As articulated well by President Jimmy Carter, it is wrong to frame this conflict simply as “democratic Israel” facing “terrorist groups like Hamas” and it is wrong to continue to fund Israeli wars while claiming to be an “honest broker.” It is analogous to describing the struggles in South Africa in the 1980s as “democratic South Africa” facing off against “terrorist groups like the ANC” (actually that was President Reagan’s framing in his first term in office as he supported Apartheid). Yes, some members of the ANC did use terror (including “necklacing” or burning their rivals alive) but that was miniscule compared to the state terrorism and apartheid they faced. The US cannot be an honest broker so long as the US government continues to:

a) Give billions in military aid to Israel that is used to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity (see human rights reports on the recent Gaza aggression including use of White Phosphorus and DIME weapons).

b) Use its veto power and diplomatic muscle to shield Israel from International Law and Human Rights obligations

c) Demand that Hamas accepts Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence, and abide by previous agreements (that they did not sign) while they US refuses to demand the same from Israel. Why not insist that Israel recognize Palestine’s right to exist (or at least Palestinian right to true independence on the land that Israel has been stealing since 1947 partition resolution). Why not ask Israel to renounce violence and why not demand it abide by the signed agreements (e.g. freezing settlement activities, opening borders, allowing freedom of movement etc.).

Both Palestinians and Israelis have work to do but one cannot equate the nuclear armed 4^th strongest army in the world with a dispossessed and occupied people (2/3rds of the 10 million Palestinians in the world are refugees or displaced people). It is ironic that Mr. Obama talks about Israel’s need for security when in three weeks 1300 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces (most of them civilians, over 400 children) while in the same period 13 Israelis (10 of whom soldiers) were killed by Hamas! It is more ironic that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert interrupted President Bush while the latter is giving a lecture and instructed him to stop Condoleeza Rice from going along with the UN resolution (per Olmert testimony) when Bush continued to read a story to schoolchildren when told that America was under attack on 9/11!

If we truly want to advance peace in this area to promote US national interest, President Obama and Secretary Clinton would do well to stop parroting Bush, shift US policy to neutrality instead of always taking the side of Israel, and simply instruct Mitchell to insist that all people and countries comply with International law and human rights. This would mean ending the Israeli occupation that started in 1967 and respecting basic human rights like the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands. We can even start simpler by immediately endorsing the 2002 Arab peace initiative (it won’t be on the table for too long), accept and deal with a unity Palestinian government (which must include Hamas and Fatah), and engage in serious negotiations based on International law. With Obama’s popularity and people’s interest in real change, it is even more doable than when President Eisenhower called the Israeli Prime Minister and successfully demanded that Israel withdraw its occupation forces from the Sinai and the Gaza Strip in 1956. Obama has the power to reclaim that legacy of US independence and leadership and truly change the future of the Middle East. Otherwise, it might be better if George Mitchell not waste any taxpayer money trying the same failed and biased approaches that threaten US national interests in that vital part of the world.

Dr. Qumsiyeh is a Palestinian-American Professor at Bethlehem University, Chairman of the Board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, and author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle” (website http://qumsiyeh.org)

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The banker’s and bomb maker’s media is already hard at work choosing the 2012 Republican presidential candidates for the people of the United States.

Chris Matthews of MSNBC gives us the usual list of neocons and neo-liberals who pass for Republicans these days such as Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin.

The talking heads offer up their talking points about the chosen CFR candidates like software being downloaded to a computer but things get slightly off script when Katrina Vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation says, the only juice left in the Republican Party is the Ron Paul wing.

Ron Paul considered a fringe candidate by the banker/bomb maker media had a surprising strong and organized base of conservatives and libertarians who are tired of out of control growth of government and the loss of civil liberties in America.

While MSNBC gave little time to Katrina’s comments it make a person wonder if the Ron Paul Revolution as some called it will fade with time or become an unstoppable political force able to change the course history in 2012?

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“I’m smarter than you.”

A celebrated Harvard professor has been selected to whisper into President-elect Obama’s ear about global warming…uh, I mean global climate change, or whatever they call it these days. Professor John P. Holdren is expected to serve as Obama’s top science adviser, no doubt signaling that the Obama administration will attempt to pass a bill to tax carbon rather than fight real environmental issues.

And just who is Holdren? Well, take a look at him. Just look at him! We’ve all met the type. If this smug picture of the professor doesn’t tell you all you need to know about him and his attitude towards you, then take a look at one of his op-eds regarding people who think that global warming is a contrived crisis.

“The few climate-change “skeptics” with any sort of scientific credentials continue to receive attention in the media out of all proportion to their numbers, their qualifications, or the merit of their arguments. And this muddying of the waters of public discourse is being magnified by the parroting of these arguments by a larger population of amateur skeptics with no scientific credentials at all.”

See? He’s smarter than you. Yeah, I’m talking to you! The one with no scientific credentials. Holdren is obviously tired of debating with the fringe of “internet bloggers and cocktail-party conversationalists,” and has sought a larger audience where he can appropriately express his superior mental intellect.

And it takes all of two seconds to connect him to Al Gore and his global warming propaganda movie, An Inconvenient Truth, a movie that a judge in the UK prohibited from being sent to schools unless it was countered with “guidance giving the other side of the argument” due to the it’s nine factual errors. The Harvard professor, who is smarter than you, was Gore’s adviser on the film.

So why does Holdren feel that the average skeptic of common or sub-par intellect continues to deny global warming? It’s the fact that terms such as “climate change” and “global warming” have become public memes that don’t properly align with his chicken little views of the phony environmental crisis. He would prefer that the term “rapid warming,” or some other catchy phrase be used so that the commoners understand that it is a crisis that must be solved right now or the world will just melt away.

Holdren also misrepresents the people that view global warming as just another swindle that was concocted in order to squeeze the middle class. He asserts that they’re mostly just dumb Republicans, regardless of the fact that there are people from both sides of the political isle who believe that global warming is an insignificant issue.

Holdren must be oblivious of the public’s mistrust of government officials who scream about problems that must be solved right away. The government screamed about the problem of Iraq that had to be solved right away or else the US would be attacked with Saddam’s imaginary weapon’s of mass destruction. The government screamed about the banks that had to be bailed out right away by US tax payers or the entire financial system would collapse.

Holdren is simply the latest hack in Obama’s administration that has been cobbled together to ensure that the United States continues to head for the trash can of history.

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FOR TWO YEARS, Americans have heard an unrelenting mantra of change emanating from the campaign trail. But now that President-elect Barack Obama has begun forming his cabinet, we’re seeing a cadre of more deeply entrenched insiders than any administration that has preceded it.

In regard to key foreign policy advisors, all three of Obama’s selections either initially supported the Iraq war, or still do. On the economic front, each appointee maintains a close relationship with the Jewish triad of Ben Bernanke, Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan—as well as bailout engineer Henry Paulson. Barack Obama himself is a Council on Foreign Relations member, has strong ties to Zbigniew Brzezinski, and participated in a clandestine meeting with Hillary Clinton at Bilderberg member Diane Feinstein’s house at the time when 2008 Bilderberg members were congregating only a few miles away.

Below is an overview of Obama’s top 14 selections to date. When considering their collective histories, a trend becomes clear, proving that the more things change under Obama, the more they stay the same.

1. TIMOTHY GEITHNER – TREASURY SECRETARY

Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, president and CEO of Federal Reserve Bank of New York, director of policy development for IMF, member Group of Thirty (G30), employed at Kissinger & Associates, architect of the recent 2008 financial bailouts, mentored by Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin.

2. PAUL VOLCKER – ECONOMIC RECOVERY ADVISORY BOARD

Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, North American chairman of Trilateral Commission, Federal Reserve chairman during Carter and Reagan administrations, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York, G30 member, chairman Rothschild Wolfensohn Company, key figure in the collapse of the gold standard during the Nixon administration, longtime associate of the Rockefeller family.

3. RAHM EMANUEL – CHIEF OF STAFF

Member of Israeli Defense Force, staunch Zionist, senator, Board of Directors for Freddie Mac, member of Bill Clinton’s finance campaign committee, made $16.2 million during 2.5 years as an investment banker for Wasserstein Perella. His father was a member of the Israeli Irgun terrorist group.

4. LAWRENCE SUMMERS – NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL

Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, treasury secretary during Clinton administration, chief economist at World Bank, former president of Harvard University, Brookings Institute board member, huge proponent of globalization while working for the IMF, prot�g� of David Rockefeller, mentored by Robert Rubin.

5. DAVID AXELROD – SENIOR ADVISOR

Political consultant whose past clients include Sens. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Christopher Dodd; main Obama fixer in the William Ayers and Reverend Wright scandals.

6. HILLARY CLINTON – SECRETARY OF STATE

Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, clandestine CIA asset used to infiltrate the anti-war movement at Yale University and the Watergate hearings, senior partner at the Rose Law Firm, key figure in the Mena drug trafficking affair, architect of the Waco disaster, implicated in the murder/ cover-up of Vince Foster, and many other deaths.

7. JOSEPH BIDEN – VICE PRESIDENT

Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senator since 1972, member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, current chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, strong Zionist sympathizer who recently told Rabbi Mark S. Golub of Shalom TV, “I am a Zionist. You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.”

8. BILL RICHARDSON – COMMERCE SECRETARY

Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, former U.S. congressman, chairman of the Democratic National Convention in 2004, employee of Kissinger Associates, UN ambassador, governor of New Mexico, energy secretary, major player in the Monica Lewinsky cover-up with Bilderberg luminary Vernon Jordan.

9. ROBERT GATES – DEFENSE SECRETARY

Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, former CIA Director, defense secretary under President Bush, co-chaired CFR task force with Zbigniew Brzezinski, knee-deep in the Iran-Contra scandal, named in a 1999 class action lawsuit pertaining to the Mena drug trafficking affair.

10. TOM DASCHLE – HEALTH SECRETARY

Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, former Senate majority leader, Citibank lackey, mentored by Robert Rubin.

11. ERIC HOLDER – ATTORNEY GENERAL

Key person in the pardon of racketeer Marc Rich, deputy attorney general under Janet Reno, facilitated the pardon of 16 Puerto Rican FALN terrorists under Bill Clinton.

12. JANET NAPOLITANO – HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR

Council on Foreign Relations, Arizona governor, attorney for Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings, U.S. attorney during the Clinton administration, instrumental in the OKC cover-up, where she declared, “We’ll pursue every bit of evidence and every lead,” described as another Janet Reno, soft on illegal immigration (i.e. pro-amnesty and drivers licenses to illegals).

13. GEN. JAMES L. JONES – NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR

Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission, European supreme allied commander, special envoy for Middle-East Security during Bush administration, board of directors for Chevron and Boeing, NATO commander, member of Brent Scowcroft’s Institute for International Affairs along with Zbigniew Brzezinski, Bobby Ray Inman, Bilderberg luminary Henry Kissinger and former CIA Director John Deutch.

14. SUSAN RICE – U.N. AMBASSADOR

Council on Foreign Relations, Rhodes scholar, campaign foreign policy advisor to presidential candidates John Kerry and Michael Dukakis, member of Bill Clinton’s National Security Council and assistant secretary of state for Africa, member of the Brookings Institute (funded by the Ford Foundation and the Rockefellers), and member of the Aspen Strategy Group (teeming with Bilderberg insiders such as Richard Armitage, Brent Scowcroft, and Madeleine Albright).

Victor Thorn is a hard-hitting researcher, journalist and the author of many books on 9-11 and the New World Order. These include 9-11 Evil: The Israeli Role in 9-11 and Phantom Flight 93.

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If the good of the nation and welfare of its general populace were of any concern, regulation and recovery would be nearly (dare I say) ‘easy’. It would be inspired and direct, in essence a solid plan targeting the currently unrepresented average citizen. However, the prime directive most certainly would not be handing over billions, which will in all likelihood balloon into trillions of dollars, to the CEO’s in the top three percent income tax bracket who were at the helm during this ship’s course over the falls. So far in this ‘bailout’ endeavor there has been very little oversight, very little capitulation, very little remorse and a complete shunning of the common working man/woman. In some instances, blowhards have even went so far as to blame the collapse on everyone but the CEO’s, speculators and government entities in charge.

Our interests are not being represented by those we elect. Some may argue about the length of time this corporate influence has outweighed that of the constituent, but in the light of a crisis such the one we are experiencing now, it becomes apparent the voice of the people is shouted down by the dollars of the campaign benefactors.

We are being taxed, without representation, by those that would rather salvage the rich and sacrifice the poor. We are not the cause of the collapse and we will not benefit from any of the bailouts, though a better approach to mend wounds would be to invest in communities, the people and infrastructure, not write check after check to corporate leaders who have proven their corruptness.

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President elect Barack Obama made choices today for “a broad and diverse team” in Chicago, reports the Associated Press. Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, former Gen. James Jones, Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano, and Susan Rice “round” out this “change” team which is, of course, not change but a seamless transition between the Bush neocons and Obama’s decidedly neoliberal choices.

Obama announces Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.

Consider the following uncomfortable facts that the corporate media will never tell you in a month of Sundays:

Hillary Clinton: As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton will continue the Bush-Clinton legacy of mass murder and “humanitarian” interventions in “failed states,” that is to say states not toting the New World Order party line.

Clinton wrote for the Council on Foreign Relations publication Foreign Affairs that ending “the war in Iraq is the first step toward restoring the United States’ global leadership,” never mind her 2002 Senate vote allowing Bush and the neocons to invade Iraq and subsequently slaughter over a million Iraqis.

Clinton, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has stated she wants to send more troops into the Afghan meat grinder and have them chase the CIA-created Taliban and al-Qaeda around. Afghanistan needs to get “as much, if not more attention” than Iraq, said Clinton earlier this year on a campaign stop in Cape Fear, North Carolina, an appropriately named venue.

“The next president will be the first to inherit two wars, a long-term campaign against global terrorist networks, and growing tension with Iran as it seeks to acquire nuclear weapons. The United States will face a resurgent Russia whose future orientation is uncertain and a rapidly growing China that must be integrated into the international system,” Clinton wrote for the CFR. In other words, the wars will continue, Iran will be “confronted” (bombed into submission), and Russia and China forced into the “international system,” in other words the bankster system that thrives on looting and imposed debt misery.

Clinton, as Secretary of State, will continue the phony GWOT indefinitely. “It is essential that we win this war against these borderless terrorists, but it is, I believe, critical that we once again recommit ourselves to that American internationalism that I mentioned in the beginning,” Clinton told Richard Haass and the Council on Foreign Relations in 2003. Internationalism, of course, is inseparable from neoliberal globalism of the sort the CFR has pushed for decades.

Robert Gates: More than anything, keeping Robert Gates on at the Pentagon is a signal to the plebs that the neocon policies of the Bush administration will stay in effect, albeit with a few minor changes and a lot of window dressing.

Gates is a loyal Bush senior stooge. During Bush 41’s presidency, Gates served as deputy national security adviser and then as CIA director. He was dean of the Bush School and then president of Texas A&M, which is where the Bush presidential library is located. “In other words, Bob Gates is a Bush 41 kinda guy,” writes Ivo Daalder.

Robert Gates is a consummate insider. “Gates indeed worked under every U.S. president from Richard M. Nixon to George Herbert Walker Bush,” notes the National Security Archive. He is closely connected to former Secretary of State James Baker III, a prominent CFR member and Bush crime family functionary and consigliere.

“The Iran Contra affair in which Robert Gates was implicated was part of the architecture of the ‘war on terrorism’. What is rarely acknowledged is that part of the proceeds of the illegal weapons sales to Iran were also used to finance the CIA sponsored Islamic brigades (i.e. Al Qaeda) involved in the Soviet-Afghan war. These covert operations in support of Al Qaeda paved the way for the ‘war on terrorism’ which constitutes the cornerstone of US National Security doctrine,” writes Michel Chossudovsky.

As Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates will oversee the military aspects of this doctrine with an invasion of Pakistan and further involvement in Afghanistan.

Gen. James Jones: Former Marine general and former NATO supreme commander James Jones will be Obama’s National Security Advisor. Jones sits on the board of directors of the Boeing Company, Chevron, and NATO’s Atlantic Council of the United States. Jones is cozy with the Council on Foreign Relations. He is reportedly a good friend of John McCain and is respected by Republicans.

	Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano.

In essence, Jones will serve as Big Oil’s security chief. “Jones is currently a director of Chevron Oil. He also heads of the Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy — a group lobbying on energy issues in DC and described by the Grist as ‘part of the Republican machine, dominated by — and lobbying fiercely for the interests of — Big Oil, Big Auto, Big Pharma, and other such Bigs,’” writes Mitchell Anderson.

“Jones would be reflective of two huge Obama priorities,” notes Spencer Ackerman. “First, Afghanistan. As NATO Commander, Jones ceaselessly lobbied the European allies for greater assistance in the Afghanistan war. Second, energy security. Jones is widely known to be an advocate of alternative energy sources, and, as Politico notes, chairs an energy task force for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And of course there’s the good optics of such a well-respected general being Obama’s closest White House aide on foreign policy.”

Incidentally, even though former Sec. Def. Rumsfeld exiled Jones to his mostly ceremonial NATO post, the general is onboard with the coming attack against Pakistan and possibly Iran. During a September, 2006 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Jones testified that it was “generally accepted” that Taliban leaders operated out Quetta, Pakistan.

Finally, Jones “has pointed to Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo as a ‘model’ for US bases elsewhere,” writes Chad Nagle. “Anyone who has seen the gigantic and ominous Bondsteel, set amid the wasteland of bombed out and destitute Kosovo, has an idea of what the US-imposed New World Order will look like – destroyed dumps where a fortress houses thousands of American military personnel behind its walls and the fearful population outside can rot in hell.

It was, of course, the husband of Obama’s choice for Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, that turned Kosovo and the former Yugoslavia into a wasteland. An Obama administration promises more of the same.

Eric Holder: Former Clintonite and Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder will be Obama’s attorney general. Holder is probably best and infamously remembered for his role in the controversial pardon of billionaire fugitive Marc Rich, the FBI Most Wanted criminal who colluded with Iran at a time when that country was holding U.S. hostages.

In private practice as an attorney, Holder represents Merck and helped negotiate an agreement with the Justice Department for Chiquita Brands International in a case that involved Chiquita’s payment of “protection money” to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a group on the U.S. government’s list of terrorist organizations.

Most disturbing, however, is the role Holder played in the D.C. v. Heller ruling on handguns. Holder joined the Reno-led amicus brief, which urged the Supreme Court to uphold Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban and said the Department of Justice from Franklin Roosevelt through Bill Clinton had always believed that the Second Amendment does not protect the rights of individuals to own guns for personal use. In short, Holder is a gun grabber who is opposed to the Second Amendment. As attorney general, we can bet he will work tirelessly to outlaw all firearms in the United States.

Finally, Holder has advocated government censorship of the internet. “It is gonna be a difficult thing, but it seems to me that if we can come up with reasonable restrictions, reasonable regulations in how people interact on the Internet, that is something that the Supreme Court and the courts ought to favorably look at,” Holder told NPR after the Columbine massacre in 1999.

Janet Napolitano: Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano will be Obama’s Homeland Security secretary. She will continue the do-nothing approach to illegal immigration. “Far from being a border hawk, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano frequently blocked efforts to curb illegal immigration, say enforcement advocates concerned about her expected nomination to be the Homeland Security secretary under President Barack Obama,” reports Fred Lucas for CNS News. She opposes a border fence and favors a controversial technology visa program and favors a “stringent pathway to citizenship,” in other words allowing millions of illegal aliens to become citizens.

As a CFR member, Napolitano is onboard with the globalist agenda to impoverish the American worker. She has proposed endless H-1B visas in order to displace skilled workers. “I’m going to direct the Secretary of Labor to tell us what our labor market needs are, and we’re going to adjust the visas accordingly, and we’re going to put in place a process to do that, protecting jobs for American workers but realizing that we will have a national labor shortage moving forward. I’m going to pay specific attention to certain areas such as H-1B visas [for skilled workers], where there is such a demonstrated need and there’s more than enough work for everyone to go around,” Donald A. Collins quotes her as declaring.

Susan E. Rice: Ms. Rice, a former assistant secretary of state for African Affairs under Clinton and a Rhodes scholar, is a minion of the Brooking Institution. Brookings is a neolib “think tank” par excellence. It is funded by the Ford Foundation, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, American Express, the Bank of America, Lockheed Martin, Walmart, Goldman Sachs, and the United Nations.

Rice, who the neocons consider a “leftist,” is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group, the latter where she rubs elbows with the likes of Brent Scowcroft, the neocon Eliot A. Cohen (a “leading champion” of the war in Iraq), Madeleine Albright (a proponent of mass murdering Iraqi children), CFR president Richard N. Haass, and other crossover neocons and neolibs.

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Webster Tarpley lays it out.

Part 1

Part 2

Tags: Brzezinski, Obama, power elite, Tarpley, Videos

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Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Now that Barack Obama has become the 44th President of the United States we offer a challenge – will those who elected him be able to progress past their fawning idolatry and actually pressure Obama to deliver on his mandate of “change,” or will the architecture of the Bush police state remain in place while the American empire expands?

Obama’s acceptance speech assertion that “change has come to America” is likely to signal the beginning and end of the “change” that millions of Americans naively thought they were voting for.

That’s it folks, the puppet has been rotated. Sorry to be so cynical, but the “change” you thought you were electing is already over and done with. The color of his skin matters about as much as whether he has an R or a D next to his name. The egregious spending will continue, government will balloon in size, American soldiers will be used as cannon fodder for more interventionist wars of the military-industrial complex, U.S. citizens will continue to have their phone calls tapped and their rights curtailed, and the Federal Reserve will continue to rule the financial system with an iron fist while the middle class is squeezed out of existence.

How can Obama claim that “change has come to America” when he hasn’t even set foot in the White House? What specifically has Obama promised to change beside his plan to redecorate the White House?

It seems that a lot of the truthers and activists, as well as the liberal left, seem to have forgotten that the responsibility to “change” America rests with the American people. As Gandhi said, we have to be the change we want to see in the world.

Obama is no messiah, he is a representative, a public servant, for those that elected him into office. Will those that voted for him in the name of changing eight years of Bush administration malfeasance hold his feet to the fire and demand the repeal of the American police state that Bush has crafted, or will they simply go back to sleep and consider their work done simply because another Democrat is in office?

The majority of liberals gleefully supported or simply ignored the bombing of Serbia and the genocidal sanctions against Iraq because of the cult of personality built up around Bill Clinton. Will Obama be another ideologue for the left to associate their power with or will they actually demand that he restore America to the Constitution? Will the left ninny and obsess about non-issues like gay marriage and welfare programs while allowing the Bush police state to remain in place?

Remember, the Democrats were handed the Congress and the Senate in 2006 with a mandate for change. What has changed since that time? Nothing whatsoever. American troops are still in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Patriot Act is still in place, phone calls are still being tapped and war criminals who committed impeachable offences still go free.

But in an attempt to avoid being labeled “right-wing racists” and all manner of spurious labels now being carelessly heaped upon anyone who doesn’t follow the herd and bow down at the feet of Lord Obama, we’re going to remain constructive and set Obama, and by extension those that voted for him, some challenges to bring real “change” to America and restore the country to the Constitution and the ideals of the Founders that Obama mentioned in his speech last night.

Let’s be generous and give Obama the whole four years of his initial term to make significant progress on the following issues. Here are some questions about “change” that we are going to be keeping track of until 2012.

- Will Obama repeal Patriot Acts I and II as well as reversing Bush’s signing statement and acknowledging the repeal of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act?

- Will Obama support Dennis Kucinich’s efforts to bring war crimes charges against Bush, Cheney and others for deceiving the country into a war or will he protect them against such charges like Nancy Pelosi has done?

- Will Obama bring war crimes charges against Bush, Cheney and others for authorizing torture and will the torture of suspects under U.S. detention, a complete violation of both the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions, cease under an Obama administration?

- Will Obama withdraw American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan without sending them away again to bomb another broken-backed third world country in the name of a UN-supported “humanitarian” war?

- Will Obama end the warrantless secret surveillance and phone-taps of American citizens?

- Will Obama follow through on his rhetorical support for the second amendment or will he seek to ban guns as he did in Illinois?

- Will Obama cease his support for the Bush-administration backed banker bailouts, hated by the majority of Americans, and target the real cause of the problem – the Federal Reserve – or will he continue to give taxpayers’ money to banks who are merely hoarding it all for themselves?

- Will Obama seek to continue the militarization of America and preparations for martial law through Northcom and the secret government or will he dismantle the police state that has been constructed over the last eight years by the Bush administration?

There can be no excuses – either Obama will be proven to be a liar or he will, backed by Democratic control of Congress and the Senate, follow through on his mandate for “change”.

People like Congressman Ron Paul are too long in the tooth and have watched too many political campaigns to glibly jump on the bandwagon of political platitudes.

Those caught up in Obama fever who would have otherwise voted for Ron Paul should heed the warnings of Dr. No.

As the coming of the new messiah drew closer, Paul had some sobering reminders for a CNN audience last night, pointing out that Obama will not cut spending, government will get bigger and more intrusive, foreign policy will remain the same and unpopular financial bailouts will continue.

We hope we are wrong, but forgive us for our cynicism, because whatever has emerged from the two-party monopoly in the past has always proven to be the problem – not the solution.

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Yahoo News: “The First Truly Global President”

PARIS – Barack Obama’s election as America’s first black president unleashed a renewed love for the United States after years of dwindling goodwill, and many said Wednesday that U.S. voters had blazed a trail that minorities elsewhere could follow.

People across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn to watch U.S. history being made, while the president of Kenya — where Obama’s father was born — declared a public holiday.

In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner and poured into the courtyard where they hugged each other, danced in the rain and chanted “Obama! Obama!”

“Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place,” South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela, said in a letter of congratulations to Obama.

Many expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American as president.

“This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten,” Rama Yade, France’s black junior minister for human rights, told French radio. “America is rebecoming a New World.

“On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes,” she said.

In Britain, The Sun newspaper borrowed from Neil Armstrong’s 1969 moon landing in describing Obama’s election as “one giant leap for mankind.”

Yet celebrations were often tempered by sobering concerns that Obama faces global challenges as momentous as the hopes his campaign inspired — wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the elusive hunt for peace in the Middle East and a global economy in turmoil.

The huge weight of responsibilities on Obama’s shoulders was also a concern for some. French former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said Obama’s biggest challenge would be managing a punishing agenda of various crises in the United States and the world. “He will need to fight on every front,” he said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the incoming administration will take steps to improve badly damaged U.S. ties with Russia. Tensions have been driven to a post-Cold War high by Moscow’s war with U.S. ally Georgia.

“I stress that we have no problem with the American people, no inborn anti-Americanism. And we hope that our partners, the U.S. administration, will make a choice in favor of full-fledged relations with Russia,” Medvedev said.

Europe, where Obama is overwhelmingly popular, is one region that looked eagerly to an Obama administration for a revival in warm relations after the Bush government’s chilly rift with the continent over the Iraq war.

“At a time when we have to confront immense challenges together, your election raises great hopes in France, in Europe and in the rest of the world,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a congratulations letter to Obama.

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski spoke of “a new America with a new credit of trust in the world.”

Skepticism, however, was high in the Muslim world. The Bush administration alienated those in the Middle East by mistreating prisoners at its detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison — human rights violations also condemned worldwide.

Some Iraqis, who have suffered through five years of a war ignited by the United States and its allies, said they would believe positive change when they saw it.

“Obama’s victory will do nothing for the Iraqi issue nor for the Palestinian issue,” said Muneer Jamal, a Baghdad resident. “I think all the promises Obama made during the campaign will remain mere promises.”

In Pakistan, a country vital to the U.S.-led war on the al-Qaida terrorist network and neighbor to Afghanistan, many hoped Obama would bring some respite from rising militant violence that many blame on Bush.

Still, Mohammed Arshad, a 28-year-old schoolteacher in the capital, Islamabad, doubted Obama’s ability to change U.S. foreign policy dramatically.

“It is true that Bush gave America a very bad name. He has become a symbol of hate. But I don’t think the change of face will suddenly make any big difference,” he said.

Obama’s victory was greeted with cheers across Latin America, a region that has shifted sharply to the left during the Bush years. From Mexico to Chile, leaders expressed hope for warmer relations based on mutual respect — a quality many felt has been missing from U.S. foreign policy.

Venezuela and Bolivia, which booted out the U.S. ambassadors after accusing the Bush administration of meddling in their internal politics, said they were ready to reestablish diplomatic relations, and Brazil’s president was among several leaders urging Obama to be more flexible toward Cuba.

On the streets of Rio de Janeiro, people expressed a mixture of joy, disbelief, and hope for the future.

“It’s the beginning of a different era,” police officer Emmanuel Miranda said. “The United States is a country to dream about, and for us black Brazilians, it is even easier to do so now.”

Many around the world found Obama’s international roots — his father was Kenyan, and he lived four years in Indonesia as a child — compelling and attractive.

“What an inspiration. He is the first truly global U.S. president the world has ever had,” said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbuck’s in Bangkok. “He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president.”

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Robbins was told on first arriving at the precinct that he would have to cast a provisional ballot. After an argument with a poll worker, he instead went to the City Board of Elections to obtain proof that he was registered.

“This is what you have to do to vote,” he said. “What happened was that my name was not on the rolls, and I’m not the only one. While I was waiting, thirty people…in the first five hours had been taken off the rolls…You do the math on that: Six per hour, per district, across America?”

Robbins, an anti-war Bush critic and activist as well as an actor, director, screenwriter and producer, won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and a SAG award for his role in Mystic River. He also won the Best Actor Award at Cannes for his starring role in 1992’s The Player and co-starred with Morgan Freeman in 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption. He has two sons with actress Susan Sarandon.

The following video is from TMZ.com, posted November 4, 2008.

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The ones that tripped up Hillary Clinton?

Well, some vigiliant GOP lawmakers in NY remember them, too. And they’re trying to make sure they don’t wreak havoc on election results next month. Officials held a hearing today on thousands of licenses issued to non-citizens under illegal alien-friendly Spitzer’s tenure:

With Election Day right around the corner, the Republicans are bringing back an issue that brought them national media attention: Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s long-dead plan to let illegal immigrants get driver’s licenses.

Assemblyman Greg Ball, an outspoken Hudson Valley Republican (particularly when it comes to all things immigration-related) who won a bitter GOP primary battle last month, and Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola, who sued over Spitzer’s license plan, are holding a public hearing in Manhattan Thursday on “massive voter fraud potential” caused by the issuance of 23,000 licenses to non-citizens during the former governor’s tenure.

From the press release announcing the hearing, which will be held at the Metropolitan Club:

“Section 5 of the Federal Motor Voter Act requires New York to provide individuals with the opportunity to register to vote at the same time that they apply for a driver’s license or seek to renew a driver’s license.

By law, none of these 23,000 foreign visitors are eligible to vote, yet now many are registered because they hold Spitzer licenses. A public hearing will be conducted on October 16th in Manhattan to assess what can be done at the local, state, and Federal level to secure these 23,000 licenses and scrub the voter rolls of ineligible voters.”

They’re not the only ones who should be investigating.

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Today, the non-partisan Tax Policy Center (TPC) released an analysis More..showing who would benefit from this cut. Like the rest of McCain’s tax cuts, this one overwhelmingly aids the wealthy, with two-thirds of the benefit going to those making over $1 million:

In 2009, under a plan that lowers taxes on both gains and dividends, those making $1 million or more would get two-thirds of the benefit, and an average tax cut of more than $72,000. Those making less than $50,000 would get, on average, nothing.

As the TPC pointed out, “75% of the benefit of low taxes on capital gains and dividends already go to those making $600,000 or more. Half goes to those making $2.8 million or more.”

In fact, as the Wonk Room noted when McCain first toyed with including this provision in his economic plan, under the current 15 percent rate, 93.9 percent of the benefits go to the top 5 percent of taxpayers, and 84.8 percent to the top 1 percent. The other 80 percent of taxpayers see only 1.7 percent of the benefits of today’s rate.

The McCain campaign claims that the cut will “strengthen incentives to save, invest, and restore the liquidity of markets.” But given the current economic situation – one in which “people do not have an awful lot of capital gains” – this measure will do nothing to stimulate the economy.

Furthermore, The Street noted that McCain’s cut “might have unintended consequences,” like encouraging investors “to make one-time sales to capture lower capital gains and increased tax write-offs,” which “would facilitate capital flight.”

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