Obama NOT a Muslim!

Obama NOT a Muslim!
*******

It is a well known fact that Barack Obama is NOT a Muslim; he is, and has been for many years, a Christian; in fact, the Republicans tried to get him in trouble due to his lunatic Pastor, an extremist named Jeremiah Wright. But you simply cannot have it both ways: If Obama were a Muslim, he would not even "have" a Christian pastor! So, they had to choose: Which attack was more damaging to Obama and his cause?

The Republicans are running scared. That alone explains why they are starting, all over again, to use this discredited myth, calling Obama a "Muslim," and turning that word into a perjorative. McCain's entire campaign is falling apart in state after state-- largely due to his impulsive, impetuous appointment of Sarah Palin as his running-mate. She has excessively damaged the campaign, but, even if she were gone,
McCain's continual and consistent support of George Bush would itself be enough quite thoroughly to ruin him.

Absolutely anything can be written, and passed along, in absolutely any email. I received this charge of "Obama's being a Muslim" early in the campaign, and have heard Obama himself deny it several times. It has been quite thoroughly and repeatedly disproved and discredited. In every one of his bionotes (writings about his life-history), he makes it crystal-clear that he has never been a Muslim. For most who are "hip" on the political scene, this lie was quashed several months ago. I am not at all certain that I could vote for a Muslim to "run" the U.S., although, of course, each adult person has a full right to believe whatever she chooses. So, there is, and should be, no attempt to limit the beliefs of other adults.

Nevertheless, you can rest fully assured that Obama is not a Muslim. He has an "odd name" because of past cultural influences, but is as American as you or I. He is deeply loyal to his country, and to a highly idealistic vision of how it can be improved. After eight years of trying to turn the White House into an asylum, where insane and incompetent men (and women, like Condy) can "recuperate," it might soon once again become the center of good government and good laws for this country.
*******

Letter Sent to Columbus Dispatch

Thanks to Barbara Baty.

Pisses me off! So, here's the Letter I sent to Columbus Dispatch
***

Introduction From Barbara:

An old friend of mine is quite liberal and very anti-McCain. This is a letter he wrote to the Dayton Daily News and the Columbus Dispatch. Please know that I got my friend's permission to share his letter with others.

Barbara
***


I was very dismayed to find a Neo-conservative propaganda DVD [called], "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West," included as an advertisement in the Columbus Dispatch. The interviewees on the video are either themselves Zionists or apologists for right-wing Israeli policies.

These Swift Boat tactics from Clarion Fund seem designed to help the faltering McCain campaign and begin the latest pre-election salvos from the Nixon/Karl Rovian Dirty Tricks Department to inflame fear among the American public. Sadly, many if not most citizens of this country buy into such vapid fear mongering (see flag burning, gay baiting, abortion, gun control, and other NON political issues that the Reich-wing fans [into flame] around election time to inflame their base and frighten
voters).

The Clarion Fund identifies itself as a 501(c)(3) organization and as such is NOT permitted to engage in political activity, endorse or oppose political candidates, or donate money or time to political campaigns. It financed the delivery this month of 28 million DVDs in swing states to place at the doorstep of newspaper subscribers the controversial video "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West." The video, which has been widely criticized as hostile to Muslims, has been inserted in 70 national and major-city newspapers.

The Clarion Fund -- founded by Israeli-Canadian film producer Raphael Shore -- is, at best, a two-year old shadowy organization, and very pro-McCain. According to Clarion Fund's incorporation papers, it is based as the same address as Aish Hatorah, an Israeli organization. The three founders of The Clarion Fund are or were full-time employees of Aish Hatorah, as is Shore-- a full-time employee. The Clarion Fund has collaborated with pro-Israel media watch organization HonestReporting in the production of its films. HonestReporting originally was a project of the Aish Hatorah organization.

Thus, the timing, market ("swing states") and purpose of this information is highly suspect. This group engages in the politics of fear and wants to scare Americans into voting for the party/candidate of permanent war. As evidence of inappropriate political bias on the part of The Clarion Fund, AP cited Patriot News of Harrisburg, Pa. reporting "that a Clarion Fund Web site ran a pro-McCain article before it attracted notice and was taken down."

It's ironic that a film trying to conflate Radical Islam and Nazism is in itself a propaganda tool only Goebbels could be proud of.

I fully expect the Dispatch to realize the error of its ways.

Steve Cyester
Hilliard [Ohio]
*******

Stories from Alternative News

Thanks to Mick Gallagher.

thepeoplesvoice.org Newsletter
092107

A Fed Panic and a Massive Bailout of American Banks Paid For by the Entire World - Rodrigue Tremblay

"Manias, panics, and crashes are the consequence of an economic environment that cultivates cupidity, chicanery, and rapaciousness rather than a devout belief in the Golden Rule." - Peter L. Bernstein, Foreword to Manias, Panics, and Crashes (4th ed.) by C. P. Kindleberger

"In a crisis, discount and discount heavily." - Walter Bagehot (1826-1877), British economist

AMERICA, THE ONCE FREE - Peter Fisk

I have grown sick, embarrassed and, ultimately disillusioned with what
has happened to my country. The United States of America- at one time
those five magical words mesmerized both citizens and foreigners alike.

ORB Survey And 1.2 Million Iraq Deaths Ignored By Australian And Anglo-American Media - Dr Gideon Polya, Countercurrents

In February 2007, as we approached the Fourth Anniversary of the US-UK-Australian invasion of Iraq, I published an article in Countercurrents entitled "US Iraqi Holocaust and 1 million Excess Deaths". I detailed and documented the following horrendous circumstances in Occupied Iraq:

"as of February 2007:
(a) the accrual cost has been $2.3 trillion;
(b) there are 3.7 million Iraqi refugees;
(c) the post-invasion excess deaths (avoidable deaths, deaths that did not have to happen) total 1.0 million (ONE MILLION);
(d) post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total .6 million;
(e) there were 1.7 million excess Iraqi deaths associated with the Western-imposed 1990-2003 Sanctions War;
(f) there were 1.2 million under-5 year old infant deaths in the 1990-2003 Sanctions War; and
(g) Coalition deaths total about 3,360."

It is now September 2007. And after a further SEVEN months of US-UK-Australian war and occupation, the horrendous human and economic cost has inevitably increased.

George W. Bush's Thug Nation - Robert Parry, Consortium News

It's said that over time, Presidents-- especially two-termers-- imbue the nation with their personalities and priorities, for good or ill. If that's true, it could help explain the small-minded, mean-spiritedness that seems to be pervading the behavior of the United States these days, both at home and abroad. On a global level, the world reads about trigger-happy Blackwater Security contractors mowing down civilians in Baghdad, the U.S. military killing unarmed people under loose rules of engagement in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and the CIA rendering suspected Islamists to secret prisons or to third-country dungeons where torture is practiced. Inside the United States, too, a police-state mentality is taking hold.

ACTION ALERT: Stop the Unconstitutional 'Protect America' Act - Michael Boldin

The single largest anti-Constitutional contribution to the Bush Regime by the Protect America Act (PAA) is its effective cancellation of legislative and judicial oversight on warrantless wiretapping. It authorizes open-ended surveillance of Americans' overseas phone calls and emails without a warrant. When this bill was signed into law on 08-05-07, legislative and judicial power in the executive branch instantly grew by several orders of magnitude. The Constitution's separation-of-powers principle had its arms ripped off.

09/20/07

Condoleezza Rice: saleswoman of lies - Palestinian Information Centre, From Khalid Amayreh in occupied East Jerusalem

Condoleezza Rice, the unglamorous American Secretary of State, arrived in Occupied Palestine on Wednesday to promote the putative American-proposed peace conference, slated to take place in November. Rice will meet with Zionist political and military leaders in an effort to convince them to show some flexibility vis--vis the so-called core issues that define the Palestinian question. These include, inter alia, ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 as well as finding a solution to the plight of nearly five million Palestinian refugees brutally uprooted from their homes by Zionist terror when Israel was created six decades ago.

Bush Speech on Iraq and Democrats on Impeachment - Stephen Crockett

Since George W. Bush is completely ignoring the views of both the vast majority of American citizens and the majority of the members of Congress concerning the ending of the Iraq War, impeachment hearings should be started. Bush will not conform to democratic norms. He will not respect public opinion or democracy. There are plenty of reasons to hold immediate joint impeachment hearings for both bush and cheney.

THE END OF AMERICA - THE POLICE STATE IS RIGHT HERE - RIGHT NOW - Carolyn Baker

As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such a twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air--however slight-- lest we become unwilling victims of the darkness. - Justice William O. Douglas

Wolf's just-published book, The End Of America: Letter Of Warning To A Young Patriot,... offers an even fuller picture-- a succinct and engaging explanation of how our civil liberties have been hijacked in the past decade. It is the most poignant, powerful, genuinely patriotic piece of literature I have encountered since Thomas Paine's Common Sense. No wonder then, that the book's cover greatly resembles that 46-page tract by Paine written in 1775-- as well it should.

Bush Nominates 9-11 Zionist Judge as Attorney General - Christopher Bollyn, Truth Seeker / Rumor Mill News

It is widely reported that george w. bush will nominate former Manhattan federal Judge Michael [Bernard] Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as attorney general. With the fraudulent "War on Terror" in full swing and with 9-11 cases in legal limbo, this is a critical appointment at a crucial time. As I had expected, bush has appointed a radical Zionist with close ties to the State of Israel. Mukasey, if confirmed as U.S. Attorney General, will protect the Zionist state and its agents who are suspected of involvement in the false-flag terror attacks of 9-11.

The Crushing of Fallujah - James Petras, Global Research

The mass propaganda media has taught the US public to believe that the extermination of thousands of Iraqi citizens is in their best interests: they can sleep sound, as long as 'our boys' kill them 'over there'. Almost the entire population of Iraq is opposed to the US military and its puppet regime--yet the media refer to the patriots defending their country from the imperial invaders as "insurgents," minimizing the significance of a nation-wide patriotic liberation movement.

I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary, a journalist's account of Nazi political propaganda during the 1930's, as I watch the US 'news' reports of the violent assault on Fallujah. The US mass media 'reports', the style, content, and especially the language, echo their Nazi predecessor of 70 years ago to an uncanny degree. Coincidence? Of course! In both instances, we have imperialist armies conquering
countries, leveling cities, and slaughtering civilians-- and the mass media, private in form, state appendages in practice, disseminate the most outrageous lies, in defense and praise of the conquering 'storm troopers. Call them SS or Marines. Both in Nazi Germany and the contemporary US, we are told by the mass media that the invading armies are "freeing the country" of "foreign fighters", "armed terrorists", who are preventing "the people" from going about their everyday lives. Yet we know that of the 1,000 prisoners there are only 4 foreigners (3 Iranians and 1 Arab); Iraqi hospitals report less than 10% of foreign fighters. In other words, over 90% of the fighters are Iraqis--most of whom were born, educated, and raised families in the cities in which they are fighting.

Bush, Iran, and Israel's hidden hand - Kathleen and Bill Christison, Redress Nuclear hypocrisy in the Middle East

Former CIA analysts Kathleen and Bill Christison argue that a US and/or Israeli attack on Iran to bring about regime change and strengthen US and Israeli dominion over the Middle East is likely to take place before the Bush administration leaves office unless a concerted effort is made to impeach bush and cheney. The internet is loaded these days with reports of the inevitability of a US, or a US-Israeli, attack on Iran. Some writers allege that the attack is imminent. Others, including the writers of this article, argue only that the attack will happen sometime before January 2009, when the bush administration leaves office. Many of these stories have by now been picked up by the mainstream media. In fact, it is probably safe to say that today, a majority of the traditionally cautious and so-called respectable foreign policy experts in the US think it is at least possible that bush will attack Iran before he leaves office.

Palestinian Propaganda Prize for Israel- Nicola Nasser

The inter-Palestinian war of words and the mutual violations of the freedom of press and expression by the Hamas - led government of Ismael Haniyyeh in the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-led government of Salam Fayyad in the West Bank have presented Israel with its biggest propaganda prize that is overshadowing the violations of human rights committed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

Nablus Fierce Battle Killed & Injured Israeli State Terrorist Unit - Hiyam Noir, PalestineFreeVoice

Gaza City September 18 2007: Invading Israeli State Terrorist units launched wide scale attacks into the Al-'Ayn refugee camp in Nablus in two stages on Tuesday morning. In the first incursion, more than fifty Israeli armed vehicles stormed the camp just before dawn, and imposed a curfew. Members of the Israeli State Terrorists units seized four Palestinians and blasted through the walls in the alleys between the buildings, trespassed through Palestinian territorial land - and stationed themselves inside Palestinian homes.

George W. Bush: The Quiet Dictator - Irregular Times

As of this week, the bush administration's descent into totalitarian depravity has reached a new low so despicable that even a few Republicans are beginning to criticize it. It was revealed this week that the bush administration is planning to keep people as prisoners for their entire lives, even though there is no evidence that those people have committed any crime against the United States. The lack of evidence against these people is so striking that the American government does not even have enough grounds to bring them before a form of military tribunal that has been set up by George W. Bush precisely for the purpose of evading the standards of justice set by the United States Constitution.

A Madman, not a Doofus

*******
Not Only the Worst President, but the Worst Possible President by Jane Smiley, HuffingtonPost.com

How do you build yourself a madman? Well, first you flatter him, and then you try never to make him angry, and then you feed him ideas that flatter him even more by making him seem to himself sentimentally visionary and powerful and righteous. You appeal to his already evident mean streak and his hot temper by reminding him all the time that he has enemies, and you cultivate his religious side so that the sense of righteous victimization inherent in extreme religion comes out. If he were not already an ignorant, dependant, fragile, and rigid person, he would not be susceptible to this sort of conditioning, but by temperament and practice, he has nothing of his own to counter your efforts. Then you hire a few shyster-sycophants like John Yoo to tell him (ignorant as he is, with no actual understanding of the Constitution), that as president he can do whatever he wants.

So, here he is, Little George, caught between the devil (Cheney) and the deep blue sea (fifty-some years of being infantilized by B/S/B). Cheney and Rumsfeld, aided by Rice and Miers and Hughes, convince him that his masculinity will only be enhanced by doing all the masculine things he missed out on over the years, especially making war. And Gerson gives his war a virtuous, godly gloss. And Gerson's words come out of his mouth so often that he believes them and thinks they are his. In the meantime, Karl Rove continues to think that he is the maestro, playing Little George (and his base and the rest of the nation) like his own personal piano. Playing the president, for Rove, means enhancing LIttle George's actual dependency while encouraging him to think that he's the boss (allowing him to call you "Turdblossom", for example, and isn't it telling that "turd" seems to be Bush's favorite imprecation, rather than, say, "fuck"?).

Bush is the worst possible president because he is simultaneously unusually ignorant for a president and unusually shallow, as well as desperate for a success he can call his own. I can see how in a certain sort of era--say an era of prosperity and world peace (can you think of one? I can't) an unusually ignorant and shallow man could bump along in the presidency for a few years without creating havoc and destruction, but these years didn't happen to be peaceful and prosperous, they happened to be delicate and dangerous. Clinton knew that, and he approached his compromising and self-contradictory foreign policy tasks with care. But Bush and his fellow boors were so blind that they adopted as their motto "anything but Clinton", sheer contrarianism and resentment. It wasn't enough to them for the US to be powerful, as it was in the Clinton years, or to be generally respected and appreciated--they wanted something more sensational--power they could feel, power that was erotic and fetishistic, power that was uncomfortable for others, power that would make them feel big by making others feel small, power that would show Clinton up. That's the tit Little George has been sucking for the last six years--the deluded propaganda of the neocons, addressed first to him and through him to the rest of us. What we saw the other night, when he proposed more war against more "foes" was the madman the last six years have created. This time, in his war against Iran, he doesn't even feel the need for minimal PR, as he did before attacking Iraq. All he is bothering with are signals--ships moving here, admirals moving there, consulates being raided in this other place. He no longer cares about the opinions of the voters, the Congress, the generals, the press, and he especially disdains the opinions of B/S/and B. Thanks to Gerson, he identifies his own little ideas with God (a blasphemy, of course, but hey, there's lots of precedent on this), so there's no telling what he will do. We can tell by the evidence of the last two months that whatever it is, it will be exactly the thing that the majority of the voters do not want him to do, exactly the thing that James Baker himself doesn't want him to do. The propaganda that Bush's sponsors and handlers have poured forth has ceased to persuade the voters but succeeded beyond all measure in convincing the man himself. He will tell himself that God is talking to him, or that he is possessed of an extra measure of courage, or he that he is simply compelled to do whatever it is. The soldiers will pay the price in blood. We will pay the price in money. The Iraqis will pay the price in horror. The Iranians will pay the price, possibly, in the almost unimaginable terror of nuclear attack. Probably, the Israelis will pay the price, too.

Little George isn't the same guy he was in 2000, the guy described by Gail Sheehy in her Vanity Fair profile--hyper-competitive and dyslexic, prone to cheat at games, always swinging between screwing up and making up, hating criticism and disagreement, careless of others but often charming. He is no longer the guy who the Republicans thought they could control (unlike, say, McCain). The small pathologies of Bush the candidate have, thanks to the purposes of the neocons and the religious right, been enhanced and upgraded. We have a bona fide madman now, who thinks of himself in a grandiose way as single-handedly turning the tide of history. Some of his Frankensteins have bailed, some haven't dared to, and others still seem to believe. His actions and his orders, especially about Iran, seem to be telling us that he will stop at nothing to prove his dominance. The elder Bush(es), Scrowcroft, Baker, and their friends, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gerson, and the neocons have made the monster and in the process endangered the country, the Constitution, and the world, not to mention the sanity of wretches like Jose Padilla (for an analysis of the real reason Gitmo continues to exist, see Dahlia Lithwick's article in Slate, here. Maybe the bums planned this mess for their own profit, or maybe they planned to profit without mess; maybe some of them regret what they have wrought. However, they all share the blame for whatever he does next.

Read the whole article

(Thanks to Teresa Ramsey.)