Don't be spun by the spin

Oldwhitelady has pointed to an article written by Charlie Reese titled Don't Be Spun by the Spin. Here is a little excerpt from the article:

President Bush will hail his trip to Europe as a resounding success. He hails everything he does as a resounding success regardless of the evidence to the contrary. All politicians do that.
Lest you be spun by the spin, note that he comes home with only one tangible result – an agreement by NATO to assist in training Iraqi forces, and a tepid assist it will be. Two of the NATO countries have agreed to supply one man each. Nearly all of the training will take place in Europe.

Oldwhitelady thinks the article is worth reading and believes that people reading this article would find plenty to think about. I agree with Oldwhitelady but I would like to make a little correction to what she says; and that is that the article might make some people think, but only those who are capable of thinking; those who have a functional brain to think. Neither this article nor any other valuable article will work on those whose minds are plugged and will easily be spun, as Reese calls it, by every spin.

Bravo Canada! No "Missile Defence" game

Canada won't join missile defence plan

The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Canada reacted swiftly, saying the decision to defend North America now rests with Washington.

"We simply cannot understand why Canada would in effect give up its sovereignty its seat at the table to decide what to do about a missile that might be coming towards Canada," said Paul Cellucci.

Mr. Celluccie got it wrong again. At this time, what Canada needs protection from is the aggressiveness and the bullying policies of the US, not any imaginary missiles. Mr. Cellucci is one of the elements who constantly undermined Canada's sovereignty by putting his nose in the internal Canadian issues. Mr. Cellucci who has been meddling with Canadian politics ever since he became the US ambassador to Canada, should take his cowboy and bullying attitude with him when he leaves Canada. In fact, Mr. Cellucci should have been kicked out of Canada long time ago when he started getting too much into the matters of Canadians. This man whose arrogance never let him understand what it means to be an honorable guest, was an obvious example of the arrogance that has filled US's foreign policies.

I am glad that after a long time of speculations and worrying, Canadians finally got what they were waiting for, for such long time. Canada's Liberal government was smart enough to realize that the extremely costly "missile defence" that provides yet another huge opportunity for the military hardware manufacturers to make astronomical profits out of this stupid plan that is based on imaginary threats, is not for Canada as it is not approved by Canadians. Liberal government knew very well that a decision other than rejecting this plan could easily cost them the next elections and put them out of power.

This is Germany, not the White House Press conference

The main highlight of George W. Bush's trip was meant to be a "town hall"-style meeting with average Germans. But with the German government unwilling to permit a scripted event with questions approved in advance, the White House has quietly put the event on ice.

This 2.5-cell brain dumb president who has nothing original of his own but his arrogance and his criminal nature, naturally feels mentally and intellectually disarmed if he is not given the answers to the already known questions. He would obviously look even stupider if he was to face the average German in a real question and answer meeting.

US spying on Canadians?

Since 9/11, U.S. and other foreign security agencies have had access to private details of Canadians.
With the help of the (Canadian) federal government, the U.S. appears able to track Canadians wherever they travel.

It is not surprising to see US's attempts to spy on Canadians, but it is a serious allegation suggesting that the government of Canada is helping the US with this anti-Canadain policy. However, since it is published on the credible paper of Toronto Star, there are many reasons to take it very seriously. Read this article to see how the US is spying on Canadians, allegedly with the help of our own government.

Services of a puppet continue

Bush and yet another service to the wealthy.
Let's face it; if one is not wealthy but still fan of Bu$hCo, then s/he must be an idiot. Well...., sorry but I can't think of any other possibility.

Perle public toilet

Here, read the debate between Christopher Hitchens & Tariq Ali regarding Iraq war. In this interesting debate, moderated by Ami Goodman from Democracy Now! she refers to a comment made by Richard Perle at the beginning of the war in which he had said: "..And a year from now, I will be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after president Bush." Then she asks for Tariq Ali's opinion on that to which Tariq Ali responses:

...when the foreign occupiers finally are forced to leave Iraq, that a tiny public toilet in the big square in Baghdad is named after Richard Perle in memory of that remark.

I think it is quite possible that Tariq's prediction come true sooner or later. Perhaps we should already congratulate Richard Perle for this "great" upcoming achievement of his.

BTW, I would like to inform those who live in Toronto and are interested in Tariq's points of view that he is supposed to be speaking at the university of Toronto sometime in April.

Happy Kyoto accord

Today, February 16th, Kyoto accord with the aim of controlling the global warming by reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions especially CO2 and methane gas that are being produced, finally takes effect. This accord is signed and is to be implemented by 141 countries around the world.

It is quite disturbing that the largest single producer of CO2, the United States, is not part of this global effort to save our planet and the air we breath. United States, which initially signed this accord during Clinton Administration, withdrew from the accord soon after Bush became the president. It is completely understandable that this action of the Bush Administration was absolutely natural. After all, with this accord, many of the guiltiest industries such as oil and gas industry would be forced to make changes in the way they operate. It is understandable why the US withdrew from the accord. After all, who can serve these "environmental terrorsists" more than the ones who themselves are deeply in oil business? Yes, like many other policies of his, George Bush along with his oily gang, yet again showed how much of a puppet he is in the hands of the the big corporations with the cost of jeopardising the future of our children and their children.

Today, more than 30% of world's greenhouse gas emissions are produced by the United States with under 5% of the world population. Being second only after Australia (the only other develpoed nation that has not signed the accord), Canada is also guilty for being the largest producer of the CO2 per capita. But unlike Australia, Canada is at least committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions as determined by the accord.

Implementation of the Kyoto accord is a welcome news for anyone who cares about the world we live in and the world we are responsible to pass on to the next generations, at least not much worse than it already is. Kyoto should not be the ultimate goal; it should be just the beginning. We have to demand more and the progressive people of the countries that are not participating in this global effort, must put pressure on their governments to join the global community, and to stop destroying our environment.

Iraq's contemporary history in brief

Larry Everett: This wasn't a war to liberate anyone, this was a war of conquest. And most importantly, this war was not a diversion as a lot of the mainstream democrats describe it, from the war on terror, it's the embodiment of the war on terror, which is actually a war of terror against the people of this planet, for greater empire.

Part of Tariq Ali's speech: ....If you read these memoirs dictated by Paul O'Neill to Ron Suskind which have been published recently, they are revealing, saying that the plan to take Iraq predated 9/11 and was discussed within the first three weeks of the Bush Administration. And it included how they would divvy up the oil. Now this is O'Neill talking, this is not some conspiracy theorist in cyberspace.

Iraq; from British to American colonialism. Watch this 15-minute show.

Generous in bombing; proud history!!!

I came across this at Whoman's.

What country is the most bombed country in the history of the world?

Vietnam, Afghanistan, Germany, or Japan?

You would tilt towards Vietnam, wouldn’t you? Well, the answer is Laos. Imagine every eight minutes a bomber unloads its bombs, and that happens 24 hours a day seven days a week for nine straight years. That is the story of Laos between 1964 to 1973. Apart from being the front of America’s Secret War, Laos was also the dumping ground of the bombs that needed to be unloaded before bombers could return, enroute from Vietnam, to their bases. The tonnage of the bombs dropped simply exceeds all the bombs used during the WWII by all sides combined. As you can imagine, collecting shrapnels and bombs, many of them still undetonated, is a
lucrative business in that country these days. But that is just adding to the number of people killed or maimed every year by one of the legacies of the Secret War.

The only surprising thing to me in this post is, not what happened then, but where it happened.

He's got no clue about "his" plan

US President on how "his" social Security Plan works: (Found at Daily Kos)

Question: really understand how is it the new plan is going to fix that problem?

THE PRESIDENT: Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely tobe -- or closer delivered to what has been promised.

Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red. Okay, better? I'll keep working on it. (Laughter.)

This idiot absolutely has no clue what he is talking about. Perhaps no US president has performed as puppet of the big corporations as much as this guy has.

You be the judge

An Israeli military court has ordered the release of the army commander responsible for shooting to death a young Palestinian girl at point-blank range in the Gaza Strip last year, according to the Israeli press....

...The Israeli army had initially said that Iman was shot because soldiers feared she was carrying a bomb in her book bag as she approached an occupation watchtower in a security zone that overlooks the refugee camp.

But a three-way radio exchange between the officers that was broadcast on Israeli television in November made clear that the soldiers knew al-Hams was a young girl that posed no threat.

The soldiers in the recording immediately identified al-Hams as a girl of "about 10" that was "scared to death". She was shot in the legs nonetheless.

Captain R then shot the wounded girl twice in the head, and "confirmed the kill" by emptying his magazine into her limp body.

He then said he would have killed her "even if she was three-years-old"....

...The girl was one of 172 children killed in Gaza in 2004 - and one of 644 killed since the start of al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000, accounting for about 20% of Palestinian deaths. But only one Israeli soldier has been found guilty of manslaughter, although some1700 unarmed Palestinians have been killed since the start of the intifada, according to the Israeli human rights group B'tselem.

Perhaps this is another good example of how the Israeli army deals with clear cases of murdering innocent Palestinians by its soldiers.

In fear of U.S. deception: A letter to the editor

This letter which was written to the editor of the Toronto Star by an Iraqi in response to this Star article, was published today by the Star:

After reading this article, I feel some representation after all. Unlike previous articles that praise the U.S. administration for the "freedom" given to the Iraqi people, this seems more enlightened of the facts in Iraq. When I read articles praising President George Bush and the American administration for their great effort in bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq, I am amazed how writers incredibly twist facts to show some pictures and hide others.

I am an Iraqi who suffered greatly under the regime of Saddam Hussein and the Baath party. I know of no one who did not suffer in one way or another, but I can say that the suffering was at its peak many years ago when Saddam was the Americans' favourite puppet. In those days, the U.S. administration did not talk about freedom and democracy. They supported Saddam and turned a blind eye to the crimes he committed, especially during his war with Iran.

Only when the interests of the U.S. are at stake do the Americans think of freedom and democracy. Where are they when we see basic human rights being violated in Palestine and other parts of the world? More often than not, I see them supporting the oppressor, not the oppressed. It was not freedom the Americans announced to justify the war, it was weapons of mass destruction. But "freedom and democracy" is the favourite American slogan when it runs out of excuses.

I have voted and encouraged all my friends and relatives to vote, but that does not mean I approve of the invasion of Iraq. In fact, I voted to help stop the American administration's dream of placing another puppet in Iraq. What I fear most now is the deception of the U.S. administration to either fix the elections or help a coup or create a situation to topple whoever comes to power who is not an American puppet.

Hussain Khoshkar, Richmond Hill

Rumsfeld really IS afraid of traveling to Germany

WASHINGTON—U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld conceded yesterday that fears he could be charged as a war criminal may keep him from a conference in Germany set for next week.

A lawsuit filed by the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights with German prosecutors accuses Rumsfeld and other senior U.S. officials with war crimes for their part in the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal.

Until Rumsfeld was asked about the possibility at a news briefing, the Pentagon had maintained it was merely a scheduling conflict which could prevent him from attending the Munich Conference on Security Policy, an annual event which draws top defence officials from all over the world.

Read the rest here.

How much this case will go ahead, and how much pressure the US will put on Germany to drop the case, I don't know. But, at least symbolicaly this is a good start.

First it was "scheduling conflict", but now, he does admit that he IS afraid of going to Germany. Well, I hope this is just the beginning, not just for Abu Ghraib tortures, but for all other crimes that Rumsfeld along with his other gang members have committed against humanity.

Bush's real State of the Union - 2005

The following is what I posted last year after Bush's State of the Union speech. I see it still quite relevant this year. Of course this needs to be updated; obviously for the worse.

***

Forget about what Bush says. (Although still dumb, He has become an experienced actor). Forget about his stupid and ugly smile that reminds me of Rafsanjani's smile. Just look at the numbers.

A few examples:
- Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed: (0)
- Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq: (0)
- Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003: (100)
- Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became President in 2001: ($127 billion)
- Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003: ($374 billion)
- Average wealth of the members of Bush's original 16-person cabinet: ($10.9 million)
- Average savings members of Bush's cabinet are expected to enjoy this year as a result in the cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes: ($42,000)
- Number of members of Bush's defence policy board who also sit on the corporate board of, or advise, at least one defence contractor: (9)
- George W Bush became the first American president to ignore the Geneva Conventions by refusing to allow inspectors access to US-held prisoners of war: (1st)

What are you waiting for? Go ahead read it, if you can face the reality.

Why studying the obvious?

Medical bills spark 46% of U.S. personal bankruptcies: study

Well. This is the "heaven" called centre of capitalism. If you are not insured, if you are not rich, If you are sick, then you are toasted. There was no need for "studying" this issue. It was obvious.

How stupid: Episode II

A couple of days ago, I had this post about an idiot working for the newspaper of Morocco's Islamic party who wrote, in an article, that the tsunami disaster showed God's displeasure with South-East Asia's sex tourism industry. After attempts of Moroccan Rights groups to protest against this paper failed, thousands of supporters of the idiot writer took to the street in support of the writer.

But looks like idiocy is something that is shared by all religious fanatics. This time, a former chief rabbi of Israel has said that Asian tsunami disaster was a form of divine retribution for the world's support of the planned pullout of settlers from the Gaza Strip. Did you notice? "devine retribution". Exactly the same terminology that was used by the first idiot.

"The all powerful one was angry with the nations that did not help Israel, which wanted an evacuation, a disengagement [from Gaza] ... and this provoked the earth to shake"

The above is what Mordechai Eliahu said in a religious publication distributed on Monday in thousands of synagogues throughout Israel.

I don't know what to call these behaviors. Just like the other one, this one was stupid, insensitive and irresponsible, but may be I can double emphasis on its stupidity because I am still struggling to find its relevance. After all, Gaza and Israel are thousands of kilometers aways from South Asia. How could god's displeasure of something that is happening in the Middle East show its face in South Asia? By the way, someone should ask this new sh*t from a different pile, how could those over 50,000 children who have been killed in the tsunami, who perhaps didn't even know where Israel and Gaza are, be responsible for what is happening in Gaza?

Indeed if the gods of the idiots in these two episodes are so merciless to avenge innocent people for everything that goes wrong in the world, they must truly be bunch of sick gods.

Existing contracts?

US energy services company Halliburton is to end its operations in Iran after existing contracts come to an end.

Existing contracts? Since when? I thought Iran was part of the "axis of evil". What else have you done Mr. Cheney?