540 Julian Assange hopeful a photo could clear him. Johan Galtung accused of Anti-Semitism

Julian Assange hopeful a photo could clear him. Johan Galtung accused of
Anti-Semitism

(1) Censorship of emails - Readers' Responses
(2) Julian Assange hopeful a photo could help clear him of sexual
assault allegations
(3) Is this the photo that could clear Assange? Grinning for the camera,
WikiLeaks boss and 'Woman A' who says he sexually assaulted her 48 hours
earlier
(4) Valentino's Ghost to appear at Venice International Film Festival
(5) Soviet style Psychiatry comes to the US: Dissident Marine (who
questioned 9/11) incarcerated in Psychiatric Ward
(6) Johan Galtung accused of Anti-Semitism for remarks on Mossad, Jewish
control of Media, and Protocols
(7) America’s Descent into Poverty - Paul Craig Roberts

(1) Censorship of emails - Readers' Responses

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 07:20:16 +0200
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails
From: Ognir <ognir2@gmail.com>

confirmed, last few emails arrived in my gmail spam

regards ==

From: "Rebel of Oz" <editor@therebel.org>
Subject: RE: Censorship of emails
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:02:00 +0800
Organization: Rebel Media Group

Google's censorship goes even further than that. For example, Rebel News
has always been found on page 1, but suddenly, even though it's
attracting more visitors and links than ever before, has been dropped.

Andrew ==

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:36:05 +0200 (CEST)
From: Jean Pierre DESMOULINS <jean-pierre.desmoulins@orange.fr>

Good

This confirms the quality of your work. Keep on, Peter ! ==

Subject: Re: Censorship of emails
From: Charles F Moreira <charlesfmoreira@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:19:51 +0800

Dear Peter,

Glad you are back.

I did find some of your messages in my Gmail's spam folder but marked
them as NOT SPAM and they arrive OK now. ==

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 09:39:05 +0300
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails
From: Ionut Dobrinescu <idobrinescu@gmail.com>

Gmail stores bulk mail in one location only and LINKS recipient
mailboxes to it. Some gmail recipients may have manually or by mistake
have labeled the bulletin as spam and the filter moved it to spam for
almost everyone else.

It also works the other way around when we retrieve the bulletin from
spam and unspam you.
Keep up the good work! ==

Ionut,

I don't think that there was time for readers to look at those two
emails. They were filed by computer program - no Intelligence there.

But I've often suspected that a few individuals' labelling a sender as a
spammer could have dire results - as you say. "Unspamming" a sender, as
you put it, by clicking on "Not Spam", could be quite important. ==

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:25:52 +0200 From: Philippe Landau
<lists@user-land.org>
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails

> I have uploaded the offending bulletins to my website;
> you can download them as .doc files. Please let me know of any problems.

Just a potential problem.
.doc files are easy targets for viruses to multiply.

So if your readers share them with others,
they can unwittingly infect them on the way.

Do you know .rtf files ?

They are .txt files with highlighting capability (bold etc).
Like .txt files, they can not be infected with viruses,
and unlike .htm and .pdf files, they can not contain bugs
phoning home to the author when someone opens them. ==

Phillippe,

I will take your advice and make them .rtf files.

Peter ==

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:01:41 +1000
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails
From: Tony Ryan <tonyryan43@gmail.com>

Gidday Peter

The inevitable has happened. Your e-mails in identical format have
arrived in my gmail for several years. The last few days I have had to
fish two or three of them out of my spam bucket. I suspect you are
hitting the Zionist keywords. But then I am allowed to say that because
I'm a conspiracy theorist : )

Cheers

tony ==

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:55:58 +1000
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails
From: Howard Miller <ausgrass@gmail.com>

Hi Peter,
Many of your bulletins finish in spam, Gmail automatically sorts the
email, there is no real control from our side, one of the traps of the
web based service.
There is NO freedom, it is a much controlled medium, or has become so?
Why is Wikileaks in so much trouble.?

I would have no doubt that Gmail is wide open to surveillance by Police,
I have always said the internet is a tool of "Big Brother" just
currently underused by the thought police.

To admit that surveillance is real, would kill the goose that is laying
the information golden egg. So all police use the information with
extreme care. Mainly because the information they gain is in point of
fact illegal, a violation of privacy laws, so in entrapment, the
internet information is used to provide a location where banned material
might be obtained by the use of search warrants, issued under the
"believed that illegal material is known to be at that site".

if it isn't some material is soon downloaded to prove "Police beliefs".

Remember what happened to Malcolm Turnbull, an experienced solicitor
with false emails.??

I personally believe the internet is the most misused invention of
mankind ever.

Without a doubt, "Satan's best idea" to date, better than filthy
warmongering.

Prove me wrong?? ==

Howard,

Yes, when police push for laws to allow surveillance, they're really
wanting legalization of what they already do. Without that legalization,
they can't use the info in court cases.

Peter

Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:32:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: leo schmit <leoschmit@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails

Peter,

Your bulletins have arrived in good shape at my Yahoo account, so that
still works as it should. But thanks for the direct bulletin link. As
for censorship, Y may be a solution, I use 'zj' and often 'Irgun', when
I mention that particular state.

I have been in Indonesia for 8 months working with the Min. of Social
Affairs to help establish a cash transfer programme for 3 mln 'very poor
households'. This also includes health services and small scholarships
for basic and secondary school students. Although I worked for a German
firm, Australia is also meddling there. Next week (30/8) I will depart
for home. Once I have delivered my final report and have been paid, I
may have some notes on Indonesia, which may be of broader interest.

I have also been collecting bits on the 'denunciation' of Johan Galtung
in Norway and quite a bit on Norway's mass murderer trial. The two cases
are linked. Tomorrow there will be a verdict on his sanity or insanity.

All the best,

Leo ==

Leo,

Thanks for the tip about Johan Galtung. Below I present Wikipedia
material which shows that he's been game enough to talk about Mossad,
Goldman Sachs and even the Protocols of Zion. I did not know that he had
ventured into such fields. Clearly one of the few unfettered public
intellectuals of our time. Could you send me his email address?

Peter

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 09:09:43 -0700
From: Bruce Tanner <brtanner@brucetanner.info>
To: peter@mailstar.net
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails

Hi Peter,

Thanks for this. People should perhaps consider getting email through a
(small) ISP or through their own domains with a host that they trust.
Web based emails with the Big Boys will likely be subject to many "issues."

My 2 cents,
Bruce ==

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 09:15:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris Barel <tbnreplies@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails

Censorship is a government function. Screening email by a private or
public company is just policy. ==

Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:44:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: conroy shields <conroyshields@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails

I received the email you mentioned which has the magic words you
mentioned.I, too, in my own situation, have experienced similar
continued attacks with serious repercussions, online and in my daily
pursuits which I won't go into,So I understand, and that is why I have
been using your sources to interpret my and others experiences current,
and throughout history. ==

Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:49:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matthew Mitchell <matthewwinstonmitchell@yahoo.com.au>
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails

Dear Peter,

I use yahoo, and have no problems receiving your emails. Interesting
that Google does this.

Matt ==

Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2012 17:23:40 +0100
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails
From: Palestine Remembered <palestineremembered@gmail.com>

Hi Peter

3 messages in Spam: Banks fined for violating sanctions against Iran;
action instigated by Israeli intelligence analyst now working for US

and this: Pussy Riot are not musicians; they are part of the West's
attack on Russia - Israel Shamir

and: Zionists pursue Banks over currency transfers to Iran

... those are the only ones I can see. I think I've "taught" it not to
do that again.

Keep up the good work.

Best. ==

From: EagleNewsTips@aol.com
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 09:11:40 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails

Well, several of your emails arrived in multiple copies and were in the
spam file, but I always check it before deleting anything.

Thanks again for what you send. It's always very thoughtful and
informative.

All the best
Harrell Rhome ==

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:37:08 +0200
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails
From: Niyati Tripathy <niyati.tripathy@gmail.com>

Hi Peter

This is right. 3 of the mails in the last 4 days went to spam folder
somehow. These related to The music band, Banks being fined for
violating sanctions, the currency transfers cables. I had to extract
them from SPAM folder post receiving your note.

You are a long standing safe sender for me. So clearly there is some
censorship based on the contents of subject line.

Have noted the link to access the bulletins.

Thanks and More Power to you for the great work.

Regards
Niyati ==

From: Rolando Lequeux <lequeuxr@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:38:23 -0400
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails

Same here. Two of your bulletins went to my gmail spam folder last week.

(2) Julian Assange hopeful a photo could help clear him of sexual
assault allegations

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/world/julian-assange-hopeful-a-photo-could-help-clear-him-of-sexual-assault-allegations/story-fnd12peo-1226458585105

Abul Taher

Daily Mail

August 27, 2012

IT seems an unremarkable image: a group of friends smiling broadly. But
it is the photograph Julian Assange hopes will clear his name.

The Mail on Sunday has published a photo of a beaming woman, pictured
with Assange and three other people, who would later tell police that 48
hours before the picture was taken, the WikiLeaks founder pinned her
down in her flat and sexually assaulted her.

If the case ever reaches court – Mr Assange is currently holed up in the
Ecuadorian Embassy in London – his lawyers will argue that the
photograph undermines the 33-year-old woman's entire story. And, they
claim, there is more.

In the two days after the alleged assault in Sweden, Mr Assange and
Woman A, as she is known, attended a conference and two dinner parties
where it is claimed they were practically inseparable.

During one party, Woman A tweeted that she was "with the world's
coolest, smartest people!".

The photograph was taken on August 15, 2010, at the Glenfiddich
restaurant in Stockholm, at a dinner of meatballs and schnapps hosted by
Rickard Falkvinge, the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party (PP), which
campaigns for greater government transparency.

Although by all accounts it was a jolly occasion, there was some serious
discussion that at times became "passionate and intense".

Mr Falkvinge said the purpose of the dinner, which lasted three hours,
was to sign a contract between the PP and WikiLeaks so Mr Assange's
organisation could use the party's computer servers.

Also present was the deputy leader of PP, Anna Troberg, and the party's
IT manager, Richard Olson, who brought along his then fiancee, Sara
Sandberg.

Since the assault charges were brought, Mr Falkvinge and Ms Troberg have
given detailed statements to the police in support of Mr Assange. Mr
Falkvinge said their testimony included observations about the body
language between Mr Assange and Woman A, who arrived with another woman,
called Pietra, who stayed just for the starter.

Mr Falkvinge sat next to Mr Assange, with Woman A sitting diagonally
opposite them.

"Most of the night, Julian was speaking with me," Mr Falkvinge said.
"This was a heads of organisation meeting and everybody had a
counterpart to talk to. It was a professional dinner."

For Mr Falkvinge, one of the things that was striking about it, in view
of what he later learned, was that Woman A volunteered to become Mr
Assange's press secretary during the meal. Mr Falkvinge has refused to
go into details about the way Woman A behaved with Mr Assange, because
he has to give evidence in court if a trial is held.

But he made it clear that he did not think Woman A behaved like a victim
or someone who had suffered a traumatic sexual experience only two days
earlier.

He said: "You can look at objective facts and draw far-reaching
conclusions: the fact that we are at the dinner and it was with very
passionate people and with good food and drinks; the fact that I and
Anna Troberg have left depositions as key defence witnesses in the
upcoming trial – that does tell you a lot.

"You can say what we saw was more consistent with the defence than the
prosecution."

Due to Woman A's complaint to the police, as well as that of another
alleged victim, Mr Assange has been fighting extradition to Sweden from
Britain for the past two years.

He insists he has been set up, and fears that going to Sweden is a ruse
for him to be quickly extradited to America, where he could stand trial
for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents on
the WikiLeaks website.

His two-year fight against extradition took a bizarre twist when Mr
Assange entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in June seeking asylum.

He was granted asylum by Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa last week,
igniting a diplomatic rift between Ecuador and Britain.

The Mail on Sunday has also learned that just hours after the alleged
attack, Woman A accompanied Mr Assange to a Social Democratic Party
conference.

According to police reports, it was there that Mr Assange met Woman B,
aged 29, who would accuse him of rape.

The two women's lawyer, Claes Borsgtrom, said yesterday: "We will only
discuss the dinner at the restaurant and the picture in court."

See the photo at the Mail On Sunday

(3) Is this the photo that could clear Assange? Grinning for the camera,
WikiLeaks boss and 'Woman A' who says he sexually assaulted her 48 hours
earlier

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193641/Julian-Assange-rape-claim-Is-photo-clear-him.html

By ABUL TAHER

PUBLISHED: 21:57 GMT, 25 August 2012 | UPDATED: 17:23 GMT, 26 August 2012

It seems an unremarkable image: a group of friends smiling broadly. But
this is the photograph Julian Assange hopes will clear his name.

The face of the woman on the left has been obscured for legal reasons.

For although she is seen beaming, she would later tell police that 48
hours before the picture was taken, the WikiLeaks founder pinned her
down in her flat and sexually assaulted her.

{caption} Smiles all around: Woman A, left, at a dinner with Julian
Assange, centre, host Richard Falkvinge, Anna Troberg and Sara Sangberg
{end caption; the photo is at
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/08/25/article-0-14B189E2000005DC-786_634x412.jpg}

If the case ever reaches court – Mr Assange is currently holed up in
the Ecuadorian Embassy in London – his lawyers will argue that the
photograph undermines the 33-year-old woman's entire story. And, they
claim, there is more.

In the two days after the alleged assault in Sweden, Mr Assange and
Woman A, as she is known, attended a conference and two dinner parties
where it is claimed they were practically inseparable.

During one party, Woman A tweeted that she was 'with the world's
coolest, smartest people!'.

The photograph was taken on August 15, 2010, at the Glenfiddich
restaurant in Stockholm, at a dinner of meatballs and schnapps hosted by
Rickard Falkvinge, the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party (PP), which
campaigns for greater government transparency.

Although by all accounts it was a jolly occasion, there was some serious
discussion that at times became 'passionate and intense'.

Mr Falkvinge said the purpose of the dinner, which lasted three hours,
was to sign a contract between the PP and WikiLeaks so Mr Assange's
organisation could use the party's computer servers.

Also present was the deputy leader of PP, Anna Troberg, and the party's
IT manager, Richard Olson, who brought along his then fiancee, Sara
Sandberg.

Since the assault charges were brought, Mr Falkvinge and Ms Troberg have
given detailed statements to the police in support of Mr Assange. Mr
Falkvinge said their testimony included observations about the body
language between Mr Assange and Woman A, who arrived with another woman,
called Pietra, who stayed just for the starter.

Mr Falkvinge sat next to Mr Assange, with Woman A sitting diagonally
opposite them.

'Most of the night, Julian was speaking with me,' Mr Falkvinge said.
'This was a heads of organisation meeting and everybody had a
counterpart to talk to. It was a professional dinner.'

For Mr Falkvinge, one of the things that was striking about it, in view
of what he later learned, was that Woman A volunteered to become Mr
Assange's press secretary during the meal. Mr Falkvinge has refused to
go into details about the way Woman A behaved with Mr Assange, because
he has to give evidence in court if a trial is held.

But he made it clear that he did not think Woman A behaved like a victim
or someone who had suffered a traumatic sexual experience only two days
earlier.

He said: 'You can look at objective facts and draw far-reaching
conclusions: the fact that we are at the dinner and it was with very
passionate people and with good food and drinks; the fact that I and
Anna Troberg have left depositions as key defence witnesses in the
upcoming trial – that does tell you a lot.

'You can say what we saw was more consistent with the defence than the
prosecution.'

Due to Woman A's complaint to the police, as well as that of another
alleged victim, Mr Assange has been fighting extradition to Sweden from
Britain for the past two years.

He insists he has been set up, and fears that going to Sweden is a ruse
for him to be quickly extradited to America, where he could stand trial
for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents on
the WikiLeaks website.

His two-year fight against extradition took a bizarre twist when Mr
Assange entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in June seeking asylum.

He was granted asylum by Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa last week,
igniting a diplomatic rift between Ecuador and Britain.

The Mail on Sunday has also learned that just hours after the alleged
attack, Woman A accompanied Mr Assange to a Social Democratic Party
conference.

According to police reports, it was there that Mr Assange met Woman B,
aged 29, who would accuse him of rape.

The two women's lawyer, Claes Borsgtrom, said yesterday: 'We will only
discuss the dinner at the restaurant and the picture in court.'

(4) Valentino's Ghost to appear at Venice International Film Festival

Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:10:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: James Morris <justicequest2000@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Censorship of emails

Peter,

Please send following to your email list as well:

The 'Valentino's Ghost' film (http://www.valentinosghost.com) which I am
in (from http://tinyurl.com/911motivation) will be one of two American
documentaries screening at the upcoming Venice International Film
Festival (world's oldest and most prestigious film festival).

PS: Just saw that 'Valentino's Ghost' is listed at following URL (I
guess that exchange I had with Lee Hamilton which already has over half
a million views via http://tinyurl.com/911motivation will get a few more! :)

Venice Film Festival Unveils Line-Up with Films from Malick, De Palma
and Demme:

(5) Soviet style Psychiatry comes to the US: Dissident Marine (who
questioned 9/11) incarcerated in Psychiatric Ward

Detained Marine Veteran Transferred To A Psych Ward Hundreds Of Miles Away

Michael Kelley

Business Insider, Aug. 22, 2012, 12:25 PM

http://www.businessinsider.com/brandon-raub-moving-to-other-psych-2012-8

Brandon Raub, the former Marine taken into custody after federal agents
questioned him about Facebook posts critical of the government, has been
transferred to a Veterans Administration (VA) psychiatric ward on the
other side of the Virginia.

The Rutherford Institute, Raub's legal council, released this statement:
"Special Justice Walter Douglass Stokes for the General District Court
for the City of Hopewell, Va., has denied an emergency motion filed ...
to stop ... Raub from being forcibly transferred to a psychiatric
facility more than three hours away from his family, friends and legal
team."

Raub will be moved from John Randolph Psychiatric Medical Hospital in
Hopewell to the Veterans Hospital in Salem despite that fact that there
is a compatible VA hospital in Richmond, about eight miles from Raub's home.

On August 16 authorities from the FBI, Secret Service, and Chesterfield
County PD visited Raub's home. They questioned him about his Facebook
posts – which are critical of the official story regarding 9/11 and
refer to "starting a revolution" – then handcuffed him and placed him in
a Chesterfield PD squad car before taking him to John Randolph.

On August 20 Raub was sentenced up to 30 days' further confinement in a
VA psych ward and the judge signed an order to have him involuntarily
admitted to the Veterans Hospital in Salem.

Afterwards Raub gave an interview in which he said he was being treated
"very well" at John Randolph and hadn't been given any medication.

Raub – who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 1st Platoon, Charlie
Co., 4th Combat Engineer Battalion – also said he found the situation
"extremely ironic" because he was considering reenlisting in the Marine
Corps.

The Rutherford Institute stated that Raub has been "detained against his
will due to alleged concerns by government officials that his Facebook
posts are controversial and 'terrorist in nature'' and are arguing that
"the detainment order was procedurally improper, the result of an
unlawful detention, and was based entirely on statements made by Raub
that constitute protected free speech under the First Amendment."

Supporters argue that some of the more violent Facebook posts by Raub –
such as "Sharpen up my axe; I'm here to sever heads." – are lyrics from
rap songs.

John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, said: “This is
not how justice in America is supposed to work—with Americans being
arrested for doing nothing more than exercising their First Amendment
rights, forced to undergo psychological evaluations, detained against
their will and isolated from their family, friends and attorneys. This
is a scary new chapter in our history.”

(6) Johan Galtung accused of Anti-Semitism for remarks on Mossad, Jewish
control of Media, and Protocols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Galtung

Johan Galtung (born 24 October 1930) is a Norwegian sociologist and the
principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies.[1] He
founded the Peace Research Institute Oslo in 1959, serving as its
Director until 1970, and established the Journal of Peace Research in
1964. In 1969 he was appointed to the world's first chair in peace and
conflict studies, at the University of Oslo. He resigned his
professorship in 1977 and has since held professorships at several
universities around the world. Galtung is a prolific researcher, having
made contributions to many branches of sociology. He has published more
than 1000 articles and over 100 books.[2][non-primary source needed] He
was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize in 1987,[citation needed] and
has received many other accolades. He is currently a resident of France
and the United States.[citation needed]

Galtung is known for contributions to mathematics and sociology in the
1950s, political science in the 1960s, economics and history in the
1970s, macro history, anthropology and theology in the 1980s. He has
developed several influential theories, such as the distinction between
positive and negative peace, structural violence, theories on conflict
and conflict resolution, the structural theory of imperialism, and the
theory of the United States as simultaneously a republic and an empire.[3]

[...] However, Galtung has called the September 11 attacks "criminal
political violence".[27]

[edit]Alleged Anti-Semitism

Galtung was widely criticized by Norwegian media and academics and
accused of lending his authority to anti-Semitic ideas following public
remarks in 2011 and 2012 about the legitimacy of hypothesizing Mossad
involvement in the 2011 Norway attacks and the merits of the Protocols
of the Elders of Zion.[28][29][30] The connection is supposedly based on
the fact that the murderer has ties to the “Freemasons” organization,
“which has Jewish origins,” according to Galtung. The supposed
connection to Israel is through the Mossad – which Galtung believes
might have given Breivik his orders. In the same breath, Galtung
mentioned a conspiracy theory, linking last summer’s massacre in Norway
with the attack on the King David Hotel, carried out by the Etzel in
1946 – both attacks took place on July 22. [31]

Expanding on his views in a Haaretz interview, Galtung states that
“terrible Auschwitz,” had two sides as well. “[It was] not unproblematic
that Jews had key niches in a society humiliated by defeat at
Versailles,” wrote Galtung, referencing Germany following World War I.
Galtung continued, “In no way, absolutely no way, does this justify the
atrocities. But it created anti-Semitism that could have been
predicted.”[32]

Another claim, made by Galtung in a Norwegian periodical, is that Jews
control the American media. “Six Jewish companies control 96% of the
media,” wrote Galtung. He included the names of journalists, publishers,
TV networks, and movie studios, that he claims are controlled by Jews.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch was also included on the list. “He’s not
Jewish, but many of the people under him are,” wrote Galtung, in
reference to Murdoch. “Many of them are fanatically pro-Israel,” he
pointed out. Immediately following these claims, Galtung wrote that
“seventy percent of the professors at the 20 most important American
universities are Jewish.” When asked by Haaretz to describe the effects
of the “Jewish control” of the media, he answered that it could be a
good thing, in terms of intellectual quality, but that it could also
“limit the discourse about anything where Israel is involved." [31]

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Galtung also held an open forum discussion concerning the contents of
the book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, one of the most quoted
antisemitic works around the world. “I wonder how many people with such
strong opinions on the book have even read it,” he wrote. “It is
impossible to do so today without thinking of Goldman Sachs,” he added.
Goldman Sachs is an international investment Bank founded and run by
Jews, attacked in the media from time to time as a “capitalist pig."[31]

Galtung bases his doctrine on an article written by William Luther
Pierce, founder of the “National Alliance” a white supremacist
organization. [31] His remarks drew international criticism and
accusations of antisemitism,[33][34][35] which Galtung dismissed as
"nonsense."[36]

In an email exchange with Haaretz, Galtung requested to clear up his
claims. “When we know nothing about who is behind Breivik, including
whether there is anybody at all, any hypothesis is legitimate; that is
in the nature of research,” wrote Galtung. “I consider the Mossad highly
unlikely, but it is illegitimate to eliminate it as a hypothesis with no
evidence,” continued Galtung. In the correspondence with Haaretz,
Galtung mentioned what he calls the “ambiguity of everything human.” To
explain, he raised examples from the Middle Ages and the modern period.
According to Galtung, “The terrible programs,” carried out upon the
Jews, had another “problematic” side as well. “The Jews played a role in
demanding payment from indebted peasants,” wrote Galtung.[31]

On August 8, 2012, the World Peace Academy in Basel, Switzerland
announced it was suspending Johan Galtung from its organization. The
reason for this action by the group that is connected to the University
of Basel was given as “reckless and offensive statements to questions
that are specifically sensitive for Jews.”[37] ...

This page was last modified on 25 August 2012 at 16:04.

(7) America’s Descent into Poverty - Paul Craig Roberts

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/08/24/americas-descent-poverty-paul-craig-roberts/

August 24, 2012

The United States has collapsed economically, socially, politically,
legally, constitutionally, and environmentally. The country that exists
today is not even a shell of the country into which I was born. In this
article I will deal with America’s economic collapse. In subsequent
articles, i will deal with other aspects of American collapse.

Economically, America has descended into poverty. As Peter Edelman says,
“Low-wage work is pandemic.” Today in “freedom and democracy” America,
“the world’s only superpower,” one fourth of the work force is employed
in jobs that pay less than $22,000, the poverty line for a family of
four. Some of these lowly-paid persons are young college graduates,
burdened by education loans, who share housing with three or four others
in the same desperate situation. Other of these persons are single
parents only one medical problem or lost job away from homelessness.

Others might be Ph.D.s teaching at universities as adjunct professors
for $10,000 per year or less. Education is still touted as the way out
of poverty, but increasingly is a path into poverty or into enlistments
into the military services.

Edelman, who studies these issues, reports that 20.5 million Americans
have incomes less than $9,500 per year, which is half of the poverty
definition for a family of three.

There are six million Americans whose only income is food stamps. That
means that there are six million Americans who live on the streets or
under bridges or in the homes of relatives or friends. Hard-hearted
Republicans continue to rail at welfare, but Edelman says, “basically
welfare is gone.”

In my opinion as an economist, the official poverty line is long out of
date. The prospect of three people living on $19,000 per year is
farfetched. Considering the prices of rent, electricity, water, bread
and fast food, one person cannot live in the US on $6,333.33 per year.
In Thailand, perhaps, until the dollar collapses, it might be done, but
not in the US.

As Dan Ariely (Duke University) and Mike Norton (Harvard University)
have shown empirically, 40% of the US population, the 40% less well off,
own 0.3%, that is, three-tenths of one percent, of America’s personal
wealth. Who owns the other 99.7%? The top 20% have 84% of the country’s
wealth. Those Americans in the third and fourth quintiles–essentially
America’s middle class–have only 15.7% of the nation’s wealth. Such an
unequal distribution of income is unprecedented in the economically
developed world.

In my day, confronted with such disparity in the distribution of income
and wealth, a disparity that obviously poses a dramatic problem for
economic policy, political stability, and the macro management of the
economy, Democrats would have demanded corrections, and Republicans
would have reluctantly agreed.

But not today. Both political parties whore for money.

The Republicans believe that the suffering of poor Americans is not
helping the rich enough. Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are committed to
abolishing every program that addresses needs of what Republicans deride
as “useless eaters.”

The “useless eaters” are the working poor and the former middle class
whose jobs were offshored so that corporate executives could receive
multi-millions of dollars in performance pay compensation and their
shareholders could make millions of dollars on capital gains. While a
handful of executives enjoy yachts and Playboy playmates, tens of
millions of Americans barely get by.

In political propaganda, the “useless eaters” are not merely a burden on
society and the rich. They are leeches who force honest taxpayers to pay
for their many hours of comfortable leisure enjoying life, watching
sports events, and fishing in trout streams, while they push around
their belongings in grocery baskets or sell their bodies for the next
MacDonald burger.

The concentration of wealth and power in the US today is far beyond
anything my graduate economic professors could image in the 1960s. At
four of the world’s best universities that I attended, the opinion was
that competition in the free market would prevent great disparities in
the distribution of income and wealth. As I was to learn, this belief
was based on an ideology, not on reality.

Congress, acting on this erroneous belief in free market perfection,
deregulated the US economy in order to create a free market. The
immediate consequence was resort to every previous illegal action to
monopolize, to commit financial and other fraud, to destroy the
productive basis of American consumer incomes, and to redirect income
and wealth to the one percent.

The “democratic” Clinton administration, like the Bush and Obama
administrations, was suborned by free market ideology. The Clinton
sell-outs to Big Money essentially abolished Aid to Families with
Dependent Children. But this sell-out of struggling Americans was not
enough to satisfy the Republican Party. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want
to cut or abolish every program that cushions poverty-stricken Americans
from starvation and homelessness.

Republicans claim that the only reason Americans are in need is because
the government uses taxpayers’ money to subsidize Americans who are
unwilling to work. As Republicans see it, while we hard-workers
sacrifice our leisure and time with our families, the welfare rabble
enjoy the leisure that our tax dollars provide them.

This cock-eyed belief, on top of corporate CEOs maximizing their incomes
by offshoring the middle class jobs of millions of Americans, has left
Americans in poverty and cities, counties, states, and the federal
government without a tax base, resulting in bankruptcies at the state
and local level and massive budget deficits at the federal level that
threaten the value of the dollar and its role as reserve currency.

The economic destruction of America benefitted the mega-rich with
multi-billions of dollars with which to enjoy life and its high-priced
accompaniments wherever the mega-rich wish. Meanwhile, away from the
French Rivera, Homeland Security is collecting sufficient ammunition to
keep dispossessed Americans under control.