America Ball Land: 07/13/09

Who are we? by The America Conservative.
Amendments to our Constitution by The American Conservative

Monday, July 13, 2009

G8 summit: Barack Obama says world can close the carbon emissions gap

at 12:43 PM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

Barack Obama said today there was still time to overcome cynicism and close the gap with developing powers on climate change, after slow progress towards an agreement on how to cut carbon emissions across the planet.

World leaders are racing to meet a deadline of December when the UN climate talks in Copenhagen are due to conclude a crucial deal designed to set a carbon cutting framework to cover 2012-2050. At a meeting in L'Aquila, the G5 group of emerging economies � Brazil, India, China, Mexico and South Africa � refused to back a specific target for developing countries to cut emissions.

In a small step forward yesterday 17 industrialised and developing countries, which account for about 80% of global emissions, agreed to set an aspiration that world temperatures should not rise by more than 2C on pre-industrial levels. It is the first time India, China and the US have agreed to such a goal.

Obama said: "We have made a good start, but I am the first to admit that progress is not going to be easy � every nation in this planet is at risk, but just as more than one nation is responsible for climate change no one nation can solve it alone.

"Developing nations want to make sure they do not have to sacrifice their aspirations for development and higher living standards, yet with most of the projected growth in emissions coming from these countries their active participation is a prerequisite to a solution.

"Developed countries like mine have a historic responsibility to take the lead with our much larger carbon footprint per capita. I know that in the past the US has sometimes failed to meet its responsibilities so let me make it clear those days are over."

Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, said: "Now we have the 2C goal, that can act as a yardstick to drive up ambition, which is what we need to do over the next six months."

But Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, criticised all sides for not being more ambitious. The world had to agree a long-term target, a cut of at least 50% by 2050, he said. "But more importantly, the leaders of industrialised countries should agree on a mid-term target."

On Wednesday the G8 industrialised nations committed to cutting emissions by 80% by 2050, the first time the US, Canada and Russia had agreed to such an ambitious target. But the G8 balked at setting interim targets for 2020, partly because of Obama's belief that he would undermine support in the US Congress for his climate change bill if he went for tough short term targets.

Obama hit another obstacle yesterday when Democratic leaders in the Senate, under criticism from Republicans for trying to rush through sweeping reforms, abandoned plans to produce a first draft of the bill before the summer recess in August.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

You Want Tax Hikes? Max Baucus Has All Sorts of Tax Hikes.

at 12:03 PM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

When it comes to health-care reform, Congressional Democrats are behaving a lot like newlyweds eying their dream home: They've finally found something they truly love — trouble is, they have no idea how to pay for it.

Well, maybe that's not entirely fair. In response to the news that Senate Democratic leadership has taken the idea of taxing employer-provided health benefits off the table, depriving reformers of some $300 billion they assumed they had in the bag, the Politico reports that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has come up with plenty of ideas about how to come up with the $1 trillion necessary to pay for the bill.

His varied and creative set of ideas include: raising taxes, raising taxes, and raising taxes. In a list presented to other Finance Committee members yesterday, Baucus recommended expanding the Medicare tax on earned income to other income sources, including capital gains and rental properties; charging "fees" (otherwise known as "taxes") to drug makers and insurance providers; and, of course, taxing rich people — in this case, individuals who make more than $500,000 and couples who earn more than $1 million — for making too much damn money. Baucus also proposed a tax on sugary drinks like soda, but that option is reportedly unpopular, perhaps because government officials have already tired of finding the smokers necessary to pay for previous expansions of publicly funded health care.

And if raising taxes doesn't work, maybe they can just lean on the CBO to give them a better score. From the Politico story:

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said the bipartisan group of negotiators agreed in a Thursday afternoon meeting to renew their effort to find more savings in the health care system.

More aggressive care coordination for chronically ill patients could save hundreds of billions of dollars, Conrad said. The challenge is convincing the Congressional Budget Office to recognize these initiatives as true cost-savers, he said.

I used to try the same strategy with my teachers in high school whenever I got a grade I didn't like. The worrying thing is that in this case, it might actually work.

Reason's archive of health-care coverage is online here.

David Obey (D-WI) Wants You to Know that He is Using the Government to do the Work of Jesus.

at 11:21 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

UPDATE: Although not very Google-friendly, Sean Duffy appears to have a website up and running. Check it out and donate if you can.

I just got a press release from David Obey’s office concerning the 2010 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill. Underneath the title of the press release and the date was the following line, in huge, bolded, and italic print:

” . . . whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

- Mathew (sic)�25:40

This is a particularly delicious piece of irony.� Sarah Palin suggested last year during a prayer that the government should be acting in conformity with God’s will, and liberals went completely over the edge, twisting that prayer of humble acceptance of God’s will into evidence that Republicans are seeking to impose a theocracy on the country.�� Here we have one of the most prominent Democrats in the house sending out an official press release that expressly states that the government appropriations in the bill are being used to carry out the work of Jesus.�

Let us put to the side for the moment the fact that no one on David Obey’s staff knows how to properly spell the title of the Gospel according to Matthew, and that the particular passage in question did not praise forcibly confiscating the tax money of others and distributing it to the poor.� Where is the outrage from liberals and the press (sorry for the redundancy) concerning this attempt to impose a theocracy on this country?� Where is the endless bloviating concerning this distressing weakening of the barrier between church and State?� Why isn’t it a matter of great national concern, this actual (not imagined) attempt by a Member of Congress to force his phony religious beliefs on the entire nation?

Rumor has it that David Obey is going to have an opponent this time around. Yeah, it’s the guy from The Real World, but he’s also a District Attorney and an accomplished individual, and he could present a serious challenge to Obey.� If you’re tired of David Obey’s attempts to force his twisted religious views on you, stay tuned to find out how you can help Sean Duffy retire David Obey.

Pope Surprises Obama with Booklet

at 10:36 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

Barack Obama told Pope Benedict today that he wants to reduce abortions in the US.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - President Barack Obama promised Pope Benedict on Friday that he would do everything possible to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, the Vatican said.

Obama and Benedict held private talks for about 40 minutes in the pope’s frescoed study in the Vatican’s apostolic palace and the Vatican said bioethics and life issues were a central part of the discussion.

In a surprise move, the pontiff gave Obama a booklet explaining Vatican opposition to practices such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research, which Obama supports.

Read More...

[Source: Little Green Footballs]

Five House races to look at.

at 10:02 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

There’s no unifying theme to these choices: they’re merely five candidates for the House of Representatives that the GOP has recruited, supported, or at least working with. There are more - there are, in fact, a good deal more - but these will do for a start. And so, in no particular order:

Cory Gardner (CO-04). State legislator.� One of three candidates� for this R+6 seat.� The seat is currently held by Betsy Markey, who not only voted for Cap and Trade; she pretended that she had read it. Gardner is a Tea Party participant, and doing very well in fundraising. Donate here.

Charles Djou (HI-01).� City Councilman, Army Reservist.� Candidate for this D+11 seat.� Neil Abercrombie is not seeking re-election, as he is planning to run for Governor of Hawaii: the lack of an incumbent and the general reaction to Djou has this race on a lot of dark horse lists.� Everything needs to work out just right, which is pretty much what we said about Cao down in Louisiana.� Besides, you make ‘em fight everywhere.� Donate here.

Martha Roby (AL-02).� City Councilwoman with a track record of winning minority votes. Candidate for this R+16 seat.� Bobby Bright is a freshman hanging onto his fingernails, as witnessed by the fact that he was given permission to vote against both the stimulus AND cap and trade.� Martha’s running as a clear conservative, and it’s increasingly looking like she’ll be running in a clear field.� Donate here.

Van Tran (CA-47).� State Assemblyman, political refugee.� Candidate for this D+4 seat.� Loretta Sanchez looks untouchable… on paper; but the district went for Bush in 2004, Sanchez has tax and appropriation votes (she’s one of the PMA Porkers) to answer for, and - most importantly - both the GOP and Tran are eager to have a race here.� The Democrats really don’t want to have to fight for this seat.� Donate here.

Rick Crawford (AR-01).� Businessman, military veteran.� Candidate for this R+8 seat.� He’s up against Marion Berry, who did not have any opposition last election cycle; Berry also seems to be the type who likes to have creative income disclosures, which I believe that Crawford and the NRCC will be happy to bring up.� As I’ve noted before, Crawford’s pro Tea-Party; and he’s got solid connections with the community.� Donate here.

…and that should get you started.� As I’ve said, these aren’t the only five candidates that the GOP is running; merely five more or less representative ones.� And note that the Republican party is not playing the 2010 elections not to lose; it’s making aggressive moves, and in places where it perhaps was too quick to concede in 2006 and 2008.

This should be an interesting election cycle.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Graphics Tutorial: A Glassy Green Button in Fireworks CS4

at 9:30 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

Believe it or not, several people emailed because they noticed our new Web 2.0-style buttons for Paypal donations and subscriptions and our Amazon store, and wanted to know where the heck I got those nice glassy gray buttons. Well, I made them myself with Adobe Fireworks CS4. There are many ways to create these kinds of buttons, and since it’s a hideously slow news night, here’s mine.

In this tutorial we’ll create a glassy green button that will end up looking like this:

%%FOLD%%

We’ll start with a new 300x300 document with a white background, and use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle measuring 160x80 pixels, then set the roundness to 15 pixels:

Then we’ll set the fill style to Linear Gradient, fading from the original medium green to a slightly darker green, and give the fill a slight diagonal angle:

Now we’re going to make a copy of this rounded rectangle, by using the Copy and Paste commands (on a Mac, Command-C followed by Command-V). The image won’t change, because the copy is placed directly on top of the original.

Next, switch to the Ellipse tool, and draw an ellipse starting above the left edge of our rectangle, resulting in a shape like this:

Select the copy of the rounded rectangle by holding Shift and clicking, so that both the ellipse and the copy of the rectangle are selected, then use the Combine Paths -> Intersection option:

This gives us a slice that matches the top edge of the rounded rectangle, with a smooth curve on the bottom. This is going to be the “reflection” at the top of our button. Adjust the gradient fill so that both colors are white, fading to transparent:

Now drag the bottom of the gradient fill marker (the square end) up to the bottom of the curved slice (we’ve switched to 400% magnification in this image):

In the next step we’ll use Fireworks’ live effects to add a pure white inner glow to the main rounded rectangle, with a width of 3 pixels, an opacity of 65%, and a softness of 7:

Then we’ll add a drop shadow with a width of 1 pixel, an opacity of 50%, and a softness of 5, to give it some more depth. For the color of the shadow, we’ll use the dark green at the bottom right of the main rectangle:

Next, we add a single-pixel soft medium green outline to the main rectangle. When we zoom in to check this, though, something doesn’t look right; that slice we created earlier is covering up the main rectangle’s outline:

So let’s adjust the size of that slice using Fireworks’ “Free Transform” tool. We’ll pull the top, right, and left sides in by one pixel:

Et voila! A very nice pseudo-glassy button, suitable for many Internet uses:

Read More...

[Source: Little Green Footballs]

Obama: Time to end tyranny in Africa

at 8:46 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

US president praises host Ghana as model for prosperity and says continent's era of corrupt 'strongman' governments must end

In his first visit to Africa since taking office, Barack Obama said today that the continent of his ancestors must overcome tyranny and corruption if it is to flourish.

Speaking in Ghana's parliament, Obama said the key to Africa's future prosperity was democratic and accountable government.

"Development depends upon good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That is the change that can unlock Africa's potential," he said.

In an tough speech aimed at politicians across the continent, he gave an unsentimental account of squandered opportunities since the end of colonial rule. "No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers," he said.

"No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20% off the top ... No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.

"Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions."

Obama conceded that colonialism had left a legacy of conflicts and arbitrary borders. "But the west is not to blame for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants.

"Africa is not the crude caricature of a continent at war," he said. "But for far too many Africans conflict is a part of life, as constant as the sun. There are wars over land and wars over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes."

Earlier, after meeting Ghana's president, John Atta Mills, Obama praised the country's record of democracy and economic growth as a rare success in a continent beset by corruption and poor governance.

"We think that Ghana can be an extraordinary model for success throughout the continent."

This morning, Obama was given a hero's welcome in the country's capital, Accra. Thousands of people wearing Obama T-shirts thronged the streets, cheering and waving as his motorcade swept past.

Walls and utility poles were plastered with posters of Obama and Mills, as well as the word "change" � the mantra of Obama's presidential election campaign. Other posters showed the president and his wife, Michelle, with the greeting "Ghana loves you".

Obama and his family arrived late last night from the G8 summit in Italy, where the world's richest nations agreed on a $20bn (�12.4bn) food security plan to help poor nations feed themselves during the global recession.

Speaking in Italy before he left, Obama said: "There is no reason why Africa cannot be self-sufficient when it comes to food."

The Obamas will visit Gold Coast Castle, a former British slave trading post. Michelle Obama is a great-great granddaughter of slaves.

The visit comes as the US plans a much more assertive policy in Africa, using both diplomacy and the threat of force to end the protracted conflicts in Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, which are seen as two of the main obstacles to the continent's progress.

"This is both a special and an important visit for him personally as president, but also for our country to articulate a vision for Africa," said Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman.

Despite the enthusiastic reception from ordinary Ghanians, no major public events have been planned during Obama's 21-hour visit, for fear it could cause a celebratory stampede, as almost happened during a 1998 stop by Bill Clinton.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Democrats Admit Cap And Trade Bill Is A Job Killer

at 8:05 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

USNews.com:

In her remarks bringing the debate over the climate bill to a close, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California urged her colleagues to vote in favor of the cap and trade bill, saying the measure was about four things: "jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs."

She was right�the House-passed version of cap and trade is all about jobs: jobs lost, jobs never created, jobs sent overseas, and, unbelievably, jobs people will be paid for doing long after they cease to exist.

According to Friday's Washington Times, the legislation includes language that provides, should it become law, that people who lose their jobs because of it "could get a weekly paycheck for up to three years, subsidies to find new work and other generous benefits�courtesy of Uncle Sam."

How generous are these benefits? Well, according to the Times, "Adversely affected employees in oil, coal and other fossil-fuel sector jobs would qualify for a weekly check worth 70 percent of their current salary for up to three years. In addition, they would get $1,500 for job-search assistance and $1,500 for moving expenses from the bill's 'climate change worker adjustment assistance' program, which is expected to cost $4.2 billion from 2011 to 2019."

Instead of being a the source of millions of new jobs of "green jobs"�as House Democrats are fond of saying over and over again�the provision is a hidden admission that their effort is a job killer, not just a massive new tax on energy.

Building a safety net into the legislation is probably the responsible thing to do. The government is going to be directly responsible for the destruction of millions of jobs if the bill passed by the House becomes law�anywhere from a net loss of .5 percent of total jobs over the first 10 years, according to the liberal Brookings Institution, to 3 million by the year 2030, according to the industry-backed Coalition for Affordable American Energy. But wouldn't it be better to leave the jobs alone in the first place? It would certainly be cheaper.

Obama Forgets How He Met His Wife Michelle

at 7:30 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

Guess the libs version of the greatest love story ever isn't as charming as they'd like for us to think:

Earlier today at a university in Moscow the president made the following statement:

I don�t know if anybody else will meet their future wife or husband in class like I did, but I�m sure you�ll all going to have wonderful careers.

The trouble is this statement is demonstrably untrue. Though both Barack and Michelle went to Harvard Law, they didn't overlap � she got her degree in '88 and he graduated in '91. They actually met in Chicago when he was a summer associate at a law firm in Chicago. Newsweek factchecks the statement, acknowledges all of the above, and concludes:

Was what Obama said wrong? Technically no, considering Obama was still going to school when he met his wife. But for those keeping close watch on Obama trivia�ie, the White House press corps�the statement did seem a wee bit off.

Come again? The statement is just wrong. There is no "technical" justification for it having any veracity that I can tell � "in class" is quite specific. Next time you husbands embarass your wife publicly by not remembering a significant relationship detail, I bet you wish a major media organization would step in and spin it for you. Alas, you'll have no such luck.

Obviously he wasn't working with the teleprompter.

Barack Obama, Tax Reformer

at 6:52 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

The president speaks to Africans:

No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top...

I can't improve on David Beito's sarcastic reaction: "Has Obama endorsed a 19 percent maximum income tax rate?"

Democrat Christopher Dodd Says Stimulus Package Not Working, Yet Wants Another

at 6:12 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

Any wonder why this guy gets no respect.

Senate Democrats push back deadline on bill linked to Barack Obama's climate change agenda

at 5:40 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

� Barbara Boxer tries to balance regional interests
� EPA head likens environment issue to space race

Barack Obama hit a snag in his ambitious climate change agenda today when Senate Democrats pushed back their deadline to product a draft bill until September.

Barbara Boxer, the chair of the environment and public works committee who is spearheading the Obama environment agenda, said she had scaled back plans of writing a first draft of a climate change bill before Congress goes on its August recess.

"We will do it as soon as we get back," she told reporters.

She insisted that the delay would not jeopardise chances of getting climate change legislation through Congress this year. But the move comes amid signs of rising opposition to the bill in the Senate from moderate Democrats as well as Republicans.

Boxer would not guarantee that Congress would be able to pass legislation before December, when Obama is due to attend an international summit on climate change at Copenhagen.

"I want to take this as far as we can take it," she said. "The more we can do the better."

The downshifting in the Democrats' agenda comes a day after a meeting of Obama's energy and climate change team at the White House, and marks an acknowledgement by the Administration of the daunting challenge of getting enough votes for the bill in the delicately balanced Senate. Boxer tried and failed a year ago to pass a climate change bill.

Only 48 hours ago, the Obama administration initially had appeared confident it could get a bill through the Senate, and at high speed. The Democratic leadership in the Senate envisaged all committees signing off on a draft by mid-September.

On Tuesday, Obama despatched a quartet of officials to the Senate to drum up support for the move to a clean energy economy.

Lisa Jackson, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, likened the decades ahead to the space race of the mid-20th century, saying America risked being left behind if it did not jump to develop clean energy technologies.

The high profile start was seen as an attempt to build on a narrow vote for a sprawing climate change bill in the house of representatives late last month.

But as Boxer moved to capitalise on that momentum and try to pass a version of the 1,400-page bill there were growing signs of dissent from fellow Democrats, further jeopardising the chances of getting enough votes to pass the bill.

Democrats from oil and coal producing states demanded that the bill cushion consumers against future rises in electricity costs; those from rural areas called for protections for farmers.

"I hope we can fix cap and trade so it doesn't unfairly punish businesses and families in coal dependent states like Missouri," tweeted Missouri's senator Claire McCaskill.

Meanwhile, other Democrats in leadership positions in the Senate complained they were being put under pressure to rush through complicated legislation on two major topics: energy and healthcare.

Today's delay could buy time for Boxer to try to balancing the powerful constituencies who control the fate of the bill: coastal urban areas vs rural heartland and industrial states, western states which have wind and solar resources vs coal-dependent south-east.

However, Republicans who are almost uniformly opposed to climate change legislation immediately claimed the delay as a sign that Obama's agenda was foundering.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

BNP Leader Griffin: 'Islam is a Cancer Requiring Global Chemotherapy'

at 5:08 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

Nick Griffin, the white supremacist leader of the far right British National Party and newly elected Member of European Parliament, is in the news again (which was surely his intent) after he told a Channel 4 reporter that “Islam is a cancer, requiring global chemotherapy.”

Griffin was echoing the words of a candidate for the Belgian Vlaams Belang party:

The BNP leader Nick Griffin has described Islam as a “cancer” that should be removed from Europe by “chemotherapy”.

In an interview with Channel 4 News, Mr Griffin, who has just been elected to the European Parliament, said there was “no place in Europe for Islam”.

He added: “Western values, freedom of speech, democracy and rights for women are incompatible with Islam, which is a cancer eating away at our freedoms and our democracy and rights for our women and something needs to be done about it”.

The BNP leader said he agreed with a candidate for the Flemish far right party, Vlaams Belang, who had declared: “We urgently need global chemotherapy against Islam to save civilisation.”

The good news in this story is that Griffin is having no success forming a coalition with other European right wing parties — which means that the BNP will probably not receive funding from the EU.

Meanwhile, the leaders of Vlaams Belang are more politically savvy than Nick “Troglodyte” Griffin; in this video VB official Philip Claeys does a pretty good impression of someone who disapproves of the Nazi-like rhetoric of their own candidate and Griffin.

[Video]

And by the way, if you browse around some of the so-called “anti-jihad” blogs today, you’ll find lots of support for Griffin and his statement.

Read More...

[Source: Little Green Footballs]

Grand Ayatollah Montazeri Issues Fatwa Against Iranian Regime

at 4:28 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri was one of the leaders of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. At one time he was designated successor to the Ayatollah Khomeini but fell out with Khomeini in 1989 because he disagreed with government policies that infringed on freedom and denied people's rights. He is a senior Islamic scholar and a Grand Marja (religious authority) of Islam.

Montazeri has never been a big fan of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his nuclear and economic policies. While agreeing Iran had the right to develop nuclear energy, he called Ahmadinejad's approach to the issue aggressive, saying, "One has to deal with the enemy with wisdom, not provoke it, ... his (provocation) only creates problems for the country." and asked, "don't we have other rights too?" - referring to individual and human rights. Montazeri also criticized the economic performance of Ahmadinejad's administration's, noting the rate of inflation - including the 50% increase in housing costs - arguing that a country cannot be run on "slogans".

Last month, Montazeri bashed Ahmadinejad and the results of the election. He said, "No one in their right mind can believe" the results were fairly counted. Montazeri called for three days of public mourning for the death of Neda Agha-Soltan and others killed during the June 22nd protests.

Yesterday Montazeri Went Even Further and Issued a Fatwa against the regime

Iranian Ayatollah Montazeri Issues Fatwa Against the Regime

On July 11, 2009, the liberal Iranian website www.khandaniha.eu published a fatwa by Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the most senior contemporary Shi'ite cleric. The fatwa was issued in response to a series of queries submitted to him by Iranian intellectual and cleric Mohsen Kadivar, pertaining to the legitimacy of the current Iranian government.

The following are excerpts from the fatwa:(1)

Query: "What is the ruling regarding holders of government positions, whom shari'a law requires to act justly, honestly, and wisely... if they [do not fulfill] these requirements to any degree, but behave in a manner diametrically opposed to them?"

Reply: "If none of the requirements mentioned in this query are met, this automatically, and without any need for impeachment, brings about the de facto collapse of the velayat [the 'jurisprudent,' meaning Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei] and of the government that is in charge of administering social affairs [i.e. the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] � and renders null and void all decrees issued by those who hold government positions...

"In the event of a breach of any article of the contract between the two sides � namely [the contract] between the position holder and the people, who appointed him � the people may remove the position holder from his post."

Query: "What is the religious duty of the people if these position holders insist on acting in ways that contravene the religious directive of 'commanding good and prohibiting evil?'"

Reply: "As I said, both religious law and common sense [dictate that] position holders who have lost the right to administer social affairs automatically lose their posts, and their rule is no longer legitimate in any way. If they remain in their position by means of force, fraud, or forgery, then the people must express their opinion regarding the illegitimacy and unpopularity [of these position holders], and remove them from their posts in the least harmful way...

"Obviously, this is a duty incumbent upon all [and not only upon specific individuals]... and none may evade it under any pretext. The elite [i.e. the clerics] have a special obligation [to carry out this task], since they are knowledgeable in religious and civil law, and have greater ability than [the rest of the people]. Their statements have greater influence and carry greater force; therefore, they bear a greater responsibility. They must present [the people]... with an alternative [option], while [preserving the people's] unity and ideological harmony, and establishing parties as well as public and private organizations."

Query: "Do the great sins listed below, and the [position holders'] insistence on committing them, contravene the 'principle of justice' and lead to the implementation of the 'principle of tyranny?'

"1. Ordering innocent people killed and causing their death;

"2. Ordering and being involved in an armed [campaign] of threats and intimidation, and of beating and wounding innocent people in the streets;

"3. The de facto prevention of senior ayatollahs from fulfilling their religious duty of 'commanding good and prohibiting evil,' by obstructing all reasonable and legal means of non-violent protest;

"4. Denying freedom and imprisoning anyone who acts or advises [others] to act [according to the religious precept of] 'commanding good and prohibiting evil,' and extorting false confessions through pressure;

"5. Censoring media and information�;

"6. Smearing all those who protested [following the elections]... and all those who opposed the position holders, [by calling them] 'mercenaries' and 'spies of foreign [forces]';

"7. [Spreading] lies, false testimony, and false reports on all matters concerning the rights of the public;

"8. Betraying the people's trust;

"9. [Practicing] tyranny, ignoring [the people's] opinion, and disregarding the clerics' counsel and warnings;

"10. Preventing rightful owners [i.e. the people] from taking possession of the common property � [that is,] the nation's destiny;

"11. Insulting Islam and demeaning religion by presenting Islam and the Shi'ia to the world as crude, illogical, aggressive, superstitious, and despotic."

Reply: "Committing the above sins, or insisting on [committing] some of them, is incontrovertible and clear proof of the absence of justice, and is [in fact] an essential characteristic of oppression and injustice� It is obvious that any sin committed in the name of religion, justice, or the law � and especially the [sins] mentioned above � [makes] evil increase, and also causes further distancing from the religion. [These offenses entail] the most severe punishment, in this world and in the world to come, since in addition to the evil sins of fraud and of distancing [people] from the religion, they also corrupt [the very principles of] justice and law.

"In cases where according to the position holders, the acts were just and within the law, while the majority of the people maintains that they were illegal... and [that they constituted] offenses against [the people's] rights, then there is a need to act according to a ruling by honest and impartial arbitrators agreed upon by both sides."

Query: "Does clinging to principles such as 'the supreme duty of preserving the regime' justify aggression against the legitimate rights of the people and the trampling of most of the moral directives and religious commandments, such as [the commandment to be] truthful and trustworthy? Can implementing justice be suspended... under the pretext of preserving the regime's interests? What is the believers' religious duty if some position holders confuse the regime's interests with their own, and insist on enforcing their mistake?"

Reply: "...Clearly, it is not possible to preserve or strengthen the Islamic regime via oppression � which contravenes [the precepts of] Islam. This is because the need for a regime stems [in the first place from the need] to dispense justice and to protect [the people's] rights � that is, to implement the directives of Islam. So how can injustice, oppression and [other] contraventions of Islam possibly [serve to] strengthen or preserve a just Islamic regime?

"A regime that uses clubs, oppression, aggression against [the people's] rights, injustice, rigged elections, murder, arrests, and medieval or Stalin-era torture, [a regime that] gags and censors the press, obstructs the media, imprisons intellectuals and elected leaders on false allegations or forced confessions... � [such a regime] is despicable and has no religious merit...

"The proud people of Iran know very well exactly how authentic [the detainees'] confessions are; they are like [confessions obtained] by fascist and communist regimes. The nation knows that the false confessions and televised interviews were obtained from its imprisoned sons with threats and torture, and that their aim is to cover up the oppression and injustice, and to [present a] distorted [image] of the people's peaceful and legal protest...

"The state belongs to the people. It is neither my property nor yours... When the Shah heard the voice of the people's revolution, it was already too late [for him]. It is to be hoped that the people in charge [today] will not let [themselves] reach the same situation, but will become more amenable to the nation's demands, and as soon as possible...

Query: "What are the religious indications for an 'oppressive rule [velayat, meaning Khamenei],' and what are the duties of the clerics and the believers [when faced with such a regime]?"

Reply: "...Society notices justice and injustice on the part of the rulers; the signs are clear to all... [Therefore,] it the responsibility of everyone to act in the face of injustice and in the face of the trampling of the people's rights � and to inform others of this responsibility. Furthermore, [both clerics and believers] must present ways to act in these circumstances. This is because it is inconceivable that someone would claim to be pursuing justice, but would in fact do nothing to implement it, under the pretext of fear or powerlessness."

Endnote:
(1) Website of Ayatollah Montazeri, (Iran), July 10, 2009; www.khandaniha.eu, July 11, 2009.

Still fighting the cold war | Olivia Hampton

at 3:44 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

The US military is shifting its focus toward unconventional warfare � but its politicians remain stuck in the past

When US defence secretary Robert Gates unveiled a half-trillion-dollar military budget blueprint in April, he also signalled a dramatic shift in how the US will fight its wars in the future. It is a move away from weapons for conventional conflicts, focusing instead on weapons needed for the unconventional warfare the US is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But is the US military ready to shed the cold war mindset that has defined its training and foreign operations for decades? Significant change is unlikely to come soon.

The Iraq invasion and its aftermath underscored the struggles the US military faces in adapting to fight guerillas and militant groups who target civilians and governments through force and information warfare.

Victory in Iraq became elusive because the US military leadership failed to define the mission as a counterinsurgency. Six years later, the US is still far from perfecting its ability to defeat a powerful insurgency. The challenges are also evident in Afghanistan, where the war is now headed toward its eighth year. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden � the al-Qaida leader US forces went in to catch � continues to elude the most powerful military in the world.

The Sons of Iraq, credited with a major part of the success seen in the aftermath of the US troop surge in 2007 and 2008, were paid off. The movement grew out of Sunni tribes in Anbar province who had fought US forces and rebelled against al-Qaida militants. The surge's "clear, hold, build" strategy would have fallen flat on its face without these men � from finding common ground with the Americans and forming US-led neighbourhood militia groups.

The 2010 Pentagon budget acknowledges some of these challenges, calling for more spending on Afghanistan than Iraq for the first time since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and outlining some 50 programme changes to play up unconventional warfare capabilities. The overhaul reflects President Barack Obama's changing focus to the interlinked quandary in Afghanistan and Pakistan as he withdraws the 130,000 US troops from Iraq.

More broadly, the budget points to a new focus on hybrid wars: those that lie between conventional warfare and a full-blown insurgency, as in Iraq or Afghanistan, that renders much of the military's traditional heavy weaponry useless.

Gates has all but ended the army's $200bn attempt to build a fleet of nimble, electric-powered vehicles over concerns that the vehicle's design put it at greater risk from roadside bombs, the militants' weapon of choice in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, he has increased spending � in the billions of dollars range � for more armoured vehicles, spy planes and monitoring and jamming technology. The plan also unveils sweeping changes in the military's bloated procurement process, one decried by Gates and other lawmakers as having benefited a select group of major contractors for too long after 9/11. Instead, the plan sees civil servants replacing many private contractors.

The $534bn budget also axes controversial plans to build a new, high-tech presidential helicopter and the C-17 military transport plane, and only pays for four more of the very pricey F-22 stealth fighter jets, prompting outcry from both Republican and Democratic legislators whose states stand to lose many jobs in the midst of a recession.

Ignoring a veto threat from the White House, the House of Representatives passed its own version of the bill late last month that adds $369m for more F-22s and to develop a backup engine for the F-35 joint strike fighter, promising a bloody stand-off with the Obama administration ahead of final passage in Congress, which could come later this summer.

Among the staunchest critics of Gates's plans are those who attacked them as putting America at risk by hampering its preparedness to fight conventional threats, such as those emanating from China or North Korea. Yet for all Gates's tough talk, the budget blueprint still bears a hefty $534bn price tag, a figure that rises to nearly $664bn after including the costs of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and calls for building three more DDG-1000 Navy destroyers, which can operate in shallow water but whose need has been questioned. And that's not counting the funds added on by individual legislators.

Half of the budget proposal, Gates says, is allocated to fighting conventional wars, in contrast to just 10% spending for unconventional warfare, while the remaining 40% would go toward weapons that can be used in both types of conflict.

Despite Gates's spin, the thrust of his proposals has not gone unnoticed. As the sole Republican holdover from the Bush administration, Gates is facing criticism from within his own party for vowing to axe programmes close to some congressmen's hearts.

But as lawmakers took out their pitchforks, Gates responded in kind. When Republican representative Trent Franks of Texas questioned the termination of two missile defence programmes and a funding cut of $1.2bn for the missile defence agency, he received an abrupt tongue-lashing from Gates: "I would just say that the security of the American people and the efficacy of missile defence are not enhanced by continuing to put money into programmes that are fatally flawed, or research programmes that are essentially sinkholes for taxpayer dollars."

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Weekend Woe: Bank of Wyoming, We Hardly Knew Ye

at 3:13 AM Posted by The NWO - A Manifesto

Shed no tears for Bank of Wyoming. Bearing the cheery URL myfriendlybank.com and located in the hot springs town of Thermopolis (America's Adventure Spa) since 1978, Bank of Wyoming Friday became the 53rd bank to be liquidated this year by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

FDIC reports that as of June 30, the bank had "total assets of $70 million and total deposits of approximately $67 million." If those figures draw from the same database as this May 18 fact sheet from ibanknet.com, that means Somebody's Friendly Bank saw an outflow of about $13 million in deposits, along with a $24 million decline in measurable asset values, over a 43-day period.

Consider this, however: That fact sheet suggests (and as always, if you see me making an error, please correct me in the rudest possible manner) that Bank of Wyoming's balance sheet in May was in very bad shape but comparable, at a much smaller scale, to some of the Big 19 banks.* better than Wells Fargo's in December. Bank of Wyoming in May had $5 million in bank equity capital, which in the absence of a line item for cash I'm assuming translates into "cash and cash equivalents." With this fraction, Bank of Wyoming in May was servicing $94 million in total assets and $89 million in total liabilities. Wells Fargo in December had $23 billion in cash, with total assets of $1.3 trillion and total liabilities of $1.2 trillion.

It's jarring to see who is small enough to fail. Bank of Wyoming, the cached remnants of its site indicate, was a plain smalltime bank, offering NOW Accounts, "Carefree Checking," modest commercial and real estate loans (for "our ever growing and changing community") and similar vanilla products. This is not to get misty over a bank that mismanaged its business, and I'm sure it would be a hoot to find out what that item was that generated negative $190,000 in "non-interest income." (Really, what would that be in a pop. 3,200 town in the Equality State? Big stake in a water park maybe?) But is there an ethical defense for keeping Dick Kovacevich on his throne while letting Bank of Wyoming go under? (I know the practical argument is that the FDIC can't afford to liquidate a bank that big, though you could solve that one by giving $700 billion to the FDIC instead of giving it to the Office of Financial Stability.)

Calculated Risk does a nice Haiku from Soylent Green Is People whenever it makes a new bank failure announcement. If you're a Haiku fan, there you go.

* Updated: Please see discussion in comments, especially the comments from Amakaduri and Jonathan Green, whose input I greatly appreciate.