Sunday, October 27, 2013
Ghost
Artist: Clutch
Scenes from the movie "The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford"
The leather soles go shufflin' in
Stinking of smoke and ten cent gin
Now who will toast our noble host
Who has this mornin' given up the ghost?
The wooden coffer hand to hand
Kind words are offered silent prayers
But she is satisfied the most
While stabbing madly at the roast
The rib of adam the eyes of eve
The sons of cain receive no reprieve
The rib of adam the eyes of eve
The sons of cain receive no reprieve
The creditor rides with his men
The death of debtors he won't forgive
They repossess his silver eyes
Now in the potter's field he lies
The rib of adam the eyes of eve
The sons of cain receive no reprieve
The rib of adam the eyes of eve
The sons of cain receive no reprieve
Waitin' for a dead man's shoes
Have you heard the latest news?
Lazarus is back from the dead
Lookin' as one would expect
Drippin' with the waters of sheol
Babblin' about body and soul
And then he found his wife in their bed
Buck naked and already wed
The tax collector beneath his sheets
The door swings open floorboards creak
Now who will toast our noble host
Who has this mornin' given up the ghost?
The rib of adam the eyes of eve
The sons of cain receive no reprieve
The rib of adam the eyes of eve
The sons of cain receive no reprieve
The rib of adam the eyes of eve
The sons of cain will receive no reprieve
The rib of adam the eyes of eve
The sons of cain will receive will receive
Al-Andalus: History Of Islam In Spain
Al Andalus -- History of Spain is documentary from BBC4, Britain . The moderator is Bettany Hughes is a historian, author and broadcaster who has spent the last twenty years sharing knowledge about the world's civilizations and culture with a wide audience. She is a Research Fellow of King's College London and has been made an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff University. She has taught at Bristol, Manchester, Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
The two hour programme reminded us that in Spain, Islam was a culture of phenomenal innovation which continually emphasized the importance of learning. France's largest library at the time contained 700 books. The library in Cordoba, Spain, on the other hand, contained over half a million volumes. People converted to Islam because they believed the religion was attractive and offered them something of value. The Muslims in Spain built a culture that was the very pinnacle of civilized life. And when later the rest of Europe underwent a massive intellectual and cultural revolution -- the Renaissance, the programme convincingly asserted that the Renaissance was the continuation of an intellectual process that had begun centuries earlier in Islamic Spain.
After been vast studies of history, there was no others religion that have a vast and dynamic structure of economy, politics and knowledge. Why most non- Muslim converted to Muslim at the time. It because of the religion itself have their own law in governance the wealth, social structure and intellectual power.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Full Moon
“The Chinese considered the moon to be yin, feminine and full of negative energy, as opposed to the sun that was yang and exemplified masculinity. I liked the moon, with its soft silver beams. It was at once elusive and filled with trickery, so that lost objects that had rolled into the crevices of a room were rarely found, and books read in its light seemed to contain all sorts of fanciful stories that were never there the next morning.”
[Quote by Yangsze Choo, The Ghost Bride... Provided by CZ]
Taken on: May 7, 2009
Location: Near Yangshuo, China
Our Harsh Logic: Inside Israel's Army
Michael Enright in conversation with Dana Golan, a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
She and many other former Israeli soldiers, say they feel betrayed by the harsh orders they were forced to carry out against the Palestinians. Others speak of the numbing inevitability of the callous tactics they used.
Ms. Golan is the former executive director of the Israeli NGO, Breaking the Silence, which compiled the stories of disillusioned Israeli soldiers in a new book called Our Harsh Logic.
Background:
The Second Palestinian Intifada claimed more than 4,000 lives between 2000 and 2005. Roughly three Palestinians died for every Israeli.
It was a brutal conflict, marred by suicide bombings and rocket attacks on one side, and deadly counter-strikes, indiscriminate raids and widespread repression on the other.
The World Bank estimates that after the four and half year conflict, Palestinians' average income dropped by more than a third, and unemployment hit 25 percent, forcing almost half of all Palestinians below the poverty line.
Tel Aviv's most important weapon in its war against Palestinian militants, was the Israeli Defence Forces.
The IDF is one of the most powerful, precise and well-trained armies in the world. It is tasked with upholding the four tenets of Israeli policy: stop terrorism; pursue separation of Israel from the Palestinian population; enforce Israeli law in the Territories and preserve the Palestinian "fabric of life".
All four tenets are supposed to be defensive and preventative, but for Israeli soldiers on the front lines, reality is far more complicated.
IDF soldiers cab do anything, and rationalize it as defending Israel. Mock arrests, endless checkpoints, human shields ... anything goes.
Many soldiers chafed at the callous tactics they were ordered to use.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Egypt's Lobby By Proxy Wields Outsize Influence In DC
Washington's soft line on Cairo's military coup is shaped by pro-Israel and defense lobbies, not democracy
By Zaid Jilani
News recently broke that the Obama administration would be cutting military aid to Egypt in response to the country's military coup and its crackdown against nonviolent protesters. These cuts will be limited and include $250 million in cash assistance and the nondelivery of Apache helicopters and other military hardware. The president's action is "more of a symbolic slap than a punishing wound to the military-backed government," The Associated Press reported. "(The U.S.) will keep providing support for health and education and counterterrorism, spare military parts, military training and education, and border security and security assistance in the Sinai Peninsula."
Why did the Obama administration take so long to cut funding to Egypt's military government? And why is it that the administration failed to cut off all military aid to Egypt, as U.S. law requires in the event of a military coup?
One way countries maintain influence in Washington is by employing lobbyists. But during all of last year up until the beginning of this month, Egypt had no lobbyists in Washington. Indeed, the Egyptian government ended its contracts with high-powered Washington lobbyists Tony Podesta, Bob Livingston and others in January 2012.
So how did Egypt maintain so much influence from January 2012 through October 2013 that it maintained its military-aid package without having to employ any lobbyists, even as the military massacred nonviolent activists and cracked down on independent media?
The answer is that Egypt's military didn't need its own lobbyists because there are already very powerful pro-coup lobbies in place: the pro-Israel lobby and the defense industry.
The True Egypt Lobby
In late July, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced an amendment to redirect $1.5 billion in Egyptian aid to rebuilding U.S. infrastructure instead. The amendment was soundly defeated, with 86 nay votes. Why did the amendment meet such opposition? The Daily Beast's Ali Gharib noted one salient factor: the principal issue during floor debate was whether the amendment would hurt Israel.
For example, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said the Senate must consider the "implications for U.S. national security and for our ally Israel." He later said, "When you have hundreds of tunnels in the Sinai being used by extremists to send weapons into Gaza to attack Israel, it is about their security."
Menendez's framing of the Egyptian-aid question likely pleased his financial backers. Data from the Center for Responsive Politics show that he received more money from the pro-Israel lobby than any other victorious senator in the 2012 races (The only candidate who received more was Nevada's Shelley Berkley, who lost.)
"We do not support cutting off all assistance to Egypt at this time, as we believe it could increase the instability in Egypt and undermine important U.S. interests and negatively impact our Israeli ally,"urged the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most vocal pro-Israel lobbying group, in an open letter to Menendez before the vote.
Some senators even went so far as to cite AIPAC's position as decisive. "The fact is, AIPAC and the Israelis are adamantly opposed to this amendment," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said. He recently switched his position as human-rights abuses have grown more severe.
However, other best friends of the pro-Israel lobby in Congress continue to defend aid to Egypt. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., told ABC News in August that he does not think it is time to suspend U.S aid. "Egypt's an important country," he said. "We have to be very careful before we willy-nilly just cut off aid."
With hundreds dead after a brutal military crackdown, it is not entirely clear what action Engel would not deem willy-nilly. But it is worth noting that Engel received $94,150 from the pro-Israel lobby during the last election cycle, the second most he received from any group.
Egypt has multiyear contracts with U.S. weapon manufacturers that allow purchases before congressional appropriations to pay for them.
In addition, the Israeli government has joined the domestic pro-Israel lobby in pushing to keep U.S. aid to Egypt. "Israel plans this week to intensify its diplomatic campaign urging Europe and the United States to support the military-backed government in Egypt despite its deadly crackdown on Islamist protesters, according to a senior Israeli official involved in the effort," Judi Rudoren reportedin the New York Times in August, when pressure mounted for the administration to cut off aid.
Egypt's Hired Guns
In the second week of October, after the Obama administration's "symbolic slap," Egypt's military government finally hired its own lobbyists. It chose the Glover Park Group, a lobbying shop staffed primarily by top-level Democrats that has also been retained by Lockheed Martin, JPMorgan Chase and other powerful interests.
The choice of Glover Park is not surprising. The firm's Democratic Party–aligned staffers are likely to have the most influence with the Democratic administration. For example, Glover Park's managing director of government affairs is Susan Brophy, who served as White House deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of legislative affairs for President Bill Clinton. The firm has hired Jennifer Loven, The Associated Press' White House correspondent for the first two years of the Obama administration. Her lobbying clients include the American Bankers Association, the Nigerian government and the Campaign to Fix the Debt. Former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers also works at Glover Park. The first woman to be White House press secretary, Myers is an avowed supporter of women's rights and wrote a 2008 book titled "Why Women Should Rule the World." She now works for a firm representing a government unable or unwilling to protect women who have been subject to sexual assault by both demonstrators and the military.
Several other staffers at Glover Park are tied to the Israel lobby. Jason Boxt, senior vice president at the firm, was the national deputy political director at AIPAC, which is "one of the most influential lobbying organizations in the United States," his bio boasts. Arik Ben-Zvi, a Glover Park managing director, worked for Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign, giving him cachet in Democratic politics, and served as a consultant for "national and local elections in Israel," as his bio on the firm's site states. Matt Mandel, a Glover Park vice president, worked in the legislative department of AIPAC.
Joined By The Defense Lobby
The efforts of the domestic pro-Israel lobby and Egypt's new salesmen in Washington are matched by another center of influence: supporters of the massive U.S. defense industry. Egypt's military is "doing the right thing," Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., said in an interview with Al-Monitor in late July. "I think we have to be very careful to not do anything to disrupt their movement toward getting back to democracy."
McKeon is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the top recipient of defense-industry cash in Congress. In fact, he gets more defense- industry dollars than any other two members of Congress combined.
U.S. weapon contractors are heavily invested in Egypt. For example, General Dynamics is still processing a $395 million Egyptian tank contract it received in 2011, for which some of the work will be completed by a plant in Tallahassee, Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., not only opposed Paul's amendment but also, in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, called for a restructuring of aid to Egypt that might include material to combat Egypt's "internal" threats, like "Islamists who want to turn the country into another Islamist-run" country — a clear reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Rewarding members of Congress with campaign donations and jobs in their districts is not the only recourse for private contractors dependent on government largesse. Thanks to a system called cash-flow financing, Egypt has multiyear contracts with U.S. weapon manufacturers that allows purchases before congressional appropriations to pay for them. These are essentially unfinished contracts, and if "aid were cut," Thomas Hedges writes, "defense contractors would overwhelm the U.S. government with lawsuits demanding compensation for lost profits."
Who Speaks For Democracy?
The backlash against Obama's modest step by some of these unofficial lobbyists has already begun. "I am disappointed that the administration is planning to partially suspend military aid to Egypt," said Engel in response to the move. "During this fragile period, we should be rebuilding partnerships in Egypt that enhance our bilateral relationship, not undermining them."
"This White House is trying to have it both ways," said Morris Amitay, a former executive director of AIPAC. "It's doing just enough to alienate the Egyptian military, who we will need to preserve the peace, and to alienate those people in Congress demanding tougher action because of the coup. Either way, it's a lose-lose proposition, with grave implications for stability and our already eroding credibility in the region."
One Israeli official said to The New York Times, "If America is seen to be turning its back on Egypt, an old ally, how will it be seen? People will see it as the United States dropping a friend."
Thus the mystery of Egypt's lack of a strong lobby in Washington is solved. Egypt's military government has finally hired its own registered Beltway lobbyists, but they join a chorus of other powerful pro-coup lobbyists for domestic pro-Israel and military-contract interests.
All this influence peddling has come at the price of democracy. First, the Israel lobby and the defense industry advance interests contrary to Egypt's pro-democracy activists. Second, the the will of the American people, 6 in 10 of whom say aid to Egypt's military government should be reduced or eliminated, is being ignored. If money and special-interest lobbying did not so distort the U.S political process, if the country were a genuine democratic republic, Congress and the Obama administration would take a harder line.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
NSA Spied 124.8 Billion Phone Calls In A Month
While the majority of calls reportedly originated in the Middle East, an estimated 3 billion of the calls originated in the U.S.
According to a collection of the reports and leaked classified government files, the monitored calls took place throughout the month of January 2013 and tallied to 124.8 billion.
The map view seems to be captured on Jan 8, 2013, and captures reflects the last 30 days, just like the org views. (Declassify date: Jan 1, 2032), and is giving is some totals. There ought to be an Org view for each of the countries on the map view. According to the FAQ, the org views appear to have the ability to drill down further than we've seen so far. The caveat here is the the FAQ warns that the totals on the Org and map views are not the same, be that as it may, we still should have some idea based on the published images.
Pakistan: 12.76 BillionAfghanistan: 21.98 BillionIndia: 6.28 billionIraq: 7.8 billion? (blurry image)Saudi Arabia: 7.8 billion ? (blurry image)United States: 3 Billion? (blurry image)Egypt: 1.9 Billion ? (blurry image)Iran: 1.73 BillionJordan: 1.6 BillionGermany: 361 MillionFrance: 70.2 MillionSpain: 61 MillionItaly: 46 MillionNetherlands: 1.8 Million
The rest of the world: Lots and Lots
Total: 124.8 billion.
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