New Internet Censorship Bill Introduced

Rebel Newsflash: New Internet Censorship Bill Introduced (plus 18 more items)

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• New Internet Censorship Bill Introduced
• Thursday: 3 Iraqis Killed, 10 Wounded
• Obama transition: Neoconservative resurgence under democratic leadership
• UN Policy Paper Describes Incremental Steps Toward World Government
• The Next Stage: Global Naked Body Scanners
• Nilin journalist "determined to film"
• Obama Makes his Critic's Point
• BBC and Murdoch, on the Same Side
• Wake Up, America!
• Obama Imposes New Iran Sanctions as War Chorus Rises
• Obama Continues Bush's Attacks on Activists
• Poll – American Atheists know religion the best
• Unrest continues after East Jerusalem killing
• Wednesday: 2 Iraqis Killed, 23 Wounded
• Sounds of peace in a troubled land
• The Taliban: Forced Into Negotiation While Winning?
• Are Obama's Hands Tied?
• Obama: 'The Generals Made Me Do It!'
• "In the Interests of Israel": Why Russia will not sell the S-300 Air Defense System to Iran

New Internet Censorship Bill Introduced Posted: 01 Oct 2010 02:50 AM PDT Like most others in Congress, Senator Patrick Leahy is no progressive. He voted to fund imperial wars, regressive Obamacare, Wall Street-friendly financial reform, and other pro-business measures, including agribusiness-empowering bills, harming small farmers and consumers. Now he's at it again. On September 20, he introduced S. 3804: Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), "A bill to combat online infringement, and for other purposes." Referred to committee, it awaits further action. In fact, it needs a dagger thrust in its heart to kill it.

Thursday: 3 Iraqis Killed, 10 Wounded Posted: 30 Sep 2010 02:11 PM PDT At least three Iraqis were killed and 10 more were wounded in light violence. Despite the seemingly quiet news day, one story underscored the deterioration of news reporting in Iraq. The director of Baghdad's mortuary services, Munged Salahaddin, warned that the morgue is receiving unidentified bodies at the same rate as in 2007. Currently, the morgue is holding 500 bodies awaiting identification. Most of them were shot to death.

Obama transition: Neoconservative resurgence under democratic leadership Posted: 30 Sep 2010 11:23 AM PDT To a discerning citizenry, it would be obvious that the contribution of the US to these dark times is quite in consonance with its notions of superiority. Be it in the realm of catastrophic climate change, depleted natural resources, global economic meltdown, or military misadventures in sovereign states, our country has indeed established itself the undisputed leader. Despite promises of "change" and "withdrawal" by the Obama Administration, Iraq remains occupied, with over 130,000 US soldiers and over 200,000 private contractors. During my most recent visit there in 2009, the only notable change I witnessed was such a dramatic decline in living conditions that superlatives are rendered superfluous.

UN Policy Paper Describes Incremental Steps Toward World Government Posted: 30 Sep 2010 04:30 AM PDT "The governments of Europe, the United States, and Japan are unlikely to negotiate a social-democratic pattern of globalization – unless their hands are forced by a popular movement or a catastrophe, such as another Great Depression or ecological disaster" Richard Sandbrook, Closing the Circle: Democratization and Development in Africa, Zed Books limited, London, 2000.

The Next Stage: Global Naked Body Scanners Posted: 30 Sep 2010 04:06 AM PDT Madame Napolitano of the Ministry of the Fatherland plans to take naked body scanners to the next level. She is urging 190 nations to adopt the machines. It's all part of a push to counter terrorists who might use international flights for attacks by smuggling explosives through overseas metal detectors, according to USA Today. As should be expected, the poster child for the effort is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the infamous underwear non-bomber. "We need to move to the next stage of screening," said Napolitano, because dimwitted patsies who never seem to pull off a terrorist event "have kind of figured out the magnetometer business."

Nilin journalist "determined to film" Posted: 30 Sep 2010 03:02 AM PDT For more than two years the people of Nilin in the occupied West Bank have embarked on a campaign of unarmed grassroots resistance against the theft of their land by Israeli settlements and the wall. Twenty-seven-year-old Hamoudeh Saeed Abd al-Haq Amireh is part of this resistance. Originally a medic and the sole breadwinner for his household, Amireh became a self-taught journalist to cover the ongoing struggle in Nilin. During his work, Amireh has been arrested and injured by Israeli forces, most recently when he was shot in the leg on 17 September. Jody McIntyre interviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Obama Makes his Critic's Point Posted: 30 Sep 2010 02:15 AM PDT The (British) Sun reports: "A British teen who sent an email to the White House calling President Obama a "p***k" has been banned from America FOR LIFE. The furious FBI asked local cops to tell college student Luke Angel, 17, his drunken insult was 'unacceptable.' Luke yesterday admitted he fired off a single email criticising the US Government after seeing a TV programme about 9/11. He said: 'I don't remember exactly what I wrote as I was drunk. But I think I called Barack Obama a p***k. It was silly – the sort of thing you do when you're a teenager and have had a few.' "

BBC and Murdoch, on the Same Side Posted: 29 Sep 2010 11:00 PM PDT Britain is said to be approaching its Berlusconi Moment. That is to say, if Rupert Murdoch wins control of Sky he will command half the television and newspaper market and threaten what is known as public service broadcasting. Although the alarm is ringing, it is unlikely that any government will stop him while his court is packed with politicians of all parties. The problem with this and other Murdoch scares is that, while one cannot doubt their gravity, they deflect from an unrecognised and more insidious threat to honest information. For all his power, Murdoch's media is not respectable. Take the current colonial wars. In the United States, Murdoch's Fox Television is almost cartoon-like in its warmongering. It is the august, tombstone New York Times, "the greatest newspaper in the world," and others such as the once-celebrated Washington Post, that have given respectability to the lies and moral contortions of the "war on terror," now recat as "perpetual war."

Wake Up, America! Posted: 29 Sep 2010 11:00 PM PDT Let us suppose for a moment that an individual enjoying the full confidence and trust of the United States government was given access to the most secret information possessed by the US military, to include how it would react to an attack by an aggressor armed with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.  Let us further suppose that that individual violated his trust in the most egregious and vile fashion, offering to sell the information to anyone, but eventually settling on a nation ostensibly friendly to the US but not in any way a formal ally.  The individual then proceeded to deliver defense secrets literally by the carload, not only information that might plausibly have been construed as relevant to the buyer's own security, but also strategic defense information that could conceivably have led to the deaths of millions of American citizens.  That information was then bartered and re-sold to an enemy who was in a position to use it to devastate the United States, together with sources and methods information on intelligence operations that in short order led to the deaths of many American citizens and also foreigners who had been cooperating with the United States.

Obama Imposes New Iran Sanctions as War Chorus Rises Posted: 29 Sep 2010 11:00 PM PDT Amid new calls for Washington to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if its diplomatic efforts at curbing Tehran's uranium-enrichment program fail, the United States Wednesday imposed unilateral sanctions against eight senior Iranian officials whom it accused of committing "sustained and severe violations of human rights." Announced at a joint press appearance by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the new sanctions include a ban on travel to the U.S. and a freeze on any U.S.-based assets owned by the officials, mainly top officers in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its commander, Mohammad Ali Jafari.

Obama Continues Bush's Attacks on Activists Posted: 29 Sep 2010 11:00 PM PDT Earlier this week the FBI raided six peace activists' homes in Minneapolis and Chicago as well as a Minneapolis office of an antiwar group. Agents kicked down doors of homes with guns drawn, smashed furniture, and seized computers, documents, phones, and other materials without making any arrests. These groups do not use guns or bombs. They are not terrorists. Their "weapons" are leaflets, newsletters, and nonviolent demonstrations. The FBI searches highlight a dangerous trend that has been building for nearly a decade: domestic surveillance of peace and other activists. Americans need to understand the context of these raids so they can work to stop the infringement of constitutional rights.

Poll – American Atheists know religion the best Posted: 29 Sep 2010 05:41 PM PDT The PEW Research Center issued the results of its US Religious Survey on September 28, 2010. The survey shows that the Atheists within the US know the Judeo-Christian religion better than Jews and Christians. However, all three groups could be pardoned for their ignorance of Islam – thanks to the Israeli anti-Islam propaganda. For example, only 54% of the 3,400 participant knew that Koran (Qur'an) is Islamic holy book or 52% knew that Ramadan is Islamic month of fasting – but more of them knew about the Danish Cartoons. On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.

Unrest continues after East Jerusalem killing Posted: 29 Sep 2010 04:11 PM PDT Tension, the twisted carcasses of gutted vehicles, buses with smashed windows, smoldering dumpsters, streets riddled with rubber-coated steel bullets and empty cartridge cases, tear gas and air thickened with black soot from burning tires marked the beginning of the fifth day Monday of continuous demonstrations in East Jerusalem. A Palestinian man was killed by an Israeli settlement security guard in disputed circumstances, a Palestinian toddler asphyxiated on tear gas and dozens of Palestinians were injured by beatings, rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas inhalation.

Wednesday: 2 Iraqis Killed, 23 Wounded Posted: 29 Sep 2010 12:35 PM PDT At least two Iraqis were killed and 23 more were wounded in various attacks. A suspected Iranian suicide bomber was also killed. Meanwhile, Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders is criticizing Iraqi security forces for perpetrating unreported attacks on journalists. Also, the United States is proposing to sell Iraq $4.2 billion in weapons and aircraft. Ayad Allawi is in Syria asking for help in curbing Iran's influence in selecting the next premier. It has been almost seven months since Allawi's Iraqiya party squeaked out a win over Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law party, but no new government has been formed yet. Not only does this vacuum foment violence, it also prevents many Iraqis from wanting to return home.

Sounds of peace in a troubled land Posted: 29 Sep 2010 08:10 AM PDT Calling themselves the Sonic Peacemakers, rather than just sit on their hands and watch the world sink further into violence and disrepair, a group of musicians have decided to come together and put their music and even their bodies on the line to remind people around the world, from the US to Pakistan, of their common histories, dreams, and future. The Sonic Peacemakers has brought together some of the most talented and well known artists in their respective countries, including members of the original Guns N Roses, South Asian pop icon Atif Aslam, Turkish rock legends Mogollar, and Iranian guitar virtuoso Farzad Golpayegani. The project began in Los Angeles when Aslam met up with Guns N Roses alumni Matt Sorum and Gilbey Clarke and producer Lanny Cordola to record a song "For Pakistan" that would help build bridges between the United States and Pakistan, "reminding everyone that they're not so different in the end," as Aslam explained it to me.

The Taliban: Forced Into Negotiation While Winning? Posted: 28 Sep 2010 11:00 PM PDT Although David Petraeus, the top American commander in Afghanistan, recently peddled the notion that senior Taliban chieftains had made contact with senior Afghan government officials about the possibility of starting reconciliation talks, such talk of peace in our time is likely to be hype. By publicizing such contacts, Petraeus is cleverly implying, but not saying, that the Taliban are running scared, because the long-delayed U.S. assault on Kandahar, the original hometown of the Taliban, and surrounding areas is putting pressure on the Islamists. Petraeus also opined that negotiation with insurgents is how these dirty little guerrilla wars usually end, citing the United Kingdom's experience in Northern Ireland and his own "success" in Iraq. At least Petraeus should be given credit for his realization that the political aspects of guerrilla war are much more important than the military ones – rare in a U.S. military culture that routinely pursues military victory and unconditional surrender for their own sakes. Petraeus astutely realizes that he cannot win the Afghan conflict militarily, especially in the limited time he has available before the war-exhausted American public shuts the conflict down from home.

Are Obama's Hands Tied? Posted: 28 Sep 2010 11:00 PM PDT A splendid and courageous new book, Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War, by Andrew J. Bacevich of Boston University (and for many years previously, the U.S. Army), describes with lucidity the degree to which the power of the American presidency over war and peace has been weakened in our day, and, in important respects, superseded. One might call this a silent coup against the presidency, but a coup implies intention: a responsible actor who sets the coup d'etat into action for a defined purpose. The argument Bacevich makes implies that a coup can be institutional or intellectual, and come from outside as well as inside government. Its characteristic is to create a situation in which a president is no longer free to act as he might wish, because all of the doors except one have been closed.

Obama: 'The Generals Made Me Do It!' Posted: 28 Sep 2010 11:00 PM PDT All Washington is atwitter: the grand old man of the Court Historians, Bob Woodward, has come out with yet another "book" – i.e. another long-winded press release on behalf of the Powers That Be – explaining, "reporting," and rationalizing the war policies of the current regime. Oh, glory be! Drop everything and run to the nearest bookstore – or just go online and download the excerpts at the Washington Post's incredibly cumbersome web site, loaded down with so many ads, pop-ups, and pop-outs that one imagines his next book will be out before your computer stops grinding. Chapter One ought to have been titled "The Generals Made Me Do It." Poor President Obama: he's the most powerful man on earth, and yet he can't get past his own generals. When he asked them for "options" in Afghanistan, they came up with what was essentially a single option: 40,000 more troops and a counterinsurgency that would last until Hell (or Afghanistan) froze over. The President was "frustrated," and even "impatient" – "I need a plan, a plan, my kingdom for a plan that will get me out of this box!" Okay, so that's not a direct quote, but you get the idea.

"In the Interests of Israel": Why Russia will not sell the S-300 Air Defense System to Iran Posted: 28 Sep 2010 12:47 PM PDT Russian army chief of staff Gen. N. Makarov broke the news on September 22 that Russia will not sell the S-300 air defense systems to Iran. Regardless of official explanations, it does not take an expert to realize that as a purely defensive system designed to shield a country from aircraft and cruise missile attacks the S-300 complexes cannot pose a threat to any country unless it attacks the one owning them. As for the standoff between Iran and Israel, Tehran is constantly confronted with threats of massive air strikes, and taking steps to prevent the aggression is a must for any country seeking to sustain peace, especially for a permanent UN Security Council member sharing the responsibility for global security. Aggression is least likely in the situation of military parity or if the potential victim is able to inflict unacceptable damage on the aggressor. Iran's possession of the S-300 complexes could expose Israel's air forces to the risk of unacceptable damage in case the letter choses to attack the former. Denying Iran the right to efficient means of self-defense is tantamount to encouraging aggression against it. Isn't Russia thus helping to unleash a disastrous war in the proximity of its own borders, a war against a country which, by the way, hosts a large colony of Russian specialists? On top of that, the refusal to supply the S-300 complexes to Iran clearly hurts Russia's political and economic interests.

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