We fought apartheid; we see no reason to celebrate it in Israel now!

We fought apartheid; we see no reason to celebrate it in Israel now!
17 May 2008
We, South Africans who faced the might of unjust and brutal apartheid machinery in South Africa and fought against it with all our strength, with the objective to live in a just, democratic society, refuse today to celebrate the existence of an Apartheid state in the Middle East. While Israel and its apologists around the world will, with pomp and ceremony, loudly proclaim the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel this month, we who have lived with and struggled against oppression and colonialism will, instead, remember 6 decades of catastrophe for the Palestinian people. 60 years ago, 750,000 Palestinians were brutally expelled from their homeland, suffering persecution, massacres, and torture. They and their descendants remain refugees. This is no reason to celebrate.

When we think of the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, we also remember the Deir Yassin massacre of 1948.

When we think of South Africa’s Bantustan policy, we remember the bantustanisation of Palestine by the Israelis.

When we think of our heroes who languished on Robben Island and elsewhere, we remember the 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

When we think of the massive land theft perpetrated against the people of South Africa, we remember that the theft of Palestinian land continues with the building of illegal Israeli settlements and the Apartheid Wall.

When we think of the Group Areas Act and other such apartheid legislation, we remember that 93% of the land in Israel is reserved for Jewish use only.

When we think of Black people being systematically dispossessed in South Africa, we remember that Israel uses ethnic and racial dispossession to strike at the heart of Palestinian life.

When we think of how the SADF troops persecuted our people in the townships, we remember that attacks from tanks, fighter jets and helicopter gunships are the daily experience of Palestinians in the Occupied Territory.

When we think of the SADF attacks against our neighbouring states, we remember that Israel deliberately destabilises the Middle East region and threatens international peace and security, including with its 100s of nuclear warheads.

We who have fought against Apartheid and vowed not to allow it to happen again can not allow Israel to continue perpetrating apartheid, colonialism and occupation against the indigenous people of Palestine.

We dare not allow Israel to continue violating international law with impunity.

We will not stand by while Israel continues to starve and bomb the people of Gaza.

We who fought all our lives for South Africa to be a state for all its people demand that millions of Palestinian refugees must be accorded the right to return to the homes from where they were expelled.

Apartheid was a gross violation of human rights. It was so in South Africa and it is so with regard to Israel’s persecution of the Palestinians!

Ronnie Kasrils, Minister of Intelligence / End Occupation Campaign
Blade Nzimande, General Secretary, South African Communist Party
Zwelinzima Vavi, General Secretary, Congress of South African Trade Unions
Ahmed Kathrada, Nelson Mandela Foundation
Eddie Makue, General Secretary, South African Council of Churches
Makoma Lekalakala, Social Movements Indaba
Dale McKinley, Anti-Privatisation Forum
Lybon Mabasa, President, Socialist Party of Azania
Costa Gazi, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania
Jeremy Cronin, South African Communist Party
Sydney Mufamadi, Minister of Provincial and Local Government
Mosioua Terror Lekota, Minister of Safety and Security
Mosibudi Mangena, President, Azanian Peoples Organisation / Minister of Science and Technology
Alec Erwin, Minister of Public Enterprises
Essop Pahad, Minister in the Presidency
Enver Surty, Deputy Minister of Education
Roy Padayache, Deputy Minister of Communications
Derek Hanekom, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology
Rob Davies, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry
Lorretta Jacobus, Deputy Minister of Correctional Services
Sam Ramsamy, International Olympic Committee
Yasmin Sooka, Executive Director, Foundation for Human Rights
Pregs Govender, Feminist Activist and Author: Love and Courage, A Story of Insubordination
Adam Habib, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Johannesburg
Frene Ginwala, African National Congress
Salim Vally, Palestine Solidarity Committee
Na’eem Jeenah, Palestine Solidarity Committee
Brian Ashley, Amandla Publications
Mercia Andrews, Palestine Solidarity Group
Andile Mngxitama, land rights activist
Farid Esack, Professor of Contemporary Islam, Harvard University
Elinor Sisulu, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
Andre Zaaiman
Virginia Setshedi, Coalition Against Water Privatisation
Max Ozinsky, Not in my Name
Revd Basil Manning, Minister, United Congregational Church of Southern Africa
Firoz Osman, Media Review Network
Zapiro, cartoonist
Mphutlane wa Bofelo, General Secretary, Muslim Youth Movement
Steven Friedman, academic
Ighsaan Hendricks, President, Muslim Judicial Council
Iqbal Jassat, Media Review Network
Stiaan van der Merwe, Palestine Solidarity Committee
Naaziem Adam, Palestine Solidarity Alliance
Asha Moodley, Board member of Agenda feminist journal
Suraya Bibi Khan, Palestine Solidarity Alliance
Nazir Osman, Palestine Solidarity Alliance
Allan Horwitz, Jewish Voices
Jackie Dugard, legal and human rights activist
Professor Alan and Beata Lipman
Caroline O’Reilly, researcher
Jane Lipman
Shereen Mills, Human rights lawyer, Centre for Applied Legal Studies
Noor Nieftagodien, University of the Witwatersrand
Bobby Peek, Groundworks
Arnold Tsunga, Chair, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
Mcebisi Skwatsha, Provincial Secretary, ANC Western Cape - Owen Manda, Centre for Sociological Research, University of Johannesburg - Claire Cerruti, Keep Left

NB: Organisational affiliations above are for identification purposes only and do not necessarily reflect organisational endorsement

Organisational endorsements:

African National Congress
Al Quds Foundation
Anti-Privatisation Forum and its 28 affiliates
Azanian Peoples Organisation
Congress of South African Trade Unions
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
End Occupation Campaign
Groundworks
Media Review Network
Muslim Judicial Council
Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa
Not In My Name
Palestine Solidarity Alliance
Palestine Solidarity Committee
Palestine Solidarity Group
Social Movements Indaba
Socialist Party of Azania
South African Communist Party
South African Council of Churches





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They Should Have Shot.......

"Air traffic controllers spotted a suspicious aircraft heading into Israeli airspace from the Sinai peninsula on Monday and made several attempts to establish contact. When the pilot failed to respond to their urgent requests, the Israelis scrambled two fighters to intercept what they feared could have been a terrorist attacker."

Guess who was in the aicraft. Tony Blair! Dimwits!

"How Israeli fighter pilots threatened to blast Tony Blair’s jet out of sky"

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Things Which I Do Not Like To Know

"Re­search­ers have iden­ti­fied brain cen­ters acti­vated by be­tray­al of trust—and a way to keep them quiet.

A spray of a hor­mone, ox­y­to­cin, makes peo­ple keep trust­ing even some­one who has be­trayed them, the scientists ex­plained. They presented the findings not as a trick for, say, cheat­ing spouses to keep their part­ners coop­erative, but as an in­sight into the mind with possible cli­ni­cal value."

Spray said to turn people to pushovers

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"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

I bin Befuddled by this when I read it in the bible. Now to be a good researcher you should find the material first. Ho Hum Ho dee dee. Google the shite to start the ball rollling. Google is not the shite (as I think not; I meant the subject) Init?

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=bible+meek&meta=

The very first Entry: "Meekness and HumilityGod's Cure for Pride, Haughtiness, and Egotism" by Gospel Way.

It is good but loads of words or complicated. Not my life style. But read it any way if you like.

To start with the learned authour (What is the proper spelling. Is this the old English authour and author is Americanised ...quarrrrrrch theuip....who is misspelling) says:

"Why should people be meek and humble? What problems are caused by pride, arrogance, ego, self-exaltation, haughtiness, and self-will? Should you learn self-assertiveness, or should you learn not to be proud and haughty? What does the Bible teach about meekness, humility, gentleness, and lowliness in contrast to pride, selfishness, self-will, and arrogance?"

Why should the messenger of God, Jesus, hide behind with all contradictory words, may I a humble dimwit ask?

I can see why? I put "meek" into the "OneLook Reverse Dictionary"

Darned right that we should have so many meanings, to keep the religious beliefs complicated. If you check the meanings of all the words mentioned in the last link you will see that some words "dismean" each other. And then the authour compares Jesus and Moses to all of us to say that, they were the meekest people ever lived. Good on Jesus; I cannot see him as a war mongering person who wanted bad things happen to other people. But Moses with the help of the Jewish God planned very nasty things to happen to the Egyptians et al, who beleaved in other Gods. So I cannot take Moses as a meek person even though Bible says so. Everything written in the good book is not true. We all know that.

So from the article:

"Definitions:

Meekness

This is an extremely difficult word to translate into English, because we think "meek" implies weakness. Sometimes it is translated (NKJV) "gentleness," but that also implies weakness.

The best way to know the meaning of a word is to study passages where it is used. As we do, we will see meekness is an attitude or quality of heart [1 Peter 3:4] whereby a person willingly accepts and submits without resistance to the will and desires of someone else. The meek person is not self-willed - not continually concerned with self, his own ways, ideas, and wishes. He is willing to put himself in second place and submit himself to achieve what is good for others. Meekness is the opposite of self-will, self-interest, and self-assertiveness.

This is a sign, not of weakness of character (as some think), but of strength. It requires great self-control to submit to others.

Humility

This is an attitude or quality of mind [Acts 20:19] whereby a person holds low esteem or opinion of his own goodness and importance. Spiritually, one abases himself because he realizes his sinfulness and therefore he is willing to depend on God to meet His needs. It is the opposite of pride, haughtiness, and self-exaltation."

Of course it is difficult to translate into a language like English, which started 1000's of years after the Bible was written, and updated. Why do we always think of a meek person as a weak person. Someone who does not have a will and will succumb to the other's will. No mate think about it; you find the answer.

I still don't beleave in the theory of an underdog winning the race; bleeding fantasising "romanticity". As the authour says:

"This is a sign, not of weakness of character (as some think), but of strength. It requires great self-control to submit to others. "

These prophets were highly dialectic people who can easily see all sides of an argument. So when they say something they want it to be very basic and simple. So that anyone can understand and there is no basis for debate.

Now if we think about it where the fuck are we?

Tinckle Bell side.

Luke 18:9-14: Pure political stuff this? Do you know The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector? Well for the uninitiated to this kind of stimulus, here it is again:

"To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself:
'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,
'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

I tell you that the Tax Collector, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified before God.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

No way an exalted person like Jesus will say this political stuff; he was trying to get the masses out of the demon Judaism.

Now take the meaning of the word "Pharisee":

"Quick definitions (Pharisee)
noun: a member of an ancient Jewish sect noted for strict obedience to Jewish traditions
noun: a self-righteous or sanctimonious person"

Yeah a person who did not like the present system and trying to bring in a revolution; Jesus. Telling stories about the opposition. OK if he said that, would you consider him a meek person? The question we are raising in this article? Me says no; as if, his mode of thought is true, then he would have been a nasty person by its own definition. Jesus did not mean that.

1 John 1:8

I don't understand why this is thrown in here except as a red herring. here is the stuff:

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

or

1 John 1:10

"If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."


Here I am the biggest liar of all, as I do not have sins. And I am proud of it. My phylosophy is simply this.

Since, I was born everything I did in my life was the right thing at the right time to be here right now. You cannot escape that.

So I am just politely say you the Authour is fucked.

Now the authour brings in another part of the bible: Matthew 18:1-4: which says:

"The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
He called a little child and had him stand among them.
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

That is easy to explain in simple terms. A child has not been spoilt by the society to become some one in the likes of us (don't tell Uncle Joe about this stuff). He/She has not learned the conniving, despicable thought processes you and I go through before we decide on any thing. Yeah I understand that. Yeah we can see that now can't we? So the child is a person who we can take as a meek person? Can we?

We all have needs and wants. All my needs are satisfied as I write this. If I need anything I will be going about to satisfy my need, rather than sitting here and writing. Anything I want is just a dream. Now I call a meek person who lives just within his needs and do not do any further pursuits.

So can a rich man be meek? I say, of course he/she can. If that rich person is not trying to get richer, and use her/his richness to make other people happy and keep what ever he got; she/he is a meek person and can go to heavon.

Do you beleave in something better than this instant? And think about what can be worse? Then you already are in heavon.







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To my Dotor And The Dentist

I sure hope my learned doctor see this and later listen to his CLIENTS ...flipping good word for the coporate lot init.... The muscles in my back has made me grind my teeth since my birth. But did the flecking cunts diognosed it that way. I am talking about the f... doctors, dentists who took the teeth out without looking at my back bone and muscles. I hope these poor barstards know that they are attending to a whole system called the human being. Not their fucking area which they try to achieve manhood. Fuck them all. Dentists and doctors. You fuckers make money out of my predicament. I hope ypou come to me with your .....


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Mobile Security

If we have the Enter button, on my mobile, which is a detector which can detect the finger prints of me the owner. Then what is the use of nicking the shite init? The moment I press the button with my finger then it activates the security program and if my finger matches the ....say no more...pssst


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TV Adverts For The Blind

The adverts which come out for various agendas are spending millions for the adverts itself. It is not free. But what is the idea of adverts for people who are suffering and we have to give. Give. Give . Give it says. But who is paying fr the adverts.




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Polar Bear Politics

US has declared the Polar Bear a threat­ened spe­cies Wednes­day be­cause of the loss of Arc­tic sea ice. But bec­ause the root cause is be­lieved to be the thorny po­li­ti­cal issue of glo­bal warm­ing, there are doubts as to whe­ther the listi­ng will lead to action to save the ani­mal.

"In­te­ri­or Sec­re­tary Dirk Kempthorne cit­ed dra­m at­ic de­clines in sea ice over the last three dec­ades and pro­jec­tions of con­tin­ued losses, mean­ing, he said, that the po­lar bear is a spe­cies likely to be in dan­ger of ex­tinc­tion in the near fu­ture. But Kempthorne said it would be “wholly in­ap­pro­priate to use the pro­tec­tion of the be ar to re­duce green­house gas­es, or to broadly ad­dress cli­mate change."

They are going to take all the polar bears into the Bush estates and keep them there so that no one can see them or do any harm to them. Ha Ha Ha


U.S. to list polar bears as threatened

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Did You Know

"After all, Christopher Columbus supposedly discovered America in 1492. Yet 18 years before he set sail, Columbus had a map of the Americas, which he later acknowledged in his logs. Indeed, even before his first voyage, Columbus signed a contract with the King and Queen of Spain that appointed him Viceroy of the Americas. His fellow ship's captain, Pinzon, who sailed with him in 1492 had too seen a map of the Americas -- in the Pope's library.

How do you discover a place for which you already have a map?"

"The same question could be asked of Magellan. The straits that connect the Atlantic to the Pacific bear the great Portuguese explorer's name. When Magellan reached those straits, he had run out of food and his sailors were reduced to eating rats. Worse, they were convinced they were lost.

Esteban Gomez led a mutiny, seizing the San Antonio with the intent to lead part of the expedition back to Spain. Magellan quashed the mutiny by claiming he was not at all lost. A member of the crew wrote , "We all believed that [the Strait] was a cul-de-sac; but the Captain knew that he had to navigate through a very well concealed strait, having seen it in a chart preserved in the treasury of the King of Portugal, and made by Martin of Bohemia, a man of great parts."

Why were the straits named after Magellan when Magellan had seen them on a chart before he set sail? Once again, it doesn't make sense."

From http://www.1421.tv/


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Things People Beleave As Gospel

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

In America, conventional wisdom that has mass acceptance is usually contrived: somebody paid for it. Examples:

Pharmaceuticals restore health
Vaccination brings immunity
The cure for cancer is just around the corner
Menopause is a disease condition
When a child is sick, he needs immediate antibiotics
When a child has a fever he needs Tylenol
Hospitals are safe and clean.
America has the best health care in the world.
Americans have the best health in the world.
Milk is a good source of calcium.
You never outgrow your need for milk.
Vitamin C is ascorbic acid.
Aspirin prevents heart attacks.
Heart drugs improve the heart.
Back and neck pain are the only reasons for spinal adjustment.
No child can get into school without being vaccinated.
The FDA thoroughly tests all drugs before they go on the market.
Pregnancy is a serious medical condition
Infancy is a serious medical condition
Chemotherapy and radiation are effective cures for cancer
When your child is diagnosed with an ear infection, antibiotics should be given immediately 'just in case'
Ear tubes are for the good of the child.
Estrogen drugs prevent osteoporosis after menopause.
Pediatricians are the most highly trained of al medical specialists.
The purpose of the health care industry is health.
HIV is the cause of AIDS.
AZT is the cure.
Without vaccines, infectious diseases will return
Fluoride in the city water protects your teeth
Flu shots prevent the flu.
Vaccines are thoroughly tested before being placed on the Mandated Schedule.
Doctors are certain that the benefits of vaccines far outweigh any possible risks.
There is a terrorist threat in the US.
There is a bioterrorist threat in the US.
The NASDAQ is a natural market controlled by supply and demand.
Chronic pain is a natural consequence of aging.
Soy is your healthiest source of protein.
Insulin shots cure diabetes.
After we take out your gall bladder you can eat anything you want
Allergy medicine will cure allergies.
An airliner can be flown with professional precision by a group of crazed amateurs into a 100-storey building and can cause that building to collapse on its own footprint. Twice.
The Iraquis blew up the World Trade Center.

This is a list of illusions, that have cost billions to conjure up. Did you ever wonder why most people in this country generally accept most of the above statements?


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The World Hunger Is Growing (Updated)

Last Post on this.

We saw what happened in

http://www.countercurrents.org/bello170508.htm
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North American Free Trade Agreement

North American Free Trade Agreement

Text of the Agreement


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Latin American debt crisis

Latin American debt crisis

The Latin American Debt Crisis of the 1980s and its Historical Precursors



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The World Hunger Is Growing (Updated)

Last Post

I am writing this blog to simplify things to myself, and anyone who cares to read the stuff. This is my life's long research project. I got a chance here to write something, categorise them, simplify them etc. But the funny thing is...please don't laugh it is not that funny.... most of the subjects I write about are depressing. Does it mean I am a depressing person or a depressed person? And what the hell is the difference? No wonder I have few friends now, than those days. But seriously I find various governmental, political fuck ups interesting. And beleave me they are depressing stuff like terrorism, war, repression..ha ha... put a fucking d in front instead of the r init?. Shite, I am in a good mood today.

Now this is what happened in Mexico. In me own words. By 1980 Mexico was heavily in debt. This was the famous Latin American debt crisis.

So they had to go begging to the WB. Now the WB does not just lend money, they lend money with certain conditions. “Unprecedented thoroughgoing interventionism” they call it but, when at home, it just means that wB intervenes in the national and local government fully. So what do they do? hey order the
exican gov to scrap national and local gov laws concerning controls on wages, national and local gov laws concerning controls on labour laws, and privotis the nationally controlled public service institutions like gas electrics water and all the natural resorces as oil, gas and minerals, well list goes on.


Interest payments which was 19% in 1982 went up to 57% by 1988. Capital expenditure ie the money gov spends on the country went down from 19.3% to 4.4 %. In UK, the farmers get a subsidy for growing stuff, and not growing stuff. So our farmers, although they complain about their poverty, they are hell of a lot better off, as we can see in our own country side. So in Mexico, they had to get rid of the low interest credit given by the gov, the subsidies, the farmer's support by the gov etc. That created powerty amongst the peasant farmers to start with and the peasants had to move into urban areas in seach of work and created the ghettoes. That become a huge problem for the Mexican gov.

In 1994 NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)was born with vengeance in mind. With this agreement the whole neoliberal agenda was implememted. Thia got rid of the remaining powers Mexico had about its agriculture, like the State Agricultural Marketing Board. Two major coporations Cargills on the US side and Maseca on the Mexico side grew into the only power in the corn business in Mexico. Now both companies are US owned. And the middle order farmers went bancrupt and the rest was bought by thetwo companies.

"According to a 2003 Carnegie Endowment report, imports of US agricultural products threw at least 1.3 million farmers out of work — many of whom have since found their way to the United States."

During this time neoliberals have taken over the gov of Mexico. And no one can bring any new laws in support of the low and middle farmers.

So now we know that there is enough corn in the silos but the big companies are keeping the prices high.


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Did You Know

" In the U.S. and U.K., one in 250 boys is born with a malformed penis; one in 200 with autism."

To get more depressed I advice you to read this article.





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Super Rich #00000001

"The accumulated wealth of those on the rich list has grown to £412.8 billion, an increase of almost £53 billion from last year. Growth has fallen by more than a quarter, from last year’s rate of 20 percent, to 14.7 percent. Of this year’s top 10, only three were born in Britain. Indian-born number one Lakshmi Mittal’s wealth grew by an astonishing 44 percent, mainly by virtue of swallowing up more international steel producing facilities through mergers. Such business manoevres usually result in consolidation and redundency notices for staff who find their jobs duplicated."

"Writing in his Observer column about Rothkopf’s new publication, Will Hutton noted how Prime Minister Gordon Brown has surrounded himself with former employees of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Jonathan Powell, former premier Tony Blair’s chief of staff, has joined Morgan Stanley and Blair himself receives a large stipend from Goldman Sachs."

Now how many of these banker cronies have stocks & shares in the MIC?

"Britain’s rich get richer even as recession begins to bite"

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The Forgotton Disaster

Was it 2004 when the Tsunami happened in the Bay of Bengal? Yeah not so long ago. But we have forgotton about it, while the affected people are still suffering. This is what happened in Sri Lanka:

"According to official figures, at least 30,920 people died, 519,063 were displaced and 103,836 houses destroyed. The devastation was horrendous. Homes, schools, hospitals, road, rail lines, communications were all swept away. Whole villages disappeared. The survivors were left without shelter, food, clean water and medicine. Many, particularly fishermen, lost their livelihoods."

And these are the sats now:

"According to the government’s Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA), 6,718 families or more than 25,000 people were still living in appalling conditions in refugee camps in March—that is, more than three years after the tsunami. Most of the families—5,820—are in the North and East where the renewed fighting is taking place. Even in the district surrounding the capital of Colombo, there are 803 families in camps.

These official figures are undoubtedly an underestimate. Moreover, many more of the survivors, including those who have been re-housed, still face enormous economic difficulties. Many fishermen lost their livelihoods and were resettled away from the coastline. On the pretext of protecting the population, the government exploited the opportunity to clear away fishing villages to pave the way for luxury hotels and resorts."

And last a few words from a local about her feelings:

"A 19-year-old girl told the WSWS: “You ask about the situation in Burma. As we can’t watch television or have access to any other media we don’t know what’s going on there. I only know from you about the situation. It sounds somewhat similar. Throughout the world we see how ordinary people are hit by natural disasters and how the rulers treat them.”"

"The tsunami in Sri Lanka: A case study in US humanitarian missions"

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Iraq War Took A Turn On Saturday

All this time US had the air authority with the Apache helicoptors, and the Mahdi army used tactics like wait for a sandstorm and attack with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and roadside bombs. Then on Saturday someone shot a surface-to-air missile at the Apache Coptor. It missed and went overhead, but the threat is there, for the worried American military to change the way they use the coptors.

Then just after that happened it looks like the Iraq Gov has signed a truce. It took another day for the details to be finalised...Sunday. Hmmm change of course it seems to me. Is it to the best?

"Missile is fired at copter over Baghdad, U.S. says"


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Bin Laden, Bush & Phylosophy

I like basic phylosophy. This guy is "Slavoj Zizek, Slovenian philosopher, psychoanalyst and cultural theorist. He is author of more than fifty books, including the forthcoming In Defense of Lost Causes."

Remember when I was on about Bin Laden long time ago?

Here I was talking about how Bin Laden said before the Afghanistan war that he will bankrupt North America by tying them into war which will never end.

Here I sited an article which appeared in here about the interaction of Bin Laden And Bush.

So now this Slovenian philosopher is saying what is apparent to most of us. He says:

"I recently interviewed Slavoj Zizek here in the firehouse studio, just before he spoke at the Left Forum in New York. I began by asking Slavoj Zizek to talk about how he saw the dynamic between President Bush and Osama bin Laden.


SLAVOJ ZIZEK: I think that this is a deeper problem, in the sense that, of course, it would be easy to say they need each other, and I agree, at some level of ideological functioning. If you were to ask me to do a simple caricature for a journal, I would do it—you know that famous Escher paradoxical drawing of one hand drawing—two hands drawing each other? Know? One hand is drawing another person whose hand is again drawing—I think there definitely is, in this sense of a relationship between the two of them, in a way structurally they, the two, need each other."

Is that the reason why Bush never authorise the capture of Bin Laden>

This man talks simple things like Clinton is too political and she will not be able to do any difference from the present regime, But Barack is new and he might do something unexpected like recognize Cuba. Its dagerous policy but he explains that as in the past Nixon went to China to the horror of everyone in the ruling classes, but it worked. "......it’s that a true act creates the conditions of its own possibility. That is to say, it appears impossible, you do it, and the whole field changes: it’s possible."

Talking about Israel Jes and the Palestinians he says:

"First, of course, I have all my sympathies for Palestinians and so on, and maybe what the American public—because I visited Ramallah and all those places—doesn’t know enough is, you know, you only get news here of terror and so on.

You know what was for me the most devastating, frustrating thing? Not the big terror. There, one has to admit it. OK, they have their dirty side, but I mean, let’s face it: Israelis, they are not Nazis. It’s ridiculous. I mean, no, it’s—all this idea, a new holocaust, it’s ridiculous. Israelis are nonetheless relatively civilized and so on. These comparisons are tasteless. But what is really breathtaking—again, if you really visit ordinary Arab villages on the West Bank—it’s these—how should I call it?—micro-political everyday, legal and other annoyances to make life difficult.

Just to give you an example, do you know that if you are a farmer, Jewish or Palestinian, on the West Bank, as a Palestinian farmer, you are allowed to dig a hole for water only three inches deep—if you are Jewish, you can do whatever you want—claiming the—I don’t know what’s even the idea, that you will dig some tunnels for terrorists or whatever? Or you know that on the West Bank the big problem is water. As a Jewish farmer, you get seven times more water per capita, because this has to be distributed to [inaudible]. So this is so frustrating about Palestinians. They admit it, my god. This is not Nazism. They are not just picking us up on the street and shooting, but they’re trying on this micro level to make things so frustrating, impossible to live."

Nicely put. Subtle or what? Then he talkes about real problems we all go through. For the first time I realised racism as a problem which is just tolarated by people. What is there to tolerate... you are racist or not. Here are his words:

"We can show where the problem—for example, maybe you know it. I’ll briefly repeat it, my ultimate example: Racism. Racism, and so on, sexism, this is a problem. But are we aware that it’s not self-evident? The way we approach today this problem, we automatically read it, interpret it as a problem of tolerance. Wait a minute. Racism is not in itself a problem of tolerance. I [inaudible]—look at Martin Luther King’s speeches, you know? He almost doesn’t use the term “tolerance.” For him, racism is a problem of legislation, laws, economic exploitation, and so on and so on. I mean, it would be ridiculous for his dignity of Martin Luther King to say “We blacks want more tolerance from the whites,” in the same way as—you know this as a woman—it would be a ridiculous [inaudible] thing to say “We women want more tolerance from men,” or whatever. It’s not that.

So where we can enter, philosophers, is to say, “Wait a minute. Racism is a real problem, or sexism or whatever. Why? Why do we treat it as a problem of tolerance?” And here, I have an answer, old-fashioned Marxist one. It has to do with this breakdown of this great leftist politics, social welfare, and so on. We live in, what I’m tempted to claim, post-political universe, where politics is more and more a matter of expert administration and so on. So all conflicts which remain are then translated into cultural problems, problems of lifestyle, and so on, but then all that remains is to play the problem of tolerance and so on."


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Rice prices rising despite record world crop

""World paddy production in 2008 could grow by about 2.3 percent, reaching a new record level of 666 million tonnes, according to our preliminary forecasts," FAO rice expert Concepcion Calpe said in a statement.

"For the first time, paddy production in Asia may surpass the 600 million tonne benchmark this year, amounting to 605 million tonnes," Calpe said.

In Africa, rice output is forecast to grow 3.6 percent to 23.2 million tonnes in 2008, while output in Latin America and the Caribbean is seen rising 7.4 percent to 26.2 million tonnes, the FAO said."

It is clear now the wheat and rice had a bumper harvest last year. Wall street is it? Someone left a comment saying that Chicago Stock Market do not trade in commodities. But how the hell do I know? No seriously within the time limit I have I am looking into this subject of commodities and stock markets. Time I educated meself on the subject. Thanks for the comment.

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Lebanon

It simply was not Hezbollah fighting the government forves as all the western media said. It was the Hezbollah supporting the Government forces to attack a US backed Opposition group who tried to take over the government by a Coup.

"Hezbollah Foiled US Coup Bid In Lebanon - Report"

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New Zealand student debt levels reach $10 billion mark

"Last month, a national “day of action” was held in New Zealand to mark a new milestone: New Zealand’s collective student debt has reached $NZ10 billion. Demonstrations and other events took place in many of the country’s main centres and on tertiary campuses.

Student debt has sharply escalated under the Labour government. The most recent NZUSA Student Income & Expenditure Survey (2007) identified significant increases in students’ living costs and indebtedness, with average debt rising 54 percent since the survey was last conducted in 2004, and now topping $28,838 per person."

I hope someone got the money? What money...its a debt...to have a debt you do not need money. It is sheer lack of it I presume. Or am I daft?

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More than 20 killed as tornadoes strike the southern US

"More than 20 people were killed this weekend when at least 77 tornadoes touched down across the southern and southwestern United States. The storms claimed lives in Oklahoma, Georgia, and Missouri, while causing considerable damage in several other states. The latest wave of storms has helped to make 2008 the deadliest tornado season in a decade and the seventh deadliest since 1950, when such records first began being kept."

Yep 20 people dead not 20,000 init? Wonder whether this was created by US HAARP organisation. US,UK, Russians, Chinese; they all know how to create certain types of weather; if certain conditions can be predicted then it can be easier and heavier. Burmese Yyphoon was predicted 48hours earlier. Then there is no ground communications like we have here. Reason is decades of sanctions. Yeah I am noton the side of the fucking Burmese generals and the fucking army. Who put them there and keep them there. China? Chevron? hmmm



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The Dreams Come True

In early late 1990's I was telling me mates that if I won the lottery in the range of over 26 million I will buy a air craft carrier, medium size. Convert it into a communal ship by taking all the war mongering shite out. Then few thousand likely minded families live there and call it a sovereign country. No laws except what you feel at that time. No taxes... currency is equal to what ever the other currency we are working with. Everone is an ambassodor...even little babies. Every one represent something or another in your own age range.

Aha they are doing it. The Voyager has been launched and the first voyage been done. The bigger one to live on called Freedom something or another is already designed. Hope I win the lottery man



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Things I Feel, I Am; And Feel, Am I?

One of the weird things I remeber happening to me was; I was rushing down the railway path in Easton to get to the Doctor's. A freind of mine came across and said, "Hi Shariff How Are You?". I said "I am excellant, going to see my GP."

And that was that.



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Are We Testing Our Kids Too Much

What is in essence is the education of a child. Me as a child always feared the adults andt the system. System for me as a child is ...yep is... the society who is around me and watching and criticising me about any action I am involved in. So when I go to face an exam in school there is no difference from the stuff I go through at home. When I was a child they never listen to me, but at the same time I had to tell them what they wanted to hear. So now someone who is working on a new fucking system ..dont forget the system is discovered and adhered to safe guard the people who infource it on others..... is trying to get rid of this system and get his/her system on to make a lot of money from the wee children.


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End of Cheap Food Today On ITV 1

Spin is on. The Bankers after losing money on the credit market is trying to recoop the money back. And the guys have the insight into the media. Check ITV on 20:12 12/05/2008 called End of Cheap Food: ITV 1 from 8:00pm to 8:30pm....

This program started saying things like...when the global tepm went up they said that if you cut the car journeys, then we can do something to reverse the effect. but they were riding high on airplanes which did 1000L% mre harm.

So we now know that if we do not produce locally and depend on the outside for supply then we have a problem in the long run....which is now.

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Did You Know (tikka masala )

about tikka masala that,

"Perhaps the most widely reported explanation of the origins of the dish is that it was conceived in Glasgow in the late 1960s, when a customer, who found the traditional chicken tikka too dry, asked for some gravy.[1] The chef supposedly improvised a sauce from tomato soup, yogurt and spices.[2] "

Wicked I am waiting for comments on this. Likely stuff we British loves init?


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Did You Know

that, in UK

"According to recently published research, the number of cases of Incapacity Benefit “fraud” is so low it is almost impossible to measure accurately. It is estimated to account for less than 0.3 percent of total Incapacity Benefit payments."

"Basic Incapacity Benefit payment ranges from £63.75 on the “short-term lower late” to £84.50 on the “long-term higher rate.” Research conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2004 found that claimants on Incapacity Benefit and or Disability Living Allowance/Income Support met only 28 percent of the costs of people with low-medium needs, 30 percent of the costs of people with intermittent/fluctuating needs, 35 percent of the costs of deaf people and people with visual impairments and 50 percent of the costs of people with high-medium support needs."
"Britain: Welfare Reform Act to force sick and vulnerable into work"


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Drunk & Stoned What I feel Now

Watching this US "Police, Camera, Action" and the commentator is a bit wierd init? He maes me feel like , "Shite, I should be out there doing that, I mean be a perp."

Yeah that feeling has been working since I started wondering into this program when there is nothing about. So am I right to believe that the commentator who is a pig-bum sucker....well worse than that. He is in the corporate world making money for the pigs.

You know that it is an establihment of Po lice, which goes as far as we lived in communities as humans. They came after the prostitutes then after that came the surveyers. So if there is no crime in the streets then why do we need the po lice. They are a parasite. Everytime the crime rate goes down the coppers become less. They are equal forces, kept up for their own future progress. If one is not there.....So why don't we create more crime and there is more work for all of us, says some of us. If you are not with us you are with them, sir.


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Iranian in Iraq

Long time ago when the US were screaming that the road side bombs were imported from Iran, I discussed that the design of the bombs were a present from our Army boys to the Protestant crew in Northern Ireland to be used against the Catholics. Now I see this outburst from a Iraq Mahdi army Fighter.

"“Our bombs are not Iranian-made – they are produced locally,” said one commander. “Any Mahdi fighter can put one together.”"





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Nice Words

"They grinned, patted each other’s backs and uttered the greeting “Peace be with you”, before getting down to the business of war."



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Did You Know

That 13% of the American voters think Barack Obama is a Mulim.




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Mud Cookie Recipe

1 cup of grade 'A' mud.
1/2 cup of chopped grade 'A' earth worms.
2 pinches of vegetable shortening
Sugar, salt and other seasoning to taste.

Mix all together in a sterile bowl. Make flat biscuits and bake in the sun if the bugger is out, otherwise wait until it comes out.

This is the latest rage in Haiti. It is catching on and the Haitians are going to get the world market very soon. This is very good for obesity and the best to keep yourself skinny. You can appear in the TV like those people in 90's in Ethiopia.
Easy to learn slogan to sing along to.
“The perfect meal for down-to-earth folk; wash it down with a Diet Coke”





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Did You Know

"What does torture have in common with genocide, slavery, and wars of aggression? They are all jus cogens. Jus cogens is Latin for "higher law" or "compelling law." This means that no country can ever pass a law that allows torture. There can be no immunity from criminal liability for violation of a jus cogens prohibition."

From "Why John Yoo and Other Top Administration Lawyers Should be Investigated for War Crimes"






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The World Hunger Is Growing (Updated)

My last post

I am really glad that my first thoughts about this calamity is proved right after all this depressing news. The Bankers lost money from the bloody fracas they created out of bad credit. Now they want to make the money back. So how do they proceed. Buy the food stocks of the world and stockpile them. Then hold it increasing the price. Lots of people will die but who cares about it except lttle people like me who cry from inside. Everytime I throw a little bit of food, as they go bad I cringe from guilt. But the Bankers do not my dear friend. they laugh all the way to the.....

Listen to this article if you are not sure.

"Speculation in commodities – the first culprit

The immediate cause for the rise in food prices is the speculation in commodities mainly at the Chicago stock exchange. According to Jean Ziegler, one thousand billion dollars of the world money supply have been lost between October and January through market speculation on the world's stock exchanges. The big speculators, the hedge funds – that's not the Red Cross, says Jean Ziegler – now speculate in soya, rice, millet, wheat and corn. They are looking for maximum profit in agricultural raw materials and are thus pushing the prices up to an explosive level. They can buy up Brazil's entire soya harvest with only 5 % of real capital. This way they risk very little if the harvest turns out to be less than expected but they stand a good chance of making astronomical profits.

The cause is the speculation in commodities, the hedge funds that create money with money. It doesn't make money from production, from an industry, from creating something of value. It is a way of making gold with air ("Ils font de l'or avec du vent"). The speculators are not bothered with food security in the world; they go where they have to go to make maximum profits.

One thousand billion dollars of inherited property have been lost since October in the world's money markets which are no more profitable. The financial markets have collapsed. The margin of profit is negative. So where do they go? They go where the speculation is worthwhile and that is in agricultural raw materials.

Those speculators are criminals because we are dealing with crimes against humanity.

Since the bi-polar world system that existed before 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union, there have been no obstacles to the savage capitalism that has now conquered the world.

UNCTAD – United Nations Conference on Trade and Development – is trying to rein in the WTO, which is the neoliberal institution that above all supports deregulation and privatization. UNCTAD is making efforts to exert a stabilizing influence on speculation in the commodities markets. However, capitalist market forces are too strong to be subdued by the well-intentioned efforts of a UN organization."

The rest of the reasons for the problem is in the article.

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Digital TV

I have problems with the digital "Free View" TV. It goes out at the crucial moment in the plot; fucking "No Signal". I think the corporate bastards are doing it, so that, we have to buy a better system instead of the free.

I have noticed this in the digital TV. Can you remember whan they show a clip of 1920's camera clip of an old movie you can see the scene going a bit jerky. Yeah? You know what I mean?

That is what I felt whan I was watching snooker. The Ref as well as the perps in the plot move as in an old clip. Man! Am I going nuts? But I loves the feeling.

Comments are free and only I see them, until I say it can go public. You The Reader is sacred. Hope You feel the same way about me.


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London Mayoral Elections

My stupid view is that the Ken L lost the election because, he mixed himself with Islam and the Islamic priests who were in the western mind a bit revolutionists. The Jewish block brought the voters out in masses. I won't be surprised if later they find out that there was a bit of vote rigging. Zionists can go to these lengths even though they know they will be found out later.


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The Bombing of Syrian Nuclear Site

I mentioned this episode in some earlier posts they are:

This First.

And go down the page to 09:40 18/09/2007

Then this.

And go to the 10:50 27/09/2007 entry further down on the page.

This is the presentations to the Senate and House intelligence committees were meant to show that North Koreans were helping the Syrians build a plutonium reactor. The what follows after this will be easily understood if you watch this commentary. Promise it is not that long!!!!!



Online Videos by Veoh.com






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What I Really Like Others To Do When I Am Dead

I like my body except the dreads to go to scientific knowledgs. I like someone to look into my body and see how much repair went into the system since 1995 when I realised what is wrong with my body.

My dread locks have to be given to John Coyle (Scottish John) who lives in Cornwall now. I like him to ask someone to check whether my DNA (the rubbish units et al) have changed over the years. I started dreading in 1982. The dreads from that time which came off are there in a bag in my place.


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Did You Know

"Filling the gas tank of an SUV with pure ethanol requires more than 450 pounds of corn. This is enough calories to feed one person for a year."

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Did You Know

"Sixteen-year-old Charlene, who has a one-month-old son, relies on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt mixed with salt and vegetable shortening. This mud cookie sells for five cents on the street and some people can’t even afford this non-food meal which causes severe malnutrition, intestinal distress and contains potentially deadly toxins and parasites."

This is Haiti. Man we throw food away. Is there any one who cares?


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Oil Oil Everwhere But Not A Drop Cheap

The petrol prices are a record high. We are all suffering. But the oil companies are making record profits. The Gov is not interested in doing anything Why?

"BP has reported a 63 percent jump in profits in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago.

The oil company on Tuesday reported a profit of $7.6 billion compared to $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2007.

First-quarter profit was up 73 percent compared to the previous quarter.

BP's closely watched replacement cost profit rose 48 percent to $6.59 billion. This compared to US$4.44 billion in the first quarter of 2007."

Look at This.

"Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said Tuesday that first-quarter net profits leapt 25 percent to 4.58 billion pounds because of record-breaking crude oil prices.

Crude oil prices smashed record after record in the first quarter and hit an all-time high of almost 120 dollars per barrel on Monday on the back of a British refinery strike and simmering tensions in key producer Nigeria.

Net earnings on a current cost of supply (CCS) basis, excluding fluctuations in the value of inventories, were up 12 percent to 3.92 billion pounds in the three months ending March 31, compared with the same period of 2007."

And This.

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The Law Makers Of US And The MIC

"Who profits from the Iraq war? More than a quarter of senators and congressmen have invested at least $196 million of their own money in companies doing business with the Department of Defense (DoD) that profit from the death and destruction in Iraq."

"In 2004, the first full year after the present Iraq war began, Republican and Democratic lawmakers—both hawks and doves—invested between $74.9 million and $161.3 million in companies under contract with the DoD. In 2006 Democrats had at least $3.7 million invested in the defense sector alone, compared to the Republicans’ “only” $577,500. As the war raged on, so did the billions of profits—and personal investments by Congress members in war contractors, which increased 5 percent from 2004 to 2006."

So going to war is only way these wankers can make money. Man I wish I am a law maker.

Now this is what I wrote to BBC news "Have Your Say". I will post any replies if they appear in the BBC website.

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The World Hunger Is Growing

The question I asked myself is; from all the news so far I read it does not explain the increase in prices in such a short time. In this article I found it.

"As prices rose, major grain producers including Argentina and Ukraine, battling inflation caused in part by soaring oil bills, were moving to bar exports on a range of crops to control costs at home. It meant less supply on world markets even as global demand entered a fundamentally new phase. Already, corn prices had been climbing for months on the back of booming government-subsidized ethanol programs. Soybeans were facing pressure from surging demand in China. But as supplies in the pipelines of global trade shrank, prices for corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, rice and other grains began shooting through the roof.

At the same time, food was becoming the new gold. Investors fleeing Wall Street's mortgage-related strife plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into grain futures, driving prices up even more. By Christmas, a global panic was building. With fewer places to turn, and tempted by the weaker dollar, nations staged a run on the American wheat harvest.

Foreign buyers, who typically seek to purchase one or two months' supply of wheat at a time, suddenly began to stockpile. They put in orders on U.S. grain exchanges two to three times larger than normal as food riots began to erupt worldwide. This led major domestic U.S. mills to jump into the fray with their own massive orders, fearing that there would soon be no wheat left at any price.

"Japan, the Philippines, [South] Korea, Taiwan -- they all came in with huge orders, and no matter how high prices go, they keep on buying," said Jeff Voge, chairman of the Kansas City Board of Trade and also an independent trader. Grains have surged so high, he said, that some traders are walking off the floor for weeks at a time, unable to handle the stress.

"We have never seen anything like this before," Voge said. "Prices are going up more in one day than they have during entire years in the past. But no matter the price, there always seems to be a buyer. . . . This isn't just any commodity. It is food, and people need to eat.""

So the truth is that some WallStreet Bankers are the people responsible for this price rise. But why?



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The World Hunger Is Growing (All Up to Date)

My First Post:

This is somethong which I noticed in the news recently. the food shortage in the world.

"Two million children in India die and turn into statistics every year. That's about 6,000 deaths everyday. A CNN-IBN Special Investigation travelled to the rural heartlands of UP to document deaths and cases of malnutrition for a special edition of 30 Minutes. Here's the first installment from UP's Varanasi and Lalitpur districts."

In Booming India, Hunger Kills 6,000 Kids Daily

"The United Nations body World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the rise in global food prices will reduce its ability to feed hungry and malnourished people.

Speaking last month in Rome, where the WFP is based, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said, “Our ability to reach people is going down just as needs go up.... We are seeing a new face of hunger in which people are being priced out of the food market.... Situations that were previously not urgent—they are now.”

In a press release, the WFP gave a new estimate for the funds needed for its work this year at nearly US$3.5 billion, half a billion more than estimated last year. This money is for approved projects to feed 73 million people in 78 countries throughout the world. It notes that this money is for projected feeding schemes and does not include unforeseen emergencies that may arise.

It also notes that the poorest people on earth will have to spend an increasing portion of their meagre income on food. The WFP warns that these people will be forced to buy less food, or less nutritious food, or rely on outside help."

Global Food Prices Rise And Famine Increases

After Philliphines and Indonesia Cambodia has banned export of rice.

"Cambodia has become the latest Asian country to impose restrictions on exports of rice – the staple food for half the world's population.

The government announced the two-month export ban to ensure "food security" on Thursday, blaming surging overseas demand – particularly in Africa and the Middle East - for the skyrocketing cost of rice."

My Second Post:

Here I was looking at two places in the world who has problems with their staple diet, Rice.

"At least four Haitians were killed and around 25 others wounded in demonstrations-turned-riots in southern Haiti with U.N. peacekeepers, according to the local reports.

On the second day of demonstrations related to the anti-poverty and against the rising prices on Friday, riots broke out among the armed protesters and clashes were reported between the United Nations peacekeepers and the people.

Violence engulfed different parts of Haiti for the last two days over the rising food prices including rice, fruits and beans that have surged by more than 50 percent over the last 12 months in the region."

Yeah right, when you consider Haiti is colonised by the US and conned the UN to send peace keepers. Do not forget that the democratically elected prime minister, had to flee the country and living in Africa at the moment. That was US instigated riots.

"Haiti, which face food crisis that is threatening the country's vulnerable security, holds 8.5 million people with only marginal number of people earning less than two dollars per day.

"We know that these demonstrations have been infiltrated by individuals linked to drug dealers and other smugglers," Haiti's Prime Minister, Jacques Edouard Alexis, condemning the violence told BBC News report on Saturday.

He added that the country has already spent almost $10 million to curb the rising food prices and to make the food aid schemes available to the people."

I bet $8 million ended up in the prime minister's pockets init?

That is from "Food Riots Kill At Least Four, Dozens Injured In Haiti"

And there is a bit more here.

"A global rice shortage that has seen prices of one of the world's most important staple foods increase by 50 per cent in the past two weeks alone is triggering an international crisis, with countries banning export and threatening serious punishment for hoarders.

With rice stocks at their lowest for 30 years, prices of the grain rose more than 10 per cent on Friday to record highs and are expected to soar further in the coming months. Already China, India, Egypt, Vietnam and Cambodia have imposed tariffs or export bans, as it has become clear that world production of rice this year will decline in real terms by 3.5 per cent. The impact will be felt most keenly by the world's poorest populations, who have become increasingly dependent on the crop as the prices of other grains have become too costly."

But do not forget that US policy through the WTO made the American GM rice dirt cheap in the third world countries and people stopped growing their own rice, as it will not sell in their own country due to American rice.


"Analysts have cited many factors for the rises, including rising fuel and fertiliser expenses, as well as climate change. But while drought is one factor, another is the switch from food to biofuel production in large areas of the world, in particular to fulfil the US energy demands. A continuing change in the global diet is also putting a further squeeze on rice. In China, for example, 100 million rural migrants to the country's big cities have switched from a staple of wheat to rice as they have become wealthier."

From Egyptian workers riot over rising prices

"Thousands of demonstrators angry about rising prices and stagnant salaries torched buildings, looted shops and hurled bricks at police who responded with tear gas Sunday in a northern industrial town as Egyptians staged a nationwide strike.Thousands of demonstrators angry about rising prices and stagnant salaries torched buildings, looted shops and hurled bricks at police who responded with tear gas Sunday in a northern industrial town as Egyptians staged a nationwide strike."

The third Post:

Check my earlier posts this and this.

"Sri Lanka’s official annualised inflation rate skyrocketed to 28 percent in March, up from 24 percent in February. Prices for essential food items are soaring—the inflation rate for food and beverages reached a staggering 37 percent—while transport prices and housing rents followed with 24 percent and 11 percent respectively.

Over the past three months, the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) has jumped by 487 points, from 5,955 in December to 6,442 in March, and the impact is sharply eroding the living standards of workers, the rural poor and students. People are particularly angry because the price of rice, the main staple food in Sri Lanka, has nearly doubled since January last year, causing immense hardship. Worse conditions lie ahead. The government has admitted that bread prices could rise to 100 rupees by the end of this year, a threefold increase."

Anger grows over rising prices in Sri Lanka

So we have Phillipines, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, India, Egypt, Vietnam, Egypt, Haiti and now in Sri Lanka. In a way it is good that people can see the large differnce between how we in UK live and other countries. But will it be too late for us in the near future where we might have to tighten our belts or kill someone for a morsal of food? Hmmmm it is nice to see BBC news on the same subject. Please join the country India to the above list!!!!!

Forth Post:

Yeah BBC news and lots of media has taken up the issue. My last post, about the subject. In this article there is a bit more stats and different points of view.

"Never mind the economic crisis. Focus for a moment on a more urgent threat: the great food recession that is sweeping the world faster than the credit crunch. You have probably seen the figures by now: the price of rice has risen by three-quarters over the past year, that of wheat by 130%. There are food crises in 37 countries. One hundred million people, according to the World Bank, could be pushed into deeper poverty by the high prices.

But I bet that you have missed the most telling statistic. At 2,1-billion tonnes, the global grain harvest broke all records last year -- it beat the previous year's by almost 5%. The crisis, in other words, has begun before world food supplies are hit by climate change. If hunger can strike now, what will happen if harvests decline?"

Media so far has been telling a lie about the harvest init? They said the global harvest failed?

"The World Bank points out that "the grain required to fill the tank of a sports utility vehicle with ethanol ... could feed one person for a year". "

Oh dear, what fun?

"This year global stockpiles of cereals will decline by about 53-million tonnes; this gives you a rough idea of the size of the hunger gap. The production of biofuels will consume almost 100-million tonnes, which suggests that they are directly responsible for the current crisis."

Good on you Ruth Kelly, you are getting us into a muddle annd you knows it!

"While 100-million tonnes of food will be diverted this year to feed cars, 760-million tonnes will be snatched from the mouths of humans to feed animals -- which could cover the global food deficit 14 times. If you care about hunger, eat less meat.

While meat consumption is booming in Asia and Latin America, in the United Kingdom it has scarcely changed since the government started gathering data in 1974. At just over 1kg per person per week, it's still about 40% above the global average, though less than half the amount consumed in the United States.

We eat less beef and more chicken than we did 30 years ago, which means a smaller total impact. Beef cattle eat about 8kg of grain or meal for every kilogram of flesh they produce; a kilogram of chicken needs just 2kg of feed. Even so, our consumption rate is plainly unsustainable."

STOP: There is good news as well on the food front. For the people who like their spuds it is good news of course.

"The potato has potential as an antidote to hunger caused by higher food prices, a population that is growing by one billion people each decade, climbing costs for fertilizer and diesel, and more cropland being sown for biofuel production.

To focus attention on this, the United Nations named 2008 the International Year of the Potato, calling the vegetable a "hidden treasure"."

Read it here.



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Things I Feel, I Am; And Feel, Am I?

I was watching snooker and saw that sometimes the presentators do snide remarks on each other. But you can see in the face of the reciever a slight of the zero degree but it is there. Now can we do it in real time in normal circumstances or am I doing it now and I myself have not realised it.



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Snooker And Kick In A Shot.

Snooker: 'Kick' during a shot.

Those days when there were no 'kicks' on a snooker table, the boffins say the only difference is the thickness of the cloth.

If, when the white ball (WB) hits the object ball (OB), the white ball is moving towords the OB and the OB is stationary. So the cloth underneath the OB is stationary. The cloth underneath the WB is getting pushed by the WB. Somewhere before/after WB hits the OB there can be a little wrinkle due to the thinness of the cloth, which can make either ball react chaotically.


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Did You Know

Did you know that a drug dealer broke into a prison to deal drugs in that prison and there was a good chance for prisoners to escape and they did not do it; because it is so good in the prison that out side life is worse. You get drugs, whores and food with washed clothes, beds and warmth inside than outside. good one lets go to prison. Wonder how much the researcher knows about life inside?


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Are We Here And Now At Any Time?

I have been trying to practice to be here and now, as much of my life as possible. Reason for this was because I found out that my time is going faster as I grow older.
So I debated and the reason is; when I was a child I experienced a lots of things and the day seems to be longer. Then as I grew up I took most of the things for granted and new things I experienced become smaller and smaller. So the day is shorter by comparison.

Though there is another reason which propt up in the debate; say for instance the way we measure time from atoms, the time we measure from stars, and the time we measure from plant cells are mutually associated and the time is actually going faster.

So I came across this article about the same subject Here and Now. What the authour says is that we have so many gadgets when we are travelling or doing something like walking the park we are doing something else as well. Like in the bus how many people are on the phone, texting or emailing and not in the bus at all. Going for a walk some people listening to music. Are they acually there at all is what the man is saying.

"This morning on a crowded bus I counted six people within my immediate view, texting, talking on the cell phone, checking e-mail, listening to iPods. In other words, they were trying to keep the bus from being their only space, their only reality. And what was I doing? I recorded what I observed in my laptop, of course."

And then:

"As a result Buddhist teachings on mindfulness could very well be on the retreat. How can we be fully "here and now," how do we keep our ego in check, when we keep ogling the electronic mirror and watching ourselves gavotte? In our deep yearning to be noticed, and to reach some kind of immortality, we are increasingly making fools of ourselves."

Go on have a read.


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British government lied about 2007 Persian Gulf naval incident

I remember writing about this incident last year:

http://alwaysshariff.blogspot.com/2008/01/us-iranian-naval-incident_13.html

Now it is becoming clear that the Blair Gov lied about the incident all along.

"Secret Ministry of Defence documents released to the Times newspaper reveal that the British government lied about the circumstances surrounding the capture of 15 sailors and marines from HMS Cornwall in the Persian Gulf by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRG) in March 2007.

The navy personnel were part of Britain’s contingent in a US-led naval force mustered by the Bush administration aimed against Tehran, demanding that Iran end its nuclear programme and alleged sponsorship of the insurgency in Iraq. The US, with two aircraft carrier battle groups, had built up its largest naval presence in the region since it launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Britain had doubled the size of its naval presence over the preceding six months."

This is the WSWS article. All the main media are ignoring it as news. No surprises there.


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What Are Chinese Soldiers Doing In Zimbabwe?

THe Chinky soldiers were seen patrolling the streets of Zimbabwe, in the third largest city, Mutare.

"Earlier, 10 Chinese soldiers armed with pistols checked in at the city's Holiday Inn along with 70 Zimbabwean troops.

One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: "We've never seen Chinese soldiers in full regalia on our streets before. The entire delegation took 80 rooms from the hotel, 10 for the Chinese and 70 for Zimbabwean soldiers."

Officially, the Chinese were visiting strategic locations such as border posts, key companies and state institutions, he said. But it is unclear why they were patrolling at such a sensitive time. They were supposed to stay five days, but left after three to travel to Masvingo, in the south."

Chinese troops are on the streets of Zimbabwean city, witnesses say



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Did You Know

That the Iraq Gov has accumilated $30 billion in reserves; no wonder the US law makers are asking the Iraq to fund its war. Hmmmmmm... I likes it. We go and bomb the country and get rid of the puppet we put in there. Then we call it a war against terrorists who really are the freedom fighters. Then we say that country have to fund the war. What war?



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Water Is Getting Scarce In US Giggle Giggle

Now this is good for the story books. The 'Top Dog' of the world is running out of Water.

"So far we have assumed that we can undertake any development we want, wherever we want, or we could grow whatever we want, however we want, and that water will always be available to support that growth. In the process we are draining our aquifers, polluting our rivers, tampering with ecosystems and destroying the diversity of life -- as if nature is ours to be manipulated to suit our wants. It is time to change some of our practices."

Well the dog will have to lick itself now! Sweat might be enough for it.



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Did You Know

At the present moment in time The System can track you down the moment you use a Mobile Phone....cellphone for the uneducated North Americans. See this for example.

"During the question and answer session he responded as to the degree of involvement he might play in a hypothetical humanitarian exchange in Colombia. With Ingrid Betancourt’s mother, Yolanda Pulecio, present, the Venezuelan president revealed that Raúl Reyes presence in Ecuador was part of a hostage liberation plan coordinated with Chávez and Correa. “There was a third attempt at release; I asked Rafael Correa that it be done through Ecuador. This was why the FARC spokesman was in Ecuadoran territory. The French government itself was aware of that, with a commission aimed at Ecuador. That’s why they hunted him.” He recalled that the FARC commander Iván Márquez had mentioned that they could barely turn on a radio or a cellphone before having to take off running because the zone would immediately be attacked with missiles. "

From "You Have Io Have Power In Order to Change It.” Five Hours with Chávez.



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Hedge Fund Managers Get Rich When We Suffer

This is happening in US at the moment. Got to find out whether the same is happening in UK? Any ideas happy to read.

"The annual ranking of top hedge fund earners compiled by Alpha, a magazine that caters to wealthy and institutional investors, reports that the top money-maker, John Paulson, took home $3.7 billion last year, probably the richest singe-year haul in Wall Street history.

Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Company, was not the only multi-billion-dollar hedge fund winner. He was followed by George Soros, who took in $2.9 billion, and James H. Simons, who netted $2.8 billion.

The top 50 hedge fund managers took in a combined sum of $29 billion."

Thats filthy init?

"To place these astronomical figures in some perspective, the combined take of these 50 individuals is about the same as the annual gross domestic product of Kenya, a country of 32.5 million people, and a billion dollars less than the GDP of Sri Lanka, the home of 20 million people."

Now the article explains what it is compared to the rest of us:

"What do these gargantuan incomes say about the parasitism of American capitalism and the social inequities it engenders? If one takes Paulson’s income for all of 2007 and divides it by 365, one arrives at a daily take of $10, 137,000. This breaks down to $422,374 an hour, $7,040 a minute, and $117 per second.

The wage of the average American worker is about $17.50. If one were to assume that Paulson worked a 40-hour per week, 52-week schedule, his hourly “wage” would be 24,136 times that of the average worker in the US.

Every hour, Paulson took in a sum nearly equal to the median yearly income ($60,500) of seven American families. The combined $29 billion that went to the top 50 hedge fund managers is equivalent to the median annual income of 479,000 US families."



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The World Hunger Is Growing (Updated)

Yeah BBC news and lots of media has taken up the issue. My last post, about the subject. In this article there is a bit more stats and different points of view.

"Never mind the economic crisis. Focus for a moment on a more urgent threat: the great food recession that is sweeping the world faster than the credit crunch. You have probably seen the figures by now: the price of rice has risen by three-quarters over the past year, that of wheat by 130%. There are food crises in 37 countries. One hundred million people, according to the World Bank, could be pushed into deeper poverty by the high prices.

But I bet that you have missed the most telling statistic. At 2,1-billion tonnes, the global grain harvest broke all records last year -- it beat the previous year's by almost 5%. The crisis, in other words, has begun before world food supplies are hit by climate change. If hunger can strike now, what will happen if harvests decline?"

Media so far has been telling a lie about the harvest init? They said the global harvest failed?

"The World Bank points out that "the grain required to fill the tank of a sports utility vehicle with ethanol ... could feed one person for a year". "

Oh dear, what fun?

"This year global stockpiles of cereals will decline by about 53-million tonnes; this gives you a rough idea of the size of the hunger gap. The production of biofuels will consume almost 100-million tonnes, which suggests that they are directly responsible for the current crisis."

Good on you Ruth Kelly, you are getting us into a muddle annd you knows it!

"While 100-million tonnes of food will be diverted this year to feed cars, 760-million tonnes will be snatched from the mouths of humans to feed animals -- which could cover the global food deficit 14 times. If you care about hunger, eat less meat.

While meat consumption is booming in Asia and Latin America, in the United Kingdom it has scarcely changed since the government started gathering data in 1974. At just over 1kg per person per week, it's still about 40% above the global average, though less than half the amount consumed in the United States.

We eat less beef and more chicken than we did 30 years ago, which means a smaller total impact. Beef cattle eat about 8kg of grain or meal for every kilogram of flesh they produce; a kilogram of chicken needs just 2kg of feed. Even so, our consumption rate is plainly unsustainable."

STOP: There is good news as well on the food front. For the people who like their spuds it is good news of course.

"The potato has potential as an antidote to hunger caused by higher food prices, a population that is growing by one billion people each decade, climbing costs for fertilizer and diesel, and more cropland being sown for biofuel production.

To focus attention on this, the United Nations named 2008 the International Year of the Potato, calling the vegetable a "hidden treasure"."

Read it here.


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Why Israel Does Not Want Peace

This article written by Uri Avnery is quite enlightening specialy this:

"WHAT IS the heart of peace? A border.

When two neighboring peoples make peace, they fix, first of all, the border between them.

And that is precisely what the Israeli establishment opposes, because it negates the basic ethos of the Zionist enterprise.

True, at different points in time the Zionist movement has drawn up maps. After World War I, it submitted to the peace conference the map of a Jewish state extending from the Litani River in Lebanon to El-Arish in the Sinai desert. The map of Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky, which became the Irgun emblem, copied the borders of the original British Mandate on both sides of the Jordan. Israel Eldad, one of the Stern Group leaders, distributed for many years a map of the Israeli Empire that reached from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates and included all of Jordan and Lebanon, with great chunks of Syria and Egypt thrown in. His son, the extreme right-wing Member of the Knesset Arieh Eldad, has not given up this map. And after the Six Day War, the map favored by the right-wing covered all the conquests, including the Golan Heights and the entire Sinai peninsula.

But all these maps were only games. The real Zionist vision does not recognize any maps. It is a vision of a state without borders - a state that expands at all times according to its demographic, military and political power. The Zionist strategy resembles the waters of a river flowing to the sea. The river snakes through the landscape, goes around obstacles, turns left and right, flowing sometimes on the surface and sometimes underground, and on its way takes in more springs. In the end it reaches its destination.

That is the real agenda, unchanging, hidden, conscious and unconscious. It does not need decisions, formulations or maps, because it is encoded in the genes of the movement. This explains, among other things, the phenomenon described in the report of senior prosecution lawyer Talia Sasson on the settlements: that all the organs of the establishment, the government and the military, without any official coordination but with miraculously effective cooperation, acted to set up the "illegal" settlements. Every one of the thousands of officials and officers who spent decades involved in this enterprise knew exactly what to do, even without receiving any instructions.

That is the reason for David Ben-Gurion's refusal to include in the Declaration of Independence of the new State of Israel any mention of borders. He did not intend for a minute to be satisfied with the borders fixed by the United Nations General Assembly resolution of November 29, 1947. All his successors had the same approach. Even the Oslo agreements delineated "zones" but did not fix a border. President Bush accepted this approach when he proposed a "Palestinian state with provisional borders" - a novelty in international law.

In this respect, too, Israel resembles the United States, which was founded along the Eastern seaboard and did not rest until it had reached the Western shores on the other side of the continent. The incessant stream of mass immigration from Europe flowed on westwards, breaching all borders and violating all agreements, exterminating the Native Americans, starting a war against Mexico, conquering Texas, invading Central America and Cuba. The slogan that drove them on and justified all their actions was coined in 1845 by John O'Sullivan: "Manifest Destiny".

The Israeli version of "Manifest Destiny" is Moshe Dayan's slogan "We are fated". Dayan, a typical representative of the second generation, made two important speeches in his life. The first and better known was delivered in 1956 at the grave of Roy Rutenberg of Nahal Oz, a kibbutz facing Gaza: "Before their [the Palestinians in Gaza] very eyes we turn into our homestead the land and villages in which they and their forefathers have lived This is the fate of our generation, the choice of our life - to be prepared and armed, strong and tough - or otherwise, the sword will slip from our fist, and our life will be snuffed out."

He did not mean only his own generation. The second, lesser known speech is more important. It was delivered in August 1968, after the occupation of the Golan Heights, before a rally of young Kibbutzniks. When I asked him about it in the Knesset, he inserted the entire speech into the Knesset record, a very unusual procedure in our parliament.

This is what he told the youth: "We are fated to live in a permanent state of fighting against the Arabs For the hundred years of the Return to Zion we are working for two things: the building of the land and the building of the people That is a process of expansion, of more Jews and more settlements That is a process that has not reached the end. We were born here and found our parents, who had come here before us It is not your duty to reach the end. Your duty is to add your layer to expand the settlement to the best of your ability, during your lifetime ... (and) not to say: this is the end, up to here, we have finished."

Dayan, who was well versed in the ancient texts, probably had in mind the phrase in the Chapter of the Fathers (a part of the Mishnah, which was finished 1800 years ago and formed the basis of the Talmud): "It is not up to you to finish the work, and you are not free to stop doing it."

That is the hidden agenda. We must haul it up from the depths of our unconscious minds to the realm of consciousness in order to face it, to reveal the terrible danger inherent in it, the danger of an eternal war which may in the fullness of time lead this state to disaster.

Approaching the 60th anniversary of the state, we must draw a line under this chapter of our history, exorcise the dybbuk and say clearly: yes, we have ended the chapter of expansion and settlement.

This will enable us to change the course of the river. To put an end to the occupation. To dismantle the settlements. To make peace. To effect a reconciliation with the neighboring people. To turn Israel into a peaceful, democratic, secular and liberal state, that can devote all its resources to the creation of a flourishing, modern society.

And first of all: to agree on a border."

Scary for the non Jewish people world wide. So Zionists are ready to take the rest of the world. That is like in pre WW2 time when Jews were hated all over Europe init?


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