An accomplishment of a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. <Excerpt:Defense spending has increased every year President Obama has been in office, with a massive increase at the start over the bloated Bush defense budget. > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyunderground/message/3930 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
*CRACKING DOWN ON THE PRESS * ** *"Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered senior Pentagon officials on Thursday to begin monitoring major U.S. news media for disclosures of classified information in an effort to stop the release of government secrets after a series of high-profile leaks," begins a piece in British news <http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-usa-security-leaks-idUSBRE86J04O20120720> this morning. * *If you are a media person trying to find out what our government is up to, it may be a good idea to assume you are being watched, although military intelligence personnel have been caught spying on citizens many times in the past, including peace groups, as though they were a threat in some way, so this is nothing new. Assume sources may be arrested if they tell you what the government is doing. Don't even think about videos showing war crimes being committed (every reporter knows what happened to Wikileaks and Bradley Manning). Our government has never been more secretive, and one of its highest priorities today, after making sure the ruling Forces of Greed <http://luvnews.info/FOG.htm> control the laws and the treasury, is to make sure the American people have no idea what their government is doing. * *Most "journalists" in the mass media have learned to simply place their microphone in front of an official source and pass what results on as "news," for job security. Investigating is out of the question. * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *ABOUT THAT DEFICIT AGREEMENT * ** *"US lawmakers passed a sweeping $606 billion defense bill that exceeds a budget cap," begins a piece in French news <http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jSSkzJiUmyIMA12V5j-tnMsP3k5g?docId=CNG.7e149505c0a1123c3b32ade2b8af1356.01> this morning. Defense spending has increased every year President Obama has been in office, with a massive increase at the start over the bloated Bush defense budget. After last year's budget deal to dramatically slash Federal spending, if the Pentagon spending is increased, everything else must be cut severely to meet deficit goals. What little government oversight on corporations that remains will be gutted, along with the last of the food stamps for hungry kids. * *You see, we have to buy more gold-plated bombers that don't work and are not needed by the Pentagon, to reward those who finance our elections. * *Those who scream loudest against Federal spending are the biggest spenders, generally calling for more profitable wars and elaborate weapons projects benefiting, primarily, the ruling Forces of Greed. * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *TAXING THE 99% * ** *Senate majority leader Harry Reid wants a new internet tax <http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/239073-reid-online-sales-tax-has-a-chance-this-year>, perhaps to finance the bloated "defense" budget. This would be a tax to hit primarily the 99%.* ** *All eyes in the Congress are distracted from where the money is-- a tax on the trading of investments like other nations have (and like we once had). The reason for this is simple, the wealthiest 1% own about eighty percent of the investments, and as Billionaire Leona Helmsley put it, "Only the little people pay taxes."* ** *Dan Froomkin points out this morning that wealth disparity is now so bad that the bottom half of all Americans have only 1% <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/households-wealth-american-1-percent_n_1687015.html> of the wealth.* ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **The primary responsibility of the mass media in the Land of the Free is to keep citizens as confused as possible, in order to keep democracy from having a snowball's chance in hell of breaking out. Yesterday's terrorist friends are often today's terrorist enemies-- al Qaeda, for example, created by the CIA in Jimmy Carter's administration under National Security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, replete with Osama bin Laden and other religious fanatics ("good guys" then in our mass media). But after 9/11 it was decided that al Qaeda would become the bad guys and we could kill anyone labeled with that moniker, together with the entire Taliban, who, apparently, had been good guys because President Bush sent them millions of dollars in aid just months before 9/11. But now we've killed most of the Afghan al Qaeda and they have dispersed back to their homelands where they have become, voila, good guys again. I say that because the USA supported apparent al Qaeda fighters in Libya who had in recent years been in Iraq fighting Americans, in the new quest to overthrow Gadaffi and get his oil, now mission accomplished. And more al Qaeda in Syria, apparently good guys because we are sending them weapons financed by the Saudis through Jordan (all this for deniability, as if the world is too stupid to know where they come from). They then blow up Syrian government officials in acts that would be terrorist acts if they happened in client states of the Empire, but they are not called terrorist acts when committed in Syria you see, in the Orwellian language of our mass media. The extremely-controlled mass media go delirious with kudos when Syrian officials get blown to bits. Ward Churchill lost his job because he pointed out that 9/11 may have been a response to sanctions imposed on Iraq largely pushed by the USA, resulting in the deaths of over half a million Iraqi children under age five, which had most Arabs justifiably upset and seething with rage. This was never called an act of terrorism, in fact Clinton's Secretary of State famously said "We think it was worth it," and I remember thinking at the time, "Her fat ass has never missed a meal, she needs to go hungry for awhile and find out what happens to people from her psychopathic policies." Some day the National Security State terrorism with its Muslim Holocaust <http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/1580> will come back at us in blowback, like the monsters previously released by the Empire (Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein etc.) and corporate media propagandists will stop pushing terrorism long enough to ask again, "why do they hate us?," in their role of spinning reality to keep the masses from understanding almost anything of relevance in their lives --Jack Balkwill ** **When Suicide Bombings and IEDs Are A 'Good Thing' <http://www.thenation.com/blog/168960/when-suicide-bombings-and-ieds-are-good-thing> ** ** ** **by Robert Dreyfuss ** **Sometimes a suicide bombing is a bad thing---see, for instance, the apparent suicide attack in Bulgaria that killed Israeli tourists---and sometimes it's a good thing, or at least not so bad, according to the State Department, when it comes to an Al Qaeda-style attack against leaders of the Syrian government. ** **And sometimes bomb makers who construct "Iranian style" IEDs called "explosively formed penetrators" are bad guys, says the New York Times, and sometimes they're, well, heroic and have nothing at all to do with Iran. ** ** Let's look first at the State Department's press briefing yesterday, where Patrick Ventrell, the spokesman, almost endorsed the terrorist attack that killed Syria's defense minister and other senior officials. In persistent questioning, reporters couldn't get Ventrell to say whether the bombing was a "good thing" or a "bad thing." From the transcript: ** **** **MR. VENTRELL: [W]e note reports that the Syrian defense minister and other regime officials were killed in an attack today in Damascus. The United States does not welcome further bloodshed in Syria. We note, however, that these men were key architects of the Assad regime's assault on the Syrian people. ** **We also recognize that, even as the media is focused on the deaths of these senior officials, dozens more civilians were killed today throughout Syria. As we've been predicting for some time, the Assad regime's desperate attempts to cling to power will only lead to further chaos and suffering, underscoring the urgency of a political transition. It is past time for the UN Security Council to stand up and put the full weight of its support behind the Annan plan to facilitate that transition and an immediate end to violence. ** **And with that, I will turn it over to you for questions. ** **QUESTION: Well, this wasn't a good thing? Is that what you're saying? ** **MR. VENTRELL: Well, Matt, we've been clear throughout that what we're focused on is a political transition. We don't want further bloodshed. ** **QUESTION: So this is a bad thing? ** **MR. VENTRELL: Well, having said that, these are individuals who had perpetrated and were key architects of the extreme violence against the Syrian people. ** **QUESTION: So it's a good thing? ** **MR. VENTRELL: Again, we're still getting more information about what happened. This happened just today. We've seen some of the initial reports. We're getting reports from some of our contacts and others on the ground, but at this point---we're still looking for information at this point. ** **QUESTION: Well, yeah. But I want to know whether you think this is a good thing or a bad thing. ** **MR. VENTRELL: The United States does not want to see further violence in Syria. What we want to see is a transition. ** **QUESTION: So that would suggest that it's a bad thing, but then you say---come back and say that these people are responsible for the deaths of lots of innocent civilians, so that would suggest that you think it's a good thing. ** **MR. VENTRELL: Again, I'm---you're trying to put words in my mouth. I've characterized it--- ** **QUESTION: No. I'm just trying figure out what the Administration thinks that the death of people---or the killings of people in positions like this is a good thing or a bad thing for Syria. ** **MR. VENTRELL: We want a peaceful solution, Matt. We're focused on ending the bloodshed. It is the Assad regime, however, that, in slaughtering its own people, has created these chaotic conditions. They are losing control of Syria. It's clear that the situation is spiraling out of control. And what we've been trying to avoid all along is further chaos that spills over the borders that makes the situation worse. ** **So we've been pretty clear that we want a peaceful, orderly transition. And that's why the diplomacy up in New York today is so important, because we want to see the Security Council not only take the Joint Special Envoy's plan, but also give it the kind of consequences for noncompliance that he's been asking for. So we're focused on the diplomacy up in New York. ** **QUESTION: I'll drop it after this. You just give me a yes or no answer. So you're telling me is that the United States---the Administration is not prepared to say that this is either a good thing or a bad thing. Is that correct, yes or no? ** **MR. VENTRELL: We're still looking. ** **Still looking? ** **Meanwhile, the New York Times, in a report today, covers anti-Assad bombmakers. In the past, every time one of those so-called "explosively formed penetrators" exploded anywhere---in Iraq, in Afghanistan, anyplace---the media and the administration was quick to say that the device ahd Iranian origins or seemed like something that Iran might have assembled, and therefore concluded virtually that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei planted the damn thing himself. Not this time. Says the Times: ** **** **The [US] official also said the United States government strongly suspected the use of explosively formed penetrators, or E.F.P.'s, bombs with a shaped charge that can penetrate tank armor and that have often been associated with Iran. The official said that the number of these bombs in use was very small, and that the technology for making them was widespread enough that their presence did not indicate Iranian support for the rebels, who are seeking the ouster of an Iranian ally. ** **Now, maybe that's true. It's not likely that Iran is building bombs to topple an ally. But note that the Times simply assumes this, whereas in the past---with no evidence at all---is has consistently suggested that, of course, Iran did it. ** **Now, that bombing in Bulgaria? Well, Iran did it. Or maybe it was Hezbollah or Hamas. Oh, who cares? Let's attack Iran and Hezbollah anyway.** **** **http://www.thenation.com/blog/168960/when-suicide-bombings-and-ieds-are-good-thing** **** ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *If you wish to be removed from this list, please let us know* ** *To join the Liberty Underground news service email [email protected] "join" for a subject* ** *You may also join our talk group athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyundergroundtalk/ <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyundergroundtalk/>if you would like to participate* ** *email: [email protected]* ** *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:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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