Saturday, December 23, 2006

MERRY CHRISTMAS: "Richest 2% Own More Than Half The World" + "Record 793 Billionaires" + "TOP-LEVEL INSIDERS SELLING THEIR STOCK"





NOTE: This blog won't publish in the main index, ugh, oh well, if you want to check it you can read it here...


THIS IS A F--KED UP HEADLINE: "Lawmaker stands firm on Quran criticism" (Is that the worst way to call someone a racist or what?) + Cheneyvilurks...


SOURCE FOR SOURCERY - http://blackkrishna.blogspot.com/2006/12/this-is-f-ked-up-headline-lawmaker.html








Study: Richest 2% Own More Than Half The World

Source: Reuters

ELSINKI (Reuters) - Two percent of adults have more than half of the world's wealth, including property and financial assets, according to a study by the U.N. development research institute published on Tuesday.

While global income is distributed unequally, the spread of wealth is even more skewed, the study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the U.N. University said.

"Wealth is heavily concentrated in North America, Europe and high income Asia-Pacific countries. People in these countries collectively hold almost 90 percent of total world wealth," the survey showed.

The Helsinki-based institute said its study was the first global research on the topic, for which there is only limited data.

"We've estimated that the richest 2 percent of adults own more than half of global wealth, while the bottom half own 1 percent," said institute director Anthony Shorrocks.


He likened the situation to that where, in a group of 10 people, one person has $99, while the remaining nine share $1.

"If you think income has been distributed unequally, wealth has been distributed even more unequally," Shorrocks said.

According to the study, in 2000 a couple needed capital of $1 million to be among the top 1 percent on the wealth list -- the richest 37 million people in the world.

More than one in every two of those people lives in the United States or Japan.

And it found that net assets of $2,200 per adult would put a household in the top half of the world wealth distribution.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

SOURCE - PATRIOTS FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY ON MYSPACE

ORIGINAL SOURCE - http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-12-05T131213Z_01_L05333100_RTRUKOC_0_US-WEALTH-SURVEY.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-8







FOXNEWS.COM HOME > BUSINESS

Number of Billionaires Up to Record 793

Friday, March 10, 2006

NEW YORK — As emerging stock markets surged during the past year, 102 wealthy people around the world won a much-coveted title along with their stellar gains — they all became billionaires.

The number of billionaires around the world rose by 102 to a record 793 over the past year, and their combined wealth grew 18 percent to $2.6 trillion, according to Forbes magazine's 2006 rankings of the world's richest people.


Forbes editor Luisa Kroll noted that Russia's stock market jumped 108 percent between February 2005 and February 2006, while India's market rose by more than 54 percent during the same period. Brazil "was another bright star" with a market gain of 38 percent, she said.

Kroll said the changes on the list weren't driven by U.S. investments.

"The more exciting story is these emerging markets," she said. "The U.S. stock market was quite a laggard with only a 1 percent increase."

Such tepid returns ate into the fortunes of some of the richest Americans, including the founding family of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The growth in emerging markets also meant the Czech Republic placed a billionaire on the list for the first time: Petr Kellner, who debuted at No. 224 with $3 billion. And while China's market grew just 3 percent, the country added eight more billionaires, up from two last year.

Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates was again the world's richest man for the 12th year running. Gates grew wealthier, with his net worth rising to $50 billion from $46.5 billion. Investor Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., again ranked second; his fortune fell by $2 billion to $42 billion.

The rest of the top 10 underwent a major reshuffling, with three familiar names dropping out of that select group: German supermarket company owner Karl Albrecht, Oracle Corp.'s Lawrence Ellison and Wal-Mart chairman S. Robson Walton.

Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu moved up one notch to No. 3 with $30 billion, replacing Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who fell one place to No. 5 with $23.5 billion.

Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden rose two slots to No. 4 with $28 billion.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen edged up to sixth place from No. 7, with a net worth of $22 billion. He was followed by France's Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH and The Christian Dior Group, with $21.5 billion; Arnault was new to the top 10.

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud fell to eighth place from No. 5, with $20 billion; and Canadian publisher Kenneth Thomson and his family moved into the top 10, ranking No. 9 with $19.6 billion.

Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing rose to No. 10 with $18.8 billion. Ka-shing is the chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. and Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd.

The Walton family, which dominated the upper echelons of the Forbes list in recent years, tumbled in this year's ranking as stock in the world's largest retailer dropped more than 10 percent in the past year.

S. Robson Walton, known as Rob, who last year ranked 10th, fell to 19th with $15.8 billion. Christy Walton and Jim Walton tied for 17th with $15.9 billion each, while Alice Walton followed Rob Walton at $15.7 billion. Helen Walton, mother of the clan, did not make it into the top 20, landing at No. 21 with $15.6 billion.

Martha Stewart, who was new to the list last year, dropped off completely this year. Her fortune shrank from $1 billion to an estimated $500 million following her conviction for lying about a stock sale and her five-month prison term.

Investors in new industry sectors popped up on this year's list, most notably those with holdings in alternative energy and online gaming.

Australian Shi Zhengrong, ranked No. 350, made his $2.2 billion fortune through his solar energy company out of China. India's Tulsi Tanti, whose company owns Asia's largest wind farm, arrived at No. 562 with $1.4 billion after his company went public in October.

J. DeLeon and Ruth Parasol, both of the United States and tied for No. 428, represented the online gaming industry with $1.8 billion each. Interestingly, most of their company's revenue comes from the United States, where online gaming is illegal, Kroll said.

"Somehow, they have been able to skirt that," Kroll said.

Parasol is also one of the 10 new women to make the list and the only female newcomer to be self-made. Only six of the 78 female billionaires are self-made; most attained their wealth through marrige or inheritance.

The youngest billionaire is also female. Hind Hariri, daughter of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, is 22 years old and eight months younger than Germany's Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis.

The methodology of the rankings remains consistent with years past, Kroll said. The magazine confirmed the worth of an individual's holdings in public companies by using the Feb. 13 closing stock price, and estimated the value of private companies by looking at comparable public firms in the industry and by consulting with experts in the field.

Forbes calculated the value of real estate by square footage minus any debt on the properties.

SOURCE - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187400,00.html







The New York Post

TOP-LEVEL INSIDERS SELLING THEIR STOCK

By PAUL THARP

December 7, 2006 -- America's corporate chiefs are unloading their own stocks at one of the boldest paces in 20 years.

In cases of the very rich, such as Microsoft's Bill Gates and Google's top brass, the executives are selling a whopping $63 for each $1 of stock they bought, says a report by Bloomberg.

In November alone, leaders of public companies dumped $8.4 billion worth of stock they owned as insiders, most of it awarded as compensation, bonuses or other management incentives.

But the vast majority of the executives put their windfall cash to work elsewhere, with just $133 million being plowed back into purchases of more company stock.

Analysts say a take-the-money-and-run flight from their own companies signals a growing lack of confidence in the economy's future course, as well as fears of a possible global meltdown if the Iraq crisis escalates across borders.

It's also a good time to take profits, with the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 15 percent this year, the S&P 500 ahead 13 percent, and the Nasdaq 11 percent higher.

Wall Street investors are displaying fresh worries that the Federal Reserve might pull the trigger too quickly on hiking rates again, possibly plunging the U.S. into a recession as the Fed did in 2000.

Just before the worst of the 2000 recession, insider sales were also at a near record.

Leading the latest wave of insider selling is Microsoft, with $594.2 million of stock sold by insiders during November, with Gates unloading $581.1 million.

Gates has been selling shares regularly - including $2.1 billion last year - as he whittles down his once mammoth stake, putting a big chunk of his wealth to work in a not-for-profit foundation that invests in a wide range of securities and other deals.

Billionaire Paul Allen also sold off 28 percent of his stake last month in DreamWorks Animation SKG for $224.2 million, keeping about 21 million shares.

Insiders at Seagate sold $311.8 million in November, while Google insiders unloaded $182.1 million in the four weeks.

Google's CEO Eric Schmidt and its co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have usually led the insider-selling parade with sales of hundreds of millions as the stock rose steadily to break the $500 mark.

VERY PUBLIC SOURCE FOR SHITTING YOURSELF - http://www.nypost.com/seven/12072006/business/top_level_insiders_selling_their_stock_business_paul_tharp.htm








Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards ALL men...
BK

_______________________

...

Black Krishna Brand

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/blackkrishnaverse

Philosophy - http://blackkrishna.blogspot.com/

Music - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/blackkrishna.htm

...

P.S. Stewart and Colbert show us they're lying and trying to dumb us down, to find out why and help Save The World, please Google for "TerrorStorm: A History of Government Sponsored Terrorism", "America: Freedom to Fascism" and "SaveTheInternet.com". Also, check the daily newswires at "Infowars.com" and "PrisonPlanet.com" -- and pass this info on to everybody -- NOW!!!




BBC NEWS: 10,000 US Scientists Protest Against Political Interference in Science + ABC NEWS: Mind Control Special

NOTE: This ealier blog won't publish in the index and my Blogger account is acting screwy lately, I'm going to miss it. While I'm not sure it's related, it obviously could be since the Pentagon clearly stated "blogs" are under attack for spreading disinformation, or rather information dissing them about their war crimes. Get your truth in while the truthin's good, soon they'll ramp up the fun and paranoia with equal parts distraction and dehumanization crippling us emotionally and intellectually, and it'll be handy to have a bunch of people who know how we got here.

You can check ze extree bloggagin' here:


Friday, December 22, 2006

THIS IS A F--KED UP HEADLINE: "Lawmaker stands firm on Quran criticism" (Is that the worst way to call someone a racist or what?) + Cheneyvilurks...

http://blackkrishna.blogspot.com/2006/12/this-is-f-ked-up-headline-lawmaker.html
















Thursday, December 14, 2006

10,000 US Scientists Protest Against Political Interference in Science

By Jonathan Amos | Science reporter, BBC News

Some 10,000 US researchers have signed a statement protesting about political interference in the scientific process.

The statement, which includes the backing of 52 Nobel Laureates, demands a restoration of scientific integrity in government policy.

According to the American Union of Concerned Scientists, data is being misrepresented for political reasons.

It claims scientists working for federal agencies have been asked to change data to fit policy initiatives.

The Union has released an "A to Z" guide that it says documents dozens of recent allegations involving censorship and political interference in federal science, covering issues ranging from global warming to sex education.

Campaigners say that in recent years the White House has been able to censor the work of agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration because a Republican congress has been loath to stand up for scientific integrity.


"It's very difficult to make good public policy without good science, and it's even harder to make good public policy with bad science," said Dr Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security.

"In the last several years, we've seen an increase in both the misuse of science and I would say an increase of bad science in a number of very important issues; for example, in global climate change, international peace and security, and water resources."

The statement was released at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting. It is an annual gathering of Earth scientists.

Last year, it triggered a major row when a discussion here resulted in the renowned US space agency climate scientist Dr James Hansen later claiming he had come under pressure not to talk to the media on global warming issues.

Michael Halpern from the UCS said the statement of objection to political interference had been supported by researchers regardless of their political views.

"This science statement that has now been signed by the 10,000 scientists is signed by science advisers to both Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to President Eisenhower, stating that this is not business as usual and calling for this practice to stop," he told BBC News.

The Union said is was hopeful that the new Congress taking office in January would show a greater commitment to protecting the integrity of the scientific process.

SOURCE - PATRIOTS FOR A NEW AMERICAN CENTURY ON MYSPACE

ORIGINAL SOURCE - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6178213.stm















ABC News 1979 Special: Mission Mind Control (29 mins)


Description:

We can see in the first of three-parts of this ABC News Special from 1979 what the CIA has been up to, and how they've been corrupted to consider dehumanizing American citizens and the rest of the World as "normal".

To learn how to weaken and control people they conducted hundreds of "Nazi'esque" experiments, no surprise since the CIA was founded by hiring thousands of Nazi's after WWII. These included many at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, among other institutions, and "Operation Phoenix", which involved horrible acts of psychological and physical torture against the Vietnamese, and it's it's newborn Satanic baby today in the rather public sequels in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in Guantanamo and hundreds of other secret prisons. These are run by "people" who our tax-dollar pay for, and who could just as easily work "here".

Our apathetic reaction or even twisted support of these holocaust-worthy crimes is the result of the mind control experiments that have destroyed our character, and we may be ready to be "apathetic about" or "support" concentration camps domestically, as have been announced for immigrants. This also how "good" intelligence agents on the "inside" and other government employees are trained to participate in clearly illegal and immoral acts, such as NSA spying and torture, and to share the elite's disdain for the average "stupid" person who's kept confused and clueless as to how the World really works.

This video is from almost 30 years ago, and came to light when the Church Committee was investigating the CIA's hundreds of illegal activities during the Vietnam War. Just as they were gettting to some serious information, CIA Director William Colby was fired and replaced with George Bush Sr., who up until that point had no CIA experience - in public. In reality he got a covert CIA job coming out of Skull and Bones, and inexplicably to most quickly became Director to stop the Church Committee investigations by refusing the CIA's cooperation.

They have introduced a variety of illegal drugs to not only engage in mind control experiments, but to secretly fund their covert activities - e.g. the "War on Drugs is FAKE!", as the late investigative journalism hero Gary Webb irrefutably uncovered. Our willingness to believe the hundreds of lies we're sold on a daily basis has weakened us intellectually and morally, and now we're being fed into the endless meat-grinder of history that is the endless "War on Terror". Let's wake up to HOW we've been put to sleep before we're trapped in this paranoid madness forever...

WATCH PART ONE OF THREE:

- ON MYSPACE PAGE -


...then...


DOWNLOAD AND DISTRIBUTE THE REST:

http://www.xenutv.com/cults/mindcontrol.htm

DOWNLOAD AND DISTRIBUTE THE REST:

http://lisatrust.freewinds.cx/Media/general.htm

DOWNLOAD AND DISTRIBUTE THE REST:

http://mysite.verizon.net/res7dhyg/id3.html

DOWNLOAD AND DISTRIBUTE THE:

http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/video_CIA.htm















Peace by pissing on pathetic paradigms...
BK

_______________________

...

Black Krishna Brand

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/blackkrishnaverse

Philosophy - http://blackkrishna.blogspot.com/

Music - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/blackkrishna.htm

...

P.S. Stewart and Colbert show us they're lying and trying to dumb us down, to find out why and help Save The World, please Google for "TerrorStorm: A History of Government Sponsored Terrorism", "America: Freedom to Fascism" and "SaveTheInternet.com". Also, check the daily newswires at "Infowars.com" and "PrisonPlanet.com" -- and pass this info on to everybody -- NOW!!!







- TARPOLOGY 101: LET'S GET IT -


Webster Tarpley speaks about exactly what is happening and what will happen in the future.


::: 5 MIN VIDEO :::





SOURCE FOR STRENGTH - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMjwJBha2Eg




Friday, December 22, 2006

THIS IS A F--KED UP HEADLINE: "Lawmaker stands firm on Quran criticism" (Is that the worst way to call someone a racist or what?) + Cheneyvilurks...









THIS IS A F--KED UP HEADLINE:

"Lawmaker stands firm on Quran criticism"

Is that the worst way to call someone a racist or what? I mean c'mon, you decide to call him a "lawmaker" when he just took a shot at Muslims for no reason and twisted the knife a few times? And people are rushing to defend him? This is disgusting. We need to find out the truth fast before we kill each other or hate each other too much to prevent from being killed, this whole "racism is in style" thing is getting cold fast...






Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, is shown in this September file photo. Republican Rep. Virgil Goode said Thursday that he will not retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, 'many more Muslims will be elected' and use the Quran to take the oath of office. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)



Yahoo! News from Associated Press

Lawmaker stands firm on Quran criticism

By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 52 minutes ago

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. - A congressman said Thursday that he will not retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims will be elected" and use the Quran to take the oath of office.


who cares if they are finally good people?

and finally subject to more scrutiny than others?

if there were ANY criteria for what prevents someone from serving in congress, they'd nearly ALL be thrown out for bribes, blackmail, prostitution, arms dealing, drug-dealing, insider trading, illegal contributions, favors, child-sex rings, murder, war crimes, treason, and a thousand other crimes. these guys are using "racism" as a better excuse for criticism than "corruption", which reveals their corruption...



Republican Rep. Virgil Goode (news, bio, voting record) triggered angry responses from a civil rights group and some colleagues with a letter this month to constituents concerned about a decision by Rep.-elect Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to use the Quran when he is sworn in.

"I will not be putting my hand on the Quran," Goode said at a news conference Thursday at the Franklin County Courthouse.


no one asked you to, you're just being an a--hole...



Goode, who represents Virginia's 5th Congressional District, said he is receiving more positive comments from constituents than negative.

"One lady told me she thinks I'm doing the right thing on this," he told Fox News. "I wish more people would take a stand and stand up for the principles on which this country was founded."


what principles are those?

as jon stewart said brilliantly on CSPAN (you can see it on MySpace page), "i would think the first priority in a global war on terror is to strengthen the moderates", and he's right. if the war on terror was real and we wanted to stop it, we wouldn't be doing everything possible to create more terrorists, including directly training and funding them. beyond that, the lack of sympathy for the demonized muslim people who are largely invisible in the media except for old stereotypes that most conclude have contributed to the current problem in the first place is a key to our collective fear. this collective fear is keeping us from thinking, so allow me to share some of my fearless thoughts, which unfortunately lead to some more fear...

...there is no "reconstruction" taking place to speak of in afghanistan or iraq or you would hear our governments proudly speaking of it, and using evidence of it to cover for the rest of their war crimes. they don't even have that. the torture of upwards of 14,000 "detainees", which is a fun-sounding word for "innocent people tortured every single day", hasn't improved the war efforts one single bit, thereby proving yet again that after 5 years of this cold-blooded madness the torture was conclusively ineffective and for no reason. the first proof of this was publicized in the mainstream media shortly after 9/11, it's been forgotten, and this shows the power of the media's greatest sins of ommission in causing the deaths of millions and the poverty of billions.

many of the people seized were victimized by fellow afghans seizing a $5000 U.S. per head bounty on "taliban" or "al-qaeda" put out by the U.S. military and intelligence services over there, and when they say $5000 U.S. in a country where the average yearly income is $200 and you've just been bombed by a trillion dollar military, well, $5000 don't sound too bad.

so, the people getting the orders were either "in" on it or were given the logic of "the locals know the locals", and the locals with more guns or more men or more warlord-like qualities rounded up whomever, raiding villages or taking out old enemies. in doing this they weren't just "angels in need" either, and beyond selfishness the people who had the capability to round up their fellow citizens had the more experience in war or acts of terror, therefore the people seized were arguably the weakest and young. or in some cases, as the immortal seymour hersh has related, "an old man in his 70's and barely able to move was sitting in a cell full of his own feces", and that's just one of many tales of how badly the people snatched up with no requests for evidence or testimony or due process were treated, most snatched up by their most evil neighbors and handed over to be tortured in dark holes in foreign countries by confused and increasingly corrupted soldiers for no reason.

after all, after torturing 14,000 people for years, you'd think we'd have enough "intelligence" to win the "war", right? i mean it's simple, ask 'em a question, torture 'em if they resist, they tell you where a "weapons cache" is, you send the info to iraq, they find it, you stop torturing the guy. or, if the info is wrong, you torture him until he tells you something valuable. if ANY of the victims there had been revealing any intelligence that was valuable, we wouldn't be doing "worse" than ever in afghanistan and iraq, which incidentally isn't like a "sports score", but rather "more and more lives are being destroyed by the second for no reason". if it was a priority there would be metrics for evolving into a better solution, perhaps using more arab interpreters to befriend them and bring them on side - which most say is the only reliable way to trust the info you receive, and you can always check it anway and reward them financially.












the reasons go on and on, but irrespective of the "excuses for torture" one can make in a safe vacuum of "9/11 scared the shit out of me!", one can merely understand the results of taking young men and women and teaching them to torture people for years for no apparent positive effect, and "officially" allowing them to take it as far as they want to whenever they want day after day. this is the savaging of our soldiers, and when they are asked to deal with us like they did in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, many will agree to do the most horrible things to us through their years of torture-conditioning, like they did in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. if you add to that the lawless "private contractors", or the $1500/day employees trained for Latin American death squads at places like the "School of the Americas" currently flexing their muscles and bloodlust in Iraq, there will be peer pressure to act as savagely as possible in their missions.

oh yes, all this stuff we're scared to look at has an effect, and one of it's biggest and most harmful effects is it's ability to prevent us from looking at it. the fact that we feel scared and ignore it is exactly why it's speeding up, they know they can get away with it and are pushing as fast as they can. if we wake up we can stop it, but it's getting close to the wire here...



Goode also told Fox News he wants to limit legal immigration and do away with "diversity visas," which he said let in people "not from European countries" and "some terrorist states."

In his letter, Goode wrote that strict immigration polices are necessary "to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America."

"The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran," he wrote.


again: don't defend it, there is a way to separate the good from the bad words, the good from the bad thoughts. "strong immigration policies" = good, "alleging more Muslim anything's would be bad" = bad, it's just a shot for no reason except to appeal to his increasingly racist base in an increasingly racist country.



Ellison said Thursday that Goode and others had nothing to fear about Muslims.

"They are our nurses, doctors, husbands, wives, kids, who just want to live and prosper in the American way," Ellison, a Democrat from Minneapolis, said Thursday on CNN when asked what he would say to Goode if they met. "All of us are steadfastly opposed to the same people he's opposed to, which is terrorists, and so there's nothing for him to be afraid of."

Asked whether he thought Goode was a bigot, Ellison said, "I don't know the fellow, and I'd rather just say that he has a lot to learn about Islam. ... I don't want to start any name-calling."


pussy. i'm sorry dood, i know it's hard and you want to keep your seat and be an effective force, but you've got to be ready for that question with something better than that, something to take your position and at least be eloquent and enlightening on the subject.



Virginia's senior senator, Republican John Warner, said in a statement Thursday that he respects the right of congressional members to freely "exercise the religion of their choice, including those of the Islamic faith utilizing the Quran."

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (news, bio, voting record), an Illinois Democrat who is Jewish, said Thursday that he hoped Goode would meet with Ellison, saying he would "see what I saw: a good American with good values of a different faith who's trying to do right by the people he represents."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations had asked Goode to apologize, saying the remarks sent "a message of intolerance that is unworthy of anyone elected to public office."

Ellison was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college.

His decision to use the Quran at his ceremonial swearing-in next month prompted criticism from conservative talk radio host Dennis Prager. The American-Islamic relations council has called for Prager's removal from the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

___

Associated Press writers Matt Reed in Richmond and Frederic J. Frommer in Washington contributed to this report.

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SOURCE FOR WINSTON SMITH - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061222/ap_on_go_co/ellison_quran
















21 June 2004

The American Enterprise Institute in the White House


The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has become the propaganda center of the Republican ruling class in favor of free market imperialism. Like a Russian doll, it contains the New Atlantic Initiative (NAI) that leads the Euro-Atlantic integration and the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) included in the program of the Bush administration. The Institute is directed - behind the scene - by former president Gerald Ford and current vice-president Dick Cheney. Every year they invite around a hundred personalities to a winter resort in Colorado where they discuss behind closed doors.

In the 1930s, in the United States, the ruling class applauded the reorganization of the stock market after the crack of Wall Street and the creation of commissions that controlled the economic activities by sectors. However, they rejected the social measures taken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (authorization of trade unions, social security, and unemployment compensation) and, particularly, his desire to plan production.

Likewise, when in 1943 the Democrats asked Congress to maintain the price blocking after the end of the war to avoid a new crack of the stock market, the big employers mobilized to defend the “free market”. Thus, the American Enterprise Institute was born around giants Bristol-Myers, of the antibiotics field; the General Mills, of the food and agricultural industry; and the Chemical Bank.

For its lobbying, the Institute counts on the services of some renowned specialists such as Roscoe Pound, Dean of the Law Faculty at Harvard, and - especially - journalist Raymond Moley, former economic advisor of Roosevelt, who had already changed sides.



The patronage of Gerald Ford

During its first decade, the AEI focused on Congress lobbying. In 1954, William J. Baroody, in charge of the US Chamber of Commerce, assumed the direction of the Institute. Continuing with its lobbying in Congress, the American Enterprise Institute also began to address the general public to become a propaganda center of the Republican ruling elite.

In 1974, President Gerald Ford incorporated several AEI intellectuals to his team, including William J. Baroody Jr., whom he entrusted the contacts of the Institute in the civil society under the control of the White House General Secretary, Dick Cheney. In fact, it was not difficult for the Baroodys to convince the big owners to behave generously and they made significant contributions that rose to the tune of eight million dollars annually to finance numerous books about the wonders of capitalism and the Soviet danger, including the best-sellers The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, by Catholic theologian Michael Novak [1] , and Two Cheers for Capitalism, by anti-Communist journalist Irving Kristol [2] .

When Gerald Ford left the White House in 1976, he and a dozen of his collaborators were included in the payroll of the Institute [3] .

In the opposition, the American Enterprise Institute proves to be an excellent war machine for the Republicans, although it faces the competition of the new Heritage Foundation, with less prestige but with more reaction capacity [4] , and of the Cato Institute. William J. Baroody Sr. died in 1979, shortly before Reagan assumed power. His son, Baroody Jr., tried to continue his work but the financing dispersed among rival associations. The AEI lost its means and influence. It then tried to split from its rivals readjusting its position in a more moderate framework. The crisis reached its peak in 1986 when the extreme right-wing organizations Olin and Smith Richardson stopped financing the AEI, which they though was moving to the center. Then, Baroody Jr. had to resign as the AEI was sinking in a sea of debts.

Christopher DeMuth, a jurist of Nixon’s and Reagan’s teams, assumed the direction of the Institute and went back to the hard line. It took him four years to balance the financial situation. In particular, he paid special attention to developing the World Forum that Gerald Ford organizes every year in Beaver Creek (Vail Valey, Colorado). It is there, behind closed doors, that the big intrigues of the Republican Party are organized. In 2004 (June 16-19), around a hundred carefully chosen personalities gathered there during a weekend. With the presence of Vice-President Dick Cheney, discussions focused on the electoral strategy of the then ongoing presidential campaign. Also on that occasion, the director of the Federal Reserve swore in before the vice-president for his fifth consecutive mandate [5].


The Shadow of Dick Cheney

With a budget of 18 million dollars in 2002, the American Enterprise Institute already has 75 researchers and a similar number of administrative personnel. Some of the AEI stars include Lynne V. Cheney (Dick’s wife), Elizabeth Cheney (Dick’s daughter) [6] , David Frum (former editor of George W. Bush’s speeches) [7] , Newt Gingrich (former Speaker of the House of Representatives), Jane Kirkpatrick (Ambassador in Geneva) and, above all, Richard Perle (advisor to the Defense Department). Among the experts, we can mention some of the authors well known by the readers of our section “Open International Forum”: Reuel Marc Gerecht, supporter of an intervention in Iran; Michael A. Leeden (former member of Logia P2), who is always willing to laud Israel’s policies; Joshua Muravchik, ready to export democracy by force; Danielle Pletka, always searching for a new military adventure; etc.

The AEI evolution to the extreme right became publicly known in the mid 1990s with the publication of two works: The Bell Curve [8], by Dinesh D’Souza, affirms that the slavery of black people was not a racist practice but a social reaction to enclose its pathologies. The work continues denouncing anti-racism, which it considers more dangerous than racism itself.


In 1996, the American Enterprise Institute showed concern for the delay in the implementation of the Baker Plan for Europe. The countries of Eastern and Central Europe were making efforts to adapt themselves to Capitalism and to join NATO and the European Union. In the meantime, faced with the reforms, Western Europe seemed hesitant - particularly France which had just scandalously rejected the Juppé projects.

This general delay significantly postponed the merging of ALENA and the European Union in the heart of an area of transatlantic free exchange. In order to activate the process, the Institute called a big conference that took place in Prague (May 10-12, 1996) and founded the New Atlantic Initiative (NAI).

This satellite association is co-headed by Henry Kissinger [9] and Lane Kirkland (AFL-CIO General Secretary) [10] . It is sponsored by Vaclav Havel, Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Schmidt, Leszek Balcerowicz and George Shultz. Immediately, it had the support of the most important Republican figures in the army, in politics and in finances.

As to the French, Alain Besançon [11] , Oaul Fabra, Emmanuel Leroy-Ladurie [12] , Henri Lepage, Georges Liébert [13] , Pierre Manet [14] , Luc de La Barre de Nanteuil, Jean-François Revel, and later Alain Madelin [15] and Pierre Hassner, they participated in it.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the New Atlantic Initiative multiplied its meetings and publications about the alleged “conspiracy” and anti-Semitism of the Europeans, the deepening of the transatlantic pit, that is, between Europeans and Americans, etc.

Finally, the American Enterprise Institute houses in its facilities the electoral think-tank (center of research, propaganda and spreading of ideas, general of a political nature) of George W. Bush: the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), presided over by William Kristol (son of Irving) and directed by Gary Schmitt. It was there where the openly imperialist version of the program Junior was designed, aimed at the contributors of the campaign. It was also there where the invasion of Iraq was organized [16].

Thus, it is completely logical that, on February 26, 2003, President George Bush chose the dinner of the annual gala of the American Enterprise Institute to reveal his program of conquest of Iraq and the creation of a free trade area in the Middle East.



[1] The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism

[2] Two Cheers for Capitalism. About Irving Kristol, see «Quand la CIA finançait les intellectuels européens», by Denis Bonneau, Voltaire, November 27, 2003

[3] Specially Arthur Burns, Robert Bork, Laurence Silberman, Antonin Scalia, James C. Miller III, John Snow, Rudolph Penner and David Gergen

[4] «Le prêt-à-penser de la Fondation Heritage», Voltaire, June 8, 2004

[5] Greenspan sworn in by Cheney, UPI, June 21, 2004

[6] «Le dispositif Cheney», by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire, February 6, 2004

[7] «Le programme des faucons pour 2004», by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire, December 25, 2003

[8] The Bell Curve, by Richard Murray, theorizes about the genetic predisposition of black people to commit crimes and justifies the policies of massive incarceration. The End of Racism[[The End of Racism

[9] «Le retour d’Henry Kissinger», by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire, November 28, 2002

[10] See research by Paul Labarrique in Voltaire: “AFL-CIO or AFL-CIA ?”, June 2, 2004; and «1962-1979, L’AFL-CIO et la contre-insurrection syndicale», June 11, 2004

[11] «La face cachée de la Fondation Saint-Simon», by Denis Bonneau, Voltaire, February 10, 2004

[12] Saint-Simon, op.cit

[13] Saint-Simon, op.cit

[14] Saint-Simon, op.cit

[15] «Madelin et Lellouche contre Chirac», Voltaire, April 15, 2003

[16] «La planification secrète de l’invasion de l’Irak», by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire, March 9, 2004


SOURCE FOR SEEING REAL POWER AT WORK - http://www.voltairenet.org/article30075.html















Aaron Burr and Dick Cheney: Two Treacherous VPs

by William Hughes
Thursday December 21 2006

William Hughes is a Baltimore attorney and the author of "Andrew Jackson vs. New World Order" (Authors Choice Press) and “Saying ‘No’ to the War Party”. He contributed this article to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from Maryland, USA.


...

V. P. Dick Cheney is a very powerful, but desperate individual. The idea that the Bush-Cheney Gang is planning to send 30,000 more troops into the Civil War in Iraq is insane. A planned war with Iran is also on Cheney’s agenda as a diversion to save himself and George W. Bush from impeachment. The Special Prosecutor will soon cross examine Cheney in the “Scooter” Libby case. Unless the U.S. Congress acts soon to impeach, say good-bye to the Republic!


“Hands stained with the best blood of our nation.”



-- The Gazette of the United States, a Philadelphia newspaper, in an editorial, denouncing Aaron Burr for killing Alexander Hamilton. [1]

...

After Aaron Burr, the then V. P. of the United States, shot Alexander Hamilton to death in a duel, he became the most loathed man in America. In light of the fact that the Bush-Cheney Gang is insisting on sending 30,000 more U.S. troops into a raging Civil War in Iraq, I predict that V.P. Dick Cheney’s reputation will soon sink even lower than Burr’s. A raving Neocon, Cheney has been the single most important instigator of the Iraqi conflict. [2] Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich has just made public the fact that President George W. Bush is “a weak man, like Gerald Ford.” He blames the chaotic situation in the White House on Karl Rove. With respect to the Iraqi War, however, it is Cheney, who has been running that show for the last six years. John Judge, an aide to Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), said: “The joke in D.C. is, if Cheney dies of a heart attack, Bush will become President!” [3]


I’m convinced that sending more troops to Iraq, in a war that Bush himself now admits: “We’re not winning,” is an act of hubris comparable to the deranged President Richard Nixon’s firing the Special Prosecutor in the Watergate case--the infamous “Saturday Night Massacre.” [4] I think that all hell is going to break loose on Capitol Hill, in Jan., 2007, especially when the Pro-Impeachment Brigade, led by activists Cindy Sheehan, Ann Wright, Medea Benjamin, et al, hits Capitol Hill, on Jan. 3rd. [5] Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman, of Watergate Committee fame, believes that the movement for impeachment will build as new damaging evidence is disclosed. Her keen analysis is now ringing truer than ever. [6]

In early 2007, Cheney will also be required to give testimony under oath in an important criminal perjury and obstruction of justice trial involving his former chief of staff in the White House, Irving “Scooter” Libby. Feared Special Prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, will conduct the cross-examination of the V.P. Libby is also a Neocon, with close ties to the leading architect of the Iraqi War, Paul “Heart of Darkness” Wolfowitz. [7] The duo once served together in the U.S. State Department. Libby was a key player in the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), which Cheney is suspected of using to manipulate the intelligence to suit his pre-set, pro-Iraqi War policy. If that one charge alone can be sustained, the House of Representatives shouldn’t have any problem passing a Resolution of Impeachment against this arch War Hawk, and his co-conspirator in crime, Bush. The NYT’s reporter, Judith Miller, was used by WHIG to feed disinformation to the public in order to justify the attack on Iraq. [8] Ray McGovern, an ex-CIA analyst, has said of the devious Cheney, that he was primarily responsible for creating a “campaign of deceit” about Iraq. [9]

Getting back to the slippery Burr. His duel with Hamilton took place in Weekawken, New Jersey, on the morning of July 11, 1804. Hamilton, a great lawyer, had been the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury and a true champion of the U.S. Constitution, second only to the legendary James Madison of Virginia. [10] He had also been an aide-to-camp to General George Washington and an artillery office in the gallant Continental Army. Hamilton died from his gun shot wound received from the duel with Burr, on July 12, 1804, in NYC. He left behind a grieving widow and seven children. Unlike Cheney, who repeatedly dodged the draft for the Vietnam conflict, Burr was a bona fide Revolutionary War hero, having served with great distinction. Nevertheless, Burr’s reputation never survived his taking the life of Hamilton--one of the Republic’s most brilliant, charismatic and fearless Founding Fathers. [1]

Even though dueling was technically legal in New Jersey, a murder indictment was handed down against Burr. He was also indicted in NYC for “participating in a duel.” Burr quickly left his Greenwich Village home and fled south to Washington, D.C., where he had immunity from arrest, to preside over the U.S. Senate. Thomas Jefferson was then President. He hated Burr with an overriding passion, seeing him as a two-faced political rival, who had failed to step aside when the electoral vote for the presidency, in 1800, had ended in a tie between them. (1) He also felt that Burr was capable of resurrecting the fast-declining Federalist Party. When Burr’s V.P. term of office expired, in early 1805, and he failed to obtain a political sinecure from Jefferson, he got more deeply involved in a dastardly plot to seize the “Western Lands,” (today’s Texas, New Mexico and environs), and set up a new entity, distinct and separate from the U.S. It was to be used by the criminal schemers to conquer Mexico, with the ambitious Burr being installed as its “Napoleonic Emperor.” [11]

This particular condemnatory intrigue was British in origin. Burr was charged with treason. His trial was conducted by the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice John Marshall in Richmond, VA. However, he was found “not guilty” on September 1, 1807. The reason he was freed was that the government couldn’t come up with the necessary “overt act” to make its case. [1] It also helped Burr’s chances for acquittal that the great trial lawyer, Luther Martin of Maryland, was one of his defense counsels. And, probably more important to his beating the rap than all of the above was the fact that Justice Marshall, a Revolutionary War comrade of Burr, was also a fierce political opponent of President Jefferson, even though they were distant relatives. [12] There was eventually a “smoking gun” to prove Burr’s deep complicity in the plot. [1]

Finally, putting the extremely desperate Cheney at center stage again: He is a very powerful and totally unscrupulous individual. He knows that only another war as a diversion from his putative wrongdoings can save his hide. Cheney’s serial evildoings include, at the very least, his moral culpability for the 2,954 American troops-- “the best blood of our nation”-- already slain in Iraq. Unless the U.S. Congress does its mandated duty and quickly moves to impeach and remove from office, both Bush and Cheney, a U.S. led attack on Iran is a real and present danger. If the Congress fails to act, say good-bye to our Republic and prepare yourselves for a police state and a war without end!


Notes:

[1]. “Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Future of America” by Thomas Fleming.

[2]. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/05/
conservative-richard-perl_n_33310.html and
http://batr.net/neoconwatch/ and
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/04/23/60-minutes-cia-
official-reveals-bush-cheney-rice-were-
personally-told-iraq-had-no-wmd-in-fall-2002

[3]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkXGXKtKSGs

[4]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Massacre

[5]. http://www.gsfp.org/article.php?preview=1&cache=0&id=282

[6]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwiSyIbeYjI

[7]. http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/29114

[8]. http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Cheneys_role_in_
outing_of_CIA_1012.html

[9]. http://www.antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=7697

[10]. “James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights” by Richard Labunski.

[11]. “Aaron Burr: Conspiracy to Treason” by Buckner F. Melton Jr.

[12]. “John Marshall: Definer of a Nation” by Jean Edward Smith.


SOURCE FOR SENSE - http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/39002
















Peace by prying away the nuclear ring of power...
BK

_______________________

...

Black Krishna Brand

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/blackkrishnaverse

Philosophy - http://blackkrishna.blogspot.com/

Music - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/blackkrishna.htm

...

P.S. Stewart and Colbert show us they're lying and trying to dumb us down, to find out why and help Save The World, please Google for "TerrorStorm: A History of Government Sponsored Terrorism", "America: Freedom to Fascism" and "SaveTheInternet.com". Also, check the daily newswires at "Infowars.com" and "PrisonPlanet.com" -- and pass this info on to everybody -- NOW!!!












INFOWARS.COM: Cop on Cop Crime??? "Detroit Police Sergeant Tasered By Cops" (Oh crap, the "street-fighting" part of "fascism" is starting...)





You know, it's funny, Webster G. Tarpley, the most brilliant dude alive right now and a noted author, journalist and historian, said that while this is definitely fascism, it "doesn't have that street-fighting quality to it, not yet, though perhaps when you see groups like The Minutemen you realize that we may not be that far off...", and again, he's brilliant. I don't think he meant to slag The Minutemen per se, but rather more generally that the various groups who are either angry, armed, stupid and/or paranoid may take to violence sooner than later, largely because they don't understand the bigger picture and fall victim to the myth their compartmentalization supports.

If you look at the broader picture of what's possible, you can guess that the Russian television station filming The Alex Jones Show radio broadcast right now was sent or sanctioned by the state, basically paying back Russia and Putin's demonization for poisoning that KGB whistleblower spy by giving his part of the world more truth. But while Russia and Putin are certainly evil, as Tarpley notes Putin is one of the smartest leaders in the world who's trying to make Russia more independent from the London and Wall Street finance oligarchs who control the world's bankings systems and therefore the world, and they've been working with other coutries to set up and certify oil bourses in rubles or euros when nearly ALL oil is currently traded in U.S. dollars.

These are some of the bigger issues at play that are leading to world conflict, and since the people in charge know the people at home don't want to support endless wars for empire, they are brainwashing us, dumbing us down, stripping us of our rights, drafting us into their police state branches, and eventually using half of us to haul the other half into FEMA camps and other slave-labor war-machine supplying prisons. It's all happening right now, and it's best that we tell as many people as possible in order to be able to resist it taking over completely and quickly.

Anyway, I can't believe I'm reading this either, and the guy the cops hit wasn't just a fellow cop: he was in uniform. :(








Detroit Police Sergeant Tasered By Cops

The Detroit News | December 20, 2006
Delores Patterson

FARMINGTON HILLS -- The attorney for a Detroit police sergeant who was Tasered three times by Farmington Hills police says his client did not try to flee police after a traffic violation.

Sgt. David Marshall is charged with running a red light at 10 Mile and Inkster about 1:05 a.m. Dec. 13 after getting off work from the Detroit Police Department. The 12-year veteran, who was in uniform at the time of the incident, is also charged with interfering with police authority.

Attorney Arnold Reed also said Marshall was unnecessarily stripped down to his underclothes at the police station after surrendering his police radio and ammunition.

"There is no reason my client had to go through what he did," Reed said.


Reed added the police officers didn't activate their overhead lights until Marshall pulled into his Farmington Hills driveway. While still seated in his car getting mail from his mailbox, Marshall was asked to get out of his car and remove his weapon from its holster.

Marshall requested that a superior officer be brought to the scene and his car was searched, Reed said. Officers used the Taser the first time on Marshall when he reached for his radio. He later placed his hand on his gun and the officer stunned him again. Reed said Marshall had put his hand on the weapon to secure it.

A court date has been set for 2 p.m. Jan. 8 in 47th District Court.

Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer said the incident has been investigated and the use of a Taser was justified.

"I believe both officers could have been more professional towards each other; then the situation would not have escalated," Dwyer said. "But it did and it's unfortunate."


"TerrorStorm is something that should be seen by everyone, no matter what their stance/affiliation/political bent. " - Rich Rosell, Digitally Obsessed UK
Get TerrorStorm on DVD today


SOURCE FOR SURVIVAL - http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/tasers_detroit_police_seargent_tasered_by_cops.htm








- TARPOLOGY 101: LET'S GET IT -

::: 5 mins :::

Webster Tarpley speaks about exactly what is happening and what will happen in the future.





SOURCE FOR STRENGTH - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMjwJBha2Eg








Thursday, December 21st, 2006


Target Iran: Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter and Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh on White House Plans for Regime Change


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The Pentagon has announced plans to move additional warships and strike aircraft into the Persian Gulf region to be within striking range of Iran. We air an in-depth discussion between two of the leading critical voices on the Bush administration’s policy in Iran: former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, author of "Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change", and Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist for The New Yorker magazine. [includes rush transcript] We turn now to the latest on Iran – the New York Times is reporting the United States and Britain will soon move additional warships and strike aircraft into the Persian Gulf region to be within striking range of Iran. Senior U.S. officers told the paper that the increase in naval power should not be viewed as preparations for any offensive strike against Iran. But they acknowledged that the ability to hit Iran would be increased.


The aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its strike group entered the Persian Gulf on Dec. 11. Another aircraft carrier, the Stennis, is expected to depart for the Gulf within the next month. The military said it is also taking steps to prevent Iran from blocking oil shipments from the Gulf.

Well today on Democracy Now we present an in-depth discussion between two figures who have critical of the Bush administration’s policy on Iran. Scott Ritter is a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. He recently wrote the book "Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change." Seymour Hersh is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist for The New Yorker magazine. In October, Scott Ritter and Seymour Hersh held a public conversation in New York about Scott Ritter’s new book.

* Scott Ritter. Former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. His new book is "Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change."

* Seymour Hersh. Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist for The New Yorker magazine.



(Continued in print, audio and video...)


SOURCE FOR SPEAKING OUT - http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/21/143259















Peace by protecting our peacekeepers from perverts...
BK

_______________________

...

Black Krishna Brand

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/blackkrishnaverse

Philosophy - http://blackkrishna.blogspot.com/

Music - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/blackkrishna.htm

...

P.S. Stewart and Colbert show us they're lying and trying to dumb us down, to find out why and help Save The World, please Google for "TerrorStorm: A History of Government Sponsored Terrorism", "America: Freedom to Fascism" and "SaveTheInternet.com". Also, check the daily newswires at "Infowars.com" and "PrisonPlanet.com" -- and pass this info on to everybody -- NOW!!!

PAUL JOSEPH WATSON: Is It Now Illegal To Link To Other Websites? + SIR GNARLS BARKLEY wins Urb + NBA FASCISM vs. The Beast













Is It Now Illegal To Link To Other Websites?

Landmark Sydney legal ruling sets precedent for wholesale devastation of Internet news websites and blogs

Prison Planet | December 20, 2006
Paul Joseph Watson

A landmark legal ruling in Sydney goes further than ever before in setting the trap door for the destruction of the Internet as we know it and the end of alternative news websites and blogs by creating the precedent that simply linking to other websites is breach of copyright and piracy.

Following our report last month that an RIAA legal argument would, if the case was eventually won, criminalize simply making files available on the Internet, many readers scoffed at the serious implications of the case. Such a precedent would change the entire face of the Internet because "making files available" is so loosely defined it could criminalize simply placing links on ones website or blog to other websites.

Some accused us of yellow journalism and scaremongering yet the warning that the Elektra vs. Barker case could criminalize the very mechanism that characterizes the Internet was not concocted by Alex Jones or Paul Joseph Watson, it was a statement made by the very lawyer fighting the case, Ray Beckerman.

And that's exactly what has now happened in Sydney, where an Australian federal court has opened the door for simply linking to other websites to be classified as piracy.

A landmark ruling was upheld against Stephen Cooper, who ran a website which acted as search engine for locating and downloading MP3's not from his own website but from other MP3 download websites. Cooper was charged with piracy and his ISP is also being targeted for not shutting down his website quickly enough.

"Sabiene Heindl, general manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) said the decision meant that anyone who stuck a link on MySpace or on their bogs could now expect a knock on the door from its briefs," reports the UK Inquirer .

And for those who dismiss the precedent as only applying to those who link to copyrighted MP3 files, consider this - Cooper was only doing the same thing as Google in providing a means of finding files on other website. The MIPI is also preparing to take action against Google in "other jurisdictions," meaning it is building a case to sue Google for linking to all manner of different files from its search engine hub.

If such a precedent becomes accepted, it would be the death knell for alternative websites like the one you're reading now and others, who primarily rely on linking to other sources in order to collate important news and information. It would also put an end to some of the biggest websites on the Internet such as Fark.com and the Drudge Report , which are both almost exclusively devoted to collecting the world's most interesting news and offering it to readers in one place, by linking to scores of different websites.


Under these terms only internal linking would be permitted, which would not significantly impact commercial powerhouses like Amazon.com but would effectively put an end to all blogs.

The skids are clearly being greased for the mandated introduction of Internet 2, a tightly controlled, surveilled and regulated cyberspace police state run solely by telecommunications giants in consort with the U.S. government and the United Nations. Net Neutrality campaigners are desperately trying to raise awareness to the dangers of this as legislation that will kill the Internet as we know it is on the brink of debate and passage in the first session of Congress early next year.

...

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...

Earlier this year under the headline, The End of the Internet?, The Nation magazine reported ,

"The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online."

"Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets--corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers--would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out."


Internet 2 is being billed as the next generation of the world wide web and it has already set global speed records in terms of data transfer, far outstripping the old Internet.

One of the fathers of the Internet, David Clark, who served as chief protocol architect for the government's internet development initiative in the 1980s, has been given $200,000 by the National Science Foundation to covertly work on a "whole new infrastructure to replace today's global network," according to Wired Magazine .

Clark has vowed to create a "brave new world" in designing the new Internet, characterizing what he wanted for the new network to be "a coherent security architecture."

Dovetailing the onset of Internet 2 are government propaganda campaigns to demonize the existing Internet as a wild backwater for hate crime, child pornography and a terrorist recruiting ground. We have detailed these moves at length in previous articles .

The last outpost of freedom of speech, the world wide web, is in the crosshairs of corporate lobbyists and big government control freaks, who are putting the finishing touches on the pincer attack plan that will put paid to the greatest technological revolution of the latter 20th century.

"TerrorStorm is something that should be seen by everyone, no matter what their stance/affiliation/political bent. " - Rich Rosell, Digitally Obsessed UK
Get TerrorStorm on DVD today


SOURCE FOR INTERNET ACCESS - http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/internet_now_illegal_to_link_to_other_sites.htm











TOTAL RECALL

They changed the way a song becomes a hit. They wore joking costumes while singing about sex with dead people. And they joined Jethro Tull in the canon of famous bands named after imaginary people. But who is Gnarls Barkley, really?

You're about to find out.


by Andrew Parks
photography by Kareem Black

Something seems a little out of place. We really shouldn't be here. I know it. Danger Mouse knows it. And a pajama-clad Cee-Lo knows it. Just ask the cocktail waitress who's silently judging Cee-Lo's manager, curtly asking for a hotel room key before allowing us one step further onto a penthouse patio full of suits and ultra-smooth $15 martinis. Of course, as soon as we show proof of residence, she's quick to fill our drink order. Just some tap water, thanks. Oh, and a Diet Coke for Danger Mouse. Hiding underneath simple shades and an oversized sweatshirt, he's still recovering from the night before, an afterparty attended by-as Cee-Lo states proudly-actor Efren Ramirez who played Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite.

"That was a highlight of this tour, for sure," the gregarious singer smiles, struggling to speak through strained, scratchy vocal chords. "My homeboy said he was bringing him out. I was like, 'Whatever, man,' but there he was."


As we sit around a pool overlooking the entire Meatpacking District of New York City-far away from the chattering masses and clanging glasses of two adjoining bar areas-I congratulate the pair on the continued success of St. Elsewhere, a heat-seeker of an album recently certified platinum due to the Herculean strength of "Crazy," this year's "Hey Ya!" and the most consistently butchered single since "Louie Louie," "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and that granddaddy of revered sides, "Yesterday." To give you an idea of its pop music resonance, Billy Idol, Nelly Furtado, Ray LaMontagne and The Raconteurs have all covered "Crazy" in some capacity.

"Billy Idol, man," says Cee-Lo, still in awe. "I can't remember any song being covered as much as 'Crazy.'"

And it hasn't gotten too annoying yet, although I did hear "Crazy" playing in the background during some crime-time drama. To which Mom commented, "I wish you had listened to pleasant music like that when you were growing up."

Riiight. At any rate, it's been reassuring to witness a decent single rule the airwaves and record store shelves for the past six months. Not to mention amusing to watch Gnarls Barkley's stage-swallowing 13-piece band perform Pink Floyd's stoner classic "Breathe" dressed as characters from the Wizard of Oz (the group's Coachella debut) or Gladiator (opening number, "We Are the Champions"), all costumes seemingly lifted off the hangers of a Hollywood back lot.

Turning to Danger Mouse, I have to stop all the "you guys rule" speak for a second and ask one thing: This is all a little odd, isn't it-the sight of you two reclining here with non-alcoholic drinks in hand, next to a rooftop pool meant for deep pockets and B-list celebrities? Sure, Cee-Lo wrote the Pussycat Dolls' Velveeta pop hit "Don't Cha" while Danger Mouse surpassed Dan the Automator in helping cartoon band Gorillaz move millions, but neither one fits the jetsetter role they've been thrust into.

"We have been on a lot of planes lately, so I guess you could call it that," says Danger Mouse, laughing slightly. "But just so you know, this (he points to the panoramic skyline) doesn't represent us. This is our tour. We are out here losing money ourselves."

Although it's unclear how much money anyone is losing or pocketing from Gnarls Barkley's touring this year, Danger Mouse has a point. While it may have appeared like a major-label marketing scheme (Gnarls' "indie label," Downtown, is actually an Atlantic subsidiary), the meticulous marketing campaign behind the duo's debut has been the very definition of do-it-yourself to an absurd degree.

Some examples: The bio writer who reeled in the press with an ingenious and intriguing "Who is Gnarls Barkley?" angle? That'd be Emerson Dameron, a college friend of Danger Mouse who likely still calls him Burton for short. Frequenters of www.gnarlsbarkley.com will also known him as A.B. Vidal, the blogging "Chief Executive of St. Elsewhere." As for the Behind the Music-by-way-of-Forrest Gump video for "Smiley Faces," the aforementioned concert costuming, and press photos featuring infamous movie poses (Pulp Fiction, A Clockwork Orange, Napoleon Dynamite), they're all carefully planned joint agreements between the group and Jeff Antebi, the founder-creative director of Waxploitation, a management company and occasional record label. Every Gnarls Barkley decision is given the final go-ahead by Antebi-Danger's manager since his Ghetto Pop Life days with Jemini the Gifted One-rather than the label or Atlantic's publicist.

"It's a big deal for either of us to commit to a project as long as we have with this one, so we take it all seriously, right down to the art and the videos," explains Danger Mouse. "We have control of everything, 100 percent. It's such a personal record, so we didn't want to look like an idiot in any way."

"Sometimes the best thing a label can do with their artists is to let them be free to not just make the album, but also guide everything else," adds Antebi via e-mail a few weeks later. "Where a label might see 'marketing,' a band is simply taking the music and extending it as a broader vision. It's organic because the music and the vision have the same source."

When I pry him for further details as to the how and the why of the costumes, the photos and the "Who is Gnarls Barkley?" bent, Antebi deletes certain questions from the e-mail, explaining that he "didn't have good answers."

Danger Mouse has a more blatant response: "My favorite thing to say is, 'I can't talk about that.'"

Danger's zipped lips thankfully loosen as time wears on. But before that can happen. . .

"It's freezing," proclaims Cee-Lo, as he looks around the pool with a "Why the fuck are we talking here?" expression. "Shit. Let's go to my room. I don't care. Sheee-it."


SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT

Like many trendsetting bloggers, Stereogum founder Scott Lapatine latched onto "Crazy" more than six months before it was properly finished. It was October 6, 2005, to be exact, when a leaked version of the song first hit the music blogging circuit, marking the start of the hit's peculiar shelf life. As would be the case with most, Lapatine was already down with Danger Mouse due to the digital rights fervor surrounding 2003's The Grey Album, but he was "barely familiar with [Cee-Lo's former hip-hop group] Goodie Mob." Imagine his surprise three seconds into "Crazy," then, as Cee-Lo climbs atop a cloud and immediately starts wringing heartstrings like a soaked-to-the-bone T-shirt.

"As soon as Cee-Lo comes in with 'I remember when,' you know who's running the show," says Lapatine. "It wasn't just one thing about the tune that grabbed my attention; everything about it screams earworm. That obscure hook from Gianfranco Reverberi's 'Nel Cimitero Di Tucson,' the chorus you have to sing along to, and Cee-Lo's silky, soulful delivery made for a winning formula. Forget Justin Timberlake-Cee's the one who brought sexy back this year. A paranoid kind of sexy, but sexy nonetheless."

Glenn Peoples, a former Caroline Distribution employee and the blogger behind Coolfer, had a slightly different reaction at first. "I don't remember when I first heard the song, but I remember not being all that impressed. It grew on me, though, as it's unique, atemporal and, at the heart of it all, a convergence of classic sounds like R&B, soul and hip-hop."

At press time, Stereogum had four lengthy, archived pages of Gnarls Barkley postings, including ones about the new animated "Gone Daddy Gone" video (". . .the greatest scoop of the week! The third, and best, video from St. Elsewhere. Gotta say these are the band's creepiest costumes yet. . .") and a July show with Grease garb and some choice covers ("Just when you thought Gnarls might be out of tricks, they prove everyone wrong. At two recent sold-out shows at the Avalon, the duo performed the Doors' b-side 'Who Scared You.' Cee-Lo said he and Danger are big fans of the band. . .").

As for Coolfer, they've taken a more careful look at the group's growing success. On April 26, back when the song was dominating UK radio (it was eventually "deleted" from chart contention due to fear of overexposure), Peoples theorized that radio programmers in the U.S. would be afraid of playing "Crazy" due to the industry's rampant problems with payola. (Authorities would assume Atlantic sent station managers to Tahiti in exchange for taking a chance on a song that was different from "My Humps.") "At the end of the day, this might come down to how good the album is," wrote Peoples. "[Hip-hop blogger Bryron] Crawford panned it, ending his track-by-track review with, 'I didn't like a song on here.' This is also a good test case for Internet buzz. What's the ability of the Internet-on its own-to create a hit? The feat hasn't been accomplished yet. Will this be the one?"


Since there's no true way of gauging how much Stereogum and its competitors influence record sales, it's easy to claim but not prove that "Crazy" and the Gnarls Barkley phenomenon thrived based on the nimble hands of easily excited bloggers. However, Lapatine and Peoples are quick to downplay such an assertion.

"This would have taken off if not a single blogger posted it," says Peoples. "Downtown [Records] did a very smart and understated publicity campaign. . . for a change, the rest of the country wasn't behind the curve."

"In this case, I think we added fuel to the fire, but can't rightly claim credit," adds Lapatine. "The phenomenon was cleverly and perfectly marketed from the get-go. Overseas, 'Crazy' was record-breaking for topping the charts based solely on download sales. From there on out, the new media frenzy was inevitable. Dressing in Wayne's World or Napoleon Dynamite garb didn't hurt, though. Can you think of any other act that generated buzz with a publicity photo?! Ultimately, however, Gnarls' online success was less about nostalgia-baiting and more about giving Generation MySpace what they wanted: something to blog about."

RAISING CEE-LO

It's fitting that St. Elsewhere begins with a film reel unfurling while a jet stream of horns overpowers the words "pump up the peculiar." You see, before the big-budget music videos, the elaborate photo shoots and the campy performances, Cee-Lo was already playing himself in one fucked-up sonic biopic while Danger Mouse directed a dense plot of dark alleys and thunder claps with a sampler and a whole lot of foresight.



"This was one hell of a release," said Cee-Lo in an unpublished interview last February-when the Gnarls Barkley hype was still limited to bootleggers and BBC DJs. "I'm a domestic schizophrenic or something-I deal with the yin and yang of my life always. My anger or rage can feel evil, so everything is equated in spiritual terms for me."

"People have to think you're nuts, a complete crazy man, for you to be taken seriously as an artist," added Danger Mouse, explaining the underlying premise of "Crazy" without even realizing it. "You just can't be a regular guy. As artists we think we're normal in our own heads, but we don't want other people to see that."




Danger Mouse was as normal as he'd ever be back in 1998, the year his University of Georgia rap group, Rhyme and Reason, won a contest to open up for Goodie Mob and pre-pop royalty OutKast on campus. At the time, the closest thing he had to a music career was Pelican City, a vaguely psychedelic, pitch-black instrumental project that could easily score a film noir festival. Never one to pass up a glaring opportunity for creative growth, Danger Mouse consequently waited by Goodie Mob's bus and placed a self-produced demo (a CD-R with the cryptic word "Pelican" scrawled across it) in Cee-Lo's hands.

"I don't think he even remembers that happening," says Danger Mouse. "I gave him the out-there shit because I knew he was into that stuff and might dig it one day."

That day came five years later, when UGA alum Brian Burton dropped Pelican City for his Danger Mouse guise and released Ghetto Pop Life on UK hip-hop imprint Lex Records. While working on the Twenty Six Inch EP, a mutual friend suggested Cee-Lo for a new Jemini and Danger song called "What U Sittin' On?" While in the studio during September of 2003, Danger Mouse shared some long-incubated tracks that would only work with a natural-born eccentric like Cee-Lo. The bald, wise one was sold after only hearing a few songs, including "Just a Thought" and "Storm Coming."

"You may get a track CD from a producer that has one or two things that you're into, but I got into almost all of his productions," says Cee-Lo. "I was in awe over the range and unique quality of the tracks. He definitely gave me an excuse to spread my wings further, to push the envelope right off the table."

The producer also unlocked parts of Cee-Lo's psyche that he hadn't explored in years, ones as willing to look inward as out. Take the Portishead/Phantom of the Hood pastiche, "Necromancer," originally christened with the horror-core title "Necrophelia." As Danger Mouse explains it, the song came out of stumbling upon a Rolling Stone photo shoot with teen rockers Kings of Leon and a gang of pouting, preening groupies.

"The next thing you know, he's in the booth doing a song about women being used-up bodies you just want to fuck," says Danger Mouse, "like there's nothing inside them that we care about."

"It's about a party girl who's beautiful and bold under the influence," explains Cee-Lo. "And I like her better that way. The further she gets from herself, though, part of her dies. It's a slow death, like a needle to the vein or a line to the brain."

When I ask him if the song is autobiographical at all, he gingerly counters with a chuckle and "I've never done any drugs-just weed and a lot of Cognac. In fact, I've passed on more plates in my life than most people. I can relate, though."


THE TWO AMIGOS

Sitting before meager silver platters of tea packets and hot water pots in Cee-Lo's modest hotel room, I begin to feel bad for Gnarls Barkley. Yes, they're making money and landing on several year-end magazine covers, but the duo looks too exhausted-too used, frankly, by journalists, by their record company and by the public-to enjoy it at all. Especially at this very moment: Cee-Lo and Danger have to be uptown for a private, industry-only performance in an hour despite not knowing what costumes they will be wearing or what identities they'll be assuming (will it be the hair-metal band Brushfire, the tennis player troupe Love 40, the prep school assembly School of Rock?). At this point, they don't look like they care.

Why the costumes, then? Why build up an upper echelon of expectations that's so hard to follow through with on a daily basis? (If only you knew the amount of preparation and deliberation that goes into a simple magazine spread.)

"A big part of it was separating ourselves from our art so we could get people into it based solely on the output," explains Cee-Lo.

"A lot of the outward appearances came after the fact," adds Danger Mouse. "Look, somebody wanting to take a picture of me in jeans and a T-shirt bugs me out. What's camera worthy about something like that?"

"Thirteen people onstage in costumes is quite a sight," says former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna, who was the first to join Gnarls Barkley's touring band. "My favorite has to be performing on the MTV Movie Awards show, where we dressed as Star Wars characters. [George] Lucas sent down the actual, original costumes for us. Playing drums as Chewbacca was definitely a highlight."

But that's what still doesn't fit into the complex schema of all things Gnarls Barkley: After producing such an uneasy, ego-expunging album of suicide, drug addiction, split personalities and lost love, with a smash hit single about losing your sanity, you'd think they wouldn't want to treat every night like it's Halloween. When I ask Danger Mouse about this weird dichotomy, he admits some shows have confused the hell out of people who came to see "Brushfire," not the man that bleeds the song "Crazy" with every breath.

"People come to hear high-energy stuff, but the record is dark and heavy," he explains. "Well, we're not going to change anything so people can clap. It is what it is. Some people get that and some people don't."

He pauses and continues, "Nothing was forced about the record. The reason why it's good is we're paying homage to a particular art, time and space. It may be based around a sample, but it's something obscure still, something real that makes you feel like we were right there when [the sample] was recorded. I didn't want it to sound like guitar, bass, drums, keyboards; I wanted you to listen to the melodies and not know exactly what was playing, so you could jump into your fantasies some more."



Suddenly, it all makes sense, all goes back to something Cee-Lo said to me back in February, months before St. Elsewhere was finished: "It's like taking the red pill. Once you know, you can't ever stop knowing. I took the red pill and I'm in and out of the Matrix, trying to pull people out."




SOURCE FOR GOOD URB - http://www.urb.com/online/features/142_gnarls.php







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P.S. Stewart and Colbert show us they're lying and trying to dumb us down, to find out why and help Save The World, please Google for "TerrorStorm: A History of Government Sponsored Terrorism", "America: Freedom to Fascism" and "SaveTheInternet.com". Also, check the daily newswires at "Infowars.com" and "PrisonPlanet.com" -- and pass this info on to everybody -- NOW!!!








Thursday, December 21st, 2006

Etan Thomas: The Dawn Of A New Era

in NBA, Features, Columnists, Etan Thomas

by Etan Thomas

There have been countless opinions expressed and articles written regarding the new ball. The overall perception seems to be that David Stern, out of the kindness of his heart, listened to a bunch of spoiled crybabies whine about not liking the ball, took pity on them and decided to give them their old ball back. As if it were some type of meaningless toy. Some of the articles and commentary have really surprised me, because so many people are ill-informed. Apparently, much of the public opinion was that we, the players, should be happy with whatever ball we use and should simply shut up and play.

Lets review the facts: The NBA decided to use the new synthetic ball this season without consulting the players. The ball was previously used in the All-Star Game, NBDL games and summer league games. Otherwise, the players were never exposed to the ball, and had no say in its implementation. After the players across the board reacted extremely negatively to the ball — claiming it was too slippery, bounced less than the old ball, that the spongy material created friction that irritated and caused cuts to player’s hands — the NBPA filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which is the statute that governs the relationship between labor and management, management must bargain with the union over three things: wages; hours; working conditions. We (the union) claimed that the NBA was not entitled to make such a fundamental change to our working conditions, unilaterally, without bargaining with the union.

Before the charge could be found to have merit or not, the NBA decided to change back to the leather ball, with the Commissioner conceding that he made a mistake and that the players should have been consulted before instituting such a significant change.

However, these facts were apparently unavailable to many reporters, columnists and commentators. They created the public perception that the players were once again unjustly complaining about something we weren’t happy with.

Creating an overall illusion — no matter how off base or completely wrong it is — can change the public perception of what is being implemented. Furthermore, it can garner support for something the implementer knows is wrong. We saw this with the invasion of Iraq, but that’s another essay. Knowledge is power, and people perish for lack of knowledge.

A wise man once said, “Know the business of the business you’re in.” It is imperative that my colleagues become fully aware and avoid a state of complacency. We cannot be trapped in an illusion that the fruits we enjoy now will forever be plentiful and abundant. Things can and will change right before our eyes if we don’t stand up and fight.

Now, don’t get me wrong, because it is an absolute blessing to play in the NBA. Every morning when I wake up, I thank God for allowing me to live a dream. This issue I’m writing about is not a matter of being ungrateful, a sentiment often attached to NBA players.

What Commissioner Stern will attempt to employ, if we allow him to, will devastate the future of our league as we know it. Collectively, we have a strong voice, but if we don’t understand the rules, how can we play the game? If we didn’t understand that legally David Stern was in direct violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement by changing the ball, we would have been rendered powerless. We would have been left to our complaints, which would have fallen on deaf ears.

What could possibly happen in the future could greatly exceed excessive technical fouls, the dress code, meaningless nagging about tucking in our shirts, wearing wrist bands below the elbow and the length of our shorts. If we don’t speak up now, it could get a lot worse.


The league would love to transform us into the NFL, and they will continue to attempt to chip away at guaranteed contracts. During his attempt to gain “cost certainty,” the Commissioner has previously offered during collective bargaining to simply pay one guaranteed amount and allow the players to divide it among ourselves — so long as the amount is fixed in advance, and the owners need not pay even a dollar more than the guaranteed amount. In essence, that would completely cut out the NBA’s middle class. (Interesting how there are so many parallels to a certain administration.)

The way things are structured now eats away at the owners, who must guarantee a player his salary even if he is not “earning” it. But what exactly is “earning it”?

If you get injured, do they want the right to cut you like in the NFL? They try to win players over during the bargaining process, arguing that guaranteed dollars paid to “undeserving” players takes away from the pool of available dollars that could be paid to “deserving” players. (This is similar to the argument that taxing the rich punishes them for being rich.) Meaning if you have a bad year, they can rip up your contract and force you to sign a new one or be waived, like in the NFL.

During this last Collective Bargaining negotiation, David Stern put an offer on the table saying that he would be willing to do completely do away with the salary cap if the players would agree to non-guaranteed contracts. Don’t think for a moment this proposal is not going to come up again.

No disrespect to Billy Hunter, because I think he is doing a wonderful job fighting for us, but I feel we should consider examining baseball’s example, maybe even actually having a sit-down with their union to see exactly what they did to make their group so strong. I look at their union with eyes of admiration, because that’s how a union should be. They don’t even think about getting licensing checks — that money is put into a fund just in case it’s needed in the future. We should do the same. We should only distribute them once a player retires. In addition, the baseball players are strict about players who act in ways that are detrimental to the union. If a player has a secret meeting when “they” pull you to the side to divulge information, or if a player speaks out of turn to the media (we should have a gag order) or crosses the line in any way, that player is out of the union. No longer protected nor allowed to partake in any of the benefits that come along with being in the union. We should have our own zero tolerance policy. We also need to get our international players involved in the union, being that our future is intertwined.

I now hold a seat on the NBA Player’s Association executive board, so I am going to do what I can to implement some of these changes and make our union as strong as it can possibly be. I feel that it should never have previously come to a lock out. If we don’t rebel, don’t voice our disapprovals, don’t know what we can legally do, don’t have a unified front, believe me, they will not listen. Nobody wants a lock out, but they have to know that we mean business. Then, it never even has to come to that. We can simply work together respectfully.

As NBA players, we collectively have to wake up and become aware. What type of league are we leaving for the future generations? For our children? There is not one player alive who wouldn’t want his son to follow in his footsteps, wear his number, attend his college, maybe even break one of his collegiate records and play in the NBA, just like his father. Players before us have made countless sacrifices in order for us to be able to enjoy the life we have.

It is imperative that we fight to preserve this league.


An untitled poem

Raising consciousness to the height of light and truth
Awareness takes on a breathing like necessity
Preparing to block the avoidable destiny
Altering the events that would present a dismal future
Security would be something of the past
Cast into the sea of a distant memory
We would become mirrored images of the national football league
Left to reminisce on the good old days
The previous ways in which we used to enjoy our individuality
The elapsed freedom of creativity
Giving birth to a seed of non threatening entities?
Soothing the need for Middle America’s level of comfortability
So smile for the camera and show that you care
Killing you softly as you stand unaware
Transformed into robotic machines
Emotionless clones
For the right amount can your soul be rendered?
Tattoos, cornrows, and dreads may be next on the agenda
I don’t need a crystal ball to interpret the monologues of the commissioners’ plans
I can see them clearly like a cloudless sky
Tap dancing has never been the ship that I’ve sailed
Together like a fist we can stand
All we have to do is rebel


Etan Thomas is a center for the Washington Wizards and a columnist for SLAMonline.com. You can order Etan’s book “More Than An Athlete” on amazon.com here and through his publisher here.


SOURCE FOR SLAM-DUNK OPINIONS - http://slamonline.com/online/2006/12/etan-thomas-the-dawn-of-a-new-era/