Stacey Mitchell: Why we can’t buy our way to a better economy

Posted by: somebody | Jan 8 2013 18:48 utc | 3

“There’s another dimension of the gun issue that often gets overlooked in public discussion over arms-control. The same day that Mr La Pierre spoke last week, the House of Representatives passed an annual US defence budget of $633 billion. That’s as much as half of what the entire planet spends on weapons – six times as much as China’s
defence budget, for example, notwithstanding the constant claim in US press reports of Beijing’s newly “aggressive” military spending.”
“Iran, ostensibly the looming threat of the moment, spends just one-90th of the US budget on its own military. So it may be worth asking whether there’s any connection between a country accumulating firepower radically disproportionate to any real threat, and the inclination of millions of its citizens to do the same.”
“In short, the state of mind that informs American gun culture may be the real mental heath issue raised by the Sandy Hook shooting.”
Tony Karon at http://www.thenational.ae

Posted by: jack point | Jan 8 2013 18:53 utc | 5

Assad is Finished!
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2013/01/lalatimes-i-not-assad-am-president-of.html

Posted by: GPC | Jan 8 2013 21:46 utc | 7

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”……www.tacocid.com

Posted by: georgeg | Jan 8 2013 23:35 utc | 9

It seems my previous entry of this article has been lost in cyberspace.
Does mankind need ‘outside help’ in order to be able to unite? – It’s called Apophis. It’s 390m wide. And it could hit Earth in 31 years’ time [2005 estimate].

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Jan 9 2013 0:45 utc | 11

@ Dr. Wellington Yueh [#12],
I’m a great admirer of Kurt, but, if I have to choose between fiction and reality when it comes to asteroids, I don’t want to be an illiterate dinosaur.

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Jan 9 2013 1:52 utc | 13

@13: Touche.
Although, as I pointed out to a friend in a similar conversation, it doesn’t much matter how the universe tries to kill us…we should still be taking preventive measures, eh?

Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Jan 9 2013 3:09 utc | 15

9 & 10
There is another version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA4-4ifhixg
The lyrics are listed below the video, but the SoL relevant part goes:
“Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I’ll piss on ’em
that’s what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let’s club ’em to death
and get it over with and just dump ’em on the boulevard”
11
I think Apophis may have already hit? At least according to this, something did:
http://smotri.com/video/view/?id=v16391954ee

Posted by: вот так | Jan 9 2013 3:30 utc | 17

NCIS – Shabbat Shalom… WTF?

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Jan 9 2013 5:44 utc | 19

in international arena, the ubiquitous agent provocateur is fukusi [srael], [1] but in south asia, its more like fukusi[india]
i wonder if anyone notice that nepal *blocked* chinese participation in the latest saarc conference ? [2]
those uninitiated might ask, * big deal ?*
for china its a big deal, another bitter pill to swallow.
coz in previous occassions, nepal always voted for china ! [3]
in fact, under the monarchy , nepal had always been china friendly.[4]
so much so that the nepalese expect china to be the deterrence to an indian invasion [5] ala sikkim [6]
what gives ?
well, who needs an invasion when fukusi is the master of war by proxies !
nepal is now under maoists rule 😉
before anyone cry *those damned chicoms*
*this* maoists outfit is another successful fukusi[ndia] joint venture, nurtured in india [7] n get this……it despise the *revisionists* in beijing. !!
*Inquiring minds want to know the answer to another question: Who benefits from the destabilization of the Nepalese state, and the impending success of the anti-China Maoist guerrilla movement? Certainly not China. China’s interest is in promoting regional stability, and the electoral success of the “Marxist-leninist” parties denounced by the Maoists as “revisionists” –
and you can bet that, right now, alarm bells are going off in Beijing* [8]
too late now babe, another ally bites the dust. 🙁
china had seen it coming all these years, but what’r are the poor engineers in beijing to do, faced with the seasoned criminals in washington n london. ?
so china got screwed twice over.
first, another of its staunchest ally got zapped, then it got framed
for the maoists *regime change* [9] PLUS the palace massacre in 2002 [10]
easy does it eh ,fukusans would lap it up hook line n sinkers, u know, maoists = chicoms is a no brainer ?
SOBs !
* are ‘democracies’ inherently evil ?*, ask the man
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/10/18/its-no-longer-god-bless-the-usa-its-god-help-the-usa/comment-page-1/
u be the judge

Posted by: denk | Jan 9 2013 5:54 utc | 21

[3] *in the recent past, particularly beginning at the 13th summit in Dhaka in November 2005 where Nepal played a yeoman’s role in getting SAARC to agree to grant China observer status.
It was Nepal’s threat to ‘veto’ proposals to grant Afghanistan membership and Japan observer status, if China’s request for observer status was not also to be acceded to, that finally resulted in agreement, at the apex level, on all three decisions.
…………..
The US’s interest in the matter is particularly significant not merely because it came rather abruptly but, specifically, since it was timed just a month after the SAARC decision in Dhaka on China’s association with the organization. That it was followed almost on its heels by South Korea is also revealing in its own way, as is that of the EU which broadly shares the American worldview. Japan, of course, had already been granted a similar status within SAARC simultaneously with China.
Though it is bound to be hotly denied by the powers that be, there is more than just a whiff of anti-China phobia in the sudden interest by powers that are either distant from South Asia or else had not shown any interest in the matter before Dhaka, 2005
*
http://web.archive.org/web/20071024090903/http://peoplesreview.com.np/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=297&Itemid=94
[4]
*Nepal has two imminent neighbours and we have countless problems with our neighbour in the South and not a single problem with our neighbour in the North. This is why, both the countries, Nepal and China, enjoy very cordial and harmonious relations at the government level as well as at the people’s level.
Our relations are thus illustrated as “High like the Mountains and Deep as the Oceans”.
web.archive.org/web/20071019093308/http://peoplesreview.com.np/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3325&Itemid=94
[ now that nepal is in fukusi’s hand, this site,
http://www.peoplesreview.com.np/
which has been a treasure trove of fukusi shenanigans in south asia, has become dyfunctional]*

Posted by: denk | Jan 9 2013 6:01 utc | 23

[7] newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=60475
[8]original.antiwar.com/justin/2001/06/11/chaos-in-katmandu/

Posted by: denk | Jan 9 2013 6:04 utc | 25

14) You should get at least the facts right – nobody got killed in Czechoslovakia in 1968 as their resistance was non violent. Chechnya got really bad after the fall of the Soviet Union and with the influx of formerly US and still Saudi Arabian supported Salafis fighting indigenous Sufis and arguably it was not the Soviet Union destroying Afghanistan but same originally US supported Salafi Jihadists not to mention what NATO did after the Soviets left.
Deaths in Hungary were “over 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops killed” in 1956 according to Wikipedia. And I agree with Vat Tak – Western colonialist policies have been the same since the Opium Wars

Posted by: somebody | Jan 9 2013 7:12 utc | 27

Repercussions of the Muslim Brotherhood strategy:
Christians of the Levant fear displacement

Simultaneously, calamities in Syria were beginning to intensify, while the wave of extremism and religious targeting continued to increase. Many Christian figures were killed, in addition to a collective displacement of Christians in many regions of Homs, as Sister Anies Salib — a prioress at a convent in Homs — told the Lebanese media. AFP reported that Mohamed al-Sansawi, a leader of a Jihadist group in the Bab al-Hawa region near the Syrian-Turkish border, said that the aim of the revolution is “to establish an Islamic state in Syria and Lebanon, the home of casinos and prostitutes.”
France has tried to absorb this resentment. Late in 2011, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon assigned Sen. Adrian Gotiron, a member of the French Senate and head of the Lebanese-French Friendship Commission, to assess the situation of the Christians of the Levant. Gotiron commenced his mission by visiting the Vatican for consultations. However, many French experts described him as an “amateur” when it comes to foreign policies. It was said that his assignment was a mere cover-up of the real facts.
Amid widespread concerns, a slip of the tongue ignited more fears. Gotiron said in a speech on the background of his mission that “political and religious leaders are calling for the avoidance of collective displacement.” His statement prompted many questions: What exactly is required then? Individual displacement? Or a low-profile disguised displacement?
Alain Juppe, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, preceded Gotiron with a similar slip-up. On Oct. 11, 2011, he was asked during a cabinet discussion session before the National Assembly about the conditions of Copts, to which he replied: “We were not content with words and speeches, we welcomed all those who were the victims of threats, violent acts and terrorism. The same was done in Iraq, as we brought 1,300 Iraqi Christians to France as a part of an inclusive program.”
These two stances were enough to raise concern among the Christians of Lebanon and Syria. Many figures accused Paris and other European capitals of plotting to displace Christians in exchange for oil, gas and preserving France’s interest in Doha and Riyadh. Juppe tried to refute this argument in an article published in a Lebanese newspaper on March 1, 2012, in which he addressed the Christians of the Levant, yet failed to put out the fire.

Posted by: somebody | Jan 9 2013 9:15 utc | 29

See also:
The Future is Young
When did India Become Part of Israel’s Stable?
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/08/when-did-india-become-part-of-israels-stable/
“The Salafist treatment is part of a Machiavellian formula hatched by India with its newest partner, Israel. Salafists deserve free speech as much as anyone, but the reason India accords more of it to them is on the advice of Israel. Israel promotes Islamophobia as part of its strategy of demonizing Palestinians and Arabs, a majority of whom are Muslims, and the Salafist brand of Islam fits Israel’s agenda of portraying Islam as an extremist ideology. This stokes the flames of the more extreme nationalist Hindu groups in India and plays on the fears of many other non-Muslim groups, as well. Since Pakistan is an external Muslim enemy, such demonization helps to unify non-Muslim India and permit popular tolerance of greater government control as well as encroachment of security forces on civil rights and privacy….
A case in point is the role that Israel is playing. The self-proclaimed Jewish state is selling itself to India as a worthwhile ally on the basis that it is a) an experienced and effective leader in the fight against Islamist extremism and terrorism, b) a supplier of high-tech weapons and intelligence, and c) a means of access to U.S. support and cooperation. In effect, Israel is saying that both states have common friends and enemies and that Israel is in a position to provide what India needs.
India appears to be buying, and is currently the largest customer for Israeli military arms systems and services. Never mind that the expensive Iron Dome systems are effective less than 50% of the time against rockets from Gaza that use 16th century technology. Like most governments, India has been seduced by the promise of omniscient surveillance systems and the prospect of winning battles rather than preventing them.
This is obviously a devil’s bargain. True to the nature of such contracts, however, are the surprises that await the unwary. It is instructive to remember that Israeli agents once planted bombs in Baghdad synagogues to encourage Iraq’s Jews to emigrate to Israel. (It worked, and encouraged Iraqi thugs toward violence, as well.)
Since then, Israel has stolen nuclear weapon technology and weapons grade fissionable material from the U.S., conducted the most massive spying operation in U.S. history against its “ally”, and staged numerous assassinations and “black ops” actions outside its borders, including friendly countries. Questions currently surround the killing of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria and the putative assassination attempt on Israeli diplomats in India. Israel blamed both of these on Iran on the basis of flimsy evidence, possibly fabricated in collaboration with its allies, the violent Mujahedin-e-Khalq Iranian exile group…”

Posted by: вот так | Jan 9 2013 9:39 utc | 31

bottak 2
*At the end of WWII writes William Blum, “The ink on the Japanese surrender treaty was hardly dry when the United States began to use the Japanese soldiers still in China alongside American troops in a joint effort against the Chinese communists.” *
http://www.voltairenet.org/article177063.html
this is one of my *template*
every time some fukusan bleats that
*we saved ur ass from the japs in ww2, dont u forget that*
i used this to shut them up for good 😉

Posted by: denk | Jan 9 2013 10:39 utc | 33

So this is over? From RT “Prisoner swap: 2,130 Syrians for 48 Iranian ‘pilgrims'”

Posted by: somebody | Jan 9 2013 10:51 utc | 35

Pat Bateman @ 35
I’ll argue the complete opposite. Time’s proven that the abduction of these pilgrims’ had not effect on the cause of the war for the fsa terrorists. In fact, they’ve suffered more setbacks over the months.
The swap also includes “several” Turkish nationals. The 2000 figure, if they’re all fsa terrorists won’t make much difference either.Where will they be staying? If they’ll be in Syria, then the authorities will certainly be keeping an eye on them. I don’t think the Syrian government will just “let them go” if they couldn’t afford to. As a matter of fact, the government’s been releasing detainees who have no “Syrian blood on their hands” for quite sometime now. The release detainees could also become informants for the government and I doubt they’ll be fully accepted back in the fsa’s fold.
Mind you most of the Syrians that joined the fsa are less educated and therefore easily brainwashed. A little education in prison would’ve certainly helped change their views. If I were an fsa, I’d avoid these released detainees like a plague.

Posted by: Zico | Jan 9 2013 11:41 utc | 37

The “Turkish nationals” could be the Turkish pilots that were recently captured in Allepo..

Posted by: Zico | Jan 9 2013 12:06 utc | 39

To “somebody”
I’m copying/pasting this from the previous thread (“Syria Assad speech”):
#134
The political battle is between Assad, representing the sovereign state of Syria, and the insurgent lead by foreign powers. You yourself, in several occasions have stated that your preference goes with Assad, lacking any better choice. I translate this, politically, into:
“if I was a simple Syrian citizen I would have followed the leadership of Assad in the current situation”
Am I correct?

Posted by: ATH | Jan 9 2013 14:21 utc | 41

somebody,
In the previous thread at #134 you stated:
“Yeah, continuing #131, Assad as a matter of fact seems to be unable to integrate anyone, not even this group.”
Since you have implied several times before that between the muslim extremists and Assad you are inclined toward the latter I think its a legitinate question to ask: if you were a simple Syrian citizen, with no means to emigrate, who will you follow in the current situation ?

Posted by: ATH | Jan 9 2013 15:38 utc | 43

How can Bashar el-Assad remain or become the Grand Leader the Immaculate President or Legit head of State, when he could not defend his country from “foreign terrorists”? While having a consequent army and an efficient security apparatus? And the ppl on his side? As claimed?
In these civil war situations, atrocities aka using the means to hand to indiscriminately kill, squash, repress, incapacitate, contain, such as cutting electricity, bombing, snipers, senseless torture, to name just a few, are used by both (or all) sides.
The will to control and destroy accomplish nothing and both (all) sides lose face and legitimacy.
A stalemate steeped in blood. … …
Once the conflict grinds down and halts – through deathly exhaustion, an empty, scarred land, imposed from outside, whatever – murderous revenge sets in and blooms, as the conflict was framed and proceeded thru sectarian, ethnic, tribal, etc. grounds – personal belonging and connections trump all (as they did before in a forcibly socially accepted way btw), leaving politics, governance, economics, off the agenda. The end of the conflict does not equal a resolution.
The best Assad can hope for is some kind of exile, or the partitioning of Syria and keeping hold of a small Alawite strong hold. Don’t think that will happen.
The US_West is just playing a waiting game, swoop in when destruction is complete, and gang up with the winners.

Posted by: Noirette | Jan 9 2013 16:21 utc | 45

44, Noirette, I think Assad has just won, as “the West” and presumably “the Gulf” are too afraid of any alternative. The prisoner swap including Turkish nationals could mean the Turks and the Assad government have been communicating. It is a Turkish organization observing the swap in Damascus just now. It is possible however that it was a Turkey/Iranian deal and the pilgrims were held in Turkey like this Russian journalist:
Maria Finoshina ‏@MFinoshina_RT
2 separate sources in #Syria & #Lebanon:#AnharKochneva kidnapped in #Syria currently held in #Turkey;negotiations on her release in progress

Posted by: somebody | Jan 9 2013 16:33 utc | 47

#45
It doesn’t look like we are addressing the same issue here.
I thought your answer was reagarding the question I was asking, basically which side you choose in this conflict. Now you are saying that it was about staying sheltered and warm.
Foreign powers are spearheading a polarization politique inside Syria. To get to the kind of internal peace that is the only conduit to reform and genuine political pluralism the Syrian state has to fight the extremism (of a Salafi and Alqaeda kind). So the question remain, after having stayed warm and cosy, which side you choose ?

Posted by: ATH | Jan 9 2013 17:34 utc | 49

48, this is getting silly, I am out of this discussion now. Of course nobody can be forced to chose a side if he/she does not want to.

Posted by: somebody | Jan 9 2013 17:40 utc | 51

44
LOL. The “all sides are bad” routine.

Posted by: вот так | Jan 9 2013 18:19 utc | 53

Does anyone have more specifics about the makeup of the 2130 prisoners released by Syria? InAntalya at DKos (a Turkish citizen who knows Furkan Dogan’s family) is reporting:

There are also reports of a great deal of speculation that the four Turks who have been released so far are the four Turkish pilots who were reportedly captured by Syrian government forces late last month while trying to infiltrate a Syrian air base. The Turkish military has officially stated that no Turkish military pilots have been sent to or captured in Syria.
The Turkish Government has refrained from commenting on today’s events other than to say that they are ‘commendable developments’.

Speaking of Furkan Dogan, it is interesting that the Turkish NGO involved in brokering the prisoner exchange was IHH, the same organization that supported the Free Gaza flotilla by sending the Mavi Marmara. Was Assad burnishing his pro-Palestinian credentials by working through this organization, or are there just no other Turkish groups that he trusts?

Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Jan 9 2013 18:31 utc | 55

#55
I saw their pictures and video in an Iranian media outlet being cheered by the diplomats in their embassy in Damascus. They were between 30 and 60 years old male hardly special forces type.

Posted by: ATH | Jan 9 2013 20:43 utc | 57

Like I said, it appears it didn’t have much effect on the war and the fsa keep getting clobbered at every turn.

What you are actually saying is that it is a
demoralizing blow to the failed military policies of the Germans off the coast of Turkey,
the English in Southern Turkey and the French in Northern Lebanon. The Syrian army has quickly learned
the counter insurgency skills and now it has finally gained the upper hand.

Posted by: hans | Jan 9 2013 21:34 utc | 59

Or maybe they just do not want to know

“Most of the prisoners to be swapped are Syrian citizens in exchange for Iranians, and there are a few Turks as well,” IHH board member Osman Atalay told Reuters. Citizens of other countries were also among those to be released by the Syrian government, he said.

Posted by: somebody | Jan 9 2013 22:02 utc | 61

@ hans [#58],
Q: The Syrian army has quickly learned the counter insurgency skills and now it has finally gained the upper hand.
R: the following is pure guessing and speculating – I think that a few countries [especially Russia and Iran] don’t want Assad to be kicked out, because it would mean they lose either a strategic base or ‘ally.’ My other guess would be that the country with the biggest ‘expertise’ in ‘counter -fill in whatever’ would be Russia [although they fucked up big time when dealing with Chechen rebels coming home to roost. Link + Link].

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Jan 10 2013 0:03 utc | 63

We only fight just wars and kill the right people – ‘So many people died’ – Nick Turse

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Jan 10 2013 0:57 utc | 65

Shimon Peres: President Obama would hit Iran
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/israeli-prez-obama-would-hit-iran-85942.html?hp=r4
“They (the United States) don’t begin by shooting. They try all the other means first — economic sanctions, political pressure, negotiations, everything possible,” Peres told The New York Times. ““But in the end, if none of this works, then President Obama will use military power against Iran. I am sure of it.”
They forgot the rest of what he said:
“How am I sure of it? Because I own him.”

Posted by: вот так | Jan 10 2013 2:28 utc | 67

67
“90 years old, completely senile and a classic hypocrite. Should we even care about what he “think” or say?”
I agree and I also don’t think he is any different than Netanyahu. But he is like a God to many of the liberal zionists. Liad Hussein Kantorowicz nails him at about 6:00 in this presentation (the rest of it ain’t too shaby, either):
Shakira-Sharika/Lies
http://vimeo.com/37060339
There was a glitch posting this originally – sorry if this post ends up double posted.

Posted by: вот так | Jan 10 2013 4:15 utc | 69

after the betrayal of prez for *change*
now we’ve a defence [sic] sec for *change* ?
fool me once…….

Posted by: denk | Jan 10 2013 6:43 utc | 71

Why Hagel was picked.

Posted by: Maracatu | Jan 10 2013 11:20 utc | 73

The oil and gas situation in the South China Sea is a very real source of conflict (see link below). China building four carriers right now and six more starting in 2013-14 means that the Dragon is NOT mere posturing, and is clearly trying to muscle in, while at the same time gauging the US reaction. What with the war du jour with Iran temporarily on hold as the US hopes for yet another coup in Iran (because all of the previous US sponsored coups in the Middle East and South America have produced such stalwart and reliable allies in these regions), China wants to measure the US reaction in case things go sour for China in Iran (i.e. a blockade of the Straits or severe production disruptions in Iran as the government falls and is replaced).
You can read the writing on the wall here — continued meddling by the US with China’s oil supply will prompt China to lay claim to the South China Sea. Yet another headache for a US navy and air force stretched way too thin due to watching all the canals and global choke-points, supplying and supporting 2 divisions in Afghanistan, keeping a credible threat on Iran, along with the other 80 or so bases globally that need supplied, maintained, and so forth.
Mark my words, the WW3’s Pacific Theater will be in the South China Sea.
Long Lockheed! (/sarc)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/us-china-sea-idUSBRE8B303M20121204

Posted by: Cynthia | Jan 10 2013 16:10 utc | 75

On second thought, if China were to start a war, it will be short-lived. Nations full of one child families do not engage in long wars, as the death of a soldier equals the end of a family line. And nations with two generations of only children get two family lines dead-ending with a single death. Even rabid nationalism cannot overcome that kind of self-interest for long. “Bring the Boys Back Home” would be the Chinese national anthem within a year of the start of hostilities.
China also doesn’t have the resources to take on the whole world, or even the whole world excluding Russia. They should be choosing their battles more carefully and taking on nations one at a time. Their current trajectory is to take on the whole rest of Asia, which will bring in, at the minimum, the US, UK and Australia, and they don’t have nearly the ability to battle that coalition.
It is looking a bit like Germany’s territorial excursions circa 1938. One little adjacent country may be easy to take, two may be possible, but three including a big bear or lion is an overreach with fatal consequences.

Posted by: Cynthia | Jan 10 2013 16:35 utc | 77

Hard to decide what to quote from this article, it’s all very worthwhile, and he title doesn’t really do it justice, so leaving it at that was out, also. So I quoted the middle portion.
Why Authority is the Enemy
The Hierarchy of the Machine
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/10/the-hierarchy-of-the-machine/
“…A hierarchy is a mechanism by which an actor at one rung of authority is able to shift cost and effort downward, while appropriating the benefits from others’ efforts. In a hierarchy, the authority of those above is substituted for the experience-based judgment of those in direct contact with a situation. The judgment of the person best qualified to do a job is always subject to interference from someone with less knowledge, whose primary interest is in living off the surplus effort of those below.
When authority-based rules are allowed to interfere with the experience-based judgement of those actually in a situation, the result can only be a net reduction in efficiency and rationality. So the question is, how does such a suboptimal state of affairs continue?
The answer, to put it bluntly, is that it makes us easier to milk. The self-interest of those in authority lies not in optimizing the efficiency of the system as a whole, but in maximizing their own extraction of rents from it. Their interest is in maximizing the absolute size of their slice of the pie, even if doing so results in a smaller pie overall.
Those in authority cannot afford to do the most efficient thing — stop interfering with the judgments of those who actually know what they’re doing — because they know their interests are diametrically opposed to ours….”

Posted by: вот так | Jan 10 2013 23:52 utc | 79

Demanding the right to digitally protest: Hacktivists petition the White House to legalize DDoS
http://rt.com/usa/news/us-ddos-attacks-legal-736/
“Is temporarily slowing down a website a legal form of protest? Current US law says it isn’t, but hacktivists want the White House to make changes that would force the government to reconsider their witch-hunt against alleged computer criminals.”
Another clandestine move by the people in power. The governments of the USA and Israel are the primary users of this tactic to shut down use of websites critical of themselves. The people who are behind this “petition” should be considered Israeli-American government agents operating under cover.

Posted by: вот так | Jan 11 2013 0:27 utc | 81

I like this guy’s take on gun control and gun nuts. The school shooting/gun control discussion has fallen off the radar now so I post it here instead.
Gunslinger
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/01/gunslinger/#more-47192
“When I read about armed men brazenly displaying their assault rifles in the open streets of Portland, I thought, “It’s begun.”
At first I was “relieved” that these guys were just ass-holes and not agents of The State. Then I wondered if maybe they are agents of The State, posing as ass-holes, in order to instill the requisite fear. Brownshirts. Or Blackshirts, or whatever. Defending themselves against whom? Agents of The State, armed with a lot more fire-power, imposing Martial Law? Or the prototypical Bad Guy armed with a six-gun, looking for a duel at the local saloon? I refuse to support “gun control” because the people who’d be “controling” those guns are the ones we should be afraid of. On the other hand, I would be in favor of a “law” allowing armed citizens to “open fire” on ass-holes walking the streets with automatic weapons. So long as they shoot from the windows and remain in the “privacy of their own homes.” These are deranged, puzzling times. Drones in the skies and ass-holes bearing automatic weapons in the streets. While we are still — tenuously — protected by “the law,” isn’t there something a bit illegal about carrying an M-16 to the local 7-Eleven?
In fact, fuck “the law.” Citizens — sane ones — should sign a resolution, and post it, stating that anyone bearing weapons in the street will be considered an immediate threat to the community and shot on sight.”

Posted by: вот так | Jan 11 2013 20:19 utc | 83

have u heard ?
after the murikans, indians, now the japs say they need to give a huge pay hike to their mic ceos
to upgrade their *defence* capabilities, coz of the rising *chinese threat* hehehe
to my best knowledge, the only jap casaulties in the japan sea so far was inflicted by …….
an murikan sub 😉

Posted by: denk | Jan 12 2013 3:48 utc | 85

daniel rich 86
ishihara is a jap wingnut
Kiyoshi Inoue is a japanese historian
http://www.skycitygallery.com/japan/diaohist.html
ur wife is a japanese lady

Posted by: denk | Jan 12 2013 6:44 utc | 87

@ denk [#87],
Den we cool :o)

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Jan 12 2013 7:49 utc | 89

Perhaps Reddit isn’t, or wasn’t, compliant enough about opening back doors to the Israeli-American security state apparatus (IE: the Gestapo), like their tools, Facebook and Twitter, are?
Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz commits suicide in midst of controversial trial
http://rt.com/news/aaron-swartz-suicide-reddit-858/
“Many say the lawsuit is unfounded because MIT allows guests access to JSTOR – and Swartz, who was undertaking a fellowship at Harvard’s Safra Center for Ethics at the time of downloading, was a guest.
The case has also been deemed highly controversial because it wasn’t JSTOR – the alleged victim in the case – which referred Swartz to the federal government, according to the company’s vice president of Marketing and Communications, Heidi McGregor. She says JSTOR was content once it reclaimed the works from Swartz.
“We stopped this downloading activity, and the individual responsible, Mr. Swartz, was identified. We secured from Mr. Swartz the content that was taken, and received confirmation that the content was not and would not be used, copied, transferred, or distributed,” the company said in its statement on the prosecution.
The statement went on to say that the investigation was directed by the United States Attorney’s Office.
“This makes no sense. It’s like trying to put someone in jail for allegedly checking too many books out of the library,” Demand Progress Executive Director David Segar said in a statement, as quoted by Wired magazine.
“It’s even more strange because the alleged victim has settled any claims against Aaron, explained they’ve suffered no loss or damage, and asked the government not to prosecute,” Segal said.”

Posted by: вот так | Jan 13 2013 0:02 utc | 91

Follow up on the death of Aaron Swartz with more information about him and his work:
Obama’s ‘kill list’ critic found in dead in New York City
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/13/283254/us-kill-list-critic-found-dead-in-ny/
“Prominent American blogger and computer prodigy Aaron Swartz, who spoke against US President Barack Obama’s “kill list” and cyber attacks against Iran, has been found dead in New York.
Police found the body of the 26-year-old in his apartment in New York City borough of Brooklyn on Friday, said a spokeswoman for the city’s chief medical examiner.
Brooklyn’s chief medical examiner ruled the death a suicide by hanging, but no further detail is available about the mysterious death.
Last year, Swartz openly criticized the US and the Israeli regime for launching joint cyber attacks against Iran.
The blogger was also vocal in criticizing Obama’s so-called kill list and other policies.
Obama has been reportedly approving the names put on the “kill lists” used in the targeted killing operations carried out by US assassination drones.
Every week or so, more than 100 members of the US national security team gather via secure video teleconference run by the Pentagon and go over the biographies of suspects in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan, and “nominate” those who should be targeted in the attacks.
Obama is then provided with the identities of those put on the “kill list” and signs off on every strike in Yemen and Somalia as well as the risky strikes in Pakistan.
Swartz was also widely credited for co-authoring the specifications for the Web feed format RSS 1.0 (Rich Site Summary) which he worked on at age 14.
RSS is designed to deliver content from sites that change constantly, such as news pages, to users.
Swartz was critical of monopoly of information by corporate cartels and believed that information should be shared and available for the benefit of society.
“Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves,” he wrote in an online “manifesto” in 2008.
Based on that belief, the computer prodigy founded the nonprofit group DemandProgress.
The group launched a successful campaign to block a 2011 bill that the US House of Representatives called the Stop Online Piracy Act.
Had it been approved, the bill would have allowed court orders to restrain access to some websites considered to be involved in illegal sharing of intellectual property.
DemandProgress argued that the thwarted Stop Online Piracy Act would have broadly authorized the US government to censor and restrict legitimate Web communication.”
Perhaps he made it onto the “kill list”? Either directly, or indirectly. He apparently ticked off enough in the establishment they had the U.S. government put the screws on him. Whether the Israeli-American government pushed him to suicide or outright murdered him, the crime they committed is still murder.

Posted by: вот так | Jan 13 2013 8:43 utc | 93

shameless assholes
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/01/12/the-arrest-of-nepalese-army-colonel-in-the-uk-hope-for-the-transitional-justice-in-nepal/comment-page-1/#comment-234315

Posted by: denk | Jan 14 2013 15:42 utc | 95

BOT TAK,
The lack of proportion shown in the prosecution of Aaron Swartz is what bothers me. Huge crimes by bankers are ignored, while they throw the book at Swartz. JSTOR is a road-block thrown up against reading articles published in academic journals, a huge proportion of them in the humanities. This limits the spread of knowledge for the purpose of generating profits for the owners of JSTOR. (Who are they, by the way?) Why this sense of appalling vengeance on the part of the DOJ.
Any suicide is a tragedy, especially in the case of one so young and so deeply talented. Reasons can never be certain, but being hounded by the government can’t help. And he was attempting to spread knowledge, certainly a better motive than that the banks exhibited. Very sad.
Swartz was ahead of his time
A victim cut-down in his prime
His criminal deed
To help those in need?
I no longer understand “crime”
The Limerick King
http://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/8378525559/

Posted by: Cynthia | Jan 15 2013 2:53 utc | 97

Check out this new angle on the Swartz story at emptywheel It seems that the Secret Service was brought into an investigation of this young man, for an offense that should have amounted to no more than misdemeanor trespassing.

The public story of Aaron Swartz’ now-tragic two year fight with the Federal government usually starts with his July 19, 2011 arrest.
But that’s not when he was first arrested for accessing a closet at MIT in which he had a netbook downloading huge quantities of scholarly journals. He was first arrested on January 6, 2011 by MIT and Cambrige, MA cops.
According to a suppression motion in his case, however two days before Aaron was arrested, the Secret Service took over the investigation.

Posted by: Copeland | Jan 15 2013 6:03 utc | 99