I am a Charity! by Cindy Sheehan + Marisa Tomei reads Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
Dec. 12, 2009

Dear Mr. Obama,

I hear that you were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize recently in Oslo, Norway and that, in addition to that spiffy medal, it comes with 1.4 million tax-free dollars that you are going to “donate to charity.”

I just want to let you know that there are still some of us in the US who oppose the wars, even though you are president, and its nothing personal, but I vehemently oppose your wars and especially oppose the escalation of troops to Afghanistan and the fact that there has been no de-escalation from Iraq.

Mercenaries and assassins: The real face of Obama’s “good war” By Bill Van Auken

Dandelion Salad

By Bill Van Auken
http://www.wsws.org
12 December 2009

Reports that mercenaries employed by the notorious Blackwater-Xe military contracting firm participated in CIA assassinations in Iraq and Afghanistan have further exposed the real character of so-called “good war” that is being escalated by the Obama administration.

Citing former employees of the firm and US intelligence agents, the New York Times reported Friday that Blackwater gunmen, ostensibly contracted as security guards, “participated in some of the CIA’s most sensitive activities—clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees.”

These “snatch and grab” operations—many of them involving killings of individuals suspected of participating in the resistance to US occupation—“occurred on an almost nightly basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency from 2004 to 2006, with Blackwater employees playing central roles,” the Times reports.

[…]

via Mercenaries and assassins: The real face of Obama’s “good war”

see

Blackwater, ‘CIA’s partner in secret operations’

Rachel Maddow: Obama Expands US Secret War In Pakistan!

Afghanistan on Dandelion Salad

Blackwater-Xe-Mercenaries

Bernanke’s Fake Economic Recovery by Mike Whitney

Dandelion Salad

by Mike Whitney
www.globalresearch.ca, December 12, 2009
Counterpunch– 2009-12-11

“Economic recovery” is a term that has no fixed meaning. But it’s worth mulling over to determine whether aggregate demand is strong enough to keep the economy from tipping back into recession.  In normal times, the Fed slashes interest rates to increase the flow of capital to the markets and to consumers via lending at the banks. That’s the traditional method of “jump starting” the economy.

The Fed has never initiated policies which provide unlimited guarantees for underwater financial institutions. Nor has it ever poured more than a trillion dollars directly into the financial system by creating excess reserves at the banks and direct purchases of long-term assets. (Quantitative Easing) All of this is new. Naturally, this ocean of liquidity has produced price distortions which have been confused with real recovery. The S&P has soared more than 60 percent in the last 9 months, even though the yield on short-term Treasuries are at historic lows.

Bertolt Brecht in Hollywood By Gary Corseri

By Gary Corseri
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
December 12, 2009

Bertolt Brecht walks past Hollywood and Vine.
It’s 1947; Hitler’s toast,
the devil in the mushroom cloud
still laughs
over the doomed, domed cities;
Russia is restive, but contained.
The air is sultry and redolent
with orange fragrance wafting from
the San Fernando Valley,
mingling with the alchemical combustions of
film splicers and assorted mage-technicians.
(Not to mention the sweetly greased axles
of trolleys—susurrant, tingling …
startling him from reveries.)

End the U.S. Wars Rally: Cynthia McKinney: President Obama, Stop Bankrupting our Nation!

Dandelion Salad

liamh2
December 12, 2009

On Sat., Dec. 12, 2009, ex-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) was one of the speakers at the emergency “End-the-U.S.-Wars” rally. See for background: http://www.enduswars.org/ The event was held in Lafayette Park, directly opposite the White House. Rep. McKinney ran for President of the United States in the 2008 election on the Green Party ticket. She is also a champion of Human Rights and has consistently, and courageously, stood up for the beleaguered peoples of Occupied Palestine.

End the U.S. Wars Rally: Dennis Kucinich: These Wars Are Corrupting…our Nation!

Dandelion Salad

liamh2
December 12, 2009

On Sat., Dec. 12, 2009, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) was one of the featured speakers at the emergency End-the-U.S.-Wars rally. See for background: http://www.enduswars.org/ The event was held in Lafayette Park, opposite the White House. Rep. Kucinich has acted as the conscience of the House of Representatives in opposing U.S. wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Media Response to the Growing Influence of the 9/11 Truth Movement by Elizabeth Woodworth

Dandelion Salad

by Elizabeth Woodworth
Global Research, December 12, 2009

Reflections on a Recent Evaluation of Dr. David Ray Griffin

The cover story of the September 24, 2009, issue of The New Statesman, the venerable left-leaning British magazine, was entitled “The 50 People who Matter Today.”(1) Any such list, necessarily reflecting the bias and limited awareness of the editors, would surely contain choices that readers would find surprising.

That is true of this list – which includes families as well as individuals. A good number of names are, to be sure, ones that would be contained in most such lists created by British, Canadian, or American political commentators, such as the Obamas, the Murdochs, Vladimir Putin, Osama bin Laden, Angela Merkel, Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett, Pope Benedict XVI, and Gordon Brown. But about half of the names reflected choices that I, and probably most other readers, found surprising. One of these choices, however, is beyond surprising – it is astounding.

Following the Money Trail: Telecoms and ISPs Feed the Secret State’s Surveillance Machine By Tom Burghardt

Dandelion Salad

By Tom Burghardt
ICH
Antifascist Calling
December 11, 2009

“Follow the money.”

And why not. As the interface between state and private criminality, following the money trail is oxygen and combustible fuel for rooting out corruption in high places: indelible signs left behind like toxic tracks by our sociopathic masters.

After all, there’s nothing quite like exposing an exchange of cold, hard cash from one greedy fist to another to focus one’s attention on the business at hand.

And when that dirty business is the subversion of the American people’s right to privacy, there’s also nothing quite like economic self-interest for ensuring that a cone of silence descends over matters best left to the experts; a veritable army of specialists squeezing singular advantage out of any circumstance, regardless of how dire the implications for our democracy.

Clinton: Latin American countries should think twice about establishing links with Iran

Propaganda Alert

compiled by Cem Ertür
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
December 12, 2009

1) Clinton: Latin American countries should think twice about establishing links with Iran (December 2009)

from the archives:

Pepe Escobar interviewed by Sibel Edmonds and Peter B. Collins

with Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
12 December 2009

Pepe Escobar shares with us his background and experience as a roving journalist for over three decades. He provides us with an overview of President Obama’s recent trip to China, relevant analysis of ordinary Chinese people’s point of view and reaction, and China’s political and economic position today within the global context. Mr. Escobar discusses energy issues and the current struggle over the resource-rich Central Asia-Caspian regions as the new battle ground for the competing interests of Russia, China, Europe, and the United States, including various strategic alliances currently under way to tap into this oil-gas rich region. He talks about the absence of real coverage of the Eurasia region by the US media, the rarely-discussed and often obscured facts and realities involving the Bagram Prison in Afghanistan, and more!

In Praise of Fallen Leaves – Let Them Be! By Shepherd Bliss

By Shepherd Bliss
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.vowvop.org
Dec. 12, 2009

photo by Dandelion Salad

(Background: This November a City Council member in the small Northern California town of Sebastopol proposed a ban on leaf blowers, which the community and Council are currently discussing. Bans have been passed in many cities around the United States and proposed elsewhere. Though some dismiss this issue as minor, others consider it important.