Monday, February 6, 2012

Iran Deploys Ships In Response To USA Aggression


Two Iranian naval ships have docked in the Saudi port of Jeddah.

Iranian officials say the move aims to project the country’s “power on the open seas” and “confront Iranophobia.”

­The supply ship Kharg and destroyer Shaid Qandi docked in the Red Sea port in line with orders from the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Iran’s news agency, Fars.

“This mission aims to show the power of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the open seas and to confront Iranophobia,” Fars quoted navy commander Admiral Habibollah Sayari as saying.

The commander added that the mission would last between 70 and 80 days, but did not specify its route.

Tehran says boosting its naval presence in international waters is in part motivated by the need to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates.

This is why Iranian vessels were deployed to the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. For the first time ever, it also sent two naval vessels into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.

The rise in Iran’s naval activity comes amid a steep deterioration of its relations with the West. Its ties with Saudi Arabia are also in poor health, and have gone downhill fast since America accused Tehran of masterminding a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

As if that weren’t enough, relations between Tehran and Riyadh deteriorated further after EU countries agreed to impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports over the country’s nuclear program.

In return, Tehran assured the European Union that it is not afraid of its sanctions and that the EU would be the one to suffer.

However, Saudi Arabia quickly offered to make up for any shortfall in Europe’s oil supplies. Tehran, in response, called on Riyadh to reconsider, saying its move was unfriendly.



The EU oil embargo has also increased tensions in the Strait of Hormuz – a vital link for oil transit between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. 

Iran has threatened to block the Strait in the past, and its determination was underlined when a senior official said Iran would “definitely” close the Strait of Hormuz if the EU oil embargo disrupted the export of crude oil.

The situation around the Strait and the Iranian nuclear program – which the country states is purely peaceful – has already prompted Washington to send squadrons of war ships into the area, while Britain and France have expressed willingness to back the US navy in opposing attempts by Iran to block the Strait.

Claiming that Iran has also succeeded in building a long-range missile capable of putting the US within its reach.

These latest statements are very much in line with the position of allies who are accusing Iran of using its nuclear industry to mask plans to develop nuclear arms, a charge official Tehran has frequently and vehemently denied.

The attack would allegedly occur before it enters a so-called “immunity zone” before Iran has time to fortify its nuclear facilities against attack.

Iran Cautions Allies Of Warmongering USA


A senior Iranian military official says Tehran will attack any country used by “enemies” to launch a military strike against his country.

The statement comes amid growing tensions between Iran and the West.

­“Any spot used by the enemy for hostile operations against Iran will be subjected to retaliatory aggression by our armed forces,” the deputy head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said Sunday according to Iran’s Fars news agency.

The official did not name any particular country suspected of acting as a launching pad for military action against Iran, and the six Gulf Arab states considered to be US allies have said they would not allow their territories to be used for attacks on Iran.

Meanwhile, two Iranian naval ships docked in the Saudi port of Jeddah a move Iranian officials say aims to project the country’s “power on the open seas” and “confront Iranophobia.”

Salami’s statement comes as the Revolutionary Guard conducts two-day ground exercises some say are dedicated to demonstrate Iranian military strength.

The Revolutionary Guard is a branch of Iran’s military established to protect the country’s Islamic system.

It is not Tehran’s first warning amid rising tensions with the West. Earlier, Iran warned that any military action against it would result in a “painful” response on Israeli and US bases in the Gulf.



Iran also threatened to close off the vital Gulf oil shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz if becomes subject to oil export sanctions.

Iran’s nuclear program has long been a stumbling block between the country and the West.

The tensions escalated after an IAEA report claimed Iran had worked on developing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has many times denied, reiterating that its nuclear activities are purely peaceful.

­Though UN inspectors failed yet again to find any traces of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, Washington and Tel Aviv are sure to come up with an alleged secret location where Tehran is building nuclear weapons, says Kamel Al Wazne, a political analyst in Beirut.

“Probably, they think if Iran become capable of building a nuclear weapon – this would be devastating to them,” Al Wazne said, predicting that “before six months we might be heading into a major confrontation in the Persian Gulf.”

Turks Talk Turkey About Rumors Of World War III


Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has urged diplomacy to resolve Western concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, warning that a military strike will result in a “disaster.”

“A military option will create a disaster in our region. So before that disaster, everybody must be serious in negotiations. We hope soon both sides will meet again but this time there will be a complete result,” Davutoglu said during a speech at the Munich Security Conference, a gathering of security officials and diplomats.

“If there is strong political will and mutual confidence being established, this issue could be resolved in a few days,” he said. “The technical disputes are not so big. The problem is mutual confidence and strong political will.”




The United States, Israel and accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program and used this pretext to push for international and unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic as well as calls for a military attack on the country.

A Washington Post article revealed US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June” and that the Obama administration is “conducting intense discussions about what an Israeli attack would mean for the United States.”

On the same day, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that if Western sanctions against Iran fail to stop its nuclear program, military action against the country must be an option.

“Should sanctions fail to stop Iran’s nuclear program, there will be a need to consider taking action,” Barak said.

Iran has refuted the allegations over its nuclear program, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful use.

Iranian officials have also promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.

Green Projects Are Small Part Of Overall Takeover

NOW THAT IS THE TRUTH

Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy.

They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.

They are showing up at planning meetings to denounce bike lanes on public streets and smart meters on home appliances — efforts they equate to a big-government blueprint against individual rights.

“Down the road, this data will be used against you,” warned one speaker at a recent Roanoke County, Va., Board of Supervisors meeting who turned out with dozens of people opposed to the county’s paying $1,200 in dues to a nonprofit that consults on sustainability issues.

Iran Not At Fault As USA Steps Up Efforts To Ignite War

Almost every day brings some new barrage of fear-mongering lies and vaporous accusations from leading members of the Obama Administration and other nabobs at the top of the political-media elite, all of them aimed relentlessly at one goal: justifying military action against Iran.


 
It is an almost exact replay of what we saw in 2002-2003 during the build-up to the war of aggression against Iraq – with one significant exception. The “progressive” opposition to the baseless warmongering is virtually non-existent this time around – because the warmonger-in-chief is their own champion, their partisan standard-bearer.

Many voices that hurled thunderous denunciations at the Bush Regime for its brazen manipulations toward a baseless and unjustified war are now silent – that is, if they are not actively supporting the increasingly rabid saber-rattling by the Peace Laureate.

To them, Obama’s re-election is more important than anything on earth: certainly more important than the thousands (or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands) of innocent people who will die in the long-running, far-reverberating hellstorm that an attack on Iran will create.

So now there is even less resistance to the fever-stoking against Iran. Yet what is playing out before our eyes is even more brazen than the build-up to the war crime against Iraq.

Right now, in real time, in real life, the Obama administration and its allies in warmongering are telling the American people, over and over, that Iran is preparing terrorist strikes in the United States, that Iran is joining hands with Al Qaeda, that Iran is killing American soldiers in Afghanistan (just as they did in Iraq), that Iran is building long-range missiles that launch their nearly-completed nuclear weapons straight into the Heartland.

The Obama administration is carefully – and deliberately and knowingly – building up the Iranian “threat” to such monstrous heights that it will be impossible to back down: Tehran terrorists striking in the Homeland with Al Qaeda while they ready their nukes to destroy America – we’re supposed to negotiate with such monsters?

There is only one way to save our sweet little children from nuclear obliteration – strike the Persian aggressors before they kill us! It’s a plain case of self-defense.

There is of course absolutely no substance to any of this. There is no substance to the claim that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. And there would be no “threat” to the United States if they did build one.

And no threat to Israel either, which is sitting there with its vast nuclear arsenal, fully able – right now, in real time, in real life – to “wipe Iran from the map” at the push of a button.

The only “threat” Iran poses – with or without nuclear weapons – is to the domination of the Middle East and its oil wealth by the American elite and its international partners.

Yet here we are, genuinely on the brink of another war – a war which will make the mass-murdering, $3 trillion FUBAR in Iraq and Afghanistan look like the Summer of Love.

Yet the “professional Left” is bending all its might to re-elect the perpetrator behind this Bush-like push for aggressive war. (And of course the professional Right is fully on board.) Can anything stop this runaway train?

In his latest post, Arthur Silber lays out a number of practical, effective steps that can be taken today to bring the danger of this lunatic course to public consciousness.

They are there if anyone wants to take them up – especially those in the “dissident” world who already have a broad media platform, and could leverage that position to force this issue to the forefront.

Will anyone do it?

Like Silber, I have my doubts. But the alternative is a numb acquiescence to an enormous evil being prepared right in front of us. If it happens, no one can say that they didn’t see it coming.

When the thousands lie dying and the world grows darker, the only question will be this: Did you try to stop it, or not?

Mandatory Poison Vaccines Upcoming For All Americans

Every male between the ages of 11 and 21 should get a Gardasil vaccine for cervical cancer, and those between the ages of 13 and 21 should also get “catch-up” shots later down the road.

This is only the opinion of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), of course, which recently announced its final recommendations for the controversial vaccine.


 
CBS News reports that, as a followup to its earlier, but incomplete, recommendation back in the fall that boys be given HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines in addition to girls, the CDC has now formalized its position in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, as well as in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The agency is basically now recommending that all young men and women get the Gardasil vaccine.

The CDC announcement comes just days after Canadian health officials made a similar announcement recommending that all boys between the ages of nine and 26 in that country be jabbed with Gardasil.

Together, the two announcements could potentially double profits for the vaccine, that is if enough members of the public are foolish enough to actually comply with these new recommendations.

Many of ACIP’s members are nominated directly by the drug industry, and often have significant financial ties to vaccine manufacturers.

So it is really no surprise that ACIP has made such egregious recommendations without considering the fact that Gardasil has been shown to be medically useless for its stated purpose, and a significant threat to health in many cases.

Dr. Carol Baker, executive director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research, and huge proponent of vaccines, is head of ACIP, which made the recommendation.

And Dr. Larry Pickering, executive secretary of ACIP and senior advisor to the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, also has an extensive history working for groups that promote vaccines.

Thousands of young girls around the world have suffered debilitating, permanent neurological damage from getting the Gardasil series of shots.

Many of them are now paralyzed as well, and suffer from chronic autoimmune disorders, extreme fatigue, and incapacitating muscle weakness, and at least 100 girls have died.

If boys start getting the shot as well, you can expect a massive upswing in serious negative side effects and deaths among this segment of the population as well.



The fact of the matter is that Gardasil is a dangerous, unproven vaccine that has no place in medicine. And yet health officials are all too eager to recommend it to practically everyone as if it was some type of miracle treatment.

Unemplyment Totals Even More Federal Government Lies

The most recent unemployment number is a total lie, and that lie was repeated all over the mainstream media (MSM). 

Two sins were committed here, and I don’t know which one is worse. 

The report was a sham, and the MSM reported that information without a single question about its accuracy.


In a story carried across the MSM spectrum, the Associated Press said, “In a long-awaited surge of hiring, companies added 243,000 jobs in January – across the economy, up and down the pay scale and far more than just about anyone expected. Unemployment fell to 8.3 percent, the lowest in three years.” 

The report went on to say, “At the same time, the proportion of the population working or looking for work is its lowest in almost three decades. The length and depth of the recession have discouraged millions of people from looking for jobs. The better news of the past couple months has not yet encouraged most of them to start searching again.”

Here’s a headline for you. 

If it were not for accounting gimmicks and what the government calls “seasonal-adjustments,” the unemployment rate would have gone up, not down

In his latest report, economist John Williams from Shadowstats.com said,

“January’s unadjusted unemployment rate rose to 8.8% . . . The only difference between those numbers and the headline 243,000 January jobs gain and 8.3% unemployment rate, is how the seasonal adjustments were applied. 

There are serious issues with the current quality of those adjustments, and extremely small distortions in those seasonals can make big differences in the resulting headline data.”      

As far as “discouraged” workers who are not looking for a job, that is total rubbish put out by the government.  The real story is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) simply has stopped counting more than 1.2 million of the unemployed in its report Friday.  

Williams goes on to say, “The issues here suggest that the headline 8.3% unemployment for January has moved well outside the realm of common experience and credibility, into the arena of election-year political shenanigans.”  

Williams is such a gentleman.   Please take into consideration the government’s “official” or “headline” number is only based on people being out of work for 6 months or less.  If the unemployment rate was calculated the way BLS did it in 1994 and earlier, the unemployment and underemployment would be 22.5%.



A recent report by a D.C. consulting firm estimates about 3 million long-term unemployed have been dropped from the unemployment statistics in the last few years.

The Obama Administration has predicted the “official” unemployment rate would be below 8% by the November 2012 election. 

Heck, if you stop counting enough people, you can get the unemployment rate down below 5%, and that will make the 15 million or so unemployed feel really good.  Taxpayers are paying to be essentially hoodwinked by the BLS, and the mainstream media never questions these numbers.

Meanwhile, on the very day the fantasy unemployment numbers were released, it was reported that planned layoffs surged.  Reuters reported last Friday,

“Employers announced 53,486 planned job cuts last month, up 28 percent from 41,785 in December, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. 

January’s job cuts were also up from the same time a year ago, gaining 38.9 percent from the 38,519 layoffs announced in January 2011.”

With unemployment going up to 8.8% (without the government’s accounting gimmicks), this jobs report is especially dishonest, but almost every month the government lies to America about the so-called “recovery.”

Jim Willie at Goldenjackass.com says the government lies about the economic statistics to hide an economy teetering on the edge of an abyss.  In his latest post, Mr. Willie (who holds a PhD in statistics) said,

“The entire system requires the constant banter of recovery, legitimacy, hope, and integrity. All are sorely lacking, glaringly lacking. The economic numbers have few honest series of data.

My favorite honest series remains the income tax payroll withholdings, which screams of chronic recession in basic tones. . . . The US economy remains the weakest of all industrialized nations. Its corruption remains the highest in data reporting.

See American Airlines for job cuts. See the Manhattan banking sector for job cuts. See state and local governments for job cuts. See college and university construction projects for job cuts.”

The Federal Reserve just announced an extension of 0% interest rates through 2014.  The Fed didn’t do this because it thought the economy was going great guns. 

You can say whatever you like about the Fed (I think it should be audited on a regular basis), but those folks are not stupid. 

For everybody to believe the economy is surging forward, you have to also believe the Fed and its hundreds of economists got it all wrong. 

The government reported an improvement in unemployment when, in fact, it jumped up, which is why I call jobs number an 8.3% unemployment lie.

Facist TSA Under Fire From Fearful Politicians

Following House approval of the measure the Senate is set to vote on legislation that would allow U.S. airports to replace TSA workers with screeners from private companies, a move that could spell the beginning of the end for the highly unpopular federal agency’s role in airport security.



“The U.S. agency must allow airports to switch to private companies for screeners unless it can show the move wouldn’t be cost-effective and would be detrimental to security, according to the legislation, which if passed will go to President Barack Obama for his signature,” reports Businessweek.

“They’ve been trying to force the door open for several years,” Jeff Price, a Denver-based consultant who has written a textbook on aviation security, said of U.S. lawmakers. “It reverses the burden of proof. It is definitely trying to checkmate the TSA.”

At the height of the anti-TSA drive which coincided with a national full body scanner opt out day, a growing number of airports such as Orlando Sanford International began to exercise their right to replace TSA workers with private screeners.

The TSA soon put a stop to this by freezing the number of airports that could use private screeners, a figure that had climbed to 16.

Orlando Sanford is one of the airports whose vetoed application to remove TSA screeners will have to be reconsidered under the new legislation.

More private security companies are expected to start up if the legislation passes, providing the additional benefit of adding tens of thousands of private sector jobs to the economy.

“You’ll see companies make themselves known,” said Price. “They’ll make sure every airport operator knows the rules have changed.”

The TSA’s involvement in airport security has become highly unpopular over the last two years, with the federal agency mired in one controversy after another, from its agents constantly caught stealing from travelers, to its mistreatment of children and the elderly, to its habitual lies about the safety of naked body scanners.




A petition on the White House website that called for abolishing the TSA received almost 32,000 signatures, forcing TSA chief John Pistole to issue a response.

When Texas lawmakers attempted to pass a bill that would have outlawed the TSA’s “advanced pat down” procedures last year, the feds threatened to impose a no fly zone over the state and the measure was ultimately defeated.

Congress recently gave the green light for $24 million dollars in extra funding for the TSA’s VIPR program, which was responsible for conducting 9,300 unannounced checkpoints last year alone.

For anti-TSA activists, kicking the federal agency out of the nation’s airports will merely be the first step given that TSA workers have now been deployed to staff a network of internal checkpoints.

The TSA is now conducting searches of Americans at train stations, bus depots, ferry ports, on highways and even at high school prom nights.

The federal agency was also responsible for training hot dog sellers and other vendors to spot terrorists at the recent Super Bowl, a story that attracted yet more derision from the national media.

Spy Smasher #6 (1942)