There's Something Very Odd about GOP Primary Pre-polling and Vote

Source: Activist Post
Eric Blair

Okay.  It's time somebody says it. Something seems very strange about the GOP primary pre-polling and vote thus far.

As a Ron Paul fan, I didn't want to seem like a sore loser after the odd Iowa result where the failed no-name Senator, Rick Santorum, was catapulted to victory with very little tangible support.

But now, how on earth could Newt Gingrich win the South Carolina primary when the day before the vote he had to cancel a major campaign stop because of lack of attendance?

The Associated Press reported:

Newt Gingrich has cancelled a campaign appearance in South Carolina because of poor attendance. 

The Republican presidential candidate was scheduled to speak to the Southern Republican Leadership on Friday. But a campaign spokesman told reporters that he would no longer be appearing due to poor attendance. 

There were just a few dozen people in the audience at the College of Charleston's arena, where the event was taking place.

Meanwhile, on the same day Ron Paul boasted over 1000 attendees at his campaign event in Charleston:

2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul attracted more than 1,000 supporters in Charleston today, demonstrating his strong support among younger voters and his overall popularity. 

The crowd gathered expressly for the 12-term Congressman from Texas as he participated in “The Bully Pulpit Series” at 11:00 a.m. EST at the College of Charleston, located at 7 College Way, Charleston. The candidate had been in Washington the day prior for a key House vote against President Obama raising the debt ceiling, but upon his return there was apparently no loss of enthusiasm.

Corbett Report Radio - Deconstructing the Panopticon

Source: Corbett Report
James Corbett

The Panopticon is the perfect prison — an architectural idea that embodies the rule of the many by the few. But it has a secret weakness, one that the system doesn’t want you to know about: it only works if you fear it. Tonight on Corbett Report Radio we dig a tunnel out of the panopticon prison by exposing the truth and dispelling the fear.

 

Works Cited:

Corbett Report Podcast Episode 035 – The Panopticon
India enrolling over 1 billion people in world’s largest biometric database
Welcome to the Panopticon
The Last Word on CCTV
Charles Farrier on No CCTV (UK)

NEO-NAZISM: United Nations Anti-Nazi Resolution and Falsification of History

Source: Global Research
Carla Stea

Iran, Israel, Syria, Russia United in UN General Assembly Vote against Neo-Nazism

On December 19, 2011, in an extraordinary vote, Iran, Israel and Syria united in support of United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/66/460 on “Inadmissibility of Certain Practices That Contribute to Fuelling Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.” The resolution was adopted by a majority vote of 134, with 24 opposed and 31 abstentions. Among the 32 co-sponsors of the Resolution were, notably, Iran, Syria, Belarus, the Russian Federation, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Venezuela, Viet Nam. The resolution states:

4. “Expresses deep concern about the glorification of the Nazi movement and former members of the Waffen SS organization, including by erecting monuments and memorials and holding public demonstrations in the name of the glorification of the Nazi past, the Nazi movement and neo-Nazism, as well as by declaring or attempting to declare such members and those who fought against the anti-Hitler Coalition and collaborated with the Nazi movement participants in national liberation movements.

5. “Expresses concern at recurring attempts to desecrate or demolish monuments erected in remembrance of those who fought against Nazism during the Second World War, as well as to unlawfully exhume or remove the remains of such persons, and in this regard urges States to fully comply with their relevant obligations, inter alia, under Article 34 of Additional Protocol 1 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

8. Stresses that the practices described above do injustice to the memory of the countless victims of crimes against humanity committed in the Second World War, in particular those committed by the SS organizations and those who fought against the anti-Hitler coalition and collaborated with the Nazi movement, and poison the minds of young people, and that failure by States to effectively address such practices is incompatible with the obligation of States members of the United Nations under its Charter and is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Organization.”

In 1945 George Braziller published Michael Sayers and Albert E. Kahn’s “The Plot Against the Peace,” which documents, in chapter 6, the nazi doctrine’s explicitly defined policy of xenophobia and racial genocide against the Slavic peoples and the Jews:

“Immediately after Hitler came to power, the Nazi government launched a systematic campaign aimed at the ultimate extermination of the Jewish population of the Third Reich…” But “It was against the Slav peoples, the traditional enemy of Pan-Germanism, that the policy of genocide was most extensively applied…’It will be one of the chief tasks of German statesmanship,’ Hitler told Hermann Rauschning, ‘for all time to prevent, by every means in our power, the further increase of the Slav races.’” (From “The Plot Against the Peace,” by Sayers and Kahn, 1945).

By the end of World War II, in addition to the six million Jews exterminated by the Nazis, approximately 30 million Soviet citizens had been exterminated, only one third of whom had been soldiers. 

Russia and BRICS Nations Warn West to Back Off Iran and Syria

Source: The Hindu

Russia warned the West against military intervention in Iran and Syria and rejected unilateral sanctions against the two nations.

Military action against Iran would have “catastrophic consequences,” Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

Mr. Lavrov told an annual press conference that Moscow is seriously concerned about the threat of a military operation against Iran and is “doing its best to prevent it.” He said the war would provoke an exodus of refugees from Iran to Azerbaijan and Russia, would pour fuel into the simmering Shia-Sunni conflict and trigger a chain reaction.

The press conference was devoted to Russia's foreign policy in 2011, but Mr. Lavrov's tough language suggested that Moscow was bracing up for hardnosed confrontation with the West in 2012.

Mr. Lavrov said the West's unilateral sanctions against Iran, such as the proposed oil embargo, were “aimed at suffocating the Iranian economy” and “inciting popular discontent.”

He said Iran was ready for a resumption of talks with international mediators and hinted that Europe and the United States were imposing new sanctions at this juncture with the specific purpose of torpedoing further negotiations.

The Russian Foreign Minister said Moscow would block any Western attempts to obtain United Nations mandate for military interference in Syria. A draft resolution submitted by Russia states that all Security Council members refrain from interference and use of force in Syria. Mr. Lavrov said it was self-revealing that Western powers were trying hard to remove from the Russian draft the part stating that “nothing in the present resolution can be interpreted as allowing the use of force against Syria by any party.”

At the same time, China and the other members of the BRICS group have thrown their support behind the Russian draft, Mr. Lavrov said. 

Media Monarchy - Episode 247

Source: Media Monarchy
James Evan Pilato

 

"all aboard, the sinking ship is leaving" for an epic episode247 from media monarchy w/ synching ships, titanic memes, truth music & the catch 2012 hand jive - memorial martin, copywrong quotes & a classical newspurge - pure energy & strange sounds in cyber/space\war - holy rollers & ritual america on holy hexes - kraft work & home king on food world order + max sounds from sloan, johnny otis, information society, moon mullican, nrbq, idlewild & tons more...

COMPLETE CONTENTS OF EPISODE247

Iran's Press TV loses UK licence

Source: BBC

Iranian news network Press TV has had its licence revoked by the media regulator Ofcom and will no longer be allowed to broadcast in the UK. 

Ofcom said the state broadcaster's English language outlet had breached several broadcasting licence rules over editorial control of the channel. 

Press TV has also failed to pay a £100,000 fine imposed last year.

The channel called the decision "a clear example of censorship". It will be removed from Sky on 20 January. 

The £100,000 fine was imposed last year after the network broadcast an interview with imprisoned Newsweek and Channel 4 journalist Maziar Bahari, which the Ofcom said had been conducted under duress.

Ofcom said Press TV had "indicated it is unwilling and unable to pay".

It was during the investigation into the Bahari interview that the media regulator formed the impression that editorial decisions on the channel were being controlled by the offices in Tehran, instead of the UK. 

Press TV was given the opportunity to respond and make the relevant amendments needed to comply with the broadcasting code, but "failed to make the necessary application", Ofcom said. 

In a statement issued to the BBC, Press TV's newsroom director Mr Hamid Emadi said: "We asked Ofcom if Press TV Limited did not have control over the broadcast, why was it getting fined, if it did have control, why would the licence be revoked? 

"Ofcom contradictions are nothing new for Press TV. The British government's tool to control the media has, on several occasions, changed its decisions regarding Press TV in its two-year campaign against the alternative news channel."

The statement also claimed that Ofcom, which it called "the media arm of the Royal family", had failed to respond to a letter sent by its Chief Executive earlier this month.

Press TV channel launched in 2007 to break what Iran's state broadcaster called a Western "stranglehold" over the world's media.

Target Iran: Dystopian, Morally Challenged World Where Nuclear Scientists Are Killed

Source: RIR
Rakesh Krishnan Simha

Target Iran: The morality of killing nuclear scientists

The serial murder of Iranian nuclear scientists is a pointer to the West’s moral compass. It is also a sign of desperation and double standards.

“Physics is an unhealthy line of work in today’s Iran,” begins an editorial in the Australian newspaper “The Age”. The jibe follows the murder of an Iranian nuclear scientist by a motorcycle riding assassin. “I shall not shed any tears whenever one of these scientists encounters the unforgiving men on motorbikes, men who live in the real world rather than a laboratory or philosophy seminar,” the morally challenged writer continues.

What kind of dystopian world is the writer living in? When did scientists become legitimate targets and hired killers turn heroic? For several decades now Australia, in lockstep with its Western allies, has parroted the drivel that terrorism in all forms must be condemned. But because the dead scientists all worked for Iran, it’s okay to gloat.

Five strikes

Five Iranian nuclear scientists have been attacked in the past two years. In the latest job on January 11, a magnetic bomb was attached to the door of 32-year-old Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan’s car during morning rush-hour in the capital, Tehran. His driver was also killed and two others seriously injured.

Last year among the four scientists attacked, the most spectacular – and tragic – incident was on July 23 when Darioush Rezaeinejad was shot through the throat outside his daughter’s kindergarten.

The official, and expected, response to these murders is the “we condemn” line from Western governments. However, the unofficial statements are a stark pointer to the West’s moral compass.

“On occasion,” gloated Republican presidential hopeful and gay-bashing, Christian fundamentalist Rick Santorum, “scientists working on the nuclear programme in Iran turn up dead. I think that’s a wonderful thing, candidly.”

And smiling for the cameras in a televised press conference Israel Defence Forces (IDF) chief Benny Gantz spoke about “unnatural events” that were delaying Iran’s nuclear push.

The gloating didn’t end there. “I don’t know who settled the score with the Iranian scientist, but I certainly am not shedding a tear,” the IDF’s Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai said on Facebook.

U.S. NATO Actions Make Russia-China Alliance More Urgent

Source: Global Times
US actions make China-Russia alliance appealing

As US aircraft carrier groups gather in the Arabian Sea, a showdown between Iran and the West is rumbling on. If a war erupts, this will be another upshot of the US pursuit of absolute national security. 

Mainstream forces in Washington are trying to sell a ludicrous standpoint to the American people: that it is worthwhile bearing financial costs and even losing some lives to confront lurking dangers to US security in the Middle East.

This is not a rational analysis, but rather a pious belief in US politics. With an appetite for national security causes, the US becomes increasingly meticulous in eliminating potential challenges.

The US has somewhat defused two powder kegs in the Middle East: Iraq and Afghanistan. It also helped bring about the fall of Slobodan Milosevic and Yugoslavia. Now it is preparing for a potential confrontation with Iran, and appears confident of another successful air strike.

Such a demonstration of armed might makes powers like Russia and China increasingly nervous. 

By stirring up other powers’ sense of insecurity, the US is actually undermining its own interests. Its security paranoia instills many uncertainties into global dynamics and into the US itself. 

If the West slides into a war with Iran, the damages will not be any lower than the potential threat of Iran’s nuclear power.

Perhaps the US is used to resorting to war to solve geopolitical problems. But many worry that such a mentality will sooner or later lead to a US clash with Russia and China. So far Moscow and Beijing are relatively restrained, though NATO seeks to expand its strategic presence in East Europe and US strengthening its military alliances in Asia. But the two cannot fall back forever.

Corbett Report Radio - MegaUpload Down and Food World Order

Source: Corbett Report and Food World Order

James Corbett and James Evan Pilato

In the wake of the SopaStrike the DOJ moves to take down Megaupload. Now Anonymous is on a rampage to strike back. Is this the revolution or all a part of the psy-op? Join us tonight on Corbett Report Radio as we break it all down and talk to James Evan Pilato about all the latest in the Food World Order.

Works Cited:

DOJ Gives Its Opinion On SOPA By Unilaterally Shutting Down ‘Foreign Rogue Site’ Megaupload… Without SOPA/PIPA
If SOPA’s Main Target Is The Pirate Bay, It’s Worth Pointing Out That ThePirateBay.org Is Immune From SOPA
Anonymous Goes on Megaupload Revenge Spree: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music All Offline
Anonymous goes nuclear; everybody loses?
Five key senators abandon online piracy bills amid Web protests
As If You Needed Another Reason to Hate F*cking GoDaddy
What is a DDOS attack? (xkcd)
A Gut Check for Many Ailments
BASF to Stop Selling Genetically Modified Products in Europe
1/19 binge & purge: fakes, fads & gmo omg!

Escalating Cyber War Spells Trouble for Internet Freedom

Source: Activist Post
Eric Blair

The cyber war escalated to a whole new level yesterday. The U.S. government shut down the popular website MegaUpload at the behest of corporate interests. The Feds accused MegaUpload of stealing $500 million in potential lost revenue from copyright holders.

Almost immediately, the hacktivist group Anonymous retaliated by launching massive DDoS attacks on several websites including the US Copyright Office, Department of Justice, FBI.gov, Universal Music Group, Music Picture Association of America, and the Recording Industry Association of America. The attack called “Operation MegaUpload” is also said to be targeting Whitehouse.gov.

Many Internet freedom and privacy activists are cheering Anonymous’ assault against the U.S. Government and the corporate interests that control it. But I’m getting the eerie feeling that Anonymous is playing right into the hands of those who wish to control and censor the Internet.

First, I must state unequivocally that the U.S. government and the copyright holders are clearly the aggressors in this war. Their actions violate current copyright laws where the content providers must prove damages in the court of law before they can sabotage and ransack a business they accuse of stealing. Even though a grand jury supposedly indicted MegaUpload, it’s nearly impossible for them to prove “potential lost revenue” since those engaged in file sharing cannot automatically be considered lost customers.  

Because of this conundrum, copyright holders instead lobbied the government to change the laws to legalize this form of censorship through blunt force and without due process. It seems that since the sought-after legislation, SOPA, has been recently shelved due to universal protest, the State was compelled to act above the law to destroy those sharing information on the Web.

Even more suspicious is that some of the chief copyright holders pushing for these new guilty-until-proven-innocent laws were the ones who developed, promoted, and profited from file sharing in the first place. Again, it’s all beginning to feel like a set-up designed to justify Internet censorship, which is clearly the end game for the powers that be.

Thus the cyber war seems to be heading in the same direction as all literal and figurative wars do. Let’s remember that the public never wins in war. War always justifies atrocities against freedom and proves devastating for infrastructure. Fighting fire with fire very rarely results in anything but destruction. And it’s far easier to destroy something than to create a solution.

Iran Suspects UN Had a Role in Nuke Scientist Murder

Source: RT

Iran is suspicious that UN agencies may have given away information which aided the murder of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan on January 11. 

Iranian deputy UN ambassador Eshagh Al Habib told the UN Security Council on Thursday that there was “high suspicion” that, in order to prepare the murder, terrorist circles used intelligence obtained from UN bodies. According to him, this included interviews with Iranian nuclear scientists carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the sanction list of the Security Council, Reuters news agency reports.

Officials observed that prior to the murder, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan had talked to IAEA inspectors, a fact which “indicates that these UN agencies may have played a role in leaking information on Iran's nuclear facilities and scientists."

Although the UN Security Council’s list of sanctioned individuals does not include Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, it does bear the name of Fereidoun Abbasi-Davani, who was wounded in a Tehran car bomb attack in November, 2010.

Eshagh Al Habib accused the United Nations of failing to guarantee the confidentiality of the information it obtains about the Iranian nuclear program and nuclear scientists. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky says he is currently investigating the claims. 

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, who was overseeing Iran’s uranium enrichment program, is one of five Iranian nuclear specialists killed in the last two years. He was murdered by one or more motorbike hit men who allegedly planted a magnetic bomb on his car or, alternatively, dropped a bomb inside the car during the morning rush hour.  Iran accused American and Israeli intelligence of carrying out the murder – a charge both countries deny.

The Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear activities. Western countries believe Iran’s nuclear program has military dimensions.  However Tehran maintains it is peaceful, and the IAEA has failed to produce any evidence of concrete plans to develop a nuclear arsenal.

Empire, Power, and People with Andrew Gavin Marshall - Episode 2

Source: Boiling Frogs Post
Andrew Gavin Marshall

Power, Propaganda, and Purpose in American Democracy

This podcast examines a concept of power that emerged in the early 20th century United States, born of social unrest and elite fears of revolution, this new conception sought to redefine democracy for the 20th century. That new definition was based upon using propaganda in order to “engineer consent” of the masses – “the bewildered herd” – as they were referred to, with the purpose of allowing the modern industrial democratic society to be run by an intellectual elite in service to the financial wealth of the nation. Democracy, then, came to be: of the few, by the few, for the few, and with the ‘consent’ of the many.

SOPA Backout, SCOTUS Copywrong, Abuse Archives - New World Next Week

Source: Corbett Report and Media Monarchy

Welcome to New World Next Week — the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news. This week:

Story #1: SOPA Is Back As Websites Go Black
http://ur1.ca/7kay8
Update: Five Key Senators Abandon Online Piracy Bills Amid Web Protests
http://ur1.ca/7kayc
Related: Corbett Report Radio 052 – Solutions: People Power
http://ur1.ca/7kdyh

Story #2: SCOTUS Says Congress May ‘Re-Copyright’ Public Domain Works
http://ur1.ca/7kayf
Flashback: White House Wants New Copyright Law Crackdown
http://ur1.ca/7kaym

Story #3: Lawyer Challenges Catholics to Open Secret Archives for Abuse Truth
http://ur1.ca/7kays
Related: Belgian Officials Search Bishops’ Offices in Abuse Inquiry
http://ur1.ca/7kayw

Rick Santorum Defends SOPA

Source: YouTube

"Every freedom must be regulated" - Rick Santorum, the champion of tyranny.

Does Might Make Right? The US Now Threatens Countries Who Buy Iranian Oil

Source: PressTV

Trying to flex its muscles again, the United States want the world to go along with its demands. And this time it wants the world to boycott Iranian oil or be punished by Washington.

According to Chinese authorities, Washington wants the world to listen to them based on their own domestic law, and that is simply not right.

Corbett Report Radio - Solutions: People Power

Source: Corbett Report
James Corbett

With so much dire news making headlines, from the NDAA to the growth of the police state to the war with Iran, it’s easy to be tricked into thinking that the march toward the New World Order is inevitable. Tonight on The Corbett Report we expose the pessimism psy-op and show how time and time again, on issue after issue from civil liberties to health freedoms to anti-globalization, all of the power is in the hands of the people.

 

Works Cited:

Mario Savio: Sproul Hall Steps, December 2, 1964
SOPAstrike.com
DNS provision pulled from SOPA, victory for opponents
SOPA is Back in Action and Off the “Shelf” Just In Time for the Blackouts
Five key senators abandon online piracy bills amid Web protests
As If You Needed Another Reason to Hate F*cking GoDaddy
December 29th Is Leave GoDaddy Day
Go Daddy No Longer Supports SOPA
Open Thread: How to Undo ObamaCare
TSA chief says ‘opt-out’ boycott would be a mistake
TSA Opt-Out Protest Likely Ineffective
TSA turns off naked body scanners to avoid opt-out day protests
Some Gulf Troops Refusing Vaccine Against Anthrax
Judge Halts Forced Anthrax Vaccines
Half of U.S. Military Personnel Refuse Anthrax Shot
Soldier faces threats from military after refusing anthrax vaccine
N.Y. health care workers protest mandatory H1N1 flu shots
C’mon health workers, get your swine flu shots
British Nurses refuse to have the swine flu vaccination
Update on New York Mandatory H1N1 Vaccinations
Federal advisers endorse testing anthrax vaccine in children
Calgary removing fluoride from water supply
Lakeshore removes fluoride from water supply

Iran Threatens To Torpedo US Aircrafts

Source: Prison Planet
Paul Joseph Watson

Three US warships stationed in waters near Strait of Hormuz

A senior Iranian military commander has warned that Iran has the capability to sink US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf using detection-evading submarines that can fire torpedoes.

Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army’s Self-Sufficiency Jihad Rear Admiral Farhad Amiri, “Stated that Iran’s submarines are able to ambush and hit enemy vessels specially US Aircraft carriers from the seabed throughout the Persian Gulf,” reports the Fars News Agency.

Amiri said that while the United States was focused on Iran’s surface capabilities, the greater threat was posed by its fleet of submarines which, “Are noiseless and can easily evade detection as they are equipped with the sonar-evading technology and can fire missiles and torpedoes simultaneously.”

Amiri added that the submarines could “easily target and hit an aircraft carrier traversing in the nearby regions.”

After the US sailed the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier through the Strait of Hormuz in the midst of Iranian wargames, Iranian Army Commander Major General Ataollah Salehi warned America to keep its warships out of the region.

The US has made it clear that should Iran try to block the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil choke point, a “red line” will have been crossed.

Three US aircraft carriers are now stationed just outside Iranian waters, in addition to 15,000 troops that were sent to Kuwait at the end of last week.

A massive joint naval drill between the US and Israel that was set to coincide with Iranian wargames later this month was postponed earlier this week, with explanations varying as to why the exercise was called off.

Russia, which has its own warships stationed in the region, today reiterated its opposition to a military strike on Iran, with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warning an attack would be a “catastrophe” for relations between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has stated that Israel is still “very far off” a decision on whether not not to attack Iran over its nuclear program.

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

Ron Paul Moves To Repeal Indefinite Detention Of American Citizens Without Trial

Source: MOXNews

In a break from his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Paul took to the House floor to speak out against the NDAA's Section 1021, which allows the government to detain without trial individuals who have "substantially supported al Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States." Paul and other opponents of the section's language fear that the legislation could lead to Americans being detained without due process.

Internet Blackout Highlights Failure of American Politics

Source: Activist Post
J.G. Vibes

Our whole lives we have been told that we have “freedom”, that we live in a “democracy”, that “we the people” have the ability to choose the kind of society in which we want to live.

However, if you ask most Americans what kind of place they want, I guarantee you that a vast majority would disagree with almost every government action that has been put forward in their lifetime.

If we truly lived in a free society, we would not be in a half-dozen wars across the planet; we would not be subject to authoritarian policies such as the PATRIOT act and the NDAA; and the government would not have grown to become the biggest and most menacing dictatorship in the history of the world.  It seems that in the past year these major events have really resonated with a great number of people, not just in this country, but throughout the world.

In the past, the oppressed would beg and plead with the very people who were responsible for their condition because they knew no other way of affecting change in society.  People would ask the government to change their ways because they were under the impression that those in authority actually cared about them.  After generations of failing to create change through politics, people are now shifting the direction of their message towards one another, instead of pleading with politicians and organizations that don’t care about anyone but themselves.

With the recent protests surrounding SOPA and PIPA, we have really seen this new method of protest becoming more pronounced.  Sure, there are still millions drafting petitions and thousands joining marches and making signs.  However, nowadays these people don’t seem to be petitioning their government; it seems that more and more they are petitioning their fellow citizens.  This is because the government is an obstacle; one which stands between the people and their freedom.  Therefore, it is completely impossible to solely use the government as a tool to achieve freedom; this would be like trying to use a hammer to fix a broken computer, in both cases you’re only going to make the problem worse.

Luckily, most Americans have learned all of this just in time for the pivotal votes this month regarding online privacy.  SOPA and PIPA may seem unimportant when compared with the police state, the military industrial complex, genetically modified food and banking cartels, but if you think about it, without the Internet we would have an immense amount of difficulty dealing with any of the aforementioned problems.  Thanks to the Internet, these issues have gone from taboo subjects to national issues in just a matter of years, which is the whole reason for the rollout of the SOPA and PIPA acts to begin with.

Many of us sat and watched horrified from our homes, as Obama signed the NDAA into law, after he promised us that he wouldn’t.  With this betrayal still fresh in the public consciousness, fewer people are downplaying the authoritarian moves that our government is making, and of those people even fewer are considering politics as a viable method of achieving social change.

The Secret Behind SOPA

Source: Prison Planet
Paul Joseph Watson

It’s the end of the Internet as we know it

The secret behind SOPA, the so-called anti-piracy bill which is today the target of an unprecedented backlash with Wikileaks and other major websites ‘going dark’ to protest the legislation, has nothing to do with piracy or copyright theft – it’s about the formal effort to mimic Communist China’s system of Internet censorship.

But don’t take our word for it, listen to what Joe Lieberman, co-sponsor of PIPA, SOPA’s sister version in the Senate, said about the purpose behind the US government’s efforts to control the Internet under the guise of cybersecurity.

Lieberman characterized fears that the US government would use such powers to censor political content as “total misinformation,” yet goes on to admit that the purpose behind the agenda is to mimic China’s ability to “disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war,” adding, “we need that here too”.

Of course, Communist China’s “war” is not against foreign terrorists or hackers, it’s targeted against people who dare to use the Internet to express dissent against government atrocities or corruption. China’s system of Internet policing is about crushing freedom of speech and has nothing to do with legitimate security concerns as Lieberman well knows.

Having largely failed in his bid to use fears over cyberwarfare, bearing in mind it was the United States and Israel who launched the Stuxnet attack, to achieve the ultimate goal of Internet control, Lieberman has returned with the same agenda only under a different guise – the Protect Intellectual Property Act – of which he is the co-sponsor.

Whether the justification is cybersecurity or anti-piracy, the end game remains the ability to seize control over the Internet and shut down websites on a whim.

Pressure Israel, Not Iran. Israel has an Arsenal of 200-300 Nuclear Weapons

Source: Global Research
Prof. Marjorie Cohn

Neocons in Israel and the United States are escalating their rhetoric to prepare us for war with Iran. Even the infamous John Yoo, architect of George W. Bush’s illegal torture and spying programs, is calling on the Republican presidential candidates to “begin preparing the case for a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.”

Under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has the legal right to produce nuclear power for peaceful purposes. The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found no evidence that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently said on CBS that Iran is not currently trying to build a nuclear weapon. 

Nevertheless, the United States and Israel are mounting a campaign of aggression against Iran. The United States has imposed punishing sanctions against Iran that are crippling Iran’s economy, and pressuring other countries and strong-arming financial institutions to stop buying oil from Iran, the world’s third largest exporter.  The Obama administration is also preparing new punitive measures that target the Central Bank of Iran. And the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass the Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011 which would outlaw any contact between U.S. government employees and some Iranian officials.

There is also evidence that Israel, with the possible assistance of the United States, has orchestrated the assassinations of at least five Iranian nuclear scientists or engineers since 2007. The New York Times reported: “The campaign, which experts believe is being carried out mainly by Israel, apparently claimed its latest victim on [January 11] when a bomb killed a 32-year-old nuclear scientist in Tehran’s morning rush hour.” These assassinations constitute acts of terrorism. There have also been cyber-attacks on Iranian centrifuges and an explosion at a missile facility last year that killed a senior general and 16 other people.

These acts of aggression are designed to provoke Iran to retaliate, including possibly closing the Strait of Hormuz, which will spark a war that could spread to the entire Middle East.

In addition, the United States has shifted combat troops and warships to the Middle East, and supplied Israel with bunker-busting bombs. Moreover, President Barack Obama has deployed 9,000 U.S. troops to Israel to participate later this year with thousands of Israeli troops in “war games” to test the U.S./Israeli air defense system; this exercise will be the largest ever joint drill between the two countries. Panetta said the exercise is designed “to back up our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security.” 

Iran is not a threat to Israel’s security. Iran has not attacked any country in some 200 years. In 1953, the CIA engineered a coup that replaced a democratic government in Iran with the vicious Shah. He ruled Iran with an iron hand for 25 years, wreaking torture and terror on Iranians while keeping Iran open to Western investment. When I visited Iran in 1978 as a human rights observer, there were dozens of U.S. corporations in downtown Tehran. One year later, the chickens came home to roost. The Iranian revolution overthrew the Shah, replacing him with a tyrannical theocracy that continues to violate the rights of the Iranian people. But that does not mean that Iran, if it does obtain nuclear weapons, will attack Israel. The Iranian government knows that Israel and the United States would retaliate with unimaginable military force that would devastate Iran and much of the Middle East. 

The Fastest Growing Bank in the West

Source: Boiling Frogs Post
Bill Bergman

Defending our Future in the Financial System

 

Investors and regulators are frequently cautioned that rapid growth in banking can be a sign of trouble.  With most of their incoming cash protected by public guarantees like deposit insurance, banks can grow by taking on more risk without as much sensitivity to deposit costs as they would if the public safety net were not in place.

For example, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (a bank regulator) produces “An Examiner’s Guide to Problem Bank Identification, Rehabilitation, and Resolution.”   In listing six ‘red flags,’ the guide’s first red flag, front and center, is ‘Rapid Growth and Aggressive Growth Strategies.’  This section includes:

Excessive growth, particularly as measured against local, regional, and national economic indicators, has long been viewed as a potential precursor to credit quality problems. Such growth can strain bank underwriting and risk selection standards, as well as the capacity of management, existing internal control structures and administrative processes.

Over the last six years, amidst the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression, a large and significant player in the financial markets has also been one of the fastest growing banks on the planet.  That organization is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.


What a Financial Crisis Can Do to a Central Bank Balance Sheet

Total assets on the books of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks came to $2.9 trillion by year-end 2011.  The Reserve Bank balance sheets have mushroomed in recent years; their total assets rose sharply with the Fed buying investments from, and lending money to, the private sector.  Their total liabilities also rose sharply as bank deposits at Federal Reserve Banks jumped due to monetary policy actions, and as banks had higher confidence in holding deposits with Reserve Banks compared to holding them at other banks.

Here is a look at total year-end assets on the books of the Federal Reserve Banks since 2003.

Mossad Insider: Iranian Scientist Assassination "A Precursor To A Military Strike"

Source: Infowars
Steve Watson

Iranian Vice President vows to make enemies “repent” for “terrorist actions”

The Sunday Times reports (from behind a pay wall) that Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan was assassinated last week by the Israeli intelligence network Mossad as part of a “precursor to a military strike”.

The Times claims that a reliable source, a Mossad insider, says he was part of a group that killed Roshan last week in Iran as he made his way to work at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.

The source told the Times that the operation was planned months in advance and a Mossad team had been monitoring Roshan’s activities and taking note of his schedule, so as to decide when and where to kill him.

“There is zero tolerance for mistakes. By nature, every failure not only risks the neck of the agents but also risks turning into an international scandal,” said the Israeli source.

From Ha’aretz:

According to the Sunday Times, Roshan, 32, was monitored from a makeshift control room in a safe house nearby as he was preparing to leave for work. Israeli agents were also watching the entrance to Iranian intelligence headquarters in the city center, when they noticed a number of cars and people running, followed by police rushing into the nearby streets. Another agent monitoring radio traffic between the Tehran police and security forces confirmed unusual activity, said the paper.

The report states that as Roshan’s bodyguard was driving him to Natanz uranium enrichment site, where he served as director, a masked person on a motorbike weaved through traffic, planting a bomb on the car shaped to deliver its full force at the passenger.

Both British and U.S. officials have denied any role in the assassination. “We were not involved in any way with regards to the assassination that took place there,” said Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, adding that he had “some idea” of who was.

Last week, another Mossad source indicated that the assassination also incorporated the CIA-backed terrorist group Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK).

The Iranian regime says it too has direct evidence that Mossad, as well as the CIA, was involved in the assassination.

The U.S. Government Funded the Iranian Terrorist Group Which “Found” The Documents Upon Which the Warmongers Are Relying

Source: Washington's Blog

Smoking Gun Documents On Iran “Found” By US-Backed Terror Group

 

The people pushing for war against Iran are the same neocons who pushed for war against Iraq. See this and this. (They planned both wars at least 20 years ago.)

The IAEA report being trumpted as a casus belli contains no new information, but is based on a re-hashing of old, debunked claims stemming from “laptop documents”.

State Department cables released by Wikileaks reveal that the new IAEA head was heavily backed by the U.S., based upon his promises of fealty to the U.S. Indeed, as we’ve seen in the nuclear energy arena, the IAEA is not a neutral, fact-based organization, but a wholly-captured, political agency.

But where did the documents come from originally?
As Gareth Porter noted in 2008:

The George W. Bush administration has long pushed the “laptop documents” – 1,000 pages of technical documents supposedly from a stolen Iranian laptop – as hard evidence of Iranian intentions to build a nuclear weapon. Now charges based on those documents pose the only remaining obstacles to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declaring that Iran has resolved all unanswered questions about its nuclear programme.

But those documents have long been regarded with great suspicion by U.S. and foreign analysts. German officials have identified the source of the laptop documents in November 2004 as the Mujahideen e Khalq (MEK), which along with its political arm, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), is listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organisation.

Interestingly, the Bush Administration – and especially Dick Cheney – helped to fund the MEK (see confirming articles here and here).

And the New York Times, Washington Post and others are reporting that Rudy Giuliani, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former national security adviser Fran Townsend and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey are supporting the MEK as well.

Police State International: The Globalization of Control

Source: Boiling Frogs Post
James Corbett

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

With the National Defense Authorization Act, the Enemy Expatriation Act, and other startling measures by the US government to crack down on their own population making headlines around the world at the moment, the idea of an American police state is becoming all too familiar a tale. Less examined, however, are the international aspects of this encroaching police state, a high-tech 21st century control grid which adheres to no national boundaries and whose influence is increasingly being felt in countries throughout the so-called “free world.”

Romney and Obama Share Same Bankster Campaign Contributors

Source: Infowars
Kurt Nimmo

Like Obama, Mitt Romney is a wind-up doll for Wall Street and the bankers. There is virtually no difference between them despite all the fetid air from the GOP propaganda machine.

This is revealed by a quick look at Romney’s top contributors. An Open Secrets page on top Romney contributors reads like a Who’s Who of Wall Street and the financial cartel. The top contributor is Goldman Sachs, followed by Credit Suisse Group, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Barclays – major players in the Wall Street and City of London bankster constellation.

Bain Capital is also on the list. It is a “financial services” and investment firm co-founded by Romney. Bain owns the establishment media propaganda conglomerate Clear Channel, which explains why “conservative” talk show hosts like Limbaugh, Hannity and Levin are supporting Romney, especially with the strong showing of Ron Paul in the primaries. Both Savage (real name Weiner) and Levin have gone so far as to call Paul a threat to the country.

In December, Mitt refused to release the identity of his “bundlers,” or people who gather contributions from many individuals in an organization or community and give the cash to the campaign.

In other words, the above list is only the tip of the iceberg. Romney’s lack of transparency about his bundlers indicates he is getting money from sources that want their identity concealed.

In November, it was reported that Jimmy Lee, a veteran Wall Street investment banker, and three other top executives at JP Morgan Chase & Co hosted a $2,500-per-person reception for Romney.

“I am committed to doing all that I can to help his campaign because I also believe he is the strongest challenger to President Obama,” Lee told Reuters. Lee said he has known Romney for almost all of his Wall Street career and that he made one of the first loans to Romney at Bain Capital.

It is not clear why Mr. Lee opposes Obama – his campaign contributors are almost a carbon copy of Mitt’s. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan (where Lee worked), Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, USB and many of the same players donated heavily to Obama’s campaign in 2008.

It should be obvious by now that the dog and pony show known as the “election cycle” in the United States is a musical chairs affair with the same gaggle of bankers and transnational corporations calling the shots.

The 5 Most Important Questions

Source: Freedomain Radio

From Freedomain Radio, the largest and most popular philosophy show on the web - http://www.freedomainradio.com

Washington Moves The World Closer To War

Source: Institute For Political Economy
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Since my January 11 column and the news alert posted on January 14, more confirmation that Washington is moving the world toward a dangerous war has appeared. The Obama regime is using its Ministry of Propaganda, a.k.a., the American media, to spread the story that President Obama, Pentagon chief Panetta, and other high US officials are delivering strong warnings to Israel not to attack Iran.

For someone as familiar with Washington as I am, I recognize these reports for what they are. They are Br’er Rabbit telling Br’er Fox “please don’t throw me in the briar patch.”

If you don’t know the Uncle Remus stories, you have missed a lot. Br’er Rabbit was born and raised in the briar patch.

What these “leaked” stories of Washington’s warnings and protests to Israel are all about is to avoid Washington’s responsibility for the war Washington has prepared. If the war gets out of hand, and if Russia and China intervene or nukes start flying, Washington wants the blame to rest on Israel, and Israel seems willing to accept the blame. Nikolai Patrushev, who heads Russia’s Security Council, has apparently been deceived by Washington’s manipulation of the media. According to the Interfax news agency, Patrushev condemned Israel for pushing the US towards war with Iran.

You get the picture. The helpless Americans. They are being bullied by Israel into acquiescing to a dangerous war. Otherwise, no more campaign contributions.

The facts are different. If Washington did not want war with Iran it would not have provided the necessary weapons to Israel. It would not have deployed thousands of US troops to Israel, with a view toward the American soldiers being killed in an Iranian response to Israel’s attack, thus “forcing” the US to enter the war. Washington would not have built a missile defense system for Israel and would not be conducting joint exercises with the Israeli military to make sure it works.

If Washington did not want Israel to start the war, Washington would inform the Israeli government in no uncertain words that an Israeli strike on Iran means that the US will NOT veto the UN’s denunciation of Israel and the sanctions that would be placed on Israel as a war criminal state.

Washington would tell Israel that it is good-bye to the billions of dollars that the bilked American taxpayers, foreclosed from their homes by fraudulent mortgages and from jobs by off-shoring, hand over by compulsion to Israel to support Israel's crimes against humanity.

But, of course, Washington won’t prevent the war that it so fervently desires.

Journalist Sues Obama Over Indefinite Detention Law

Source: Prison Planet
Paul Joseph Watson

Journalist Chris Hedges has filed a class action lawsuit against President Barack Obama over his signing of the National Defense Authorization Act, claiming that the ‘indefinite detention’ provision of the bill could see him sent to Guantanamo Bay simply for doing his job.

The controversial legislation, signed into law by Obama on New Years Eve, allows American citizens to be abducted and held in a detention camp anywhere in the world without trial under section 1031.

“Plaintiff Christopher Hedges is a journalist whose profession requires, in part: 1) that he have communication with and personal and direct intercourse with persons who are likely to be deemed engaged in hostilities with the United States under the AUMF [Authorization for Use of Military Force, Public Law 107-40] and the Homeland Battlefield Bill; 2) that he travel to see and meet with such persons; 3) that he report on the activities and beliefs of such persons; and 4) through his journalistic endeavors to convey their philosophy and belief systems to the public at large,” states the complaint.

Hedges points to an article he wrote which seeks to understand why Muslims are turning to radical Islamists such as the Palestinian Hamas and the Shiite Hezbollah as an example of how he could be accused of supporting parties who are engaged in hostilities against the United States, characterized as a terrorist sympathizer, and carted off to a detention camp.

Hedges is demanding the law be declared null and void because it directly violates the 1st and 5th Amendments to the US Constitution, and constitutional rights on access to civilian courts. Hedges’ case will be heard by Obama appointee U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest and he is being represented by Princeton, N.J.-based attorneys Carl J. Mayer and Bruce I. Afran.

Although President Obama indicated in a signing statement attached to the bill that he would not use it to indefinitely detain American citizens without trial, it was the Obama administration itself which requested that the provision be worded so it would apply to US citizens.

Andrew Gavin Marshall on the High-Tech Police State

Source: Corbett Report
James Corbett

Writer, researcher and podcast host Andrew Gavin Marshall joins us to discuss the police state, the technologies that under-gird it, and how the police state spreads across borders to become an international phenomenon. We talk about methods and techniques of control, and how they serve the interests of the social engineers.

Europe Anti-Austerity Rallies Turn Ugly

Source: PressTV

Police forces have clashed with anti-austerity protesters in Spain, Greece, and Romania, arresting several activists and injuring many others.

During the latest such protests in Spain, police scuffled with demonstrators in the capital Madrid on Sunday, detaining three people and wounding several others.

Scuffles broke out when 'indignant' Spaniards gathered at a Madrid subway station to protest against rises in the cost of public transportation. Dozens of protesters entered the station and refused to pay, shouting slogans such as “I don't pay for your crisis.”

In the Greek capital Athens, riot police attacked around 2,000 demonstrators protesting against job cuts outside parliament, before detaining three and injuring one.

The demonstrators say Athens has failed to decrease its debt, despite massive lay-offs. Last year, the Greek government cut 10,000 jobs and announced plans for further lay-offs in 2012.

Clashes between riot police and demonstrators have also erupted in the Romanian capital Bucharest for a third day in a row.

At least seven people, including a number of police officers, were injured in the confrontations.

The demonstrators chanted slogans against President Traian Basescu, whom they blame for the country's falling living standards, and called on him to step down.

The demonstrations originally started on Thursday in a show of support for Deputy Health Minister Raed Arafat, who resigned earlier in the week, and as a protest against a pension freeze and a 25 percent cut in public sector wages approved by Romania's center-right government in July 2010.

Arafat, a doctor born in Palestine, had harshly criticized a draft healthcare reform bill and entered a dispute with the president, who is a main supporter of the potential law.