Wednesday, November 16 2011   -   Editorials

by Rev. Rich Lang
Sent by email November 16, 2011, 4:53 a.m. PST

America, America, my country 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty
Of thee I sing
America, oh America
America the Beautiful has fallen.

You could feel the tension and raw energy crinkling throughout the air as the marchers once again began their journey into downtown Seattle. The Occupy Movement is the prophetic voice of God calling out to the nation to "repent" and turn from its ways of corruption. Those who camp are a rag-tag, motley crew made up of mostly young adults, mostly unemployed, almost all of whom are alienated and cast out of America's promise of liberty and justice for all. They are our canaries, the first fruits being devoured by the Beast of Empire.

The police were once conceived to be a citizen force created to serve and protect the public. Today however, the police have been militarized and view the populace as enemy combatants, as threats to their well being. The police, like our Armed Forces, are well trained, disciplined and exceptionally talented. They follow a chain of command and are increasingly apprenticed into a culture of institutional conformity. Because America has always affirmed the right of dissent, the role of the police is to keep the peace. They are trained to enter the protesting arena as unfeeling protectors of property and people. What has changed in our time is that the police are entering the arena of protest as agents of provocation. They push and shove at will, they ride their bicycles up the backs of protesters, they engage in verbal abuse. Their commanders allow this breach of discipline. Their comrades silently condone the bullying. The police become the agitators encouraging violence. It is as if they are spoiling for a fight --- a fight mind you against the citizenry, against the youth, the unemployed, and those who are trying to return America back to its promise, and dare I say it, return America to its covenant with God, "we hold these truths to be self evident ... "

 

Wednesday, November 16 2011   -   Research/Evidence

November 14, 2011
by Kevin Ryan
Blog at 911blogger.com Public Lecture - The Collapse of the Seventh Tower: A Physical & Chemical Analysis
Niels H. Harrit, Center for Molecular Movies, Copenhagen University

When: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 @ 7:15-9:15 p.m.
Where: Morrison Hall 007
Departmental Sponsors: College of Arts and Sciences, American Studies Program

Abstract:

To most people, the image of the World Trade Center (WTC) is confined to the famous twin towers, which dominated the New York skyline until September 11th, 2001, when they collapsed after each one being hit by an airliner. However, the trade center was an assembly of seven buildings around a plaza. The youngest of these, WTC7, was a huge office building, reaching 186 meters and 47 stories into the air. The ground-plan area was little less than a soccer field.

WTC7 was not hit by an airliner. Still, it collapsed seven hours after the twin towers in a totally symmetric movement with free-fall speed. It was the most unexpected collapse in the history of modern building construction.

 

Tuesday, November 15 2011   -   OccupyWallStreet

UPDATE: This Is What Democracy Looks Like: Huge General Assembly in Progress at Liberty Square - Posted 1 hour ago on Nov. 15, 2011, 8:40 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement Persevere
The feeling here at Liberty Square tonight is the feeling of a movement that is rising, building, and making headway.
Following the 1am eviction of Liberty Square early this morning and a long day of legal wrangling, the park was reoccupied late this afternoon. This evening, just after 7pm, the first General Assembly at the reoccupied park began. Using our 'people's mic', we declared together:
"They showed us their power. And we're showing them ours."
We are here because we believe a better world is possible. We are willing to endure mistreatment, if by doing so we can help re-enfranchise the 99% and reclaim our democracy from the stranglehold of Wall Street and the top one percent.
We will push back against billionaire Michael Bloomberg and any politician who wantonly tramples on proud American freedoms: freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the freedom of Americans to peaceably assemble and petition for change.
We will overcome the obstacles placed before us. We will not be deterred. We will persevere. Our message is resonating across America, and our cause is shared by millions around the world. We are the 99%, and we want to live in a world that is for all of us ... not just for those who have amassed great wealth and power.
You cannot evict an idea whose time has come.  

Tuesday, November 15 2011   -   OccupyWallStreet

November 14, 2011
By Michael Collins
The Money Party RSS

Photo: K. Kendall. "The problems we are facing were not created by us, but we deign to shed light on them and so we are blamed for them. The truth is, every person at our protest is there because the system is broken." Samuel Rutledge, Open Newswire, Portland Indymedia

The fascist financiers of the Money Party are growing restless. Occupy Wall Street began with a call to action from the activist online group Anonymous in August. It was barely featured in the mainstream or alternate media. Instead of a small crowd that could easily be ignored then disbursed, fifty thousand citizens showed up at the headquarters for the world financial system, Wall Street. Despite the best efforts of Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD, the Occupy Wall Street continues. The message went out to the country and the world. Now, there are over 100 occupy events in Oakland, Kansas City, Washington, DC, and elsewhere.(Image: K. Kendall)

Occupy Portland began on October 6, 2011. It has maintained a steady presence in downtown Portland, a major West Coast center of commerce. The participants refuse to leave until the government addresses their grievances. Police scare tactics, planted provocateurs, and the elements are no barrier.

 

Monday, November 14 2011   -   Get Involved

November 13, 2011
with Anthony Wile
TheDailyBell.com

Photo: Mickey Huff

The Daily Bell is pleased to present an exclusive interview with Mickey Huff (left).

Introduction: Mickey Huff is Associate Professor of History at Diablo Valley College and a Director of Project Censored and the Media Freedom Foundation. He has been interviewed by many radio stations and news sources throughout the country, including NPR, Air America, Pacifica, Republic Broadcasting, Progressive Radio Network, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, New Standard News and others, and has been published on numerous media and news websites from Global Research, Buzzflash and Counterpunch to Z Mag, Truthout and even a few corporate media outlets(which he routinely critiques). He is co-author with Peter Phillips on a number of academic articles to be published throughout 2010-11 and co-edited two books with Phillips over the past three years. His latest work with Project Censored, the book Censored 2012: Sourcebook for the Media Revolution, is out now on Seven Stories Press. When he has time he blogs at http://dailycensored.com. Mickey is also a musician and composer of over 20 years and lives with his family just outside Berkeley, CA.

A brief synopsis:

Daily Bell: What's your definition of censored? Is it mostly government censorship you're after? Do you believe that private entities can "censor" or that the word strictly implies government activities?

 

Tuesday, November 8 2011   -   Other Important News

By Eric W. Dolan
November 7, 2011
RawStory.com


Chicago police on Monday issued citations to 43 senior citizens and their supporters who linked arms to block an intersection near the city's financial district.

The action was part of a protest against proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other benefits.

The Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC), their supporters and "Occupy Chicago" began the demonstration with a rally outside the office of Illinois Sens. Mark Kirk (R) and Dick Durbin (D). The group, which organizers claimed was nearly 1,500-strong, then marched to the Federal Plaza.

 

Tuesday, November 8 2011   -   Research/Evidence

October 31, 2011
by Brian Romanoff
Nor Cal Truth

News of the Saudi Crown Prince passing in the U.S. and his new successor to the post warrant a refresher on the attempts to name them in 9/11 lawsuits years ago.

ONE BIG FAMILY

Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, the Crown Prince to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, died just a weeks ago in a New York hospital due to ill health. The world's largest oil-exporting nation has quickly found an heir to the Crown Prince, a position directly under the most powerful of the King. The new Crown Prince has been named as Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, brother of the deceased Crown Prince Sultan. Both were half-brothers to the current King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, and both are a part of the powerful Sudairi Seven.

Photo, left: The recently deceased Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz

The old Crown Prince Sultan is the father of Prince Bandar. Bandar is known to many in the world as "Bandar Bush" for his extremely close relationship with the Bush family. Bandar served as the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the U.S. from 1983 until 2005. The Royal family's relationship with the Bush family goes back even further.

 

Monday, November 7 2011   -   OccupyWallStreet

November 9, 2011
by Stephen C. Webster
RawStory.com

In a video published to YouTube, an unidentified protester holding a video camera, filming a police line during the early hours of Thursday, Nov. 3, is apparently shot with a rubber bullet even after repeatedly asking officers, "Is this okay?"

Rubber bullets, though considered non-lethal, have killed people before. They can also cause serious internal injuries and even break bones. Despite their name, rubber bullets are small metal cylinders merely coated with a layer of rubber, and can be launched from traditional firearms. ...

 

Monday, November 7 2011   -   Civil Liberties-Police State

November 7, 2011
From EndoftheAmericanDream.com
at Lewrockwell.com

If you live in the United States today, you need to understand that your privacy is being constantly eroded. Our world is going crazy, government paranoia is off the charts and law enforcement authorities have become absolutely obsessed with watching us, listening to us, tracking us, recording us, compiling information on all of us and getting us all to spy on one another. If you doubt that we are rapidly getting to the point where the government will monitor every breath you take and every move you make, just read the rest of this article. The truth is that the government is watching you more closely than ever, and they are spending billions upon billions of dollars to enhance their surveillance capabilities even further. If our society stays on this current path, we will eventually have zero privacy left. At this point, it is not too hard to imagine a society where we will not be able to say anything, buy anything, sell anything, assemble with others or even leave our homes without government permission. We truly are descending into a dystopian nightmare and the American people had better wake up.

Sadly, most people living in the United States and in Europe do not realize what is happening. Most of them think that everything is just fine. The "Big Brother control grid" that is being constructed all over the western world squeezes all of us just a little bit tighter every single day, and most people don't even feel it.

But when you step back and take a look at the big picture, it truly is horrifying.

The following are 14 new ways that the government is watching you....

 

Monday, November 7 2011   -   Research/Evidence

October 30, 2011
by Kevin Ryan
DigWithin.net

When Underwriters Laboratories fired me for challenging the World Trade Center (WTC) report that it helped create with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), it said "there is no evidence" that any firm performed the required fire resistance testing of the materials used to build the Twin Towers. Of course, that was a lie.

With this experience in mind, I checked to see how many times the 9/11 Commission Report used the phrase "no evidence," and noted in particular the times the Commission claimed to have "found no evidence" or that "no evidence was uncovered." I discovered that the phrase "no evidence" appears an amazing 63 times. An example is the dubious statement -- "There is no evidence to indicate that the FAA recognized Flight 77 as a hijacking until it crashed into the Pentagon (p 455).

Of these 63 instances, some variation of "we found no evidence" appears three dozen times. This seems to be an unusually high number of disclaimers begging ignorance, given that the Commission claims to have done "exacting research" in the production of a report that was the "fullest possible accounting of the events of September 11, 2001."

The number of times these "no evidence" disclaimers appear in the report is doubly amazing considering how infrequently some of the most critical witnesses and evidence are referenced. For example, the FAA's national operations manager, Benedict Sliney, who was coordinating the FAA's response that day, appears only once in the narrative (and twice in the notes). And the FAA's hijack coordinator, Michael Canavan, appears only twice in the narrative, with neither of those citations having anything to do with Canavan's assigned role as the key link between the military and the FAA, a role whose failure the Commission says caused the attacks to succeed. Similarly, the testimony of FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, who says Bin Laden worked with the U.S. government up until the day of the attacks, is mentioned only once in the notes. William Rodriguez, the WTC janitor who has publicly testified to basement level explosions, is not mentioned at all despite having given testimony to the Commission.

 

Thursday, November 3 2011   -   Resources and Materials

November 3, 2011
by Jeffrey Strahl
911truth.org

In mid-October 2011, I posted a review of David Ray Griffin's new book, 9/11 Ten Years Later -- When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed at Amazon, here.

This review drew comments from James B, one of the two top people at Screw Loose Change, a leading "debunking" website used as a reference by many an internet opponent of 9/11 truth. The result was a major debunking of Screw Loose Change. This piece is intended to help those who in the future will go up against the likes of Screw Loose Change, since the trap's nature is both the content of the SLC argument as well as its form. The focus of our exchange was the evidence regarding events at the World Trade Center (WTC) on 9/11, where three steel frame high-rises were destroyed. ...

This is intended to help those who in the future will go up against the likes of Screw Loose Change, since the trap's nature is both the content of the SLC argument as well as its form. I edited down repeat quotations by both myself as well as James B, leaving them in full only where these quotes are necessary for context. I also left out most of my "trapped rat" remarks, which are OK in the context of the debate, but need not be repeated as often. The full exchange can, of course, be viewed at the Amazon review; the URL is provided at the very beginning of this article.

 

Tuesday, November 1 2011   -   Editorials

Monday, October 31, 2011
by Staff Report
TheDailyBell.com

From source article: And in fact, there are a handful of banking families, including the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers, who have come to dominate economic and political affairs in the Western world. Unlike aristocrats, capitalists are not tied to a place, or to the maintenance of a place. Capital is disloyal and mobile -- it flows to where the most growth can be found, as it flowed from Holland to Britain, then from Britain to the USA, and most recently from everywhere to China. -- Richard K. Moore/New Dawn Magazine/Global Research

Dominant Social Theme: The elites are a bunch of corporations and greedy capitalists. What banking families? They're never mentioned in the mainstream media, are they? So how can they exist?

Free-Market Analysis: This is an excellent article in our view, perhaps because we agree with most of it -- though at the end of this analysis we will present some important ways in which we DISAGREE.

Nonetheless, it's "our" paradigm in some ways, presented eloquently by Richard K Moore, "an expatriate from Silicon Valley, [who] retired and moved to Ireland in 1994 to begin his 'real work' -- trying to understand how the world works, and how we can make it better."

 

Monday, October 31 2011   -   OccupyWallStreet

October 30, 2011
by Mickey Z.
ProjectCensored.org
[To subscribe to Media Freedom Foundation's email list and receive occasional Project Censored updates like this one, click here.]

"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
- Anais Nin

As the eloquent Ms. Nin explains above, there is such a thing as a pain threshold. In the struggle for social change, this may be the point at which inaction become more agonizing than the fear we all harbor about stepping up and challenging this destructive culture.

I've often wondered when we will collectively decide that we're less afraid of the State than of living on a planet without trees, without drinkable water, without arable land, without a hint of justice. Thanks to Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and all related efforts, this moment is getting closer with each passing day and in that spirit, I'll say ssssshhhhhhh...

Continued...

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In this volume, there are 500 pages of real news you can use, plus ample analysis that eradicates civil paralysis, and antidotes to our current Truth Emergency that will strengthen societal media literacy.

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Monday, October 31 2011   -   9/11 A/V Galleries

Posted October 31, 2011
From YouTube User Channel Kostafleer


University of Basel Lecture given September 11, 2011
"What Do We Know Ten Years Later?: A Historical Investigation" by Swiss Historian and Peace Researcher Daniele Ganser, Ph.D.
University of Basel
In cooperation with University of Indiana


Dr. Ganser is author of NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe, which "describes how secret armies were set up across Western Europe during the Cold War by NATO and the CIA and how in some countries these secret soldiers were linked to terror, torture and coup d'etats."  

Monday, October 31 2011   -   OccupyWallStreet

By Olivia Katrandjian
October 29, 2011
ABCNews.com

Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old two-tour Iraq veteran whose skull was fractured by a rubber bullet or tear gas cannister fired by police during an Occupy Oakland protest, has become a symbol for the Oakland, Calif., protests and put a spotlight on veterans' solidarity with the Occupy movement.

Olsen had joined joined the Occupy Oakland protest after work Tuesday, before clashes broke out between demonstrators and police trying to evict them from a city plaza. Videos of Olsen posted on YouTube show him standing still in a space between police a protesters when he was hit in the head by something and fell to the ground.

When fellow demonstrators tried to come to Olsen's aid, a tear gas cannister exploded in their midst, driving them away from the injured man.