(Whose side are they on? In action this is one of those, with friends like this, we don't need enemies, phrases- Scott. Graphics with the articles, should be available at the group page.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyunderground/message/3896 *WHOSE SIDE ARE THEY ON?* *Do you have health insurance? If something serious happened to you, could you afford medical treatment? Would your insurance cover it? Or would you go broke, the way millions of Americans have? As the country awaits the decision by the Supreme Court on the Obama administration's so-called health care reform package, people in this country continue to sicken and die for lack of proper medical care. But don't look to Obamacare to change that, say Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. On the contrary, it will, like Romneycare in Massachusetts, only make things worse. They explain why in this assessment<http://itsoureconomy.us/2012/06/the-supreme-court-should-rule-with-the-people/> .* ** ------------------------------ ** *MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN THE U.S.* *'Nuff said.* ** ------------------------------ ** *ARE WE GETTING THE WHOLE STORY?* *For weeks we've been getting bombarded with stories about a massacre of civilians in Houla, Syria. We've been told that it was government troops who did the killing. But now it comes out that perhaps those stories are wrong. Or at least profoundly confused. But reports in war, especially from war zones, are always confused, aren't they? Shouldn't we at least bring some skepticism to bear before we believe the stories the mainstream media feeds us? * * * *Even the venerable -- and hardly radical -- BBC is questioning the reports coming out of Syria about the Houla massacre. It's even backpedaling. You can read about it in this analysis from FAIR<http://www.fair.org/blog/2012/06/14/was-houla-massacre-a-manufactured-atrocity/> .* ** ------------------------------ *What's going on in this country are the kinds of things Americans used to decry as staples of the Soviet Union and third world dictatorships. Now that they're becoming routine, suddenly the criticism is muted: detention without charges, kangaroo courts, secret evidence, Orwellian definitions.* * * *In fact, this increasing repression has been going on for 30 years. The "war on drugs" is an excuse to lock up poor people, a form of modern-day slavery. And now, the "war on terror" is an excuse to lock up everyone else, anyone the state deems troublesome or dissident. Americans who ignore and, worse, deny this state of affairs have their heads in the sand. **--Lisa Simeone* * * * * The Chicago frame-up: The war on terror comes home<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/pers-j15.shtml> * * *by Joseph Kishore* * * The arrest and prosecution of the five protesters accused of plotting terrorism during last months NATO summit in Chicago, Illinois is a warning to the entire working class. It marks an ominous step in the escalating use of repressive state powers built up during the war on terror against domestic opposition. This week, the five men appeared in court,* though prosecutors have refused to release any information on the charges against them. They have been held now for nearly a month without charges.* Even the judge presiding over the case called it strange that the prosecution did not present an indictment, which is now expected to be released on July 2. The hearings main aim appears to have been to present the accused, their hands and feet shackled, as dangerous criminals. The conditions under which they are being held, including the extraordinarily high bond of $1.5 million for the three main accused, also contribute to presenting the case as if it were a major issue of national security. The Illinois state attorney has indicated that the accused will be charged under state anti-terrorism statutes. These laws were passed after the attacks of September 11, 2001, along with a raft of similar legislation in other states and at the federal level. *The law in Illinois is particularly sweeping in defining what constitutes terrorismincluding, for example, any act that causes substantial damage to livestock and crops. As one of the attorneys of the accused put it, You can be charged with terrorism by destroying a beehive.* At the time of their arrest, the Illinois state attorney, Anita Alvarez, said that three of the fiveJared Chase, Brent Betterly and Brian Churchwere trying to make crude Molotov cocktails to target Democratic Party institutions. The other two men, Sebastian Senakiewicz and Mark Neiweem, face terrorism-related charges for two separate incidents. Senakiewicz allegedly bragged about possessing explosives without having anyresulting in a charge of making false bomb threats. Neiweem allegedly wrote up a list of ingredients for a pipe bombresulting in a charge of attempted possession of explosives. What unites the three cases and all five defendants is the involvement of two undercover police informants, Mo and Gloves, who had infiltrated the Occupy Chicago organization several months before. *No physical evidence has been presented or alleged to substantiate the cases. Moreover, any plans for violence appear to have been entirely instigated by the police informants.* The operation that led to the arrests was part of a broader police mobilization during the protests. Police effectively shut down Downtown Chicago for four days, arrested 100 demonstrators, and indiscriminately beat protesters. *The Obama administrations response to the events in Chicagoincluding the terrorism frame-upwas to praise the police, which, Obama said, did a great job under significant pressure and a lot of scrutiny. In doing so, he made clear that his administration endorses the crackdown.* The resort to methods of police provocation reflects the irreconcilable conflicts tearing at American society. Anger is mounting in the working class at policies to which the two big business parties of Americas sclerotic political establishment are entirely committed: attacks on jobs and social programs, bank bailouts, and endless wars. This same social dynamic underlies the profound erosion of American democracy in the decade during which the war on terror developed, and which began with the theft of the 2000 election. Since the attacks of September 11, *the ruling class, first under Bush and now Obama, has vastly expanded the powers of the state.* The war on terror became the catch-all justification for measures creating the legal framework of a police state in the United States. *With bipartisan support*, the Bush administration oversaw the passage of the Patriot Act, which expanded the spying powers of the state, the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, and the creation of a military command overseeing the United States. It asserted an historically unprecedented expansion of executive power to torture, wage war and spy on the American population. The National Security Agency set up an illegal system to monitor US citizens communications. *The policies of the Obama administration have demonstrated the futility and bankruptcy of attempts to fight the move towards police rule in the United States within the confines of the two-party system.* The Obama White House has opposed any attempt to investigate, let alone prosecute, its predecessors illegal actions, moving instead *to treat the United States as one battlefield in a global war *without any constraints in time or space. It oversaw the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, which allows for indefinite military detention of US citizens without charges or trial. Most recently, Obama has asserted the presidents right to assassinate US citizens without any judicial review. Attorney General Eric Holder has argued that the constitutional right to due process, a basic protection against arbitrary rule by the executive, is satisfied by the internal deliberations of the president and his closest advisors. On these grounds, anyone can be killed, or otherwise deprived of basic rights, entirely on the say-so of the president. These events vindicate the warnings of the *World Socialist Web Site*, which explained that *the main target of the anti-democratic apparatus built during the war on terror was the American population itself. Fearful of rising social opposition that can find expression only outside of official politics, the ruling class seeks to stamp it out with intimidation and frame-ups.* * * http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/pers-j15.shtml * * ------------------------------ *If you wish to be removed from this list, please let us know* ** *To join the Liberty Underground news service email libert...@hotmail.com with "join" for a subject* ** *You may also join our talk group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyundergroundtalk/ if you would like to participate* ** *email: libert...@hotmail.com* ** *Tell your friends about LUV News because some people just don't get it* * * [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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