UPDATE ON US CORRUPTION AND OTHER NEWS

"Now the freaks are on television, the freaks are in the movies. And it's no longer the sideshow, it's the whole show. The colorful circus and the clowns and the elephants, for all intents and purposes, are gone, and we're dealing only with the freaks."
~ Jonathan Winters.

A few items from the front in the US that I'd like to submit for your consideration, dear Rastî readers.

First, what this guy said:

America is going from what used to be the major capitalistic country in the world of free market – a crusader – into what Mussolini would have called fascism: the merger of state and corporate powers. So it is not socialism as people believe, it is socialism’s egalitarianism. It’s not communism where the state controls monopolies – it’s fascism, plain and simple. The merger of corporate and government powers. State-controlled capitalism is called fascism, and fascism has come to America in broad daylight. But they’re feeding them it in little bits and pieces. First AIG was too big to fail. Mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were too big to fail. Banks too big to fail and auto companies. And now we give money to the people that make the auto parts. And now there’s talk about the technology companies, wanting their piece of the action. The merger of state and government is called fascism. Take it from Mussolini; he knew a thing or two about it.

And this:

The people don’t really have a choice, there is no ballot box. I’m of Italian descent and I’ve heard enough of mafia stories for the rest of my life. If you want to look at a mafia, you can call it a republican and democratic party. And if you want to look at the two families, the heads of the mafia, all you have to do is to look at the Bushes and the Clintons. They’ve been running the show now for some 24 years. We heard about Obama who is going to bring in ‘change’. A change you could believe in if he is dumb, stupid and blind. Look who he’s brought in as his chief policy makers. Retreads from the old Clinton administration. It’s a two-headed one-party system. So it’s very difficult for the people to vote in a new administration that isn’t part of the old one.

I first heard this guy on the radio about two years ago. While he was talking about a mortgage meltdown, the MSM was still in la-la land. He's been absolutely on target on the financial crisis each time I've heard him, so pay attention.

Second, the same neo-Nazi who served as the Bush administration's pit bull on warrantless wiretapping of Americans, and who sponsored the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act" in Congress, has now been caught in an FBI wiretap as offering to help get a couple of AIPAC (i.e. Israelis or foreign agents for Israel) off the hook in their upcoming espionage trial. The best item on who that neo-Nazi is, and her reaction, can be found here. As for me, I'm enjoying a wonderful sense of schadenfreude.

Third, another congresswoman is caught diverting bailout funds to her husband's real estate company.

Fourth, Dennis "I-Took-Turkish-Drug-Money-To-Ditch-The-Armenian-Genocide-Resolution" Hastert has a son. And that son is eyeing his dad's old Congressional seat. For more on Hastert's Deep State crimes, see my latest on Sibel Edmonds.

Finally, if you remember this post, then you'll be interested to know that the reporter who worked the story won this year's Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism. The TV channels that used, and continue to use, paid Pentagon propagandists have still not discussed the story.

Isn't all this great news?! The US is becoming more and more like Turkey! Now if you could only get some decent poğaça around here . . .

THE RESULTS OF ELECTORAL SUCCESS

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."
~ Thomas Jefferson.

DTP has issued a statement on the arrests today in Turkey, via our comrades at KurdishInfo (http://www.kurdish-info.net/News-sid-DEMOCRATIC-SOCIETY-PARTY-TO-PUBLIC-OPINION-12953.html):

Democratic Society Party's (DTP) central executive committee members and provincial administrators have been arrested by concurrent police swoops. This ominous situation has been realized while discussing process about the peaceful solution of Kurdish Question. So far, nearly 80 people have taken into custody and three of them are vice co-chairs of DTP. Our arrested members were exposed to violence by Turkish security forces. There is not any healthy information about our members' situation still. We are carrying deep worries through unlimited pressure on our party. Turkish government knows that wave of arrest on Kurdish politicians is going to create an aggression period in Turkey.

After the local elections, DTP has proven own legality and effects on Kurdish People and Turkey's political arena. Therefore, Turkish government planned to isolate DTP members for blocking communication with the people. Turkish law system still allows blaming politicians by a speech. For this reason, peaceful solution opportunities about Kurdish Issue are almost eliminated. Every political action which includes political demands and peaceful region has been accepted as “supporting terrorism” by the Turkish law system. Currently, thousands of DTP members and supporters are under arrest and convicted due to “supporting terrorism”. This is a political chaos.

Turkish Government's aggressive manner is the source of “Turkish nationalist mentality”. Regrettably, European Governments' supports on Turkish Government revealed one-sided political behaviors. So, Turkish Government has not feel any need of dialogue with DTP. Hence, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tried to restrict of political ways to solution of Kurdish Issue. The clearest examples such as tricks on electoral lists have been spotted in the Kurdish regions.

We especially like to explain that DTP aims to provide an honorable peace process. We believe that violence can be ended by dialogue ambiance. But Turkish Government wants to solve Kurdish issue without the Kurds. So, we believe that European Union has important responsibilities about Kurdish Issue on instability in Turkey. European Union has not abided by own basic principles. We demand that The Union must determine own attitudes about the Turkey's Kurdish Issue.

We hope that European Governments should take incumbent responsibilities for supporting peaceful solutions in Turkey.

Respectfully announced to public opinion
DTP 14.04.2009

A list of those arrested can be found at Fırat News (http://www.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=nuce&nuceID=6120) under the heading "GÖZALTINA ALINANLAR". Among the arrested are Gün TV's general broadcast manager Ahmet Birsin, former DEHAP general chairman Mehmet Abasoğlu, Yüksekova city council member Zübeyde Çoğaç, Kızıltepe deputy mayor Senanik Öner, DTP general center manager Kudbettin Kurt, and DTP parliamentary party members Selma Irmak and Erdal Güler. There are indications that other DTP politicians have been picked up in other parts of Turkey so let's not consider Fırat's list complete yet. Turkish media claims only some 50 people have been arrested.

Apparently Gün TV has been shut down for at least a month, which is odd because it's news is not live. However, this would be consistent with the regime's policy of Kurdish being legal for use by the state and not by Kurds. Azadiya Welat has also been shut down.

Ahmet Türk speaks, again from the comrades at KurdishInfo (http://www.kurdish-info.net/News-sid-Ahmet-Turk-Operation-triggered-by-PMund-8217-s-statement-12943.html):

“This operation is outlawed, anti-democratic and hostile act since we are the fourth party according to the election consequences. We have condemned the government and asked all democratic organizations, associations, opposite powers and NGOs to focus this very case.”

Referring two casualties during the police attack on Amara marchers and government speaker Cemil Çiçek’s saying “DTP is pounding at the border of Armenia” he said; those are show the approach of AKP and AKP administration about Kurds and Kurdish issue. Government didn’t let it go at that and added new suppression and attack pounces. All of those are part of the plan which tries to keep us out of the democratic policy. We are not going to compromise our democratic principles by courage and determination no matter what the cost we have to pay.

Türk evaluated Turkey’s economic and social conditions rest of his speech in which there was a call for unity, solidarity, peace, democracy and dialog reminding tense oppressions performed by security forces as a part of total plan after election on Kurds and Kurdish institutions, parties, newspapers, associations etc.

"Lately 2 marchers had been killed. Kurdish news paper daily Azadiya Welat has been closed down. We have said Kurdish is legal for government but Kurds. This saying has been proved by last act which showed that AKP has two faces. Where is your Kurdish opening out? Was it until election? Are you going to gain Kurds with that? It works for nothing but fool yourself. People are going to protect their own news paper even though your censorship or act to close it down since language is the honor for nation.”

Emine Ayna weighs in (http://www.kurdish-info.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12941):

Emine Ayna co-chair of DTP has held a press release to evaluate last operations on DTP. She stated that there is not enough information about spontaneous operations directed by Diyarbakır Chief Prosecutor of the Republic against DTP’s branches neither about what these operations’ reasons.

In addition she said that; mentioned operation’s reason just for make DTP out of the political environment since there is no legal reason for this operation. DTP’s success during the pass local election is considerable and over the limit of government tolerance. We believe they are trying to prevent DTP from political race which is very dangerous process. No one can take the responsibility of these operations which are needed serious evaluation about its consequences. Current operations can succeed nothing but pushing people to use anti-democratic methods.

Ayna also emphasized that doesn’t matter what kind of suppression government implements on DTP, they are going to keep pointing out all mistakes along Turkish Republic’s 80 years policy against Kurds. Active persons, politicians from DTP during the local election process have been taken into custody which we found that is very significant point explains government goals for these operations.

The socialist Turkish party ÖDP claims that the police operation was a "lynching campaign" against DTP and demands the immediate release of the arrested persons. The socialist Turkish organization ESP has also protested the operation.


Selahattin Demirtaş was quoted by Reuters:

Selahattin Demirtas, deputy chair of the DTP parliamentary group, said the arrests were a politically motivated reaction to the DTP's success in the local elections.

"This is an illegal operation against the DTP and an attempt to manipulate the DTP's political support and break its will," Demirtas told Reuters in a telephone interview. "It's no coincidence the operation comes so soon after the election."

I have a lot of articles about this situation bookmarked and will be going over them in detail in the next day or so and will post more on the Ankara regime's campaign against DTP. A quick look at HaberTürk's live broadcast had a little something about this operation squeezed in between Başbuğ's hot air fest, yet more Ergenekon bullshit, and the murder of Engin Çeber by Turkish police. To it's credit, HaberTürk did manage to air some quality time on the Obama's new dog.

CEASEFIRES AND STATE TERRORISM

"These enemies of humanity who believe that the state authority has weakened and turned their guns on our innocent citizens will definitely drown in the hole that they have fallen into. Such attacks which are against the existence of the Turkish Republic prove how just we are in the struggle against terrorism."
~ Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Çiller on the Güçlükonak Massacre.

Well, we all know Ergenekon goes east of the Fırat. Now they are finding out. From Özgür Gündem:

Ekmen confessed it: The Güçlükonak massacre was conducted by the state


The former state minister responsible for human rights, Adnan Ekmen, had important statements about the Güçlükonak massacre. These statements shed light on the reasons for leaving the Kurdish question unresolved and point out the who provoked, and why, the declared ceasefire.

The confession came after 13 years

The minister responsible for human rights in the 52nd government, in which Tansu Çiller was prime minister and Deniz Baykal was foreign minister, Adnan Ekmen made statements to Yeni Aktüel magazine by saying, "My conscience makes me uncomfortable": "Although we knew the background of the event, unfortunately we could not explain it to the public. According to the hearings from the region and from the relatives of the people who were killed, we realized that the situation was not the same as the security forces were talking about. The event that took place was in a location where the security forces had full control anyway; It was impossible for PKK to conduct an operation. Yet the ID cards of the murdered were in the hands of the security forces, people were burned; however, somehow, their ID cards were never damaged. Apparently the people who burned them took their ID cards before burning them. To me, this was the point that exposed them.

"We sat and talked about what we could do together with the ministry's bureaucrats. I called a village guard chief and tribal leader who I trusted, and told him what I had heard. He said to me, 'I cannot lie to you; whatever you heard is true. The official statement ofthe security forces does not reflect the truth.' I asked him whether he would be willing to tell us the truth if we went to Güçlükonak; 'This is not possible. If we tell the truth we cannot protect ourselves, and neither can you,' he said. After he said that we changed our minds about going to Güçlükonak.

"I offered Deniz Baykal the things that I knew, to tell Prime Minister Çiller. When he said 'It is up to you, but the Prime Minister is very busy nowadays,' I changed my mind."

"I told the event to the chairman of CHP, of which I was a member, and I told him that I wanted to share what I heard with the public. He asked me why they were putting the blame on PKK. In Europe there would be a very important vote about the Kurds. By blaming this incident on PKK, I said to him that they might want it to give a message to the association which would hold the election."

First ceasefire, first provocation

Özal wanted it, a ceasefire was declared.

President Turgut Özal conveyed his ceasefire demand to PKK through the PUK leader Celal Talabani. The Kurdish people's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, responded to Özal's demand positively. On 17 March 1993 in Lebanon's Bar Eliyas town, Öcalan and PUK leader Celal Talabani, as mediator, came out in front of the press and declared a 25-day ceasefire.

Özal expressed his satisfaction to Talabani, who visited him after the ceasefire, by saying: "For ten years it is the very first time I slept peacefully." After Özal's positive reaction, one day after the limited ceasefire, on 16 April, in Bar Eliyas, Öcalan came out in front of the press one more time and declared that they had extended the unilateral ceasefire indefinitely.

Özal's suspicious death and the 33 soldiers incident

Özal, who had sympathy for most of the demands that were mentioned in the ceasefire, including a general amnesty, died suddenly, one day after the indefinite ceasefire, on 17 April 1993. It was stated that Özal suffered a heart attack. However, many people, primarily his family, and including Öcalan, said "Özal was murdered". On 24 May 1993, the news of the massacre came. Şemdin Sakık, who blocked the Bingöl-Elazığ highway and killed 33 unarmed soldiers, declared the end of the first ceasefire. Öcalan said that incident of the murder of 33 soldiers was not related to them [PKK] and he refused to take responsibility. Öcalan mentioned this truth many times on İmralı and he called for the enlightenment of this incident.

Second ceasefire, second provocation

This time Çiller wanted it

After Özal's death, Süleyman Demirel became president and Tansu Çiller became prime minister. Çiller sent a letter to Öcalan, again through Talabani, and wanted Öcalan to declare a ceasefire. After that, PKK declared the second unilateral ceasefire on 15 December 1995.

11 villagers were raked with gunfire and burned

One month after the ceasefire, on 16 January 1996, this time the news came from Şırnak's town, Güçlükonak. The Koçyurdu minibus, which contained 11 villagers, was raked with gunfire and the corpses were then burned. The general staff and government officials declared the operation was conducted by PKK. PKK, on the other hand, defined the incident as "provocation through state-related contra groups" and despite this incident, declared the "continuation of the ceasefire". However, for the very first time the general staff took journalists, including foreign journalists, to the scene and made anti-PKK statements. However, the general staff did not let the journalists talk to the villagers.

Intellectuals blamed the state

The Together for Peace Working Group members, intellectuals, and journalists, went to the scene twice and found clues. They focused on the fact that the incident was related to the state. They sued, however not only did they receive no result, but also they were countersued by the charge of "insulting the army" and were convicted to ten years in prison.

Two days after the massacre, the EU parliament would assemble for a ceasefire

During the Güçlükonak incident, the European parliament had assembled for an important agenda. Turkey conducted its military operation despite the PKK's unilateral ceasefire. However, the ceasefire issue became a hot debate in the international arena. The European parliament called PKK and Turkey for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question on 13 December 1995. The ceasefire decision was given as a response to this call. In fact, a proposition related to Turkey was accepted unanimously during the 18 January 1996 session. One of the articles in the proposal was about the ceasefire: "The European parliament greets the unilateral ceasefire declared by Öcalan and accepts this initiative as a positive response to the European parliament's decision on 13 December 1995. At the same time it [the European parliament] hopes Turkey considers this gesture as a step towards a peaceful solution and accepts it as an opportunity to initiate a national-level dialog to overcome the problem in the Eastern Anatolian Region." Just two days before the meeting at which this decision was made, the Güçlükonak massacre took place.

Villagers were detained

It was revealed that some of the villagers who were murdered were detained and were held in the Taşkonak Jandarma Battalion, and some of them were taken from their homes on the day of the incident. Among the people who were killed, Halit Kaya's daughter from Yatağankaya village, Ramazan Oruç's son, and Ali Nas's nephew from Çevrimli village had previously joined the PKK guerrillas.

Third ceasefire, third provocation

Everyone wanted a ceasefire

Prime minister Erdoğan made moderate statements related to the Kurdish question in 2005 and showed attempts to make PKK declare a ceasefire. Many parties, including the US, the EU, KDP, PUK, AKP and DTP, made various attempts toward this issue. On 1 October 2006, PKK declared a ceasefire. However no improvement was made after the ceasefire.

Massacre in the first year of the ceasefire

One year passed and the ceasefire was still in effect. On 29 September 2007, the news of the massacre came from Şırnak's Beytüşşebap. Twelve people in a minibus going to Beşağaç (Hemkan) village were ambushed. The general staff and the government made a statement that "PKK did it" about the massacre, which resembled the Guclukonak incident. PKK on the other hand declared that "the massacre was committed by JITEM, which is linked to the army". Villagers also said that the incident was conducted by village guards and JITEM; the information received confirmed this claim. After this date, not only did the hope for a solution to the Kurdish question weaken but it was also the start of the cross-border operations. Thus the policies of violence entered a new stage.

Kaplan: The state prosecutor must act

DTP's Şırnak parliamentarian Hasip Kaplan expressed his views regarding the statements made by the former minister responsible for human rights at that time, Adnan Ekmen, and wanted the state prosecutor to take action. Kaplan said, "The investigation and evidence previously found by the intellectuals and the NGOs is today confirmed one more time by the statements of someone who has been at the ministry level. The prosecutor must immediately begin an investigation, listen to Minister Ekmen, the intellectuals, and the NGOs who have previously made such investigations. Because this is a massacre case, a case of provocation, the case must be reopened." Mentioning that they would take this issue to the parliament's attention, Kaplan said: "Previously we had given question and investigation proposals to the parliament regarding extrajudicial murders and massacres. We are going to keep a close eye on these. We will bring up this incident too."

Now tell me again, who are the real terrorists? Who are the real "enemies of humanity", as Çiller so boldly put it? What is this bullshit "struggle against terrorism" really all about?

TORTURING "DEMOCRACY"

"Congress cannot look the other way; it must demand an independent investigation and independent prosecutor. Congress is duty-bound by the Constitution not only to hold the President, Vice President and all civil officers to account, but it must also send a message to future presidents that it will use its constitutional powers to prevent illegal, and immoral conduct."
~ Caroline Fredrickson, ACLU.

Here's a Sunday evening documentary for you, titled "Torturing Democracy". There's a website for the documentary, hosted at George Washington University. The website also contains an annotated transcript which is available in .pdf.

As you watch the video, remember that the US has not been at war since the Second World War and it is not at war now. Only Congress has the power to declare war and it has not done so since 11 December 1941 (see Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution for more).

Run time just over an hour.

All three parts here.

Compare with PKK's treatment of its prisoners:

"THE PKK WAY"

"TURKISH POWS RETURN HOME"

"HPG HANDOVER OF TURKISH POWS"

TURKEY: GUARANTEEING HUMAN RIGHTS GLOBALLY

"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
~ Thomas Jefferson.

From the No Shit Department:

Kenneth Roth, administrator of the Human Rights Watch (HRW), described Cemil Çiçek, minister in charge of the issues related to human rights, with whom he met about their reports about the police violence in Turkey and not punishing those responsible for it, as sarcastic and too defensive.

[ . . . ]

According to Roth, Çiçek denies even the existence of the problem and when reminded of the police violence cases, describes this as an outcome of the psychology of the police officer up against terrorism.

Emphasizing that Çiçek offered excuses about every matter they brought up in regards to the human rights violations, Roth said, "When we mentioned the Constitutional Reform, the freedom of expression and the police violence he brought up the constitutional process in the European Union (EU), the EU’s attitude towards Turkey and the violence used by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), respectively."

"It is ironic that Çiçek is the minister in charge of the human rights. It made me think that if Çiçek was a minister for improving the human rights or one for violating them. Let alone the implementation of the recommendations in the report, he did not even want to discuss the matter."

Welcome to our world, Mr. Roth! Have a glass of tea and stay a while.

Everyone can read the bloviations--or should I say "flatulations"?--that this worthless little human turd, Çiçek, has to say about Turkey's efforts for "human rights" at Hürriyet (English version, since I refuse to waste my precious time translating the turd's lies). Oh, I'm certain that Turkey will be the vanguard of securing human rights throughout the entire world--especially the Muslim world--because of it's temporary position on the UN security council. Yes, boys and girls, that would be the same UN that has never, in its entire history, so much as passed gas in Turkey's direction for the Ankara regime's genocide against the Kurdish people. After all, image is everything!

Yes, Turkey will be the ultimate vanguard of human rights everywhere, everywhere but right in its own internal colony of Turkish-occupied Kurdistan.

Let's see . . . we had the events of Newroz, with the AKP government beating Kurdish women with nightsticks and dislocating the arms of Kurdish youths in front of the news media, and the AKP police did that in front of the news media because they knew without any doubt that they would not be prosecuted for it. And they haven't been. That, boys and girls, is what is known as a culture of impunity and it is deeply entrenched within the Ankara regime.

Almost two years have passed since the Ankara regime murdered Hrant Dink and they are still screwing around with their bullshit prosecutions. From today's Bianet English page alone, there's an article about alleged charges against the Trabzon jandarma officials who arranged Dink's murder. Another article discusses the fact the fact that one of the so-called "witnesses" has changed his statement, probably for the umpteenth time. In addition to arranging and carrying out the murder of the most prominent Armenian journalist in Turkey, police officials are also under investigation for harassing a journalist from the daily Birgün.

I mean, sometimes I have to check to see if I'm actually reading Bianet or if I've mistakenly accessed the homepage of some human rights organization because it's constantly something involving serious abuses of human rights or violations of free expression that I see there.

Even Europe, the continent with the most hopelessly population, has begun to wonder what has happened with their wonder boy, Katil Erdoğan. From Der Spiegel:

Amid corruption scandals and stagnating reform, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, praised in Europe as a modernizer, is seeking refuge in nationalist rhetoric, adopting a tougher stance on the Kurds and moving closer to the country's military leaders.

The public prosecutor in Adana, a city in southern Turkey, has clear ideas on how the state ought to treat teenagers who protest by throwing stones. In his view, they should be arrested and locked away, preferably for life.

Last week the prosecutor demanded up to 58 years in prison for six young Kurds between the ages of 13 and 16. During a demonstration in October, the students threw stones at police officers, shouted illegal slogans and unfurled posters touting the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

[ . . . ]

Long praised in the West as a peacemaker and reformer, a man who has made great strides in bringing his country closer to Europe, Erdogan is now revealing reactionary tendencies.

He has recently stopped calling for "cultural rights" for minorities, and is ignoring the human rights abuses being committed by Turkish police. Instead, he now prefers the language of the generals and nationalists. Turkey, Erdogan said excitedly in a recent speech to a Kurdish audience, is "one nation, one flag, one country." He added: "whoever doesn't like it can leave."

When Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, the Kurdish-born deputy chairman of Erdogan's conservative Islamic party, the AKP, resigned from his position, the premier replaced him with a hardliner who prefers military force over dialogue when it comes to the Kurdish question.

Oh, surprise, surprise, surprise.

None of this counts the bombing of Kurdish civilians, and the destruction of their property and livelihoods, in South Kurdistan--a part of the sovereign state of Iraq--by TSK, which has been ongoing for one year now. If it were the Israelis targeting Palestinian civilians like that, no one would hear the end of it.

But no. . . it's only Turkey, this year's global vanguard of human rights, and it's only the Kurds getting bombed. Move along, folks, there's nothing to see here. Move along.

But we all know why the Ankara regime maintains its internal colony Kurdistan and fears the local administration of resources, labeling such a suggestion--as made by Diyarbakır's wildly popular mayor, Osman Baydemir--as "separatism". Resources. High quality oil reserves, the curse of the region, for one. Water and coal, to name two others. For these reasons, resource-rich Kurdistan will continue bereft of liberty, a victim of Turkey's internal imperialism.

How about those Greeks, eh? From the very people who invented democracy--real democracy, not the crap peddled by the Western world, whose "democracy" is merely a euphemism for "unbridled, free-market capitalism", otherwise known as greed. Those Greeks are proving Thomas Jefferson's words: "When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."

This is exactly what needs to happen in Turkey every time a Kurdish boy has his arm dislocated or broken by the fascist police, every time a Kurd is shot dead in Istanbul because some pig decided he just felt like murdering a Kurd, and every time some brain-dead Turkish nationalist decides to take a shotgun to supporters of the DTP, simply because the murderer he elected as prime minister told him it was just ducky to shoot supporters of the only opposition party in Turkey.

Every time these kinds of things happen, there should be riots throughout the country, without stop, until the regime and it's culture of racism and impunity fears the people more than it fears anything its worst nightmares can conjure.

Then, and only then, will you have liberty.

Happy Freakin' International Human Rights Day!

THE EUTCC ON LEYLA ZANA'S CONVICTION

"The seed of revolution is repression."
~ Woodrow T. Wilson.

Kurdish Spokesperson and EUTCC Patron Leyla Zana Convicted to Ten Years in Prison by a Turkish Court

6 December 2008

Press Release: For immediate release

Kurdish Spokesperson and EUTCC Patron Leyla Zana Convicted to Ten Years in Prison by a Turkish Court

Leyla Zana, a well know political spokesperson for the Kurds in Turkey, was Thursday convicted to ten years in prison by a Turkish Court in Diyarbakir. The court ruled that Leyla Zana had violated the penal code and the anti-terror law in nine different speeches. She is accused of having supported and spread propaganda in favour of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). At a Newroz celebration in Diyarbakir Leyla Zana stated that PKK leader, Mr. Abdulla Öcalan, should be regarded as one of three Kurdish leaders. It is expected that Zana will appeal the verdict.

Leyla Zana was the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in the Turkish Parliament in 1991. Her decision to give the Parliamentary Oath in Kurdish led to immediate calls for her arrest. This was the first time Kurdish had been spoken in the Turkish Parliament. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in 2004 due to international pressure. Zana received the Rafto Prize in 1994 and the Sakharov Prize the following year.

Despite Leyla Zana’s sufferings and personal losses during the previous 10 years of imprisonment in Turkey, she has continued to speak on behalf of her people. Since her release in 2004 Leyla Zana has been an outspoken, courageous and loyal ambassador to the Kurdish people. She demands recognition for the Kurdish language, Kurdish identity and freedom of expression in addition to political and cultural rights. Zana seeks a non-violent and democratic solution for the Kurds living within Turkey's borders.

Leyla Zana sent the following statement to the EUTCC Chair Kariane Westrheim today:

“The case against me is a violation against freedom of thought, and represents a threat to every Kurd in Turkey. The decision of the court is just another way to repress, silence and punish the Kurds. The mentality governing this country is that problems can be resolved by anti democratic and repressive means and that unfair trial can provide political and social peace. But despite all this, our people will claim their legitimate rights, and will continue to struggle for this as long as it takes”.

EUTCC calls on the European Union and the international community to take political action and strongly condemn Turkey for having convicted Leyla Zana to ten new years in prison.


For further information
Kariane Westrheim
Chair of EUTCC
Menneskerettighetenes plass 1
5007 Bergen, Norway
Telephone: +47 976 42 088

TERRORISM, GLOBALIZATION, AND CONSPIRACY

"Just as the power of the feudal aristocracy had to be broken in order for capitalism to emerge fully, so must imperialism and capitalism in Third World nations be overcome if a new system is to prevail."
~ Michael Parenti.

Here's an old video. from 2002, which I have just come across but which has a very good discussion of capitalism, globalism--a euphemism for that most advanced form of capitalism, imperialism--and the addiction of the elites.

The speaker is American political scientist, Michael Parenti. Run time one hour.

Enjoy.

OPPRESSED AND OPPRESSORS: THE ERGENEKON DOG AND PONY SHOW

"From the beginning of their first term the AKP, starting from their leader to the lowest-ranking party member, created and shared a mythology of being oppressed."
~ Ece Temelkuran.

It looks like Leyla Zana may be going to prison for ten years. From the BBC:

A Turkish court has sentenced a Kurdish politician to 10 years in prison for spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The court ruled that Leyla Zana had violated the penal code and the anti-terror law in nine different speeches.

Ms Zana, 47, has already spent 10 years in prison for links to the PKK, though that conviction was later overturned.

Ms Zana was not in court, and this latest conviction will not be imposed until her appeal has been heard.

Her lawyer called the sentence an "unfortunate" decision in a country working to join the European Union, and said her client's words were well within the bounds of free speech.

The prosecution sought a sixty year conviction for Leyla's crimethink. She had spoken out in London earlier this year when she spoke in London. Hevallo also had an eyewitness report on Leyla's speech in the UK parliament.

The next step will be to hear the outcome of the appeals process. I wonder if all the world's liberals will be concerned with the case of this Sakharov prize winner this time around? I'm inclined to doubt it. Our only friends are the mountains.

Of course, Leyla's conviction, and all similar prosecutions, expose clearly the weakness of the Ankara regime, which functions out of terror that truth will be spoken and heard.

Speaking of liberals, there's a very good article at Counterpunch from a Turkish Leftist, female political columnist. Thanks to the Vineyardsaker for sending the link. From the heart of the article:

A friend from the socialist left stopped me on the street the other day. His voice was anxious: “You know what, maybe you should not write about Ergenekon for a while”. He paused and sulked: “I think the way you do on this issue but you know… They made two little boxes: a Kemalist box and a liberal one. Even if you don’t fit to either of the boxes they break your arms or legs and make you fit one of them at the end. They don’t open a third box for you. This is a dangerous political climate and we are all going to be wasted in the end”.

He is right. If you ask questions about the indictment, or even if you express your concern about the seriousness of the case, there you go into the Kemalist box. If you clap your hands whenever you hear the name of the Ergenekon case, then you can be considered a democrat and can inhabit the same box as those I mentioned above. In that box the concept of democracy is reduced to freedom of faith, and its links to social justice or equality have been cut mercilessly. That is why in Turkey at the moment, if you are coming from the left, in order to be recognized as ‘not a fascist’ you are obliged to bow your head before right-wing perceptions of democracy. Even though it was the left that has been the ultimate victim of the deep state, they are for the time being the ones accused of being the deep state itself. This discourse or political climate has such a strong character that even the most intelligent and experienced spin doctors on the left have been stammering since last January about the Ergenekon case. Meanwhile the right-wing democrats, the liberals, are making noise saying that this time the gang was caught before it managed to carry out the coup. Thank god, the AKP government at the last minute busted them in the very act!

This reduction of politics to barren dualities didn’t actually start with the Ergenekon case; on the contrary, it had already been creating an intellectual industry with interesting products since the political polarization deepened with the start of the AKP’s second term. On almost every news channel there are talk-shows featuring a pro-AKP liberal democrat and an anti-AKP democrat. Since their controversies are the product on sale, these programs are visually exaggerated as well. In one of them, before the show begins they show two tigers attacking each other and in another program one, side has a black, the other a white background. The AKP, beyond its other achievements, gave Turkey this amazing present: intellectual and political discussions are now made in little boxes between black-and-white tigers!

I urge a close reading of the entire piece, particularly for the history that is recounted and the role of the Islamists in that history, particularly the fact that the Fethullahcı were founded in the wake of the 12 September coup. Not coincidentally, that was the same timeframe that saw the implementation of the Turkish-Islamic Synthesis and Turkish Hezbollah.

Finally, check Hevallo's recent post on defense lobby conflicts of interest in the UK. What a shock--they are linked to Lockheed Martin! Or, maybe not so shocking.

THE SINS OF THE RULING PARTY

"Without law and order our nation cannot survive."
~ Adolf Hitler.

After six years of Islamist AKP rule, everyone should ask themselves if they're better off. Turkish columnist Semih Idız--not as consistent as, say, Gülay Göktürk, Hasan Cemal, the Altans, or Taraf's staff, but still on the mark with this particular piece--has some comments on that in the face of EU silence over AKP's misrule:

It should be much more apparent to European diplomats today, that the relative leniency with which the European Union is approaching the Erdogan government's sins against democracy and human rights, is being used to the advantage of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

We have been trying for weeks to warn that selective criticisms leveled at Turkey by EU officials are disheartening pro-EU elements in Turkey. For example, the same officials who made negative remarks against the AKP over the closure case, have not been vocal in the face of some highly telling, and to that extent worrying, salvos from government quarters.

[ . . . ]

However [AKP's] "sins against the Copenhagen Criteria" are increasing, yet no one, other than European deputy Joost Lagendijk that is, appear to have much to say on this front. Just a look at the government's recent record should send shivers up European spines. Especially among those who invested so much hope in this government.

* Prime Minister Erdogan calls for media boycotts because of the way it reported the Deniz Feneri corruption case in Germany, an extension of which clearly existed in Turkey and involved quarters very close to the AKP.

* Prime Minister Erdogan justified the use of sawed-off shotguns by individuals against pro-Kurdish demonstrators, saying citizens have the right to protect themselves. The fact that he is inciting armed violence does not appear to concern him much.

* Prime Minister Erdogan started to play the ultra-nationalist and told pro-Kurdish politicians to either respect the flag and nation or leave the country. He conveniently forgot there were times his party had been attacked for being "Islamist" by opponents who said, "Either respect secularism or go to Saudi Arabia."

* In the same vein, AKP Yozgat deputy Abdulkadir Akgul while arguing with pro-Kurdish deputy Hasip Kaplan in Parliament, went as far as saying, "I would of course take pleasure in shooting those who are against their own state and nation."

* State Minister Nimet Cubukcu is more concerned with slinging mud at Sarah Ferguson and the ITN network for exposing abuse in centers for disabled children in Turkey, than explaining what she intends to do to bring these centers up to EU standards. Having been caught out two years ago in a similar incident in Malatya, exposed by the Turkish media on that occasion, she clearly has done little in the meantime to improve standards in these centers.

* Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul came out with remarks justifying what amounts to ethnic cleansing by saying that if Greeks and Armenians remained in Anatolia, Turkey would not be a national state today. He totally disregarded the pain and suffering of Greek, Armenian and Turks alike in the past, and left open the question of his opinion on the Kurdish problem in this country, relative to his despicable views.

* The government continues to be reluctant to act in the face of mounting police brutality, torture, and abuse of women, which continues unabated, with impunity, and remains committed to the tradition of protecting those guilty of the crimes. When it does act, on the other hand, it does not do so on its own initiative, but because the issue has caused a major public outcry.

* The Prime Ministry tries to ban "undesirable reporters" from covering Prime Minister Erdogan by canceling their accreditation, even though it can not accuse the banned reporters of writing untruths or of fabrication. The government followed the lead of the General Staff in this respect, showing once again how much of a defender of the traditional status quo it has become. The bottom line here is that Mr. Erdogan wants "AKP friendly news" and loses control, both verbally and otherwise, when he does not get it.

[ . . . ]

The whole idea behind the EU perspective is positive change under the umbrella of lofty ideals, which include human rights and press freedom. If this does not happen, then the EU will start to lose its meaning, even for Turks who have supported this perspective strongly hitherto.

Let me add to the list:


* The acquittal of the murderers of Uğur and Ahmet Kaymaz.

* The cover-up of the Şemdinli bombing.

* The Ankara regime's use of chemical weapons against the Kurdish freedom movement.

* The Amed Serhildan, when Katil Erdoğan sanctioned the murder of women and children.

* The Amed bombing.

* The refusal of HPG's ceasefire.

* The Beytuşşebap massacre.

* Attempts to repress DTP and Kurdish voters prior to and during the elections.

* Imposition of new OHAL zones and increased human rights violations in them.

* Murder of a Kurdish infant for supporting PKK.

* The Güngören bombing.

* Newroz and police torture of children on city streets.

* The murder of Hrant Dink.

* Murder of Christians.

* Öcalan's poisoning and torture.

* The hypocrisy of concern for Kurdish children


I could go on and on and on . . . But I certainly won't hold my breath waiting for the Europeans to develop a conscience.

SEEING THE LIGHT

"The citizen, whose life is threatened, will defend himself if he has the chance."
~ R. Tayyip Erdoğan.

I have a few bits and pieces for your perusal tonight.

Firstly, there's another example of AKP's Kurdish policy at Özgür Gündem, where you'll find a video of a Kurdish youth run over by a police vehicle in Yüksekova.

Does everyone remember when Katil Erdoğan said that PKK was using children in protests after Erdoğan's disastrous visit to Amed (Diyarbakır)? Check out this photo from Radikal:





There you see a robocop encouraging children to throw stones for him. No sign of Bahoz Erdal in the photo, however.

On this election night, Hevallo bids a fond farewell to President Bush by publishing some of his more memorable remarks.

Next, the Fethullahcı university has opened in Hewlêr:

Diplomatic relations between Ankara and Arbil, the capital of the northern Iraqi administration, were almost frozen after the foundation of the regional Kurdish government there and Massoud Barzani's election as its president. Recently the relations have seen a period of thaw, and some of the walls between the two parties have been brought down, Barzani explained yesterday after his meeting with Turkey's special envoy to Iraq, Murat Özçelik. Ankara emphasizes the importance of "silent diplomacy" with the Kurdish administration in this regard.

Along with the breaking down of walls has come the building of bridges between Turkey and its northern Iraqi neighbors. Ishik University, newly opened by the Turkish Fezalar Educational Co. in Arbil, is one of those bridges. Fezalar has been active in education in the region for 14 years and has 10 schools in Arbil, Sulaimaniya and Kirkuk. The university is now accepting student registration, and classes will begin in mid-November.

So it appears that Gülen is doing the same thing in Hewlêr as he's doing in the Central Asia and the US:

After the Soviet Union collapsed, the super powers began to fight over Central Asia’s oil and gas wealth, as well as the geopolitics of the region. The U.S. did not want Iran to have control over the Central Asian republics. The U.S. knew that it could not easily have access to the region; therefore, it used the movement of a Turkish Islamic imam, Fethullah Gülen as a perfect proxy to gain control quickly and effectively because Turkey shared the same history, culture and religion with Central Asians. However, this odd but fortuitous relationship made it easy for Gülen later to have entry into America. The U.S. used Gulen’s movement by comparing what it perceived to be a bigger threat to a lesser threat. Rather than standing by for a radical Islamic group to infiltrate Central Asia in the vacuum left by the Soviets, the U.S. choose to support Gulen’s missionaries who were armed with Turkish Sufism. Similarly, the U.S. reasoned that allowing the CIA to support Osama Bin Laden to defeat the Soviet troops in Afghanistan in1979, would ensure the defeat of the Russians.

[ . . . ]

These strange bedfellows of U.S. foreign policy and the Turkish-brand of “moderate Islam” lead Gülen into a cozy relationship with the U.S. In 1999, Gülen escaped to the U.S. citing health issues as an excuse; however, in 2000, he was charged by the Turkish government with forming a terrorist organization to dismantle the secular state in order to replace it with a pro-Islamic government. Today Gulen’s Islamic party is in charge of the Turkish government, and they seek out those who want to act against Gülen, one by one putting them in jail and naming them “the Erkenekon gang.” For example, the Turkish government has charged the owner of the Cumuhuriyet newspaper, some high military officials, and some other party leaders with various crimes, but this strategy is just another way Gülen is taking revenge and wanting the military to be under the control of the civilians or the police because most of the police chiefs are his followers.

The United States’ law allows Gülen Muslim missionaries to operate easily in America. Gülen does not have to challenge the existing political order; he knows how to achieve his goals without violating U.S. law. Actually, it is much easier to gain followers and then position them in key institutions in the U.S. than it was in Turkey. Because the Constitution of the United States guarantees freedom of religion, Gülen uses that existing system for his Islamic aims. In Turkey Gülen initially had problems and lacked the freedom to gain power because the military did not allow his religious activities to be used as a tool to take over the government. Gülen has always taken advantage of situations and used them as opportunities to spread his global Islamic missionaries’ activities under the platforms of Interfaith Dialogues, opening schools around the world, holding conferences, and starting more house mosques, as in the U.S.

Read all of it at Kurdish Aspect to find out how Gülen spreads his poison.

More on Internet censorship in Turkey from Yahoo News:

"In terms of Internet censorship, Turkey is for sure now one of the significant countries," says Clothilde Lecoz, head of the Internet freedom desk at the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders. "We are very, very concerned about it."

The European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, has previously been critical of Turkey's record on freedom of expression, particularly in regard to its prosecution of writers and journalists under Article 301, a vague law that punishes those who insult the state and its institutions.

Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish author and Nobel laureate who was tried under Article 301, used his opening speech at the Frankfurt Book Fair this month to criticize Turkey's YouTube ban.

"YouTube, like many other domestic and international websites, has been blocked for residents of Turkey for political reasons," Mr. Pamuk said. "Those in whom the power of the state resides may take satisfaction from all these repressive measures, but we writers, publishers, artists feel differently, as do all other creators of Turkish culture and indeed everyone who takes an interest in it: Oppression of this order does not reflect our ideas on the proper promotion of Turkish culture."

Reporters Without Borders calls for the amendment of Law 5651, under which Turkey is currently censoring the Internet:

Commenting on the latest developments, Reporters Without Borders said: "All this arbitrary blocking of websites has demonstrated that this law is the main source for the deterioration in online free expression. Furthermore, ISPs are forced to do the blocking of access to sites that break this law. This makes them accomplices to censorship."

The press freedom organisation added: "We call for Law 5651 to be amended as quickly as possible. Rather than block an entire website, only the content regarded as 'sensitive' should be the challenged before the courts."

Turkey was ranked 102nd out of 173 countries in the 2008 press freedom index which Reporters Without Borders released on 22 October.

Bianet reports that Blogger.com is temporarily available in Turkey, pending collection of "evidence":

The 1st Criminal Court of First Instance of Diyarbakır has lifted the ban on blogger.com and thus freed the blogs, the internet journals.

According to ntvmsnbc, the decision to lift the ban on the blogs affiliated with blogger.com and blogspot.com went into effect yesterday (October 27).

Today, the internet users witnessed the lifting up of the ban gradually.

Google’s blogger.com and blogspot.com, which provide free internet journal keeping, had become inaccessible in Turkey since October 24. The internet users, the freedom of expression defenders and the telecommunications organizations had been protesting the decision that banned the blogs.

Blogger.com is one of the most visited ten internet sites. It has millions of blog users.

Finally, here's a video of a guy in Istanbul threatening DTP supporters with a shotgun:

For the record, let me point out a Erdoğan's remark on the shotgun incident:

"I advise patience. But I am also concerned about when this patience will end. The citizen, whose life is threatened, will defend himself if he has the chance," Erdogan said on Monday.

Thank you, Sayın Başbakan. This is exactly what PKK has been doing for twenty-four years. I'm overjoyed to know that you finally see the light.

FALSE FLAG OPERATION PLANNED FOR 2009

"I personally think that everyone - journalists, professors, politicians - must think about the implications of the strategy if tension and the false flag. Here we are, indeed, in presence of phenomena that escape from every kind of agreement. That is why, every time that there are terrorist attacks, we must ask questions and try to understand what that implies."
~ Daniele Ganser.

It sounds to me like the Washington regime is planning another, major, false flag operation like it did seven years ago to initiate the corporate-friendly "Global War on Terror, Inc."

From 20 October:

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

From Colin "Saddam-Has-Weapons-of-Mass-Destruction" Powell:

From Madeleine "One-Million-Dead-Iraqi-Kids-Are-Definitely-Worth-It" Allbright:

Coincidentally, or not, the Pentagon and its consultants are all ready to act:

Veteran Pentagon consultant Michael Bayer, chairman of the Defense Business Board, told his fellow panelists that the new president's inner circle should "set aside time in transition to identify the planning, gravitas and interagency process necessary to respond to a likely first-270-day crisis."

Because the PATRIOT Act and the Military Commissions Act weren't enough, Congress is looking into creating a domestic "intelligence" agency:

The United Kingdom has MI-5, which roots out spies and terrorists in the British Isles.

Canada has CSIS -- the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Now Congress is asking: Should the U.S. have its own domestic intelligence agency?

On Monday, at the request of Congress, the RAND Corporation outlined the pros and cons of establishing a domestic intelligence agency. It also discussed different ways to organize a new entity, either as part of an existing department or as a new agency.

Also--again because the PATRIOT Act and Military Commissions Act weren't enough--NORTHCOM became operational on 1 October:

On October 1, the Pentagon, for the first time ever, dedicated an Army force specifically to NorthCom, which is in charge of securing not some foreign region but the United States of America.

The unit it assigned is the 3rd Infantry, First Brigade Combat Team, which has spent three of the last five years in Iraq. It was one of the first units to get to Baghdad, and it was active in retaking and patrolling Fallujah. One of its specialties is counterinsurgency.

This marks a change for NorthCom, which was established on October 1, 2002. Its website still says it “has few permanently assigned forces,” and that “the command is assigned forces whenever necessary to execute missions, as ordered by the President and the Secretary of Defense.”

Leahy “asked for a briefing from his staff” on this development and “wants to monitor the situation,” an aide to Leahy said.

Leahy was instrumental in getting Congress to repeal the “Insurrection Act Rider” in the 2006 defense appropriations bill. That rider had given the President sweeping power to use military troops in ways contrary to the Insurrection Act and Posse Comitatus Act. The rider authorized the President to have troops patrol our streets in response to disasters, epidemics, and any “condition” he might cite.

Meanwhile, can it be that the US Joint Chiefs of Staff have already been coordinating the upcoming false flag operation with the general staffs of other nations?

Will that upcoming false flag operation have anything to do with biowarfare? Were the recent anthrax-wannabe mailings a dry-run for all of this?

Just in case, the Department of Homeland Security will be opening a new bio-"defense" lab in Maryland.

Inquiring minds want to know.

DEMOCRACY FAIL AS USUAL

"Is this the United States Congress or the board of directors of Goldman Sachs?"
~ Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).

What I said the other day . . . and then some:

On Friday, as the rats in the House of Representatives voted at least $700 billion to save Wall Street vermin from their massive bad debts, a 90-year-old woman in Ohio attempted suicide as sheriff deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home of 38 years.

Check here to see how your Congressrat voted on the criminal bailout.

And if you want to know more about the vermin who were saved last week, check the figures Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) came up with:

While the middle class has declined under President Bush's reckless economic policies, the people on top have never had it so good. For the first seven years of Bush's tenure, the wealthiest 400 individuals in our country saw a $670 billion increase in their wealth, and at the end of 2007 owned over $1.5 trillion in wealth. That is just 400 families, a $670 billion increase in wealth since Bush has been in office.

In our country today, we have the most unequal distribution of income and wealth of any major country on earth, with the top 1 percent earning more income than the bottom 50 percent and the top 1 percent owning more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. We are living at a time when we have seen a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the very wealthiest people in this country, when, among others, CEOs of Wall Street firms received unbelievable amounts in bonuses, including $39 billion in bonuses in the year 2007 alone for just the five major investment houses. We have seen the incredible greed of the financial services industry manifested in the hundreds of millions of dollars they have spent on campaign contributions and lobbyists in order to deregulate their industry so that hedge funds and other unregulated financial institutions could flourish. We have seen them play with trillions and trillions dollars in esoteric financial instruments, in unregulated industries which no more than a handful of people even understand. We have seen the financial services industry charge 30 percent interest rates on credit card loans and tack on outrageous late fees and other costs to unsuspecting customers. We have seen them engaged in despicable predatory lending practices, taking advantage of the vulnerable and the uneducated. We have seen them send out billions of deceptive solicitations to almost every mailbox in America.

Contrast his constituents, the ordinary people:

Most of my constituents did not earn a $38 million bonus in 2005 or make over $100 million in total compensation in three years, as did Henry Paulson, the current secretary of the Treasury, and former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Most of my constituents did not make $354 million in total compensation over the past five years as did Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers. Most of my constituents did not cash out $60 million in stock after a $29 billion bailout for Bear Stearns after that failing company was bought out by J.P. Morgan Chase. Most of my constituents did not get a $161 million severance package as E. Stanley O'Neill, former CEO Merrill Lynch did.

Sanders proposed taxing the rich to pay for their economic fiasco, which would have been the right thing to do, but, as usual, the working class got the shaft handed to them by their own elected representatives.

Aren't democracy and capitalism wonderful?!

In case anyone needs them, here are 10 reasons why the Wall Street criminals should not have been bailed.

MORE REASONS TO LOOK TO THE EAST

"The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs."
~ Karl Marx.

The US is imploding. Seriously.

First of all, there has been the attempt by Wall Street vermin Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke to con the US taxpayer into handing welfare to Wall Street so that the financial elites can continue to live in the manner to which they've become accustomed. The problem is, the taxpayers seem to be on the verge of revolution the likes of which hasn't been seen since 1776:

An e-mail that began as a rallying cry from a lone journalist to an influential circle of friends to protest the U.S. government bailout of Wall Street has ignited a national day of street protests. Some demonstrators plan to dump their rubbish in front of the bronze bull sculpture near Wall Street in downtown Manhattan Thursday.

Some photos of the event on Wall Street can be seen at Alternet. My personal favorite:



And there's an article on the same protest, also at Alternet. Note the response by the vermin who need bailing:

Many Wall Street types greeted the protesters with contempt. "Just look at these people," sneered one broker as the march neared the Stock Exchange. Another group held a "Get a Job" sign in an office window, and one man dropped a few dollar bills out of his. They fluttered down short of the marchers, landing in a construction site.

Someone needs to give Wall Street a hard lesson in personal responsibility. TrueMajority.org reports that some 250 emergency protests were held in 41 states on Thursday. On Friday, the labor unions, such as they are in the land of the unfettered free market, protested. Almost 200 economists from the most prestigious American universities are protesting the bailout and the director of the Congressional Budget Office told Congress that the Paulson bailout could make matters so much worse.

Not that anyone in the government of the people, by the people, for the people is bothering to listen to the people. Ain't democracy wonderful?

What's interesting is that the bailout plan proposed by the criminal Paulson was actually put together by the Bush administration months ago:

[White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony] Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough.

So if this "plan" were "drawn up as a contingency over previous months" then why the rush to get it passed in Congress? Why did Bush harangue the nation for fifteen minutes on Wednesday night with his usual, fear-mongering tactics:

With the situation becoming more precarious by the day, I faced a choice, to step in with dramatic government action or to stand back and allow the irresponsible actions of some to undermine the financial security of all.

I’m a strong believer in free enterprise, so my natural instinct is to oppose government intervention. I believe companies that make bad decisions should be allowed to go out of business.

Under normal circumstances, I would have followed this course. But these are not normal circumstances. The market is not functioning properly. There has been a widespread loss of confidence, and major sectors of America’s financial system are at risk of shutting down.

The government’s top economic experts warn that, without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold.

Isn't this the same kind of thing we heard after 9/11? Isn't it the same kind of thing we heard in the run-up to the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq? Who benefited from that fear-mongering? The elites. Instead of addressing economic problems in a way that would benefit the country as a whole, the administration is attempting to railroad everyone into a plan that will only benefit the elites. This is the same tactic used by con artists the world over.

And as all of this was going on, the largest savings and loan in the US, collapsed and was seized by the government, the Congress gave $1 trillion to the Pentagon, and gave a $25 billion bailout to the failing US auto industry.

Oh, did I forget to mention . . . the CEO of WaMu may walk away with more than $13 million in his golden parachute and he's only been on the job for a few weeks.

In the US, socialism for the ordinary people is absolutely forbidden while welfare is handed out with largesse for the elites. The Germans are beginning to see it, too. In fact, the German Finance Minister is beginning to sound like Vladimir Putin by referring to multi-polarity:

"The world will never be as it was before the crisis," Steinbrueck told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

"The United States will lose its superpower status in the world financial system. The world financial system will become more multi-polar," he said.

Speaking later at a news conference in Berlin, Steinbrueck said he was not predicting an end to the dollar's role as a leading reserve currency, but rather highlighting the rise of other major financial players besides the United States.

[ . . . ]

In the Bundestag, Steinbrueck denounced what he called an Anglo-Saxon drive for double-digit profits and massive bonuses for bankers and company executives.

"Investment bankers and politicians in New York, Washington and London were not willing to give these up," he said.

Other worrying news involves the Republican VP nominee, Sarah Palin and her interview with CBS talking head, Katie Couric. The general consensus is growing that Sarah Palin is dumber than a rock. But, see for yourself:

There were more installments of the interview which can be seen on Youtube if you're not embarrassed by so much stupidity.


Matt Taibbi, journalist for Rolling Stone, makes the case for the fact that Sarah Palin is a symbol of all that is wrong in the US:

Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power.

Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV -and this country is going to eat her up, cheering her every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation.

[ . . . ]

The great insight of the Palin VP choice is that huge chunks of American voters no longer even demand that their candidates actually have policy positions; they simply consume them as media entertainment, rooting for or against them according to the reflexive prejudices of their demographic, as they would for reality-show contestants or sitcom characters. Hicks root for hicks, moms for moms, born-agains for born-agains. Sure, there was politics in the Palin speech, but it was all either silly lies or merely incidental fluffery buttressing the theatrical performance. A classic example of what was at work here came when Palin proudly introduced her Down syndrome baby, Trig, then stared into the camera and somberly promised parents of special-needs kids that they would "have a friend and advocate in the White House." This was about a half-hour before she raised her hands in triumph with McCain, a man who voted against increasing funding for special-needs education.

[ . . . ]

All of which tells you about what you'd expect from a raise-the-base choice like Palin: She's a puffed-up dimwit with primitive religious beliefs who had to be educated as to the fact that the Constitution did not exactly envision government executives firing librarians. Judging from the importance progressive critics seem to attach to these revelations, you'd think that these were actually negatives in modern American politics. But Americans like politicians who hate books and see the face of Jesus in every tree stump. They like them stupid and mean and ignorant of the rules.

OUCH!! Really, it's worth it to read the whole thing because this is the kind of writing you'd never see about a political candidate in Turkey--or in South Kurdistan--however much they deserve it.

The Palin/Couric interview has also begun to horrify those on the fascist right in the US as it slowly dawns on them that the woman who will be one heart-beat away from the White House is a total and complete moron. From the NRO:

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

[ . . . ]

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there. Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: “Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”

When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama’s numbers, Palin blustered wordily: “I’m not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who’s more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who’s actually done it?”

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

[ . . . ]

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.

Hehehe . . . Maybe the fact that the US appears to be reaching critical mass is the reason that the US Army will, for the first time since the Civil War, begin operations within the US itself, to assist with civil disturbances and crowd control. From Glenn Greenwald:

Several bloggers today have pointed to this obviously disturbing article from Army Times, which announces that "beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the [1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division] will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North" -- "the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities."

[ . . . ]

For more than 100 years -- since the end of the Civil War -- deployment of the U.S. military inside the U.S. has been prohibited under The Posse Comitatus Act (the only exceptions being that the National Guard and Coast Guard are exempted, and use of the military on an emergency ad hoc basis is permitted, such as what happened after Hurricane Katrina). Though there have been some erosions of this prohibition over the last several decades (most perniciously to allow the use of the military to work with law enforcement agencies in the "War on Drugs"), the bright line ban on using the U.S. military as a standing law enforcement force inside the U.S. has been more or less honored -- until now.

[ . . . ]

It shouldn't take any efforts to explain why the permanent deployment of the U.S. military inside American cities, acting as the President's police force, is so disturbing. Bovard:

"'Martial law' is a euphemism for military dictatorship. When foreign democracies are overthrown and a junta establishes martial law, Americans usually recognize that a fundamental change has occurred. . . . Section 1076 is Enabling Act-type legislation—something that purports to preserve law-and-order while formally empowering the president to rule by decree."

Buckle your seatbelts. It's going to be a wild ride. And now that a multi-polar world is more close, it may be time to look to the East. Seriously.