In Search of Mexico: Latin America’s Enigma by Gaither Stewart

by Gaither Stewart
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
28 December 2009

Who are these Mexicans who disturb the tranquility of the USA enough to necessitate a wall to separate the two North American peoples? Who are literally “dying” to get into fortress USA? What is their country like that they so readily abandon in order to work in Yankee supermarkets and California orchards, on New York skyscrapers and in households of the Atlantic seaboard? How is it possible that these two neighboring peoples are so dramatically different one from the other? In this essay I offer some personal answers.

THE FIFTEEN MONTHS I SPENT IN MEXICO deepened and consolidated a fundamental transformation long underway in me. The Italian writer Ignazio Silone was right: I had to step backwards from what I once was and where I was before in order to see myself and the world. Or maybe it was simply the altitude of Mesoamerica … and the winds … and also new inclinations toward unrestraint. Or maybe what happened to me in Mexico was simply because it is not necessary to live south of the border very long in order to begin to see American imperialism at work, contributing to the existing economic disparity between north and south. It is a mystery why things are the way they are.

Chavez warns of US-Colombia plot

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

www.presstv
29 Dec 2009

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States and Colombia of conspiring to build a fake guerrilla camp on Venezuelan territory in order to undermine his rule.

In a televised address at Fort Mara military base in the western city of Maracaibo, Chavez referred to the ‘possibility’ of a US-sponsored initiative by Colombia to put bodies and weapons of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) fighters in a neglected region of Venezuela in order to ‘discredit’ his government.

Colombia may transport corpses of leftist FARC rebels “to a mountain in Venezuelan territory, build some huts, an improvised camp, put some rifles there… and say ‘There it is, the guerrilla camp in Venezuela,’” the Associated Press quoted him as saying on Monday.

“We have evidence that the Colombian government, instructed and supported, or rather directed by the United States, is preparing a false positive,” he noted, using statistical terminology to describe the feasibility of such a scheme.

“The verbal war against Venezuela began weeks ago, saying that we have I don’t know how many guerrilla chiefs hidden here… that in Venezuela there are rebel camps protected by the Venezuelan government, which is absolutely false,” the Venezuelan president told soldiers stationed near the country’s second largest city.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Eva Golinger: US Spy Drones Detected in Venezuela

US Military Aggression against Venezuela escalating by Eva Golinger

Chávez: Netherlands and U.S. Planning Military Aggression Against Venezuela from Dutch Antilles by James Suggett

Gaza aid convoy to change course + Children of Gaza share their experiences of “Cast Lead”

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

Al Jazeera English
28 Dec 2009

Organisers of Viva Palestina aid convoy, which is trying to reach the Gaza Strip, have now agreed to go via Syria en route to Egypt.

The agreement came after a Turkish mediator reached a deal with the Egyptian consul in Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba.

The convoy will now head to the Syrian port of Latakia to sail from there to the Egyptian port of El Arish, and then to Gaza.

via Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Gaza aid convoy to change course

***

Message: break the siege

Dennis Hastert: A Portrait of a Political System Termite by Sibel Edmonds

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
28 December 2009

The Erosion & Rotting of a Nation’s Foundation

While dictionaries and encyclopedias, including Wikipedia, provide a thorough definition and description of insect termites, none offers any information on the semi-human termites embedded within the political system of our nation, where they feed on the lobby and special interest Political Eco System while they cause serious foundational and structural damage to the welfare of the public majority, and to future generations’ prosperity and liberties. These Political System Termites (PST) and their colonies exist and thrive within various branches and layers of the political governing system, and they go by different names or titles, including Representative, Senator, Secretary, and Advisor. Regardless of title differences and purely cosmetic differentiations and technicalities, they belong to the same political eco system and all are considered members of the PST family. This article will focus mainly on Congressional Termites.

Let’s start by comparing some general overlapping characteristics between the widely acknowledged and recognized insect termites and the still-waiting-to-be recognized and defined Political System Termites (PST):

Protest against CIA drone attacks coming to Langley, Virginia by Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
Dec. 28, 2009

Contacts: Cindy Sheehan (cindy@cindysheehanssoapbox.com)
Joshua Smith (joshuagarrettsmith@gmail.com)

PROTEST AGAINST CIA DRONE ATTACKS COMING TO LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

“Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, a new revenge feud, and more recruits for a militant movement
that has grown exponentially even as drone strikes have increased.” - David Kilcullen (Counterinsurgency Expert) Center for New American Security

On January 16th, 2010 from 1pm to 4pm activists will descend upon the home of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia to protest the immoral, illegal and inhumane use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs – also known as “drones”.) Speaking at this event will be:

Disturbing questions in thwarted US plane bombing + The Yemen War

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

By Barry Grey
http://www.wsws.org
28 December 2009

The nearly catastrophic attempt to blow up a US passenger jet during its final approach to Detroit Metro Airport on Christmas Day raises a number of serious questions.

While many details of the attempted terror attack and the biography of the would-be suicide bomber remain sketchy, widely-reported facts that have been corroborated by US officials make clear that the near-destruction of the airliner was the result of a colossal and as yet unexplained security failure.

[...]

One Day We’ll All Be Terrorists by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
Dec. 28, 2009

Syed Fahad Hashmi can tell you about the dark heart of America. He knows that our First Amendment rights have become a joke, that habeas corpus no longer exists and that we torture, not only in black sites such as those at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan or at Guantánamo Bay, but also at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan. Hashmi is a U.S. citizen of Muslim descent imprisoned on two counts of providing and conspiring to provide material support and two counts of making and conspiring to make a contribution of goods or services to al-Qaida. As his case prepares for trial, his plight illustrates that the gravest threat we face is not from Islamic extremists, but the codification of draconian procedures that deny Americans basic civil liberties and due process. Hashmi would be a better person to tell you this, but he is not allowed to speak.

This corruption of our legal system, if history is any guide, will not be reserved by the state for suspected terrorists, or even Muslim Americans. In the coming turmoil and economic collapse, it will be used to silence all who are branded as disruptive or subversive. Hashmi endures what many others, who are not Muslim, will endure later. Radical activists in the environmental, globalization, anti-nuclear, sustainable agriculture and anarchist movements—who are already being placed by the state in special detention facilities with Muslims charged with terrorism— have discovered that his fate is their fate. Courageous groups have organized protests, including vigils outside the Manhattan detention facility. They can be found at www.educatorsforcivilliberties.org or www.freefahad.com. On Martin Luther King Day,  this Jan. 18 at 6 p.m. EST, protesters will hold a large vigil in front of the MCC on 150 Park Row in Lower Manhattan to call for a return of our constitutional rights. Join them if you can.

Ahmadinejad: Iran is solid and united + Protesters killed in Iran clashes

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

http://therealnews.com

Ahmadinejad denies that troops intimidate opponents, defends nuclear policy

more about “Story“, posted with vodpod

***

Transcript:

Ahmadinejad: ‘Iran is solid and united’

Ray McGovern: Obama, Afghanistan and Iraq

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

talkingsticktv
December 27, 2009

Interview with Ray McGovern, 27-year veteran of the CIA and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) about the Obama Administration, Afghanistan and Iraq. Recorded November 14, 2009 in Seattle

more about “Interview – Ray McGovern – Obama, Afg…“, posted with vodpod

see

Break the CIA in Two By Ray McGovern

Noam Chomsky: The Costs of War (2008)

Bomb, Bomb Iran: Lessons From Iraq Unlearned by Jeremy R. Hammond