You have the right as an individual to own a gun and defend yourself.
Prohibition didn't stop liquor use; the drug laws can't stop drug use. Making gun ownership illegal will not stop gun ownership.
The primary victim of these misguided efforts is the honest citizen whose civil rights are trampled as frustrated legislators and police tighten the screws.
Banning guns will make guns more expensive and give organized crime a great opportunity to make profits in a new black market for weapons. Street violence will increase in new turf wars. Criminals will not give up their guns. But, many law abiding citizens will, leaving them defenseless against armed bandits.
Rather than banning guns, the politicians and the police should encourage gun ownership, as well as education and training programs. A responsible, well-armed and trained citizenry is the best protection against domestic crime and the threat of foreign invasion. America's founders knew that. It is still true today.You have the right as an individual to own a gun and defend yourself.
Prohibition... more
ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Militant attacks killed six Pakistani security forces Monday, officials said, a day after the Taliban chief warned of terrorist strikes across the country if the army did not stop a major offensive against insurgents along the Afghan border.
The army moved into South Waziristan tribal region nine days ago vowing to crush the Pakistani Taliban, a militant network it says is behind 80 percent of the suicide bombings in Pakistan. Washington backs the operation because militants in the northwest region are believed to shelter al-Qaida leaders and attack Western troops in Afghanistan.
Heavily armed militants assaulted security officials in Toraware village overnight, killing two and wounding four in a three-hour shootout in the area some 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of South Waziristan, police officer Mir Chaman Khan said. Some 10 militants were believed to have been killed.
In Bajur, a tribal region further north, Taliban fighters attacked a checkpoint at Matthak village, killing four security officials. Seven militants died in the clash, said Syed Ghulam Rasool, a local government official. The militants also attacked security check posts at Khar, the main town in Bajur, and Siddiqabad, an adjoining village, wounding at least three security personnel.
Militant attacks in Pakistan have surged this month, killing more than 200 people, as the Taliban have tried to avert the army offensive in South Waziristan. The military announced Saturday its first major achievement in the offensive - the capture of Kotkai, Mehsud's hometown. The army said the town had hosted a training camp for suicide bombers.
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud remained defiant Sunday. He said in a telephone call to an Associated Press reporter the militants had not suffered "any significant losses" in Waziristan. Mehsud, speaking from an undisclosed location, threatened to turn Pakistan into "another Afghanistan or Iraq" unless the assault stopped.
The army says troops have captured two key fronts between Kotkai and the key militant base of Sararogha. An army statement said troops secured at least one other important front and fought 16 hours to capture a significant mountaintop.
The militants have fled Kotkai and are sporadically attacking troops with rockets from high ground, the military said.
Independent verification of such reports is nearly impossible because the military has blocked access to South Waziristan. The tribal regions as a whole are difficult to access and largely off-limits to foreign journalists.
The army has deployed some 30,000 troops to South Waziristan to take on an estimated 12,000 militants, including up to 1,500 foreign fighters, among them Uzbeks and Arabs. The U.N. says some 155,000 civilians have fled.
In other violence Sunday, a minister for education was assassinated by gunmen in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, police official Shahid Nizam said. A nationalist group, the Baluchistan United Liberation Front, claimed responsibility in calls to local media outlets.
The region has been the scene of a low-level insurgency for years to press demands for a greater share of oil and gas revenue in the province.
----
Mahsud reported from Dera Ismail Khan. Associated Press writers Ashraf Khan in Islamabad, Habib Khan in Khar and Hussain Afzal in Parachinar contributed to this report.ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Militant attacks killed six Pakistani security forces Monday,... more
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- At least four gunmen were holding 10 to 15 people hostage inside army headquarters in Rawalpindi Saturday after an attack left at least 10 people dead, a top military spokesman said.
Army Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN that the hostages include civilians and military personnel.
He said there have been sporadic shootings between the gunmen and authorities over the past three or four hours.
The gunmen, wearing camouflage clothing and riding in a minivan, earlier opened fire Saturday at the headquarters checkpoint, south of Islamabad, Abbas said.
Ten people were killed in the raging gunbattle including four gunmen and six army guards, he added.
Another military official said the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the incident.
...More...ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- At least four gunmen were holding 10 to 15 people hostage... more
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The United States has long suspected that much of the billions of dollars it has sent Pakistan to battle militants has been diverted to the domestic economy and other causes, such as fighting India.ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The United States has long suspected that much of the billions... more
Officials see a growing number of anti-government militia groups growing across the US. They feel that this situation is being exacerbated by fears stoked by the health care debate, the poor economy and a liberal presidency.Officials see a growing number of anti-government militia groups growing across the... more
PHOTO: A mountain gorilla is having a snare removed. Illegal logging/deforestation has created access for illegal hunting and illegal wildlife-trade. The snares are used to catch "bushmeat" (anything that ends up in the trap).
Large numbers of endangered animals have been killed by armed groups at Africa's oldest national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the start of the year, park officials and environmental groups said Tuesday.
Chimpanzees, elephants, antelopes, birds and hippos have been slaughtered after Virunga National Park became the scene of intense fighting.
The park, on the frontier with Uganda, was made a world heritage site by the UN's cultural body UNESCO, and is home to endangered species such as the mountain gorilla.
"Four chimpanzees were killed last week in the central zone and 11 elephants since the start of the year," park director Emmanuel de Merode told AFP.
He added "a large number of game animals", including antelopes, had also been slaughtered.
Bantu Lukamba, from local environmental NGO Innovation, said: "At least 31 animals, including 11 migratory birds and three hippos were killed over 21 days."
They died between May 25 and June 16, he said.
Armed groups have overrun the park since violence flared up last year.
It became the theatre of intense fighting, mainly between government forces or their proxies and rebels of the National Congress for the Defence of the People.
"It is impossible to get control the situation in the park, given the huge number of armed men who exploit its resources," Merode said.
The park is also home to Lake Edward, which in 1980 was the world's most important hippopotamus sanctuary with 27,000 of the animals.
There are now less than 300, according to Merode.
Created in 1925, Virunga National Park is the oldest in Africa.PHOTO: A mountain gorilla is having a snare removed. Illegal logging/deforestation has... more
The Pakistani military says dozens of students abducted by militants in the north-west of the country have been freed by troops. Several buses carrying students were reported missing in an area near the Afghan border on Monday.The Pakistani military says dozens of students abducted by militants in the north-west... more
“Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to have thrown away the key.”
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, John Dugard
Gaza: The Facts
Total Population - 1,500,202
Population Density - 4117 per sq km
Fertility Rate - 5.19 children/woman
Total Refugees - 1,059,584
Refugees as % of Population - 70%
Unemployment - 45.5%
Average Age - 17.2 years - some estimates have put the median age at 15.3.
Life Expectancy - 73.16 years
% dependant on foreign aid - 86%
Gaza: Retrospective of events
1948 Arab-Israeli War - Gaza Strip’s boundaries were defined by the 1949 Armistice and placed under Egyptian rule to be held in trust for a future Palestinian state.
1956 Suez-Sinai War - The Gaza Strip was occupied by Israel. A year later they withdrew their troops and a UN Emergency Force was placed in the Gaza Strip.
1967 War - Israel recaptured the Gaza Strip on June 5th. In November of the same year, UN Security Council called for the ‘withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict’.
1970 - The first settlement, Kfar Darom, was built in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli settlement movement continued to expand as did confrontations between settlers and Palestinians.
1987 - The first Palestinian Intifada and Hamas, an Islamic Resistance Movement, begin in Gaza. The Intifada comes to an end with the signing of the Oslo Accord and establishment of the PA in 1993.
2000 - The Camp David Summit renewed hopes for peace until Ariel Sharon’s visit to the al-Aqsa Mosque sparks the Second Intifada in September.
2005 –Ariel Sharon ‘disengages’ from the Gaza Strip in September – unilaterally and without consultation or coordination with the the Palestinian Authority. Though the settlers are gone, Israel maintains effective contol of the Strip.
2006 – Hamas wins the January Parliamentary Election by a landslide. Israel and the international community place sanctions on Palestine and withhold VAT. Tensions grow within Palestine between factions.
2007 -Violent clashes erupt between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza, resulting in Hamas securing control of the Strip. Egypt responds by sealing off the border.
2008 - On January 17th Israel sealed off the borders to Gaza following a rise in rocket attacks. They retain full control over the amount of medical supplies, food and fuel imported to the Gaza Strip by land or sea. In June 19th, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire. As this goes to print, they are fighting again (Nov).The Gaza Strip
“Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to have thrown away the key.”... more
The "If Americans Knew" web site also publishes and keeps current shocking information on the daily toll in the OPT. Some of its disturbing figures affecting Palestinians from September 29, 2000 (the first day of the Second Intifada) to the present at the hands of Israeli forces are as follows:
-- 934 Palestinian children have been killed in most cases while engaging in normal daily activities like going to school, playing, shopping, or being in their homes. PCHR reports a total of 4284 Palestinian deaths through March 23, 2007.
-- A known total of 31,307 Palestinians have been injured, mostly civilians, and mostly under the same circumstances children were killed. The B'Tselem Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories reports these numbers are extremely conservative while the internationally respected Palestine Red Crescent Society reports much higher totals that are likely more accurate. In addition, these figures exclude large numbers of Palestinians who die when unable to reach medical care in time because of Israeli checkpoints, road closures, curfews and other restrictions on mobility in the OPT. Also, no accurate records are available on the large number of avoidable Palestinian deaths resulting from deprivation and/or disease following the first time ever imposition of sanctions on an occupied people from early 2006 to the present.
-- The cite reports US financial aid to Israel is $7,023,288 per day, but the true number is far higher including:
- around $3 billion or more annually in direct aid;
- billions more in loans as needed;
- millions annually for immigrant resettlement;
- multi-billions in waved loan repayments;
- billions more in military aid, financial help to develop Israel's defense industry, transfer of state-of-the-art technology and the latest US weapons, and US guarantees for Israel's access to oil;
- $22 billion Israel got over the past 50 years through the sale of its below-market paying bonds that have financed half its development - meaning the colonization of annexed Palestinian land; military aid for its imperial aggressive wars; and still more as needed and requested.
Tiny Israel today (with six million Jews) gets more US financial aid (in all direct and indirect forms) than all other countries in the world combined.
====================================================
Palestinians Beware
24 April 2009
Mitri I. Musleh - Israel’s new demand for being recognized as a Jewish state by the Palestinians as a precondition for peace between the two people is ambiguous, confusing and is totally a time wasting mechanism. Israel’s current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu advised US senior envoy, George Mitchell, that Palestinians must recognize Israel as a “Jewish State” before peace talks can begin. Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted a senior official in Netanyahu’s office as saying that “Israel expects the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state before talking about two states for two peoples”.
I am absolutely and totally confused. For all of those years since 1948 where the UN recognized Israel as a Jewish state, the illegal Israeli military occupation of Palestine, the endless number of war casualties on both sides, the creation of the largest contingent number of Palestinian refugees, the ongoing US yearly financial and military aid to Israel, all the international efforts deployed to establish peace between the two nations and all the current Israeli leaders wish for is for Israel to be recognized as a Jewish state by the Palestinians.
What ever happened to Israel’s demand for security? Has the new Israeli government achieved security for its people?The "If Americans Knew" web site also publishes and keeps current shocking information... more
The U.S. military separately reported that Afghan and coalition forces killed four militants Saturday in the same area — the Shinkay district of Zabul province. It was not immediately clear if the reports referred to the same incident. Military spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the four deaths were all the U.S. had confirmed as of Saturday night.
The Interior Ministry said the gunbattle occurred Saturday evening when an Afghan army convoy came under attack. Police came to their aid and a clash ensued in which 22 militants died, it said in a statement.
The U.S. said the joint forces were attacked Saturday by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades while patrolling in Shinkay. They fired back and called in close-air support, a U.S. statement said.
4/12 16:43 PM ETThe U.S. military separately reported that Afghan and coalition forces killed four... more
The devastation left by the Israeli war on beseiged Gaza means youngsters now make a living by sifting through piles of rubble. Children as young as five collect metal and plastic to sell to scrap dealers. So poor are the families they come from that they miss school in order to...Gaza's children: a gloomy future
Yousef Al-Helou
The devastation left by the... more
Dozens of suspected militants fired rockets early today at a transport terminal in northwest Pakistan that is used to ship supplies to Nato troops based in Afghanistan, police said.
At least 12 shipping containers were damaged in the attack at the Farhad terminal in Peshawar, capital of troubled North West Frontier Province, local police official Zahur Khan told The Associated Press. He said police opened fire at the insurgents but they managed to flee.
The attack came less than a day after a suicide bomber blew up in a packed mosque in North West Frontier Province's Khyber tribal region, killing 48 people and wounding scores more in the worst attack to hit Pakistan this year.Dozens of suspected militants fired rockets early today at a transport terminal in... more
This is a Dutch (Netherlands) documentary from 2005. It is about a 'Worst Case' scenario where speculation on the currency exchange market plus a substantial sell-off of dollars from a hedge fund cause a chain reaction in the market, the economy and the political system. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22305.htm
3 parts ....click on link aboveIn Case You Missed It
Worst Case: The Day The Dollar Falls
Must Watch Video... more
"Nothing is more damaging to US interests than the inability to have a proper debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
—Financial Times, Editorial, Saturday, April 01, 2006
-------------------------
The Power of Israel in the United States
by James Petras
--
"A provocative analysis of a serious problem that should be discussed and debated widely among the U.S. public, academics, and the policy establishment, this book succeeds in exposing in great detail the enormous power and influence of Israel and the Jewish Lobby in shaping U.S. policy toward the Middle East."
—Berch Berberoglu, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology, University of Nevada, Reno
Author of TURMOIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
“Once again James Petras takes us on a fearless truth trip—with lucid style, tough factual blows, commanding research, and compelling analysis. This is an eye-opening, must-read book for every advocate of democracy and every opponent of imperialism.”
—Michael Parenti,
author of The Culture Struggle and Superpatriotism
“An outstanding analysis of the political machinery responsible for so much suffering in the Middle East: the social science equivalent of John Adam´s opera “Klinghoffer”. Brilliant and substantive”.
John Saxe-Fernandez,
Professor and Senior Researcher, Faculty of Political Science National Autonomous
University of Mexico and leading world authority on US foreign policy and the oil industry
”Jim Petras has been one of the few courageous individuals, in or outside of academia, to take a critical view of the pro-Israel lobby and its influence over US Middle East policy and to challenge the “conventional wisdom” on the part of the Left that Israel acts as a “cop on the beat” and is simply serving America’s imperial interests.”
Jeff Blankfort,
A leading Jewish authority, writer and critic in the US on the pro-Israel Lobby
“Jim Petras is one of the best informed political scientists of his generation, not given to avoiding difficult issues. Here he addresses one such, which he tackles in a characteristically challenging way.”
Tom Brass, Editor
The Journal of Peasant Studies
“Always meticulously researched and full of insight, in the final analysis Petras’ opinions are almost always vindicated by events. I believe that this will be the case here.”
—Cy Gonick,
Canadian Dimension magazine
“Jim Petras, a man with vast expertise assembled in Latin America, takes the Leftist anti-imperialist discourse one step further, beyond safe condemnation of American imperialism.He begins where Chomsky and Zunes stop. In this book, Petras turns to the Middle East, where he discovers, through the haze of anti-Muslim polemics, assassinations and tortures, the identity of the decisive factor: that of “Jewish power shaping US policy in the Middle East against the interest of Big Oil”.
Petras’ critique of “soft Left” with its fear to alienate wealthy and influential Jewish supporters is a breath of fresh air; this critique has to be internalised if the Left wills to regain its place in society.”
Israel Shamir, Jaffa
Leading Russian-Israeli intellectual, writer, translator and journalist"Nothing is more damaging to US interests than the inability to have a proper debate... more
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) likely will introduce his controversial legislation to reinstate the draft again this year, but he will wait until after the economic stimulus package is passed.
Asked if he plans to introduce the legislation again in 2009, Rangel last week said, “Probably … yes. I don’t want to do anything this early to distract from the issue of the economic stimulus.”
So he plans on distracting you with money (stimulus) so that you're not paying attention when he introduces the bill that will put you in the military.Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) likely will introduce his controversial legislation to... more
Zouheir Alnajjar, a Collective Journalism contributor who lives in Gaza, gives us an exclusive look at a group of Palestinian militants who make - and set off - homemade rockets headed for Israel.
For years Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas have fired these homemade rockets into Israeli towns and settlements as a means of resistance against the IDF and Israeli occupation or embargoes. Thousands of rockets have fallen on Israel and over a dozen have been killed.
Collective Journalism, Current's citizen journalism program, works by combining perspectives from around the world to create a picture of the world we live in.Zouheir Alnajjar, a Collective Journalism contributor who lives in Gaza, gives us an... more
A militant rocket has hit a house in Gaza, killing two Palestinian children. Israel says 110 rockets have been fired since Wednesday.A militant rocket has hit a house in Gaza, killing two Palestinian children. Israel... more
Indian authorities have released the names or aliases of the nine suspected militants killed during last month's attacks in the city of Mumbai (Bombay).
. . .
Masood Azhar is one of the most wanted men in India. The group he founded, Jaish-e-Mohammad, is accused along with Lashkar-e-Taiba of taking part in the attack on India's parliament in 2001 which led the two countries to the brink of war.
. . .
The group is thought to behind a string of attacks inside Pakistan as well.
Although the authorities in Pakistan formally banned Lashkar six years ago and curbed its activities, its camps were never closed.Indian authorities have released the names or aliases of the nine suspected militants... more
Tariq Khan: India is 'most attacked country in world after Iraq,' it's not all coming from Pakistan. Part 2
Tariq Amin-Khan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University. In addition to a PhD in Social and Political Thought from York University in Toronto, he holds a Master’s degree in South Asian Studies from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Karachi in Pakistan. The title of his doctoral thesis is Theorizing the Post-Colonial State in the Era of Capitalist Globalism.
