning of the pubital process, typically age 10 to 12 for a girl and 12 to 14 for a boy. Stopping puberty is, in itself, a diagnostic test. If a girl starts to experience breast budding and feels like cutting herself, then she's probably transgendered. If she feels immediate relief on the [puberty-blocking] drugs, that confirms the diagnosis.

IDEAS: So the aim of your treatment is to protect children from harming themselves?

SPACK: Transgendered kids have a high level of suicide attempts. Of the patients who have fled England to see me, three out of the four have made very serious suicide attempts. And I've never seen any patient make [an attempt] after they've started hormonal treatment.

IDEAS: At what age should children be allowed to take hormones, like estrogen and testosterone, that will forever change the way their bodies develop?

SPACK: Well, the Dutch would say 16. But I think more flexible guidelines will be coming out. For some kids, 16 might be appropriate. For others {hellip} you lose opportunities if you wait. [One of my patients, a] transgendered girl from the U.K., was destined to be a 6-foot-4 male. With treatment, she's going to end up 5-foot-10.

IDEAS: What are the most difficult ethical issues you face?

SPACK: The biggest challenge is the issue of fertility. When young people halt their puberty before their bodies have developed, and then take cross-hormones for a few years, they'll probably be infertile. You have to explain to the patients that if they go ahead, they may not be able to have children. When you're talking to a 12-year-old, that's a heavy-duty conversation. Does a kid that age really think about fertility? But if you don't start treatment, they will always have trouble fitting in. And my patients always remind me that what's most important to them is their identity.

IDEAS: Several years ago, you became an evangelist for transgender kids at Children's Hospital. How did you become so committed to this issue?

SPACK: Well, let's start with 1974: I'm working at Bridge Over Troubled Waters as a volunteer. I see lots of transgendered kids. They were runaways, in bad shape. Then years later, in 1985, I'm working in adolescent medicine. Someone sends me a transgendered Harvard graduate who presented himself as a male. He introduced me to his friends and support groups. And then I began working with transgendered people in their 20s. The people in their 20s were socially in good shape. But they were having trouble getting their physique to conform to their identity. I knew the twenty-somethings could have better chances of passing if they were treated earlier.

IDEAS: And how did you make the case for this specialized clinic at Children's Hospital?

SPACK: In the last five years, I've been getting more and more referrals, parents with gender-variant kids. The parents heard about me through Internet support groups. So, I began to bring my transgendered patients and their parents - kids as young as 9 - to a large number of clinical conferences in various departments at Children's Hospital. That way, my colleagues could learn about this population. My philosophy is, "Who am I to say what it's like to be transgendered when I have people who are living with it every day?" These kids won over the hospital, one department at a time.

IDEAS: You're involved with a number of Jewish philanthropic groups. How does your faith inform your work with gender-variant children?

SPACK: My own rabbi said it best: The transgendered are also created b'tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.

(Link.)

Gordon Brown Tells Americans To Relinquish Their Independence

U.K. Prime Minister Calls For Global Interdependence To Replace National Independence



The following are excerpts from Gordon Brown's speech, delivered Friday in Boston. The full text of Mr. Brown's speech can be found at 10 Downing Street.

"And although it is perhaps risky for a British Prime Minister to come to speak in Boston shortly before Patriots Day, I am pleased that over the past half century the special relationship between America and Britain which John Kennedy prized remains strong and enduring - so firmly rooted in our common history, our shared values and in the hearts and minds of our people that no power on earth can drive us apart."

"Nothing in President Kennedy’s enduring legacy has greater importance now - at the beginning of the 21st century - than his words on your Independence Day in 1962 when he proposed a new and global declaration of interdependence."

"So if the 1776 Declaration of Independence stated a self evident truth - that we are all created equal - JFK’s Declaration of Interdependence in 1962 added another self-evident truth: that we are all of us - all of us throughout the world - in this together. Each of us our brother’s keeper, each of us - to quote Martin Luther King - part of an inescapable web of mutuality."

"Yet no-one in 1962 could have foreseen the sheer scale of the new global challenges that our growing interdependence brings... Challenges that all point in one direction - to the urgent necessity for global cooperation. For none of them... can be solved without us finding new ways of working more closely together."

"...we must go much further: acknowledging that our common self-interest as nation states can be realised only by practical cooperation; that ‘responsible sovereignty’ means the acceptance of clear obligations as well as the assertion of rights."

"But to do this we have no choice now - and this is my main argument - but to consider and agree new global rules and create new global institutions so that not some but all can benefit from change."

"And I also sense that this is the moment to bring in China, India, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and other emerging countries to the heart of this debate - offering a greater role with the G8, to offer them more say in the I.M.F. and World Bank and to reform the security council of the United Nations."

"For the first time in human history we have the opportunity to come together around a global covenant, to reframe the international architecture and build the truly global society. So today my call is not just to the public purpose of this generation but to the idealism of this and the next generation."

Carter: Gaza Residents 'Starving To Death'

"For every Israeli killed," says Carter, "between 30 to 40 Palestinians are killed because of the extreme military capability of Israel."


[Ynetnews | Friday, 18 April, 2008.]
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called the blockade of Gaza a crime and an atrocity on Thursday and said U.S. attempts to undermine Hamas had been counterproductive. Speaking at the American University in Cairo after talks with Hamas leaders, Carter said Palestinians in Gaza were being "starved to death" and received fewer calories a day than people in the poorest parts of Africa. "It's an atrocity what is being perpetrated as punishment on the people in Gaza. It's a crime... I think it is an abomination that this continues to go on," Carter said.

Carter said Israel and the U.S. were trying to make the quality of life in Gaza markedly worse than in the West Bank, where the rival Fatah group is in control. "I think politically speaking this has worked even to strengthen the popularity of Hamas and to the detriment of the popularity of Fatah," he added. Carter said Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, must be involved in any arrangements that could lead to peace. "One of the reasons I wanted to come and meet with the Syrians and Hamas was to set an example that might be emulated by others... I know that there are some officials in the Israeli government that are quite willing to meet with Hamas and maybe that will happen in the near future," he added, without naming who those Israeli officials may be. (Full story here.)

Dockers Refuse To Unload China Arms Shipment For Zimbabwe

[By Philippe Naughton and Jane Macartney, Times Online | Friday, 18 April, 2008.]
South African dockers are refusing to unload a Chinese cargo ship carrying 77 tonnes of small arms destined for Zimbabwe. The arms, including three million rounds of ammunition suitable for AK47s and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, were ordered by the Zimbabwean military at the time of the March 29 election – which Britain and other Western powers have accused Robert Mugabe of trying to rig.

The arms arrived at Durban, South Africa, on Wednesday aboard the Chinese-owned An Yue Jiang and must be taken by road to landlocked Zimbabwe, where the Government has been accused of arming rural militias before a possible run-off vote for the presidency. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (M.D.C.) has even accused Mr Mugabe's Zanu (P.F.) of preparing for a "war" against the people. January Masilela, the South African Defence Secretary, said yesterday that the shipment had been approved this week by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), which he chairs. "This is a normal transaction between two sovereign states and we don't have to interfere," he said.


But opposition parties slammed the decision to grant the transit permit and the country's main transport union said that its members would refuse to unload the cargo. “We do not believe it will be in the interest of the Zimbabwean people in general if South Africa is seen to be a conduit of arms and ammunition into Zimbabwe at a time when the situation could be described as quite volatile,” said Randall Howard, a spokesman for the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (S.A.T.A.W.U.) “As far as we are concerned the containers will not be offloaded”.

There have been persistent reports about Chinese arms sales to Zimbabwe, although the details are hard to pin down. Zimbabwe announced in 2006 that it had bought six fighter jets from China, adding to a fleet of six it bought the previous year in a deal believed to be based on barter – with China obtaining precious mineral raw materials needed in its economic boom. China’s sales of military hardware are believed to have amounted to more than US$200 million in recent years. There have also been reports that the Chinese have sold water cannons and mobile phone bugging equipment to the security forces in Harare – although it is not clear whether or not those sales were instigated by companies operating outside the control of central government. (Full story here.)

A Few Facts About Ratzinger's Visit

[By Kim Wendel, WKYC.com | Monday, 14 April, 2008.]

● President George Bush and his wife, Laura Bush greeted the Pontiff at Andrews, the first time in history that a President has gone to an airport to greet an arriving dignitary.

● This is only the second time in history that a Pontiff has visited the White House. The first was Oct. 6, 1979, when President Jimmy Carter entertained a visit from Pope John Paul II.

● The Bush-Benedict meeting will be the 25th meeting between a pope and a sitting president. The first did not come until shortly after the end of World War I, when Woodrow Wilson was received at the Vatican by Pope Benedict XV in 1919. The next wasn't for 40 more years, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower saw Pope John XXIII in Rome.

● Such papal-presidential audiences have become a must-do, as every president since then has met with the pope at least once, often more. This week's meeting makes President George W. Bush the all-time record-holder, with a total of five meetings with two popes.

(Full story here.)

Israel's Latest Killing Spree

Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana's vehicle, which was clearly marked "TV" in large red letters, was directly targeted by the Israeli military while he was filming a raid on Gaza. Israel said they were targeting Palestinian gunmen after a Hamas raid near a fuel pipeline left three Israeli soldiers dead. Among the fourteen Palestinians killed by the air strike were three children.

WARNING: This video contains disturbing images.



[Report by Susan Flory, Reuters | Wednesday, 16 April, 2008.]

More Images From Israel's Bloodbath In Gaza

Photos taken Wednesday, 16 April, 2008. | Published by The Philistine.

How To Fight Terrorism: Annul The Constitution

"The accessibility of weapons of mass destruction, the globalization of international capital and the 'universalization of culture' have eroded the conventional borders that once legitimated national security."

-Philip Bobbitt (Nephew of President Lyndon Baines Johnson)

[By Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet | Wednesday, 16 April, 2008.]
A recent Austin-American Statesman review of Neo-Con Philip Bobbitt's new book Terror and Consent features an image of a shredded Constitution under the words "Everything must go," which acts as a suitable entrée to a disgusting diatribe which praises Bobbitt's call for the end of America and its replacement with a de facto world government in the name of fighting terror. The words, "How to Fight Terrorism" are in place of a torn piece of the Bill of Rights.

Reviewer James E. McWilliams describes Bobbitt as "a distinguished lecturer and senior fellow at the University of Texas and a law professor at Columbia University," but anyone with a basic grasp of what America's founders envisioned and what Ronald Reagan later termed the "shining city on a hill" would be more apt to describe Bobbitt - nephew of Lyndon Baines Johnson and former State Department counselor - as an enemy of the Republic. As soon as we learn that the facade of Bobbitt's argument is to provide a solution "for fighting the wars that are bound to plague the 21st century," we're already safe in the knowledge that Bobbitt represents another chicken-necked warhawk who has already claimed ownership of the next 10 decades for his Neo-Con ideological fetish of imperial bloodletting and brutal domination.


So what exactly is Bobbitt's solution? The complete obliteration of sovereignty and the nation state and its replacement with a new "order that takes its structural cues from multinational corporations and nongovernmental organizations" that will have the power to pursue "more aggressive tactics of preclusionary warfare," meaning more pre-emptive invasions of broken-backed third world countries to expand the creaking pax-Americana empire. Despite terse and contradictory promises that we will still have some semblance of freedom in Bobbitt's technocracy, he admits that there will be "no obvious answer to many of the human rights issues that are bound to arise," as a result of his plan to completely eviscerate God-given freedoms enumerated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The reviewer cites Bobbitt's justification to impose world government as a means of combating,"The accessibility of weapons of mass destruction, the globalization of international capital and the 'universalization of culture' have eroded the conventional borders that once legitimated national security," all problems that were created by globalists' drive to impose centralized systems of control in the first place by creating crises and then posing as the saviors. This is another classic example of problem-reaction-solution. Use the pretext of the problems you have created to then offer a solution that befits your ultimate agenda - global government. (Full editorial here.)

Iraq's Largest Aid Agency? Muqtada al-Sadr & Co.

[By Ned Colt, NBC News | Wednesday, 16 April, 2008.]
For Um Wissam, a small office packed with food aid in Shiite-dominated Sadr City is a lifeline. With her son killed two years ago, the widow has nowhere else to turn for support. "They're really great," she said. "They give us whatever they possibly can." "They" are fervent anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army.

A new report from Washington-based Refugees International says that Muqtada and his Mahdi Army are the largest "unofficial" aid agency in the country. And they're not alone. In the patchwork quilt of sectarian neighborhoods that make-up Baghdad, almost all aid is delivered through political and religious groups, according to report co-author Kristele Younes. "They are giving them money to pay rent. They are giving them oil and food. They are providing them with generators for electricity. They are really meeting all the needs that the government and the U.N. should be meeting at this stage," Younes said.


What about the United Nations? Its role here is limited. After a massive bombing at its Iraq headquarters killed 22 five years ago, it pulled out most of its foreign staff. For years now, the U.N has had only 35 international staffers based here, though that number is supposed to rise.

How about the Iraqi government? It has done little. While the rising price of oil has enabled the Iraqi government to amass $30 billion in reserves, the Refugees International report said little funding has gone to help Iraq's most vulnerable. And there are many of them. Oxfam said more than half of all Iraqis are living in "absolute poverty." (Full story here.)