Rev. Madison Shockley - Jesus and the 99 Percent

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/jesus_and_the_99_percent_20111202/

Posted on Dec 2, 2011

By The Rev. Madison Shockley

Many have asked whether the Occupy Wall Street Movement has a coherent message. It really seems pretty clear to anyone who is listening at all. Because of the greed of the 1 percent, the other 99 percent of the population has been reduced to working for lower wages (or not working), to trying to survive (unemployment insurance, welfare and family handouts), to renting or homelessness, to suffering environmental degradation with sickness but without health insurance, and to paying higher prices for food and education while getting lower returns on savings and investments. The unchecked greed of these capitalist elite (symbolized by the banks) impoverishes the majority of people and undermines our democracy. This much was obvious in just the first five minutes of OWS.

We in the Christian community are also asking how the movement’s message coheres with our theological precepts. Should the church be for or against OWS? Should the church offer spiritual support? Should the church lend physical and material support to movement members? As I write from here at Union Theological Seminaryin New York City (my alma mater where I’m currently on sabbatical), I have observed and participated with OWS at Zuccotti Park and its Oct. 15 action in Times Square. Union Theological is the seminary of choice for progressive Christian clergy in the United States, so it is no surprise that it has spawned what are known as “Protest Chaplains”: seminary students who participate in OWS as spiritual support and presence. I have attended meetings and worship services conducted by local clergy Occupy Faith NYCwho felt drawn to be involved, even before all the questions listed above have been answered.

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Franklin Spinney - The China “Threat” Rises Again

DECEMBER 2-4, 2011

HTTP://WWW.COUNTERPUNCH.ORG/2011/12/02/THE-CHINA-THREAT-RISES-AGAIN/

by FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY

When the Cold War ended in 1991, the Military – Industrial – Congressional Complex (MICC) was left high and dry, floundering like a beached whale, because there was no superpower threat to sustain its bloated existence.  But the MICC is a self-organizing adaptable cultural organism, and when one looks back on the 1990s, it becomes clear that the early 1990s became years of experimentation in the MICC’s struggle to evolve a new threat (what the Pentagon lovingly calls a peer competitor) or a combination of threats (in Pentagonese, ‘near-peer’ competitors) to justify a continuation of high budgets and hi-tech business as usual.

The initial focus in the early 1990s was to build up China as a peer competitor, but that could not stand even casual scrutiny, and the China threat quickly petered out.  It turned out that the Wars of the Yugoslavian Succession, especially Kosovo, provided the decisive pivot by establishing and legitimating the illegal warfighting theories of Humanitarian Intervention and Regime Change.  These models solved the ’threat problem’ by establishing the paramountcy of perpetual small wars, or the threat of small wars, as the planning and budget justification models for the post-cold-war MICC, as I explained in greater detail last January (here).

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The Accolade Award of Excellence Bestowed to Gary Null and Knocking on the Devils Door!

Gary Null is proud to announce that his feature-length documentary, Knocking on the Devil's Door, has been awarded by The Accolade! 

The Accolade is unique; it is an awards competition, not a traditional film festival. Awards go to those filmmakers, television producers, videographers and new media creators who produce fresh, standout productions. It is a showcase for cinematic gems and unique voices.

The Accolade recognizes producers, established and emerging, who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity. Undiscovered and first-time producers are often recognized.

The Accolade has recognized productions from all over the world including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Guam, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela. 

Awards of Excellence

Gary Null & Associates, Knocking on the Devil's Door, feature documentary

Award of Merit

Gary Null & Associates, Knocking on the Devil's Door, feature documentary  contemporary issues/awareness raising

Robert Reich - The Jobs Report -- Don't Break Out the Champagne

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Jobs-Report-Don-t-Bre-by-Robert-Reich-111203-637.html

December 3, 2011 By Robert Reich If Congress refuses to extend the payroll tax cut and/or unemployment benefits by December 30, it will create another drag on the economy. When people ask me what Congress is likely to do I always say the same thing: The odds are in favor of nothing. So while today's jobs report is in the right direction, it's way too early to break out the champagne. In brief: The Bureau of Labor Statistics' household survey shows unemployment at 8.6 percent, and the payroll survey shows 120,000 new jobs in November (140,000 from the private sector, and a loss of 20,000 in the public sector). BLS also revised upward its job numbers for September and October. What does it mean? We're not out of the woods but we might be seeing some daylight. Maybe. Here's what you need to worry about: First, this rate of job growth is barely enough to keep up with the growth in the working-age population. So we're not making progress on the backlog of more than 13 million jobless Americans, and another 11 million working part-time who'd rather have full-time jobs. Second, retail jobs constituted a third of new private-sector employment in November. Retail jobs tend to be unstable, temporary, and low-paying. Although the BLS is supposed to adjust for seasonal employment (i.e. Christmas), it doesn't take account of the fact that more and more Americans have been pushing up their Christmas buying to before Thanksgiving. So some of these jobs may not be around very long.

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Christopher Ketcham - Radiation From Cell Phones and WiFi Are Making People Sick -- Are We All at Risk?

By Christopher Ketcham, Earth Island Journal

Posted on December 2, 2011, Printed on December 3, 2011
http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/warning_high_frequency/

Consider this story: It's January 1990, during the pioneer build-out of mobile phone service. A cell tower goes up 800 feet from the house of Alison Rall, in Mansfield, Ohio, where she and her husband run a 160-acre dairy farm. The first thing the Rall family notices is that the ducks on their land lay eggs that don't hatch. That spring there are no ducklings.

By the fall of 1990, the cattle herd that pastures near the tower is sick. The animals are thin, their ribs are showing, their coats growing rough, and their behavior is weird -- they're agitated, nervous. Soon the cows are miscarrying, and so are the goats. Many of the animals that gestate are born deformed. There are goats with webbed necks, goats with front legs shorter than their rear legs. One calf in the womb has a tumor the size of a basketball, another carries a tumor three feet in diameter, big enough that he won't pass through the birth canal. Rall and the local veterinarian finally cut open the mother to get the creature out alive. The vet records the nightmare in her log: "I've never seen anything like this in my entire practice... All of [this] I feel was a result of the cellular tower."

Within six months, Rall's three young children begin suffering bizarre skin rashes, raised red "hot spots." The kids are hit with waves of hyperactivity; the youngest child sometimes spins in circles, whirling madly. The girls lose hair. Rall is soon pregnant with a fourth child, but she can't gain weight. Her son is born with birth defects -- brittle bones, neurological problems -- that fit no specific syndrome. Her other children, conceived prior to the arrival of the tower, had been born healthy.

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Michael Hudson - Debt Slavery – Why It Destroyed Rome, Why It Will Destroy Us Unless It’s Stopped

DECEMBER 2-4, 2011

HTTP://WWW.COUNTERPUNCH.ORG/2011/12/02/DEBT-SLAVERY-–-WHY-IT-DESTROYED-ROME-WHY-IT-WILL-DESTROY-US-UNLESS-IT’S-STOPPED/

by MICHAEL HUDSON

Book V of Aristotle’s Politics describes the eternal transition of oligarchies making themselves into hereditary aristocracies – which end up being overthrown by tyrants or develop internal rivalries as some families decide to “take the multitude into their camp” and usher in democracy, within which an oligarchy emerges once again, followed by aristocracy, democracy, and so on throughout history.

Debt has been the main dynamic driving these shifts – always with new twists and turns. It polarizes wealth to create a creditor class, whose oligarchic rule is ended as new leaders (“tyrants” to Aristotle) win popular support by cancelling the debts and redistributing property or taking its usufruct for the state.

Since the Renaissance, however, bankers have shifted their political support to democracies. This did not reflect egalitarian or liberal political convictions as such, but rather a desire for better security for their loans. As James Steuart explained in 1767, royal borrowings remained private affairs rather than truly public debts. For a sovereign’s debts to become binding upon the entire nation, elected representatives had to enact the taxes to pay their interest charges.

By giving taxpayers this voice in government, the Dutch and British democracies provided creditors with much safer claims for payment than did kings and princes whose debts died with them. But the recent debt protests from Iceland to Greece and Spain suggest that creditors are shifting their support away from democracies. They are demanding fiscal austerity and even privatization sell-offs.

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Matt Welch - Republican Jewish Coalition Bars Ron Paul From Presidential Debate, Saying He's Too "misguided and extreme"

Matt Welch | December 1, 2011

http://reason.com/blog/2011/12/01/republican-jewish-coalition-bars-ron-pau

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, the Republican Jewish Coalition will host a presidential-candidates forumfeaturing Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. Not invited is the GOP candidate currently polling around third in New Hampshire and second in Iowa: Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). The explanation:

Paul was not invited to attend the RJC's candidates forum because the organization - as it has stated numerous times in the past - "rejects his misguided and extreme views," said [RJC Executive Director Matt] Brooks.

"He's just so far outside of the mainstream of the Republican party and this organization," Brooks said. Inviting Paul to attend would be "like inviting Barack Obama to speak."

Link via the Twitter feed of an approving Jamie Kirchick.

Brooks gave a more detailed critique of Ron Paul back in May:

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Yasha Levine - People Locked in Tiny Cages, Crying in Pain: What I Saw and Heard When the LAPD Threw Me in Jail for Exercising My Right to Protest the Oligarchy

By Yasha Levine, eXiled Online

Posted on December 2, 2011, Printed on December 3, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/153303/people_locked_in_tiny_cages%2C_crying_in_pain%3A_what_i_saw_and_heard_when_the_lapd_threw_me_in_jail_for_exercising_my_right_to_protest_the_oligarchy

Editor's note: Yasha Levine, editor of the Exhiled.com, spent a . Here's his account of the crackdown on Occupy LA.

I finally got home Thursday afternoon after spending two nights in jail, and have had a hard time getting my bearings. On top of severe dehydration and sleep deprivation, I’ve got one hell of pounding migraine. So I’ll have to keep this brief for now. But I wanted to write down a few things that I witnessed and heard while locked up by LA’s finest…

First off, don’t believe the PR bullshit. There was nothing peaceful or professional about the LAPD’s attack on Occupy LA–not unless you think that people peacefully protesting against the power of the financial oligarchy deserve to be treated the way I saw Russian cops treating the protesters in Moscow and St. Petersburg who were demonstrating against the oligarchy under Putin and Yeltsin, before we at The eXiled all got tossed out in 2008. Back then, everyone in the West protested and criticized the way the Russian cops brutally snuffed out dissent, myself included. Now I’m in America, at a demonstration, watching exactly the same brutal crackdown…

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Gary Null, PhD and Jeremy Stillman - Prescription for Disaster: The Dirty Dozen FDA-Approved Pharmaceutical Drugs

By Gary Null, PhD and Jeremy Stillman

The Food and Drug Administration is mandated with the responsibility to ensure that our foods and medications are safe and effective. Hence, when a physician, primary health care provider or pharmacist provides a consumer with these medications, there is a fundamental belief that these work and will do minimal harm. Then we meet reality. The FDA has not only allowed extraordinarily inefficient, extremely toxic drugs onto the market, but then has ran interference on behalf of pharmaceutical companies and other special interests to protect their profits instead of immediately withdrawing their drugs from the market.

The consequence of eating at a restaurant you don’t like is that you won’t go back again. The consequence of taking a toxic drug is injury or death. The FDA has a long history of allowing deadly drugs to be promoted and marketed. The FDA has not sought prosecution when prima facie evidence proves that the manufacturers and their scientists, boards of directors and marketers knew all along that these drugs did not work as claimed or had dangerous side effects that they withheld from the FDA . These companies have engaged in overtly criminal activities and instead of ending up in prison or bankrupt, rarely is anyone ever held accountable. Bonuses are given and the value of their corporate holdings goes up- it’s all part of the cost of doing business today.

This article is to show you clear and exact examples of lethal and harmful drugs that should never have been marketed – some of which are still available to consumers. They are drugs that an honest and diligent FDA would never have allowed to be released on the market. Cumulatively, tens of thousands of Americans have died and hundreds of thousands more have been injured. And in the few cases that do make it to court, what is the standard penalty meted out for such brazen criminality? Pay a fine. Smile. You got out of jail free.

Fen-Phen (fenfluramine/dexfenfluramine/phentermine)

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Gary Null, PhD and Nancy Ashley, VMD, MS - FLU VACCINE: THE COVERUP – THE FRAUD

By Gary Null, PhD and Nancy Ashley, VMD, MS 

The CDC is just beginning its annual Influenza Vaccination Week which runs from December 4^th through the 10^th.¹ There will be a media onslaught as they try to persuade us that the end is near if we don’t get the flu vaccine. All of the regulatory bodies and the opinion leaders, the CDC, the FDA, the Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, the AMA, the American Academy of Pediatrics and all the health care providers would have us believe that flu is a serious illness that can only be prevented by annual vaccination of everyone from 6 months of age on up. They try to instill us with fear: flu is unpredictable, it can be severe, it can kill -- and there might not be enough vaccine for everyone! What if there is a pandemic? Should we be worried? Should we get the vaccine to protect our friends and loved ones? Maybe not. Let’s take a look at some of the facts the CDC would rather you didn’t know.

Is It Really Dangerous Not to Get the Flu Vaccine?

The CDC’s website used to state that 36,000 Americans die of flu each year, but this number was never accurate. First, the CDC inflated the numbers by lumping together deaths from flu and pneumonia as though they were all from flu when actually, the annual deaths from pneumonia unrelated to flu have always been far greater than those from flu. More significantly, this number was never based in actual deaths. It comes instead from a statistical model which only estimates mortality but doesn’t actually count the numbers of deaths.² This year, however, the CDC’s website reflects the criticism they have received about this overstatement. In an impressive downward revision, the CDC now states that “over a period of 30 years, between 1976 and 2006, estimates of flu-associated deaths in the United States range from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people.”³ Quite a difference! For 2007, the CDC’s own statistics show that the number of deaths actually caused by influenza was just 411, and the death rate was therefore only 0.1 out of 100,000 people.⁴

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