Fa$ci$m/NaZi$m In AmErIKa - PaRt II - FreEdOm Or SeCuRiTy [ A $hOrT AnAlY$i$ ]

Saturday, January 9, 2010 - By Softpedia - Freedom or security?

In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither.” He makes an excellent point with this statement. It would appear that, historically speaking, the two don't go well together, if they need to be fulfilled under a government or authority figure. There is a very clear mechanism for promoting security, which is the main interest of people in powerful positions. As the old saying goes, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It has become clear throughout history that people in charge tend to devise means of remaining in charge for as long as possible. This can be achieved through responsible policies that win the support of the population, but that is rather difficult, and requires actual leaders.

More often, it is done subversively, by enacting measures that chip away slowly but surely at individual and group freedoms, while at the same time getting people to go along. You become a master at manipulation when you do not impose regulations that are detrimental to the people, but make the people ask for these regulations themselves. Who would have imagined ten years ago, in 2000, that the US would look and feel as it does today? If you had told the people of the time that they would have their houses searched and their conversations recorded arbitrarily, that they would be kept in arrest without charges or lawyers, and that they would be considered domestic terrorists if they protested, they wouldn't have believed a word of it.

However, history has a way of erasing principles and opinions, especially if change comes progressively. With all my sympathies to the innocent people lost on 9/11, I have to say this. Their deaths offered the US government an excellent opportunity to implement a set of measures with far-reaching implications. Even at the time, at the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, many analysts said that we were witnessing a paradigm shift in the way governments acted and exercised their power. Many people expected change to come to America, but no one (other than politicians) was ready for what actually came, and continues to come periodically.

===snipped===>Fascism; what is it?

Black, white, gray, it's still propaganda

Undoubtedly, the most invaluable tool that any government in the world, regardless of orientation, has is the media, or what has been termed the modern propaganda machine. What makes propaganda in the United States so dangerous is the fact that the information being presented is treated just like a Public Relations (PR) company would treat a product it needs to create an ad for. What they do in these instances is put a “spin” on it, as in present it from a certain point of view. Absolutely all forms of media (articles, editorials, TV shows, news programs, radio programs, newspapers, and so on), including this very piece, abide by this rule.

===snipped===>Nazism; what is it?

The fact that the “spin” is promoted covertly is the real danger. Having studied propaganda in World War II, I can tell you that those in charge of it today know very well what they are doing. They have recorded significant progress in constructing speeches, and in including the information they wish to pass on as the truth in a very innocuous way. Also, they mastered the technique of repetition, which proves to be extremely efficient at getting the point across.

This was most obvious after 9/11, when all major news outlets entered a frenzy. The words terrorist, terrorism and national security were on everybody's lips, politicians and media alike. This means that the public, wherever it turned, heard these words, which even unwillingly sunk in their consciousness. Now, because of this conditioning, every time a politician says one of these “catch phrases,” people remember automatically the disaster that was 9/11. This makes it easier for authorities to again rally support for various policies, creating a vicious circle of sorts. All these types of manipulation are thoroughly described in psychology books, but people are unfamiliar with them, so they fall for them.

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[ The Patriot Act ]

[ The K Street Project ]

[ The 14 Traits of Fascism ]

[ Fascism in America - Part I ]

[George W. Bush–Still With Us (In Black Robes)]

[FBI Misuse of Authority to Obtain Phone Records]

[Calls for Arrest of 5 Supreme Court Justices for Treason]

[The Fa$ci$t Supreme Court; More From the JUST_US Bunch]

[Supreme Court OKs Unlimited Corporate Spending on Elections]

HaMiD KaRzAi DeMaNdS US HaNd OvEr GuNmEn WhO KilLeD ChIlDrEn - ThE DeAtH oF HuMaNiTy

Saturday, January 9, 2010 - By Jerome Starkey in Kabul

President Karzai’s security chiefs have demanded that America should hand over the gunmen behind a night raid in eastern Afghanistan that government investigators and the United Nations say killed at least eight schoolchildren.

It was the Afghan Government’s most aggressive response yet to an alleged attack on civilians. But the US insisted that its men had come under fire and that all the victims were part of an Afghan cell manufacturing bombs.

The call heightens a war of words between the Afghan Government and its powerful military backers. It is the first time that Mr Karzai has tried to hold foreign forces directly accountable for killing civilians, although he has issued impassioned responses to civilian casualties that threaten to undermine Nato’s mission in Afghanistan.

It also reflects the growing assertiveness of a Government that precariously held its position after fraudriddled elections in August and open criticism from Nato countries over corruption.

===snipped===>

Kai Eide, the head of the UN in Afghanistan, issued a statement reinforcing Afghan claims that most of the dead were schoolboys. “Based on our initial investigation, eight of those killed were students enrolled in local schools,” he said.

===snipped===>

The National Security Council, chaired by Mr Karzai, accepted the findings of an Afghan investigation that contradicted Nato’s claims. It demanded: “Those responsible for the deaths of those innocent youths must be handed over to the Afghan Government”.

Conventional US units told investigators that they had no knowledge of the operation, in Narang district in eastern Kunar province. Assadullah Wafa, who led the investigation, said that US troops flew to Kunar from Kabul late on Saturday. Nato sources said that the foreigners involved were non-military, suggesting that they were part of a secret paramilitary unit based in the capital.

Mr Wafa said that they landed helicopters outside the village and walked in at the dead of night before shooting the children at close range. “They were children, they were civilians, they were innocent,” he said. “I condemn this attack.”

The Security Council endorsed his findings. “International forces entered the area and killed ten youths, eight of them school students inside two rooms in a house, without encountering any armed resistance,” a statement from Mr Karzai’s office said.

The National Security Council, chaired by Mr Karzai, accepted the findings of an Afghan investigation that contradicted Nato’s claims. It demanded: “Those responsible for the deaths of those innocent youths must be handed over to the Afghan Government”.

Conventional US units told investigators that they had no knowledge of the operation, in Narang district in eastern Kunar province. Assadullah Wafa, who led the investigation, said that US troops flew to Kunar from Kabul late on Saturday. Nato sources said that the foreigners involved were non-military, suggesting that they were part of a secret paramilitary unit based in the capital.

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[LA County Nonpartisan Examiner]

[UN slams US over killing of Afghan civilians]

[The World's Worst Terrorists Based In Washington]

[Karzai demands U.S. forces turn over Afghan killing suspects]

[Afghan govt. demands arrest of US "death squad" who handcuffed, executed 8 children. US refuses]

ApArThEiD LaWsUiT GoE$ FoRwArD AgAiN$t FoRd, GeNeRaL MoTeR$, and IBM :]

By Daniel Tencer

In a move that will serve as a warning to corporations that aid governments in flagrant abuses of human rights, a federal judge in Manhattan has allowed a lawsuit to go forward against IBM, General Motors, Ford and other corporations over their roles in South Africa's three-decade-long apartheid policy.

In an order (PDF) filed last week, US District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin denied the companies' motion to consider de-certifying the lawsuit as a class action.

Courthouse News reports:

The automakers are accused of providing armored military vehicles used to suppress marches and worker protests, and of assisting security forces tasked with identifying and torturing anti-apartheid leaders.

The judge also allowed claims against IBM to proceed, for providing the technology that allowed the South African government to carry out "geographic segregation and denationalization," according to the plaintiffs.

Among the other defendants in the case is Daimler AG, the manufacturer of Mercedes cars and former owner of Chrysler. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs and "all black South African citizens" for the suffering they endured under the 1960 to 1994 apartheid regime.

The companies being sued had asked Judge Scheindlin to consider de-certifying the lawsuit's class-action status, which would have effectively ended the legal battle. But the judge rejected that motion, and the lawsuit is expected to begin hearings on January 11.

Judge Scheindl in last April struck down another motion from the companies, arguing that corporations are exempt from liability under the Alien Tort Claims Act, but that appeal was struck down as well.

In that ruling, Judge Scheindlin said the large US-based corporations should be tried over claims they "aided and abetted torture, extrajudicial killing and apartheid."

While the defending companies have been mostly quiet about the lawsuit, a GM spokesman said last spring that the company "adamantly opposed apartheid."

Michael Hausfeld, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit is particularly significant because "it sets a new standard with regard to obligations concerning fundamental human rights abuses on a global level."

Last fall, the South African government reversed its position and decided to support the lawsuit. The country's largest labor union joined the class-action as well, arguing that, because apartheid was meant to provide white Africans with a cheap labor pool, "our members were thus among the worst affected."

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[Africom - Latest U.S. Bid to Recolonise Continent]

[US court hears apartheid appeal]

[Judge Allows Apartheid Suit Against Corporations]

[US Court Allows Apartheid Claims]

[Apartheid Lawsuit Gets A Green Light]