Why the Venezuelan Amendment Campaign Is So Important + Venezuelans Vote to Eliminate Two-Term Limit 54.4% to 45.6%

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Crossposted with permission from www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/

Diana Raby
Socialist Project | The Bullet

Sunday, 15 February, Venezuelans vote in a referendum on a proposed Constitutional Amendment that will allow for any candidate to stand for the Presidency, or indeed for any elective office, without restriction on the number of terms they may serve. Only the people’s vote will decide whether they are elected and how many terms they serve.

In other words, if President Hugo Chávez, who is already serving his second term under the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, wishes to stand for a third term, he may do so. Equally, the opposition mayor of Greater Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, may stand three or four times if he wants (and if the people vote for him).

This is no different from the practice here in the UK, where Margaret Thatcher won four elections for the Conservatives (although we did not have the privilege of voting for her personally as Prime Minister), and Tony Blair won three times for Labour. It is of course different from the situation in the U.S., where some sixty years ago a limit of two consecutive terms was introduced for the presidency.

Police: Israel’s kingmaker corrupt to bone

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Press TV
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:11:14 GMT

Israeli officials say they have gathered sufficient evidence to charge hawkish politician Avigdor Lieberman with money laundering.

“The police source said there was no doubt about money laundering,” Dep.-Cmdr. (ret.) Boaz Guttman, a former National Fraud Unit investigator quoted a senior police source as saying The Jerusalem Post, reported. “But he refused to talk about bribery.”

Lieberman, the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu party, is under investigation over using Cypriot bank accounts for money laundering. He is also suspected of involvement in fraud and bribery.

[…]

via Press TV – Police: Israel’s kingmaker corrupt to bone

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Is Israel going Fascist?

Weapons programs re-branded as jobs programs

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TheRealNews

As unemployment in the US rises, old War on Terror appeals to national security are taking a backseat to economic justifications. The US military industry has adjusted to this new reality by crafting its requests for government funding on the basis of its capacity to provide employment. This despite evidence that military spending is one of the least effective means of job creation.

Iranian bioweapon researcher dies suspiciously

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Press TV
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:22:19 GMT

Photo caption: Dr. Nasser Talebzadeh Ordoubadi, who changed his name to Noah Mckay after a jail term, has reportedly died a suspicious death in the US.

A US-based Iranian doctor working to discover an antitoxin therapy of biological weapons has purportedly died a “suspicious death.”

One of the leading bioweapon researchers and a regular keynote speaker at international conferences, Dr. Nasser Talebzadeh Ordoubadi died on Saturday in what his doctors described as a “suspicious death”.

Media reports have linked Dr. Talebzadeh Ordoubadi’s mysterious death to his notable accomplishments in discovering an antitoxin treatment for bioweapons.

The use of biological and chemical weapons — which is considered illegal under The Hague convention on rules of warfare — is feared by many experts more than the use of nuclear weapons.

[…]

via Press TV – Iranian bioweapon researcher dies suspiciously

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Biological Warfare or Non-Lethal

US activists urge boycott of Israeli companies + To boycott or not

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AlJazeeraEnglish

International outrage at the war on Gaza has triggered calls to boycott, divest and sanction Israel.

Just this week, student activists at a small US college said they persuaded their university to divest from corporations that support Israeli occupation.

A movement like the one that ended South African apartheid may be tough to build in the US. But it could be gathering steam.

Al Jazeera’s Josh Rushing reports from New York city.

Bill Moyers Journal: Simon Johnson – Geithner vs. the American Oligarchs

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Bill Moyers Journal
February 13, 2009

Former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), MIT Sloan School of Management professor and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Simon Johnson examines President Obama’s plan for economic recovery.

via Bill Moyers Journal . Watch & Listen | PBS.

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The Oligarchy’s Bailout Ball By Michael Winship – ICH

US intelligence chief: World capitalist crisis poses greatest threat by Bill Van Auken

Deficit Nonchalance – Obama’s voodoo economics By Paul Craig Roberts

Revolt is in the air by Eric Ruder

Geithner’s Debut: “Not Ready for Prime Time” By Mike Whitney

Jim Rogers: Geithner caused the crisis

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2

Barack Obama on Dandelion Salad

Kathy Kelly: Suppose that the U.S. weapon makers had to use a tunnel to deliver weapons to Israel

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Crossposted with permission from Jewish Peace News

Jewish Peace News
2.14.09

Kathy Kelly, a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org). She recently returned from Gaza, and people often ask her how people in Gaza keep going.

Kelly turns the question around and imagines the kind of tunnel that would be needed to accommodate the weapons the US sends to Israel. And then she asks: How do WE keep going, with the knowledge that our money provides all these weapons of death and destruction.

Globalization from the Ground: What Bolivia Teaches Us

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Warning

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

talkingsticktv

Talk by Jim Shultz and Leny Olivera of the Democracy Center on “Globalization from the Ground: What Bolivia Teaches Us” given February 6, 2009 at the University of Washington in Seattle.

For more info: http://www.democracyctr.org

Obama’s Defense Department appointees – The $3.4 Trillion Dollar Question by Andrew Hughes

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by Andrew Hughes
Global Research, February 13, 2009

Former Raytheon lobbyist, William Lynn, was appointed deputy defense secretary on Wednesday, February 11th after a contentious Senate confirmation hearing that led Republican Senator for Iowa, Charles Grassley, to forcefully object to the appointment on the basis of Mr. Lynn’s “very questionable accounting practices that were obviously not in the public interest” while in the position of Pentagon Comptroller during the Clinton administration. The Senator’s objection did not go far enough in exploring the “very questionable accounting practices” that Lynn engaged in during his tenure at the Defense Department from 1997 to 2001. The relevant question that should have been asked is “Where did the $3.4 Trillion go?”

In fiscal year 1999, the Department of Defense reported that it was missing $2.3 Trillion. In fiscal year 2000 the Department reported a missing $1.1 Trillion. Total: $3.4 Trillion “missing” taxpayer money. This happened under the watchful eye of the same William Lynn that now passes through the revolving door between the Department of Defense and the Defense industry.

Naomi Wolf: No mass activism? No “America”

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Naomi Wolf – ‘Fake’ Activism

Worldwide Feminism on Jul 22, 2010

Naomi Wolf, author of The End of America, argues that bureaucracy has killed effective protesting because mass social protests in the U.S. now have a feeling of “Disneyland activism.”

“It feels fake, because it is fake,” she says.