Ray McGovern and the Sam Adams party have presented the Sam Adams award to Edward Snowden. I am delighted. This from Ray’s account of the event:
In brief remarks from his visitors, Snowden was reassured — first and foremost — that he need no longer be worried that nothing significant would happen as a result of his decision to risk his future by revealing documentary proof that the U.S. government was playing fast and loose with the Constitutional rights of Americans.
Even amid the government shutdown, Establishment Washington and the normally docile “mainstream media” have not been able to deflect attention from the intrusive eavesdropping that makes a mockery of the Fourth Amendment. Even Congress is showing signs of awaking from its torpor.
In the somnolent Senate, a few hardy souls have gone so far as to express displeasure at having been lied to by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and NSA Director Keith Alexander — Clapper having formally apologized for telling the Senate Intelligence Committee eavesdropping-related things that were, in his words, “clearly erroneous” and Alexander having told now-discredited whoppers about the effectiveness of NSA’s intrusive and unconstitutional methods in combating terrorism.
Coleen Rowley, the first winner of the Sam Adams Award (2002), cited some little-known history to remind Snowden that he is in good company as a whistleblower — and not only because of previous Sam Adams honorees. She noted that in 1773, Benjamin Franklin leaked confidential information by releasing letters written by then-Lt. Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson to Thomas Whatley, an assistant to the British Prime Minister.
The letters suggested that it was impossible for the colonists to enjoy the same rights as subjects living in England and that “an abridgement of what are called English liberties” might be necessary. The content of the letters was so damaging to the British government that Benjamin Franklin was dismissed as colonial Postmaster General and had to endure an hour-long censure from British Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn.
There has been a determined attempt by government to justify the need to intercept everybody’s communications, all the time. We have, yet again, had MI5 claim there are many thousand violent Islamic terrorists running around the UK, (yet somehow not managing to kill anybody). The cry of “paedophiles” is raised, as always. I can imagine them suggesting the entire population be shot dead, and justifying it as making sure they get the paedophiles. The tabloids would go with that.
There still had not been a single credible claim by the mainstream media that any named individual has died, despite that contingency being trotted out all the time as the reason Snowden and Manning should not have revealed state crimes and abuse of power. I am hopeful that, with the internet still largely free to the dissemination of information, out next massive whistleblower is only weeks away.
Turning Blood into Money
Profiting from Killing
by Vacy Vlazna / October 16th, 2013
Warning! The Lab contains war-porn and hard-core evil; watch and weep.
( New Film Exposes the Israeli Weapon and Security Industry Director Yotam Feldman: the Israeli economy has become dependent on the massive security market. Governments act in hypocrisy when they purchase Israeli arms used against Palestinians, but criticize Israeli violence. – May 21, 13 http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10220 )
Yotam Feldman’s documentary, released in August, is one of the most important exposés of the obscene rationale and execution of Israel’s hugely lucrative arms and security industries through the voices of some of its ex-military key operators: Amos Golan, Shimon Naveh, Leo Gleser, and Yoav Galant.
Israel’s armament juggernaut currently turns over $7 billion p.a. and its phenomenal success is, as Feldman reveals, due to experience, that is, the testing of weaponry on the Palestinian population in the Israeli military ‘labs’ of Gaza and the West Bank:
‘I think the main product Israelis are selling, especially in the last decade, is experience… the testing of the products, the experience is the main thing they [customers] are coming to buy. They want the missile that was shot in the last operation in Gaza or the rifle that was used in the last West Bank incursion.’
Without blinking an eye, Benjamin Ben Eleixer, Industry Minister proudly asserts the reason for the tremendous demand for Israeli weapons and technology,
‘If Israel sells weapons, they have been tested, tried out. We can say: we’ve used this for 10 years, 15 years.’
Tested by Israeli killers on 1,398 Palestinian children murdered since 2000 and the hundreds of thousands of children who struggle with war trauma, PTSD and perpetual terror.
/..
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/10/turning-blood-into-money/
A Node
No I don’t agree that most Israelis believe in ethnic cleansing or wish to have the whole of Palestine for themselves – so I don’t believe that is the motivating factor behind why a sufficient number accept their State behaving as it does. You are really confusing cause and effect – and if you wish to follow your simplistic analysis you really are drawn to the conclusion that the only way out of the mess is for one side or another to triumph militarily over the other – perhaps with a deeper understanding of motivations and some mutual recognition of each other then such a reckoning (and the untold misery that would arise) can be avoided. Do you think that your approach contributed much to conflict resolution in Ireland or South Africa?
@ For the return of Habba and Free Speech
OK, so if you don’t agree with me, what do you believe is the underlying motivation for the continual human rights abuses by the IDF and the State of Israel?
No Mary – I wouldn’t expect much agreement with you. But rather than being negative – perhaps you might wish to suggest how you see the situation being resolved if only to reduce the suffering of the Palestinians – to my knowledge you have never once contributed your view as to the way forward but only criticised anyone who supports negotiations or who seriously wants to see some resolution. What is the way forward – driving Israel into the sea, the Hamas Charter, something else?? If you want to be taken seriously on this subject now is the time to actually offer something positive.
Now that we have the attention of the DIY brigade, why was the Almighty SILENT in Poland, Cambodia and Rwanda. Are there any lessons to be learnt? They are planting the gharqad tree all over the West Bank but will it be enough to mitigate the cause n effect? Is the comatose sharon a warning, or he is simply not wanted in Hell either? What about the sayanim trying desperately to bury the 911 phenomenon of the WTCs “exploded or free fall collapsed” in 8 seconds, are they going to be nailed for being accessories after the fact? Will trolling constitute an offence that denies any cover behind the boxtree? These and many more troubling questions.
A Node
At the simplest level I would say the underlying motivations were fear and a wish for stability – I’m afraid I don’t see the vast bulk of Israeli Jews (or anyone else for that matter) as being inherently evil, they are not a lot different from anyone else apart from having different family histories.
“why was the Almighty SILENT in Poland, Cambodia and Rwanda.”
Perhaps because there is no such thing as the Almighty – even if you believe that there was someone/thing behind creation it has always struck me as fairly nonsensical that they were able to design and control very subsequent aspect of their creation regardless of whether they wanted to or not.
@ For the return………………………
Tell us who you really are. I have an idea who lies behind the new handle.
And after you with the suggestions. Not more peace talks à la B.Liar, Bibi and Kerry please? They are a fiction, a joke, flim flam. A second state? No way as there is hardly anything left for the Palestinian people, just Bantustans. One state with equal representation for EVERY citizen? No you wouldn’t have that. The Zionist Israelis might be outnumbered.
There can be only one motivation for Israel to treat the Palestinians the way they do.
http://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/israel-palestine_map_19225_2469.jpg
Mary
I was previously anon – and apart from what I say that is all I shall reveal – but I’m not Habba, Villager or anyone else for that matter.
You have said what the end objective is – but what is your road map (or anything else) for getting there. I might also ask what would be the religious status of your State, what constitutional protections there would be for minority rights, what protection there is for property rights acquired post 1948 etc. etc. – but that is all pretty meaningless until there is some plan for the achievement of this State.
Andy
You are confusing cause and effect – it should also be noted that some of the maps you display are just plain lies – there were Jews in Palestine in 1917 and before – at the turn of the century it is estimated that Jews made up about 10% of the population but your map has wiped them out – and are clearly as politically biased as those of the idiots who talk about Eretz Israel. Such games just entrench prejudices rather than reduce them I’m afraid.
Who was it here who was jeering at the reports of the oil spill in N. Dakota? Just a little drop. No more than a swimming pool* full we were told, etc etc.
More here.
Over 865,200 Gallons of Fracked Oil Spilled
The North Dakota Oil Spill You Didn’t Hear About
by STEVE HORN
Over 20,600 barrels of oil fracked from the Bakken Shale has spilled from a Tesoro Logistics pipeline in Tioga, North Dakota in one of the biggest onshore oil spills in recent U.S. history.
Though the spill occurred on September 29, the U.S. National Response Center- tasked with responding to chemical and oil spills – did not make the report available until October 8 due to the ongoing government shutdown.
“The center generally makes such reports available on its website within 24 hours of their filing, but services were interrupted last week because of the U.S. government shutdown,” explained Reuters
/..
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/17/the-north-dakota-oil-spill-you-didnt-hear-about/
*PS Some swimming pool. This is the capacity of a 50m Olympic size pool –
Volume Based on a nominal depth of 2 m, this is 2,500,000 L (550,000 imp gal; 660,000 US gal)
or, in terms of cubic volume, 2,500 m3 (88,000 cu ft), as is commonly quoted.
~~~
Caroline Lucas, bless her heart for speaking out and standing up to the injustices, appeared at Crawley Magistrates yesterday for her protest at Balcombe. She goes to a Crown Court in the New Year with four others.
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10741156.Caroline_Lucas_pleads_not_guilty_to_fracking_protest_charges/
All the reports, the one above, Independent, Mail, etc contain a reference to the presence of a supporter in court who used to be a page 3 girl. Totally irrelevant. A silly attempt to belittle Caroline perhaps?
@ For the return of Habba and Free Speech 17 Oct, 2013 – 1:06 pm (in response to his own question about the underlying motivation for the continual human rights abuses by the IDF and the State of Israel)
I question both your reasons.
(1) I don’t believe Israelis need to be, or are afraid of the Palestinians. Their settlers demonstrate this every day by freely attacking Palestinian mosques, orchards, schools, children, etc. They’re protected by an illegal unassaillable wall. They control everything that enters and leaves Palestine. Their overwhelming military superiority is unhampered by concerns for civilian casualties. If you intend to cite homemade rockets as justification for this “fear”, please address these considerations: there is justifiable doubt about who is actually firing them, given who benefits most from their existence, and more Israelis die from bee stings than rockets.
(2) How do the continual human rights abuses by the IDF and the State of Israel increase stability?
Mary
I was not jeering at the oil spill reports in North Dakota – I just made the point that there was no MSM conspiracy not to report the spill when it was first notified as a 750 barrel spill to the authorities – and that the MSM did report it when the size of the spill became apparent (they said it covered an area of 7 football pitches – so I have no idea where you got your swimming pool reference from). Please do not twist and distort what I said – especially when what I said is on record.
A node
Motivations do not have to be rational – they can be based on a whole load of other factors including past history in different circumstances. Just understand the motivations and fears of the other side and then try and address/allay them then there is a chance of progress – and this applies to both sides of the argument.
Mary, the government, its media and its law administrators are owned by big money. That big money has been invested in fracking, as an investment. Caroline Lucas is a committed individual who, like other concerned individuals, is against this investment, so the BBC, government and law administrators attack those who are concerned, while failing to report the oil-spillage. These people are sick. Money is their only concern.
We need a new start where money is not the focal point, but society and its needs, is.
Jon, sorry to see you go. Perhaps we’ll bump into each other one day on our bikes, not literally you understand. You’ve done an excellent job in very trying circumstances. Thanks.
For the return of Habba and Free Speech 17 Oct, 2013 – 1:59 pm
You agree that Israel has no rational need to fear Palestine, and although you didn’t answer my second point, I’m sure we can agree that the continual human rights abuses by the IDF and the State of Israel do not increase stability.
So you are saying that the underlying motivation for the continual human rights abuses by the IDF and the State of Israel is an irrational fear held by Israelis. However it is Israeli military chiefs and politicians who dictate policy. Do you include them amongst these irrational belief holders? If so, you are saying that Israel’s policy towards Palestine is irrational. If not you are saying ….
(a) Israel’s leaders are using fears they know to be irrational to justify inflicting continual human rights abuses upon Palestinians.
or
(b) fear is not the underlying motivation for the continual human rights abuses by the IDF and the State of Israel, in which case, I ask you again, what is it?
Please clarify your position.
In scrolling (not trolling) through yesterday’s comments I came across a couple by KingofWelshNoir (aka Malcolm Pryce). It is comment-makers like Malcolm who have helped raise the standard of comments and it was good to have his brief input again. Since I last saw a comment by him I read his latest Louis Knight mystery set in Aberystwyth and called ‘The Day Aberystwyth stood still’.
Louis Knight is a private-eye like no other. He is almost the Mike Hammer antithesis without the Yankee accent. Knight ends up as much on the receiving end as his anti-heroes but this is a send-up of the genre and a jolly good adventure. Enjoyed the read very much and look forward to purchasing his other books in due course. The novel left me with mixed feelings of grottedness and ingrottedness. It’s that kind of book.
Suggest others take a look at the list if not for themselves to brighten up somebody else’s life. If you’re short of ideas for Christmas presents here are six to be getting on with.
£50 Malcolm (just joking).
http://www.malcolmpryce.com/novels.html
John,
Had no idea KingofWelshNoir was a published author. I checked out the page you linked and all of the books come up as “Sorry, this publication is not available”. I see they are all on Amazon though at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Malcolm-Pryce/e/B001HOQAZC/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Malcolm, if you see this could you check your website please.
AlcAnon
all the book links works for me (firefox 24 on linux mint), in fact each opens to a very pleasing high res cover graphic with an option to read samples.
“China’s official news agency has called for the creation of a “de-Americanised world”, saying the destinies of people should not be left in the hands of a hypocritical nation with a dysfunctional government.
Heaping criticism and caustic ridicule on Washington, the Xinhua news agency called the US a civilian slayer, prisoner torturer and meddler in others’ affairs, and said the ‘Pax Americana’ was a failure on all fronts. ”
Pretty rich coming from the Chinese.
http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/china
John Goss, hi there my friend! Thanks for the kind words. I’ll give the £50 to my local pub landlord for safe keeping, ha ha. I’ve missed you and the other good people on here. (You there Dreoilin?) I hope the blog returns to its previous stellar heights at some point in the future. Clicking onto this site is a bit like going to the pub and seeing a load of familiar faces. And one feels a bit at a loose end when one doesn’t go. But this pub seems to have run out of beer at the moment.
Anyway, I hope you are well and stay well.
AlcAnon
Hi there. I’m not sure what the problem is, it seems to work OK on my browser – Safari. Are you on an iPad or something?
Kempe 17 Oct, 2013 – 3:22 pm
mixed messages.
This much milder statement is all I can find in China’s People’s Daily Online which also uses Xinhua news agency :
http://english.people.com.cn/90883/8428644.html
Malcolm,
I’m on firefox/linux. I see the books are presented In Adobe Flash which starts up in the window but doesn’t display the book for me. I just tried it on my Android phone and it worked fine there (I have Flash installed on it). It may be a Flash on Linux problem. Anyone else tried it on linux?
Android’s out of the box these days don’t normally have Flash installed but you can still manually install it from the Adobe website.
“Pretty rich coming from the Chinese”
Re calling the US “a civilian slayer, prisoner torturer and meddler in others’ affairs”, what’s not true ?
If a murderer points out that a mass murderer is obviously out of control, it doesn’t mean that the mass murderer is not out of control.
“You agree that Israel has no rational need to fear Palestine,”
No I didn’t say that – what I was trying to say was that fears come from a whole variety of sources – trying to work out which are rational and which are not doesn’t necessarily solve anything – the point is that they should be addressed. I don’t think leaders or most other people analyse fears according to rationality – it might be nice if they did but they don’t.
Similarly with stability – it might be rational to say that IDF operations and/or human rights abuses do not create stability but I’m afraid that is not the perception among many Israelis.
You may say that the Israeli Jews have no rational fears from Hamas’s home made rockets or being forced to leave Israel (despite them having been forced to leave Eastern Europe and many other Arab countries in the past) but that is not their perception – and I’m afraid that what needs to be dealt with.
It would be very easy to flip the coin to the other side and look at the fears of the Palestinians as well. Progress is usually made in most successful dispute resolutions when both sides start to understand and address the others fears – tell me that this didn’t happen in Ireland or South Africa.
I am here, Malcolm. I was just about to jump in and say I’ve read Aberystwyth Mon Amour – and enjoyed it very much. I did wonder if there might have been local references I didn’t “get”, having only spent one night in Aberystwyth in my twenties. Wales is very familiar to me, but not Aberystwyth per se.
Mary,
Going back to your post of 1159, I think it is a good thing that Prince Charles spoke out about the short term investment policies which are pursued by the largest pension providers. Yes he is wealthy, something I have no problem with, but the fact he is willing to speak out on behalf on other pensioners who do not share his financial security is a good thing as far as I am concerned.
For the return of Habba and Free Speech 17 Oct, 2013 – 3:50 pm (in reference to his own question about the underlying motivation for the continual human rights abuses by the IDF and the State of Israel)
Well, say so now. Do you think that Israel has a rational need to fear Palestine?