Barack Obama’s Speech on Afghanistan Policy + transcript

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Propaganda Alert

C-SPAN
Dec. 1, 2009

President Obama delivered a nationally televised address from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He outlined the situation in the region and laid out his strategy and goals for international efforts in the war in Afghanistan, saying “the status quo is not sustainable.” To address the challenges ahead, he announced an order to deploy 30,000 more troops, detailed the Kabul government's changing role in the war, and called on the international community and American people to support the efforts.

Obama: Say One Term Is Enough by Joel S. Hirschhorn

by Joel S. Hirschhorn
Featured Writer
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www.foavc.org
Dec. 1, 2009

Admittedly, I never was a fan of President Obama, either as a candidate or now as president.  I always suspected, based on his dependence on corporate money and his lackluster career as a state and US senator that he would, ultimately, prove to be a big disappointment to the millions of Democrats, liberals, progressives and independents that fell for his slick rhetoric.  He has always been too much a part of the two-party plutocracy to ever be a true reformer.  Here are some of the main reasons that he should cut his ties to corporate and political elites, announce that he will not run for reelection and, instead, become the populist, reformist president the nation desperately needs:

More Targets By Timothy V. Gatto

By Timothy V. Gatto
Featured Writer
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liberalpro.blogspot.com
December 1, 2009

According to the Washington Post today, President Barack Obama is going to announce tonight that he is going to send another 34,000 troops to Afghanistan. This means that he is going to follow in the steps of Alexander the Great, the British Empire and the Soviet Union. I don’t feel that I should add that the aforementioned entities were all soundly defeated, but I will. It appears that some in Washington need reminding.

The trouble with Afghanistan, from a military point of view, is that the country is roughly the size of Texas, with naturally occurring bunkers in the mountainous regions which, unfortunately for us, take up most of the country. Another problem in Afghanistan is that the people there will turn a blind eye to anything that the Taliban stands for, as long as they aren’t foreigners. It seems that the people in that country don’t appreciate foreigners. That could explain why the country has never been effectively occupied…ever.

The One-Sided Usage of Hate Mongering Terminology by Sibel Edmonds

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
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originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
1 December 2009

Two Wrongs won’t make it Right but will make it Consistent

Gone with the previous administration are those coined, frequently used and misused, nauseating, and of course widely popularized by the media, phrases and terminologies such as Evil Doers and Axis of Evil. Yet, it hasn’t been the end of others, those geared to stereotype, misguide, and promote uninformed hatred. The latest with the Fort Hood Shooting has done just that: provide opportunity for those in the business of disseminating and breeding hatred and bigotry, who do so selectively and for the purpose of serving hidden agendas. Yes, I’m referring to the previously used and now again fashionable ignorant and nauseating term Islamo-Fascism.

Congressman Kucinich Addresses Escalation in Afghanistan

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from an email from Dennis Kucinich
kucinich.us – Home
Dec. 1, 2009

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Tonight the President will announce an escalation of the war in Afghanistan. An additional 30,000 troops will bring the United States’ total in Afghanistan to 100,000. Tomorrow I will offer an analysis of the President’s plan.

The community I represent in Cleveland, Ohio, is suffering from massive unemployment, record home foreclosures, and small business failures. People are losing their jobs, their health care, their homes, their savings, their investments, and their retirement security.

Guantánamo: Idealists Leave Obama’s Sinking Ship by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
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www.andyworthington.co.uk
1 December 2009

Last week, lawyer, ex-Army Captain and Iraq veteran Phillip Carter, described by Glenn Greenwald as “a very harsh critic of the Bush administration’s detention and interrogation policies,” suddenly resigned his post as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Policy, which he had occupied since April. Carter claimed that he was leaving due to “personal issues,” which may be true, but as Greenwald noted, “the policies Obama has adopted in the last six months in the very areas of Carter’s responsibilities were ones Carter vehemently condemned when implemented by Bush.”

Greenwald then proceeded to explain how, in May 2008, Carter had condemned the Bush administration’s Military Commissions (the trial system for Guantánamo prisoners) as “fundamentally and fatally flawed,” arguing that “the rule of law will prevail only if they are perpetually blocked,” and cited a trial in a “civilian court” (his emphasis) of accused terrorists in France that involved “a combination of open and sealed (i.e., classified) evidence to prove the defendants’ guilt in a six-day trial,” which he regarded as the only viable model for the United States to follow.

Coal, tar sands and Copenhagen Pt3

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http://therealnews.com (transcript)

TheRealNews

If USA, Canada and China are committed to oil and coal, what will Copenhagen accomplish?

Tzeporah Berman is the Executive Director and one of the Co-founders of PowerUp Canada. Tzeporah is also known for her work in the early nineties coordinating the largest civil disobedience protest in Canada’s history in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Rupert Murdoch: Genius or dummy and should we care? by William Bowles

By William Bowles
Featured Writer
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Creative-i
1 December 2009

So the multi-billionaire Rupert Murdoch reckons that all his ‘news’ is being stolen by Google and it follows, the rest of us, so next year he plans to start charging for access to his ‘news’.

My first reaction is to say hooray! Aside from research and references, I never read anything News Corp. produces, so let him charge. So for many of us, not being able to read Murdoch’s rubbish online will not a be loss, if anything it might declutter the online world somewhat.

But the issue is much more complex and important than Murdoch wanting to get his pint of blood many times over.

If Iraq was ‘dumb,’ how smart is Afghanistan? What about ‘Never Subdued’ Don’t We Get? By Robert S. Becker

By Robert S. Becker
Featured Writer
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rbecker@cal.net
Dec. 1, 2009

Unlike campaign come-ons cast off, fudged or reversed, this president unstintingly commits to “finish the job” in Afghanistan, boldly gearing up a still mission-less, thus inexplicable “war of necessity.” Didn’t Vietnam forever teach both generals and voters no foreign occupation force, however fortified or plentiful, defeats indigenous, ferocious insurgents posing as “freedom fighters”?  Ditto Iraq.

What a nasty irony, to discover the erstwhile, anti-Iraq war candidate, at home more cautious than Scaredy Cat, strictly keeps his word, proactively ordering a high-risk second surge in this “graveyard of empires.”  What’s disheartening isn’t only the ominous magnitude, but that this bright newcomer is so much the conformist: 1) unwilling to escape historic quagmires, or 2) why no army has ever subdued or centralized Afghanistan while 3) buying whole hog into hawkish delusions outsiders can resolve inside tribal-religious wars.

Gerald Celente: The Greatest Bank Robbery in American History! + Celente: American Empire is Collapsing

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GeraldCelenteChannel
November 30, 2009

Video is no longer available.

***

Here is another similar video interview.

Celente: American Empire is collapsing

Special Comment: Olbermann Skewers General McChrystal Over Pat Tillman Lies!

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MoxNewsDotCom
December 01, 2009

James Hoggan: Should climate deniers be treated like war criminals?

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thomhartmann
November 03, 2009

http://www.thomhartmann.com

James Hoggan on “Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming”

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Democracy Now!
October 20, 2009

PR Executive James Hoggan on “Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming”

The Yes Men aren’t the only group accused of pulling off a hoax in the debate over climate change legislation. In August, the American Petroleum Institute—the oil industry’s top lobbying group—was found to have asked member oil companies to help recruit employees, retirees and contractors for anti-climate bill rallies around the country. Critics said the API was trying to fake a grassroots movement to give a false impression of widespread public opposition to tackling global warming. Our next guest, James Hoggan, has just published a new book on corporate efforts to mislead the public on human-driven climate change. It’s called Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming. [includes rush transcript]

James Hoggan, author of Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming. He is president of the award-winning PR firm Hoggan & Associates. He is chair of the David Suzuki Foundation and the Canadian chapter of Al Gore’s The Climate Project. He also runs DeSmogBlog.com

via PR Executive James Hoggan on “Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming”