Twelfth Bough

The other day it seemed strange to me that Chabad Lubavitch would have an Indian headquarters. Shows you what I know. Come to find out, young Israelis flock to India by the tens of thousands every year. They go there with their IDF money to get stoned and come to terms with the horrible choice they've been given: be an Israeli, or be a human being. The Chabad Lubavitch acts as kind of chaperone, collecting and dealing with wasted Israelis who have 'flipped out' on drugs. We used to call kids like this wastes back in the day. They wasted their time, they wasted their minds, they wasted their lives. Israel produces these young people by the thousands. Here's the first in a series. You can watch the rest here . Israel can not survive if they insist on eating their young.

This right here is what you call a Total Disconnect from Reality. WASHINGTON (AFP) — George W. Bush hopes history will see him as a president who liberated millions of Iraqis and Afghans, who worked towards peace and who never sold his soul for political ends. "I'd like to be a president (known) as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace," Bush said in excerpts of a recent interview released by the White House Friday. "I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process. I came to Washington with a set of values, and I'm leaving with the same set of values." He also said he wanted to be seen as a president who helped individuals, "that rallied people to serve their neighbor; that led an effort to help relieve HIV/AIDS and malaria on places like the continent of Africa; that helped elderly people get prescription drugs and Medicare as a p

To make it look good and provide a little cover... It happens on a major holiday. People are busy doing other things besides digging around on the computer. The news they get is most likely from TV. CNN? Yes. Pesky bloggers? No. The targeted site: the Taj Mahal. Think Las Vegas. The perpetrators are young, and they ask for British and American guests. "They were very young, like boys really, wearing jeans and T-shirts," he said, adding that he and another hostage managed to escape on the 18th floor. Really. And they targeted Jews. Specifically the Chabad Lubavitch headquarters. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_india_shooting;_ylt=AnkQ4KHZrKdJNsO9K2j_F4as0NUE But they're not very effective in killing the actual targets. Despite their bags of almond snacks, the terrorists kill mostly innocent bystanders. Confusion reigns about whether or not the high-value (ie: British, American and Jewish) hostages have been released. Keep on worrying everyone. Naturally, Al Qaeda immediately

This picture is from a post at Kenny's Sideshow . It's heartbreaking that a beautiful little doll-child and a working soldier should have the opportunity for small talk. Look at her. Please God. Deliver us all.

Looking back now to early August, it's clear that the Georgian debacle really did touch off a major realignment of power. It was obvious early on that the European countries did not want to anger Russia. They need Russian oil and gas. The disastrous military adventure OK'd by the U.S. gave Putin the excuse he needed to declare the return of Russia as a regional power and nip American energy plans in the bud, with huge consequences. Now more than ever, the EU countries will be loathe to anger Russia. America's recent signing of the missile defence agreement with Poland has further angered Putin, and it is European countries that could suffer the consequences. European members of NATO recently moderated the aggressive American push for membership for the Ukraine and Georgia by saying it would come "eventually." But that now looks to be a very long way off. Would the European members of NATO really want to engage in a war with Russia over another incursion into tiny

The GWB administration has gone to great lengths to deny habeas corpus to "War on Terror" detainees. The whole rationale for our war in Afghanistan probably would be exposed to the world as the farce that it is if the Bush administration allowed its "War on Terror" prisoners to use the writ of habeas corpus to challenge their detentions. That appears to be a major reason, if not the major reason, why the Bush administration has for several years fought tooth and nail to deny its prisoners the habeas corpus rights that are guaranteed under our Constitution. And it is also probably a major reason why whenever our courts have over-ruled the Bush administration in specific cases, Bush has released the respective prisoners rather than allow them a fair and open trial. The whole rationale for our Afghanistan war is based on the presumed refusal of the Taliban to turn over Osama bin Laden, whom George Bush claimed to have perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on our country, to U

Older English ladies baking home-made cakes for hospital fundraising purposes shall cease and desist immediately . Why's that? The hospital blames the ban on strict rules over packaging and labelling from the Food Standards Agency – although the FSA maintained last night it made no such demands on the ladies’ cakes. Alan Davidson, the hospital’s director of estates and facilities, said: ‘We appreciate the support volunteers give to our hospitals but there are strict guidelines in place, enforced by the FSA, over food sold to the public. 'This means all food should be packaged appropriately, date-stamped and ingredients listed. ‘This is in the interests of maintaining and protecting the health of the public.’ Well, perhaps Mr. Davidson worries about somebody getting sick and suing the hospital. We can understand that. Probably this will get worked out with a few sharpies, a couple of labels and some Saran Wrap. But what's this? NYC officials have ordered 22 churches to stop

I believe in aristocracy though, it that is the right word and if a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power based upon rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and classes and all through the ages and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos. - E.M. Forster Today we find many parents who wish to be, along with their children, part of the aristocratic class. But it's not the aristocracy that E.M. Forster was talking about. it's a fake aristocracy based on external trappings with a hollow core. These children go out in the world expecting an awful lot of attention, pampering and special treatment from everyone. They believe their own hype, causing problems for other children, for other parents, for teachers, and for coaches. Then they grow up and cause pro

And by coincidence, it's End the Fed day.

If you read over at Urban Survival , you know that George Ure has spoken of the Summer of Hell coming next year. Something about money being a lot less important to people in 2009, blah blah blah. Here's a prediction site targeted toward Europeans, the GlobalEurope Anticipation Bulletin , and lo and behold, they also predict terrible things be happening by next summer. Maybe we should take this seriously, hmm? The G20-meeting held in Washington on November 14/15, 2008, is in its essence a historical indicator that the Western - above all Anglo-Saxon - monopoly on global economic and financial governance, is coming to an end . Nevertheless, according to LEAP/E2020, this meeting also clearly demonstrated that this kind of summits is doomed to inefficiency because they concentrate on curing the symptoms (banks’ and hedge funds’ financial difficulties, derivative markets’ explosion, financial and currency markets’ dramatic volatility, ...) rather than the fundamental root of the curren

1962-1963 US Public Relations Plan (click through to see original document) American Zionist Council Committee on Information and Public Relations The Committee carries on a major part of its work through highly specialized subcommittees composed of professionals in specific areas of activity who volunteer their services to the American Zionist Council. It is the subcommittee chairmen who have been instrumental, for the most part, in mobilizing these experts to serve with them to help interpret Israel to the general American public . In addition, the AZC staff carries on a number of activities on its own without benefit of these volunteers. 1. Magazines Cultivation of editors. Stimulation and placement of suitable articles in the major consumer magazines. Reprinting and distribution of favorable materials which appear in the above publications. Stimulation of articles in trade and specialized journals. Liaison with writers resident in Israel via a literary agent in New York for ideas

The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt. - Thomas Merton, US religious author, clergyman, & Trappist monk (1915 - 1968) A man writes : I still find it difficult to get my head around the so-called civilized world’s reactions—or rather lack of them—over the treatment being méted out to the Palestinian people by the state of Israel (and ably assisted by the West). In fact, I find it inconceivable that the actions of the Zionist state—comparable to that of the Nazi’s treatment of Jews and other minorities—elicits only brief 'news’ items from the Western media and rarely without its usual 'embedded’ commentary that it reserves for the opponents of Israel. Overall, the impression is created of two equal, but opposite sides, F-16 fighter-bombers and helicopter gunships, billions of d

You can watch the 60 Minutes interview of Barack Obama here . Having done so, I noticed a little tell at the one question that everybody knows required him to lie: what about Osama and al Qaida? His right eyelid droops a little during his answer. In general I found Obama's eyes expressive and easy to focus on, in marked contrast to that ass, George W. Bush. I never could stand to watch Bush for even a few minutes without feeling my skin crawl, let alone focus on his actual eyeballs for minutes on end without talking to the tv and shooting a beer. There's a lot of speculation about what Obama's doing and why, and of course that is as it should be. However, I'm not worried about him having a serious personality or psychological problem. As an INFJ, I have some confidence in my ability to spot these things. He's playing the cards he was dealt.

More here .

You can read the full statement here . Some highlights: We are determined to enhance our cooperation and work together to restore global growth and achieve needed reforms in the world's financial systems. Policy-makers, regulators and supervisors, in some advanced countries, did not adequately appreciate and address the risks building up in financial markets, keep pace with financial innovation, or take into account the systemic ramifications of domestic regulatory actions. Regulation is first and foremost the responsibility of national regulators who constitute the first line of defense against market instability. However, our financial markets are global in scope, therefore, intensified international cooperation among regulators and strengthening of international standards, where necessary, and their consistent implementation is necessary to protect against adverse cross-border, regional and global developments affecting international financial stabi

This first map is from FiveThirtyEight.com . They did a great job with the election projections. Since so many problems in this country still revolve around racism and the south, it's interesting to see how progress goes on that front. As 538 explains: The Democrats seem to be on the verge of quarantining the Republicans to a few, relatively electorally dry areas. As compared with 1992, there has been a net swing of at least 19 points to the Republicans in seven states: Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, West Virginia, Wyoming and Arkansas. All of these states but Wyoming form a contiguous region, which we refer to as the "Highlands" region but which is more commonly called the Inland South... If you're going to have to sacrifice [the Dems, politically speaking] a particular region of the country, this is not a bad one to sacrifice. The second map: Matt Yglesias, June 11, 2008 : What's that a map of? Well, recently the Census Bureau started asking people

Osama bin Laden (who is dead) threatens yet another attack against the US that would 'outdo by far' the 9/11 attacks. A source close to the al-Qaeda leadership in Yemen has warned in a report that a new attack against the US will aim 'to change the world [both] politically and economically'. The report published by an Arabic-language newspaper in London, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, claimed that Bin Laden is closely supervising preparations for the attack, which will be far greater than those of 9/11. The former Yemeni operative added in the report that the terror group is currently in a 'positive phase' of staffing and rebuilding training camps around the globe. The report cited the unnamed source as claiming that al-Qaeda may provide indications of its future plans over the next few days. Al Qaeda = CIA, CIA = Wall St, Wall St = Zionist bankers, Zionist bankers = Al Qaeda Just so you can keep score at home exactly who has terrorized you in the past, present and future, t

Michael Chossudovsky has an analysis up at Global Research full of grim truths about the people who engineered this economic catastrophe -- who happen to be the same people, by the way, under consideration for new positions in the Obama administration. Summers, Geithner, Corzine, Volker, Fischer, Phil Gramm, Bernanke, Hank Paulson, Rubin, not to mention Alan Greenspan, al al. are buddies; they play golf together; they have links to the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bilderberg; they act concurrently in accordance with the interests of Wall Street; they meet behind closed doors; they are on the same wave length; they are Democrats and Republicans. While they may disagree on some issues, they are firmly committed to the Washington-Wall Street Consensus. They are utterly ruthless in their management of economic and financial processes. Their actions are profit driven. Outside of their narrow interest in the "efficiency" of "markets", they have little concern

Sarah Palin cannot respond to anonymous allegations. But her explanation about the clothes leaves me puzzled. She says the clothes belong to the RNC, and nobody has told her that lawyers are coming to AlasKUH! to rummage through her closets. She said, while modestly polishing her halo, that she never asked the RNC for anything aside from an occasional Diet Dr. Pepper. (She just helped herself, being an independent survivalist gal from the tundra.) But then she said that staffers packed clothes into suitcases that were subsequently placed in the belly of the plane, presumably to go with Sarah back to AlasKUH! But they're not her clothes, see, because they belong to the RNC. She just gets to wear them . Or maybe I misunderstood. It's all so confusing.

Headline from Haaretz: Obama's first pick: Israeli Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1034855.html Do you see the problem? Rahm is not an American. He's not an American Jew. He's certainly not a Jewish American. He's an Israeli, and the Israelis think that it's just swell when they have a guy representing them ensconced inside the White House, for instance. The article goes on to say, without a hint of embarassment... Emanuel, a former Bill Clinton adviser, is the son of a Jerusalem-born pediatrician who was a member of the Irgun (Etzel or IZL), a militant Zionist [terrorist - Ed.] group that operated in Palestine between 1931 and 1948. Nice. More info here . Update: Classy . In strikingly racist remarks, the father of Rahm Emanuel has said Israel will benefit from Obama's choice of White House chief of staff. "Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's

Webster Tarplay gives an interview about Obama and Brzezinski and their plans to manipulate and possibly even confront China and Russia. He is very alarmed. Here's a quick recap. He's saying that Obama's policies put us into grave danger because he is controlled by a 'clique of bankers', the Trilateral Commission (Rockefeller, Soros, etc.), and they are determined to smash Russia and China apart as the new center of world power. Rather than pursuing the neocon policy of picking on "shitty little countries" like Iraq, Iran, and Syria, Zbig would have those countries used as tools against Russia and China. New targets include Sudan, which supplies 7% of China's oil, and Pakistan, which will be carved up -- just like Iraq -- to destroy their usefulness as allies to China or Russia. India and Japan become something like swing states in this battle. The end goal is to pit China against Russia, who then (theoretically) destroy each other, leaving the US and