World News

Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy 12/29/2012 Guardian: "It was more sophisticated than we had imagined: new documents show that the violent crackdown on Occupy last fall – so mystifying at the time – was not just coordinated at the level of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local police. The crackdown, which involved, as you may recall, violent arrests, group disruption, canister missiles to the skulls of protesters, people held in handcuffs so tight they were injured, people held in bondage till they were forced to wet or soil themselves –was coordinated with the big banks themselves."

Monday 12/24/2012

As Chief Spence Starves, Canadians Awaken from Idleness and Remember Their Roots 12/24/2012 Common Dreams

Canada's 'Idle No More' Movement Spreads Like Wildfire 12/24/2012 Common Dreams: "The 'Idle No More' movement, a campaign of grassroots First Nations protests, has spread like wildfire over the past week in response to bills passed by the conservative Canadian government. First Nations protesters march towards Parliament Hill during a demonstration as part of the spreading 'Idle No More' movement in Ottawa, Canada, December 21, 2012. REUTERS/Chris Wattie Anger to the recently passed C-45, the Harper government omnibus budget bill, has fueled the growing movement. Bil C-45 includes changes to the Canadian Indian Act regarding how reserve lands are managed, making them easier to develop and be taken away from the First Nation people."

Friday 12/21/2012

Indigenous people want territory re-named  12/21/2012 Antigua Observer: "The head of the indigenous people in Dominica, Garnet Joseph, says he is disappointed that after two years, the government has not agreed to a proposal to change the name of the Carib Territory to Kaliango Territory."

“Evil in Our Backyard:” The Rudi Dekkers Dossier  12/21/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "When Rudi Dekkers, the man who ran the flight school where terrorists who crashed airliners into the Twin Towers learned to fly was arrested for drug trafficking in Houston last week, one of the first congratulatory calls I received, after covering his continuing criminal activity for the past ten years, was from his son."

Argentina: "La EIB es una propuesta occidental para el mundo indígena"  12/21/2012 Prensa Indigena: EIB = Educación Intercultural Bilingüe

Thursday 12/20/2012

Colombia: Condena al Estado colombiano por masacre de Santo Domingo 12/20/2012 Prensa Indigena: "Justicia y Paz, Arauca, 19 de diciembre.- El 13 de diciembre de 1998 en Santo Domingo, una bomba tipo cluster, lanzada por la fuerza aérea causo la muerte de 17 personas y causo heridas a 27 más, hoy 14 años después la Corte Interamericana condenó al estado por esta masacre."

Wednesday 12/19/2012

Challenging year ends in hope for Cameroonian environmental activist 12/19/2012 Greenpeace: "This award I receive not only in my personal capacity, but rather on behalf of those who have worked alongside me, within the community as well as further afield,” he said. “I wish that our struggle against illegal land grabbing will continue, because we believe that the current location of the Herakles Farms’ palm oil project in the middle of environmentally sensitive areas will have far reaching negative impacts on the local human population, wildlife and botanical biodiversity.” Greenpeace agrees. And we’ll continue working alongside Nasako into the New Year until this project is stopped."

Tuesday 12/18/2012

The Contras, Crack and Senator Inouye 12/18/2012 Counterpunch: "This sordid tale became part of what was dubbed “The Iran Contra Scandal” and resulted in hearings held by the US Congress that were supposed to get to the bottom of all this rottenness. Chaired by Sen. Inouye, of Watergate fame, the hearings instead became a massive coverup, with Sen. Inouye repeatedly having to intervene and shut down any public discussion of the CIA’s role in cocaine trafficking."

Friday 12/14/2012

CAMEROON: Campaigners oppose industrial palm oil plantation 12/14/2012 IRIN: "The plantation will economically displace approximately 25,000 people and put at risk many others who depend on that land for small-scale food production, hunting, and non-timber forest products. Thus, the net impact on employment will actually be negative. This is not a fair deal," Nasako Besingi, one of the campaigners against the plantation, told IRIN."

Thursday 12/13/2012

Cameroun: Récompensé pour sa lutte en faveur du foncier équitable 12/13/2012 Journal du Cameroun: "Nasako Besingi a reçu le prix TAIGO 2012, de l’acteur non étatique pour son combat contre l’accaparement des terres dans la région du Sud-ouest."

Civil Society Accuses Herakles Farms of sabotaging Biya 12/13/2012 Kumba News: "The accusations have been voiced by Nasako Besingi Managing Director of the civil society organization Struggle to Economise Future Environment( SEFE) which has engaged in a battle to resist the palm plantation project of Herakles Farms(HF) in Ndian Ndivision hinging its argument on environmental reasons. The Guardians Post Caught up with Nasako in its Kumba Bureau Monday November 19, 2012 a few days after he and five others were released from detention in Mudemba."

Wednesday 12/12/2012

Nasako Besingi wins a prize for opposing SGSOC project 12/12/2012 All Voices: "The Director of the NGO, Struggle to Economize Future Environment (SEFE) Nasako BESINGI is the winner of the 2012 TAIGO non-state actor. Nasako becomes the first winner in this category since the competition was launched in 2011. The prize to non-state actors rewards the commitment of Mr. BESINGI for transparency and governance, particularly in the context of his struggle to publicize the inconsistencies of the SGSOC project and the violation of Cameroon land laws and international conventions that characterize it."

Tuesday 12/11/2012

Campaign Update– Cameroon: Opposition to Herakles Repressed 12/11/2012 Cultural Survival: "Nasako Besingi, the director of Struggle to Economise Future Environment (SEFE), one of our coalition partners on the ground in Cameroon, was arrested November 14th along with five others in the town of Mundemba, Cameroon.Local and international pressure was successful in releasing the activists after being held for two days with no charge."

An inconveivable crime - Israel's patronizing and inhumane treatment of Ethiopian women is nothing new. 12/11/2012 Haaretz: "This is not the first or only case where the state has interfered in the lives of people who have limited means of resistance. And as in other cases, the system that carried out this policy is extremely sophisticated, so it is hard to find a specific person who is responsible for it or a signed and written order. But the televised investigation, conducted by researcher Sava Reuven, found that more than 40 women have received the shot. Depo-Provera has a shameful history. According to a report by the Isha L'Isha organization, the injections were given to women between 1967 and 1978 as part of an experiment that took place in the U.S. state of Georgia on 13,000 impoverished women, half of whom were black. Many of them were unaware that the injections were part of an experiment being conducted on their bodies. Some of the women became sick and a few even died during the experiment."

Saturday 12/8/2012

Communiqué: Non à une France des ethnies 12/8/2012 Comité Laïcité République: "La République ne doit reconnaître que des citoyens libres et égaux en droits, quelles que soient les distinctions qui leur ont été imposées à la naissance. La Déclaration des droits de l’Homme et du citoyen de 1789 puis la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’Homme de 1948 ont consacré cette conception fondée sur un universalisme émancipateur et non sur un ethno-racialisme diviseur. Alors, oui, comme le président de la République, le Comité Laïcité République estime utile et nécessaire de supprimer le mot "race" de la Constitution."

Houston: Walmart security guard shoots 'shoplifting' mother dead in parking lot as she tries to escape with two young children 12/8/2012 Daily Mail

Saturday 12/1/2012

Cameroon: Thwarting the VPA’s promise … ... Yet taking a step forward 12/1/2012 FERN: "Implementation of the VPA between the EU and Cameroon, ratified in August 2011 is being complemented by a decree1published on 9 November 2012 by the Minister of Forests and Fauna of Cameroon (MinFoF): the decree suspends the exploitation, throughout the entire country, of two precious tropical species, bubinga and wenge."

How Washington helped foster the Islamist uprising in Mali 12/1/2012 New Internationalist: "My first book on the Global War On Terror in the Sahara, The Dark Sahara (Pluto 2009), described and explained the development of this extraordinary relationship. It revealed why it was that the Bush administration and the regime in Algiers both needed a ‘little more terrorism’ in the region. The Algerians wanted more terrorism to legitimize their need for more high-tech and up-to-date weaponry. The Bush administration, meanwhile, saw the development of such terrorism as providing the justification for launching a new Saharan front in the Global War On Terror. Such a ‘second front’ would legitimize America’s increased militarization of Africa so as better to secure the continent’s natural resources, notably oil. This, in turn, was soon to lead to the creation in 2008 of a new US combat command for Africa – AFRICOM."

Thursday 11/29/2012

Cameroon: Arbitrary arrest of and judicial harassment against Mr. Nasako Besingi and four SEFE collaborators 11/29/2012 FIDH: "The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary arrest of and judicial harassment against Mr. Nasako Besingi, Director of the NGO Struggle to Economize Future Environment (SEFE), a local environmental organisation based in Mundemba, Ndian division, Southwest Cameroon, and four of his collaborators, Ms. Ekpoh Theresia Malingo, Mr. Isele Gabriel Ngoe, Mr. Mosongo Lawrence Namaso and Mr. Nwete Jongele."

Cameroon: Arbitrary arrest of and judicial harassment against Mr. Nasako Besingi and four SEFE collaborators 11/29/2012 World Organisation Against Torture: "According to the information received, in the morning of November 14, 2012, over 15 heavily armed Gendarme officers led by Brigade Commandant Luc Evoundou raided the premises of SEFE in Mundemba, where over 50 members of the local population had come to get T-shirts that were prepared for a peaceful campaign against the company Sithe Global Sustainable Oils Cameroon (SGSOC), a local subsidiary of the New York based company HERAKLES Farms, and its establishment of a controversial large-scale palm oil plantation on 73,000 hectares in the area[1]. On this same day, the Governor of the southwest region from Buea was visiting Mundemba to install the local government official and the local population wanted to use this occasion to wear the T-shirts as a means to peacefully voice their rejection of the oil palm plantation project to the authorities."

Monday 11/26/2012

Pour le Malien - Hommage à Mahamadou Marega 11/26/2012 Les Mots Sont Importants: "Si tel n’était pas le cas, si une vie malienne valait une vie bien française et bien blanche, il serait évident pour tout le monde que, face à un sans-papiers fuyant une expulsion – autrement dit : un homme désarmé ne mettant en danger la vie de personne – l’alternative aux décharges électriques de 50000 volts n’est ni l’arme à feu, ni l’asphyxie par le gaz, ni (comme ce fut le cas pour d’autres « bavures ») l’étranglement. Il serait évident qu’en ces circonstances, des « gardiens de la paix » dignes de ce nom, dans une « démocratie » digne de ce nom, n’ont rien de mieux à faire que de le laisser s’enfuir. Si cet « abandon », cette « abdication », ce « laxisme » vous choque, s’il vous indispose plus que la possibilité – maintes fois actualisée – d’une mort d’homme, c’est bel et bien que la chasse aux sans-papiers est devenue un impératif catégorique, une fin qui justifie tous les moyens, et que cette mort d’homme ne vaut pas d’autres morts d’homme – ou, pour le dire autrement, que cet homme ne vaut pas d’autres hommes, ne vaut pas non plus le chien ou le chat dont la mort nous désole, ne vaut en fait à peu près rien."

Saturday 11/24/2012

US Marshal Told By Supervisors Not to Bring the ‘War on Drugs’ to White Communities 11/24/2012 Davey D's: "Meet Matthew Fogg, a former U.S. Marshal whose exploits led him to be nicknamed “Batman.” When he noticed that all of his team’s drug raids were in black areas, he suggested doing the same in the suburbs. His boss didn’t take kindly to the idea."

Thursday 11/22/2012

Facts on the ground undermine Herakles’ Cameroonian PR offensive 11/22/2012 Greenpeace: "Bruce Wrobel the CEO of Herakles Farms has long claimed that his is a company that represents a positive presence in Africa. Indeed it seems impossible at present to pick up a newspaper in the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé without reading about one minor miracle or another taking place in the south west of the country that can only be attributed to the company and their benevolence. Minor miracles that the company is paying for themselves to advertise. But flying over the same southwest region and the real effect of Herakles Farms' presence in the country becomes all too evident. Like ugly pockmarks, craters of forest clearings to make way for what could eventually be a palm oil plantation ten times the size of Manhattan, are visible for miles around in what is otherwise a sea of trees."

Tuesday 11/20/2012

Action alert: Stop palm oil plantations from destroying Africa’s ancient rainforests and local livelihoods in Cameroon  11/20/2012 Climate Connections: "Please join us in sending a powerful message to Herakles Farms and All for Africa demanding they stop destroying tropical rainforest and local livelihoods."

Protest post: social media reacts angrily over arrest of Facebook users  11/20/2012 Hindustan Times: "Her comment said people like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a 'bandh' (city shutdown) for that," police inspector Uttam Sonawane told the Mumbai Mirror newspaper. Along with Dhada, her friend Renu was also detained for 'liking' the status update. The duo was arrested following a complaint lodged by Shiv Sena president for Palghar city, Bhushan Sankhe."

Herakles Farms Continues Forest Clearing For Palm Oil  11/20/2012 Scoop: "Aerial footage from Greenpeace International taken earlier this month shows how trees in the largely forested concession area have been cleared by SG Sustainable Oils Cameroon (SGSOC), a subsidiary of New York-based Herakles Farms. The deforestation is taking place despite the fact SGSOC is operating via a 99-year land lease that has not yet been approved by Presidential Decree and is therefore questionable under Cameroonian Law. If it is not stopped, the planned 73,000-hectare concession will eventually be 10 times the size of Manhattan. It would destroy a densely forested area in a biodiversity hotspot, resulting in severe consequences for the livelihoods of thousands of residents and for the global climate."

Saturday 11/17/2012

Cameroon — Greenpeace International says security officers detained four environmental 11/17/2012 AP

Cameroon police detain 4 activists 11/17/2012 AP: "The group said late Friday that Nasako Besingi and three of his co-workers with the environmental group the Struggle to Economize Future Environment were taken from their office in the southwest town of Mundemba on Wednesday. It said they have been held since without charge. Greenpeace International says the arrests are in violation of Cameroonian law and are linked to their opposition to the oil palm plantation planned by the U.S.-based Herakles Farms."

Friday 11/16/2012

Corresponsales de Telesur contaron experiencias vividas en África 11/16/2012 Centro de Saberes Africanos: "En primer lugar, precisaron que la intención del trabajo que realizan en Telesur es narrar historias que no suelen salir en los medios de comunicación convencionales, “historias contadas desde la gente, desde una mirada diferente”, dijo Aissa García."

Why Obama Won't "Do the Right Thing" - The Grand Bargain Meets the Bank Bailouts 11/16/2012 Counterpunch: "Barack Obama didn’t enter office until January 2009, so it may seem unreasonable to blame his administration for actions begun before he entered office. However, in the first, Mr. Obama continued the Bush / Paulson bailouts after he entered office and had Mr. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner greatly expand them. In the second, his administration’s additional bailouts allowed the banks to continue to pay record bonuses while it was known that the financial garbage still being transferred to Federal agencies would necessitate additional bailouts in the future. In the third, Mr. Obama carried the fully culpable Messrs. Bernanke and Geithner into his own administration adding continuity to bailouts that were largely hidden from the public."

Tuesday 11/13/2012

The Yukpas Leave Caracas 11/13/2012 Havana Times: "The Federal District received them with little attention, inhospitably, because the people there couldn’t understand “all this fuss over these Indians?” Only a group of Watia (criollos) supported and accompanied them in their journey to attempt to be received by the vice president or the president."

Saturday 11/10/2012

Leaked Memo: Corrupt DEA Agents in Colombia Help Narcos and Paramilitaries 11/10/2012 NarcoNews: published 1/9/06 - "As discussed in my (prior) memorandum dated December 13, 2004, several unrelated investigations, including Operation Snowplow, identified corrupt agents within DEA. As further discussed in my memorandum, OPR’s handling of the investigations into those allegations has come into question and the OIG investigator who was actively looking into the allegations has been removed from the investigation."

Mexico’s New President Set to Empower a “Devil’s Cartel” 11/10/2012 NarcoNews: "Baruch Vega, a long-time CIA operative, has raised a red flag over the incoming president of Mexico’s decision to employ the former head of the Colombian National Police, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, as his security advisor in the war on drugs. “I do not think Naranjo will be running a war against drugs,” Vega contends. “He will be running a war to protect Mexican drug traffickers.”"

Wednesday 11/7/2012

En Venezuela avanza una experiencia inédita sobre la africanidad mundial 11/7/2012 Centro de Saberes Africanos: "En septiembre de 2006, un estudio de la Comisión de Unión Africana exponía que para el año 2020, África sería para bien o para mal el centro de la Economía Política Mundial. Pocos en el Sur se tomaron en serio tal premisa. No obstante el desarrollo de los acontecimientos daría la razón a la Unión Africana."

Saturday 11/3/2012

A LEGAL REJOINDER TO THE REBUTTAL OF THE CEO OF HERAKLES FARM MR. BRUCE WROBEL ON HERAKLES LAND DEALS IN CAMEROON 11/3/2012 Modern Ghana: "As an active participant in this matter I read with some interest and consternation some of the statements made by Mr. Bruce Wrobel, the CEO of Herakles Farms which has a subsidiary in Cameroon called SG Sustainable Oils Cameroon Ltd. that has the ambition of establishing an oil palm plantation in the South West Region of Cameroon in a purported response to what is contained in a report recently published by the Oakland Institute concerning the project. In particular, I am more concerned with his statements concerning the legality of the activities of SG SOC in Cameroon and the position of the litigation against the company instituted by me as Counsel for Struggle to Economize Future Environment (S.E.F.E ) which occupy such a prominent place in Mr. Bruce's so-called response and its so-called deceptive ambitious social policy."

Friday 11/2/2012

Presidente Chávez felicita a graduandos del Diplomado de Saberes Africanos 11/2/2012 Centro de Saberes Africanos: "El Diplomado en Saberes Africanos, es una iniciativa auspiciada por el Fondo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (FONACIT) y el apoyo académico del Instituto de Altos Estudios Diplomáticos “Pedro Gual” (IAEDPG), el cual ha formado a 26 profesionales de áreas del conocimiento académico multidisciplinario, en su primera cohorte, para el estudio, aprendizaje, comprensión y compromiso con el continente africano, su diáspora y las múltiples dimensiones de su relación histórica con el Abya Yala y Venezuela."

Thursday 11/1/2012

A Vote for a President to Lead on Climate Change  11/1/2012 Bloomberg: by Michael Bloomberg, endorsing President Obama

It's Global Warming, Stupid  11/1/2012 Bloomberg: "...a baseball analogy: “We can’t say that steroids caused any one home run by Barry Bonds, but steroids sure helped him hit more and hit them farther. Now we have weather on steroids.” In an Oct. 30 blog post, Mark Fischetti of Scientific American took a spin through Ph.D.-land and found more and more credentialed experts willing to shrug off the climate caveats. The broadening consensus: “Climate change amps up other basic factors that contribute to big storms. For example, the oceans have warmed, providing more energy for storms. And the Earth’s atmosphere has warmed, so it retains more moisture, which is drawn into storms and is then dumped on us.”

Revealed: the day Obama chose a strategy of silence on climate change  11/1/2012 Guardian: ""What was communicated in the presentation was: 'This is what you talk about, and don't talk about climate change'." Taylor said. "I took away an absolutely clear understanding that we should focus on clean energy jobs and the potential of a clean energy economy rather than the threat of climate change." The message stuck. Subsequent campaigns from the Obama administration and some environmental groups relegated climate change to a second-tier concern. After industry and conservative groups mobilised to attack Obama's policies and climate science in the summer of 2009, the topic was seen as an even greater liability and politically toxic."

Wednesday 10/31/2012

Racisme légal 10/31/2012 Le Courrier, Suisse: "Au rang des avancées démocratiques majeures de la fin du XIXe siècle, le concept de laïcité a aussi été l’outil des aspirations colonialistes. Aujourd’hui, il sert souvent de cache-sexe à un racisme nauséabond."

Monday 10/29/2012

Frankenstorm: Due to Climate Change? 10/29/2012 Laurie Garrett

Sunday 10/28/2012

Presidente panameño anula Ley de venta de terrenos en Colón 10/28/2012 Cuba Debate: "El presidente de Panamá, Ricardo Martinelli, firmó este domingo el decreto que formaliza la derogación de la Ley 72 que permitía la venta de los terrenos de la Zona Libre de Colón, luego de que la Asamblea Nacional aprobara el proyecto de Ley 541 que restablece la Zona Libre tras nueve días de intensas protestas populares que dejaron cuatro muertos y decenas de heridos."

Saturday 10/27/2012

Embajador Balza: La educación juega un papel muy importante en el relacionamiento con África 10/27/2012 Centro de Saberes Africanos: "Durante su ponencia, el Embajador Balza destacó que la educación juega un papel muy importante en cuanto al relacionamiento con África, “es necesario incorporar en los programas de estudio información relacionada con esta región para que desde muy niños podamos comprender el origen de nuestro vínculo con el continente madre”. Asimismo, dijo que estos insumos educativos permitirían poner en evidencia los conocimientos que hay en África y que han sido invisibilizados durante mucho tiempo, “esto ayudaría además a comprender por qué decimos que África es el continente madre”."

Friday 10/26/2012

Land Grabbing Looms: New Palm Oil Plantation Threatens Cameroon's Rainforest 10/26/2012 Huff Post: by Nasako Besingi, Founder and director, Struggle to Economize the Future Environment (SEFE)

Thursday 10/25/2012

Héctor Gutiérrez: El racismo surgió como una ideología para reforzar el colonialismo 10/25/2012 Centro de Saberes Africanos: "En este orden de ideas, aseveró que el colonialismo se presenta como un proceso que viene a traer orden, progreso y mejor calidad de vida “cuando en realidad los colonizadores se dedican a suprimir costumbres, religiones, culturas, entre otras actividades autóctonas, a los habitantes de los territorios que logran someter”. Citando a Boaventura de Sousa Santos, autor del libro Una epistemología del Sur, Héctor Gutiérrez señaló que el capitalismo y el colonialismo están aún vinculados profundamente aunque las formas de articulación hayan variado a lo largo del tiempo. A modo de reflexión manifestó que “si queremos descolonizarnos hay que reconocer las ancestralidad y la diversidad en la humanidad”."

Sunday 10/21/2012

VII ENCUENTRO DE LA RAÍZ AFROMEXICANA 10/21/2012 Cimaronajesss

José E. Mosquera Rentería: Colombia, Las nuevas formas de discriminación contra los afrocolombianos 10/21/2012 Legado Afro: "Algunas personas se han extrañado por la afirmación del presidente Juan Manuel Santos de que en su gabinete no ha incluido ningún afro porque a estos puestos se llega es por méritos."

Saturday 10/20/2012

Centro de Saberes Africanos realiza ciclo de conferencias sobre relaciones Venezuela-África  10/20/2012 Centro de Saberes Africanos: "La actividad realizada en el marco del ciclo de conferencias Las Relaciones de Venezuela – África en el contexto de la conformación de un mundo multicéntrico y pluripolar. Reflexiones en torno al Programa de la Patria, tuvo como ponentes a los analistas internacionales Laila Tajeldine y Basem Tajeldine. Durante la conferencia los ponentes hablaron del origen del Islam, de sus diferentes corrientes y de la expansión y crecimiento de esta religión en África, Asia y América del Sur, así como al Corán y de Mahoma, entre otros aspectos."

Descubren más de un siglo de torturas encubiertas en orfanato de EEUU  10/20/2012 Cuba Debate

THE OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE BOYS ORGANIZATION  10/20/2012 officialwhitehouseboys.org: "Researchers have also found "sufficient evidence" to conclude there's likely another clandestine cemetery on school property, in a patch of woods on the south side of campus, which had been reserved for white students during segregation. Led by Erin Kimmerle, associate professor of anthropology at USF, the researchers petitioned the state to use ground penetrating radar to try to find the second cemetery and determine how many graves it contained. But the state denied the petition in August because it intended to sell 220 acres of the land at public auction. The school closed in 2011, after 111 years of operation. The Department of Juvenile Justice reversed its ruling Thursday afternoon, a day after Thomas Varnadoe's nephew, Glen Varnadoe, filed a lawsuit to put a stop to the sale."

Friday 10/19/2012

The Pentagon’s New Plan to Confront Latin America’s Pink Tide 10/19/2012 Counterpunch: "He had a simple motto: “The precise pain, in the precise place, in the precise amount, for the desired effect.” And he was proud of his abilities, according to a Cuban double agent working with the CIA in Uruguay. This man attended one of Mitrione’s seminars. Four homeless people were picked up off the street for the occasion. They were used first to show the effects “of different voltages on different parts of the human body.” Next came a demonstration of an emetic’s functions. Once they had finished vomiting, they were forced to ingest another chemical. In the end, all the subjects died."

Tuesday 10/16/2012

Anthropologists: Only a change in strategy can save the Sumatran orangutan 10/16/2012 The Bell Jar: "One of the biggest threats to the Sumatran orangutan is deforestation in Sumatra due to the need to make palm oil plantations. Anthropologists say the forests are now a fraction of their original size, and many are isolated from each other by great tracts of deforested land. They contend that this isolation could lead to inbreeding and genetic impoverishment among the Sumatran orangutans and, ultimately, this situation could lead to the extinction of these small, isolated populations."

Monday 10/15/2012

Demand for palm oil, used in packaged food products, leaves orangutans at risk 10/15/2012 NBC: "One of the Sumatran orangutan’s richest habitats, an area of swampland containing the highest density of the red apes on the planet, is being illegally slashed and burned by palm oil companies to make way for palm oil plantations. “If we can't stop them here, then there really is no hope,” said Ian Singleton as we stood on the edge of what had once been pristine forest, home to hundreds of orangutans, but now reduced to a charred wilderness as far as the eye could see. As he spoke we could hear the distant sound of a chain saw."

Friday 10/12/2012

Les nouveaux souchiens de garde 10/12/2012 LMSI: "Houria Bouteldja s’apprêtait à comparaître devant un tribunal pour avoir simplement attribué le sobriquet de « souchiens » aux Français que, depuis des décennies, tout le monde appelle « de souche ». Acquittée en décembre 2011, Houria Bouteldja est reconvoquée, en appel, le 15 octobre prochain : dans le tribunal comme en-dehors, le combat idéologique continue."

Wednesday 10/10/2012

Chavez election not surprising 10/10/2012 Progreso Weekly: "Hugo Chávez was re-elected president of Venezuela on Sunday, by a margin of 11 percentage points. For most people who have heard or read about Chávez in the international media, this might be puzzling. Almost all of the news we hear about Venezuela is bad: Chávez is cantankerous and picks fights with the United States and sides with “enemies” such as Iran; he is a “dictator” or “strongman” who has squandered the nation’s oil wealth; the economy is plagued by shortages and is usually on the brink of collapse."

Hugo Chavez 10/10/2012 Progreso Weekly: “A Cuban friend from Miami told us that the best thing that could happen is for Chavez to lose,” the wife told me from the back seat of the car. “But this man Capriles has announced he would basically cut off all help to Cuba if he is elected,” she added. “It worries us,” interjected Boris while he drove. “We can’t afford to return to the days when Havana spent part of every day without electricity,” he told me. “In a lousy economy, like we have…” he paused, “what would that mean for us?”

Saturday 10/6/2012

Chavez's fate lies in Venezuela's divided barrios 10/6/2012 AP: "But she lists several of the most oft-cited reasons for why she wants him gone: spiraling violent crime, the bloating of government payrolls with Venezuela United Socialist Party acolytes in do-nothing jobs at a burgeoning list of government ministries, and unchecked corruption that she says extends to the communal councils. "What hurts Chavez are the people who surround him. They don't help because they are a band of thieves," she says. "The police are themselves crooks."

Murder of Miami’s ‘Cocaine Queen’ Offers Teaching Moment 10/6/2012 NarcoNews: "Griselda Blanco, 69, was cut down in front of a butcher shop in Medellin, Colombia, in early September by a middle-aged man who was delivered to the murder scene on the back of a motorcycle — and who calmly, methodically, jumped off the back of that bike, held a gun to Blanco’s head, and pumped two bullets into her brain."

Wednesday 10/3/2012

Ciencias antropológicas y tradiciones culturales cubanas en defensa de la democracia y la soberanía de Venezuela 10/3/2012 Instituto Cubano de Antropología: "Con dedicatoria explícita al pueblo venezolano, los colectivos artísticos Irawo y ObbaIlú -representantes de espiritualidades populares cubanas Osha y Abakuá- regalaron al público una muestra de cantos y danzas ceremoniales que invocan a los ancestros africanos del pueblo de la isla caribeña: ancestros cuyas energías vitales habitan en nuestra cultura y animan nuestra soberanía nacional en su dimensión más profunda."

Washington In Africa, 2012: Who Will Obama ‘Whack’ Next? 10/3/2012 Znet: "At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United States should be strengthening, not weakening, basic rules of law and principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But instead of making the world safer, America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends."

Monday 10/1/2012

Robert Allen Stanford 10/1/2012 NYT: Compendium of New York Times articles.

Thursday 9/27/2012

"I was utilized to instill fear" 9/27/2012 Granma: ""I don’t believe my principles have changed over all these years. Nor my political commitment," affirmed Angela Davis, one of the most famous political activists of the 1960’s and ‘70s, an iconic figure for her strongly revolutionary discourse and membership in the Black Panthers. She was attending the Toronto International Film Festival for the premiere of the documentary Free Angela and all Political Prisoners."

Monday 9/24/2012

Systemic Destabilization as “A Strategy of Tension”: 9/11, the JFK Assassination, and the Oklahoma City Bombing  9/24/2012 Global Research: by Peter Dale Scott

Une révolution conservatrice dans la laïcité  9/24/2012 Les Mots Sont Importants: "À rebours d’un siècle de laïcité française, à rebours des lois Ferry-Goblet et de la fameuse loi de 1905, c’est une véritable révolution conservatrice qui s’achève. Le texte qui suit le souligne, en proposant une opportune leçon d’histoire non seulement à Marine Le Pen, mais aussi à tou-te-s les amnésiques qui, à gauche comme à droite, s’offusquent aujourd’hui de ses propos alors qu’ils ont eux-mêmes été les principaux acteurs de ladite révolution conservatrice en 2004, en soutenant la loi contre le voile à l’école – la première dans l’histoire de France qui imposa la neutralité aux usagers d’un service public et non plus seulement à ses agents – et en menant, pour promouvoir cette loi, une campagne de stigmatisation, de diabolisation et d’excommunictation d’un brutalité et d’un racisme inouïs."

Obama’s Chutzpah Is Catching Fire Among Jewish Democrats  9/24/2012 Tikkun: "With the criticism mounting, and with Netanyahu himself starring in a right-wing political ad in Florida, now is the time Jewish Democrats (even progressives) would typically fold. For when forced to choose between supporting Obama and caving to AIPAC, most leading Jewish Democrats have chosen the latter. However, not this time. For in the current political environment, Obama’s chutzpah is becoming contagious: Top Jewish Democrats are standing squarely behind President Obama’s decision not to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warning Israel to butt out of the U.S. presidential race."

Saturday 9/22/2012

How Romney Packed The Univision Forum 9/22/2012 Buzzfeed: "While introducing Romney at the top of the broadcast, Salinas's co-anchor, Jorge Ramos, noted that the Republican candidate had agreed to give the network 35 minutes, and that Obama had agreed to a full hour the next night. Ramos then invited the audience to welcome Romney to the stage — but the candidate didn't materialize. "It was a very awkward moment, believe me," Salinas said. Apparently, Romney took issue with the anchors beginning the broadcast that way, said Salinas, and he refused to go on stage until they re-taped the introduction. (One Republican present at the taping said Romney "threw a tantrum.") "

Wednesday 9/19/2012

Netanyahu ad to debut in Florida 9/19/2012 Politico: "Bibi Netanyahu is not running a campaign in the US - it just looks that way in this new ad. A spot featuring only the Israeli prime minister talking about Iran is set to hit the airwaves in select Florida markets tomorrow, a media tracking source confirms. The spot is the work of a c4 called Secure America Now - which, thanks to its tax status, doesn't have to disclose its donors."

Global Warming's Terrifying New Math 9/19/2012 Rolling Stone

Monday 9/17/2012

Don't judge Mugabe (as yet) 9/17/2012 Jamaica Gleaner: "Is it, therefore, possible that Mr Reagan was in its early stages in 1986? And, at 88 years old, could it be that Mr Mugabe is experiencing difficulty with his memory, thinking and behaviour?"

Arctic Sea Ice Melt May Trigger Extreme European Winter 9/17/2012 Wired: "Polar ice experts “thought that it would be many years until we again saw anything like we saw in 2007?, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado. The unprecedented expanse of ice-free Arctic Ocean has been absorbing the 24-hour sun over the short polar summer. The heat in the water must be released into the atmosphere if the ice is to re-form this autumn. “This is like a new energy source for the atmosphere,” said Francis. This heat and water vapour will affect the all-important jet stream – the west-to-east winds that are the boundary between cold Arctic and the warm mid-latitudes. Others researchers have already shown that the jet stream has been shifting northwards in recent years. Francis and colleagues have recently documented that the jet stream is also slowing down."

Sunday 9/16/2012

Did PJ Patterson's comments enrage Robert Mugabe? 9/16/2012 Jamaica Observer: "At the Exchange, Patterson also recalled his 1980 trip to Zimbabwe with reggae megastar, Robert Nesta 'Bob' Marley who sang his seminal work, Zimbabwe at the African country's Independence celebrations. Patterson was asked by Observer writers to give his opinion on Mugabe, once a hero of the liberation movement against white supremacist Ian Smith's Rhodesia, but who had grown into a despot since being elected president in Zimbabwe's first free elections in 1979. "We feel, certainly the rest of the world that has supported Zimbabwe all along in the struggle, we would wish that even at this late hour we would see some sort of shift back towards the fundamental principles of freedom, particularly for the press, and respect for the judicial process," Patterson said."

Friday 9/14/2012

Mainstream Media Attends -- Then Ignores -- U.S. Caravan for Peace 9/14/2012 Alternet: 'A minimum of 60,000 drug prohibition related deaths have been recorded in Mexico in the last 5 years of Calderon's presidency and at least 10,000 others have been “disappeared”. Yes, a few stories broke in local markets but not one word was shared via national news programs in the US."

Obama’s Double-Speak at the DNC 9/14/2012 Counterpunch: "In this well-crafted, though wholly misleading statement, Obama strongly suggests that the Taliban attacked us on 9/11. This is, of course, not true. The Taliban never attacked us. Their only crime was to insist upon proof of Osama bin Laden’s culpability for the 9/11 attacks before handing him over to the U.S."

Wednesday 9/12/2012

KPFK's 'BradCast': Interview with Former AL Gov. Don Siegelman and Daughter Dana on His Political Prosecution by Karl Rove & Friends 9/12/2012 Brad Blog

The CIA’s Islamist Terrorist Network 9/12/2012 Strategic Culture Foundation: "Former French military intelligence officer Pierre-Henri Bunel, who tracked Islamist terrorist networks in the Balkans and discovered their CIA origins, said «Al Qaeda» was not merely a database, but an Intranet the CIA used to call up reserves of mujaheddin to engage in specified terrorist actions, much like those seen during the past few years in the remote-control bombing of civilians in Damascus, Beirut, Baghdad, various Libyan and Pakistani cities, Aden, and other locales., all carried out by «Al Qaeda» or its off shoots."

Tuesday 9/11/2012

New report debunks investors’ effort to greenwash 9/11/2012 Scoop: "An American owned company with a track record of illegality and links to private equity giant Blackstone Group threatens to destroy rainforests and dislocate local communities in Cameroon. A new report (1) from The Oakland Institute, in collaboration with Greenpeace International, exposes how a New York-based agri-corporation, Herakles Farms, and its local subsidiary SG Sustainable Oils Cameroon (SGSOC), are involved in a land deal that is questionable under Cameroonian Law, opposed by locals since 2010 and has just pulled out of the industry’s sustainable certification scheme (2)."

Kurt Sonnenfeld: The man behind the camera 9/11/2012 VoltaireNet: "In the short film presented below Sonnenfeld reveals for the first time some of the footage and images he recorded during his tour of duty at Ground Zero."

Monday 9/10/2012

A Jaw-Dropping Explanation of How Governments Are Complicit in the Illegal Drug Trade  9/10/2012 Alternet: "We know that the estimated value of the global drug trade - and this is also debated by analysts - is worth something between US$300 billion to $500 billion a year. Half of that, something between $250-$300 billion and over actually goes to the United States. So what does this say if you use that imperial political economy approach I've talked about? It means that the imperial center, the financial center, is getting the most, and so it is in no interest for any great power (or state) to stop this if great amounts of the profits are flowing to the imperial center."

9/11 Stunner: Bush Received, Ignored Multiple Warnings of 'Imminent', 'Dramatic' Attack  9/10/2012 Brad Blog: "As a side note, it says quite a bit about today's New York Times that they decided to run this as an "Op-Ed". In any event, please read it, and keep it in mind when you hear the lie yet again, on this latest anniversary of the horrific 9/11 tragedy and beyond, that "Bush kept us safe.""

Racisme au pays des droits de l’homme  9/10/2012 Les Mots Sont Importants: "Toute critique contre « la France », toute allégation d’un racisme systémique structurant la société française est ainsi disqualifiée en tant que racisme antifrançais ou antiblanc – un procès a récemment cristallisé cet enjeu : le procès intenté contre Houria Bouteldja, porte parole des Indigènes de la republique, pour avoir simplement nommé les Français dits de souche, en leur donnant le sobriquet de « souchiens »."

The Deafness Before the Storm  9/10/2012 NYT: "But some in the administration considered the warning to be just bluster. An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat. Intelligence officials, these sources said, protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives’ suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day."

Saturday 9/8/2012

EEUU garantiza inmunidad a Ernesto Zedillo ante la matanza de Acteal 9/8/2012 CubaDebate: "El último presidente del PRI de la vieja era, el mexicano Ernesto Zedillo, actual profesor de economía y política de la universidad de Yale, puede respirar tranquilo. El Departamento de Justicia de EEUU le ha otorgado inmunidad diplomática y, por tanto, no enfrentará los cargos que se le imputan en un tribunal de New Haven (Connecticut) donde se le pretendía procesar como responsable intelectual de la matanza de Acteal, el asesinato en 1997 de 45 indígenas de ese pueblo de Chiapas (entre ellos mujeres embarazadas y niños) a manos de un grupo, también de indígenas, supuestamente armado por el Estado."

Friday 9/7/2012

The Battle Over Jerusalem - AIPAC and the Undemocratic Convention 9/7/2012 Counterpunch: "So Villaraigosa said, “I’ll do that one more time.” If anything, the no’s outnumbered the yeas this time. Nevertheless, Villaraigosa declared, ”In the opinion of the chair, two-thirds voted in the affirmative. The motion is adopted, and the platform has been amended….” The final image on this sorry episode was of two angry and disappointed Arab-American delegates. The mainstream media–MSNBC and Fox included–clearly did not want to talk about this. Whenever someone tried to discuss the trashing of the sacred democratic principle at the behest of the Lobby, someone else jumped in to change the subject."

Cuba Revealing No Names in Colombian Peace Talks 9/7/2012 Havana Times: "On Tuesday, Santos and FARC leader Timoleon Jimenez made public the initiation of the peace-seeking dialogue, a negotiating process that will begin in the first half of October in Oslo, Norway, and will continue in the Cuban capital."

Thursday 9/6/2012

Intelligence Committee Chair Describes Explosive Confrontation Between Netanyahu and American Ambassador 9/6/2012 Atlantic: "When Beckmann asked Rogers to describe the tenor of the meeting, he said: "Very tense. Some very sharp... exchanges and it was very, very clear the Israelis had lost their patience with the (Obama) Administration." He went on, "There was no doubt. You could not walk out of that meeting and think that they had not lost their patience with this Administration.""

Conferencia de prensa de las FARC en La Habana: Denle una oportunidad a la paz en Colombia 9/6/2012 CubaDebate: "En síntesis, el documento expresa que “la anhelada solución política por la que claman millones de colombianos en las cuatro esquinas del país, regresa al primer orden de la vida nacional”, define “la salida política de la confrontación” como la bandera del pueblo colombiano e invoca la activa participación de la nación en este nuevo proceso “que debe culminar con una nueva Colombia, justa y democrática”."

Wednesday 9/5/2012

The Party of Hate - Republicans Cross the Rubicon  9/5/2012 Counterpunch: "Not many in the Republican audience caught on, but there were some stony faces when Eastwood said “I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there are 23 million unemployed people in this country.” More stony Republican faces when Eastwood showed his opposition to the Iraq and Afghan wars and asks the chair, “why don’t you just bring them [the troops] home tomorrow morning?” Those who thought he was digging at Obama cheered; those who realized he was criticizing hardline Republican positions were displeased. But NPR and the US media in general are uncomfortable with such real news as a political party being told off by one of its heroes and a political party sufficiently stupid to repeat Barry Goldwater’s mistake. The establishment might complain. The money might dry up or employees be fired for permitting such a story to be aired. The Democrats lost their independent financing when jobs offshoring destroyed the unions."

Mexico’s new President owes election to “Narco-Televisa”  9/5/2012 MadCow Morning News: "The first to question what had quickly become the official story—that the busted Mexicans had merely been posing as journalists—was a local publication called The Digital Reporter. While offering no proof, the Digital Reporter insisted that the crew in custody—charged with money laundering and organized crime—were under the direction of Televisa, and that the convoy of vehicles belonged to Televisa as well. Ringleader Raquel Correa Alatorre, as well as three or four other detainees, were working for the Mexican television giant, the publication asserted. The publication, it was later learned, was getting leaks from Nicaraguan military sources, who indicated that there was a senior executive at Televisa—a corporate vice president—also involved in the case."

Oakland Institute, Greenpeace expose New York investors' land grab in Cameroon  9/5/2012 PR Newswire

Tuesday 9/4/2012

News Corp. nominates Chao, Uribe to board 9/4/2012 Marketwatch: Uribe was named in an early 80's DIA memo as a "narcosenator" and "close personal friend of Pablo Escobar"

STATUS OF COMPLAINTS: HERACKLES FARMS 9/4/2012 Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO): "The RSPO has received a letter from Herakles Farms dated 24 Aug 2012 stating the company’s decision to withdraw their membership from the RSPO. The RSPO regrets this withdrawal of membership by Herakles Farms. This action pre-empts recommendations from the RSPO Complaints Panel to further verify the allegations made by the complainants."

Friday 8/31/2012

American agents wounded in Mexico linked to CIA drug planes 8/31/2012 Mad Cow

Tuesday 8/28/2012

Arctic Warming is Altering Weather Patterns, Study Shows  8/28/2012 Climate Central: "By showing that Arctic climate change is no longer just a problem for the polar bear, a new study may finally dispel the view that what happens in the Arctic, stays in the Arctic. The study, by Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University and Stephen Vavrus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, ties rapid Arctic climate change to high-impact, extreme weather events in the U.S. and Europe."

Along with the Arctic Ice, The Rich World's Smugness Will Melt  8/28/2012 Common Dreams: "The north polar jet stream is an air current several hundred kilometres wide, travelling eastwards around the hemisphere. The current functions as a barrier, separating the cold, wet weather to the north from the warmer, drier weather to the south. Many of the variations in our weather are caused by great travelling meanders – Rossby waves – in the jet stream. Arctic heating, the paper shows, both slows the Rossby waves and makes them steeper and wider. Instead of moving on rapidly, the weather gets stuck. Regions to the south of the stalled meander wait for weeks or months for rain; regions to the north (or underneath it) wait for weeks or months for a break from the rain. Instead of a benign succession of sunshine and showers, we get droughts or floods. During the winter a slow, steep meander can connect us directly to the polar weather, dragging severe ice and snow far to the south of its usual range. This mechanism goes a long way towards explaining the shift to sustained – and therefore extreme – weather patterns around the northern hemisphere."

US Preparing for a Post-Israel Middle East?  8/28/2012 Foreign Policy Journal: "So what is all the fuss about? It’s a paper entitled “Preparing For A Post Israel Middle East”, an 82-page analysis that concludes that the American national interest in fundamentally at odds with that of Zionist Israel. The authors conclude that Israel is currently the greatest threat to US national interests because its nature and actions prevent normal US relations with Arab and Muslim countries and, to a growing degree, the wider international community."

Saturday 8/25/2012

Nicaragua seizes $7m from fake reporters 8/25/2012 AAP: "Granera said the suspects told police about 25 bundles hidden in the vans contained the cash. She said the elaborate ruse was intended to smuggle the cash through Nicaragua to the neighbouring nation of Costa Rica to the south. Mexican drug cartels frequently buy Colombian cocaine to ship north to the US market, and often must smuggle cash proceeds from the drug sales back down south to pay the Colombian suppliers."

Friday 8/24/2012

Bain and the Salvadoran Death Squads - Romney’s Blood Money 8/24/2012 Counterpunch: "Recent revelations about Mitt Romney’s highly profitable company Bain Capital help connect the dots between offshore tax shelters, shady investors; and the role that ill-gotten gains plays in today’s casino-like finance capital. Both the Los Angeles Times and Huffington Post published investigations in the last month showing that over a third of the $37 million raised by Romney to launch Bain Capital in the mid-1980s came from rich Latin Americans, the bulk of it from Salvadoran families linked to death squads."

Saturday 8/18/2012

Is Washington Deaf As Well as Criminal? Stumbling Towards Nuclear War? 8/18/2012 Counterpunch: by PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - "Here is Russian president Medvedev (currently the prime minister) describing the steps toward nuclear war that Russia has taken pushed by the crazed warmongers in Washington wallowing in their insane hubris: With regard to the american missile bases on Russia’s borders, “I have made the following decisions. First, I am instructing the Defense Ministry to immediately put the missile attack early warning radar station in Kaliningrad on combat alert. Second, protective cover of Russia’s strategic nuclear weapons will be reinforced as a priority measure under the program to develop our air and space defenses. Third, the new strategic ballistic missiles commissioned by the Strategic Missile Forces and the Navy will be equipped with advanced missile defense penetration systems and new highly-effective warheads. Fourth, I have instructed the Armed Forces to draw up measures for disabling missile defense system data and guidance systems. These measures will be adequate, effective, and low-cost. Fifth, if the above measures prove insufficient, the Russian Federation will deploy modern offensive weapon systems in the west and south of the country, ensuring our ability to take out any part of the US missile defense system in Europe. One step in this process will be to deploy Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad Region. Other measures to counter the European missile defense system will be drawn up and implemented as necessary. Furthermore, if the situation continues to develop not to Russia’s favor, we reserve the right to discontinue further disarmament and arms control measures.”

Thursday 8/16/2012

Ecuador Grants Assange Asylum; UK Threatens to Storm Embassy 8/16/2012 Common Dreams

Wednesday 8/15/2012

Wall Street’s Africa Land Grab  8/15/2012 Color Lines: "The nation’s financial sector is on a crusade to dominate an irreplaceable African resource that the world increasingly needs: massive tracts of open land available for large scale industrial farming. The pace of land purchases is flying so furiously that it is now commonly referred to as “a land grab.”"

Campaign Update – Cameroon: Protests Show Dissent on Palm Oil Project  8/15/2012 Cultural Survival

Rand ... Rosenbaum?  8/15/2012 Jewish Journal: "The first public cause to which Ayn Rand donated her own money was the State of Israel. I find this little-known nugget fascinating for two reasons. One, it contradicts the idée fixe of Rand as not really Jewish. And two, it contradicts the philosophy of Ayn Rand."

Ryan won't close Romney's gap with Hispanics  8/15/2012 Politico: "Mitt Romney is on track to lose the Latino vote by a wider margin than any Republican presidential candidate in over a decade, and strategists in both parties say he may have made a bad situation worse with his selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate. What’s clear is that Romney’s lagging fortunes among Hispanics are unlikely to receive any boost from choosing a vice presidential candidate who has voted in Congress against the DREAM Act and supports overhauling entitlement programs that are extremely popular among Latino voters."

Saturday 8/11/2012

Mercenary? Venezuela Detains US Man at Border Crossing 8/11/2012 Common Dreams: "He has the look of a mercenary. We are interrogating him," Chavez said during a public speech, adding that the man had stamps in his passport from visits to Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. In addition, Chavez said, the man had a notebook containing geographical coordinates which he attempted to destroy after being detained."

Paul Ryan traded on insider information to avoid 2008 crash 8/11/2012 The Richmonder: "Brad DeLong weighs in on this so-called "debunking." Did Ryan's flacks lie to Benjy Sarlin of TPM? Why would they lie if they have nothing to hide?"

Friday 8/10/2012

Unreal… Now the Far Left Is Trying to Tie Mitt Romney to El Salvador Death Squads 8/10/2012 Gateway Pundit

Pics of new Mexican President with Sinaloa cartel lieutenant 8/10/2012 MadCow Morning News: '“Rafa" Celaya, the new Mexican President’s friend, wasn’t living rough in the mountains of Sinaloa. Instead, he is a long-time functionary in Mexico’s ruling PRI party who has worked in mid-level positions in state and municipal government in Hermosillo, including a half-dozen years in Sonora State’s Ministry of Finance. The arrested man is the nephew of Victor Hugo Celaya Celaya, an influential politico in Sonora, according to Mexico City newspaper Proceso. In addition to pictures with the president, Rafa is shown in photos with Emilio Gamboa, the newly elected leader of the PRI in the Senate, and influential Mexican Senator Manlio Fabio Beltrones."

Sunday 8/5/2012

Drugs An Instrument of Global Policy 8/5/2012 Strategic Culture: "Russian drug control agency chief V. Ivanov said in 2010 that Russia tipped off the US and the Afghan administration about 175 drug factories in Afghanistan, but neither ended up being bulldozed. Consequently, funds continue to pile up on the bank accounts of those running them. It is clear that calls for a broad anti-narcotics front sound naïve. Moscow will only waste time and see more Russians perish if it waits for the West to subscribe to such initiatives – the time is coming for it to take drastic measures against those who disseminate death packaged in dozes."

Friday 8/3/2012

How "Slick Jimmy" Trumps AIPAC, Romney and the Neocons - Carville’s Push to Tighten Sanctions on Iran 8/3/2012 Counterpunch: "According to two congressional insiders, the quick witted maneuver by the Obama campaign is a key reason their candidate currently leads in the swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania while reminding the media that no presidential candidate since 1960 has won the White House without carrying two of these three states. Meanwhile, Romney operatives are seeking alternative ways to convince Israel to maintain its support and cash for his campaign during the next nine weeks of what “Slick Jimmy” is calling, “American Democracy at work.”"

The Christian Right’s Anti-Sex Campaign in Africa 8/3/2012 Counterpunch: "The Christian right’s sex war in sub-Sahara Africa is being waged on two fronts – against homosexuality and a woman’s right to control her pregnancy. It is spearheaded by an informal coalition of right-wing Roman Catholic, Mormon and Protestant evangelical groups that few have heard of. Foremost is the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), originally founded by Pat Robertson; led by right-wing evangelicals, it operates two centers in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, encouraged the ACLJ to open an office and assist in drafting the constitution to reflect “Christian values.” Other groups promoting Christian intolerance in Africa are the Family Watch International (led by the Mormon activist, Sharon Slater), the Human Life International (a Roman Catholic group) and the World Congress of Families (an umbrella group promoting “pro-family” values)."

Wednesday 8/1/2012

Macau probes Sands China over privacy breach  8/1/2012 AP: "The Chinese arm of U.S. billionaire Sheldon Adelson's gambling empire is being investigated by Macau privacy authorities over its handling of documents related to a lawsuit by its former CEO, who claims the company has links to crime bosses and encourages prostitution as part of its business strategy. Sands China Ltd. said Wednesday it was notified by Macau's privacy watchdog that an official investigation has been launched into the alleged transfer of "certain data" from the Asian gambling city to the U.S."

Top US general: Venezuela not a threat  8/1/2012 AP: "Fraser's comments echo a July 11 statement by U.S. President Barack Obama that drew criticism from his presumed Republican challenger in November elections, Mitt Romney. Obama said his "overall sense is that what Mr. Chavez has done over the past several years has not had a serious national security impact on us." Romney responded by saying it was "simply naive" to think Chavez does not pose a threat to the United States."

Romney’s Clueless Remark on Palestine  8/1/2012 Consortium News: "Conspicuously missing was any mention of the huge, elephant-in-the-room reason for the dismal state of the Palestinian economy: the systematic Israeli suppression of Palestinian economic activity. That suppression has included in the Gaza Strip a suffocating blockade and in the West Bank (the explicit subject of Romney’s comparison) a less all-encompassing but still pervasive system of restricting transportation, separating people’s homes from their livelihoods, denying access to natural markets, requiring and denying permission for the simplest transactions, and countless additional ways of turning into a struggle the daily task of earning a living. A recent World Bank report on the Palestinian economy stated, “The major constraints to private sector activity are the tight Israeli restrictions, and growth will not be sustainable until Palestinians have access to resources and are allowed to move freely.”

Why Romney Insulted the Palestinians  8/1/2012 Consortium News: "Some pundits are excusing Mitt Romney’s comment about why Palestinians are so much poorer than Israelis as a slip of the tongue caused by a shortage of staff on his overseas trip, but the Republican presidential candidate makes the same point in his book, No Apology, which he claims to have written himself. While discussing his thoughts about world travel, he wrote, “I wondered how such vast differences could exist between countries that were literally next door to each other. How could Americans be so rich and Mexicans so poor? How could Israelis have created a highly developed, technology-based economy while their Palestinian neighbors had not yet even begun to move to an industrial economy?”

Jamaica: Reflections on Fifty Years of In-Dependence, by Norman Girvan  8/1/2012 Norman Girvan: "Looking back, it is clear that our cohort over-estimated the possibility for a radical transformation, and under-estimated the forces of continuity, in societies that are after all not new, but hundreds of years old, with deeply ingrained cultural values, patterns of behavior, class and colour stratification, economic structures, and political habits; and that we failed to take account of the role of emerging national elites in being content to acquire a limited degree of autonomy within an existing system of internal and international hierarchical structures."

Monday 7/30/2012

Romney Wraps Foreign Tour 7/30/2012 WSJ: "Earlier, before he departed Israel, Mr. Romney pointed out Israel's brighter economic prospects compared with its Palestinian neighbors and suggested culture may have something to do with Israel's success. "As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality," he told a group of donors gathered at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. He added: "And that is also between other countries that are near or next to each other: Chile and Ecuador, Mexico and the United States."

Sunday 7/29/2012

"US Media Ignore Netanyahu Nuclear Smuggling Files" Major News Release - Irmep 7/29/2012 Axis of Logic: "The following is being released by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy -- The FBI partially declassified and released files linking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a nuclear technology smuggling ring that targeted the United States. The declassified files are now publicly available online."

Saturday 7/28/2012

Romney Pleases Political Donor on Israel 7/28/2012 Consortium News: "Two things about Adelson’s role in this post-Citizens United world stand out. One is the sheer magnitude of the money involved. Adelson appears to be on track to be the single biggest individual donor in this U.S. election year... The other distinguishing characteristic of Adelson is the strength of his affinity to a foreign government — not just to a foreign country but to the policies of the current government of that country. It is appropriate that Adelson will be one of the greeters when Romney arrives in Israel because, although Adelson is a U.S. citizen, his declared primary allegiance is to Israel. Adelson once commented that when he did military service as a young man it “unfortunately” was in a U.S. uniform rather than an Israeli one and that all he and his Israeli wife “care about is being good Zionists, being good citizens of Israel, because even though I am not Israeli born, Israel is in my heart.”

US sees Israel, tight Mideast ally, as spy threat 7/28/2012 SF Chronicle: "In a separate episode, according to another two former U.S. officials, a CIA officer in Israel came home to find the food in the refrigerator had been rearranged. In all the cases, the U.S. government believes Israel's security services were responsible. Such meddling underscores what is widely known but rarely discussed outside intelligence circles: Despite inarguable ties between the U.S. and its closest ally in the Middle East and despite statements from U.S. politicians trumpeting the friendship, U.S. national security officials consider Israel to be, at times, a frustrating ally and a genuine counterintelligence threat."

Friday 7/27/2012

Diez países de África se unen en la vigilancia de los bosques 7/27/2012 Guin Guin Bali: "Una nueva iniciativa regional ayudará a diez países de África Central a establecer sistemas nacionales avanzados de monitoreo de los bosques, según anunció la FAO. Los diez países forman parte de la cuenca del Congo e incluyen Burundi, Camerún, República Centroafricana, Chad, la República Democrática del Congo, la República del Congo, Guinea Ecuatorial, Gabón, Ruanda y Santo Tomé y Príncipe."

Thursday 7/26/2012

Study: At Least 70% of Arctic Sea Ice Loss 'Man-Made' 7/26/2012 Common Dreams: "The new study, conducted by climate scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading, found that the loss of sea ice around the Arctic is at least 70% due to human-induced climate change -- much higher than previously thought -- and that the number could possibly be as high as 95%."

Wednesday 7/25/2012

Caracas: IV Festival de Pueblos Africanos afianza raíces culturales con países latinoamericanos 7/25/2012 Legado Afro: "Este miércoles, la Sala Generalísimo Francisco de Miranda de la Asamblea Nacional fue sede cultural del IV Festival de Pueblos de África, desde las 2:00 de la tarde, cuando los tambores nigerianos y la comida típica ofrecieron a los asistentes la oportunidad de descubrir parte de la riqueza de un continente que, para muchos, es sinónimo de hambre y atraso."

Monday 7/23/2012

Demonstrators Protest California Police Shooting  7/23/2012 AP: "Crystal Ventura, a 17-year-old who witnessed the shooting, told the Register that the man had his back to the officer. Ventura said the man was shot in the buttocks area. The man then went down on his knees, she said, adding that he was struck by another bullet in the head. Ventura said another officer handcuffed the man, who by then was on the ground and not moving. "They searched his pockets, and there was a hole in his head, and I saw blood on his face," Ventura told the newspaper."

AFRODESCENDIENTES TV (AFROTV)  7/23/2012 Fundacion Afroamerica

AFROPERSPECTIVAS TRAZADOS DEL TIEMPO  7/23/2012 Fundacion Afroamerica: de Jesus "Chucho" Garcia

Hunden en Nicaragua "narcolancha" que se dirigía a Honduras  7/23/2012 La Prensa, Honduras: "Una lancha rápida cargada con droga que viajaba de Panamá hacia Honduras fue hundida el fin de semana en aguas del Mar Caribe por la Fuerza Naval de Nicaragua tras un intercambio de disparos entre los supuestos narcotraficantes y militares."

Sunday 7/22/2012

Deadly Force Against Blacks Rises  7/22/2012 Black America Web: "Produced by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) and the No More Trayvon Martins campaign and entitled the “Extrajudicial Killings of Black People,” researchers toiled around the clock in uncovering that every 40 hours, just over a day and half, at least one victim fell prey to such torment and since the start of this year well over a hundred more sufferers (110 as of June 30) have succumbed to the same dubious distinction, thereby increasing the rate of the epidemic over the least six months to an even more alarming one victim every 36 hours."

Where’s the Netanyahu Scandal in the New York Times? Does It Matter What Israelis Do?  7/22/2012 Counterpunch

Mexico’s Peña Nieto hires US propaganda firm  7/22/2012 NarcoNews: "CLSA is the same US image-building firm that was retained in the fall of 2009 by the Honduran regime led by “de facto” President Roberto Micheletti in the wake of its coup d'état in that Central American nation."

Saturday 7/21/2012

U.S. Drug War Expands to Africa, a Newer Hub for Cartels 7/21/2012 NYT: "In a significant expansion of the war on drugs, the United States has begun training an elite unit of counternarcotics police in Ghana and planning similar units in Nigeria and Kenya as part of an effort to combat the Latin American cartels that are increasingly using Africa to smuggle cocaine into Europe."

FBI Documents Confirm Involvement of Hollywood Mogul in Israeli Nuclear Smuggling Ring 7/21/2012 Tikun Olam: "The gist is this: in the 1970s, Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, who then worked for Israeli intelligence, recruited a U.S. engineer, Richard Smyth, to become an arms smuggler on Israel’s behalf. With the help of Israeli intelligence and Ministry of Defense (MOD) funding, the two establish a front company which began trading with an Israeli company, Heli Trading. At the time, according to FBI report, Bibi Netanyahu worked for the company and met Smyth frequently."

Friday 7/20/2012

American Tourists Flock to Israeli Settlement Shooting School  7/20/2012 Common Dreams: "n an Israeli West Bank settlement bloc known as Gush Etzion, American tourists are flocking to Caliber 3 shooting school, a training camp for Israeli 'security professionals including soldiers and bodyguards', which has recently opened its services to Israeli and American civilians. The company says it offers "the values of Zionism with the excitement and enjoyment of shooting which makes the activity more meaningful."

Venezuela: A Threat to Washington?  7/20/2012 Global Research: "From the first time Hugo Chavez was elected President of Venezuela in 1998, Washington and its allies have been trying to undermine his government. When Chavez was just a presidential candidate, the US State Department denied his visa to participate in television interviews in Miami. Later, when he won the presidential elections, Ambassador John Maisto called him personally to congratulate him and offer him a visa. The following months were filled with attempts to “buy” the newly elected President of Venezuela. Businessmen, politicians and heads of state from Washington and Spain pressured him to submit to their agendas. “Come with us”, urged Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, trying to seduce him with offers of wealth and luxury in turn for obeying orders. When Chavez refused to be bought, he was ousted in a coup d’etat April 11, 2002, funded and planned by Washington. When the coup failed and Chavez’s supporters rescued their democracy and president in less than 48 hours, attempts to destabilize his government continued. “We must make it difficult for him to govern”, said former US State Department chief Lawrence Eagleberger."

Nicaragua denuncia que cárteles de Colombia equipan a narcos en Honduras  7/20/2012 La Prensa, Honduras: "Lo que está claro es que los medios venían procedente de Colombia con destino a la Mosquitia hondureña (zona indígena del Caribe), donde se han asentado unos cárteles de narcotraficantes muy peligrosos que tienen altas vinculaciones con elementos colombianos", aseguró el jefe de inteligencia militar, Adolfo Zepeda."

Thursday 7/19/2012

Bain Capital started with help of offshore investors 7/19/2012 LA Times: "The first outside investor in Bain was a leading London financier, Sir Jack Lyons, who made a $2.5-million investment through a Panama shell company set up by a Swiss money manager, further shielding his identity. Years later, Lyons was convicted in an unrelated stock fraud scandal. About $9 million came from rich Latin Americans, including powerful Salvadoran families living in Miami during their country's brutal civil war… At the time, U.S. officials were publicly accusing some exiles in Miami of funding right-wing death squads in El Salvador. Some family members of the first Bain Capital investors were later linked to groups responsible for killings, though no evidence indicates those relatives invested in Bain or benefited from it."

Wednesday 7/18/2012

Africa Palm-Oil Plan Pits Activists Against New York Investors 7/18/2012 Reuters: "Right now, Africa is the target of many companies hungry for forest land. An April 2012 study by the World Wildlife Fund and France’s Institute for Research and Development noted that new regulations and scrutiny elsewhere are “encouraging large Asian companies to heavily invest in Central Africa.” Herakles Farms, owned by New York venture-finance firm Herakles Capital, and other food giants such as Malaysia’s Sime Darby and Singapore’s Olam, see the next big growth area down the west coast of Africa, from Liberia to Gabon."

Special Report: Africa palm-oil plan pits activists vs N.Y. investors 7/18/2012 Reuters: "Herakles takes such allegations seriously. The company needs the blessing of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a Kuala Lumpur-based certification body set up in 2004 and designed to rid the industry of the forest-wrecking image it picked up in Asia. Without the nod of the RSPO, Herakles would struggle to support its argument that it will be a model for producing palm oil in an environment-friendly way. To get that imprint, Herakles must prove it has the locals' "free, prior and informed consent", a principle set out in the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and adopted by the RSPO."

Thursday 7/12/2012

Wells Fargo Settles for $175M Over Steering Blacks and Latinos to Subprime Loans 7/12/2012 Color Lines: "Wells Fargo and the Justice Department have reached a $175 million settlement agreement over charges that the bank routinely steered black and Latino borrowers into expensive, dangerous subprime home loans throughout the housing bubble. Wells Fargo has been a standout bad actor among banks, both during the subprime lending boom and the recession it spawned. Watchdogs have shown that Wells Fargo fails to maintain foreclosed properties in black and Latino communities with the same care it does in white neighborhoods, leading to further depression of home values and more blight. Its mortgage servicing arm has been at the center of complaints about banks’ refusal to work with underwater borrowers, despite massive federal incentives. And it is an industry leader among banks that are launching their own versions of payday loans, which are such significant debt traps that the Defense Department has identified them as a national security threat and Congress has barred lenders from making them to servicemembers."

Romney Condemns Obama View of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez as Harmless 7/12/2012 Fox News: “This is Chavez who has invited Iran in, who has invited Hezbollah,” said the former Massachussetts governor, who is the expected GOP presidential nominee. “Hezbollah, of course, being a surrogate and a proxy for Iran would potentially have access to weapons that could be used against us. This is Chavez who champions the Bolivarian Revolution movement and is spreading dictatorships and tyranny throughout Latin America.” [especially in Honduras and Paraguay!]

Wednesday 7/11/2012

Brasil desempolva los crímenes del Plan Cóndor 7/11/2012 CubaDebate: "El coordinador de la Comisión de la Verdad en Brasil, anunció este martes que será investigada la participación de la dictadura brasileña en el Plan Cóndor, la red instalada en los años setenta por los regímenes militares del Cono Sur y que costó la vida de miles de personas en esa región."

Friday 7/6/2012

FBI: Bibi Helped in Plot for U.S. Nuclear Equipment 7/6/2012 Israel National News

Friday 6/29/2012

Sumatran Orangutans Being 'Extinguished' by Palm Oil Push 6/29/2012 Common Dreams: "Ian Singleton, head of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), said that the Tripa orangutans are being "extinguished." According to a news report in The Guardian citing conservationists in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the world's densest population of orangutans is on the edge of annihiliation as a massive wave of fires started by palm oil plantation owners in direct defiance of national law."

Tuesday 6/26/2012

How Can We Stop the Mexican Drug Insanity When Banks and Much of the Establishment Profit Big Time from Illegal Drugs? 6/26/2012 Alternet

Monday 6/25/2012

The Pope's New PR Man: Fox News Reporter and Member of Secretive Opus Dei 6/25/2012 Alternet: "On paper, at least, Burke is well-suited to the job: much of the brutal political ideology advanced by Fox News is shared by the Holy See. But where Fox News has been successful in snookering regular people into believing that the brutal agenda somehow serves their own interests, the Catholic Church is not faring so well at selling its own exclusionary agenda to the Catholic faithful, many of whom support the nuns under attack by the Vatican. "

Sunday 6/24/2012

Foreign farms in Africa bring investment and controversy 6/24/2012 AFP: "Marc Ona, founder of the Brainforest pressure group, said the concern is more about the lack of oversight of the deals and the impact on the environment and society. "Faced with the challenge of food security, the choice is often geared toward agro-industry, with decisions made in illegal circumstances, without judicial oversight," he said."

Paraguay: detrás del retorno de la mafia de Stroessner, la inteligencia norteamericana 6/24/2012 Telesur: "Tan grande es la confianza que reina entre Federico Franco, el presidente golpista de Paraguay, y la Embajada de Estados Unidos en este país que él llego a discutir de la oportunidad de derrocar a su presidente, Fernando Lugo, ya en 2009, con el embajador yanqui. Lo revelaba meses después un texto publicado por Wikileaks donde un funcionario de inteligencia de la Embajada cuenta como Franco conversó del tema con el diplomático."

Saturday 6/23/2012

Revelan que sentencia contra Lugo estaba pactada (+ Documento) 6/23/2012 CubaDebate

Friday 6/22/2012

Cooperation, Co-operatives, & Revolution in Venezuela 6/22/2012 Venezuela Analysis: "Doing this implies changing some major institutions in society. It requires the implementation of social property and collective responsibility. Property now is typically viewed as public or private. Private property belongs to the owners whether they are capitalists or a cooperative and public property is owned by the state, supposedly under the control of the people of the country by means of their access to the political system that governs it. Social property implies collective ownership as well as direct control, rather than indirect control managed by representative democracy models, by both the workers and the consumers of the goods and/or services. This concept put into practice by radical cooperatives has the potential to start to tackle these issues of economic inclusion and economic democracy and build an economy based on solidarity."

Thursday 6/21/2012

ADL Calls Russell Simmons Remark At Jerusalem Conference 'Divisive And Ugly' 6/21/2012 ADL: "The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today responded to an outrageous comment by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, who in remarks at the presidential conference in Israel accused ADL leader Abraham Foxman of having "alienated blacks" in the same way Louis Farrakhan has antagonized the Jewish community."

Big Brother is watching Facebook and Twitter 6/21/2012 New Scientist: "In a way, they are behind the curve - marketing firms already monitor social networks to gauge public reaction to product launches. And online chatter can be analysed to forecast election results, for example. US federal agencies want to harness these techniques in an attempt to gauge overseas opinion about America, or even get hints on how to head off terrorist activity. With these aims in mind, officials at the Department of State issued a procurement notice on 1 June asking software developers to submit bids for a contract to supply tools that provide "deep analysis of topics, conversations, networks, and influencers of the global social web". These tools will analyse conversations taking place in at least seven foreign languages, including Chinese and Arabic."

Tuesday 6/19/2012

Palm oil for India 'destroying Indonesian forests' 6/19/2012 PhysOrg

Sunday 6/17/2012

Nessie a Plesiosaur? Louisiana To Fund Schools Using Odd, Bigoted Fundamentalist Textbooks 6/17/2012 Talk to Action

Saturday 6/16/2012

Jesús Chucho García: Desarrollo insoportable o sostenible? 6/16/2012 Legado Afro: "El pulmón mas grande del mundo, la Amazonia, como nunca antes está sufriendo un acelerado proceso de deforestación, perdiendo mas de 6.418 kilómetros de bosques solo el año pasado; y que decir de las montañas de la Mayombe (desde Angola hasta Gabón) que representa el 15% de oxigeno del planeta…..el efecto de la extracción de la riqueza maderera va en detrimento del equilibro ecológico de Africa Central y todo el continente sufre cuatro veces mas la deforestación a nivel planetario, que el resto del mundo, dejando avanzar la desertificación pese a las lagrimas que derramo la premio nobel Wangari Maati al sembrar cada árbol en Kenya."

The Oliver North File: His Diaries, E-Mail, and Memos on the Kerry Report, Contras and Drugs 6/16/2012 National Security Archives: published 2004

Friday 6/15/2012

The Stop-and-Frisk Crisis: How to Criminalize an Entire Generation of Black and Latino Men  6/15/2012 Alternet: "You have to wonder if the city actually wants us here. If so, why did the New York Police Department, in 2011, stop, question and frisk a record-breaking 684,330 black and Latino males, with 41 percent of those stop-and-frisks being youth between the ages of 14 and 24? To understand this total of 684,330 -- an increase of 14 percent from the 2010 figure --think of it like this: The number of black and Latino males detained by the NYPD in 2011 is more people than the total populations of North Dakota (672,591), Vermont (625,741), Wyoming (563,626), or America’s capital, Washington, DC (601,723). Taken together, these detainees would constitute America’s 19th largest city, nestled between Detroit, Michigan (717,777) and El Paso, Texas (649,121)."

The Truth About Religion in America: The Founders Loathed Superstition and We Were Never a Christian Nation  6/15/2012 Alternet: "The Founding Fathers weren’t all Christian. Some, of course, were: Patrick Henry (Episcopalian), John Hancock (Congregationalist), John Jay (Episcopalian), and Sam Adams (Congregationalist), for example, were all devout and pretty conventional Christians. But the big players in the founding of the United States—such men as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and probably Alexander Hamilton—weren’t. Each of them was much more comfortable with a deistic understanding of God than a Christian one. For them, the deity was an impersonal First Cause who created a rationally patterned natural order and who was best worshiped through the exercise of reason and virtue."

American Narcos: The Real 'Masters of Paradise'  6/15/2012 Global Research: "Earlier this month, The Observer reported that "The vast profits made from drug production and trafficking are overwhelmingly reaped in rich 'consuming' countries--principally across Europe and in the US--rather than war-torn 'producing' nations such as Colombia and Mexico, new research has revealed." Journalist Ed Vulliamy informed us that the authors of that report provide compelling evidence that "financial regulators in the west are reluctant to go after western banks in pursuit of the massive amount of drug money being laundered through their systems." Indeed, at the height of the global financial crisis Antonio Maria Costa, then the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime told The Observer "he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were 'the only liquid investment capital' available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result."

Thursday 6/14/2012

New film sows seeds of freedom 6/14/2012 Pambazuka News: "Africa is under growing pressure to turn to hybrid seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Only last month, President Obama launched the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which will see the combined forces of agribusiness giants Monsanto, Syngenta, Cargill, DuPont and Yara investing $3 billion into creating new markets in Africa, amidst claims that this will solve hunger and malnutrition. © The Gaia Foundation But amidst the pressure to “modernise” agriculture, the enormous wealth and diversity of locally-adapted seeds and farmer knowledge is ignored, undermined and eroded by policy makers. Increasing biological and agricultural diversity has been at the centre of food production, culture and spirituality for every traditional culture on earth, since the beginning of human history. Our ancestors had good reasons: they knew that greater diversity in their crops gave them better nutrition and resilience to the many challenges of farming, from weather, pests and soil variations. As Muhammed, a traditional farmer from Ethiopia says in the film, “Seed is our life. Our livelihoods depend on it. One variety is not enough for us. If we lose that, we are lost."

National Archives: No new JFK docs 6/14/2012 Salon: "The Archives’ decision comes as two former CIA officers have gone public with the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that Cuban leader Fidel Castro had advance knowledge of JFK’s assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. In a piece published in the Daily Beast this week, retired CIA officer Glenn Carle claimed that “the Cuban dictator knew of Lee Harvey Oswald’s intention to kill President Kennedy.” Carle also defended a deceased CIA colleague, David Phillips, from allegations of JFK conspiracy theorists that he connived in JFK’s death. The still-secret CIA records could clarify the issue. The records include more than 600 pages of material on the career of Phillips, the chief of the Agency’s anti-Castro operations in 1963. Phillips oversaw the surveillance of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Mexico City six weeks before Kennedy was killed. Antonio Veciana, an anti-Castro Cuban who worked for the CIA in the 1960s, told congressional investigators in 1976 that he saw an Agency officer whom he knew as “Maurice Bishop” with Oswald two months before JFK was killed. At the time, the CIA unequivocally denied that Phillips had ever used that name. In the Daily Beast article, Carle, a colleague of Phillips, admitted what the Agency has long denied: that Phillips had used the name "Maurice Bishop."

Wednesday 6/13/2012

Squeezing Africa dry: behind every land grab is a water grab 6/13/2012 Pambazuka News: "Those who have been buying up vast stretches of farmland in recent years, whether based in Dubai or London City, understand that it's the access to water that they get from the land deals, which they often get for free and without restriction, that may well be worth the most over the long-term. "The value is not in the land," says Neil Crowder, whose UK-based company, Chayton Capital, has been acquiring farmland in Zambia. "The real value is in water."

Tuesday 6/12/2012

Land grabs leave Africa facing ‘hydrological suicide’ - report  6/12/2012 Alertnet: "If these land grabs are allowed to continue, Africa is heading for a hydrological suicide," said the report’s co-author Henk Hobbelink, coordinator of GRAIN, an organisation supporting small farmers. Foreign governments and wealthy individuals are snapping up millions of hectares of land on the continent for large-scale agriculture projects to grow food and biofuels for export. But the report warns there is simply not enough water in Africa's rivers and water tables to irrigate all the newly acquired land."

Israel’s Dublin embassy planned to smear Palestine activists as sexual deviants and Mossad agents  6/12/2012 Electronic Intifada

Herakles Farms Announces Update on Its Cameroon Palm Oil Subsidiary SGSOC  6/12/2012 PR Newswire: "While SGSOC expects that approximately 60,000 hectares may ultimately be suitable for planting, before it proceeds with transferring its trees from the nursery to the field, it has committed to performing additional pre-planting studies designed to ensure that the Company has thoroughly mapped all high conservation value sites, important lands for village use, buffer zones and fulfilled other obligations to key stakeholders. "

New Liberian Tree Crop Rehabilitation Project to Benefit 26,000 Farming Household Members / Support Ranges From Access to Finance, Inputs, Markets, and Technologies, to Institutional Building, Rehabil  6/12/2012 SpyGhana: "This project, which is to be managed by the Liberian Ministry of Agriculture, has three components. The first is the Smallholder Tree Crops Revitalization: rehabilitating, replanting and newly planting cocoa and coffee farms (7,500 ha); revitalization of an oil palm plantation run by smallholders and an oil palm outgrowers scheme around a concessionaire (1,200 ha of rehabilitation/replanting); and replanting and extension of rubber farms (2,600 ha) in partnership with one concessionaire and one large Liberian estate. The project will support technical and management advice to smallholders and their Farmers Organizations, quality promotion and marketing enhancement; access of farmers and their FOs to adapted financial services; development of small scale processing for cocoa, coffee and oil palm; and rehabilitation of critical farm access roads."

Monday 6/11/2012

ANC backs judge over Mugabe 6/11/2012 PANA: "Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s criticism of a crucial ruling by the Pretoria High Court, that South Africa must probe Zimbabwean officials over allegations of torture, has been rejected by South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC)."

Sunday 6/10/2012

Jesús Chucho García: Afrodescendientes, conocimientos y soberanía intelectual 6/10/2012 Legado Afro: "El tiempo individualizado y colectivizado va produciendo un conocimiento, el cual es parte del tiempo vivido. El reto que tiene el movimiento afrodescendientes no es la búsqueda de la dependencia estatal ni del parasitismo petrolero, sino aprovechar la inclusión del espacio público, ganado con dignidad, para avanzar con firmeza y construir una agenda autónoma sin desresponsabilizar al Estado, pero no cobijarse en este, pues eso sería reafirmar la petrodependencia. La vía es la construcción de un conocimiento sustentable que ayude a desburocratizar el Estado casi inoperante y realizar nuevas prácticas de participación... aplicar lo construido en estos 12 años de experiencia afro en todas sus dimensiones, es el reto del momento."

The School of the Americas, the CIA and the US-Condoned Cancer of Torture Continue to Spread in Latin America, Including Mexico 6/10/2012 Truth Out: "Harbury points out that US agents are often reported, by survivors, of being in the torture chambers, outed by their American accents in Spanish or by their speaking in English. This was the case of Sister Dianna Ortiz, who was abducted in Guatemala in 1989 for speaking out on behalf of the poor. She was gang raped, forced to kill another prisoner with a knife, used as a human ash tray and was the subject of further barbaric acts of torture. Ortiz also recalls an American serving as a consultant while she was being tortured."

Saturday 6/9/2012

Breaking: Major Nuclear Base Running ‘Containment Exercise’ Amid Censored Radiation Spikes 6/9/2012 Global Research: "Amid a number of reports of massive and bizarre radiation readouts coming from experts, eyewitnesses, radiation facilities, and a key choice news outlet, it has now come out that one of the largest nuclear bases is currently running a ‘nuclear containment exercise’. The Minot Airforce Base exercise, running in North Dakota, reportedly involves the use of B-52 aircrafts. The news comes after a developing story arose over the potential cover-up of a nuclear situation stemming from near the border of Indiana and Michigan."

Friday 6/8/2012

Why Americans See Racism Where The French See No Problem 6/8/2012 Big Think: "The French reaction to this reaction, as described by Sotinel, must strike Americans as pretty funny. It amounts to this: Oh, yeah, that one guy is black. Leave it to you race-obsessed Americans to pick that up; we hadn't noticed. We didn't really notice that. (Negative French reviews of the film complained that it was hokey, Sotinel writes, but none mentioned skin color.) To Americans, this is a willful refusal to admit the obvious, something we consider a Gallic specialty (France cannot say precisely how many Muslims live within its borders because the government is barred by law from breaking down the population by race or religion in its statistics.) To the French, the Stateside reaction is American sanctimoniousness at its worst. We're the nation that produced, oh, Beverly Hills Cop, after all. And we invented the Magic Negro. Who are we to talk?"

Thursday 6/7/2012

CIA ‘Revives Attacks on Rescuers’ in Pakistan 6/7/2012 Common Dreams

Tuesday 6/5/2012

Jesús Chucho García: La guerrilla en Barlovento, el cocal de los muertos 6/5/2012 Legado Afro: "A finales de los años noventa del siglo pasado, en mis investigaciones sobre la Guerra de Guerrillas en la región afrodescendiente de Barlovento, tuve la oportunidad de entrevistar, antes de su muerte al “ronco” Moisés Moleiro, unos de los fundadores del MIR. Con su voz pausada, el “ronco” me hizo algunos comentarios del desembarco de Machurucuto, siendo él unos de sus protagonista y donde murió el cubano Toni Briones Montoto. “Me salvé de vaina, debido a que tuvimos un percance al desembarcar, dejando el bote abandonado, el cual fue precisado por los cazadores del Ejército que tenían la orden de matarnos en defensa de la democracia”. Barlovento fue escogida como zona estratégica para la implementación de la teoría del foco guerrillero. Después de la pasantía guerrillera del Che Guevara en Congo, este heroico personaje propuso venir a Venezuela, planteamiento que Pompeyo Márquez, como miembro del Buro político del Partido Comunista no aceptó. Sin embargo, el MIR, que tenía diferencias tácticas y estratégicas con el PCV pidió ayuda a Cuba."

Monday 6/4/2012

Zimbabwe accuses US of diamond blackmail 6/4/2012 PANA: "Speaking ahead of a key meeting this week in Washington of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), the diamond industry regulator, Zimbabwe's Mines Minister Obert Mpofu said the southern African country would mobilise other African and Third World producers to resist the US' attempts to include human rights in the global diamond trade regime. Washington is seeking to broaden the definition of 'conflict diamonds' at the meeting to include human rights violation, an attempt Zimbabwe sees as a threat to its gem industry. "They want to bring, for instance, so-called human rights issues that are totally alien to the objectives of the KPCS. Those will be resisted," Mpofu said."

How hip-hop and spray-can art exploded from the subways of Gotham into global chic 6/4/2012 University Press of Mississippi: "As the artists wielded their spray cans, they expressed their acute social consciousness. Aerosol Kingdom documents their careers and records the reflections of key figures in the movement. It examines converging forces that made aerosol art possible--the immigration of Caribbean peoples, the reinforcing presence of black American working-class styles and fashions, the effects of advertising on children, the mass marketing of spray cans, and the popular protests of the 1960s and '70s against racism, sexism, classism, and war. "

Sunday 6/3/2012

CONCERNS MOUNT AGAINST US OIL PALM PLANTATIONS IN CAMEROON  6/3/2012 Akanimo Reports: "SEFE President/Managing Director, Nasako Besingi, in the e-mail that was made available to AkanimoReports on Sunday, said: ''You will agree with me that these threats do not only come from nearby communities but from onshore and offshore human activities''."

Freedom of Information Request Reveals FBI 'Domestic Terrorism' Training Material on Activists  6/3/2012 Common Dreams: "Newly released FBI presentations show the flawed and misleading information the government is using to train agents to identify and investigate “domestic terrorist” groups such as “black separatists,” anarchists, animal rights activists, and environmentalists. Among the more troubling portions of the training materials are warnings of activists using the Freedom of Information Act, engaging in non-violent civil disobedience, and gathering in coffee shops."

Beatriz Aiffil: La lucha es contra la discriminación racial  6/3/2012 Legado Afro: "Mataron al negro bembón y yo lo maté por ser tan bembón. Eso no es razón. Negro hereje. Negro chorizo. Negro el carrizo. Negro flojo. Ven pa enseñarte quién es flojo. Negro bello y negrito bonito. Negro es negro y su apellido es ese mismo."

Saturday 6/2/2012

Bakrie Delano to Invest $1 Billion In Niger Delta Plantations and Oil 6/2/2012 Jakarta Globe: "Nigeria-based Bakrie Delano Africa plans to spend half of the company’s $1 billion investment commitment in the country on crude palm oil and rubber plantations, its chief executive said in Jakarta on Tuesday. Bakrie Delano is a joint venture of Bakrie Group and British-Nigerian businessman Ladi Delano. "

Brazil - An Inconvenient History (Legendado Pt-Br) 6/2/2012 YouTube: BBC, English with Brazilian subtitles. "Brazil was built on the back of the largest forced migration in history."

Friday 6/1/2012

Federal Judge Overturns Draconian Voter Registration Rules in Florida 6/1/2012 Color Lines

Susana Andrade: Movilizaciones por cambios son actos cívicos 6/1/2012 Legado Afro: "Los ataques de los Pare de Sufrir-Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios no lesionan solamente la dignidad y los derechos humanos de los afroumbandistas; lesionan las estructuras democráticas de nuestra sociedad. El compromiso es accionar juntos en pro del respeto hacia las diversas creencias o no creencias y contra cualquier tipo de discriminación negativa."

Sunday 5/27/2012

Jesús Chucho García: La afrovenezolanidad más que un mes 5/27/2012 Legado Afro: "A comienzos del el mes de mayo del año 2005, la profesora Fulvia Polanco del Estado Falcón, quien venia trabajando con el difunto Cisaber (Cimarrón del saber) Juan Ramon Lugo, elabora una propuesta para que la Asamblea Nacional decretara el 10 de mayo como día de la Afrovenezolanidad, el cual conto con el respaldo de la Red de Organizaciones Afrovenezolanas para ese momento. La composición de la Asamblea Nacional era heterogenea políticamente, pues estaba integrada por un porcentaje significativo de la oposición y una mayoría del proceso Bolivariano. La presencia del Grupo musical femenino afrovenezolano Eleggua con Belén Palacios a la cabeza fue determinante para el parto del decreto."

Friday 5/25/2012

Is The Intouchables Racist? 5/25/2012 Slate: "It’s a story about a white man and a black man. The white man is rich and paralyzed from the neck down; the black man is an ex-con from the projects. The former needs a caretaker; the latter needs someone to turn his job application down, so he’ll be eligible for unemployment benefits. They meet. They clash. And, against all odds, Driss, the black man, starts working for Philippe, the white man."

Wednesday 5/23/2012

Cameroon: Forests Pressured As Leaders Welcome Palm Oil Investors 5/23/2012 AlertNet: "Cameroon is inviting foreign companies to expand lucrative palm plantations, pitting the country's need for economic development against environmentalists who foresee the loss of important forests. Since 2009 this West African country has witnessed a sharp rise in interest from companies seeking vast expanses of land for industrial palm plantations in response to increasing global demand for palm oil. Six foreign-owned companies are currently trying to secure over 1 million hectares (about 2.5 million acres) of land for the production of palm oil in the country's forested southern zone, according to a coalition of environmental organisations."

Monday 5/21/2012

'Think Like a Man’s’ Ban In France Proves It’s Hard To Be a N*gga In Paris 5/21/2012 Madame Noire: "It was not even a full month ago that we were discussing the country’s objection to the Miss Black France pageant which was being held in Paris. Opposition suggested that singling out black beauty went against the country’s nationalist identity of being Frenchmen not hyphenated factions of afro-French or Caribbean French, and so forth. The message was that the singling out of black beauty was somewhat hypocritical because in the same breath that black people in the country were asking to be included more in society, they were turning around and excluding the rest of the population from their celebration. What was missing in that discussion was an understanding of why such pageants are needed and how white beauty is celebrated in an exclusionary fashion on a non-stop basis. It’s just that when something has been the status quo for so long and those images look like the ones you see in the mirror, it’s not so easy to pick out what’s wrong with the picture."

Friday 5/18/2012

Anti-intellectualism is taking over the US 5/18/2012 Guardian: "After the Chronicle of Higher Education published an item highlighting the dissertations of five young PhD candidates in African-American studies at Northwestern University, Chronicle blogger Naomi Schaefer Riley wrote that the mere titles of the dissertations were sufficient cause to eliminate all black studies classes. Riley hadn't read the dissertations; they're not even published yet. When questioned about this, she argued that as "a journalist… it is not my job to read entire dissertations before I write a 500-word piece about them," adding: "there are not enough hours in the day or money in the world to get me to read a dissertation on historical black midwifery." Riley tried to justify her view with a cliched, culture-wars-style plaint about the humanities and higher education: "Such is the state of academic research these days…. The publication topics become more and more irrelevant and partisan. No one reads them." This is not mere arrogance; it is the same cocooned "white ghetto" narrow-mindedness that allows someone like Michael Hicks to be in charge of a major American school system yet not know "Rosa Clark's" correct name."

Thursday 5/17/2012

Obama’s Biggest Climate Decision Of The Year May Be … Palm Oil? 5/17/2012 Care2: "All in all, this deforestation means that running a car on palm oil produces a lot more greenhouse gases than running it on Canadian tar sands. Indeed, a study in Science found that it would take palm oil biofuels grown on peatland a whopping 423 years to pay back the carbon debt created through land clearance. In other words, a palm plantation cleared in the year 1600 that produced biofuels for the last several centuries would still not have displaced enough oil to make up for the amount of carbon released when the land was cleared. Palm oil can make even dirty oil look green."

Wednesday 5/16/2012

GOP in CA Hired 'Professional Con Artist' Who Turned in Thousands of Fraudulent Voter Registrations in $50,000 'Bounty' Scheme 5/16/2012 Brad Blog: "The growing scandal, all but ignored by those on the Right who professionally pretend that Democrats and ACORN are stealing elections, underscores yet again the extent to which the Republican Party is willing to go in order to win elections, even while falsely accusing Democrats of undermining them…"

Tuesday 5/15/2012

Is Israel flirting with Iranian terrorists?  5/15/2012 Daily Beast: "The MEK’s history of violence and anti-Israeli activities is long and bloody. In the 1970s, it established deep ties with Yasser Arafat and both provided and received training from the PLO fighters. Much of the late Shah’s antipathy towards Arafat was rooted in the latters ties to the MEK and other opponents of the Pahlavi dynasty, publicly complaining “that some of the groups of the [Palestinian] resistance trained Iranian saboteurs to infiltrate our territory, kill our people and blow up various installations.”

Likely victory for MeK shills  5/15/2012 Salon

Iran Exile Group Nears U.S. Rebirth  5/15/2012 WSJ

Monday 5/14/2012

How a U.S. Company Is Breaking Laws and Grabbing Land in Africa 5/14/2012 Alternet: "In 2009, SGSOC signed a 99-year contract with Cameroon's government for around 70,000 hectares (over 170,000 acres) in the Ndian and Kupe-Muanenguba regions of the country. The company plans to develop a large industrial palm oil plantation and refinery on 60,000 hectares of the concession, and produce palm oil and other products. SGSOC insists that the plan will create 7,500 jobs, as well as generate revenues for Cameroon's government, improve road infrastructure and deliver other social services. However, local and international NGOs are raising concerns about the impact the project might have on the environment and human rights. The company’s contract gives it the right to arrest and detain people within their concession. It also practically exonerates the company from paying taxes, and states that all contractual terms are valid even if they are in conflict with Cameroonian law. SGSOC is a subsidiary of American agribusiness corporation Herakles Farms. In turn, Herakles Farms is a subsidiary of Herakles Capital, a New York-based venture finance firm that specializes in investments in developing countries. Herakles Farms, in partnership with its non-profit, All for Africa, is focused on large-scale sustainable agricultural projects in sub-Saharan Africa."

Sunday 5/13/2012

TSA Drug-Running Scandal Betrays Drug War’s Pretense 5/13/2012 NarcoNews: "The Cost of Bribing US Border and Airport Security Personnel Is Chump Change in the Narco-Trafficking Business"

Friday 5/11/2012

Herakles Farms is cutting the heart out of Cameroon’s rainforest 5/11/2012 Greenpeace: "Within the past few weeks, rainforest destruction has begun once again in one of Africa’s most important biodiversity hotspots: the coastal rainforest of Cameroon, at the fringe of the Congo Basin region. Herakles Farms, the American company behind the operation, is now pressing ahead with the establishment of a palm oil plantation in this precious area despite major social, environmental and legal concerns."

Thursday 5/10/2012

Fukushima Reactor 4 poses massive global risk 5/10/2012 CTV

Mitt, the prep-school sadist 5/10/2012 Salon

Wednesday 5/9/2012

¿Mamá por qué no puedo llevar trenzas a la escuela? 5/9/2012 Negra Cubana: "¿Sabías que en Panamá han prohibido el uso de trenzas y drealocks en los centros escolares? La respuesta a tal prohición no se ha hecho esperar pues la Coordinadora Nacional de las Organizaciones Negras Panameñas (Conegpa) ha designado el 21 de mayo del 2012 como el “Día de la Trenza” en ese país centroamericano. Tal designación tiene como objetivo reivindicar la identidad afrodescendiente y el respeto a la cultura negra, especialmente en la niñez y adolescencia."

Tuesday 5/8/2012

Martinique: “Think Like A Man”, Just Not in France 5/8/2012 Global Voices: "Surprising as it may be, the answer lies in the fact that the film has an all-black cast. French cinema is often pointed at for not fairly displaying all components of the country's multiethnic population. Although the recent success of the movie Les Intouchables, which earned French African actor Omar Sy the Cesar award for Best Actor in 2012, caused great pride and hope among French nationals from Africa and the Caribbean, it was not to be the turning point for a deep and lasting change."

Monday 5/7/2012

Michigan Teacher Fired for Organizing Trayvon Martin Fundraiser 5/7/2012 The Atlantic: "Brooke Harris, who taught at a charter school in southeastern Michigan, had been helping her students organize a"Wear-a-Hoodie-to-School Day" as a fundraiser for the family of Trayvon Martin, a Florida teenager who was shot and killed by a Neighborhood Watch volunteer in March. Martin was wearing a hooded sweatshirt at the time he was killed. These efforts reportedly got her fired."

Friday 5/4/2012

A Putsch Against War - The Man With Messianic Tendencies 5/4/2012 Counterpunch: The current Chief of Staff and the Mossad and Shin Bet chiefs let it be known that they share the views of the two on Iran. Almost all their predecessors, including all the recent military Chiefs of Staff, told the media that they agree, too. Suddenly there was a united front of experienced security leaders against a war with Iran."

Wednesday 5/2/2012

La France ne veut pas de couples noirs au cinéma ! 5/2/2012 People Bo Kay: "Malgré cette grande réussite, selon certaines sources, le film a été déprogrammé en France car il a été jugé trop communautaire. Il faut rappeler qu'il y a dans l’État français, une stratégie socio-politique qui tend à prôner le métissage plutôt que la valorisation des communautés. Dans la comédie "Think like a man", les couples noirs sont mis en avant. Or la France favorise les couples mixtes avec ses discours politiques (Royal, Sarkozy, Mélenchon, Hollande,...) et par le biais de ses médias. Et leur propagande fonctionne puisque Yannick Noah, chanteur, ancien joueur de tennis et avant tout métis direct qui nous conseille souvent vivement de nous mélanger, est en 2012 la personnalité préférée des Français pour la huitième fois consécutive!"

Tuesday 5/1/2012

Los afros veracruzanos y su cultura  5/1/2012 Caliban

Truth or Consequences  5/1/2012 Texas Monthly: "Eight years ago, Dan Rather broadcast an explosive report on the Air National Guard service of President George W. Bush. It was supposed to be the legendary newsman’s finest hour. Instead, it blew up in his face, tarnishing his career forever and casting a dark cloud of doubt and suspicion over his reporting—and that of every other journalist on the case. This month, as Rather returns with a new memoir, Joe Hagan finally gets to the bottom of the greatest untold story in modern Texas politics, with exclusive, never-before-seen details that shed fresh light on who was right, who was wrong, and what really happened."

Jay-Z Net Worth  5/1/2012 The Richest: Net Worth: $460 Million

Monday 4/30/2012

Christianity around the World Is under Assault, but not from Muslims 4/30/2012 Strategic Culture: "This past Good Friday, as with all Good Fridays since the papacy of Pope John Paul II, saw Franciscan brothers the world over collect donations in Catholic churches around the world for the Holy Land's besieged Christians and their churches. It was not the actions of Muslims that prompted the appeal for help but the actions of the Jewish state of Israel. That fact was made very clear in the international appeal of the Franciscan order, named for St. Francis of Assisi, who was a sole voice of reason during the infamous Crusades and who earned the respect of the Muslim leader Saladin and his nephew, the Sultan of Egypt Malek al Kamil. The world is ready for religious leaders to emulate the peace-making of St. Francis, Saladin, and Sultan Malek and not the extremism of Zionists, Christian Zionists, and the catalysts for violence and intolerance endemic in the Soros movement and its agents provocateurs."

Sunday 4/29/2012

Clues Put FBI Informant at the Apex of Fast and Furious Scandal 4/29/2012 NarcoNews: "A Sept. 27, 2011, letter drafted by U.S. Rep. Issa and U.S. Sen. Grassley and directed to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., however, contends that “the financier for Acosta's firearms trafficking ring … began cooperating with the FBI and may have received additional payments as a confidential informant.” A Feb. 1, 2012, memo drafted by staff for Grassley and Issa, thickens the plot, indicating that there were, in fact, two FBI informants involved with purchasing weapons from Acosta, and ATF had no clue that these so-called “big fish,” the high-level targets of Fast and Furious, were, in fact, working for a sister agency."

Saturday 4/28/2012

'Miss Black France' pageant raises eyebrows 4/28/2012 France 24: "Historian Pascal Blanchard, a specialist in immigration at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, agrees with Lozès, saying he was “shocked” by an initiative he views as “stupid” and “dangerous”. “I know that in the US, there are ethnic beauty contests. The fact that they’re tolerated doesn’t change my mind,” he said. “Anytime that anyone, no matter where in the world, talks to me about a contest reserved for a specific racial category, I hit the roof!”

Thursday 4/26/2012

How Britain erased a shameful paper trail 4/26/2012 The Hindu

Tuesday 4/24/2012

Knesset members celebrate latest E. Jerusalem settlement by posing on evicted Palestinian family’s sofa 4/24/2012 Mondo Weiss: "Knesset members Michael Ben-Ari (left) and Aryeh Eldad on the evicted Natcheh family's sofa in Beit Hanina."

Monday 4/23/2012

Eliyahu and Avi Werdesheim, Jewish brothers accused of beating African-American Baltimore teenager, seek to postpone trial 4/23/2012 CBS

Sunday 4/22/2012

Santos criticizes embargo against Cuba 4/22/2012 Colombia Reports: "Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos criticized the U.S. and Organization of American States' embargo against Cuba Saturday during his opening speech at the sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena. According to Santos, whose government is hosting the summit, "The isolation, the embargo, the indifference and the looking the other way have shown their ineffectiveness. In today's world there is no justification for this. It is an anachronism that keeps us chained to a cold war era that was overcome decades ago already."

Thursday 4/19/2012

The Secret Service and the girls from Cartagena 4/19/2012 Milfuegos: "One major question remains, however. Why did the Colombian police, who have a history of covering up such incidents in order to protect VIP visitors and their staffs, decide to make the incident public? The answer to that question lies in the frosty pre-Summit interchanges between Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. ambassador to Colombia Michael McKinley over Santos's pre-summit trip to Havana to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro to apologize for Washington's and Ottawa's insistence that Cuba be barred from attending the Cartagena summit. Santos was also furious with pre-summit statements by U.S. officials flatly rejecting his and other Latin American leaders' proposals to legalize drugs and supporting Argentina's claims over the Malvinas or Falkland Islands, which are controlled by Britain."

Sunday 4/15/2012

WHO KILLED DOROTHY KILGALLEN? 4/15/2012 Midwest Today: published in 2007 - "Marc Sinclaire said that in October 1965, during the New York newspaper strike, Dorothy hired him to meet her in New Orleans. Marc explained, "She didn't tell me why we were going. She just asked me could I go with her, and I said 'yes.' She told me how I was to travel, where I was to go, what I was to do. And I'd never been to New Orleans before, so I didn't know anything about it. We didn't even travel on the same plane together. I went directly to my hotel, we talked [on the phone], and then I went over to her hotel and had dinner. And then I went back to mine. And the next morning, I was supposed to go do her hair and make-up, and she called me at my hotel and she said, 'I want you to go to the airport, I've left a ticket for you, and I want you to go immediately back to New York, and never tell anyone you came to New Orleans with me.' And I said 'okay' and I left. I did not do her hair." Somebody or something had apparently spooked Kilgallen."

Florida's 'stand your ground' law was born of 2004 case, but story has been distorted 4/15/2012 Tampa Bay Times: "But if you really look at the case, you see that the story told by proponents of "stand your ground" is a distortion. And it's being distorted to this day. What happened on that warm and windy night on the banks of Big Lagoon was a tragedy for everyone involved. But it was not a case that suggested a need for a new law."

Saturday 4/14/2012

Strength of case against Zimmerman questioned 4/14/2012 CBS: "Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law allows even the original aggressor in a fight to use deadly force - if that person becomes reasonably afraid of being killed or seriously hurt. Trial lawyer Richard Hornsby has litigated 15 "Stand Your Ground" cases - none of them homicides - and won them all. "

Friday 4/13/2012

President Obama’s Green Light to FTA is a Red Flag for Afro-Colombians 4/13/2012 Afro-Colombian News: "As President Obama seems to be ready to give a green light to Colombia for the implementation of the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement this weekend, under the guise of improvements in labor conditions and human rights, the Black Communities Process in Colombia (PCN) raises the question: what it will take for the Obama administration to understand the severity of Afro-Colombians’ human rights?"

Narco-Banker: The Allen Stanford Story 4/13/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "Marston called in an expert from the U.S. Government’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. “The O.C.C. guy went down there, stood across from the Stanford office for maybe several hours, came back and said, ‘Yep, that’s a money-laundering operation,’” recalled an agent involved in the operation. “So Marston goes, ‘How can you tell from just standing across the street?’ And the guy goes, ‘I’m telling you, it is.’ “Then, a little later, we got fairly detailed intelligence that they were indeed laundering for major Colombian drug traffickers.”

Wednesday 4/11/2012

th3j35t3r aka Tom Ryan dox 4/11/2012 Pastebin: "While many Anons have been focused on reverse DNS lookups, port scanning and conventional doxing methods to unmask Jester, no one seems to have tried a simpler technique: writing analysis. 14. 15. If Tom Ryan (TR) and Jester (J) are one and the same person, it should be easy to tell. They’ve written 3,000 tweets between them. Even the l33t3st of the l33t would struggle to convincingly maintain two separate writing styles over the course of thousands of tweets and numerous blog posts."

Wednesday 4/4/2012

Martin Luther King assassination in 1968 a ‘cruel and wanton act’ 4/4/2012 WaPo

Friday 3/30/2012

Nace una página web que recoge los casos de racismo en Europa 3/30/2012 CubaDebate

Friday 3/23/2012

Allen Stanford & ‘The Caribbean Two-Step’ 3/23/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "When Stanford was arrested, the first thing he did was retain Oliver North’s lawyer."

Wednesday 3/21/2012

Allen Stanford, American Drug Lord 3/21/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "In the aftermath of Stanford’s arrest, the two former high-level Federal employees fared pretty well. One, deeply and criminally implicated by numerous sources, paid just a $50,000 fine, and never even faced criminal charges. And when the second one did face criminal charges, a miracle occurred."

Tuesday 3/20/2012

Diez años de creciente racismo 3/20/2012 ABC: "Las estadísticas oficiales confirman más de 1.000 actos racistas al año en Francia. En 2009, por ejemplo, la Policía contabilizó 130 agresiones físicas racistas y 806 amenazas o actos de intimidación. Se dejan sin contabilizar comportamientos inquietantes: bares donde un perro «olfatea» a los inmigrantes que intentan entrar, barrios parisinos donde los judíos deben «atrincherarse»…"

The Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Jowell & Randy could not enter Venezuela last Friday. The authorities of that country claimed that they had the wrong visa to perform at a concert they had planned there. 3/20/2012 ReggaetonLine: "We feel extremely humiliated ... in the six years we have been traveling the world, we never went through something like that. I am so sad. Well, we go back to Puerto Rico, deported for the first time." The artists were supported by their fans on social networks."

Monday 3/19/2012

CALABAR, NIGERIA DESCENDANTS- CARABALI surname in Colombia/Ecuador, 3/19/2012 Biodiversity Forum: "ON the Southern Pacific coast of 'Colombia' and Northern Pacific coast of Ecuador there's a surname of African origin, it is CARABALI. It is said to be a corruption/or re-saying of the city CALABAR in Nigeria. It is said that these Africans were brought from the port of Calabar and thus given the surname CARABALI. Even till this day when we see the surname CARABALI, a very SSA person is expected behind that surname. I will post pictures of different Carabalis."

Thursday 3/15/2012

The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) 3/15/2012 Wired: by James Bamford

Saturday 3/10/2012

Black Fashion Week shakes up Paris couture  3/10/2012 France 24: "However, the event’s creator is also getting slightly annoyed at the recurring questions: Why exclude certain people by labelling the event “black”? What would you think if someone launched “White Fashion Week”? Adama Paris, whose real name is Adama Ndiaye, has not been tripped up by the queries. “I would say fine, create a White Fashion Week,” she told the French press earlier this week “But guess what, the fashion world is already white.”

France's Muslims hit back at Nicolas Sarkozy's policy on halal meat  3/10/2012 Guardian: "The phoney war over halal meat erupted in February when Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Front National, claimed consumers were eating halal unknowingly. Sarkozy, trailing the Socialist frontrunner François Hollande, accused her of whipping up an artificial controversy. Shortly afterwards, with Le Pen snapping at his heels in the opinion polls, Sarkozy performed a volte-face. In spite of surveys showing that voters were less concerned about halal meat than they were about the weather and football, he announced it was "the issue that most preoccupies the French"."

As eco-terrorism wanes, governments still target activist groups seen as threat  3/10/2012 WaPo: "It was scary," said Kessler, who is a national organizer for the nonviolent environmental group Rising Tide North America. He said the agent approached him this past fall and said that the FBI had received an anonymous complaint and were looking into his opposition to hydraulic fracturing, also known as "fracking." The bureau respected free speech, the agent told him, but was “worried about things being taken to an extreme level."

Friday 3/9/2012

What's Up With All the MEK Ads? 3/9/2012 The American Prospect: "More disturbing is the fact that the MEK is basically a cult. In a 2009 report on the group, the Rand Corporation characterizes the MEK’s practices as “cultic” and their recruitment tactics as “deceptive,” noting that the group practiced “near-religious devotion to the Rajavis…public self-deprecation sessions, mandatory divorce, celibacy, enforced separation from family and friends, and gender segregation.” It goes on to describe efforts to attract new members with false promises of employment and marriage, and the confiscation of passports once recruits reached the MEK stronghold. In her 2011 opinion piece in The New York Times, Elizabeth Rubin, who spent an extended amount of time in Camp Ashraf, the MEK stronghold by the Iran/Iraq border, echoes these sentiments and expresses dismay at the support from U.S. officials. Her basis for concern came largely from the conditions she witnessed at the camp and the former MEK members with whom she talked: “Friendships and all emotional relationships are forbidden. From the time they are toddlers, boys and girls are not allowed to speak to each other. Each day at Camp Ashraf you had to report your dreams and thoughts.”"

Thursday 3/8/2012

Afro-Colombian Women and Public Policy 3/8/2012 Afro-Colombian News: "Nosotras, mujeres afros, negras, raizal y palenqueras, heredera de la herencia ancestral de ORIKA, DE WINNI… hacedoras de vida, como seres sensibles y partícipes de la sociedad, tenemos una gran responsabilidad en el presente y futuro de las sociedades, en la medida en que el reconocimiento de nuestro ser, nuestra identidad, nuestra cosmovisión diversa, nuestro papel en la sociedad generará una dinámica en la cual seamos reconocidas, respetadas y valoradas en todos los niveles."

Are the MEK’s U.S. friends its worst enemies? 3/8/2012 Foreign Policy

Wednesday 3/7/2012

Beyoncé Net Worth 2012 3/7/2012 The Richest: Net Worth: $300 Million

Tuesday 3/6/2012

Global Extinction within one Human Lifetime as a Result of a Spreading Atmospheric Arctic Methane Heat wave and Surface Firestorm 3/6/2012 Arctic News: "Although the sudden high rate Arctic methane increase at Svalbard in late 2010 data set applies to only a short time interval, similar sudden methane concentration peaks also occur at Barrow point and the effects of a major methane build-up has been observed using all the major scientific observation systems. Giant fountains/torches/plumes of methane entering the atmosphere up to 1 km across have been seen on the East Siberian Shelf. This methane eruption data is so consistent and aerially extensive that when combined with methane gas warming potentials, Permian extinction event temperatures and methane lifetime data it paints a frightening picture of the beginning of the now uncontrollable global warming induced destabilization of the subsea Arctic methane hydrates on the shelf and slope which started in late 2010. This process of methane release will accelerate exponentially, release huge quantities of methane into the atmosphere and lead to the demise of all life on earth before the middle of this century."

Global Extinction within one Human Lifetime as a Result of a Spreading Atmospheric Arctic Methane Heat wave and Surface Firestorm 3/6/2012 Arctic News: "Although the sudden high rate Arctic methane increase at Svalbard in late 2010 data set applies to only a short time interval, similar sudden methane concentration peaks also occur at Barrow point and the effects of a major methane build-up has been observed using all the major scientific observation systems. Giant fountains/torches/plumes of methane entering the atmosphere up to 1 km across have been seen on the East Siberian Shelf. This methane eruption data is so consistent and aerially extensive that when combined with methane gas warming potentials, Permian extinction event temperatures and methane lifetime data it paints a frightening picture of the beginning of the now uncontrollable global warming induced destabilization of the subsea Arctic methane hydrates on the shelf and slope which started in late 2010. This process of methane release will accelerate exponentially, release huge quantities of methane into the atmosphere and lead to the demise of all life on earth before the middle of this century."

Thursday 3/1/2012

Israel's Chutzpah - Using a Black Icon to Sell Apartheid  3/1/2012 Counterpunch: "Anti-Semitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently anti-Semitic, and ever will be so.” This quote even made its way into an excellent exposé of Israel’s deadly decades-long relationship with apartheid South Africa, Sasha Polakow-Suransky’s The Unspoken Alliance: Israel’s Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa. In fact, I repeated part of the quote in my own review of the book, much to my regret. Later I discovered that the MLK letter was a hoax."

RELUFA Newsletter - Cameroon  3/1/2012 RELUFA: "A local group, the Struggle to Economize Future Environment (SEFE), initiated the mobilization of the population to protect their community rights. In August 2011, SEFE introduced a court case against SGSOC asserting that their planned oil palm project will have disastrous consequences for local peoples’ livelihoods; destroy biodiversity, wildlife and hydrology. Following the lawsuit, the court placed an injunction on the activities of the SGSOC. But curiously, SGSOC failed to respect the court orders and continued with their activities. The Ndian High court in Mundemba ordered the arrest of the company officials for violating the court orders."

Fraud Fit For A King: Israel, Zionism, And The Misuse Of MLK  3/1/2012 Znet: published 1/03

Monday 2/27/2012

Upper class people more likely to cheat: study 2/27/2012 PhysOrg: "People from wealthy, upper classes are more likely than poorer folks to break laws while driving, take candy from children and lie for financial gain, said a US study."

Saturday 2/25/2012

Infiltration of Occupy: PART I - Infiltration to Disrupt, Divide and Mis-direct are Widespread in Occupy 2/25/2012 Truth Dig

Friday 2/24/2012

Top Economists Say War Is Bad for the Economy 2/24/2012 Global Research

Thursday 2/23/2012

Agenda for the Dark Ages: GOP Frontrunner Rick Santorum's 5 Most Extremist Themes  2/23/2012 Alternet

Wikileaks Cables Reveal Killing Hits Record Levels - Slaughter in Colombia  2/23/2012 Counterpunch: "Thus, in a November 19, 2009 U.S. Embassy Cable, entitled, “2009-2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report,” the U.S. Embassy in Bogota acknowledges, as a mere aside, the horrific truth: 257,089 registered victims of the right-wing paramilitaries. And, as Human Rights Watch just reported in its 2012 annual report on Colombia, these paramilitaries continue to work hand-in-glove with the U.S.-supported Colombian military."

GRAIN releases data set with over 400 global land grabs  2/23/2012 GRAIN: "Today GRAIN is making available a new data set documenting 416 recent, large-scale land grabs by foreign investors for the production of food crops. The cases cover nearly 35 million hectares of land in 66 countries. The data set is available in HTML below, in XLS and PDF formats and in this interactive global map of land grabs created by Varun Mangla / Circle of Blue."

Wednesday 2/22/2012

Hollywood and Race 2/22/2012 Counterpunch: "Yet, the 5,765 voting members of the Academy are far from representative of the moviegoing public. They are more akin to the old packed juries of the segregated South. A remarkable investigation by Los Angeles Times reporters pierced the screen of secrecy to reveal that the voting members are a stunning 94 percent Caucasian and 77 percent male. Only 2 percent are African American, and less than 2 percent are Latino. Their median age is 62, and only 14 percent are younger than 50."

Sunday 2/19/2012

Rokhaya Diallo - Black, French and on the barricades against racism  2/19/2012 Afro-Europe: "Rokhaya Diallo is the founder and president of Les Indivisibles, a French organisation that uses humour and irony to fight racism and stereotypes. By raising awareness of these issues, Les Indivisibles seeks to engage the French public as well as government leaders in creating an alternative discourse. She created Les Indivisibles because of offensive statements made by politicians and other public figures during the French riots in 2005. "Only a few people responded to them", she says in an interview with Euromight. "And this is one of the reasons why I created Les Indivisibles."

Bomb suspects 'were anti-Iran exiles'  2/19/2012 Bangkok Post: "Four Iranians suspected of involvement in a botched bomb plot targeting Israeli diplomats in Bangkok were members of an exiled Iranian opposition group which wanted the incident to reflect badly on Teheran, Syedsulaiman Husaini, Shia leader of Thailand, said on Sunday."

Billionaire Bigot Bankrolling Mitt Romney  2/19/2012 Daily Kos: "VanderSloot also has a storied history of bullying journalists and bloggers. He seems to have a staff person devoted entirely to googling him and forwarding uncomplimentary instances of him name to his lawyers, so they can send threatening letters and bully said journalists and bloggers to pull their stories. His rabid anti-gay politics combined with his propensity to bully in one particularly disturbing incident involving local media, the Boy Scouts, and the Mormon Church. The "small, independently-owned newspaper in Mormon-heavy Idaho Falls," The Post Register ran an investigative series uncovering the story of a local pedophile in the local Boy Scouts troop who had molested dozens of children. The paper sued to obtain sealed court records from a civil suit in the case, and "then detailed how a Mormon bishop knew of his pedophile history yet still recommended him as a Scout master, how he was protected by several Boy Scout lawyers who were aware of more abuse but did not tell the boys’ parents, and how top-level local and national leaders of the Mormon Church had also received warnings." ...In response to this six-part exposé—which won the Scripps Howard Award for Distinguished Service to the First Amendment—VanderSloot went on a virtual jihad against the newspaper and the principal reporter who exposed the scandal, Peter Zuckerman."

The gap narrows in Maine  2/19/2012 Maddow Blog: "Following up on a story we've been reporting on all week, several communities in Maine hosted Republican presidential caucuses yesterday, unsure how their preferences would be tallied by the state party. Given Mitt Romney's narrow-but-dubious lead over Ron Paul, yesterday's results had the potential to push the former governor into second place."

Saturday 2/18/2012

4 States Where Right-Wingers Are Promoting Shocking Measures to Keep Women Barefoot and Pregnant 2/18/2012 Alternet: "But attention-grabbing as the anti-birth control crusade may be, it is not the only regressive, anti-woman, anti-science battle being waged in this country. In fact, right-wing politicians are attempting to roll back reproductive rights across the nation. One year ago, we reported on a number of state-level reproductive rights battles. Today we check in with many of those states (plus some new ones), only to find that the war on women has not let up at all and abortion bans being introduced to legislatures are getting more scary, more intrusive, more punitive and in some cases, gaining more traction. This brutal combined assault on family planning and abortion rights, if it continues to be successful, will hit disadvantaged women the hardest, and result in an environment of compulsory pregnancy for many of the nation's women."

All Politics Aren’t Local: Florida GOP Wants to Block Local Government from Enforcing Wage and Hour Laws 2/18/2012 Truth Out: "In a break from conservatives' typical interest in devolving power to local governments, Florida State Republicans are pushing a bill that would forbid local municipalities from enforcing wage and hour laws. This is because in November 2010, South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice and a number of other groups successfully advocated for the Miami-Dade County Wage Theft Ordinance, considered by many to be a model wage theft law for the rest of the country."

Friday 2/17/2012

Backfired! 4 Ways the Ohio GOP Tilts Voting Rules But Ends Up Helping Democrats  2/17/2012 Alternet: "Traditionally, on Election Night, absentee ballots are counted first (because they’re already at the board of elections when the polls close). From the political side, we call a heavy emphasis on absentee or early voting “banking” your votes before Election Day. Before the advent of no-fault absentee voting, traditional absentee ballots tended to be voted more heavily by Republicans. But no more. No-fault absentee voting created a way for grassroots organizers (many of whom are Democratic) to reach out to segments of their constituency that traditionally had difficulties getting to the polls. By 2008, especially with the strategic use of early voting by the Obama presidential campaign, “no-fault” absentee voting became a strong tool for banking Democratic votes. Republican plans to retain power by changing the voting rules backfired."

GOP in Maine Though Also Pretty Much Everywhere Else: OOPS  2/17/2012 Common Dreams: "Much like Iowa only worse, Maine Republicans evidently misspoke when they announced Romney won the state's caucuses. It seems some counties hadn't even met yet and others might have been miscounted and in fact Ron Paul - who supposedly lost by 200 votes - might have won, so sorry but could the local "leaders" please resend their vote totals and this time they'll try not to screw them up?"

Bill Maher Can’t Abide the Conservatives’ Disrespect for President Obama  2/17/2012 Gawker

Déjà Vu 2002 in Florida  2/17/2012 Huffington Post: "Florida's Republican governor and GOP-led legislature are attempting to retain a stranglehold on state government and cement their control in Tallahassee for another decade. Déjà vu 2002. Just like in 2002, the GOP is ignoring the will of the people. Voters in 2010 overwhelmingly approved the Fair Districts amendments with 63 percent of the vote in a clear demand for a different process -- one free from incumbent protection and partisan advantage."

Thursday 2/16/2012

Contraception bill bad choice for Scott Brown  2/16/2012 Boston Herald: "U.S. Sen. Scott Brown has co-sponsored a bill that would allow health plans to deny coverage both for contraception and any service that violates the planners’ beliefs. It was a huge mistake. Any service that violates someone’s beliefs is pretty darn broad. The possibilities are endless."

New Phase and Shifting Balance .  2/16/2012 Democracy Corps: "The latest national survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for Democracy Corps and Women’s Voices. Women Vote Action Fund shows a Republican Party in deepening trouble and emerging underlying trends that may have shifted the balance for 2012.[1] Barring sudden economic shocks, there is accumulating evidence that we have entered a new phase in the political cycle, substantially more favorable to the Democrats. This survey sees a collapse of the Republican brand at almost all levels. Negatives associated with the Republican Party have not been this high since right after they lost the country in 2008. Their presumptive nominee flirts with a 50 percent negative rating and may now represent a big drag on the national party."

Mitt’s ticking Maine time bomb?  2/16/2012 Salon: "One tiny Down East county could cause some serious trouble this weekend."

Wednesday 2/15/2012

The Israel Project: ‘American Hispanics are the most hostile toward Israel’ 2/15/2012 Haaretz: "Americans of Hispanic origin, the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, are relatively hostile towards Israel because they are ignorant about Middle East affairs and are influenced by traditional anti-Israeli Catholic views, according to the Israel advocacy group, The Israel Project (TIP). In a media briefing in New York to mark the resignation of TIP’s founder, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, the group’s Executive Director for the Americas, Allan Elsner, said that Israel is more popular among older Americans, Republicans, conservatives and Evangelicals and less popular among “liberal elites”, African-Americans and Democrats. Elsner said that the Israel Project was focusing its efforts on “groups where we have a problem.” "

Monday 2/13/2012

Bob Marley documentary electrifies Berlin 2/13/2012 Raw Story

Sunday 2/12/2012

Ron Paul campaign implies foul play in Romney victory in Maine 2/12/2012 Raw Story: "In an email sent to supporters late on Saturday, however, Paul campaign manager John Tate noted that the media had called the polling for Romney even before the votes had been fully counted Tate went on to charge that “in Washington County – where Ron Paul was incredibly strong – the caucus was delayed until next week just so the votes wouldn’t be reported by the national media today. Of course, their excuse for the delay was ‘snow.’ That’s right. A prediction of 3-4 inches – that turned into nothing more than a dusting – was enough for a local GOP official to postpone the caucuses just so the results wouldn’t be reported tonight.”

Wednesday 2/8/2012

Colombia, Coal & Murder 2/8/2012 Counterpunch: "On the evening of March 12, our delegation met in Bogota with representatives from a number of Colombian mining unions, and listened to their stories of losing union brothers and sisters to murder by right-wing paramilitary groups. As we discovered the next morning, at around the same time we were at this meeting, the two top union leaders at the coal mine of Alabama-based Drummond Company were murdered by paramilitaries in the department of Cesar. Upon learning of these murders, and after hearing of the suspicions of some Colombia unionists that Drummond may have had something to do with them, we went to the U.S. Embassy asking for an investigation into this crime. However, we were quickly shut down by the human rights attaché at the Embassy, Mari Tolliver, who would not even deign to meet us in her office, but instead met us in the cafeteria near the vending machines. Mari, whose ostensible job involved human rights, told us point blank that the Embassy’s job is not to investigate U.S. companies for alleged human rights abuses, but, instead, to facilitate business for them."

Tuesday 2/7/2012

Eliot Cohen and the Return of the Neocons Romney’s Man on Iran 2/7/2012 Counterpunch: "Cohen’s extensive web of foreign policy and military connections forms a seamless line to Tel Aviv. There, on the top floor of one of the office buildings known as “HaKirya,” is the office of one of Cohen’s former pupils,Aviv Kochavi. Kochavi is now the director of Israeli military intelligence, making him one of the most quietly influential figures in the country. In 2006, Kochavi, who also holds a philosophy degree, boasted to the Israeli architect and anti-occupation activist Eyal Weizmann about how he and his troops crushed Palestinian resistance cells in Nablus through the use of “inverse geometry” and “micro-tactical actions” inspired by the theories of post-structuralist philosophers like Deleuze and Guattari."

Yet Another War for Israel? 2/7/2012 Counterpunch: "Clearly Israel’s needs are not America’s needs if we mean by that more war in the mid-east. Have we pulled our troops from Iraq just to move them into Iran? Does any sensible person believe that the Iranians have a “need” or desire to attack the people of the United States? Our forces completely surround Iran. We are the nation with atomic weaponry, not Iran. What possible good would Iran achieve by having a nuclear weapon? Hasn’t Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement while Israel, who damns Iran for its nuclear “ambitions,” has an arsenal of nuclear bombs and has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement. Which of these nations is to be feared? Iran has never attacked a neighbor; Israel attacks and occupies its neighbors at will."

Monday 2/6/2012

AIPAC Obtained Missile Secrets - Declassified State Department files newly relevant  2/6/2012 AntiWar: "Details of Dacey’s effort to have U.S. criminal statutes enforced are timely and relevant. On Feb. 14, 2012, former AIPAC employee Steven J. Rosen will present oral arguments in the D.C. Court of Appeals claiming that seeking, obtaining, and leveraging such classified data has long been standard practice at AIPAC. Rosen sued AIPAC for $20 million in damages after it fired him in 2005 and publicly claimed Rosen’s classified information gathering activities “did not comport with standards that AIPAC expects of its employees.” If AIPAC settles before the hearing, it will be seen as an attempt to pay off Rosen — as previously agreed — in order to keep his silence. If AIPAC loses in appeals court, Rosen will be able to air even more dirty laundry to a jury, which could divert attention and resources from AIPAC’s intense drive to force the Obama administration to attack Iran."

Then and Now - Guatemala’s Reign of Terror  2/6/2012 Counterpunch: "Dr. Reinaldo Pons heads the Cuban Medical Brigade active in Guatemala since Hurricane Mitch in 1998. His report last year epitomizes an approach to international outreach that serves people’s needs, not the wealthy few: 332 Cuban doctors were caring for 13.1 percent of the Guatemalan population. They included 57 eye surgeons associated with Cuba’s multinational Operation Miracle, 81 working in 23 hospitals, and the rest carrying out primary care in 29 departments and municipalities. In areas where they worked, infant mortality had fallen to eight deaths in the first year of life per 1000 births, down from 30-40 deaths elsewhere. Guatemalan students pay nothing to attend Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine; 345 had graduated as of 2007."

Colombian Paramilitary received support of President Uribe's intelligence agency DAS  2/6/2012 Global Research: "The now-demobilized paramilitary organization AUC received the support of Colombia's intelligence agency DAS, and helped the government of former President Alvaro Uribe in a conspiracy to discredit the country's Supreme Court, ex-commander "Don Berna" testifies. In his first testimony before Colombian prosecutors since late 2010, Diego Murillo, alias Don Berna, said that the AUC received protection from the DAS and that Don Berna's subordinates helped coordinate the wiretapping of Uribe's politcal opponents, Supreme Court magistrates, journalists and human rights groups. "Don Berna" news archive According to the senior paramilitary chief, the AUC had been collaborating with the DAS "for a long time." "

Sunday 2/5/2012

Panama police, indigenous clash over blockade 2/5/2012 AP: "Police fired tear gas Sunday to clear blockades of the Pan-American highway by indigenous groups protesting changes to the mining law. One person was killed and 39 injured in the resulting clashes. Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said police broke up the blockades after members of the Ngobe-Bugle tribe in western Panama refused calls for dialogue. Protest leader Liborio Miranda said a 26-year-old indigenous man was shot dead in the chest."

Friday 2/3/2012

Graph Of The Day 2/3/2012 Mass Dems: "When the President took office, we were losing more than 700,000 jobs a month. The economy was spiraling out of control, and the economic security of millions of middle-class Americans was vanishing. Today, we learned that more than a quarter-million workers found jobs last month, lowering the unemployment rate to 8.3%. We’ve still got a long way to go, but today’s news shows that we are well on our way. America’s businesses have now added jobs for 23 straight months. In that time, the private sector has added more than 3.1 million jobs, the American auto industry and the more than 1.4 million jobs it supports were saved, and manufacturing is creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s."

Victims Law Decree Fails Afro-Colombian Communities 2/3/2012 NACLA: "President Juan Manuel Santos may have spoiled an historic opportunity to bring some justice in the form of reparations and land restitution to the Afro-descendant victims of Colombia’s internal armed conflict. On December 9, Santos decreed Law 4635, ostensibly creating the means for the Colombian government to compensate and assist Afro-Colombian victims that have been kicked off their land or have suffered during Colombia’s internal conflict. Such a law is essential, as Afro-Colombians have been disproportionably victimized and dispossessed by the violence. Their communities have repeatedly endured forced internal displacement, dozens of massacres, targeted assassination of their leaders, rape of their women and children, and the stigmatization that comes with all these atrocities. However, the Colombian government failed to implement a legitimate process of participation and free, prior, and informed consultation with these groups over the law—a right granted to Afro-descendents both in the Colombian Constitution and in international treaties. Without such consultation with the victims, Law 4635 is just another piece of legislation that has made a mockery of the rights of Afro-descendants."

Thursday 2/2/2012

Is Iran trying to develop a missile that could reach America? 2/2/2012 CSM: "An Iranian missile under construction, caught up in a mysterious blast in November, had a range of 6,000 miles, a senior Israeli official said Thursday in a speech outside Tel Aviv."

Major Romney Bundler Is Agent Of Foreign Government 2/2/2012 Think Progress: "Ignacio E. Sanchez is a lobbyist at DLA Piper, an influential global law firm and a major bundler for the Mitt Romney campaign. A ThinkProgress review of public records reveals Sanchez is also a registered foreign agent representing the interests of the United Arab Emirates and of a former president of the Dominican Republic. While political candidates are not legally required to identify bundlers — volunteer fundraisers who collect bundles of campaign contribution checks for the campaign — a 2007 law requires that federal candidates disclose the names of any registered lobbyists who bundle large amounts for their campaign. On Tuesday, Romney’s campaign reported that 14 lobbyists combined to raise more than $1.6 million last year in bundled contributions."

Wednesday 2/1/2012

'Gasland' filmmaker arrested at House hearing on fracking 2/1/2012 USA Today: "The director of the Oscar-nominated anti-fracking documentary Gasland was arrested at a House hearing on hydraulic fracturing because he did not have media credentials, according to news reports from Capitol Hill. Joshua Fox, of Milanville, Pa., was charged with lawful entry. He is working on a sequel to Gasland and was setting up to film the House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee on energy and the environment hearing, which was examining the science behind the Environmental Protection Agency's draft report about possible water contamination from natural gas drilling in Pavillion, Wyo., involving hydraulic fracturing, or fracking."

Monday 1/30/2012

Court dethrones Obong of Calabar 1/30/2012 Times of Nigeria: "Delivering judgment in the case instituted by one-time Minister of Finance, Anthony Ani, and four others in April 2008, Justice Obojor Ogar, restrained the deposed Obong from parading himself in that capacity pending when a proper election is held to elect a new ascendant to the throne. The restraining order also barred the Etubom Traditional Council (ETC) from excluding the former minister and Mbiabo Ikoneto from any election or selection for the Obongship race. Mr. Ani and his group had sued the dethroned Obong along with seven others to contest the verdict of the Etuboms Council in selecting and proclaiming Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu V as the Obong of Calabar."

Wednesday 1/25/2012

Black heroes, Red Tails and Jewish-dominated Hollywood 1/25/2012 Final Call: "In an interview with Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show,” Mr. Lucas talked about his over 20-year process of getting this film made, due in part to the lack of support for Black movies in Hollywood. It was because of this lack of support that Mr. Lucas had to finance the production and marketing of the film out of his own pocket. In the interview, Mr. Lucas stated he could not find any backers for his film in Hollywood. “It’s because it’s an all-Black movie. There are no major White roles in it at all ... I showed it to all of them and they said, ‘No. We don’t know how to market a movie like this,’ ” said Mr. Lucas. This is not an up and coming young movie producer trying to get into the door of Hollywood for the first time, this is George Lucas, producer of two of the most successful movie franchises of all time the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” series."

Monday 1/23/2012

As "Red Tails" flies high, meet William Surcey, a real Tuskegee Airman 1/23/2012 Florida Times Union: "I few years ago I was honored to meet and interview William Surcey, a Jacksonville native who had been a mechanic with the Tuskegee Airman, the all-black aviators group in World War II. "Red Tails," a movie about them, made a respectable $19 million or so at the box office this weekend."

Let's Do It Again (Obama 2012) - Teens in Orlando Making a Difference!!! 1/23/2012 Youtube: "These young men are raising money for band equipment, but they also want to support President Obama (a portion of profits will be donated to his re-election campaign)."

Saturday 1/21/2012

Getting Rid of ‘Anti-Israel’ Presidents 1/21/2012 Consortium News: "And the notion of Israel participating in efforts to change American political leadership is not as far-fetched as it might seem. There is extensive evidence that Likud Prime Minister Menachem Begin intervened covertly more than three decades ago to undermine President Jimmy Carter’s reelection hopes because Begin feared that Carter would push Israel into accepting a Palestinian state. Despite strong evidence that Likud officials joined in Republican efforts in 1980 to stop Carter from gaining the release of 52 Americans then held hostage in Iran – a failure that sank Carter’s hopes for a second term – Israeli supporters in the United States have heatedly disputed these allegations and have sought to demonize anyone who takes them seriously."

Israeli Lobby launch new Super PAC effort to bring down Ron Paul 1/21/2012 Global Research: "Ron Paul is the only GOP candidate who is not overtly ‘pro-Israel’ in the popular neoconservative sense. On January 13, in the run-up to the pivotal South Carolina GOP primary, the Emergency Committee for Israel, run by neoconservative thinker William Kristol, released an ad in which its Director Gary Bauer makes a plea to voters – not endorsing any candidate, rather, telling conservatives that they must reject Congressman Ron Paul as their GOP candidate, deriding his foreign policy views with respect to America’s ‘special relationship’ with Israel, and fighting the War on Terror – concluding that, “We can do better than Ron Paul”."

Friday 1/20/2012

Authority for NYPD-CIA collaboration questioned 1/20/2012 AP: "The CIA's top lawyer never approved sending a veteran agency officer to New York, where he helped set up police spying programs, The Associated Press has learned. Such approval would have been required under the presidential order that Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said authorized the unusual assignment."

Thursday 1/19/2012

Column One: Mainstreaming anti-Semitism 1/19/2012 Jerusalem Post: "Anti-Semitism may not yet be a litmus test for social acceptability in the US, but it has certainly become acceptable. Proof of this dismal state of affairs came this week with the publication of a supportive profile of University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer in The Atlantic monthly written by the magazine’s in-house foreign policy guru Robert Kaplan."

Wednesday 1/18/2012

Charmaine Fuller Cooper 1/18/2012 IndyWeek: "When Charmaine Fuller Cooper opens the files on her desk, the words she finds inside sear like a slap across the face. Promiscuous. Unattractive. Imbecile. She imagines how the people whose names are printed on these medical records would feel if they read what others thought of them. For decades, doctors, teachers and social workers in North Carolina used the derogatory descriptors as justifications to strip the victims of their ability to have children, with the ultimate goal of ridding the human race of the undesirable. By the time the state's eugenics program ended in 1974, an estimated 7,600 women and men had been forcibly sterilized."

Sunday 1/15/2012

Cocaine, Death Squads, and the War on Terror 1/15/2012 Monthly Review

“Mona, mona, mona!” Whiteness, tropicality, and international accompaniment in Colombia 1/15/2012 University of British Columbia: "I started thinking about whiteness in Colombia to make sense of how international accompaniment works. Accompaniment is a grassroots security tactic being increasingly used around the world. In a conflict zone some people, particularly certain outsiders, are less likely to be attacked than others. When more privileged bodies walk alongside those under threat they can serve as “unarmed bodyguards”."

Wednesday 1/11/2012

Prohiben el Reggaeton en Venezuela 1/11/2012 Emu Digital: "La norma más reciente de Hugo Chávez dice exactamente así: “Se prohíbe la divulgación y promoción de lo que son géneros musicales como el reggaeton y el vallenato, pues su alto contenido grotesco incita a movimientos vulgares y sexuales no acorde con la edad e higiene mental de los niños”. Los partidarios de Chávez afirman que "la prohibición se suma a las tantas otras realizadas en países iberoamericanos como Honduras, Nicaragua y El Salvador."

Tuesday 1/10/2012

What Lies Ahead for the Xicaques, Kunas, Garífunas and Mayas? 1/10/2012 Envio: "Whither the future of these indigenous communities of Central America? Does it lie in finding themselves assimilated into national culture or, at the other extreme, ending up with their own autonomous governments?"

Newt Gingrich super PAC sees $5-million boost from Vegas benefactors 1/10/2012 LA Times: "They gave the funds because they feel loyal Gingrich, who shares their concern for Israel, and whom they first met in Washington in 1995, at the time Congress was considering legislation important to Israel, the Jerusalem Embassy Act. The law would require the moving of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel has long claimed Jerusalem as the historic capital of the Jewish state. Palestinians also claim the city as their spiritual capital. Adelson's wife, whom he married in 1991, is an Israeli physician."

Sunday 1/8/2012

Yehuda Bauer: Israel's genocidal nationalists 1/8/2012 Al-Jazeera

Saturday 1/7/2012

Parashat Vayechi, 5772, Peter Dale Scott 1/7/2012 Congregation Netivot Shalom: "In closing, I want to thank Art Braufman, Seymour Kessler, Rabbi Creditor, and my wife Ronna Kabatznick for their help in preparing this drash. I’d also like to acknowledge my deep gratitude to Congregation Netivot Shalom. As I approach my 83rd birthday I will also soon stand up and say kaddish for my own departed father. I cannot express how grateful I am to participate in these and other meaningful Jewish rituals, which have done so much to shape my own evolution, as well as those of the Jewish and other peoples."

Friday 1/6/2012

Private security and 'the Israelites of Latin America' 1/6/2012 Al-Jazeera: "All of a sudden, the methods that proved efficient in Nablus and Hebron begin speaking Spanish."

Wednesday 1/4/2012

Israeli intelligence agents on move in Latin America 1/4/2012 Deb Simon for Congress: "The nadir of the relationship appears to have been in February 2008, when national police reported that Argentine-born Israeli Shai Killman, a Global CST interpreter, copied classified Colombian documents surrounding military targets and attempted to sell them to the FARC. This attempt was ultimately prevented by Ziv and Killman was subsequently sent back to Israel. Relations between the the governments of Israel and Colombia are currently healthy, with Santos recently stating unequivocally that Colombia will not recognize a Palestinian state without Israeli agreement. The Colombian government is also seeking the extradition of Yair Klein, an Israeli national sentenced in absentia for training paramilitaries in Colombia."

COLOMBIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY SOURS ON ISRAELI DEFENSE FIRM 1/4/2012 Panama America: Wikileaks cable published 1/12/09 - "GOC officials have expressed security concerns about Global CST in the past, and found it difficult to work with a private firm on national security matters as they were prevented from sharing USG intelligence with them. In February 2008, CNP sources reported that a Global CST interpreter, Argentine-born Israeli national Shai Killman, had made copies of classified Colombian Defense Ministry documents in an unsuccessful attempt to sell them to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) through contacts in Ecuador and Argentina. The documents allegedly contained high value target (HVT) database information. Ziv denied this attempt and sent Killman back to Israel."

Tuesday 1/3/2012

Complaint on : Herakles Farms/Sithe Global Sustainable Oils Cameroon(SGSOC) 1/3/2012 RSPO: "Complainant : 10 individual complaints including World Wildlife Fund for Nature, RELUFA ( Network for the Fight against Hunger Cameroon),SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund,Centre for Environment and Development in Yaounde, Cameroon Greenpeace"

Secret CIA Documents on Mossad 1/3/2012 Serendipity: from US Embassy, Tehran

Sunday 1/1/2012

Asesinan a alcalde electo en el departamento de Nariño a un día de investidura 1/1/2012 Rebelion: "Padre de cinco hijos, Chatazar fue elegido por el Movimiento de Autoridades Indígenas de Colombia (AIC). El gobernador indígena de Santa Cruz, Servio Bernal, exigió a las autoridades esclarecer el crimen, tras llamar a la comunidad a mantener la calma."

"There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to Democracies as against despots: suspicion." -- Demosthenes

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1/1/12 - 12/31/12

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