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Tuesday July 8, 2008
In the eye of the beholder
Freedom of choice, A Choice is made for you my friend, Freedom of speech, Speech is words that they will bend ... Metallica lyrics
Mandela's
no longer a "terrorist"; Israel is ratcheting up the war rhetoric and
Iran is preparing for the worst, the G8 makes promises to Africa
- again; smog deaths rising in Ontario; and watch out for murderous
pro-lifers.
Didn't
I tell you? Think of a topic, there's a song for it. And this one
says it well. There's no longer any excuse for being fooled by words.
You can look at an issue with your own eyes if you're willing to
suffer some discomfort on the way to the truth.
Nelson Mandela not a terrorist after all (BNN)
This
is how the opponents of apartheid in South Africa were described by
their government. And yes Mandela was listed as a terrorist by the
United States, and his party, the African National Congress, or the
ANC, was listed as a terrorist organization.
Mandela
led numerous bombing raids on the South African government, and the
charges he faced, and was convicted of, were for terrorism and sabotage.
On July 9 2002, President Bush awarded the Medal of Freedom to twelve recipients, including Mandela.
It's
hard to know why Mandela would want to accept an award from the likes
of George W. Bush. But this does point up the arbitrariness of who and
who is not officially a terrorist.
Can any of the people
resisting the Israeli occupation properly be thought of as terrorists,
anymore than do Zionists consider the Jews who violently resisted the
British occupiers of Palestine as terrorists.
It's deceitful
political expediency to blacklist Hamas and Hezbollah considering that
even such a prominent South African as Desmond Tutu saw that Israel is practising Apartheid.
I
don't believe for a minute that violence on either side can bring about
peace, but those who believe in violence as a solution need to accept
that Palestinians are merely fighting back against the loss of their
lands, dignity and means of livelihood, and that it is the vilest
hypocrisy to call this terrorism.
Canadians and Americans are catching on to this trick of language. For one thing, the Chapters bookstore boycott
is still going strong, and thousands of pamphlets about
Israel/Palestine have been handed out to the public, who consistently
seem quite interested and friendly. Last Saturday, at least four times in the hour we were there,
people who came to shop in the store took a pamphlet, sat down to read
it over a coffee, and came back out saying: "We've decided we're not
going to shop at this store anymore."
There's a rumour that
Chapters has told its employees that because of the boycotts taking
place across the country their proposed upcoming raises will be reduced
by 15 cents on the dollar. If this is true, the employees should be
asking why they are being punished when Chapters-Indigo has millions to
give away to mercenary soldiers willing to go to Israel and hurt
Palestinians.
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I don't normally find articles very
useful that merely speculate, but this one gives a couple of clues to the
politics behind the heating up of rhetoric against Iran (underlining mine).
How Would U.S. React to Israeli Strike on Iran? (CuttingEdge)
As
the question of an Israeli attack on Iran edges from if toward when, a
new question looms: What would the United States do? The question is
preoccupying not just the White House but the Obama and McCain
presidential campaigns, although neither would address the matter on the record.
Neither
the hawk nor the professed dove has an opinion on Iran? What are they
waiting for - permission from the machine? Getting a clue that neither
of these guys is a leader?
So, it's to be a pretence of
hands off until the US has "no choice" but to come to the aid of the
Israelis - for its own reasons.
And we are to believe that an
ordinary Israeli MK has a clue as to whether or not Iran will have a
nuclear bomb in a year's time. Ordinary members of government are
notoriously ill-informed about most things, so this guy, Ephraim Shill
- sorry - Ephraim Sneh, has obviously been fed his lines.
You've been had if you think it's a nuclear bomb everybody's worried about. It's the oil bourse the US is worried about and Israel's worried about the water shortage. People will have to die to keep the desert blooming.
Iran stages war games, will not halt uranium enrichment (Canwest)
The
goals of Iran's war games included raising combat readiness and the
capability of missile units. Exercises started a few hours ago, the
Fars and Mehr news agencies said, without giving details on where the
manoeuvres were taking place...
You
know what - this is the very sort of thing that Egypt was doing back in
'67 when Israel attacked preemptively to expand its borders. Everybody
knows it was a defensive buildup. Egypt knew what was planned against
them and didn't have nearly the firepower Israel had, but still you
have to hear how "tiny Israel" was (and is) beseiged on all sides -
little David against Goliath, knowing full well they are now the
biggest nuclear threat to the whole region.
=======================
Briefly ...
2008 - G8 summit opens with focus on Africa (Xinhuanet)
2005 - UK Prime Minister Tony Blair made Africa a priority of the G8 Summit (G8GovUK)
Promises, promises (BBC)
Aid
sent to Africa is lining the pockets of the corrupt, just as in Iraq
and in Afghanistan. That's the way the US and Britain want it. It's all
about population reduction making it easier to rule the world.
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Heat, smog weigh down on most of Ontario (CTV)
Looks
like the only solution offered is to announce what pools are open.
Sure, send the kiddies out into the smog so they won't be underfoot.
Rise in smog deaths (CTV)
A
report last week from the Ontario Medical Association says the number
of residents killed by air pollution has risen to nearly 9,500 a year,
from 2,000 annual deaths in 2003 ...
Dalt's solution is to cut back on coal burning and build nuclear plants. A change of danger is as good as a rest.
======
Time to batten down the hatches - again (Star - Zerbisias)
Women
should be on their guard as anti-abortion rhetoric heats up ... "The
righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his
feet in the blood of the wicked." So sayeth Psalms 58:10 and the
Virginia-based Army of God.
The Army of God are proud of their association with Paul Hill, the man who murdered an abortionist because "God hates murder".
yayacanada
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