Haaretz is reporting that Iran is aiding in Syria’s crackdown on opposition forces.
The Al Arabiya news channel also reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has deployed 15,000 armed troops to Syria recently in order to help Syrian President Bashar Assad in his fight against opposition forces.
“(A) Prominent Syrian lawmaker says the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force has recently arrived in the country to help manage Assad’s regime brutal suppression of a 11-month-long popular unrest,” reports Haaretz.
The official who made the claim, Kassam Salimani, is a top member of the National Syrian Council.
Salimani claims that a commander of Iran’s Quds Force special forces unit arrived in Syria recently to help direct army maneuvers against rebel fighters.
You remember the descriptions of the First Battle of Bull Run when all of Washington’s high society rode out in their fine carriages and horses to picnic under the shady trees and watch their Union boys send the Yankees packing?
Did they get the shock of their lives when the Rebel musket balls whizzed over their heads and the Union soldiers ran for their lives from the field? Or similarly, the Israelis in southern Israel who took lawn chairs out to watch the IDF smash Gaza to smithereens?
That’s what the foreign press corps appears to be doing now in Tel Aviv in preparation for an attack on Iran. They’re renting the right to put film crews and reporters on the city’s rooftops during the upcoming war in order to cover the anticipated Iranian counterattack.
That way they can get great photo ops and pictures of missiles wreaking havoc on the city. What a story! What a feast for the eyes!
Other news organizations like CBS, Fox News, and NBC are sending their senior producers to Israel to scope out the place in case they have to send in the big boys–the news anchors and senior correspondents (especially since no one can report from Teheran!).
We can’t wait! I don’t know why I should have to point out that this is irony. But there are some right-wingers who have neither a sense of irony nor humor. So it’s for them I guess.
Do you love America? Are you against a one world economy and a one world government? Do you deeply love individual liberty? Do you believe in conspiracy theories?
If you answered any of those questions affirmatively, then you are a potential terrorist according to a brand new Department of Homeland Security report that was just released in January 2012.
The report is entitled “Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970 to 2008“, and it was produced by the “National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism” for the Department of Homeland Security.
As you will see detailed later on in this article, the most shocking part of this report is when it discusses the “ideological motivations” of potential terrorists. The report shamelessly attempts to portray red-blooded Americans that love liberty and that love their country as the enemy.
Once upon a time, deeply patriotic Americans were considered to be the backbone of America, but today they are considered to be potential terrorists.
And this report is yet another example of how the definition of “terrorism” has changed. A decade ago, the entire focus of the “war on terror” was on radical Muslims and we were told that we had to send our boys and girls to the other side of the world to defeat them.
Well, in this new report there is barely any mention of Islam at all. Instead, the report identifies patriots, conspiracy theorists, evangelical Christians, anti-abortion activists, survivalists and those that are against globalism as the real threats.
The focus of the “war on terror” has fundamentally shifted. The “enemy” is now those that love freedom and those that love America.
According to the new DHS report, the following are some of the beliefs and ideologies of American terrorists….
-”fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)”
-”anti-global”
-”suspicious of centralized federal authority"
-”reverent of individual liberty”
-”believe in conspiracy theories”
-”a belief that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack”
-”a belief in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in paramilitary preparations and training or survivalism”
-”impose strict religious tenets or laws on society (fundamentalists)”
-”insert religion into the political sphere”
-”those who seek to politicize religion”
-”supported political movements for autonomy”
-”anti-abortion”
-”anti-Catholic”
-”anti-nuclear”
All of the above are direct quotes from the report.
Do any of those beliefs apply to you?
Does your own government now believe that you are a potential terrorist?
There seems to be a concerted effort to demonize certain groups of people in this country. In past, those that loved America, those that loved God, and those that loved freedom were considered to be role models. Now they are considered to be dangers.
The funny thing is that according to the report, terrorism in the United States has actually been declining over the past several decades. On page 13 of the new DHS report, you will find a chart that shows that the number of “terrorist attacks” in the United States has decreased steadily since 1970.
And on page 18 of the report, we find that “extreme left-wing” groups such as radical communists were responsible for five times more terror attacks in the U.S. between 1970 and 2008 than all “extreme right-wing” groups and religious groups combined.
The truth is that the vast majority of Americans that are patriotic, religious or that believe in conspiracy theories are very peaceful and only want the best for this country.
But the mainstream media is making it seem like there is an epidemic of “anti-government extremists” that needs to be dealt with.
For example, the following comes from a recent USA Today article entitled “FBI: More locals seek help with anti-government extremists“….
The FBI is being inundated with calls from local government officials asking for assistance in dealing with anti-government extremists, officials said.
And as I wrote about the other day, the FBI has broadened the definition of “suspicious activity” so much that literally anyone could fall under it.
In 2012, the following activities are considered to be “suspicious” by the FBI….
-shielding your computer screen from others
-paying with cash
-acting “nervous”
-using multiple cell phones
-requesting a specific room at a hotel
-traveling with a large amount of luggage
-refusing maid service at a hotel
-staying in your room for too long
-changing your appearance
In fact, if you see any of these things you are supposed to contact the feds right away.
Was the federal government ever this paranoid during the days of McCarthyism?
If America is going to have any kind of a future, we are going to need people who deeply love liberty and who deeply love this country.
Unfortunately, there are many in the federal government that hate the beliefs that this nation was founded upon.
Our founding fathers were fiercely nationalistic, suspicious of centralized authority and were reverent of individual liberty. So according to the Department of Homeland Security, they would very clearly fit the definition of potential terrorists.
How did America ever get so far off track?
If nobody challenges this kind of propaganda, we will go down the dark road of totalitarianism that so many other societies have gone down in the past.
It is a good thing to love your country.
It is a good thing to love individual liberty.
It is a good thing to question the government.
Unfortunately, what the federal government wants today is blind faith and blind obedience. If the federal government tells us that patriotism, religion and nationalism are bad, we are just supposed to go along with it.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the ideal American would be someone that embraces centralized authority, someone that is “universal and international in orientation”, someone that believes in the idea of a one world government, someone that is anti-religion, someone that is pro-genocide, someone that believes that nobody should ever question leadership, and someone that has disdain for individual liberty.
Where could we ever find someone like that?
Wait, I’ve got it!
Cobra Commander, the ideal American for the 21st century….
Washington has made tremendous preparations for a military assault on Iran.
There is speculation that Washington has called off its two longest running wars–Iraq and Afghanistan–in order to deploy forces against Iran. Two of Washington’s fleets have been assigned to the Persian Gulf along with NATO warships.
Missiles have been spread amongst Washington’s Oil Emirate and Middle Eastern puppet states. US troops have been deployed in Israel and Kuwait.
Washington has presented a gift from the hard-pressed american taxpayers of an expensive missile defense system, money spent when millions of unassisted americans have lost their homes.
As no one expects Iran to attack except in retaliation for an attack on Iran, the purpose of the missile defense system is to protect from an Iranian response to aggression against Iran.
Juan Cole has posted on his blog a map showing 44 US military bases surrounding Iran.
In addition to the massive military preparations, there is the propaganda war against Iran that has been ongoing since 1979 when Washington’s puppet, the Shah of Iran, was overthrown by the Iranian revolution.
Iran is surrounded, but Washington propaganda portray Iran as a threatening aggressor nation. In fact, the aggressors is the Washington governments which constantly threatens Iran with military attack.
Neocon warmongers, such as David Goldman, compare the Iranian president to Hitler and declare that only war can stop him.
Washington’s top military officials have created the impression that an act of aggression against Iran is a done deal.
Obama wants to hold off on attacking Iran until polls show him losing the presidential election. It has generally been the case that the patriotic electorate does not turn out a president who is at war.
Obama told Nothing But Crap (NBC) that “we don’t see any evidence that they [Iran] have those intentions [attacks on the US] or capabilities.”
This spring is a prime time for attacking Iran, because there is a good chance that Russia will be in turmoil because of its March election. The Russian opposition to Putin is financed by Washington and encouraged by Washington’s statements, especially those of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Whether Putin wins or there is an indecisive result and a run-off election, Washington’s money will put tens of thousands of Russians into the streets, just as Washington’s money created the “Green Revolution” in Iran to protest the presidential elections there.
The Guardian, reported a pre-election protest by 120,000 anti-Putin demonstrators marching in Moscow and demanding “fair elections.” In other words, Washington already has its minions declaring that a win by Putin in March can only signify a stolen election.
The problem for Obama is that this spring is too early to tell whether his re-election is threatened by a Republican candidate. Going to war prematurely, especially if the result is a stiff rise in oil prices, is not an aid to re-election.
The willingness of peoples around the world to be Washington’s puppets instead of loyal citizens of their own countries is why the West has been able to dominate the world during the modern era.
There seems to be an infinite supply of foreign leaders who prefer Washington’s money and favor to loyalty to their own countries’ interests.
As Karl Marx said, money turns everything into a commodity that can be bought and sold.
All other values are defeated–honor, integrity, truth, justice, loyalty, even blood kin. Nothing remains but filthy lucre. Money certainly turned UK prime minister Tony Blair into a political commodity.
The power of money was brought home to me many years ago. My Ph.D. dissertation chairman found himself in the Nixon administration as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security affairs.
He asked if I would go to Vietnam to administer the aid programs. I was flattered that he thought I had the strength of character to stand up to the corruption that usually defeats the purpose of aid programs, but I declined the assignment.
The conversation was one I will never forget. Warren Nutter was an intelligent person of integrity. He thought regardless of whether the war was necessary that we had been led into it by deception.
He thought democracy could not live with deception, and he objected to government officials who were not honest with the American people. Nutter’s position was that a democratic government had to rely on persuasion, not on trickery.
Otherwise, the outcomes were not democratic.
As Nutter saw it, we were in a war, and we had involved the South Vietnamese. Therefore, we had obligations to them. If we proved to be feckless, the consequence would be to undermine commitments we had made to other countries in our effort to contain the Soviet Empire.
The Soviet Union, unlike the “terrorist threat” had the potential of being a real threat. People who have come of age after the collapse of the Soviet Union don’t understand the cold war era.
In the course of the conversation I asked how Washington got so many other governments to do its bidding. He answered, “Money.”
I asked, “You mean foreign aid?”
He said, “No, bags of money. We buy the leaders.”
He didn’t approve of it, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Purchasing the leadership of their enemies or of potential threats was the Roman way. Timothy H. Parsons in his book, The Rule of Empires, describes the Romans as “deft practitioners of soft power.”
Rome preferred to rule the conquered and the potentially hostile through “semiautonomous client kings which the Senate euphemistically termed ‘friends of the Roman people.’ Romans helped cooperative monarchs remain in power with direct payments of coins and material goods.
Acceptance of these subsidies signified that an ally deferred to imperial authority, and the Romans interpreted any defiance of their will as an overt revolt. They also intervened freely in local succession disputes to replace unsuitable clients.”
This is the way Washington rules. Washington’s way of ruling other countries is why there is no “Egyptian Spring,” but a military dictatorship as a replacement for Washington’s discarded puppet Hosni Mubarak, and why European puppet states are fighting Washington’s wars of hegemony in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.
Washington’s National Endowment for Democracy funds non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. It is through the operations of NGOs that Washington added the former Soviet Republic of Georgia to Washington’s empire, along with the Baltic States, and Eastern European countries.
Because of the hostility of many Russians to their Soviet past, Russia is vulnerable to Washington’s machinations.
As long as the dollar rules, Washington’s power will rule.
As Rome debased its silver denarius into lead, Rome’s power to purchase compliance faded away. If “Helicopter Ben” Bernanke inflates away the purchasing power of the dollar, Washington’s power will melt away also.
Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee told a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing that the passage of a law which allows the nation’s airports to replace TSA screeners with private security personnel could cause a new 9/11-style attack.
Reacting to the Senate’s approval of the measure, which defies attempts by the Transportation Security Administration to block applications from airports attempting to replace TSA screeners, Lee stated, “My comment: we are looking forward to returning to 9/11.”
The Democrat’s statement is of course completely glib, ludicrous and without foundation. Replacing TSA workers with private security personnel will if anything increase the safety of traveling Americans because better trained screeners will be able to concentrate on genuine threats to security, and not 85-year-old women’s colostomy bags, baby’s diapers, and veterans with surgical implants.
Indeed, the TSA has cultivated a reputation of being proficient when it comes to harassing and abusing innocent Americans at checkpoints, while falling down on the job when it comes to missing loaded guns, swords, knives and other weapons.
On top of this, TSA workers have also been caught stealing cash, jewelry and expensive electronic items from travelers’ carry on bags on innumerable occasions.
Replacing TSA workers with privately hired screeners will not eradicate all these problems, but it will certainly be a step in the right direction.
A greater number of Americans will also be more willing to travel in the knowledge that they won’t be treated like criminals and have their genitals fondled by uniformed goons.
“Some airport executives have argued that contract security personnel are more courteous than government workers,” reports CNN. “It was felt that a private contractor would provide friendlier customer service to the traveling public,” the head of a Roswell, New Mexico, airport wrote to Congress.”
Not to be outdone, Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) also waded in with his own stupid remarks in response to the bill’s passage.
“I think if we’re going to start contracting out the security of the flying public, then why don’t we contract out the FBI or DEA or Secret Service or Capitol Hill Police?” he said in an interview.
Costello makes out as if the TSA has been securing the nation’s airports for decades. In reality, the agency has only been in existence for 10 years, and airports were using private screeners for a far longer period beforehand.
“Security is, in my judgment, a function for professional law enforcement officials and should not go to the lowest bidder and that’s what you have when you contract out,” he added.
If Costello believes that TSA screeners resemble anything approaching “professional law enforcement officials,” given the epidemic of criminality that characterizes their behavior, he is living on a different planet.
The passage of the bill now provides America’s 450 U.S. airports that currently use TSA screeners with the opportunity to ditch them in favor of privately hired personnel.
This is undoubtedly a watershed moment in peeling back the executive power grab that has enabled the TSA to become a literal occupying army, running thousands of internal checkpoints at bus depots, train stations, on highways and even at high school prom nights.
The federal agency could also about to be embroiled in another fight. If elected to the 2013 biennial legislature, Texas State Rep. David Simpson has promised to resurrect the Traveler Dignity Act, a bill that would have made invasive TSA groping a criminal offense in Texas.
After a contentious political battle, the bill was eventually defeated last year when the feds threatened to enforce a no fly zone over the lone star state.
Introduced in the fall of 1948, the American Comics Group's Adventures into the Unknown was the first regularly issued horror comic book. Despite the setbacks and collapses most of the later rivals suffered in the early 1950s, it thrived until the summer of 1967. This was chiefly due to the fact that the magazine served up a relatively restrained and polite type of supernatural material. Unknown was especially fond of witches, werewolves, sorcerers, and all sorts and conditions of ghosts.
While the editor Richard Hughes was a prolific writer, many of the early yarns were written by an assistant editor named Norman Fruman. "Richard rarely wrote the supernaturals," Fruman says in Michael Vance's history of ACG. "They, by all odds, were the most difficult ones to write. I wrote the supernaturals and the science fictions." Ogden Whitney drew a great many of the horror tales and provided numerous covers throughout the magazine's lifetime. Among the many other regular artists were Al Williamson, Paul Reinman, Charles Sultan, and the exceptional and virtually unsung Emil Gershwin.
By the time Unknown was well into its second decade, superheroes were back in favor and selling again. Somewhat reluctantly, Richard Hughes added a superhero to the lineup. Nemesis, written by Hughes under his pen name of Shane O'Shea and drawn by Pete Costanza, was introduced in #154 (August 1967). Rather a silly-looking fellow, he wore black-and-blue striped shorts, a red tunic with an hourglass insignia, a blue hood, and several other pieces of non-matching haberdashery. His origin, pretty much borrowed from that of DC's Spectre, explained that he was a dead law officer who came back to Earth to fight crime. The sand ran out of Nemesis's hourglass sixteen issues later. Four issues after that Adventures into the Unknown followed him into the unknown.
Credits:
Script: Not credited and unknown
Pencils: Al Williamson
Inks: Roy Krenkel
Note: Inks: Krenkel added by Greg Theakston, 2002-05-29 (Per Sandell ed.) Pencils CORRECTED by Mark Gordon, 2007-02-10 (Per 36th Edition Overstreet Pricing Guide).
material. Unknown was especially fond of witches, werewolves, sorcerers, and all sorts and conditions of ghosts.
selling again. Somewhat reluctantly, Richard Hughes added a superhero to the lineup. Nemesis, written by Hughes under his pen name of Shane O'Shea and drawn by Pete Costanza, was introduced in #154 (August 1967). Rather a silly-looking fellow, he wore black-and-blue striped shorts, a red tunic with an hourglass insignia, a blue hood, and several other pieces of non-matching haberdashery. His origin, pretty much borrowed from that of DC's Spectre, explained that he was a dead law officer who came back to Earth to fight crime. The sand ran out of Nemesis's hourglass sixteen issues later. Four issues after that Adventures into the Unknown followed him into the unknown.
