The Mighty Debt-Purge of 2009 by Mike Whitney

Dandelion Salad

by Mike Whitney
Global Research, April 22, 2009

The Fed’s $12.8 trillion of monetary stimulus has triggered a six week-long surge in the stock market. Think of it as Bernanke’s Bear Market Rally, a torrent of capital gushing from every rusty pipe in the financial system. The Fed’s so-called “lending facilities” have gone far beyond their original purpose which was to backstop a broken system. Now they’re leaking liquidity into the equities markets and sending stocks soaring while the “real” economy sinks to the bottom of the fish tank. That’s how the Fed does business these days; plenty of tasty crepes for the Wall Street kingpins and table-scraps for the lumpen masses.

Bernanke has provided generous “100 cents on the dollar” loans for Triple A mortgage-backed collateral that is now worth 30 cents on the dollar. The Fed stands to lose trillions of dollars on these loans because the assets will never regain their original value. Eventually the taxpayer will have to pony up the difference in higher taxes, fewer public services and a weaker dollar.

A Meditation on Our Monetary System: State of Permanent Siege* By Richard Cook

by Richard C. Cook
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
richardccook.com
April 22, 2009

We Hold These Truths by Richard C. Cook

Originally uploaded by Lorri37

The level of public ignorance on the topic of the U.S. and world monetary system is astonishing. This is part of the plan, of course, because the monetary elite control not only the financial system but also the news media, the publishing industry, and the educational system. The blueprint for control was put together over a century ago by Cecil Rhodes and his friends, including British financier Nathan Rothschild, as documented by Professor Carroll Quigley.

During the 20th Century the power shifted to the U.S., with the Rockefellers playing the dominant role as they continue to do today. It is no accident that J.P. Morgan Chase—the Rockefeller family bank—dominates the U.S. derivatives market; nor that Exxon-Mobil, the Rockefellers’ oil company, is the most profitable corporation in history.

“Hope”less in the “Two” Party System by Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan for Congress

by Cindy Sheehan
Dandelion Salad
Featured Writer
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
April 22, 2009

Since November of 2006 when the Democrats regained majorities in both Houses of Congress, I began my gradual awakening to the fact that the “Two”-Party Robber Class political system is a fraud.

Nancy Pelosi ran for her Congressional seat in 2006 (which would for certain turn transform her into the House Speakership if the Dems became the majority) promising “No more blank checks for war.” She broke that promise, but kept her treasonous “impeachment is off the table” promise. What Nancy Pelosi really meant was the opposite: “I will give George Bush EVERY blank check for war that he asks of me! Why wouldn’t I? I am protecting him from accountability—billions of dollars for war is nothing!”

You have to understand, that Nancy Pelosi’s district is PRO-Impeachment and ANTI-war. If she refused to fund the wars and impeach George Bush, she would be following the will of her constituency. However, the “Two”-Party Robber Class political system protects and preserves itself no matter what party the criminal belongs to.

Scott Horton Interviews Jeff Stein on Jane Harman-AIPAC story

Dandelion Salad

AntiwarRadio

Jeff Stein, Spy Talk columnist for Congressional Quarterly, discusses his breaking news story about the alleged NSA wiretap recording of Rep. Jane Harmon agreeing to intervene on behalf of two AIPAC employees accused of espionage in exchange for help getting appointed chair of the House Intelligence Committee and why then-Attorney General Gonzales intervened to close the case before it could really begin.

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Pt 2

Rabbi Ahron Cohen: Judaism and Zionism + Neturei Karta UK speech (2008)

compiled by Cem Ertür
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
22 April, 2009

1) VIDEO: Rabi Ahron Cohen Lectures at the University of London (9 February 2009)
2) Neturei Karta UK speech delivered at the “Emergency Protest to Stop the Massacre in Gaza” (27 December 2008)

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Rabi Ahron Cohen Lectures at the University of London

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A part of a lecture at the SOAS, University of London, on February 9, 2009, given by Rabbi Ahron Cohen, spokesman for Neturei Karta UK, Jews United Against Zionism, against the recent Zionist atrocities in Gaza.

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http://www.nkusa.org/activities/Speeches/20081227.cfm

Neturei Karta UK speech delivered at the “Emergency Protest to Stop the Massacre in Gaza” on 27 December 2008

The following speech Was delivered by Anti Zionist Orthodox Jews at the “Emergency Protest to Stop the Massacre in Gaza” rally, Rockefeller Center, New York City, December 27, 2008, 2.00 PM and again at a Protest in London on December 28, 2008

(This speech was originally delivered in Durban, South Africa by Rabbi Y D Weiss)

May our words be pleasing to the Creator and cause His Great Name to be sanctified.

Assalaam Aleikhum:

The world stands aghast as the atrocities being committed by the Zionist regime in Gaza, becomes known in ever greater and shocking detail.

Mere words are insufficient to express the pain that all mankind feels at the plight of the Gaza and Palestinian people.

Revealing the Secrets in Room 101 By Scott Horton

Dandelion Salad

By Scott Horton
ICH
April 22, 2009 “Harpers“

On Thursday the spirit of George Orwell visited America, three times.

The first visit can be found in four memoranda prepared by Bush Administration lawyers which gave the actual go-ahead for the use of specific torture techniques on specific individuals, thus demolishing forever the absurd contention that the torture lawyers were ever only engaged in some abstract exercise without any direct application to incidents of torture. Here, we discover that Room 101 of the Ministry of Love (Miniluv) has been faithfully recreated by the Bush Team. In Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Room 101 contained whatever a prisoner feared most, which would be let loose against him in an act calculated to inspire pure terror in the victim, to break him as an individual and to produce human material suitable for reconditioning. As a reminder, here’s the way the disclosure of Room 101 is realized in the excellent film version directed by Michael Radford (it begins at roughly 3:20 in the clip):

1984 George Orwell Part 12 of 13

crackwhore27888

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In the first of the four memos, we learn that one prisoner has been the subject of a careful psychoanalysis that had revealed a strong fear of insects, particularly stinging insects. The sudden onset of a phobia can produce automatic, uncontrollable reactions–the fear grips total control of the subject’s mind. Rapid heartbeat, a shortness of breath, trembling, an overwhelming desire to flee. The prisoner is prepared to do anything to escape the cause of the phobia.

Pepe Escobar: American torture

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews

More at http://therealnews.com/t/in…

There can be no “exceptionalism” when the rule of law is broken

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Fault Lines: Richard Armitage on torture

Obama, American Ideals, and Torture as ‘a useful tool’ by Jeremy R. Hammond

Countdown: Torture – Who to prosecute + Maddow: Philip Zelikow

Senior Bush figures could be prosecuted for torture, says Obama + Prosecution possible for those who OK’d torture

Rule of Law Vetoed by President Obama by Joel S. Hirschhorn

Psychologists Helped Develop the CIA’s Torture Techniques

Ten Terrible Truths About The CIA Torture Memos, Part 1 by Andy Worthington

Spanish judge keeps Guantanamo probe alive + Waterboarded 183 Times + More revelations from Bush torture memos

Obama, American Ideals, and Torture as ‘a useful tool’ by Jeremy R. Hammond

By Jeremy R. Hammond
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Foreign Policy Journal
April 22, 2009

The self-described “world leader in global intelligence” information group STRATFOR said on Monday, in an assessment of the Obama administration’s decision to release a series of legal memoranda giving the C.I.A. legal cover to engage in torture, that “torture can be a useful tool” and defended President Barack Obama’s decision to protect C.I.A. interrogators who employed torture against detainees from any criminal prosecution.

Obama, in his own defense of his decision to protect torturers, said that harsh interrogation methods “undermine our moral authority and do not make us safer” while defending interrogators “who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution.”

Countdown: Torture – Who to prosecute + Maddow: Philip Zelikow

Dandelion Salad

firedoglake

Countdown-Jonathan Turley – Torture: Who to prosecute… 04_21_09

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Rachel Maddow: the torture memos, part 1

Mosaic News – 4/21/09: World News From The Middle East

Dandelion Salad

Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

linktv

Mosaic needs your help! Donate here: http://linktv.org/contribute

“Israel To Order US-made Missile Intercept System,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
“Another suspect arrested in connection to Israel spy cell,” NBN TV, Lebanon
‘Hero’s welcome for Ahmadinejad after Israel speech,” Press TV, Iran
“Taliban Video Shows Attacks on US Soldiers,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Armed Groups in Sudan Join “Peace Train,” Sudan TV, Sudan
“Sudan Off UN Terrorism List,” Sudan TV, Sudan
“Bangladesh Has Lost 1/3 Of Agricultural Land,” Al Jazeera English, Qatar
“Egyptians Celebrate Ancient Holiday,” Dubai TV, UAE
“Camel Racing in Mauritania,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.

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Technoautism and The Decline of Human Communication By Rocket Kirchner

by Rocket Kirchner
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
RocketKirchner
April 22, 2009

Hiding behind computers and hurling insults, constant cell phone interruptions in public, cyberspace deception of false identities,  bits of songs from itunes, ipods without those wonderful sumptuous record covers, 500 mind numbing channels on T.V., the relentless demagoguery of talk radio Babylon….welcome to the brave new world of technoautism that in the name of expanding communication in reality limits it and twists it into a dizzying frenzy of unstoppable madness pushing the world closer and closer to the edge of vertigo by skewering reality from screen to screen battering our senses and  sucking us all into a black hole of alienation.

The facts are these: the ultimate form of communication is human to human interfacing. but today the whole notion of geographical central location of human beings being together spatially is starting to vanish before our very eyes. it has been replaced by gadgetry. The bottom line in the hierarchy of our needs is that intimacy is the name of the game, and in the post industrial age the technological advances meant for communication have by and large proven to actually prevent communication.

So, what about that industrial revolution? At the time many said it was progress. they ignored the warnings of Goethe, Carlyle, Dickens, and Marx. And what has become of it? Workers alienation, families broken up by leaving the farm and its agrarian intimacy, copious amounts of pollution, coal miners black lung disease that killed more people than WW1 and WW2 together. The negative impact on the human spirit of the Industrial Revolution is staggering. It was digression in the name of progress. And the technological revolution is turning out to be the same thing. But who is speaking out against it? And even if they tried they can’t get a word in edgewise!

Why do I use the term “Technoautism”?  Because the more people are plugged in the more their fragmented selves can access a stunted form of communication that attempts to pass for real communication. If this makes sense to you then go and spend some time with someone, anyone, whether you know them or not, and without the mediator of a machine to do it. If this makes no sense to you, then you are asleep in the matrix.

see

Rocket Kirchner: The Cult Of One + Thawing Out

Why I as a socialist support tax revolt by Rocket Kirchner

War Resistor Successfully Challenges ‘Misconduct’ Charge By Stephen Dohnberg

Sent to DS by the author, thanks Stephen.

Dandelion Salad

by Stephen Dohnberg
Global Pundit
crosposted at Digit Journal with photos
April 22, 2009

War Resistor Sgt Chiroux successfully challenged his misconduct hearing, facing down the U.S. Army and offering a potential “green light” for other soldiers challenging the legality of U.S. action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

War resistor Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, who refused to deploy to Iraq under the Individual Ready Reserve, today successfully challenged his misconduct hearing and was granted a ‘General Discharge Under Honorable Conditions’.

Chiroux’s hearing in St. Louis, MO, could have seen the veteran, who previously received an ‘Honorable Discharge’ after 5 years of active service in Afghanistan, Philippines, Germany, and Japan, potentially lose his GI benefits.

He refused to redeploy during a statement on Father’s Day, 2008, and it wasn’t until three days after Chiroux’s participation in the Protest at the final Oct. 15 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University, Long Island, NY that Chiroux received the threat of a ‘Misconduct’ charge.

Chrioux, who requested the hearing and planned to challenge the U.S. Army’s decision said he was doing on on the basis that the war was “an illegal and immoral occupation“.

Chiroux declared in a recent press release “My resistance as a non commissioned officer to this abhorrent occupation is just as legitimate now as it was last year.”

“Soldiers have a duty to adhere to the international laws of war described as supreme in Article 6, Paragraph 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which we swear to abide by before the orders of any superior, including our former or current president.”

In a brief text message from Chiroux moments after the completed hearing from St, Louis, he exclaimed “Victory!” and said “Resistance has a green light!”, meaning that this could be a potential landmark and precedent setting case for war resistors who believe the U.S. action in Iraq and Afghanistan in illegal and contravenes military conventions and the Constitution.

It could also mean new avenues of challenge for AWOL War Resistors currently residing in Canada.

We will follow with a more extensive interview with Sgt. Chiroux within the next 48 hours.

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Soldier Faced Hearing Tuesday For Refusing To Return To Iraq

KTVI

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Vet and Iraq War Resistor Faces ‘Misconduct’ Trial in St. Louis by Stephen Dohnberg

GI Resistance