29 October 2008

Hello World!


Here at HumanBeingsAreFree we are a very not-for-profit organization, and that is why we have been unavailable for a bit (no internet, not even email). I have finally had the chance to make it to a library to make this post... We are working hard to get back to you soon, and we hope you won't give up on us. In any event, don't give up on the world... Don't believe the lies! Thanks for returning again, and hopefully you'll see new posts from us very soon. Thank you.

21 October 2008

VIDEO Nigel Farage - Could a silver lining of the credit crisis be the dissolution of the EU?


Nigel Farage...
superb orator and
rare voice for independence
on the floor of the EU Parliament


Nigel Farage at the European Parliament, Brussels - 8 October 2008 (~2 min.):



Previously posted video featuring Nigel Farage speaking about the European Union (~6 min.):


For more information on this topic, we highly recommend the documentary End of Nations - EU Takeover & the Lisbon Treaty:
Watch the Documentary

NEWS REPORT / Some "Quirks" of Russian Economics

Tuesday, 21 October 2008, Evening edition
News Vs. Propaganda Report
Some "Quirks" of Russian Economics

Some "Quirks" of Russian Economics:
Oligarchs & Politicians Dissed...


Putin May Use Credit Squeeze to `Destroy' Oligarchs
Full article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aR7ZSZbKh0so&refer=home
Excerpt(s): Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000 vowing to destroy Russia's oligarchs ``as a class.'' Within two years, he'd driven two into exile and imprisoned another. Now, he may use the global markets meltdown to finish the job. The $50 billion that the prime minister and President Dmitry Medvedev have pledged to lend cash-strapped companies will extend state control over business leaders. Billionaires seeking bailouts -- including Oleg Deripaska, Russia's richest man, and Mikhail Fridman -- will have to give authorities veto power over their companies' financing decisions... As recently as April, Russia's 100 wealthiest citizens had a combined fortune equivalent to about a third of the economy, Forbes magazine estimated. The nation's 25 wealthiest businessmen have seen their worth shrink by $230 billion, or 62 percent, according to Bloomberg calculations. And Putin controls the strings on the biggest remaining purse -- $531 billion in government reserves, which he is doling out through state-run Vnesheconombank, or VEB, where he presides as chairman of the supervisory board.

Russia refuses to fund McCain's campaign: Junk mail gaff embarrasses McCain
Full article: http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/32134
Excerpt(s): One of Russia’s harshest critics, Republican presidential candidate John McCain, has been left with egg on his face after his campaign team sent a cap-in-hand letter to the Russian mission in the UN begging for cash. But Russia says it won't donate, insisting it doesn't interfere in politics abroad. Confirming it had received the circular, the Russian Mission at the United Nations said it was rejecting the request. A press release on Monday said Moscow never finances politics in foreign countries. Furthermore, Russians at the UN are treating the letter as a computer-generated error, a piece of junk mail.

Terrorism vs. Starvation Deaths from 1968 through 2003


Terrorism vs. Starvation Deaths from 1968 through 2003:
Compelling Statistics from the CIA and the UN (click image for larger view)

NEWS REPORT / China : Pakistan :: U.S.A. : India ?

Tuesday, 21 October 2008, Late Afternoon edition
News Vs. Propaganda Report
China : Pakistan :: U.S.A. : India ?

CHINA / PAKISTAN News Update:
Will China be to Pakistan what the U.S.A. has been to India?


President Zardari, Chinese premier hold formal talks: China vows to bail out Pakistan
Full article: http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\17\story_17-10-2008_pg1_1
Excerpt(s): BEIJING: China vowed on Thursday to do what it could to help cash-strapped Pakistan avert financial disaster as President Asif Zardari continued an official visit aimed at rustling up crucial Chinese investments. The promise came as Premier Wen Jiabao met Zardari and said during formal talks China is ready to advance strategic co-operation with Pakistan. “As a long friend of Pakistan, China understands it is facing some financial difficulties,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters at a briefing. “We’re ready to support and help Pakistan within our capability.”... China’s massive foreign currency holdings make it a prime candidate to inject much-needed cash into Pakistan’s economy, where inflation running at 25 percent has wrecked the government’s finances and exacerbated a trade gap that is fast eating up the country’s foreign currency reserves.

No Chinese cash bailout for Pakistan, next stop IMF
Full article: http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\20\story_20-10-2008_pg1_2
Excerpt(s): WASHINGTON: Contrary to expectations, China has refused Pakistan the immediate cash injection of $1.5 billion to $3 billion it was seeking, leaving Islamabad no alternative but to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a report in the New York Times on Sunday... The report also said that Saudi Arabia had refused to grant the oil facility Pakistan was seeking. State Bank Governor Shamshad Akhtar told the newspaper on Saturday, “We are very open to all kinds of financial support. We’ve taken a lot of corrective actions, and we plan to take more.”

Political expert says Pakistan wants China to do what US did for India
Full article: http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\20\story_20-10-2008_pg1_9
Excerpt(s):
ISLAMABAD: China has won new friends in Pakistan with its pledge to build two nuclear power plants in the energy-starved nation just weeks after rival India signed an atomic deal with the United States. The nuclear agreement comes amid strains in Pakistan’s anti-terror alliance with Washington over rising militant violence that threatens to destabilise Afghanistan... Expert: “Pakistan wanted the Chinese to do what the Americans had done for India,” said Talat Masood, a political commentator... US officials have rejected Pakistani calls for equal treatment with India. Chinese leaders “do recognise Pakistan’s need, and China is one country that at international forums has clearly spoken against the discriminatory nature” of the US-India pact, Qureshi said at a news conference. China, a major investor and arms supplier for Pakistan, shares Islamabad’s fierce regional rivalry with India. China already has helped Pakistan build a nuclear power plant at Chashma. Work on a second nuclear plant is in progress and is expected to be completed in 2011... International sanctions were slapped on Pakistan after it detonated its first nuclear charges in 1998 in response to similar tests by India. The sanctions were eased after Musharraf agreed to help Washington hunt down Al Qaeda terrorists responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

18 October 2008

NEWS REPORT / U.S.A. continues to Fight for empire Despite Persistent "Blowback"

Saturday, 18 October 2008, afternoon edition
News Vs. Propaganda Report:
U.S.A. continues to Fight for empire Despite Persistent "Blowback"

AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ and PAKISTAN -- U.S.A. continues to fight to maintain her empire despite being slammed by "blowback" all the while...


U.S. Afghan review to be completed after election
Full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE49F90D20081016
By Andrew Gray WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. government review of strategy for the war in Afghanistan has been delayed and will likely not be completed until after next month's presidential election, the Pentagon said on Thursday... "That just has taken longer than, I think, originally anticipated," Morrell said of the Bush administration's review. "This will likely not be something that is finalized until after the election."

German parliament votes to send more troops to Afghanistan

Full article: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081016/twl-afghanistan-unrest-germany-575b600.html
Excerpt(s): BERLIN (AFP) - - The German Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, voted Thursday to extend Germany's participation in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan and increase the number of soldiers deployed there to 4,500. The government's proposals were approved by an overwhelming majority, with 442 parliamentarians voting in favour, 96 voted against and 32 abstentions... Polls indicate the deployment is highly unpopular in Germany, in part because of its indefinite nature, with a lack of clear goals that would justify a withdrawal at any given point in time. [Defence Minister Franz Josef] Jung reiterated that the mandate for elite German troops deployed since 2001 for US-led operations against Taliban militants was to be terminated. Such operations are highly controversial in Germany because of the heavy civilian casualties. The elite German troops will however continue to hunt militants with an international force in the Horn of Africa. In Afghanistan, German troops are deployed largely in the north of the country, which is comparatively calm, and Berlin is opposed to their involvement in fighting in the south of the country.

US-led strike kills 25 Afghan civilians
Full article: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=72371&sectionid=351020403
Excerpt(s): At least 25 civilians including women and children have been killed in an air strike by US-led forces in volatile southern Afghanistan, reports say... A BBC reporter said he saw the bodies of women and the children - ranging in age from six months to 15 in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. The families took the bodies from their village in Nad Ali district -- where the air strike occurred-- to the governor's office to protest the killings. International forces in Afghanistan have come under increased criticism since Afghan and UN officials discovered that a US-led military operation in the village of Azizabad in August killed 90 civilians, including children. Seven years of western military presence in Afghanistan has led to more insecurity, a record opium production surge and a sharply upward sprial of civilian lives lost to errant American airstrikes and suicide bombers . More than 4,700 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence in the country this year.

Villagers say 18 civilians killed in Nato air strike in Afghanistan
Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/17/afghanistan-nato
Excerpt(s): British defence officials said last night they were investigating reports that civilians, including women and children, were killed in an air strike by Nato forces in southern Afghanistan. Angry villagers took 18 bodies - including badly mangled bodies of women and children - to the governor's house in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah... A BBC reporter in Lashkar Gah said he saw the bodies - three women and the rest children ranging in age from six months to 15... In London the MoD said it was aware of an air strike in Helmand province "in support of ANSF [Afghan special forces] and ISAF [Nato-led] troops. This incident is being investigated and at this time we are unable to confirm any civilian casualties. However we take any reports of civilian casualties extremely seriously."... The growing number of civilian deaths in air strikes has provoked friction between Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and Nato countries. Britain recently raised the issue with the US, and Nato military commanders were ordered to change their rules of engagement. After the Afghan government said 90 civilians were killed during a US special forces raid in a village in the western Herat province in August, Karzai also ordered a review of US and Nato tactics.

Afghan Officials Say Allied Airstrike Killed Civilians

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/world/asia/17afghan.html?ref=world
Excerpt(s): KABUL, Afghanistan — A NATO airstrike on Thursday on a village near the embattled provincial capital of Lashkar Gah killed 25 to 30 civilians, Afghan officials in the area said. While NATO confirmed that an airstrike had taken place in the area, where Taliban fighters have been battling NATO forces, it said that the reports were being investigated and that the command was “unable to confirm any civilian casualties.” Reliable information on the airstrike — whether it caused the deaths, as local officials and residents reported, and whether the number of civilian deaths was accurate — was elusive. But any substantial civilian death toll would further inflame an Afghan government and public already angered by a recent rise in civilian casualties from coalition airstrikes.

Larijani: US criminal in Iraq, Afghanistan
Full article: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=72386&sectionid=351020101
Excerpt(s): "The United States says it is seeking to bring democracy to the Middle East but it is moving in the opposite direction," Larijani [Iranian Majlis Speaker] said in a meeting with a number of Finnish lawmakers in Helsinki on Thursday. Noting that unilateral US policies are already discredited and defeated in the world, the Majlis speaker said the Americans should respect others' rights and stop their blatant violations of human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan... This five and seven years respectively since they occupied these war-shattered countries in the name of bringing democracy and freedom to the people there. Afghan deaths are counted in the tens of thousands with an untold figure of displacements running in the millions and spreadout within Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The death toll used for Iraqi civilians is not less than 1m dead, several million domestically and internationally displaced civilians.

Suspected US strike inside Pakistan kills five: officials
Full article: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081016/twl-pakistan-afghanistan-us-unrest-missi-7e07afd.html
Excerpt(s): PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - - A suspected US drone fired two missiles into a Pakistani tribal area that is a known Al-Qaeda and Taliban hub, killing at least five people, security officials said on Thursday. The strike in South Waziristan came hours after a suicide bomb destroyed a police station in a separate area of northwest Pakistan, where the government is waging a military campaign against Islamic militants. "Two missiles were fired, completely destroying the house. Reports confirm five dead," a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate confirmation of the strike from the Pakistani military or from the US-led coalition in neighbouring Afghanistan.

President Zardari, Chinese premier hold formal talks: China vows to bail out Pakistan
Full article: http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\17\story_17-10-2008_pg1_1
Excerpt(s): BEIJING: China vowed on Thursday to do what it could to help cash-strapped Pakistan avert financial disaster as President Asif Zardari continued an official visit aimed at rustling up crucial Chinese investments. The promise came as Premier Wen Jiabao met Zardari and said during formal talks China is ready to advance strategic co-operation with Pakistan. “As a long friend of Pakistan, China understands it is facing some financial difficulties,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters at a briefing. “We’re ready to support and help Pakistan within our capability.”... It said the two countries also agreed to step up their Five Year Development Programme on Economic Co-operation and “make full use of their free trade agreement . . . and Pakistan-China Joint Investment Company”. They agreed to convene a meeting of Pakistan-China Economic Co-operation Group soon, the statement said.

17 October 2008

NEWS Daily Headlines & Propaganda 20081017 human beings are free FRIDAY Mid-Night Edition Pt. 3, The Tangled Web of RUSSIA, GEORGIA, the EU & the USA

Daily Headlines & Propaganda from HumanBeingsAreFree
Friday, 17 October 2008 see All News
Mid-Night Edition Pt. 3, The Tangled Web of RUSSIA, GEORGIA, the E.U. & the U.S.A.

RUSSIA, GEORGIA, the E.U. & the U.S.A. (and other significant guests)
...what a tangled web we are weaving...

[READERS: Be-Ware the propaganda matrix is in full gear!]

EU leaders not yet ready to forgive Russia

Full article: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081016/twl-eu-summit-russia-diplomacy-6b0205e.html
Excerpt(s): Two months after the war in Georgia and a day after a false start to peace talks, EU leaders were not yet ready Thursday to negotiate upgrading ties to reflect Russia's hydrocarbon superpower status. Instead, after a two-day summit in Brussels, they put off making the decision in time for an EU-Russia summit on November 14 in France, allowing the bloc's leaders to digest an exhaustive report currently being drawn up. The 27-nation bloc had suspended talks in September on the so-called Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) after Russian troops and tanks rolled into Georgia on August 8 to push back a Georgian offensive to retake the breakaway republic South Ossetia.

EU delays decision on Russia partnership talks
Full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE49F2IM20081016
Excerpt(s): European Union leaders were to delay on Thursday a decision on when to restart talks with Russia on a partnership pact, suspended after Russia's incursion into Georgia in August, officials said. A draft statement due to be approved by leaders at the final session of a two-day summit welcomed the withdrawal of Russian troops from buffer zones in Georgia but fell short of saying that partnership talks could start again. Asked when the EU would decide to resume the talks, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said: "I hope very much that will be before the Nov 14," referring to a long-scheduled EU-Russia summit in Nice, France. But the draft statement left the question open.

EU keeps Russia on waiting list
Full article: http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/31954
Excerpt(s): EU keeps Russia on waiting list
The EU has decided to put off making a decision on the renewal of talks concerning a new EU-Russia partnership agreement. It's been put on hold since the conflict with Georgia in the summer. On day two of the EU summit in Brussels European leaders are discussing the world financial crisis and the situation around Georgia and South Ossetia... The thorny issue of Russia and Georgia remains very much in European minds with no less than three European cities dealing with the issue on Wednesday.The region's security and humanitarian challenges were on the agenda in Geneva, where EU and UN sponsored discussions with Russia and Georgia were held. But the high-profile meeting seems to have come unstuck over whether or not South Ossetia and Abkhazia should be given a voice... Moscow, which officially recognises both republics, says the talks can achieve nothing without them. They've now been postponed until next month to allow all sides to reach a resolve. Georgia refused to take part in the plenary session... The first day in Brussels didn’t make the situation on the new Russia EU agreement any clearer. What is clear though is that Russia and Georgia remain high on the European agenda and the European Union is likely to refrain from any harsh statements, keeping its own interests in mind, especially with the financial crisis as a backdrop.

US warship to dock at Georgia's Poti
Full article: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=72384&sectionid=351020602
Excerpt(s): Georgia is to welcome an American guided missile destroyer to the country's port of Poti as the number of such disputed visits increase. On Friday, the USS Barry (DDG-52) is expected to berth at the seaport on a 'good will' visit to be the fifth US warship to have docked at the Georgian ports since Georgia fought a losing battle with Russia in August. Russia claims the trips serve ulterior purposes saying the vessels could be taking weapons to Georgia in line with Tbilisi's recent cause of regaining its firepower following the war with Russia thus gathering the required strength for another attack... The Georgian defense ministry would send its delegates to pay homage to the USS Barry which is expected to remain in the area until Monday.

UN court throws out Georgian claim against Russia
Full article: http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/31944
Excerpt(s): The International Court of Justice in The Hague has rejected a request from Georgia to prosecute Russia over the conflict in the Caucasus. The court also called for both parties to do everything possible to protect human rights in areas hit by the conflict.

U.S. cyber warriors to protect Georgia?
Full article: http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/31990
Excerpt(s): A delegation of Pentagon officials is still in Georgia trying to understand why the U.S.-trained and equipped Georgian army was defeated in just two days last August. That’s according to the latest issue of U.S. Congressional Quarterly Weekly. The major goal of the delegation is to estimate Georgia’s defence requirements. So far, there have been no official comments from the Bush administration on what military ammunition and equipment exactly the U.S. is planning to provide to Georgia, although the question is the subject of much speculation by American political and military experts.

AN NOTABLE ASIDE: World's biggest country becomes a little bit smaller
Full article: http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/31858
Excerpt(s): Russia has officially handed over part of its territory to China, settling a border dispute that goes back centuries. Following an agreement signed in 2004, China has been granted the whole of Tarabarov island and part of Bolshoy Ussuriysky island. Both islands are situated in the Amur river.

NEWS Daily Headlines & Propaganda 20081017 human beings are free FRIDAY Mid-Night Edition Pt. 2, Global Governance Arising From Economic "Crisis"

Daily Headlines & Propaganda from HumanBeingsAreFree
Friday, 17 October 2008 see All News
Mid-Night Edition Pt. 2, Global Governance Arising From Economic "Crisis"

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE ARISING FROM ECONOMIC "CRISIS"
World Business And Political Leaders Are Negotiating Behind Closed Doors


Europe and US agree to discuss global summit
Full article: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1016/breaking33.htm
Excerpt(s): US and Europe Union leaders have agreed to meet at the weekend to prepare for a global summit to overhaul the world's financial system, while fears of global recession continued to rattle markets... The push for and overhaul of the global financial system is aimed at preventing a repeat of the credit crunch that sparked the biggest stock-market selloff since the Great Depression. It would be the first such summit ince the 1944 Bretton Woods accord that paved the way for Europe's ost-World War II reconstruction and set up the institutions that oversee the world economy today.

Economic Collapse: The Financial Death of the US Empire
Full article: http://www.antiwar.com/bandow/?articleid=13572
Excerpt(s): The American empire is kaput. Neither John McCain nor Barack Obama realizes that fact yet, but the myth of the omnipotent unipower, the essential nation, the country which declares that what it says goes, has been exposed to all. The Iraq debacle sullied Washington’s reputation, but did not destroy the illusion of American indispensability. Assorted politicians, like McCain and Obama, promised to restore US primacy, either through more bluster or better diplomacy. But the financial crash has wrecked the economic basis of America’s imperial pretentions. Washington simply can’t afford to attempt to run the world any longer... There was never a good time for empire. But if there ever was a good time, it has passed. Instead of attempting to micro-manage global affairs, America should again become a normal country, strong enough to protect itself, but no longer claiming responsibility for maintaining global security, stability, and prosperity. Doing so isn’t possible, at least at an affordable price. Empire isn’t worth the risk to American society or the lives of American military personnel. It certainly isn’t worth the cost, especially at a time of economic crisis. Let us make John Quincy Adams’ apt dictum the lodestar of our new foreign policy: America “goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”

Iceland mulls over possible IMF loan
Full article: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1016/breaking55.htm
Excerpt(s): The Icelandic currency slipped only slightly against the euro today, suggesting a return to calm after days of crisis. But questions remained for investors over the fate of the debts and assets of the island's top three banks, whose collapse precipitated the decline of the formerly high flying nation. Officials were also still talking with the International Monetary Fund about a possible loan to shore up confidence and foreign exchange reserves, a day after a first round of loan negotiations with Russia ended without agreement. Belgium and Luxembourg were also considering help for Iceland's top bank, Kaupthing, where savers from the two nations had money.

Three million on dole within year
Full article: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/money/article1816338.ece
Excerpt(s): The warning came after official figures showed that the biggest jobless rise since 1991 has left 1.79million out of work. The number is expected to hit two million by Christmas... And those claiming jobseeker’s allowance rose for the eighth month in a row... The grim forecast of three million out of work next year came from City experts Capital Economics. PM Gordon Brown responded to the figures by vowing to do all he could to keep people in jobs, pointing out unemployment was higher in America, Germany, France and Italy.

Weak US output, job data fuel recession fears

Full article: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1016/breaking56.htm
Excerpt(s): US industrial production posted the biggest monthly decline since 1974 while consumer prices were flat in September, according to reports today that built a compelling argument for more interest rate cuts to slow a steep economic slide... "With companies cutting back ... the outlook for payrolls and the unemployment rate is terrible," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist for High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York.

NEWS Daily Headlines & Propaganda 20081017 human beings are free FRIDAY Mid-Night Edition, 1,000,000,000 HUNGRY PEOPLE

Daily Headlines & Propaganda from HumanBeingsAreFree
Friday, 17 October 2008 see All News
Mid-Night Edition, 1,000,000,000 HUNGRY PEOPLE

ONE BILLION HUNGRY

Food crisis leaves one billion hungry
Full article: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1017/1224108325463.html
Excerpt(s): Speaking at an international conference in Dublin yesterday, [former UN secretary general Kofi] Annan noted that "while national governments and international lenders scramble to inject hundreds of billions of dollars into failing banks, the developing world goes hungry". He urged political leaders to maintain their resolve to end a situation where almost one billion people go hungry every day. "For although the ups and downs of the global economy may be cyclical, there is nothing cyclical about hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. There, the pattern is a steady and appalling rise," Mr Annan said.

A world going hungry
Full article: http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/editorial/display.var.2461038.0.A_world_going_hungry.php
Excerpt(s): Perhaps it should be renamed World Hunger Day. The planet's poorest people are being pushed to the brink of survival and the collapse of confidence in the global financial systems is making matters worse. That was the grim message from the World Bank yesterday, World Food Day... In a downturn, everyone suffers but the poor suffer most. Scots now spend around 9% of their income on food. In Kenya, the figure for many is 80%. And while Scottish food prices have risen by 8.3% in a year, Ethiopian food prices are up 300%. If rich countries can bail out their banking systems, they can afford to fill the food bowls of the poor... It is a scandal that obesity is a major health problem in the rich world while 900 million people are desperately hungry on World Food Day.

One billion hungry on World Food Day
Full article: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=72357&sectionid=3510212
Excerpt(s): The World Food Day has once again raised the issue of ever-increasing global hunger, less addressed since the world financial crisis hit... This weekend, the World Bank announced that the food crisis has resulted in an extra 44 million people becoming malnourished in 2008, bringing the total of hungry people to almost one billion - nearly one in seven people now goes hungry... Development experts say a global community able to commit hundreds of billions to bolstering banks should be willing to commit a fraction of that to fighting crippling world hunger, but the experts worry that donors may cite the financial meltdown as a reason not to do more... The UN Economic Commission for Africa is worried the global financial crisis could hamper efforts to alleviate hunger in Africa, with 13.5 million people in Ethiopia alone needing assistance according to the International aid agency Oxfam. Meanwhile food insecurity in the East Asia and Pacific Region is fast becoming a chronic problem, with a report released today showing that people in parts of East Timor are now facing up to five months a year without enough food to eat.

Hunger eclipsed by financial crisis on World Food Day
Full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE49F5NC20081016
Excerpt(s): The world's leading crusaders against hunger voiced frustration on World Food Day on Thursday that the global financial crisis had overshadowed a food crisis tipping millions toward starvation. The World Bank predicts that high food and fuel prices will increase the number of malnourished people in the world by 44 million this year to reach a total of 967 million... The World Food Program's Executive Director Josette Sheeran acknowledged that even citizens of wealthy countries had been affected by high food prices and the financial crisis. "But for those who live on less than a dollar a day, it's a matter of life and death," Sheeran said. Proponents of more urgent measures questioned why the world's richest nations could not show the same urgency to save people from starvation as they did when rushing to rescue banks.

World Food Day Highlights Severity of Global Hunger, Public's Will to Eradicate It

Full article: http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2008-10-16-voa57.cfm
Excerpt(s): The situation remains dire. According to the 2008 Global Hunger Index just released by the International Food Policy Research Institute, 33 countries in the world have "alarming or extremely alarming" levels of child mortality, child malnutrition and other hunger-related health problems. (See interactive map below.) But a new international poll suggests that the public will exists to end the scourge of hunger... Despite improvements in the global economy and living standards in many countries in recent years, more than 900 million people - most of them in developing countries - continue to experience chronic hunger. In recognition of this crisis, leaders from more than 100 nations met at the United Nations in 2000 and agreed to eight so-called Millennium Development Goals. Among them was a commitment to halve the number of people in the world who live on $1 a day or less by the year 2015... Majority of Citizens in Developed Nations Say They Would Pay to End Poverty... Respondents were given a specific tax amount that would be required of each citizen in that country in order to pay that country's proportion share in realizing the Millennium Development goal of eliminating global poverty. "And in every country, a majority said 'Yes. I will pay these extra taxes,'" says Ramsay.

Global Hunger Index 2008 Map - Interactive map application developed by Jawoo Koo (IFPRI/HarvestChoice):

About the Global Hunger Index (GHYI): The 2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows that the world has made slow progress in reducing food insecurity since 1990, with dramatic differences among regions and countries. In the nearly two decades since 1990, some regions — South and Southeast Asia, the Near East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean — have made significant headway in improving food security. Nevertheless, the GHI remains high in South Asia. The GHI is similarly high in Sub-Saharan Africa, where progress has been marginal since 1990. The GHI level in the world as a whole remains serious. The countries with the most worrisome hunger status and the highest 2008 GHI scores are predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Burundi, Niger, and Sierra Leone at the bottom of the list. Several dozen countries in various regions have GHI scores categorized as low. Read more about the GHI...

16 October 2008

NEWS Daily Headlines & Propaganda 20081016 human beings are free THURSDAY Afternoon Edition, Power, Policing & Propaganda

Daily Headlines & Propaganda from HumanBeingsAreFree
Thursday, 16 October 2008 see All News
Afternoon Edition, Power, Policing & Propaganda

INTERNATIONAL POWER NEWS:
Power Struggles, Battles & Propaganda


Canada Conservatives win parliamentary elections
Full article: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/6515395.html
Excerpt(s): Preliminary results showed that the Conservative Party has won another minority government in Canada's parliamentary elections Tuesday. The Conservatives have now won about 134 seats out of the total 308 seats of the House of Commons. The Liberals stand at 74. The separatist Bloc Quebecois has won 47 seats, the leftist NDP 34. The Conservatives need at least 155 seats to form a majority government.

Peruvian president swears in new cabinet
Full article: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/6515523.html
Excerpt(s): Peruvian President Alan Garcia on Tuesday swore in a new cabinet after the resignation of all the 17ministers over corruption allegations. Yehude Simon, leftist former governor of Lambayeque province, replaces Jorge del Castillo as prime minister. Ten of the previous cabinet members, including the foreign, defense, trade and tourism ministers, stayed, while six others were replaced... Four audio tapes emerged earlier this month linking members of the ruling party to a plan aimed at steering lucrative petroleum contracts to a Norwegian oil company in exchange for bribes. Following the eruption of the scandal, the cabinet led by Castillo resigned en masse.

How the Nobel Peace Prize was Won
Full article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10573
Please digg! digg story
Excerpt(s): The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari has been widely hailed in the West, where there has been an outpouring of praise for the man and his efforts. Generally seen as a tireless promoter of peace and reconciliation, Ahtisaari has another side that has not received sufficient attention. Although his record is long, Ahtisaari’s role in the diplomatic end to NATO’s 1999 war against Yugoslavia is regarded as the key to his selection. In praising the man, Nobel committee secretary Geir Lundestad noted, “There is no alternative to an independent Kosovo.” This baldly political statement indicates why Ahtisaari’s selection is proving so popular among Western leaders, and it is Kosovo that shows just whose interests Ahtisaari has served.

MARTIAL LAW / POLICE STATE:
Tactics Gaining Usage In the U.S.A.


Curbing Social Protest in America: Microwave "Non-lethal" Weapons to be used for "Crowd Control": Just in Time for the Capitalist Meltdown: Army, Justice Department to Field 'Pain Ray'
Full article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10564
Please digg! digg story
Excerpt(s): Back in July I reported that Raytheon (No. 4 on Washington Technology's "Top 100 List of Prime Defense Contractors," with $5,170,829,645 in revenue) was developing a microwave "non-lethal" weapons (NLW) system for the U.S. Army... " Raytheon is kicking off a U.S. Army program to mount Joint Silent Guardian non-lethal, directed energy weapons--with a range of more than 250 meters--on Ford 550 commercial trucks for crowd control. The high power microwave (HPM) device heats water in a person's outer layers of skin to the point of pain. Tests have shown that the effects can reach through cracks in and around concrete walls and even through the glass of automobiles, company officials say. (David A. Fulghum, "High Power Microwave Nearly Operational," Aviation Week, October 9, 2008)"... As global capitalism enters a new and potentially "terminal" phase of its disintegration, the U.S. ruling class and their European "partners" will increasingly resort to escalating levels of violence--from the criminalization of dissent to martial law--should "domestic terrorist" threats "get out of hand." A general deployment of "non-lethal weapons" for use in "homeland" cities clearly has a prominent role to play along this repressive continuum.

U student to plead not guilty to terrorism charges
Full article: http://www.mndaily.com/2008/10/12/u-student-plead-not-guilty-terrorism-charges
Excerpt(s): A University student arrested preemptively before the Republican National Convention will be one of the first people prosecuted under a terrorism clause in the Minnesota Patriot Act since it was passed in 2002. Cultural studies junior Max Specktor is charged with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism. The eight suspects, calling themselves the RNC 8, plan to plead not guilty to the charges, defendant Nathanael Secor said... Specktor and seven other defendants facing the same charge will be heard together, and face a maximum of seven and a half years of jail time. Specktor, a graduate of Minneapolis South High School, got involved with activism by planning protests against the Iraq War. “After doing that kind of work in high school, I was kind of burned out on trying to change something with a big protest,” Specktor said. “I was getting into local community work.”... Bruce Nestor, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild said the terrorism charges trivialize real acts of violence and potentially violate the First Amendment. “This is an attempt to criminalize political dissent,” he said. “It has a chilling effect on anybody planning political activities.”

Social networking sites to be snooped on by security services
Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3203583/Social-networking-sites-to-be-snooped-on-by-security-services.html
Excerpt(s): Information collected from the sites is likely to be used to build a new super-database at the heart of Government, allowing officials to monitor people's every online move. The plans were dismissed as "Orwellian" by Opposition parties while campaigners said that monitoring internet traffic was evidence of the rise of the "stalker state"... Dominic Grieve, Shadow home secretary, said: "These proposals would mark a substantial shift in the powers of the state to obtain personal information on individuals. The Government must present convincing justification for such an exponential increase in the powers of the state." Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, added: "The Government's Orwellian plans for a vast database of our private communications are deeply worrying. I hope that this consultation is not just a sham exercise to soft-soap an unsuspecting public."

EVER-CHANGING ECONOMICS:
Great Slides Always Lead to Great Gains In Power (that's how they're planned)


The Road to Serfdom
Full article: http://eldib.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/the-road-to-serfdom/
Note: Great article originally posted on InTheseNewTimes.com, titled after Friedrich Hayek's outstanding book The Road to Serfdom (highly and frequently recommended by Ron Paul). Written from a British citizen's perspective on his own country's role in the international so-called free market economy, its relatedness to the U.S. situation is clear as well...
Excerpt(s): Moving to our own times we saw a new variant of free market ideology in neo-liberalism. This variant corresponded to the end of the epoch of national wars and the discarding of the social-democratic type models which corresponded to it and which ran counter to the basic principle of individual aggrandissement, to oligarchy. The essence of this process was the dismantling of the state by the state, since there was no other way to do it. It therefore involved an augmentation of the state’s role, and state expenditure, in order to make possible the transfer of state or public assets or private interests. The state was to go too extraordinary lengths in destroying itself in a final episode of the utopian, state of nature project, expressed in its crudest form by Madame Thatcher in her famous claim that “there is no such thing as society”. This programme of pure destruction involved privatising industries, selling off public housing, so-called public private partnerships, fraudulent financial wheeling and dealing. Its culmination came last week with the conversion of the national budget into a kitty for the bankers. That was not perhaps so extraordinary, being as it was perfectly consistent with what has been happening for the last thirty years. What is extraordinary is to see people who for too long have been following the narrative, the theatrical representation, rather than reality itself, applaud an initiative which has brought us to the very edge of the abyss, consolidated the power of our enemies and brought us a huge step forward on the road to serfdom.

Smaller Banks Resist Federal Cash Infusions
Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101403378.html?hpid=topnews
Excerpt(s): Community banking executives around the country responded with anger yesterday to the Bush administration's strategy of investing $250 billion in financial firms, saying they don't need the money, resent the intrusion and feel it's unfair to rescue companies from their own mistakes. But regulators said some banks will be pressed to take the taxpayer dollars anyway... And in offices around the country, bankers simmered. Peter Fitzgerald, chairman of Chain Bridge Bank in McLean, said he was "much chagrined that we will be punished for behaving prudently by now having to face reckless competitors who all of a sudden are subsidized by the federal government." At Evergreen Federal Bank in Grants Pass, Ore., chief executive Brady Adams said he has more than 2,000 loans outstanding and only three borrowers behind on payments. "We don't need a bailout, and if other banks had run their banks like we ran our bank, they wouldn't have needed a bailout, either," Adams said.

Drama behind a $250 billion banking deal
Full article: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/15/business/15bailout.php?page=1
Excerpt(s): The chief executives of the nine largest banks in the United States trooped into a gilded conference room at the Treasury Department at 3 p.m. Monday. To their astonishment, they were each handed a one-page document that said they agreed to sell shares to the government, then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. said they must sign it before they left.

What You Can Do to End the Tyranny of the Federal Reserve
Full article: http://www.naturalnews.com/024486.html
Excerpt(s): The outcry for the abolition of the Federal Reserve is growing louder. Commodities investor par excellance Jim Rogers is calling for the Fed to be abolished to save the world from massive inflation. TV host Glenn Beck is criticizing the Fed for its role in the current financial debacle. According to Beck, "When everyone was meeting with our Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson, I thought to myself: 'Who the hell is representing the American people?'" Wall Street Journal financial editor Steven Moore is asking, "Who elected Ben Bernanke? Who Elected Alan Greenspan?" The time is right. People have had enough. Now is the time for Americans to come out of their debt induced comas and start calling their congressmen and women, asking them to support Paul's bill to abolish the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is as deadly to the future of Americans as the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry. There can be no end to these manufactured financial crises until the Fed's rule is replaced by an honest, debt-free money policy.

Grasping 'Radical' Economic Change
Full article: http://www.cfr.org/publication/17508/grasping_radical_economic_change.html?breadcrumb=%2F
Note: This article is "from the inside," so to speak, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the one thing you can trust in it is that it is filled with propaganda, and insight if one looks hard enough. I encourage a close read, it took me quite awhile to dig through it...
Excerpt(s): Private equity is a two-word phrase that has come to mean different things to different people. To me, the phrase private equity means intelligent people investing their own money alongside their investors' money to do things, typically in the private sector, to make their investments worth more. One part of private equity has been buyouts. The buyout part of private equity has utilized leverage-three, four times leverage-to make the transactions occur. However, if you buy something cheap enough, you don't need any leverage. In other words, if I can buy something at eight times [the company's] cash flow, I may need leverage to get the return that I want. But if I can buy something at one time or two times cash flow, I probably don't need any leverage. So what you'll see is private equity firms buying things at much, much reduced prices, in which case they'll need less leverage to get the returns they want. Secondly, they'll be taking a lot of minority investments, where there's no leverage involved-they'll take a stake in a company but not employ leverage to try to get control of the company. And third, they'll invest much more outside the United States in emerging markets. While those countries have problems as well, the prices are still much cheaper there than they are in the United States. The private equity people will be okay. Nobody is immune from the laws of gravity, and private equity will have its problems as well, but by and large the private equity firms are probably going to emerge from this far stronger than many of the other kinds of economic engines of our society.

14 October 2008

DOCUMENTARIES Adam Curtis trilogy THE LIVING DEAD: Reviewing the History and Consequences of World War II PLUS all other Adam Curtis documentaries...


3-part documentary The Living Dead

Another outstanding series documentary by Adam Curtis... Reviewing the History and Consequences of World War II...

Adam Curtis - The Living Dead 1/3: On the Desperate Edge of Now (~58 min.):


Summary from google: On the Desperate Edge of Now - This episode examined how the various national memories of the Second World War were effectively rewritten and manipulated in the Cold War period. For Germany, this began at the Nuremberg Trials, where attempts were made to prevent the Nazis in the dock—principally Hermann Göring—from offering any rational argument for what they had done. Subsequently, however, bringing lower-ranking Nazis to justice was effectively forgotten about in the interests of maintaining West Germany as an ally in the Cold War. For the Allied countries, faced with a new enemy in the Soviet Union, there was a need to portray WW2 as a crusade of pure good against pure evil, even if this meant denying the memories of the Allied soldiers who had actually done the fighting, and knew it to have been far more complex. A number of American veterans, including the writer Kurt Vonnegut, told how years later they found themselves plagued with the previously-suppressed memories of the brutal things they had seen and done. The title comes from a veteran's description of what the uncertainty of survival while combat is like.

Adam Curtis - The Living Dead 2/3: You Have Used Me as a Fish Long Enough (~59 min.):

Summary from google: You Have Used Me as a Fish Long Enough - In this episode, the history of brainwashing and mind control was examined. The angle pursued by Curtis was the way in which psychiatry pursued tabula rasa theories of the mind, initially in order to set people free from traumatic memories and then later as a potential instrument of social control. The work of Ewen Cameron was surveyed, with particular reference to Cold War theories of communist brainwashing and the search for hypnoprogammed assassins. The programme's thesis was that the search for control over the past via medical intervention had had to be abandoned and that in modern times control over the past is more effectively exercised by the manipulation of history. Some film from this episode, an interview with one of Cameron's victims, was later re-used by Curtis in his The Century of the Self. The title of this episode comes from a paranoid schizophrenic seen in archive film in the programme, who believed her neighbours were using her as a source of amusement by denying her any privacy, like a pet goldfish.

Adam Curtis - The Living Dead 3/3: The Attic (~59 min.):

Summary from google: The Attic - In this episode, the Imperial aspirations of Margaret Thatcher were examined. The way in which Mrs Thatcher used public relations in an attempt to emulate Winston Churchill in harking back to Britain's "glorious past" to fulfill a political or national end. The title is a reference to the attic flat at the top of 10 Downing Street, which was created during Thatcher's period refurbishment of the house, which did away with the Prime Minister's previous living quarters on lower floors. Scenes from The Innocents (film) the adaptation of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James are intercut with Thatcher's reign.

Other Adam Curtis Documentaries:

THE TRAP (2007):

BBC Two's documentary "The Trap" by Adam Curtis - three ~1 hr. parts


THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES (2004) <-- most highly RECOMMENDED!

BBC's "The Power of Nightmares" (2004) - Hard to believe this actually aired on TV! (Not in the US, of course.)


CENTURY OF THE SELF (2002):

BBC Four's The Century Of The Self - 4 PARTS - by Adam Curtis


MAYFAIR SET (1999):

Four Stories about the Rise of Business and the Decline of Political Power. Another detailed and insightful documentary by Adam Curtis (1999).

VIDEO Let the market do its job


VIDEO from Russia Today: "Amid the financial turmoil, the U.S. President George W. Bush daily delivers affirmations on the nations crippled economy. Those who hope to succeed him in office charge that only they know how to lift America off its knees. But the one winning the public trust battle is Congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul."

VIDEO "Let the market do its job"
(~2 min.):



Video on YouTube | Digg this Video!

VIDEO Empire coming to an End "Ron Paul Fox Business Oct 14 2008"


The Fox interviewer (teleprompter reader) is truly painful in her cluelessness (she doesn't really appear to understand what he is saying), but Ron Paul is, as always, spot on...

VIDEO Ron Paul responds to Bush socialization of economy (~5 min.):


Digg this Video! | Video on YouTube

10 October 2008

Outstanding, Free DOCUMENTARIES. Zeitgeist and Zeitgeist: Addendum--Think BIG. Think HUGE!!! See Through The System... My Highest Recommendation.


Zeitgeist the movie, released in 2007, is among my absolute favorite DE-PROPAGANDIZING films. By "de-propagandizing" I mean that it aids in the process of un-educating (releasing one's mind from the control of propaganda) and re-educating (aiming towards real knowledge) oneself. It breaks down myths, and provides real facts that you, if your education was anything like mine, never even heard of in school. The aim is to clean one's slate and start anew. I, at one time, thought I was quite smart--full of facts that I memorized from teachers and textbooks; that was NOT true knowledge, and if anything it was a hindrance to my real "higher learning." What do Christianity, 9/11, and international bankers have in common? Watch and see...

ZEITGEIST the Movie, Final Cut (~122 min.):


This second film from the same maker, Zeitgeist: Addendum, released about a week ago, goes even further into the maze of our present Zeitgeist, the spirit of our times, revealing even more about the insipid monetary system which is, along with physical violence, at the basis of the oppression of humanity. The film then goes onto propose several alternative ways in which we might BE in this world.

I am a great advocate of the original Zeitgeist film embedded above, however I do have significant reservations about this second one. In particular, it advocates a society based upon the implantation of highly technological, global system--what they call a resource-based economy. The maker, I believe, clearly intends and hopes that such a society would be egalitarian in every sense of the word, but I am concerned that such a society might inherently be or become just another class system, a new world order "technocracy" as Alex Jones calls it, wherein only a few have such access to higher technology, and where the rest of us would be left out, or even killed due to "uselessness."

Nonetheless, I definitely still recommend watching this second film (AFTER watching the first), just as I advocate the watching of many films with which I do not completely agree with. It is certainly food for the thought, and diverse thinking is exactly what this world needs now. This film certainly gets outside the box of propaganda-driven thinking... So enjoy, but as always, keep thinking critically! Individuals thinking freely, rigorously, and highly skeptically, and then ACTING is the answer.

ZEITGEIST Addendum, just released! (~123 min.):

VIDEOS Noam Chomsky & Max Keiser interviewed by Afshin Rattansi 10 October 2008 - "Chomsky is out of touch, tired and irrelevant..."


Note by the HBAF research team: Noam Chomsky is out of touch, tired and irrelevant... to listen to him speak now, on any subject, is to listen to him hanging onto the same ladder that gave him his prior relevance from days gone by and which maintains his elitist position at M.I.T. It is nothing short of infuriating. From his opinion about 911--" Who cares...", to his useless opinions in the interview below with Max Keiser on Press TV, his unimportance today is astonishing. Just listen to him sound as though he refuses to understand anything. He makes it sound as if America is not only abundantly resourceful, and Paulsen does not manipulate the market because it would not benefit him, but also in the end America is so militarily powerful that the whole world combined merely equals us?! So the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, etc., etc., even back in his time, Vietnam didn't manage to fight back against American hegemony?!!! Did the American military, with all it's might mean anything but horrible murder for no reason?!!! He is an insult to human beings. I'm sorry but I used to like him. He seemed like a great ladder on which to climb to get to the high ground and see the manipulation and propaganda that the media uses to distort our understanding of the world. But the water levels have risen and to stay with Chomsky now is to drown.

Afshin Rattansi talks to Noam Chomsky & Max Keiser 10.10.08 - Part I:


Afshin Rattansi talks to Noam Chomsky & Max Keiser 10.10.08 - Part II:


P.S. - Max Keiser is ON!

NEWS Daily Headlines & Propaganda 20081010 human beings are free FRIDAY Afternoon Edition, War & Alliances

Daily Headlines & Propaganda from HumanBeingsAreFree
Friday, 10 October 2008 see All News
Afternoon Edition, War & Alliances

NEW ALLIANCES / OLD ALLIANCES:
Elites continue to draw and re-draw the lines among themselves, treat free human beings as pawns in their chess game...

Russia stunned by UN-NATO cooperation deal
Full article: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081009/117635210.html
Excerpt(s): Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that Russia was shocked the UN and NATO had secretly signed a cooperation agreement without all UN member states reading the draft. "Before such agreements are signed, their drafts should be submitted to member states for reading. But in this case this did not happen, and the agreement between the secretariats was signed secretly," Sergei Lavrov told journalists after a CIS foreign ministers' meeting in Bishkek... He also said it was surprising that although the document implied cooperation between the two secretariats, its text contained provisions related to immediate prerogatives of member states, including the intention to cooperate in maintaining international security on the basis of the UN Charter and certain international directives.

Moscow calls for anti-US alliance (WARNING: article contains blatant disinformation regarding Russia-Georgia conflict)
Full article: http://article.wn.com/view/2008/10/09/Moscow_calls_for_antiUS_alliance_e/
Excerpt(s): THE President of Russia has called on Europe's leaders to create a new world order that would minimise the role of the United States... In order to end the "unipolar" model in which the world depended on the US, he proposed creating new financial systems to challenge the dominance of the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation, both of which had fallen under Washington's spell. Attacking the enlargement of NATO, which he said had advanced provocatively towards Russia, he proposed a new European security treaty. The new European pact would include "a clear affirmation of the inadmissibility of the use of force - or the threat of force - in international relations" and would be built on the principle of the territorial integrity of independent nations.

NATO, Georgia in high-level military talks (WARNING: article contains blatant disinformation regarding Russia-Georgia conflict)
Full article: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081010/twl-nato-military-georgia-russia-conflic-6b0205e.html
Excerpt(s): NATO and Georgia hold their highest-level defence talks Friday with the focus on how to help rebuild the Georgian military in the wake of Russia's assault in August... US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, whose country has proved Georgia's staunchest ally, has called the commission talks, to start at 0930 GMT, a "historic event" and underlined the support Tbilisi can expect to find... Ahead of the meeting, Gates and Georgian Defence Minister Davit Kezerashvili discussed Georgia's military needs ahead of more in-depth talks in Washington later this month... NATO has assured Tbilisi, and Kiev, that its doors are open but so far has not taken any formal decision to work towards membership for Georgia, although the allies will discuss its prospects in Brussels in December. The 26 NATO nations are divided over whether bringing Georgia into the alliance would increase stability in a volatile region or feed insecurity by angering a more assertive and increasingly powerful Russia.

New World Order: Global co-operation, nationalisation and state intervention - all in one day
Full article: http://eldib.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/new-world-order-global-co-operation-nationalisation-and-state-intervention-all-in-one-day/
Excerpt(s): IT WAS a day of desperate global action, unprecedented in both scale and cost, intended to stymie the international devastation being wrought by the financial crisis. As the London stock market steeled itself to open again following days of vicious battering, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, rose to stake the future of the country and the Cabinet on an audacious £500 billion banking bail-out. And barely had the City begun to digest the hugely complex and unorthodox scheme when it was sent reeling again by an unscheduled interest rate cut – mirrored across the world – by the Monetary Policy Committee. It was the first such co-ordinated approach since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 – yet another indicator, had one been needed, of the gravity of the situation.

Active rebuttal of Lisbon "misinformation" urged

Full article: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1010/breaking3.htm
Excerpt(s): IN THE wake of the Irish vote on the Lisbon Treaty, the European Commission's vice-president has called for a more vigorous engagement by the commission in responding to "misinformation" about the treaty and the EU. Sweden's commissioner Margot Wallström, in an internal letter to fellow commissioners on the lessons to be drawn from the Irish vote for EU communications policy, calls for the setting up of a "rebuttal function" within the EU executive to counter the type of misinformation she argues was spread by anti-EU forces during the referendum campaign... "We cannot treat the Irish No as merely a national issue or only a treaty ratification problem. The difficulties in explaining to citizens the rationale of the Lisbon Treaty and in clarifying that the EU needs to be equipped for today's and tomorrow's challenge are difficulties which we encounter across the union," the letter argues.

Peruvian cabinet set to resign
Full article: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/10/20081092074091785.html
Excerpt(s): The entire cabinet of Alan Garcia, Peru's president, is set to resign amid a corruption scandal over oil concessions. Garcia has been facing calls from opposition leaders to sack cabinet members after audio tapes emerged linking some of them to a plan to award oil contracts in exchange for bribes. Jorge del Castillo, the Peruvian prime minister - one of those named during conversations caught on the tapes - has denied any wrong-doing. Leaving congress on Thursday with the rest of the cabinet, Del Castillo said: "We are going to the presidential palace to offer our posts to the president so he can decide."

NEW WARS / OLD WARS:

Continued escalations towards Total War


Iraqi MP killed in bomb attack
Full article: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/10/20081099439971949.html
Excerpt(s): An Iraqi member of parliament has been killed in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Baghdad, officials say. At least two other people were also killed in the attack on the convoy of Saleh al-Auqaeili, a member of the Sadrist bloc, on Thursday... He became the first Iraqi MP to be killed since the April 12, 2007 suicide bombing of the national parliament, where one politician and seven other people died... Al-Auqaeili was a senior member of al-Sadr political bloc, which has 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. The attack raised concerns of a rise in violence before provincial elections scheduled to be held in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces next year.

Three foreigners, 4 others killed in US drone attack
Full article: http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\10\story_10-10-2008_pg1_6
Excerpt(s): At least seven people, including three foreigners, were killed in a missile attack by a suspected United States drone, 20 kilometres east of Miranshah, local witnesses said on Thursday. The attack on Ghundai village in North Waziristan Agency targeted the house of Muhammad Sultan, son of Zaley Gul. Local tribesmen recovered seven bodies from the bombed site and feared the toll could rise. “There are three foreigners among the dead,” they said.

Water crisis in Gaza - A report denounces Israeli responsibilities
Full article: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m47858&hd=&size=1&l=e
Excerpt(s): "Israel violated international law by creating a water crisis in the Gaza Strip", accuses a report released by the Palestinian Union of Agricultural Committees, denouncing the "drastic reduction in water sources in Palestinian territory since Israel has built several small dams to block surface water that used to reach Gaza through river valleys". According to the study, groundwater has become the main water resource for 1.5 million people in Gaza, who consume 86 litres of water per person per day: "short of the 100 litres recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the minimum quantity for basic consumption", says the researcher Alaa Matar, who carried out the study, underlining that "by contrast Israelis consume 330 liters per person per day".

VIDEO Breathtaking Ignorance Captured on Film at McCain/Palin Ohio Rally - NO Obama! NO McCain!


Note from the HBAF research team: We here at HumanBeingsAreFree don't find ignorance funny, not in a world of oppression and suffering that is caused by it. We do not support Obama nor McCain, BUT, this video is incredibly accurate in showing what some people in those rallies (including the guy with the microphone) are like. Brace yourself, and keep in mind that these people are probably not drunk.

The McCain-Palin Mob (~4 min.):


Related article: Breathtaking Ignorance Captured on Film at McCain/Palin Ohio Rally (Huliq.com - 9 October 2008)

09 October 2008

NEWS Daily Headlines & Propaganda 20081009 human beings are free THURSDAY Afternoon Edition, "Crowd Control," Martial Law & WAR


Daily Headlines & Propaganda from HumanBeingsAreFree
Thursday, 9 October 2008 see All News
Afternoon Edition, "Crowd Control," Martial Law & WAR

"CROWD CONTROL":
And other pseudonyms for Martial Law...


New TASER Weapons Produced For Crowd Control
Full article: http://www.prisonplanet.com/new-taser-weapons-produced-for-crowd-control.html
Excerpt(s): Stun gun manufacturer rolls out devices [The Taser Shockwave] that promise to “drop everyone in a given area to the ground”... The weapons can also be vehicle mounted or “daisy chained” according to Taser. Clearly it is anticipated that these things will be used on sizable crowds, meaning an increased likelihood of indiscriminate targeting... The Shockwave isn’t the only new development on Taser’s books either. The Extended-Range Electronic Projectile (XREP) is touted as the first electric shock weapon that can be fired from a normal gun, in this case a 12-gauge shotgun. It delivers a 20-second shock, compared with the default setting five-second shock of a traditional taser X26... Both the Taser Shockwave and the XREP are scheduled to go into full production by the end of this year.

Deconstructing The Power of the Global Elite: Brute Force, The Power to Hurt, and Psychological Control
Full article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10493
Excerpt(s): In the aftermath of Congressional approval of bailout legislation granting sweeping powers to the financial elite, the body politic appears to be helplessly mired in the relentless unfolding of classical fascism before its very eyes... The application of these two sources of power by the power elite is not hard to find. With respect to brute force, it is no secret that the US military has been training and arming state and local law enforcement across the country, including supplying some of the same weaponry used in a war zone against an external opponent... But in addition to brute force and the power to hurt, the elite uses another form of power that is chilling in its efficacy: sophisticated techniques for controlling information and, more generally, for controlling the perceptions and behavior of the populace through mental and emotional manipulation of the very reality it experiences... The elite cabal exploits its control over media and entertainment to keep the public misled, distracted and ultimately imprisoned in a matrix of disinformation, rampant consumerism and the lowest common denominators of human nature, including raw violence and mindless sexuality... Huxley's concerns about the newly available non-terrorist techniques for "inducing people to love their servitude" were echoed by Nobel Prize winner Bertrand Russell, who predicted that as a result of the gradual and ruthless use of technological advances, "a revolt of the plebs would be as unthinkable as an organized insurrection of sheep against the practice of eating mutton." A powerful form of psychological control used by the global elite is to induce widespread depression stemming from a feeling of futility or helplessness. This brings to mind the famous quote from Thoreau that most humans live "lives of quiet desperation," which he elaborated on by stating that "what is called resignation is confirmed desperation."... As a practitioner in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), I have become personally familiar with extraordinary new techniques for healing previously intractable syndromes such as learned helplessness and war-induced post-traumatic stress disorder. As an educator who has worked with children and adults with cognitive disabilities, I have seen next to miraculous results from the innovative methods now available. And, finally, as a human being who reveres the human spirit and its perennial indomitability, I refuse to believe that a small cabal of beings solely in service to self will ever be able to take over the minds and souls of mankind... In my own view, the current crisis is a crisis in the Chinese sense of the term, i.e., an opportunity in disguise... It is an opportunity like no other to awaken and educate the people so they are no longer sitting ducks for the three forms of power delineated in this article.

NEWS FROM THE EPICENTRE OF THE WAR ZONE:
Is this not already World War III? Say NO now & everyday!

SOMALIA / Hiding America's Crime: Mogadishu Empty and in Ruins
Full article: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m47829&hd=&size=1&l=e
Excerpt(s): Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has ceased to exist as a city. Inhabited by nearly three million people less than two years ago, and still home to more than a million nine months ago, Mogadishu has been virtually emptied of civilians. Whole sections have been leveled, according to the BBC, in what Human Rights Watch calls "the most ignored tragedy in the world" today. Ignored, that is, by the American and most of the world's media... Human Rights Watch says "the world would be shocked" at the devastation and the plight of Somalia's people, millions of whom are now refugees stalked, bombed and besieged in the desolate southern Somali countryside.

IRAQ / Desert storm revisited: Pentagon finishes off Iraq with nukes?
Full article: http://www.presstv.com/Detail.aspx?id=71647&sectionid=3510203
Excerpt(s): A US war veteran has accused the Pentagon of launching a nuclear attack on southern Iraq in the final day of the first Persian Gulf War... The Italian station later launched its own inquiry into the claims and found that according to online archives of the UK-based International Seismological Center a seismic event took place on the aforementioned day consistent with a five-kiloton blast. RaiNews24 is to air a 30-minute current affairs report on the issue on Thursday which will include an interview with Jawad al-Ali an Iraqi doctor who says the number of tumors in Basra increased from 32 in 1989 to 600 in 2002. According to the station, the US State Department rejected Brown's claims, saying that only 'conventional' weapons were used in the first Persian Gulf War... Some 30 percent of the 700,000 US servicemen and women in the first Persian Gulf War have reported signs of an illness known as the Gulf War Syndrome (GWS), typified by symptoms including immune system disorders and birth defects. After 10 years of research, no evidence has been found which establishes any specific cause for the range of the health problems affecting Persian Gulf War vets.

PALESTINE & ISRAEL / Medical delegation denied entry to Gaza
Full article: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3606964,00.html
Excerpt(s): A Physicians for Human Rights delegation, made up of Israeli Arab doctors who were planning to enter the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, was denied entry due to security considerations. The delegation, which included surgeons, orthopedists, an oncologist, a psychologist and a social worker, was scheduled to enter Gaza carrying advanced medical equipment, in order to care for Palestinians hospitalized in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis and Gaza's Shifa Hospital... "We have 350 patients waiting for us in Khan Younis," said Salah Haj Yehia, who headed the delegation. "Some of the patients are in serious condition and some were refused entry to Israel for treatment.

CHEERS!
Everyone must do what they can for us to have a chance at turning the tide...


Sheriff in Ill. county won't evict in foreclosures
Full article: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081008/D93MFL900.html
Excerpt(s): Residents of foreclosed properties in Chicago and other parts of Cook County don't have to worry about deputies forcing them out. Sheriff Tom Dart says that starting Thursday his office won't take part in evictions... Dart says he thinks he's the first sheriff in a major metropolitan area to stop such evictions during the ongoing foreclosure crisis.

Judge sets free 17 Chinese Muslims held in Guantanamo for seven years 'without evidence'
Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1072631/White-House-anger-judge-sets-free-17-Chinese-Muslims-held-Guantanamo-seven-years.html
Excerpt(s): The White House today blasted a US court decision to free 17 Chinese Muslims being held at Guantanamo Bay. The dramatic ruling could pave the way for the release of dozens more prisoners from the controversial American naval base in Cuba. In a stern rebuke of the Bush administration, US District Judge Ricardo Urbina said it would be wrong to keep the Chinese detainees behind bars because they are no longer considered enemy combatants. It was the first court-ordered release of Guantanamo prisoners since the camp opened in 2002. But the US Justice Department launched an immediate appeal last night, saying the court order posed a threat to national security.

QUESTIONING WARREN BUFFETT:
World's richest man is more publicly on the world's stage than ever...


Obama, McCain both want Warren Buffett as Treasury Secretary
Full article: http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/10/08/obama-mccain-both-want-warren-buffett-as-treasury-secretary/
Excerpt(s): One of the few things that Barack Obama and John McCain agreed on during last night's televised debate was that billionaire Warren Buffett would make a good Secretary of the Treasury.

Where was Warren Buffett on 9/11?
Full article: http://killtown.911review.org/buffett.html
Excerpt(s): Mr. Buffett was reportedly at his home in Omaha, Nebraska watching TV when he heard about the terrorist attacks. He was getting ready to host his "last annual golf charity event" which just happened to be at the U.S. Strategic Command headquarters located at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha. Offutt AFB is, coincidentally, where President G. W. Bush flew to on Air Force One later in the day for "safety."... So was it just a coincidence that the 2nd richest man in the world was hosting his "last" annual golf charity event so early that particular morning at U.S. Strategic Command headquarters and what are the odds that a WTC CEO was invited who's offices were right where one of the hijacked airplanes crashed into?... An interesting angle about Ann Tatlock's company, Fiduciary Trust Co. International, is that President Bush's nominee to head the panel that's investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Thomas Kean, used to serve as the company's director which has a lot of wealthy clients... One interesting note about Ann Tatlock is that she is a trustee of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) along with former Secretary of State and current Carlyle Group advisor James A. Baker III who's law firm, Baker Botts LLP, is defending Saudi Arabia against the trillion dollar lawsuit filed by the families of 9/11 victims... Now if Warren Buffett hosting a "charity event" at the U.S. Strategic Commander headquarters on 9/11 in which one of the invited guests was a CEO who's offices were where the 2nd hijacked plane crashed into at the WTC and that the head of the 9/11 investigation used to be the director of her company doesn't raise an eyebrow or two, then maybe the following little tidbits will. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a subsidiary company called NetJets... Oddly enough, a NetJets executive company jet was "tracking" Flight 93 when it crashed in an open field in Shanksville, PA... Mr. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. also has a subsidiary company called FlightSafety International Inc., a flight training school... FlightSafety International Inc. is reported to have trained at least one of the alleged 9/11 hijackers... Finally, Mr. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has large stock holdings in a company called SunTrust Banks, Inc. and has stock in Coca-Cola... SunTrust Banks, Inc. is one of the banks in which most of the alleged 9/11 hijackers reportedly set up bank accounts with using fake social security numbers.

* "Constitution Burning Bush" image is from Squidoo.com