Man On Fire: 12/18/11

18 Dec 2011

SOPA aka The Powers That Be trying to control/ruin the internet!

John "TotalBiscuit" Bain is a UK Law graduate, professional gaming commentator and journalist. Source
Angelo: We are against patent law of any type. Above are very good parallel analogies for why the world will not end with the end of patent law, just as the film industry was not destroyed by the VHS video cassette in the 1980's though many postulated it would be if "the public (that's us) were given the power to record at home". Help the excellent anti SOPA rant above go viral.

Unholy Row In Jerusalem Over Status Of Women

Equality campaigners say women in Jerusalem are facing discrimination and segregation because of the growing influence of ultra-religious Jewish leaders.

An attempt to ban women singing in public places is the latest move to spark protests after a few extremist Rabbis declared it too sexual for men to hear.

"The female voice is beautiful and it is fine for women to sing to each other but we do not want men exposed to the temptation," Yakov Halperin, a religious member of Jerusalem's City Council, said.

Women's rights groups have taken to organising public sing-a-longs in the street in response.

"We cannot let them silence us," one woman said as a crowd of about 100 women sang beside one of the city's main roads.

"This is a slippery slope and it's our democracy that's at stake," another protester said.

Even Israel's military, long a bastion of sexual equality, has been drawn into the row with some religious soldiers boycotting ceremonial events where female soldiers might be singing.

Military leaders have refused to bow to the demands for all male choirs.

The increasingly conservative attitude towards women reflects the steady demographic shift in Israel, particularly in Jerusalem.

The ultra-orthodox Jewish community - with its preference for large families - is the fastest expanding sector of society. Source/full story

Twelve biggest US lies of 2011

As 2011 draws to a close, an award-winning US magazine has handpicked a dozen of the most monstrous lies that Washington has delivered to the world over the past year.

“I live in Washington where lying is an art form,” David J. Rothkopf wrote on the Foreign Policy website.

Before enumerating the most egregious US lies of 2011, Rothkopf divides the fallacious statements uttered by Washington into three categories.

Some, he says, are known for their “subtlety”, like President Barack Obama wanting to get special interests out of American politics. They “almost” feel true, Rothkopf says.

Others stand out for their “audacity”, like Newt Gingrich bringing down communism.

And last but not least are those which capture our attention for being offered with a “straight face,” like Mitt Romney saying he has deeply held political convictions.

Rothkopf, however, says among the plethora of US mendacious claims there are some which are most outstanding.

“They are the big lies that have defined our times,” he says, proceeding to catalogue those fibs.

1. “The war in Iraq is finally over after nine years.”

Rothkopf notes the US has been militarily engaged in Iraq since the early 1990 and this will likely be just the end of another installment in the long running series of US warmongering policies in the region.

2. “America's mission in Iraq was a success.”

He expresses astonishment at such a claim while Iraq is divided, undemocratic, corrupt, and the US invasion has cost USD1 trillion, thousands of US lives, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, and its national reputation. US war in Iraq bears greater semblance to a full-scale “fiasco”, he says.

3. “We are winning in Afghanistan.”

Rothkopf describes this one as a hot from the oven “howler” by the US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. Washington has strengthened the region's extremists and the threat of instability in nuclear Pakistan is now actually higher than it was when US went in, he says.

4. Tie: “Pakistan is America's ally” and “Afghanistan is America's partner.”

Neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan can by any “credible definition” be called a US ally. This is attested to by the animosity of Islamabad towards Washington and Kabul's belittling of the US on the world stage, Rothkopf says.

5. “America is unthreatened by China's growth.”

A “prayer” by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rothkopf says. “It should be true. But it's not,” he adds.

6. Tie: “Republicans are the problem” and “Democrats are the problem.”

Rothkopf dubs this one as “the great lie of American politics.” He says the problem with US politics is not the parties, but the money. “The system is so resolutely corrupt that recent scandals have only resulted in more money flowing into the system and past reforms being undone,” he notes.

7. “Cutting the taxes of millionaires helps create US jobs.”

There is not even one single solitary shred of evidence to support this “idiotic” suggestion, Rothkopf notes.

8. “This next summit of European leaders will be decisive …”

Rothkopf says despite the fact that this claim has been made every few weeks for the past months, the “supposedly sophisticated financial markets” of the United States continue to fall for it.

9. “The Obama administration is committed to serious financial services reform.”

The US financial system is still plagued by all the threats that instigated the 2008 recession. “Not an inch of progress,” Rothkopf says.

10. “Only nine percent of Americans approve of Congress.”

“This can't possibly be true. There can't possibly be that many,” Rothkopf says in a stinging sarcastic tone.

11. “The operation in Libya will be over in a matter of days or weeks.”

Rothkopf says the operation was wrong to begin with, “and then wrong and then wrong again for months.”

12. “I love Israel.”

Even though everyone in US politics makes such an assertion, nobody really means it, Rothkopf notes. What the politicians really mean, however, is that “I want American Jews to think I love Israel enough to vote for me and give me money,” he says.

“Those are just a few of a bumper year for duplicity, mendacity, and craven misstatements,” Rothkopf concludes. Source

You Are Not Allowed To Film When You Are Filmed!

Kerry Lutz James Turk Precious Metals Panic Report

Kids of New Libya: New values for 'green' minds

Libya's record high 90 per cent literacy rate, one of the undeniable achievements of the ousted Colonel Gaddafi, is now being challenged by the controversial education policies of the new leaders. Revolution fever has subsided, but not all Libyan kids are coming back to school. Some parents are unhappy with the values their children will be taught. A new day in the new Libya traditionally starts with an old ritual. Students assemble before classes to see a new flag being hoisted and to sing a new national anthem. Like the revolutionary tricolor, the anthem is a flashback to the pre-Gaddafi era, with a few verses tweaked to represent the notion of the country's recent liberation. For decades under Gaddafi's rule, Libyan students had to memorize long passages from his Green Book without ever questioning them, and it seems like this tradition may continue under the new Libyan authorities as well. Children are too young to understand the meaning and the bloody history of this revolutionary anthem, but they are already expected to know it by heart. Source

Why are the police protecting Phillip Green? Thoughts from a police cell

This is a post by someone who took part in yesterday's Christmas Special action in central London
Yesterday I was arrested inside Topshop on Oxford Street after just two minutes of protesting.

For chanting “pay your tax”, two snarling beefcake thugs hired by Topshop bent my arms behind my back, shoved me in front of two coppers, who then frog marched me out to the back of the store, and onto the police station, where I remained for seven hours.

Police station cells are barren concrete holes where the only signs of life come from the immortal carvings etched into the wooden bench by some previous guests of the State.

Yesterday’s police cell promoted two things things: 1)Walking in a circle 2)Thinking………

Why on earth are the police protecting the likes of Topshop, Vodafone, Boots, and Barclays bank!! The bosses of these companies take an active interest in reducing their contributions to public funds.

9 people got arrested yesterday, six in London, and three in Nottingham. Dozens of police heavys guarded the front of Vodafone, Boots, and Arcadia stores across the country.

The political Right in this country like to talk about the horrors of a “something for nothing” culture. Well, Phillip Green pays no tax on his company dividends. He couldn’t give a monkeys about public funds, yet his stores are granted protection by the police force – a public service!

Companies like Topshop also make full use of waste disposal services, the Royal Mail, ambulances, fire service,and road maintenance.

How amazing would it be if the unions and the police federation organised to withdraw their labour from these companies. Binmen should refuse to pick up Vodafone’s garbage! The police should refuse to attend demonstrations or arrest shop lifters at Topshop and friends.

Philip Green, if you refute tax payments, then you should rely on your beefcake thugs to protect your profits, and not call in the cops. Yesterday you,and the rest of your ilk, proved that you really are filthy rich scroungers. Source

Obama Signs NDAA Martial Law

There is little one can say about a video such as this but nazi Germany has arrived in the US predicted by many for years. The writing was on the wall so people shouldn't be surprised. Credits to the editor of this video Matt D and to YouTube user clipofreality who uploaded this clip on 14th December. I am very glad that more people are now awakening to the atrocities that have been going on for a very long time. The more people that see this video the better. It's all about informing and spreading truth after all. Source

Iran Hysteria: 'Israel wants US to attack first'

While the Arab Spring has brought winds of positive change, the destiny of the whole region now hangs on the issue of Palestine, insists politician Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian MP and the president of the Palestinian National Initiative. Currently, the Palestinian bid for statehood is deadlocked with the US obstructing a UN Security Council vote on the issue. America's pressure appears to be bearing fruit -- on the other hand, European governments cannot be seen to be going against their own people, whose sympathies lie with Palestine. Even if a Security Council vote goes ahead, the Palestinian bid is certain not to get the necessary two-thirds it needs to pass, because of "the US being capable of pressuring countries, Israel being able to pressure world leaders, and because of the hypocrisy of Western politics," Barghouti says. "They speak about the freedom of the Syrian people and respect for human rights in Libya, but they fail to recognize that this is also needed for Palestine," says the Palestinian politician. Mustafa Barghouti believes the Israelis are very concerned that if Palestine becomes an equal partner on the international stage, it will assume the right to appeal to the International Criminal Court and "that is probably the main reason why they [Israelis] are trying to obstruct our membership in the UN. Why? Because they know they've committed war crimes and many of their army officers have committed crimes against humanity." Source

Shocking Video: 'Blue bra' Girl and Many Men Brutally Beaten by Egypt Military

The blog-o-sphere is boiling at the cruel beating of a female protester by Egyptian military police, who continued battling protesters in Tahrir Square on Sunday. The clashes, into their third day now, have left 10 people dead and hundreds injured. The video uploaded on YouTube Sunday reveals the extreme cruelty of the country's law enforcers during the crackdown. The army soldiers in full riot gear have been savagely beating a seemingly unconscious female protester with big sticks, kicking her and stomping on her chest. Security forces lashed out ruthlessly on armless civilians and burned down tents that had been put up by activists outside the parliament building to camp in protest against the military rule. The internet community therefore questions the methods of the military regime who took over power after the ousting of the ex-President Hosni Mubarak in February. Source