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About Terri

I was ignoring this rightwing extremist manipulation for headlines until I read Rev. Robert Johansen's piece on NRO, or Rev. Rob, as he calls himself on Quo Vadis his website.

The wrong Reverend Rob claims that due to Terri not having physical therapy "The result is that Terri suffers from severe muscle contractures, which have caused her body to become contorted. Physical therapy could remedy this, but husband Michael has refused to provide it." First of all PT would consist of someone moving and flexing the limbs for Terri, and massages. Regardless of how well this PT is carried out, over a period of years the limbs will contract. There's only so much flexing and rubbing therapists can do for someone who has remained inert for 14 years. Diet, lung oxygenation from natural exercise, blood flow and life are required to keep the muscles from atrophy and contracture. Use it or lose it. Any physician on a hospice or nursing home staff could order PT for Terri; it's not up to Michael to refuse to provide it. Her hospice care is free but should provide basic therapies for paralytic patients.

Rev. Rob goes on stating "Terri has also suffered from what many professionals would regard as neglect. She had to have several teeth extracted last year because of severe decay. This decay was caused by a lack of basic dental hygiene, such as tooth-brushing. She also developed decubitus (skin) ulcers on her buttocks and thighs. These ulcers can be prevented by a simple regimen of regular turning: a basic nursing task that any certified nurse aide can perform."

Sigh, inflammatory hyperbole. Again, patients in this condition will eventually lose their dentition. The bone and gums must be used, chewing, gripping, grinding, tearing of food, in order to remain healthy. The bone and gums the teeth set in will deteriorate if not used. The oral bacterial composition of someone like Terri will be abnormally different than you or me as we grub our way through years of meals and snacks. The best toothbrush and paste will not save the teeth unless the gums and bone are healthy. Use it or lose it.

As for the bed sores Rev. Rob knows nothing. Bed sores are common among those who have been debilitated for years. They involve more than simply turning the patient over every few hours. Circulation Rev. Rob circulation. Again, you can turn people every few hours, flex the limbs and rub them, but ulcers develop. You can put the patient on a rotisserie but they will eventually develop decubitus sores. Even Christopher Reeves died of infection related to bed sores and we can be sure he had the best of care.

Rev. Rob says "Terri's diagnosis was arrived at without the benefit of testing that most neurologists would consider standard for diagnosing PVS. One such test is MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)." She has had CAT scans, which for someone in her state will show the brain clearly. Many patients rely on CATs because of metal in the cranium and cannot undergo MRIs. Rev. Rob is really reaching with this one. For every physician he can find who claims Terri must have an MRI there is another who will claim the CAT is sufficient. All one is looking for is normal healthy brain tissue, or lack thereof, which can be seen on CATs. I've looked at more than a few to know.

Rev. Rob goes on to condemn Michael Schiavo, members of the medical profession, and a judge with conspiracy to commit murder, more or less. Rev. Rob claims on his blog "The things that are most important to me are: finding and knowing the Truth." Truth is Rob you're approaching 100 pounds overweight (add 100 lbs per extra chin), not honoring God's temple of the body are we? and you're a shill jumping for 15 minutes on some of the ugliest republican political tripe. The good Reverend also says "Some random things I like: Books written by Dead White Guys." Let's hope he knows Jesus was not a white guy.

I support giving patients like Terri to their family. Why haven't the parents taken Terri home? I would if she were my daughter. Let the government pick up the tab for setting up and equipping an in-home system in a bedroom down the hall from mom and dad or family member. Let the government pick up the tab for the VNA to give scheduled visits and checkups. But let the family do the 24/7 year round therapy, cleaning, caring, turning, massaging, brushing. No doubt the Schindler's would announce in less than six months that Terri died peacefully in her sleep.

Pondering on Thugs

Paul Wolfowitz, World Bank. I'm still pondering that one. In some way it makes perfect sense, considering the times we're living in. With Wolfowitz, Greenspan, Bolten, Negroponte, Chertoff, and dozens of others it appears Bush has a policy of no Jew left behind. Politically if Bush's Jewish appointments were replaced with all Blacks or all Arabs, then white America, the MSM, and your daddy would be raising hell. Not all hijacking is done with box cutters.

Modern America reflects the World Bank. For instance, the recent growth of those paycheck loan businesses. Those "check in to cash" places, where citizens can draw money from the next paycheck in order to survive another week. No longer are folks living "paycheck to paycheck" but now next pay period's paycheck to next pay period's paycheck. When the first such place opened in my town, in a hole in the wall next to the video rental shop, I wondered how there would be any profit in that sort of setup. I was under the naive notion that not many people had to live more than a week ahead of their earnings, but obviously, a great deal of profit is to be made as now our town of 17,000 has 6 or more "check in to cash" places. There are also as many pawn shops and several places that loan money on car titles, if you manage to own a car long enough to pay it off, or even the old beater you bought with a tax refund can get a couple of hundred dollars in your pocket.

Such "predatory lending" tactics are the World Bank, and the other loan sharking arm of the elite, the IMF. As the WB and IMF have perpetrated money lending scams on the third world for decades, suffocating and exploiting the poor, the little quickie cash joints for America's lower classes are doing the same. Charging excessive fees, taking your collateral and/or at worst your freedom if you don't pick up that bad check. Keeping folks in an endless cycle of borrowing/spending cash they don't have. The usury in credit card lending is a fine example of modern banking, and here to stay. Aren't the new bankruptcy laws going to be fun? I somewhat agree with those, however. As I've never filed bankruptcy it does irk me to see others who have filed 2 or 3 times in their pursuit of the American Dream.

Wolfowitz will be as ingenious as Greenspan, godfather of the Federal Reserve Racket and an "intern" to several presidents. We can credit Alan as the man who, since 1987, has led us to where we are today. He scurried from one administration to the next supporting what's best for the ruling class, approving tax cuts to the top percenters, and the cutting of social programs to pay down the deficit. So short-sighted he didn't see the tech bubble nor the coming housing bubble. Greenspan, who has recently been pointing out the merits of a consumption tax. And if you've checked into that one you know who's gonna get consumpted.

But back to Wolfowitz. A perfect choice to head the biggest extortion racket in the world. A man with perpetual priapism for war, with a résumé of lucre and avarice, so in style and in your face. A man who can twist arms. Who knows, maybe he can simply demand debtor nations pay back loans with pounds of flesh, foreign troops for Bush's TWOT (the war on terror). Wolfie says he truly believes the role of the World Bank is to end poverty. "End poverty", more bumper sticker ideology that Joe 6-Pack will buy, put it on a ribbon. Are we to believe guys like Greenspan, Wolfowitz, Bolten, Chertoff, Negroponte desire only to follow the noble mission of making the world a better place for us? Does anyone still believe the bullshit that is being shoveled from the top by their appointed "experts," carrying PhD's (Piled Higher & Deeper), lauding years of public service on their rap sheets? It can't get much deeper folks.

Money Spats Among the Rich

For several days after the news of Bank Hapoalim money laundering I wondered how could an Israeli bank be caught doing wrong, so big, so loudly, so publicly. Glaring criminal activity, specifically in regard to Jewish money laundering, is nigh unheard of. Who pointed the finger at Israel's banking? Six Israeli banks were fined and/or issued warnings a year ago for violating Prohibition on Money Laundering Law. But Jewish banking crimes in the headlines as notably as the current allegations? With the Zionist-Christo cabal in Tel-DC-Aviv, how did this scam every come to light? Then I remembered that oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was Jewish and out of favor with Putin's soul. Khodorkovsky and Yukos, Khodorkovsky Bank MENATEP. Aha. The Russians have to be behind the light shining on this scandal, which is spreading.

Some of the same names connected to Yukos are in the Bank Hapoalim investigation, i.e. self-exiled media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky and Yukos co-owner Leonid Nevzlin, both of whom may be questioned in the investigation of what could be the biggest money-laundering scandal in Israel's history. Moscow also issued a murder warrant for Nevzlin. All these could be's and may be's signal that if these billionaires tap dance correctly their problems could maybe all go away. Looks like Khodorkovsky would be the sacrificial goat and spend his days in Siberia with what used to be his oil.

But hang on a minute, is Condi in there fighting for Mikey?, issuing vague statements as "Our goal has been to continue to talk to the Russians about this and to be clear that the deepening of relations for which we all hope, really would only take place on the basis of common values." What the hell does that mean? Let my Mikhail go or we won't play?

But wait, maybe the scandal is a plot by Jewish banking moguls to hamper Putin's Russia? No, that can't be because March 10 Moscow released a statement saying they "...did not expect that a claim the Tel Aviv branch of the largest Israeli bank, Hapoalim, has been involved in money laundering would have any serious effect on the Russian banking business in Israel."

As usual and expected, the Jewish press has cited Khodorkovsky's arrest and the grab of Yukos by the Russian State as anti-semitism. (A term more overused and worn out than playing the race card in the US). Khodorkovsky and other "Jewish oligarchs" were throwing millions at any liberal non-Putin political party, particularly the Communist party. They became Putin's opponents, rivals. Their travails may have more to do with politics than ethnicity. But oppressing political opponents doesn't conjure up the same emotional boogymen as anti-semitism. Nevermind that in 2003 Russia's two leading Jewish groups, the Chabad-Lubavitch-dominated Federation of Russian Jews,and Russian Jewish Congress both voiced support of the arrest of Khodorkovsky. The Jewish press claims the leaders of the two groups are going along to get along and fear of losing their roles in the corridors of Russian power. (Similar fear can be seen in the Democrats of the US congress.)

But, Jewish pundits continue to shill that the Kremlin is rekindling anti-Jewish sentiments in Russia. Authority figures point to the recent prosecutorial team's use of the term "economic crimes" in regard to Khodorkovsky, which according to them represents historically one of the "special" charges reserved for Jews. Many prominent Jews on the other hand agree that Putin is not anti-semitic. The latest head of the Russian Jewish Congress is even more adamant with his admiration of Putin. Apparently the accusation of "anti-semitic" doesn't frighten the Kremlin the way it does D.C.

Have Gun Will Travel

Mr. Brooks:

In response to your comment to my item below Mercs or Private Military Companies, first let me say I have no doubts or question regarding the privatization of armies and the organized campaign to make the hired gun respectable. Having read your comments at IPOA online, it's likely you consider my skepticism toward PMCs as coming from one who, to use your words, has been struck "by emotional cords, making rational assessment difficult." You describe those who would use the term mercenary as "sensationalists" seeking to "demonize the companies." I do call a front a front, a merc a merc.

In your own words "PMCs are amenable to regulation but need financial incentive to do so." You claim other, less regulated companies will step in to undercut those companies "burdened by regulations." Sounds like nothing more than buy-us-a-conscience.

You commented in the UK Green paper that "most regulations" dealing with "human rights and accountability will be readily accepted by the PMCs who already assume standards instilled in typical Western militaries." With the awareness of Abu Ghraib, flattening Fallujah, the public's disinterest and government's lack of accountability, I don't find that statement offering assurance that private mercenaries, funded by government incentives and/or corporate coffers, will not abuse, torture, or raze the village in order to bring stability under the oxymoronic euphemism "armed peace" operations. With our new AG declaring the Geneva Convention "quaint" the assurance of instilling typical Western standards is also quite quaint.

The South African mercenary company Executive Outcomes (which your paper mentioned) has claimed "its sole purpose was to bring stability to the region by supporting legitimate governments in their defense against armed rebels." (That definition qualifies the likes of Pinochet and Khmer Rouge.) But basically, EO mercenaries were maintaining the status quo. The Sierra Leone Sandline operation raised enough stink regarding illegal arms trafficking, that Britain had to agree to make up new rules to play by. Tim Spicer, of Sandline fame, now doing lucrative "peace work" with contracts in Iraq. In your own words Sandline was "remarkably effective." Presumably you refer to saving lives. But saving lives is secondary to protecting the resources of the employer aka "legitimate government."

"Legitimate governments" are often legitimate only when the US deems them so. Particularly when oil, gold, copper, minerals, diamonds, coca, etc. are involved. We can claim PMCs could have averted Rwanda, or Darfur, or the next one and the next one, in the continuous business cycle of ending conflicts. We can call PMCs "consultants" or "shareholders" or "peace enforcers" but they will still be hired guns protecting "legitimate governments" aka responsive to corporate interests. We could simply pay our troops bigger bucks and get the same thing, without the loss of tax payments which occurs when new business privatization run to the trough of government funding and subsidy. I expect tax free think tanks and foundations for the support and promotion of mercenaries will join the 501s.

I do give you the benefit of the doubt, for now; you may sincerely believe that a PMC's war is peace. However, there's a lot of money to be made from the inbreeding of paramilitary and commercial ventures, and for the 501 non-profit organizations which give their copulation the cover of respectability.

Signs

Anti-Bush Signs “The man who called was very polite and nice,” says John Gasquet, owner of Empire coffee at 2 N. Main in Downtown Memphis. “He said he was special agent Something-or-other. He said that due to the fact that in some states the President had been to, there were issues of security regarding area businesses, he was calling businesses to tell them not to put up any negative signs in their windows that were negative toward President Bush. He said there were designated areas of protest and this would cut down on the possibility of problems.” Gasquet and others who have received similar calls will be discussing their polite, but unnerving calls with Sam Seder (sitting in for Randi Rhodes) on Monday afternoon.

To Die For

Mideast duty for U.S. troops may include Israel.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, renewed his longstanding call for NATO and U.S. troops to take part in an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

The death in November of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has set the stage for renewed movement in the creation of a Palestinian state. And Warner said a NATO force with strong U.S. participation would be viewed as evenhanded in the volatile region because many of NATO’s European allies have strong ties to Palestinian Arabs while the United States is viewed as a strong backer of Israel.

What's the difference between strong ties and strong backer? About 3 billion per year in assistance plus state of the art weaponry.

Sturmtruppen

HOMELAND SECURITY UNIVERSITY Eighty locations, including Canada, Europe (10 campuses), Italy, Costa Rica, Israel, Germany, Spain, Mexico, and India. Offered are (in the future) Bachelor, Master, and apparently several "certificates" and "diplomas" in Homeland Security and Public Safety. Not yet accepting students, but are hiring instructors, etc. 1000s of positions. T-shirts with logo are ready, however. Anyone with IAPPA certification or something similar? They are "seeking 5 to 6 people to hire almost immediately for Executive Protection positions. Must have extensive background and training in executive protection."

To give you an idea of the mindset, they include on their site, the "article" of Anne Jacobsen's Terror in the Skies, Again?, the bigoted prosy piece of her flight with 14 dark Syrians which terrified her and other passengers, although they turned out to be musicians on their way to a gig.

The University appears to have been the idea of Captain Robert G. Ross and Commander Peyton M. Coleman. They proposed "that the Secretary of Homeland Security create a National Homeland Security University modeled after the Defense Department's National Defense University." As you can see the University hires a few former and retired military for administrative positions, with former or present FBI agents, Border Patrol personnel, etc.

On the FAQ is some interesting information:

Question: Is this program associated in any way with the US government Department of Homeland Security?
Answer: No. The HSU Project is a private organization which has no direct ties to the DHS. The Homeland Security University system is a private corporation.

Question: Will HSU be an actual college?
Answer: Yes. Each college campus will initially only offer the certificate and diploma programs as non-credit professional development programs. As educational regulatory compliance is met at each campus location, the HSU project will expand into offering lower level degree programs.

If we're lucky, this is just another scam for government funds by a private corporation. If not, when that guy/gal in the homeland shirt asks for your documents, he's simply doing his job of securing the fatherland, and he has the certificate from the university to prove he can.

Dogging Dan Rather

Dan Rather began his career with a lie. A nobody newsman in Dallas, the assassination of JFK handed Rather his career. He viewed the Zapruder film and backed up the official lies regarding the direction of the head shots. Someone gave Rather his tit for tat career and he's been tatting ever since. Like all MSM, Rather was a talking head. Reporting what he was told to report, from locations he was sent, presenting packaged news by players behind the scenes who controlled his multi-million paycheck. Surely worth it. Who wouldn't speak as they're told for unlimited kudos, awards, glory, travel, pay, prestige? In Rather's own words (on Clinton's honesty) : "I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things.” (Sounds like pot philosophy.)

Rather was neither liberal nor conservative. Like all MSM puffs, groomed, coifed, exotic backdrops, he presented the angle the media moguls gave him, to sway public opinion for private mogul reasons. He was liberal only in that he sometimes played one on TV. He read the news, as newsmen do. The media has always been an arm of the State, with little significant differences between liberal/conservative reporting. Each first family assigned their fawning reporters and their hounding press. Just enough two party bickering to make you think that all things are fair and balanced. Newsmen who relish and believe what they read of goebbelesque State propaganda is a newer genre, beginning with Fox News. Had we an honest independent media every president since Nixon would have been impeached (possibly excluding Carter). These days there isn't even the pretense of presidential press hounds in the MSM.

But how fitting that Rather's handlers ended his career as they began it; with a lie. Poor Dan, as he read each line he knew the Killian memo was a hoax on him, his time was up, he was drinking the hemlock provided to him. His unchallenged usefulness as a talking head for 40+ years coming to an end. Whoever held Rather's leash must have had a helluva grudge or blackmail. Dan was not to go out in a blaze of journalistic glory as a shrewd veteran newsman might deserve, no truimphant victory of breaking the story of a lifetime, nor even a warm fuzzy quiet farewell....no, Dan with a little of the air let out of him, hanging his head, limped off like a Juarez dog.

No Spider Hole?

Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction.
A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated.

"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said.

"We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of Sudanese origin was killed," he said.

He said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from the window of a room on the second floor. Then they shouted at him in Arabic: "You have to surrender. ... There is no point in resisting."

"Later on, a military production team fabricated the film of Saddam's capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted well," Abou Rabeh said.

Déjà Who Next

This book, Infiltration: How ___ Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington, published 2005 reads like many written in the 1920s and '30s that detailed how Jewish financiers were plotting to overthrow western (Christian) civilization and rule the world.

As Americans continue to worship at the altar of cultural diversity and endorse religious tolerance for tolerance sake, _________ masquerading as “moderates” have insinuated themselves into the very fabric of American society, taking advantage of our blind trust and gaining footholds in our education system, government, workplace, law enforcement, and military. In this startling book, investigative journalist Paul Sperry uses revealing new interviews and classified documents to courageously explain how, for the past thirty years, these _________ have been covertly working to destroy our constitutional government and the ________ ethics on which our nation was built. Their goal, according to Sperry, is to replace the U.S. Constitution with the ________ and turn America into a ________ state. And, as Sperry details point-by-point, they have been unwittingly aided in their sinister aims by the politically correct media, government, and citizens, who don’t fully understand the dangers of the ______ faith.

Infiltration explodes the facade of moderation and patriotism that ______ scholars, clerics, businessmen, and other leaders in the burgeoning ______ community in America have conveyed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In reality, the _______ establishment that publicly decries _____________... The only difference is that they use words and money instead of bombs to accomplish their goals.

Now, thanks to Sperry’s peerless research, piquant prose, and forthright presentation, their cover is blown. He will not only make readers forget nearly everything they’ve been told about these “moderate” and “mainstream” leaders, he will expose the true agenda of these “moderate” and “mainstream” leaders, and he will explain the full scope of the dangerous threat of ______ in America.

American Kool-Aid

OPIC. Established as a development agency of the U.S. government in 1971. OPIC helps U.S. businesses invest overseas. Claims that because OPIC charges market-based fees for its products, it operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to taxpayers. OPIC has supported $142 billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to generate over $11 billion in host-government revenues and create over 673,000 host-country jobs. OPIC projects have also generated $64 billion in U.S. exports and created more than 253,000 American jobs.

OPIC: providing political risk insurance to help U.S companies manage risk; OPIC insures up to $250 million per project and has no minimum investment requirements. Providing financing through direct loans and loan guaranties; OPIC offers various lending options to assist U.S. businesses investing overseas. Leveraging private capital through OPIC-supported funds. Support for the achievement of U.S. foreign policy objectives, such as promoting political and economic stability in emerging democracies through the development of the private sector and privatization of state-owned businesses, and promoting U.S. practices in business, the environment, and worker rights. In other words, another "developmental agency" of the US government which administers corporate welfare for investment overseas, "at no net cost to taxpayers." Big opportunities right now in Iraq.

November 23, 2000 Ned Siegel files suit 2000 Election. In two companion petitions for writs of certiorari, Governor George W. Bush, together with related parties, asks this Court to interfere with ongoing manual recounts of the ballots cast in the State of Florida for the President of the United States as provided under Florida law.

October 2002 Ned Siegel appointed to OPIC board of directors by GWB. Siegel also a Bush/Cheney '04 Ranger (200,000 donation).

Governor Jeb Bush to Head Tribute Committee for Chabad's Gala Event honoring Mr. Ned L. Siegel. "This tribute committee... will applaud Mr. Siegel for partnering with and bringing Chabad-Lubavitch of Greater Boynton into its second decade."

Chabad Lubavitch is a Jewish messianic sect, previously led by Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who many followers believe was/is the Jewish Messiah. Republican operatives have said that Chabad houses, as the movement's synagogues are called, were instrumental in helping turn out Jewish voters for President Bush, especially in Florida.

Signs We're Racing Toward Orange Afros

* First and foremost among "the signs," if you're a believer, is the return of Jews to Jerusalem. Are we there yet? Israel occupied Arab East Jerusalem in 1967, then later annexed it, although the Israeli annexation has yet to be recognized by the international community. Democrat senators Schumann and Lieberman, (among dozens of other pols) pressed Clinton to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in recognition that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel. GWB promised the embassy move in 2000, as did Clinton in 1993 (both reneged citing "national security" concerns). Bush as recently as December 2004 again postponed the move. Establishing the US Embassy in Jerusalem must signify an act of Biblical proportions.

* The destruction of the Masjid Al-Aqsa and construction of a Jewish temple on the spot. Should be easy to do. With the recent emergence of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, destroying the Mosque in a shoot out will be viewed by most Americans as ridding the world of another terrorist cell which just happened to be holed up in a church. Most Americans couldn't tell you Al-Aqsa is also a mosque, or where Iraq is on a map. The pulpits will ring with sermons of how the LORD smite and smote the evil doers, as prophesied, in order for JESUS CHRIST's RETURN in order to save us from our sin (I thought he did that already), so He can reign on earth for 1000 years of peace and prosperity! And our peace and prosperity (no relation to Clinton) is intertwined with Israel's. So saith the fundamentalists.

* The control of Jews over Biblical Israel. The Jewish dream of a Greater Israel. Including, but not limited to, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, the Sinai Peninsula belonging to Egypt, part of south Turkey, and a piece of Hijaaz in Saudi Arabia, including Medina. But hell, might as well take it ALL while we're there. No Muslim left behind.

* Finally, the Anti-Christ, supposedly one who grows up from the Jewish nation and is backed up by the false prophet (Sharonabush?), a world financial system, and then huge hailstones rain down on Har Magedon (near Lebanon), the final battle between good and evil. The war to end all wars, etc. Depending on which Christian sect you follow, there's dispute of which comes first, the tribulation or the rapture. With Bush, Sharon, institutions such as UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO, and a nuke named Hailstorm somewhere....my guess is tribulation.

Too Easy

Something doesn't smell right about the Lefkow case. I caught the the story on the local news, who reported they did not know who the victims were, but were connecting it to Hale and his group. That struck me as odd. The Hale connection was introduced immediately. Almost as quick as the description and arrest of Lee Harvey in the Texas Theater. One of the first news reports regarding the double homicide quoted Hale from the earlier conviction of soliciting the judge's murder: "If you're charged with attacking a Jew you want good representation, and I feel you should have it. In fact I feel you should be exonerated and you should serve no jail time." But Lefkow wasn't Jewish, according to the CSM "She is not, and her husband was active in the Episcopal Church." This wouldn't make much difference to a thug like Hale but he would have known.

Just as quickly there's chatter of "Traffic Heavy On Hate Sites After Lefkow Murders." The online audience is the same one that white supremacist Mathew Hale tried to reach through his World Church of the Creator. They were something of pioneers in that they were one of the first groups to be very active on the Internet in terms of using it as a recruitment tool," said Daniel Elbaum, who tracks extremist Web sites for the Midwest branch of the Anti-Defamation League."

They may have been pioneers but according to the SPLC Hale's group never numbered more than 150 nationwide. Hale never attracted the kind of followers who could do a hit unless it was mowing down innocents randomly. They also were more focused on Blacks and Gays, drive-bys and pipe bombs, parking lot beatings. If Hale followers are eventually charged with the murders there won't be a response from the more or less non-existent World Church of the Creator.

So what am I getting at? I don't know. But feels like contrivance and convenience.

Wha sup? Not Enlistment

Number of black Army recruits declining. The Army's wartime recruiting challenge is aggravated by a sharp drop in black enlistments in the last four years, which internal Army and Defense Department polls trace to an unpopular war in Iraq and concerns among blacks with Bush administration policies.

The Army strains to meet recruiting goals in part because black volunteers have fallen 41 percent ---- from 23.5 percent of recruits in fiscal 2000 down steadily to 13.9 percent in the first four months of fiscal 2005.

"It's alarming,'' said Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, commanding general of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Ky. and one of the Army's most senior black officers, No single factor explains the drop, Rochelle added, but clearly the propensity of black youth to enlist is impacted by the war and increasingly by views of parents, teachers, coaches, clergy and other "influencers."

Rep. Charles B. Rangel, a Democrat whose New York City district includes Harlem, said he isn't too surprised by the Army recruiting data. "I have not found a black person in support of this war in my district,'' he said. "The fact that every member of the Congressional Black Caucus ---- emotionally, politically and vigorously ---- opposes this war is an indication of what black folks think throughout this country."

Swindler's List

Four men in attack on French humorist Dieudonné
03-04-2005 06:40:29 ET
Four men were temporarily held at a police station at Fort-de-France, Martinique, for allegedly attacking the controversial French comedian Dieudonné, according to the head of public security in the French overseas department in the Caribbean, Bernard Cateau. Sources close to the investigation said the four had allegedly entered Martinique on Israeli passports, however, Cateau subsequently refused to provide information about their nationalities in order not to hamper the investigation. On Tuesday, France's highest court, demanded that a the verdict of the Paris appeals court be overturned, and that Dieudonné be convicted of a misdemeanor for insulting the Jewish faith in statements he made in 2003 to a newspaper. He may also face legal action for more recently calling Holocaust ceremonies "memorial pornography" and calling Jewry "a sect and a swindle".

Deported neo-Nazi Zundel arrested on arrival in Germany
03-02-2005 07:18:07 ET
Germany arrested a Holocaust denier after he was deported from Canada. Ernst Zundel, 65, who had lived in Canada more than 40 years, was flown to Germany on Tuesday. During his stay in Canada, Zundel gained a reputation as one of the world’s foremost Holocaust deniers. He moved to the United States in 2000 but was deported back to Canada in 2003 on a legal technicality. He had been held in a Toronto detention center ever since. The government had asserted that he was a dangerous mentor to many white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, including some that espouse violence. A federal court ruling last week upheld the view that Zundel was a threat to national security, thus clearing the way for his deportation. Canada’s Jewish community “is breathing a sigh of relief” at seeing Zundel go, said Bernie Farber, chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress. When Zundel arrived at Frankfurt airport Tuesday night, Canadian security forces handed him over to German police. In his native Germany, Zundel faces outstanding charges of spreading hatred.

Dispute in Ukraine over "anti-Semitic remarks" by country's deputy PM
02-25-2005 10:49:17 ET
A Ukrainian Jewish musician has demanded an apology from the country’s deputy prime minister over what he considers an anti-Semitic remark. In a letter published in the daily "Facts & Commentaries" on Tuesday, Jan Tabachnik, a popular accordion player, has expressed his indignation over Nikolai Tomenko’s remark that “there should be Ukrainian artists on the Ukrainian stage, not the Tabachniks and Kobzons.” Tomenko, who made the comment earlier this week to a Ukrainian television station, was referring to Tabachnik and Russian Jewish crooner Josef Kobzon, both popular in Ukraine. Responding to the demand for an apology, Tomenko said that he was not talking about anyone’s ethnic background. Instead, he added, he was referring to the fact that both Tabachnik and Kobzon supported the losing candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, in the recent presidential election. Tabachnik said if the official fails to apologize, “I will put on a yellow Star of David and I will be wearing it as long as you remain a member of the Cabinet.”

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Holocaust denier gets a free pass
March 4, 2005
Reprinted from the: The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

Despite the smiling images from Sharm el-Sheikh, the fact is that Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, has taken no demonstrable steps to dismantle and disarm the vast Palestinian terror networks, end the incitement or arrest terrorists. And although his rhetoric even after his election has been troublesome (calling for a “big jihad,” referring to Israel as the “Zionist enemy,” making it clear he will not use force against terrorists, and endorsing the policies of Yasser Arafat), the administration and Congress are falling over themselves to throw vast sums of money his way. President Bush has promised $350 million to Abbas, more than four times that given to Arafat by the Clinton administration.

Just as Abbas’ troubling words and lack of anti-terror action have been ignored, so has another distinctly dark part of his pedigree: the undeniable fact that he is a blatant and unrepentant Holocaust denier. In 1984, he wrote “The Other Side: The Secret Relations Between Nazism and the Leadership of the Zionist Movement.” In this pseudo-historical account, which was based on his 1982 doctoral dissertation, Abbas contended that Zionist leaders gave the green light to the Nazis to do as it pleased with the Jews as long as immigration to Palestine was allowed.

Moreover, he endorsed the outrageous contention that the Jews intentionally inflated the numbers of those slaughtered in order to engender support for the State of Israel. Citing other historical quackery, Abbas suggested that the number of Jewish victims might have been as few as “only a few hundred thousand.” And worse, he embraced the discredited work of Robert Faurisson, who shamelessly insisted that the Nazis did not use gas chambers.

It’s bad enough that the mainstream press has not taken Abbas to task. But how in the name of the memory of martyred 6 million can one explain that Jewish leaders, Holocaust scholars and advocates have given him an unprecedented pass on so important an issue? It’s beyond disappointing — it’s downright offensive and sets a dangerous precedent.

During the weeklong series of ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, we were admonished never to allow or condone the desecration of memory of the victims through the distortion of the Shoah; we cannot afford to be asleep at the switch.

While we applaud that this message received such broad dissemination, it was hardly a new one for the Jewish world. While we may debate among ourselves every conceivable topic, including life-and-death issues of Israeli security, there always has been at least one issue that cut so deeply into our collective souls that it was not open to debate: Holocaust denial, from whatever source, was a scourge to be swiftly and ruthlessly challenged. When politicians like Jean Marie LePen in France, Jörg Haider in Austria and the late Franjo Tudjman in Croatia spewed their ugly views of Holocaust denial, Jewish organizations immediately sprung into action and spared no mercy in exposing the blasphemes for the anti-Semites they are.

John Roth, a well-known scholar, can certainly attest to how strongly Jews feel on this issue. Roth was not a Holocaust denier. He was, however, deprived of a senior position at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., after he had been exposed as having written offensive articles comparing certain actions of the Israelis with those of the Nazis. This was not only an ugly lie, it also diminished the horror of the Shoah. We were among many who stood up for the victims and survivors, and signed a petition opposing his appointment as someone who had desecrated the memory of those who perished.

It mattered not that an assault on Jewish memory came from the highest of offices. Who of us will ever forget Elie Wiesel’s plea to President Reagan not to visit SS graves at Bitburg because to do so would “begin to rehabilitate” the SS? Do we not, by giving legitimacy and respectability to Abbas the Holocaust denier, begin to rehabilitate Holocaust denial?

The international spotlight is now shining intensely on him as he has been anointed the great hope for peace. One would have thought this to be the most opportune moment to challenge him on his blasphemy. Instead, those who otherwise would be relentless in calling a denier a denier, have become timid; they’ve given him a pass. AIPAC issued a statement proclaiming that his election presents a “historic opportunity” for the prospects of peace. Not a word about Holocaust denial. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) published an informative analysis of the Palestinian election, but ignored Abbas’ Holocaust denial. AIPAC and the ADL were not alone. Check the other organizational Web sites: nothing.

Why is there the deafening silence when it comes to Abbas, one of the most powerful and influential Arab leaders?

It is with utmost respect that we must urge Wiesel, whose courageous words to Reagan made us so proud, to forcefully speak out. After all, it is he who has always admonished us to dare not be silent when it comes to evil and lies about the Holocaust. And, why has there been silence from Emory professor Deborah Lipstadt, an expert in Holocaust denial, who also made us proud by her strong court battle against Holocaust denier David Irving? These prominent personalities, and all Jewish leaders, must publicly demand that Abbas give an unequivocal apology, fully retract his ugly lies and clearly acknowledge the horror of the Holocaust endured by the Jews.
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French professor suspended for doubting Holocaust A French university said Friday it decided to suspend a professor for five years after he made remarks that cast doubt on the Holocaust.

Bruno Gollnisch, who is also a top official in the far-right National Front party of Jean-Marie Le Pen, questioned whether the Nazis used gas chambers in the Holocaust and suggested that the number of Jews killed during World War II might have been exaggerated.

Sen. Singing Ari's Song

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called Tuesday for tougher punishment against Syria, saying the country was aggressively supporting terrorism in the "dangerous neighborhood" of the Middle East.

In lambasting Syria, Clinton joined a growing chorus of officials in Washington urging the United States to take a harsher stance against that country following a Feb. 14 bombing in Beirut that killed the former premier of Lebanon.

Speaking to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Clinton branded Syria and Iran bad neighbors bent on upsetting the fragile balance in the region.

"It is not only a dangerous neighborhood, but a neighborhood in which very few of the neighbors are committed to what Prime Minister (Ariel) Sharon is doing or what we hope to come from the Palestinian leadership," said Clinton.

Iran and Syria "pose such great threats not only to peace and stability, but in Iran's case the potential for nuclear capacity, and in Syria's case, with the continuation of the support for terrorism that flows from Damascus," she said.

Okey already Hillary, we see who is committed to singing the Song of Sharon.

Corn Fed Herd

GM (genetically modified) food. Starlink made the biggest flap in recent years with their corn. Starlink, sounds like a name from the X files. Starlink was to be kept out of the supply for human consumption but could be grown for animal feed or ethanol market. Aventis (Starlink producer), seed companies, and dealers who sold the seed were to send letters of reminders to farmers that the product was not for human consumption. Aventis, snafued of course, or they claimed the seed companies did, who claimed the seed dealers did, who claimed the farmers did who claimed Aventis did. Starlink began turning up in tortilla chips and corndogs everywhere. Supposedly a small amount of Starlink corn contaminated regular corn. In 2000 farmers in the US Midwest had 50 million bushels of tainted corn sitting around and no idea what to do with it.

Some studies have shown GM food to hamper the immune system and cause poor brain development, lord knows we don't need any more help with that in the US. The usual claim is the possibility of "allergic" reactions and the FDA said at one time Starlink was "probably harmless". We certainly know the FDA can be trusted. As to those 50 million bushels, looks like someone found a place for it. Starlink corn among UN food aid to Central America.

Mercs or Private Military Companies

Or why we probably won't be bothered with a draft. Recruitment effort in Latin America was predictable. A multinational corporate wet dream: Latino men roll up their hammocks and head overseas, while the women work the factories at home.

International Peace Operations Association sounds kinder and gentler. IPOA's mission is to end wars (yawn). A 501 (c)(6) non-profit organization of companies, individuals and non-governmental organizations who provide services related to conflict alleviation and avoidance, post-conflict reconstruction, and emergency humanitarian rescue worldwide. PMC (private military companies). Members include:

AirScan
ArmorGroup
Blackwater USA
Demining Enterprises International (DEI) (Pty) Ltd and CIT Security Consultants (CITSC)
ICI of Oregon
J-3 Global Services
Main Street Supply
MPRI
Medical Support Solutions Limited (MSS)
Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE)
SOC-SMG, Inc.
Triple Canopy
O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt

A few suggested changes from a Fistful of Contractors, a lengthy report from the British American Security Information Council:

1. Congress should bring in auditors from other governmental agencies, such as the inspector general offices of the various military services or the Defense Contract Audit Agency, to handle the increased oversight responsibilities.
2. The burden is not only on the PMC, but also on the client, in this case mainly the U.S. government, to guard its own interests and make sure the job is done right. Higher standards and greater clarity need to be brought to bear on current and future U.S. military outsourcing decisions.
3. Some of the provisions in the draft U.S. National Defense Authorization bill are worthy and should be passed into law. In addition, PMCs should take steps to ensure that the personnel recruited from third countries receive the same notification and training as those recruited from the PMC home country. And PMCs should pre-screen far more people than they currently do, even if it means added expense. The role of government in screening also needs to be reviewed and strengthened.
4. The loopholes in the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) need to be closed.
5. Industry-wide standards need to be established and enforced.
6. The U.S. government needs to:

* Increase the number of contracting officer deployments to a theater where PMCs operate;
* Require competition rather than sole sourcing for future contracts;
* Punish former government contracting officers who violate regulations on proper process; and
* Ban the hiring of firms that have been found to have overcharged government in the past or have committed crimes in the contracting process.

Rest assured that D.C. is on top of it. And rest assured that these PMCs are working hard to bring tactical safety to the world, enhance security, justice and well-being, defeat the threat of violence where ever that leads them, more powerful than a consortium, faster than a wire transfer, able to leap bankers in a single bound, look, it's supermercs.

Leadership Institute

"If you want to be a winner in politics you'll want to attend the Leadership Institute's programs. No other organization can give you so many skills for public policy and personal success. Since 1979 the Institute's unique seminars and workshops have enrolled more than 40,000 students and taught them how to win. Each year hundreds of Institute graduates obtain positions of influence in public policy because of their Leadership Institute training."

President Morton C. Blackwell. Blackwell cofounded the Moral Majority. An Executive Director and Board of Governors of the CNP (Council for National Policy). During the 2000 election Blackwell spoke against "the tactics of the ruthless Democrats. These people are basically Leninists. They will stop at nothing to win. It could get bloody -- figuratively and, I fear, literally."

The LI is located in the Steven P(ierpont).J. Wood Building in Arlington, VA. A 44 bed chaperoned facility where young conservatives are trained and mentored to be the next generation of conservative leaders. State-of-the-art facilities where bright young conservatives come to learn about politics and government. The LI has 18 educational programs, an intern program, an Employment Placement Service and a Broadcast Journalism Placement Service to train young conservatives and place them in public policy positions. And if you don't feel you get your money's worth you get a full refund, no questions asked.

"President Ronald Reagan said that the Leadership Institute is "paving the way for a new generation of conservative leadership. New generations of conservative leaders that will fight and win for conservative values in the public policy arena." Alumni include Grover Norquist, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Ralph Reed. And, drum roll, Jeff Gannon/James Guckert's alma mater.

"The Leadership Institute is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation. It does not support, endorse or oppose candidates or proposed legislation." (Goebbels couldn't conjure up deceit so well.) Instead of brownshirts, they wear the club tie of the conservative movement. "Adam Smith ties were the sign of the faithful in the Reagan White House." Also cufflinks, scarves, and lapel pins. I suppose they have a secret handshake and rhetoric decoder ring too.

Everybody Has One

The SC opinion on the death penalty for crimes committed by youthful perps. Some of the rightwing moral mob logic I've seen today:

1. They're chipping away at the death penalty.
2. The court is leaning heavily on the opinions of foreigners.
3. Ruling based on global treaties, foreign opinions.
4. Maybe next time they'll use teenage hitmen! (Referencing Lefkow murders).
5. SC is taking away states' rights (was this a problem in Election 2000?).
6. With all the teens carjacking, killing for a pair of Nikes, look for more "children" to be busting a cap in someone's ass.

The moral mob folks feel safe that most of the "child perps" killing for shoes and jacking cars are Black. The moral mob reserves their leniency for older white folks who drown a few kids in the tub or sever the arms from their infant and watch it bleed to death. The "postpartum depression" excuse-me-while-I-murder-my-children syndrome. Or when white upper class teens go on rampages (think Columbine) it's because the boys were "bullied." Or the two Arkansas white boys, both from two income middle class families, who ambushed and busted caps in their schoolmates, killing 5, wounding 10, neither convicted of murder or subject to a life sentence or death penalty. The boys felt "victimized by peers." Now if the young perps come from po' white trash, they're SOL for any sympathy from the moral mob. They refuse to dream up excuses for their lower class criminals. (Which is why the more liberal leaning excuse "abused as a child" hasn't worked well.)

The "society's standard of decency has evolved" is a full crock of it. We're as barbaric as ever, simply creating new terminology for much of the barbarism and hide the rest. Reminds me of smart bombs and daisy cutters, tralalalalalalalalala. And I'm real sick of everything these days being a "landmark" whatever. Will this "landmark" decision be a turning point or a new stage in the American way of life? How and why? Everyone will wake up tomorrow feeling more humane?

The warm fuzzy claim that adolescents "lack the judgment, the impulse control, the maturity and the character to resist harmful peer pressure" must come from people who never raised children or raised them poorly. Read my lips: Children do not become killers if they come from healthy, functional, somewhat sane parenting. Children with self-confidence and self-esteem do not succumb to "peer pressure" to murder and torture the old couple next door for a few dollars. Children by age 12 should know and understand judgment/consequences, impulse/consequences, shit/wipe, it's called teaching your children well.

While I might agree with the death penalty for certain heinous criminals who offended in their youth, I fail to agree with any of the memes on the SC decision coming from the pundits, who as usual, pull their talking points from Hugh Bigot and Stu Pid.

Plantation News

US signs new agreements.

# CAFTA will make certain existing sweatshops enforce only their own labor laws, although they currently fall below international labor standards.
# Any fines for labor violations will be paid by the country to itself.
# Because the minimum wage in Central America is even lower than in Mexico, competition will continue to move jobs out of the U.S. and push wages lower throughout the region.
# CAFTA, like NAFTA in Mexico, puts Central American farmers against subsidized U.S. agribusiness.
# Grain prices will fall in Central America, forcing small subsistence workers off their farms and into shantytown cities where unemployment is already high, and eventually to the U.S.
# CAFTA will be used to weaken environmental standards. Companies would have the right to sue any government that obstructs their profit with environmental regulations. The link above assures us that "agreements are aimed at strengthening environmental protection." Sure.

# Harken Oil Company is demanding $57 billion from Costa Rica on the grounds that the country's environmental laws, which halted the oil company's exploration, interfere with their investor rights. Under CAFTA, this case would be tried in an international tribunal rather than national courts. Harken vs Costa Rica
# Mexico: 1.5 million Mexican campesino farmers estimated to have lost their livelihoods under NAFTA's agricultural terms. Honduran workers producing goods for the U.S. market average 0.90 cents per hour wage.