Translate

Dec 17, 2010

Christmas controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_controversy

Peace.
Michael Santomauro
@ 917-974-6367

What sort of TRUTH is it that crushes the freedom to seek the truth?

__._,_.___
Recent Activity:
MARKETPLACE

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

Find useful articles and helpful tips on living with Fibromyalgia. Visit the Fibromyalgia Zone today!

Hobbies & Activities Zone: Find others who share your passions! Explore new interests.

.

__,_._,___
Posted by at No comments:

JERUSALEM POST: 'WikiLeaks employs Israeli-Swedish Holocaust-denier'

 



December 18, 2010 Saturday 11 Tevet 5771 17:04 IST print gohome
jpost
 
Print Edition
Photo by: Courtesy
'WikiLeaks employs Israeli-Swedish Holocaust-denier'
By BEN HARTMAN
17/12/2010
Shamir has a shadowy past and present that is hard to pin down; he published a number of anti-Israel and arguably anti-Semitic books.
 
Digital state secrets exposer WikiLeaks has employed an Israeli-Swedish anti-Semite and Holocaust-denier, according to reports published this week in American and Swedish news outlets.

According to New York magazine and Reason magazine, a WikiLeaks spokesman confirmed that a self-titled "leading Russian-Israeli writer" who goes by the name "Israel Shamir" works for the organization as its content aggregator in Russia, where he selects and distributes cables to Russian news outlets.

RELATED:
WikiLeaks: Iran's influence spreads like cancer
Judge grants bail to WikiLeaks' Julian Assange

A similar report was made by the Swedish Radio program Medierna, in a broadcast this week in which it stated that "Israel Shamir represents WikiLeaks in Russia."

Shamir's website doesn't give any solid confirmation of his employment at WikiLeaks, but it does have on its home page a very prominently displayed picture of Shamir and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, reportedly taken at the organization's headquarters in Sweden. In the picture, Shamir stands behind Assange, looking into the camera as the WikiLeaks founder types on a laptop.

In an entry titled "On the Good Ship Cablegate," Shamir refers to Assange as "our real-life Neo," battling what he describes as the matrix of "American Imperium," a reference to the 1999 Wachowski brothers' action film. He also describes Assange as being hounded by "castrating feminists and secret services."

Shamir has a shadowy past and present that is hard to pin down or confirm. His official biography on his website says that he was born in Novosibirsk, Siberia, in 1947 and moved to Israel in 1969 where he served as a paratrooper during the Yom Kippur War. He later reportedly worked for the BBC and translated the works of Nobel laureate Shai Agnon from Hebrew to Russian.

Along the way, he published a number of anti-Israel and arguably anti-Semitic books including Cabbala of Power, Galilee Flowers and Masters of Discourse.

Shamir also goes by the names Joran Jermas and Adam Ermash, having received the latter title in 2004 when he was baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. He is a Swedish citizen and spends much of his time in Stockholm.

Other entries on Shamir's website make his feelings on Israel and Jews and the Holocaust clear. In one titled "Return of the Body Snatchers," Shamir defends Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet's 2009 report that IDF soldiers stole organs from dead Palestinians, saying, "It fits into a larger pattern. All over the world, Israel and Israelis are involved in trafficking human flesh, this modern form of cannibalism."

The website includes other defenses of blood libels and one entry that states "Jews asked God to kill, destroy, humiliate, exterminate, defame, starve, impale Christians, to usher in Divine Vengeance and to cover God's mantle with blood of goyim," and that "the picture of Jews slaughtering children for cultic reasons exerted huge impact on the Christian peoples of Europe."

Other writings by Shamir show him to be an avowed Holocaust-denier, including one entry where he says the Teheran Holocaust Conference of 2006 "proved that the Holocaust dogma is a basic tenet in the great world-embracing brainwashing machine of mass media," and added that the prevalence of Holocaust awareness and education "show that the mass media machine is well integrated and concentrated in philosemitic, mostly Jewish hands. The occupation of Palestine by Jews is painful, but it is not more harmful than this captivity of free discourse."

Shamir, who purports to live in Jaffa, could not be reached by e-mail or phone for comment on Thursday.
print gohome
print
All rights reserved © 1995 - 2009 The Jerusalem Post. כל הזכויות שמורות © -2009 נט אפיקי תקשורת אינטר מדיה בע"מ

__._,_.___
Recent Activity:
MARKETPLACE

Get great advice about dogs and cats. Visit the Dog & Cat Answers Center.

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

Be a homeroom hero! Help Yahoo! donate up to $350K to classrooms!

.

__,_._,___
Posted by at No comments:

Jeff Gates "Deflation, Inflation - Take Your Pick" [1 Attachment]

 
[Attachment(s) from ReporterNotebook included below]

From: Jeff Gates <jeffgates7@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 12:32 AM


Please see attached op-ed titled "Delation, Inflation - Take Your Pick"

Best regards,

Jeff Gates

928-978-4568


+++


 

Deflation, Inflation – Take Your Pick

U.S. stock markets rallied to recent highs on news that the U.S. Federal Reserve planned to pump up to $900 billion more cash into the economy. Financial markets reflect today's appraisal of tomorrow's cash flows. More cash means more flows.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke conceded early on in 2008 that the Fed was "printing money." That candor proved unsettling. This latest cash infusion instead is "quantitative easing" or "QE2."

"QE1" stabilized financial firms that cross-collateralized massive layers of debt and derivatives in a creative scheme that was destined to collapse without…more cash flow.

Insurance giant AIG booked profits by selling more than $440 billion in credit default swaps, a form of insurance, without setting aside reserves. That's when the Fed stepped in with QE1.

Voicing his admiration for "financial creativity," former Fed chair Alan Greenspan enabled this pyramiding of debt-on-debt with low interest rates and lax oversight during his 19-year tenure.

Greenspan concedes his high regard for Russian philosopher Ayn Rand (né Alisa Rosenbaum) who famously wore an oversized dollar mark as a broach. Her philosophy: grant money the freedom to work its will worldwide and everything will work out just fine.

Reflecting on the debt-induced financial carnage he helped create, Greenspan recently marveled that financial markets were not, as he and Rand believed, "self correcting." How could this True Believer have been so mistaken? Why does his successor not yet see the problem?

Answer: both men share a mindset from which the problem cannot be seen because that mindset is the filter through which they do their seeing.

This money-myopic perspective, imbedded in American education over decades, first appeared in the U.S. as the "Chicago model." The late University of Chicago Professor Milton Friedman, a Noble laureate economist, remains the patron saint of this "monetarist" perspective.

As this dollar-centric ideology was taken to global scale, it became the "Washington consensus." Generally accepted truths are seldom revisited even when, as now, a reappraisal is long overdue.

Dollar Infatuation = Deflation or Inflation

The Fed is rightly worried that the economy is slipping into a debt-induced deflation akin to Japan's "lost decade." As the U.S. deleverages, it could face a similar fate. QE2 is meant to counter deflation yet it could trigger inflation. That's the risk when banks start printing money.

WWII was triggered by an onerous reparations burden imposed on Germany at the Treaty of Versailles ending WWI. British economist John Maynard Keynes left those negotiations to publish a warning in 1919 titled The Economic Consequences of the Peace.

The resulting indignities of widespread poverty and hyperinflation fueled a hyper-nationalism from which emerged the fascist forces that ravaged Europe. The U.S. emerged with an industrial base that ensured its bonds would become the world's preferred gilt-edged security.

Keynes surfaced in the 1930s to advocate the debt-financed stimulation of demand. The 1980s saw a debt-financed "supply-side" successor—to stimulate investment. Both boosted cash flows.

With lower tax rates and faster depreciation, this Reagan-era ideology was projected to reduce government revenues by $872 billion over five years. With this stimulus, the former actor catalyzed a three-decade debt binge further enabled by the easy credit era of Alan Greenspan.

When Reagan was elected in 1980, securitized U.S. debt totaled $900 billion. The total is now on track to top $15.4 trillion. By 2020, annual interest payments alone could top $1 trillion.

Monetization of What for Whom?

How long before this cash infusion fuels inflation? That depends on how these Fed-boosted bank reserves are deployed. In the interim we'll see another massive skimming of financial value from yet another Fed-inflated equity market.

By fixating on how debt-backed dollars can revive a deflating economy, those who induced the U.S. to embrace this mindset may yet induce a debilitating inflation. The year 2013 is the 100thanniversary of the Fed. The solution lies in a willingness to view the problem anew.

Who decreed debt the only way to catalyze demand? Who says all purchasing power must be limited to one-size-fits-all Federal Reserve notes? Why not encourage complementary currencies attuned to the needs of regions and communities?

Ecologically, are Americans expected to shop their way to sustainable prosperity with debt-backed dollars? Rather than debt, why not monetize the physical capital required for a clean energy economy?

Americans are witnessing record-breaking disparities in wealth and income. Why continue on the same path that enabled this fracturing of U.S. society? Why not monetize a sustainable future with means that ensure a shared prosperity?

To solve this problem, first we must acknowledge how the U.S. was induced to embrace a mindset that requires more debt to create more purchasing power.

This problem can only be solved "upstream" commencing with a candid reappraisal of its origins in a shared mindset.

Jeff Gates is author of Guilt By Association—How Deception and Self-Deceit Took America to War. See www.criminalstate.com 


__._,_.___

Attachment(s) from ReporterNotebook

1 of 1 File(s)

Op-Ed Deflation, Inflation.doc
Recent Activity:
MARKETPLACE

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

Hobbies & Activities Zone: Find others who share your passions! Explore new interests.

Get great advice about dogs and cats. Visit the Dog & Cat Answers Center.

.

__,_._,___
Posted by at No comments:

What? - US Kills At Least 51 People In Pakistan?

 


Wikileaks Mirrors

Wikileaks is currently mirrored on 2194 web sites
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27007.htm


=


US Kills At Least 51 People In Pakistan

By The Express Tribune News

On Thursday, another US missile strike killed seven suspected militants in Khyber Agency. Local security officials said the attack was an apparent expansion of America's drone campaign in the country.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27091.htm


===


On The Run:

CIA Chief in Pakistan Leaves after Drone Trial Blows his Cover

By Declan Walsh

The officer, named in Pakistan as Jonathan Banks, left the country yesterday, after a tribesman publicly accused him of being responsible for the death of his brother and son in a CIA drone strike in December 2009. Karim Khan, a journalist from North Waziristan, called for Banks to be charged with murder and executed.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27086.htm


===


PLO 'Disappointed' Over U.S. Resolution

By Natasha Mozgovaya

The Palestinian delegation in the United States expressed its "deep disappointment" on Thursday over the resolution passed by the U.S. House, which opposes unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27089.htm


===


Zionist Lobby's New Orders For Obama

By Alan Hart

Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, California's representative Howard Berman told The Forward: "Even before I was a Democrat, I was a Zionist." This is the man, one of the Zionist lobby's most influential stooges in Congress, who introduced House Resolution 1734 which gives President Obama his new orders.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27088.htm


===


WikiLeaks: The Emperor Wears No Clothes

By John Pilger and Others

Now WikiLeaks has laid bare the lies and collusion, we pledge to not just witness but actively participate in its fight for democracy.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27092.htm


===


Protect Assange, Don't Abuse Him

By John Pilger

"Guardians of women's rights" in the British liberal press have rushed to condemn the WikiLeaks founder. In fact, at every turn in his dealings with our justice system, his basic human rights have been breached.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27087.htm

===


US Empire Could Collapse At Any Time, Pulitzer Winner

By Nathan Diebenow

"We've undergone a corporate coup d'état in slow motion," he said. "Our public education system has been gutted. Our infrastructure is corroding and collapsing. Unless we begin to physically resist, they are going to solidify neo-feudalism in this country."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27090.htm


===


Bernie Sanders Puts Barack Obama to Shame

By Matt Taibbi

In an era of Democratic waffling and compromise, the Independent from Vermont actually stands up for what he believes in.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27085.htm


===


24 people killed by US drone strikes:

At least 24 people, including a militant commander, were killed and several others injured in three separate US drone attacks in different areas of Khyber Agency, a private television news channel reported on Friday.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=17343


===


US cables: India accused of systematic use of torture in Kashmir:

Beatings and electric shocks inflicted on hundreds of civilians detained in Kashmir, US diplomats in Delhi told by ICRC
http://bit.ly/fm9JKv


===


2 NATO occupation force troops killed in Afghanistan:

A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed in eastern Afghanistan, bringing the military alliance's casualties to two on a single day Friday, the ISAF said, Xinhua reported.
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1799379.html


===


French Soldier Killed in Afghanistan : -

A French soldier was killed by insurgent fighter fire during a reconnaissance mission in the Alhasay valley in Afghanistan, President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in an e-mailed statement today
http://bit.ly/dQMzY8


===


Gains in Kandahar Came with More Brutal U.S. Tactics:

The military offensive in Kandahar, which had been opposed clearly and vocally by the local leadership in the province, was accompanied by an array of military tactics marked by increased brutality
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53900


===


Iraq: Blackwater killings: 'US at fault':

The security company formerly known as Blackwater has told a US federal judge that the US government, and not the company itself, should be held accountable for a 2007 shooting by its contractors that killed 17 Iraqis in Nisour Square in Baghdad.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/12/2010121710658402557.html


===


3 Yemen soldiers killed, 7 hurt in Abyan:

Gunmen killed three Yemeni soldiers and wounded seven others on Friday when they opened fire on a military base in the southern province of Abyan, a security official said.
http://bit.ly/fgm8cE


===


Dead man walking: Supposedly Slain al-Qaida "Terrorist" Reappears in Photo:

A key al-Qaida figure wanted by the FBI for the murder of 17 U.S. sailors aboard the USS Cole reportedly has resurfaced in Yemen despite reports two months ago that he had been killed in a CIA drone strike in Pakistan.
http://bit.ly/eH2ycm

===


House approves $160 billion for wars without debate:

Unlike during the height of the Iraq War when anti-war Democrats tried to use the legislation to force troops home, the House passed the defense bill Friday with almost no debate on Afghanistan.
http://apne.ws/fyXSO7


===


Federal Government Cuts Off Recession Relief Money To States:

Despite soaring unemployment and the 19 million Americans currently living in "deep poverty," federal funds for the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) program have entirely dried up for the first time since 1996, leaving states with an average of 15 percent less federal funding for the coming year to help an ever-increasing number of needy families.
http://huff.to/geBRMM


===


CIA accused of role in Iran suicide bombing:

Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar charged on Friday the CIA was involved in the suicide bombing in southeast Iran as the death toll rose to 36.
http://bit.ly/fhPp8k


===


In effort to end sanctions, Iran negotiating nuclear swap:

 Opinions in the United States regarding the Turkish-led negotiations are mixed. A group of U.S. Senators last month called on President Barack Obama to reject any deal until Iran completely abandons uranium enrichment efforts.
http://bit.ly/gNUrnL


===


Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran:
Perle: Israel Will Act on Iran:

Israel ultimately will have to attack Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, says Richard Perle, a key architect of President Ronald Reagan's strategy to end the Cold War.
http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/perle-iran-israel-nuclear/2010/12/16/id/380212


===

Bolivia joins neighbors in recognizing Palestinian state:

President Evo Morales makes announcement in Brazil, suggests state should be along 1967 borders, Ma'an news agency says; Abbas welcomes move, thanks Bolivia for support.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=199912


===


US House passes anti-Palestine bill:

Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, rushed to the House floor with a resolution drafted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] condemning the Palestinians for publicly suggesting that, in the wake of Netanyahu's refusal to freeze settlements and negotiate, they will consider a unilateral declaration of statehood.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2010/12/2010121611101496814.html


===

S. African politicians 'beaten up by IDF':

Parliament members say 'shoved' by soldiers during anti-Israel protest in village near Bethlehem last week. 'They fired tear gas and stun grenades at us,' one of them claims. Army: Forces used means required to end violent riot
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4000648,00.html


===


Bloggers claim WikiLeaks struck deal with Israel over diplomatic cables leaks:

Is Israel behind the publication of the WikiLeaks trove - and is it manipulating the information coming out to help Israeli interests?
http://bit.ly/gglQtC


===

How Arab governments tried to silence WikiLeaks:

An appetite for state secrets led to bans on western newspapers and hacked news websites across the Middle East
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/17/arab-governments-silenced-wikileaks


===


WikiLeaks' lesson on Haiti:

What the US embassy cables reveal about Washington's malign influence should make Latin American nations quit the UN force
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/17/haiti-wikileaks


===


Bradley Manning's health deteriorating in jail, supporters say:

The intelligence analyst suspected of leaking US diplomatic cables is being held in solitary confinement
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/16/bradley-manning-health-deteriorating


===


Julian Assange: WikiLeaks faces 'very aggressive' investigation by US:

Organisation's founder says he is reliant on public opinion to rein in 'superpower that does not appear to be following rule of law'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/17/julian-assange-wikileaks-us-investigation


===


WikiLeaks cleared of breaking Australian law:

The Australian Federal Police today said an investigation which began November 30 had detected no offences. This finding is an embarrassment to Prime Minister Julia Gillard who initially said the leaking of confidential cables to Washington from the US Embassy in Canberra was illegal.
http://bit.ly/eZXTl3


===


Russia summons US, S Korea envoys:

"We strongly call on South Korea to refrain from holding the planned artillery firing in order to prevent a further escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula," a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said.
http://presstv.ir/detail/155903.html


===


North Korea threatens to launch two retaliatory strikes over further planned artillery drills on disputed island:

North Korea has again warned its southern neighbour to stop planned artillery drills on disputed islands and said it would launch two retaliatory strikes if it failed to comply.
http://bit.ly/dVVLOG


===


Federal court blocks Obama Administration attempt to spy on cell phones without a warrant:

Federal court blocks Obama Administration attempt to spy on cell phones without a warrantThe Obama Administration's effort to obtain your location from cell phone towers without a warrant was rebuffed Wednesday by a federal court.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/obama-attempt-spy-cell-phones-overturned-federal-court/


===


Trash collectors to serve as eyes and ears in the street for police:

A former FBI agent recently trained all Waste Management drivers, helpers and technicians in Rensselaer and Albany Counties to act as a mobile community watch.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40707906


===


Washington subway police to begin random bag checks:

Officers will start random bag inspections on the sprawling Washington subway system, the Washington Metro Transit Police said on Thursday, a week after a man was arrested for making bomb threats to the rail system.
http://reut.rs/hfO8Gh


===


Federal Government Cuts Off Recession Relief Money To States:

Despite soaring unemployment and the 19 million Americans currently living in "deep poverty," federal funds for the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) program have entirely dried up for the first time since 1996, leaving states with an average of 15 percent less federal funding for the coming year to help an ever-increasing number of needy families.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/16/government-ends-recession-relief-money_n_798055.html


===


Food prices rise sharply - and there's more to come:

Grocery prices grew by more than 1 1/2 times the overall rate of inflation this year, outpaced only by costs of transportation and medical care, according to numbers released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/16/MN571GQRDL.DTL

===


Chase Foreclosure Protest: 22 Arrested In LA:

Police arrested 22 demonstrators who blocked entry to a downtown Chase bank branch Thursday to protest what they said were unfair home foreclosures.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/16/chase-foreclosure-protest_n_797974.html


===


Most Driven Into Debt by Medical Bills HAVE Health Insurance:

Between 2000 and 2003, seven in ten adults who were driven into debt by medical expenses had insurance at the time.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/12/most-driven-into-debt-by-medical-bills.html

 




__._,_.___
Recent Activity:
MARKETPLACE

Get great advice about dogs and cats. Visit the Dog & Cat Answers Center.

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

Be a homeroom hero! Help Yahoo! donate up to $350K to classrooms!

.

__,_._,___
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)