Thursday, August 30, 2012

God Has Spoken

As communicated through the Boston Globe:

Isaac on track to strike Gulf Coast as hurricane

"Storm may alter scenario for Romney’s gala; Aides consider possibility of joy, disaster juxtaposed" by Matt Viser and Glen Johnson  |  Globe Staff, August 28, 2012

TAMPA — Advisers may be confronted with far different images: a festive party in Tampa, with delegates applauding and wearing funny hats, while residents along the Gulf Coast deal with a natural disaster.

Romney campaign advisers Monday were contemplating a variety of scenarios, including the possibility of canceling the convention, but emphasized that nothing was certain, with convention plans now as unpredictable as the weather....

Hey, I'm happy with a with a Monday. To me it is a subtle and almost harmless warning. I would have no other from the God in which I believe.

There quite literally could be a split screen, with television network coverage alternating between the hurricane’s destruction and the Republican celebration....

The convention had a low-key mood on Monday, with many of the activities on the floor canceled in anticipation of the storm. But the weather was less severe than expected. By midday the sun came out, and a charity golf tournament, Birdies for the Brave, still took place. Actor Jon Voight wandered around the convention area....  

Related: At the Republican convention, events are all in a day’s work/play

I'm so turned off to the culture of indoctrinating and inculcating celebrity. 

 The storm is also a vivid reminder of Hurricane Katrina, which struck almost seven years ago to the day, and President George W. Bush’s much-criticized handling of the emergency response....

Some places still haven't been cleared or rebuilt.

Already, there appeared to be some off-key comments that Democrats were eager to point out. At a rally on Sunday, a US Senate candidate in Texas made a joke about the storm, saying Republicans should be happy about its arrival because it caused Vice President Joe Biden to cancel his trip to Tampa.

“We can be thankful for Hurricane Isaac,” Ted Cruz said at a Faith and Freedom Coalition rally. ”If nothing else it kept Joe Biden away.”

Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, said on Monday that he was “fine” with the storm hitting the Gulf Coast.

“I think what you have to remember is Republicans are going to take Washington by storm on Jan. 20 of next year. So if this is the first storm of Republicans taking control of our country again, making America competitive again, I’m fine with that,” Issa said at a California delegation breakfast, according to Politico. “I don’t care if we get blown in by a hurricane or a tornado; ultimately there’s going to be an earthquake in Washington next January.”  

Issa is ill. I never wish for any storm, ever; however, it is ultimately out of my control. I just interpret events, folks, I don't cause them to happen.

Michael Robinson, executive vice president of Levick, a crisis communications firm that has advised on the gulf oil spill, said there were risks for Republicans in how they handle the next few days. But there also could be opportunities for Romney, who has been criticized as cold and aloof, to show a more emotional side.

“Just imagine for a minute the impact of people saying, ‘Hey, I didn’t realize that Mitt Romney was in there,’ ” said Robinson, a former Bush administration spokesman. “It is entirely possible that Romney has this Rudy Giuliani moment.”  

Oh, that is really spooky.  

Btw, who told him those towers were going to fall and why did he destroy a crime scene?

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"While far less powerful than Katrina, Isaac posed similar political challenges, a reminder of how the storm seven years ago became a symbol of government ignorance and ineptitude....

The part I was interested in from my printed paper where both parties are proving themselves to be ready, Obama to demonstrate his ability to guide us through disasters and Republican reassurance while readying for the "coronation' of Mitt Romney has been eliminated.

--more--"

Related: Isaac steers clear of direct blow on New Orleans  

You see? My God has mercy although we all bemoan the loss of at least one soul.

Related: Ryan opposed new, Obama-backed disaster aid regime

I think the hot air out of both sides of the mouth steered the storm clear. 

"Republican delegates put on hold for now; Lockdown, not Isaac, limiting movement in city" by Brian MacQuarrie and Bryan Bender  |  Globe Staff, August 28, 2012

TAMPA — Miles of fencing, dozens of checkpoints, Secret Service agents, helicopters, Coast Guard boats, and swarms of police — on foot, horseback, and bicycles — gave downtown Tampa a quiet feeling of locked-down martial law Monday. Yet, the security lockdown, not the weather, was topic number one among many delegates....

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That's nothing new to some people:

"Impending storm doesn’t stop convention protesters" Associated Press, August 27, 2012

TAMPA — The few hundred protesters gathered under rainy skies in a park about a half-mile from the GOP convention on Sunday said an impending hurricane that is supposed to dump heavy rains on Tampa won’t deter them from trying to get out their message that America needs to change, especially for the middle class.

Giant blocks of ice spelling out the words ‘‘middle class’’ were melting on a warm, sticky day. Occupy protesters said it represented the melting away of the middle class in America. That message rings true for 52-year-old Tom Gaurapp and Cheryl Landecker from Freeport, Ill. Both worked for Sensata Technologies in the city of some 25,000 people and say 170 jobs there, including their own, were outsourced to China.

Occupy is a left-leaning protest group of people who generally believe that the financial system is stacked against a majority of people. Gaurapp and Landecker say that just a few years ago, they never would have considered joining such a protest.  

Well, the left-leaning part is a little bit of a lie, but the other part is true.

‘‘But then again, we wouldn’t have dreamed our jobs would have gone to China,’’ Gaurapp said....

After 30 years of.... never mind.  

The important thing to recognize is it is not China's fault. I wish I had a national government that jealously guarded it's national industrial and manufacturing base. Instead, my government gave corporations tax breaks to relocate to.... China.  I know, I know, China is horrible to its workers, but that is a matter for the Chinese people to solve with actions like this. 

Besides, what do you call that minimum wage you are slaving for, Amerikan?

--more--"

"Presidential convention cities set to manage protests; Activist groups chafe at security restrictions" by Bryan Bender  |  Globe Staff, August 28, 2012

WASHINGTON — Now the enclave is called “Romneyville,” a not-so-flattering tribute to the shanty towns of the Great Depression derisively known as Hoovervilles, after President Herbert Hoover. When its organizers pack it up and move north next week, it will have a new name.  

They are called tent cities now.

Obamaville.

As the Republican National Convention gets underway in Tampa and their Democratic counterparts prepare to converge on Charlotte, N.C., the encampments are intended to be the center of a series of protest marches by homeless, poor, and unemployed citizens and other peaceful demonstrations that coincide with the gatherings of the nation’s political elite....

Just doing God's work.

Police in Tampa and Charlotte have been bracing for thousands of convention protesters inundating their cities. The vast majority of participants are expected to be peaceful, but officials say they are also preparing for the potential that a handful of anarchists or other extremists will seek to disrupt the events 

Those will be the government infiltrators meant to discredit.

In Tampa, a potent police presence and howling winds and rain from Tropical Storm Isaac have dampened activity so far. Only a few hundred protesters marched in a rally Monday morning, instead of the 5,000 people organizers had predicted.

Tampa and Charlotte have tried to stay a step ahead of the protesters.

Tampa passed a temporary ordinance requiring groups of 50 or more to secure a permit in order to demonstrate, and the city leased a lot a few hundred feet from the Tampa Convention Center in an attempt to keep the protesters in one spot.

Charlotte passed a law allowing the city manager to give the police authority to cordon off and search large areas and small items — including individuals’ backpacks — and to confiscate seemingly harmless items such as face-covering scarves. Under the orders, police can also arrest anyone carring items that could be used to cause injury. 

And they called it freedom!

Hundreds of police officers and heavily armed members of the Florida National Guard patrolled downtown Tampa Monday.

The 60 organizing groups for the protests there included labor unions, Students for a Democratic Society, Veterans for Peace, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Occupy Wall Street, and Code Pink, according to the Associated Press.

Another offshoot of the Occupy movement has pledged to recreate the 2011 Occupy Charlotte demonstrations that descended on what is one of the nation’s banking centers.

“We will continue to hold President Obama’s administration accountable,” the loosely connected group said in a statement, citing a host of issues from economic inequality to immigration and the war in Afghanistan among its grievances.

But for local police and the Secret Service, which is responsible for overall security at the conventions, there is more to worry about at events considered prime targets for domestic or international terrorists.

Last week, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin to law enforcement agencies saying the agencies “assess with high confidence” the probability that anarchist extremists could attempt to attack critical sites.  

I'm sorry, guys, I'm simply exhausted by the yo-yo false flags and patsy plots.

The agencies urged local law enforcement to be on the lookout for extremists groups such as white supremacists who may have been seeking weapons training or explosive materials.  

(Blog editor sighs)

The activists in such groups as ResistRNC vow to be peaceful. They complain that some measures taken by the cities, including restrictions on what protesters can carry and the fact that the designated protest area in Tampa will be fenced in, overly restrict their First Amendment right to free speech.

“The public viewing area is close to the forum, so thank you for the location,” organizer Amos Miers wrote Tampa officials. “However, the way it is proposed to be managed is still problematic. Fencing it in, and requiring further restrictions upon entering the compound smacks the face of liberty. I don’t understand how a cage can be designed for guests of our city and be also considered something that belongs in a democracy.”

That is why organizers sought to make sure “Romneyville” and “Obamaville” will be located on private property.

“We don't have a permit and we’re going to march as long as we want,” Wright said. “We don’t believe we need a permit for our constitutional right.”

Other groups, including ResistRNC, plan to use the modern shanty town as a staging ground.

“From this site, activists can take refuge from the effects of the militarized zone,” it instructs participants, “as this is private property and not subject to the . . . ordinance. And of course once refreshed get back into the action, stronger than ever.”

Yet even city officials who support the message of the protesters and raised questions about some of the restrictive security precautions believe there will be ample opportunity for demonstrators to exercise their rights.

“I believe their voices will be heard,” said City Council member CainoYvonne Yolie Capin. 

I don't. They would have been heard by now.


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"With 15,000 media in Tampa, protests and proselytizing abound" by Brian C. Mooney  |  Globe Staff, August 30, 2012

TAMPA —A grand bazaar of American sideshows, subplots, and causes.  

I'm reading one.

All of this political agitation and entrepreneurship is in stark contrast to the well-heeled financiers and elite of the party, who are attending invitation-only or unpublicized soirees in and around Tampa.

You won’t find publicists promoting the whereabouts of casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, who seems on course to reach or exceed the $100 million he said he might give this year to groups advancing conservative candidates and causes.

The same goes for his fellow billionaires, Koch brothers Charles and David, who are also helping to bankroll groups targeting congressional Democrats or President Obama, primarily with donations that do not have to be disclosed.

On the other side is “Romneyville,” the ragged tent encampment of dozens of protesters who were trying to disrupt the anointment of Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential nominee by drawing attention to the plight of the “99 percent” who they say are struggling in this economy. Amid a massive and well-coordinated police presence, the demonstrations have been tame and not as well attended as at recent conventions.

Then there are the squadrons of Ron Paul disciples, patrolling downtown street corners or marching around the convention center’s security perimeter in a futile effort to gin up support for their failed presidential candidate to speak at the convention or to have more Paul delegates seated. Their hopes were snuffed out quickly by party officials on Tuesday, the first day of the convention.  

And thus the world can see our democracy for the fraud that it is.

Advocacy groups such as the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Generation Opportunity, both nonprofits, have been given access by convention officials to the vast media work space on several acres of floor in the Tampa Convention Center. Representatives prowl the aisles and drop in and out of the curtained work stations trying to interest reporters in the employment and medical problems of returning vets or efforts to mobilize underemployed “millennials,” those ages 18 to 29, in the political process.

Hawkers abound, such as the one handing out free desktop cellphone holders (“patent pending”) and promoting a free phone application offered by PolitiFact.com, the fact-checking arm of the Tampa Bay Times.

Street protests have been frequent but restrained. As of Tuesday there had been three arrests, compared to hundreds four years ago at the GOP convention in St. Paul and in 2004 in New York City.

“This is a nonevent for all intents and purposes,” said Al Crespo, a Miami-based photojournalist and blogger who has covered every convention and the accompanying protests since 2000. Instead of demonstrations with 1,000 or more participants, often led by militant anarchists, the marches and rallies in Tampa have attracted anywhere from a half-dozen to several hundred activists.

“The government crackdown on dissent is working,” said Amos Miers, a Tampa resident active in the coordinating committee resistRNC at “Romneyville,” an echo of the Hooverville shantytowns of the Great Depression. The activists remain committed, he said, even if their numbers are down.

A loose federation of activists is engaging in a series of demonstrations and marches with daily themes of economic rights, human rights, the environment, and antiwar/peace. One of the largest gatherings drew about 400 on Tuesday to Centennial Park in historic Ybor City for a rally against what participants called Republican­ efforts to suppress voter turnout among the poor and minorities. A protester wore a papier-mache puppet likeness of Mitt Romney, dubbing him “King of the 1%.”

As at every such event, scores of police and deputy sheriffs surrounded the proceedings.  

They probably outnumber the protesters if the corporate paper is to be believed.

The official area designated for demonstrations and parades is a forlorn patch surrounded by Jersey barriers and chain-link fence several hundred yards from the Tampa Bay Times Forum, site of the convention proceedings.

It's a JAIL YARD!

The City of Tampa Parks and Recreation Department provided a portable “showmobile” with a stage for speakers who reserve time. Squads of up to 10 police officers on bicycles pass by every 15 minutes or so, and at one point about 30 sheriff’s deputies from Broward County in South Florida marched by.

How much is show of tyranny this costing taxpayers?

Doctors for America, a group of more than 50 physicians in Tampa, is scheduled to march to the portable stage Thursday, part of a bus tour that will next visit three other cities en route to Charlotte, N.C., site of next week’s Democratic National Convention.

“We’re working to educate people about the Affordable Care Act, to let them know it’s the law of the land and what benefits folks can get now,” said Samantha Galing, who booked the stage for the group. “We’re not endorsing any particular candidate, but we want politicians to put patients ahead of politics and stop making it a partisan issue.”

Not all the activists are leftists or good-government types at this bazaar of free expression.

On Tuesday, six activists from Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., known for their incendiary antigay protests and signs like “God Hates Fags,” were among those with an appointment for the stage.

“The main message is that your destruction is imminent,” Shirley Phelps-Roper, attorney and leader of the group, said in a telephone interview earlier in the day. “We’re so thrilled that the God of Isaac has sent [the storm] Isaac to turn attention away from Romney and onto what God is doing to this country, this border of wickedness.”  

I disassociate myself from those remarks.

Ron Paul supporters mounted a futile effort to have the Texas congressman address the GOP convention. That was rejected by party officials on the first day of the convention.
Ron Paul supporters mounted a futile effort to have the Texas congressman address the GOP convention. That was rejected by party officials on the first day of the convention (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).

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I really can't tell you how miffed I am at the way they have treated my guy.

"Denied role at convention, Ron Paul rallies faithful; Texas legislator says libertarian cause will thrive" by Brian C. Mooney  |  Globe Staff, August 27, 2012

TAMPA —  For Representative Ron Paul, it was the second time in four years he has held his own rally near the GOP convention, drawing thousands of supporters who intend to continue his fight against what they see as government incursions into civil liberties, the economy, and foreign nations.

But somehow nobody voted for him.

Sunday’s event at the mostly full Sun Dome arena on the campus of the University of South Florida was called “We Are the Future.” Four years ago in Minneapolis, the Paul backers nearly filled the Target Center with a “Rally for the Republic” before the convention in nearby St. Paul....

By the Associated Press count, Paul has 177 committed delegates of the nearly 2,300 who will attend the convention....

And they didn't even call his name when they did the roll.

Paul’s gatherings are a motley array of libertarians, with strict constitutionalists, veterans, fiscal conservatives, and young people. 

I take that backhanded elitist insult as a compliment now.

He is viewed with deep skepticism in many quarters of the Republican Party because his beliefs, particularly his noninterventionist foreign policy and support for drug decriminalization, fall well outside the mainstream of party orthodoxy.  

Translation: he is what the people wanted, and there is no way the corporate mon$ter that controls both parties will allow that. Look what the did to Nader.

But his supporters share a deep resentment of the expansion of government into their lives and overlap in their beliefs at points with a variety of other political activists on the right and the left.

During Sunday’s rally, the targets of boos ranged from Obama and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to Romney and Rick Santorum, another of Romney’s defeated rivals. Garnering cheers from the crowd were marijuana (which Paul proposes to decriminalize), raw milk, a sound currency policy, and Barry Goldwater (whose son, former California congressman Barry Goldwater Jr., was among the speakers).

Paul’s initiative to audit the Federal Reserve received wide bipartisan support in the House and is part of the Republican Party’s platform this year....  

Look, they threw us all a crumb!

--more--"  

Also see: Republican platform targets social issues

"Representative Ron Paul’s delegates are trying to mount a floor fight over new GOP rules designed to limit the ability of insurgent presidential candidates to amass delegates to future Republican conventions....  

I wasn't aware Ron Paul supporters were fighting U.S. occupations and killing AmeriKan soldiers, were you?

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"The day was also marked by discord, with the convention upended by a delegate dispute involving Ron Paul and his supporters, who were incensed at rules changes that unseated 10 Paul delegates from Maine.  

Yes, I had CNN on for about five minutes and Wolf and the gang were in an uproar.

Paul strode onto the floor in the afternoon, posing for photos and signing autographs. His supporters chanted his name, shouted “Let him speak,” and some delegates shouted at Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman, as he tried to gavel the hall into order. Several Maine delegates walked out of the convention hall in protest over the rules changes.  

Oh, my, they ACTUALLY LET HIM IN the BUILDING THIS TIME!!

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Related:

"The delegation also has a large contingent of supporters of one of Romney’s vanquished opponents, libertarian-leaning Ron Paul, after the Paul forces overran Romney-backed candidates for delegate slots at caucuses last spring....

--more--"

Related: Access to Mass. delegates restricted

And Romney will be getting his attention any minute now:

"This work of “humanizing” Romney began Tuesday night, with Ann Romney’s well-received address extolling her husband’s capacity for love and commitment.  

Related:  

"Ann Romney spoke of the funny boy she fell in love with" at the high school dance. 

Yeah, he was a real great guy when we wasn't being a bully and posing as a cop!!  

Just his way of saying I love you, right?

That work continues Thursday leading up to Romney’s speech, when a parade of people from his life — from the Mormon church, from his administration as Massachusetts governor, and from the Olympics — will testify to his character, leadership, and experience....

With polls showing voters trusting Romney more than President Obama to fix the economy, it’s clear the Mr. Fix-it image is the one Republicans most want to project.  

Neither one of these guys can fix the economy without standing up to the bankers and recalling the empire.

--more--"

"Evoking the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — referring to ‘‘a plume of smoke on a clear blue morning’’ — Romney said protecting the country is the president’s highest duty....  

Then he lied to Israel?

--more--" 

So what is he going to do, start some more wars?

Related: How Romney can win the foreign policy debate

Also seeJane Romney says brother, Mitt, will not allow a ban on abortions
 
Romney looks to stress family-man qualities

Romney is the man to deliver
 
Mitt Romney is no washout

I'll bet he does deliver a good speech tonight. Too bad I' will be missing it.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Will God Speak at the Republican Convention?

We know who won't be.

"GOP convention comes at height of hurricane season

TAMPA — The Republican National Convention and the peak of hurricane season collide in Tampa this month. And though planners are banking on years of data that a major storm won’t hit, they also have laid out worse-case scenarios that include canceling if it is clear the 70,000 expected delegates, officials, journalists, and protesters would be in danger. More of a worry is that people will suffer problems during the hot and steamy summer."   

Would that be LOUD ENOUGH for you a**holes?

Related: John McCain, Nikki Haley among those to speak at RNC

"Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is the son of Representative Ron Paul of Texas, a Republican presidential candidate this year. His inclusion is a nod to the Tea Party wing of the party."  

Oh, so the son will be allowed to speak. 

Pfft!

Paul delegates in Maine await result of challenge

Mass. GOP prevails in effort to disqualify Paul delegates

Yeah, Ron Paul's people can't even get into the building like four years ago.     

Well, I won't be voting for any Republicans this time around.   F*** you guys.

Cuban Cut

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

"Cuban lawmakers meet to consider Castro’s reforms" Associated Press, July 24, 2012

HAVANA — Cuba’s National Assembly gathered Monday for one of its twice-a-year legislative sessions, with the country’s economic reform plans, a new tax system, and budgetary issues prominent on the agenda.

Islanders and Cuba-watchers will be seeing if the assembly takes any action on long-promised measures such as the easing of travel restrictions, increased private farming of state-controlled land, or the approval of cooperative businesses.

Foreign journalists were not allowed access to the session in the capital’s Palace of Conventions.

President Raul Castro’s five-year plan to overhaul the economy has legalized the sale of homes and cars and paved the way for hundreds of thousands of Cubans to go into business for themselves. But the pace of change has slowed this year with no major reforms since December.

Earlier this year, Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon said in an interview that a ‘‘radical and profound’’ change to the travel rules, which keep most Cubans from leaving the country, was imminent. There has been no word since then about scrapping the much-loathed white card, for which islanders must apply to travel abroad. Promises to establish rules permitting midsize co-op businesses have likewise not yet come to fruition. And last week the island’s burgeoning small business class was dealt a blow with the low-key announcement of new, stiff tariffs on imported goods.

--more--"

"Raul Castro says Cuba willing to sit down with US; Invitation was already given via envoys, he notes" by Peter Orsi  |  Associated Press, July 27, 2012

HAVANA — President Raul Castro of Cuba said Thursday that his government is willing to mend fences with bitter Cold War foe the United States and sit down to discuss anything, as long as it is a conversation between equals.

At the end of a Revolution Day ceremony marking the 59th anniversary of a failed uprising against a military barracks, Castro grabbed the microphone for apparently impromptu remarks. He echoed previous statements that no topic is off limits, including US concerns about democracy, freedom of the press, and human rights on the island, as long as it is a conversation between equals.

“Any day they want, the table is set. This has already been said through diplomatic channels,” Castro said. “If they want to talk, we will talk.”

Washington would have to be prepared to hear Cuba’s own complaints about the treatment of those issues in the United States and its European allies, he added.

“We are nobody’s colony, nobody’s puppet,” Castro said.

Washington and Havana have not had diplomatic relations for five decades.

The 50-year-old US embargo outlaws nearly all trade and travel to the island, and Washington insists Cuba must first institute democratic reforms and improve human rights.

Days after prominent dissident Oswalo Paya died in a car crash, Castro had harsh words for the island’s opposition, accusing them of plotting to topple the government.

“Some small factions are doing nothing less than trying to lay the groundwork and hoping that one day what happened in Libya will happen here, what they’re trying to make happen in Syria,” Castro said.

Castro also reminisced about the 1959 Revolution, promised that Cuba will complete a trans-island expressway halted years ago for lack of funds, and empathized with islanders’ complaints about meager salaries. He said once again that his five-year plan to overhaul Cuba’s socialist economy will not be done hastily.

The July 26 national holiday was often used to make major announcements when Castro’s older brother Fidel was president, but there were none Thursday.

The main celebration kicked off at sunrise with music and speeches at a plaza in the eastern province of Guantanamo, home to the US naval base of the same name.

The American presence in Guantanamo is a sore point for Havana, which demands the base be shut down and accuses the United States of torturing terror suspects held in the military prison.   

As if we have not?

“We will continue to fight such a flagrant violation. . . . Never, under any circumstance, will we stop trying to recover that piece of ground,” First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura said in the keynote address.

Musicians sang the song “Guantanamera,” and a young girl read a speech paying homage to the revolution and resistance to Yankee imperialism.

--more--"

Also see: Swimmer steady in Cuba-Florida crossing

I'm drowning in s*** Boston Globes.  

UPDATE: 

"Cuban elections underway, as critics say they’re a sham" by Andrea Rodriguez  |  Associated Press, October 21, 2012

HAVANA — Elections in Cuba lack the hoopla they have in other countries, but authorities here say they give people a voice in government, and they deny charges that the country is undemocratic. Critics call them a sham since voters can’t throw out the Communist Party long led by Fidel and Raul Castro.

A long, complicated electoral process is under way on this communist-run island, with more than 8 million Cubans going to the polls this weekend for municipal elections. The process culminates in February, when national assembly legislators vote on who will occupy the presidency, a post held by Raul Castro since 2008.

The latest electoral exercise began in September when Cubans met in common spaces, parks, and buildings for neighborhood assemblies to choose the candidates in municipal elections. Those assemblies nominated 32,000 candidates, and each electoral district must have between two and eight names on the ballot.

On Sunday, Cubans will choose among these candidates for municipal assemblies that administer local governments.

After the local elections, commissions elected by workers, farmers, youth, student, and women’s groups choose candidates for the national legislature, which eventually elects Cuba’s next president.


Looks democratic to me, although it reminds me of an Occupy group.

Yes, you can't have that, Americans. Just leave AmeriKa to the captains of government and tycoons of industry. They've done such a great job so far. 

In 2007-2008, voter turnout was 96.8 percent.

The government says perennially high turnouts are a clear sign of support for the revolution. Dissidents say people vote for fear that not doing so could get them in trouble....

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Also seeUS view of Cuba is stuck in the 1960s

So am I. I'm reading a Boston Globe (or not), aren't I?

Clinton on the Continent

I'm sorry you had to suffer her presence.

"Clinton challenges Africa to embrace democracy" by Matthew Lee  |  Associated Press, August 02, 2012

DAKAR, Senegal — In veiled swipes at China’s investments in Africa on Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged African leaders to embrace democracy and partnerships with responsible foreign powers as a means to improving their living standards and addressing the root causes of extremism on the continent.

Related: Africa Chooses China

I can see why.

Clinton, speaking to university students, lawmakers, and diplomats in Senegal’s capital, challenged Africa’s elite to fully respect human rights, and she warned of the consequences of rampant abuses, corruption, and intolerance that breed contempt and contribute to instability.

Can starving African's eat Clinton hypocrisy because it would be a feast?

Related: Senegal Spinning Out of Control

That must be why she went. 

‘‘There are still too many places in the region and across the continent where democracy is threatened, where human rights are abused, and the rule of law is undermined,’’ Clinton said. ‘‘Too many Africans still live under autocratic rulers who care more about preserving their grip on power than promoting the welfare of their citizens. Violent extremism, transnational crime, and rampant corruption all threaten democracy.’’  

Of course, if they act that way and are allies no big deal, especially where oil and other resources are considered.  She is really un-f***ing-believable.  I think she is seriously self-deluded. 

She said America would stand by African reformers, and she indirectly took on China. Beijing has been criticized for ignoring human rights concerns, local laws, and environmental regulations as it boosts investment in Africa in search of energy and resources to fuel its exploding economy.

Who have they invaded?

I hope you can understand why I am really sick of reading this shit, folks. It's offensive.

By contrast, she said the United States is committed to ‘‘a model of sustainable partnership that adds value, rather than extracts it’’ from Africa. ‘‘The days of having outsiders come and extract the wealth of Africa for themselves leaving nothing or very little behind should be over in the 21st century,’’ she said.  

(Blog editor just shakes his head at the stream of diarrhea that flows from her mouth. He didn't think things could get worse after Condoleezza Rice, but he was wrong)

Without mentioning China by name, she maintained that unlike other countries, ‘‘America will stand up for democracy and universal human rights even when it might be easier or more profitable to look the other way, to keep the resources flowing.’’

Yeah, just ignore the indefinite detentions and torture, the mass-murdering invasions and occupations based on lies, etc.  Now I totally understand why the Egyptians were throwing things at her. 

‘‘Not every partner makes that choice, but we do and we will,’’ she said, calling support for democracy and human rights the ‘‘heart of the American model of partnership.’’  

What crap! What absolute crap.

Her comments follow a China-Africa summit last month at which Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged $20 billion in credit to African governments during the next three years to support infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, and small business growth.

I'm sure Africa would like our weapons and our corporations much more.

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Yeah, about extracting those resources:

"Clinton urges Sudan, S. Sudan to reconcile" by Matthew Lee  |  Associated Press, August 04, 2012

JUBA, South Sudan — Before Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s visit, a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Washington is ‘‘heavily invested’’ in South Sudan's success....

Clinton said an agreement could give South Sudan time to look at the feasibility of building another pipeline that would bypass Sudan....

But we are not there to extrac.... SIGH!!!!!!!!!!

South Sudan inherited about three-quarters of the region’s oil, but shut down its oil industry in January after accusing Sudan of stealing oil that the South must pump through Sudan’s pipelines. That decision has cost both governments dearly in lost revenue.

In April, the two countries’ militaries fought over the disputed, oil-rich region of Heglig. South Sudan troops took over the town from Sudanese forces, but that offensive maneuver was condemned by world leaders. South Sudan says it then retreated from Heglig, though Sudan says its forces pushed the South out.  

At least the paper admitted that South Sudan was the aggressor this time.

Also on Friday, China’s state media criticized Clinton for comments she made earlier in the week in Senegal criticizing China’s investments in Africa. 

:-)

--more--"  

Also see: Clinton Skips Over Sudan  

Not this time.

Next stop: 

"Clinton urges peaceful elections

NAIROBI— Looking ahead to Kenya’s election in March, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned leaders not to repeat the violence that plunged the country into chaos after disputed presidential elections five years ago. Clinton said Kenya could be a global model for free elections. (AP)."

Related: African Safari: Clinton Threatens Kenya

Did you notice that the talk of war crimes vanished after Kenya agreed to invade Somalia for us?

"Hillary Clinton lauds president of Malawi" Associated Press, August 06, 2012

JOHANNESBURG — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised Malawi’s leaders Sunday for reforms in the impoverished African nation before heading to South Africa to meet this week with government officials and Nelson Mandela.

In Lilongwe, Malawi, Clinton pledged continued American support as she met with President Joyce Banda, the first woman to lead her country and only the second female African head of state.

A longtime champion of women’s empowerment, Clinton encouraged Banda to stay on a course of economic reform to make Malawi more attractive to foreign investment. Later, Clinton visited a girls’ secondary school and an agriculture project supported by US assistance. 

Are Muslim women murdered by our missiles empowered?

Clinton, the first secretary of state to visit Malawi, was clearly pleased to meet Banda and told her that the United States ‘‘strongly supports you and your government and your efforts on behalf of the people of this absolutely wonderful country.’’

Banda, a women’s rights campaigner who had been Malawi’s vice president, took over the top job in April after President Bingu wa Mutharika died in office. She told Clinton that ‘‘for a long time we have both been women and children’s activists and I was looking forward to the day that we would meet. And we meet today in an official capacity and I am proud.’’

Banda has been keen to differentiate herself from her predecessor, who had a rocky relationship with international development agencies and whose policies led the US to suspend a $350.7 million assistance package last year.

And then he died and she came to power. What a coinky-dink.

In May, the country devalued its currency by one-third and loosened restrictions on foreign currency exchange. In June, the International Monetary Fund and Malawi agreed to a $157 million aid package to be distributed over three years, and the United States restored its aid, which is aimed at improving energy infrastructure.  

That means getting at the oil and other resources Malawi possesses. 

--more--"

Related: Malawi Mystery 

Not anymore.  

Why the Africans chose China:

"North Africa becomes central focus in war on terrorism, officials say" by David Lerman  |  Bloomberg News, August 01, 2012

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration no longer sees the greatest terrorist threats in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Instead, US counterterrorism officials are increasingly focused on a broad swath of northern Africa from Somalia through Chad, Niger, and Mali to Mauritania and south into Nigeria, said three administration officials who work on the issue.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Tuesday spotlighted the growing threat of terrorism outside the Middle East, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton begins a two-week trip to Africa that includes stops in Senegal, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, and South Africa.

‘‘We continue to be concerned about Al Qaeda’s presence in Yemen, Somalia, and North Africa,’’ Panetta said in Tunisia, his first stop on a weeklong trip expected to focus on the Middle East. ‘‘For that reason, we strongly urge countries like Tunisia to develop counterterrorism operations that can yield results.’’  

Excuse me, readers. Happens every time I see that word.  

Also see: Egypt Grows Tighter With Tunisia

The region includes both populated areas and wild spaces such as northern Mali, which one of the administration officials compared to Afghanistan in the 1990s, before the overthrow of the Taliban.

Yeah, we have already lost Mali.

The intelligence reporting from the area, which comes from the French foreign intelligence service, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency and others, cites increasing cooperation among radical Islamist groups, sizable supplies of weapons looted from Libya, and recruiting of locals by terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Nigeria’s Boko Haram.... 

Don't look now, but there is a qaqa in the toilet.

Yeah, strange how the "terrorists" always show up where there is oil.  

Recent White House meetings on counterterrorism have been devoted almost entirely to northern Africa, protecting Nigerian oil production, and developing programs in local languages, with Nigeria’s Ibo at the top of the list, according to the three officials, who are participants.

‘‘Africa is probably the most important continent in the 21st century for a lot of reasons, one of which is helping us prevent terrorism from taking root in the continent,’’ said Johnny Isakson of Georgia, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on African affairs.

Related: Around Africa: Calling the Congo

Oh, I thought he said a lot of resources.

To counter the threat, the Obama administration, both independently and in concert with France and other European allies, has stepped up military and intelligence support and training for African regimes threatened by Islamic extremism, the US officials said....  

Like I keep saying, the EUSraeli empire!

The United States has provided training and nonlethal equipment to more than 215,000 peacekeepers from African militaries in 25 partner countries since 1997, according to US Africa Command.

--more--"  

And now she is hopping back over to another one:

"Cook Islands prepare for major visit" Associated Press, August 18, 2012

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The tiny Cook Islands are proving almost too small for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The South Pacific island chain, home to just 10,000 people, is buzzing as it prepares for the expected visit of the US secretary of state, the biggest dignitary to stop by since Queen Elizabeth II nearly four decades ago.

Hosting such a high-profile guest and her entourage, however, is posing problems for a government that owns just three small sport utility vehicles and is scrambling to borrow cars from residents to create a proper motorcade.

Clinton is expected to attend the Pacific Islands Forum, an annual meeting of Pacific leaders that begins Aug. 27 on the main island of Rarotonga.

Sending such a high-level delegation would emphasize Washington’s Pacific pivot, a policy shift in which it’s placing increased emphasis on trade, humanitarian aid, and military presence in the region as it seeks to counterbalance the rise of many Pacific and Asian nations including China....

I thought Africa was the.... sigh.

--more--" 

Also see: African Safari: What Clinton Did Not See

She didn't this time, either. 

Bachmann-Clinton Cat Fight

There was a time when it would have excited me....

The Globalist Infiltration: Obama, Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood

The global Elite’s puppets are beginning to show their true alliances and rat out each other in an obvious move to find some sort of false sense of security.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann recently accused Huma Abedin, aide to Hillary Clinton US Secretary of State, as being an infiltrated spy for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Bachmann says that the US government has been compromised by the MB and Abedin is working for “America’s demise”.

Bachmann, who is a supporter of Christians United for Israel, a pro-Zionist group masquerading as an evangelical support for Israel, and the Zionist movement, is preforming a part in the theater of psychological operations.

Related: Michele Bachmann’s anti-Muslim paranoia

Guys got behind Clinton:

"Boehner says Bachmann’s claims are ‘dangerous’

House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that it is dangerous for a fellow Republican to allege that an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has family ties to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann wrote a letter to the State Department last month with other Republicans about Huma Abedin, who is Muslim. The letter said Abedin’s late father, mother, and brother were connected to Muslim Brotherhood operations. Bachmann asked in a separate letter how Abedin received security clearance.

Boehner said that while he doesn’t know Abedin personally, ‘‘from everything I do know of her, she has a sterling character, and I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.’’  

But lies tossed around to support wars and invasions?  No prob!

On Wednesday another prominent Republican, Senator John McCain of Arizona, also came to the defense of Abedin.

--more--"

"John McCain defends Clinton aide, chastises Michele Bachmann, July 19, 2012

WASHINGTON — Republican Senator John McCain strongly defended a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday against unsubstantiated allegations that her family has ties to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, repudiating charges leveled by another Republican, Representative Michele Bachmann.

In a speech on the Senate floor, McCain praised the work and patriotism of Huma Abedin, a State Department employee who has been a constant presence at Clinton’s side.  

And that has raised a lot of questions.

Without mentioning Bachmann by name, McCain assailed the attacks on Abedin, a Muslim, as an example of ignorance and fear that defames the spirit of the nation.  

You can thank the Zionist agenda and its mouthpiece media for that, John.

‘‘Huma represents what is best about America: the daughter of immigrants, who has risen to the highest levels of our government on the basis of her substantial personal merit and her abiding commitment to the American ideals that she embodies so fully,’’ McCain said. ‘‘I am proud to know Huma, and to call her my friend.’’

Bachmann, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, made the allegations in a June letter to the State Department as well as in a letter Wednesday to fellow Minnesota lawmaker Representative Keith Ellison, a Democrat. Bachmann said Abedin’s late father, mother, and brother are connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives. She added that Abedin’s position ‘‘affords her routine access to the secretary and policy-making.’’  

Is Bachmann blowing her cover, or is the Brotherhood now out of control?

McCain pointed out that Abedin’s father died two decades ago and that the congresswoman failed to provide ‘‘one instance of an action, decision, or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government.’’

McCain criticized Bachmann’s actions.

‘‘When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it,’’ he said.  

But it is OKAY when the GOVERNMENT and NEWSPAPERS DO IT to FOMENT WARS!!!

In a statement, Bachmann said her intent was ‘‘to outline the serious national security concerns I had . . . ”

Abedin is married to former representative Anthony Weiner.

Still? 

See: 


What a Weiner!

Weaselly Weiner 

Globe's Weiner Watch

Weiner Seeks Treatment For Sexting

New York Weiner Fight

Hidden Weiner

Limp Weiner

The Strong Women of the Democratic Party 

So she had the baby and they are still together?

--more--"

So what do they call it when the boys fight?

"Republicans block bill on cybersecurity" by Michael S. Schmidt  |  New York Times, August 03, 2012

Cybersecurity = more spying 

WASHINGTON — The bill’s most vocal opponents were a group of Republican senators led by John ­McCain, a Republican of ­Arizona, who took the side of the US Chamber of Commerce and steadfastly opposed the legislation, arguing that it would be too burdensome for corporations....

In the hopes of winning over McCain and the other ­Republicans, the bill had been significantly watered down in recent weeks by its sponsors, led by Senator Joseph I. ­Lieberman, independent of Connecticut....

At a meeting last week, ­Lieberman got into an argument with McCain, his closest ally and friend in the Senate, about his opposition to the bill. Lieberman questioned why McCain was doing the bidding of the Chamber of Commerce and what McCain would say if the nation was crippled by a cyberattack.  

I would like to ask you all why you are doing the bidding of Israel.

McCain angrily said his reputation on national security issues was unquestionable.

The Obama administration had tried to sell members of Congress on the need for the legislation through closed-door briefings from high-ranking national security officials and pleas from officials who had served in George W. Bush’s administration about the looming threat of a catastrophic cyberattack....

That's what change looks like after four years, huh?

So what is the USraeli empire going to release upon the American people, Stuxnet, Flame, or the new Gauss that HITS BANKS? 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

--more--"

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Pussy Riot Propaganda

I don't like punk or metal that much, sorry.

"Riot Grrrls and Followers Ride the Bernays Highway

Haven't we had about enough of this? In the words of some tv writers, this whole Pussy Riot episode is fake, fake, fake, fake and useful idiots all over the world fall for the script. When so called 'celebrities'  like Madonna and Paul McCartney show their support, well, you know you've been had.

Overall, even the alternative media has failed to expose this blatant psyops. Check out Noor's posts on this, here and here. Not everyone is fooled.

A fairly good summary comes from someone on the girl's facebook page:
Freedom of speech is going into a Russian Orthodox Christian Church wearing KKK masks and denouncing Putin and Christianity? Really? What if some women went into a Synagogue in this country and sang some anti-semitic epithets? You better bet your Zionist owned ass that they would be tried as terrorists and disappeared into a Luciferian dungeon for the rest of their lives. This Pussy Riot stunt and the naked Ukrainian girl that chainsawed a Cross to the ground, is just Western backed agitation and BS propaganda. I'm all for free speech and women's rights but this ain't it. Ever since Putin kicked out the Jewish Oligarchs from Russia, the CIA/Mossad have been backing stunts like this. Don't believe the hype. And Kasparov's real name is Garik Weinstein, Zionist agent. And no culture that bases itself in a cesspit of Luciferianism, Propaganda, Pedophilia, Immorality and Insanity - all designed by Zionists who enjoy dumb goyim fighting amongst each other, will ever lead to a revolution that means anything. Only thing thing Pussy Riot will be good for is the headlining act at a FEMA Camp near you.
And from a comment here:
So obvious. The endless media coverage is of course the first tip off. Russia is standing in the way of certain designated "enemies"(Syria and Iran) and Israel and the US don't appreciate it. Pussy Riot=obvious psy op.
And here:
The heavy sentence they received is probably the Russian's way of sending a message to the people that they are not going to tolerate them siding with the US state department in an effort to destabilize the country. This is Putin after all. He's making a point. And it's probably not going to the missed by the others in Russia who are trying to help neo-liberalize the country and take them back to the Yeltsin years of corruption and pillaging the nation.
What really topped it off for me was the topless chain saw wielding Ukrainian girl cutting down a cross that was a memorial for those murdered and starved by Stalin's bolshevik killers. One doesn't have to be traditionally religious in the least to see it for what it is...an attack on true history that some would want us to forget.

We can understand the paid provocateurs.  They do it for the money and the little fame it brings them. It's the blind followers that are worrisome....

--MORE--"

FLASHBACK

"Throngs at Moscow cathedral show support for church" April 23, 2012

MOSCOW - Tens of thousands prayed outside Moscow’s main cathedral on Sunday to show their support for the Russian Orthodox Church in a controversy over a punk rock protest that has added to the political tensions in Russia.

Christ the Savior Cathedral was the scene of a brief surprise performance in February by a female punk rock group protesting Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency....

Patriarch Kirill has described the punk performance as blasphemous and part of a broader attack on the church, which is considered by many Russians as essential to their national identity and an intrinsic part of a powerful state.

Kirill had called on believers to attend Sunday’s service to pray “for our faith, our church, our sacred objects, and our fatherland.’’

The church maintains that desecration of icons and other acts of vandalism have become more frequent since the punk protest. As the patriarch led a procession around the cathedral, priests carried a crucifix and an icon that had been damaged in attacks elsewhere in Russia this spring.

The priests also carried an icon that had been pierced by bullets in the 1920s, when Communists began destroying churches in Russia after taking power in 1917.  

But they left the synagogues standing?

Speaking to the crowds from a stage outside the cathedral, Kirill said the church once again has come under attack from “enemy forces.’’

The patriarch has joined the Kremlin in portraying the recent wave of protests against Putin as a threat to Russian statehood.

--more--" 

Related:

Anti-Putin feminist punks on trial in Moscow

Russian prosecutors ask for prison for punk-rock demonstrators

Singing, high-kicking, dancing, didn't mean to hurt anyone.  

"Russian punk rock band sent to jail; Three young women get 2-year terms" by David M. Herszenhorn  |  New York Times, August 18, 2012

MOSCOW — Russia has had an upwelling of dissent since disputed parliamentary elections last December, including demonstrations that drew tens of thousands of people in Moscow. But the Pussy Riot case in recent weeks morphed into an international sensation and focused intense attention on the efforts of the president, Vladimir V. Putin, to clamp down on the opposition.    

Related: Putin Punishes Protesters  

Yes, the glowing positive coverage of certain protests by my agenda-pushing pos tells you a lot.

This was partly because of the sympathetic appearance of the defendants — two are mothers of young children — and partly because their group uses music to carry its message. But it also set them in a David-and-Goliath struggle against a formidable power-structure: the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church.

As word of the sentences spread, a crowd of protesters outside the courthouse howled angrily, and then seemed to fall into a stunned silence. Sporadic protests and violent arrests continued during the evening.

Rallies in support of a punk band called Pussy Riot were held in dozens of cities around the world Friday....

While the case has allowed critics of Putin to portray his government as squelching free speech and presiding over a rigged judicial system, it has also given the government an opportunity to portray its political opponents as obscene, disrespectful rabble-rousers, liberal urbanites backed by the West in a conspiracy against the Russian state and the Russian church.  

Which happens to be the truth, but....

The case began in February when the women infiltrated the Cathedral of Christ the Savior wearing colorful balaclavas, and pranced around in front of the golden Holy Doors leading to the altar, dancing, chanting and lip-syncing for what would later become a music video of a profane song in which they beseeched the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.  

Yeah, hate crimes are such fun.

Because of the support they have received from stars such as Madonna and Sting, the women have become famous, at least outside Russia, than other opposition leaders .

But while the women became minor celebrities, Pussy Riot is more political than musical: the band has never commercially released a song.

Then they are NOT a BAND!  That is just a COVER STORY!! 

--more--

You know, the Russian church seems to be getting along with others just fine.

Sunday Globe Special: Vladimir Putin’s outrageous crackdown

That confirms the covert op. 


Also related:

"The charge marks a threshold for President Vladimir Putin, who for 12 years as paramount leader has refrained from criminal prosecutions of activist leaders, sidelining them with softer methods like short-term detentions and limited access to television. The charges Tuesday suggest that the Kremlin’s eagerness to limit Navalny’s impact outweighs the risk of a political backlash."  

Turns out Navalny is a recipient of NED money, meaning he is CIA.

Now meet the Putin youth:

"Kremlin camp invites critics this year; Skeptics wonder if opposition is being co-opted" by Alexander Roslyakov and Laura Mills  |  Associated Press, August 03, 2012

LAKE SELIGER, Russia — The spirit of rebellion roiling Russia this year stretches even into the Seliger youth camp, an annual Kremlin-funded event that has long been seen as a training ground for truculent Putin loyalists.

This year’s camp, which ended Thursday, struck a different chord. Organizers encouraged opposition activists to join, and cultivated an edgy vibe symbolized by a new logo designed by graffiti artist Banksy.

But many question whether Seliger’s makeover is an attempt to constructively engage the opposition or co-opt a movement that severely rattled President Vladimir Putin with a wave of massive demonstrations during the past year.  

That does it. I've HAD IT with POT-HOLLERING-KETTLE CRAP MEDIA!!!!!!

Recently passed measures such as an astronomical increase in fines for taking part in an unauthorized demonstration may do little to discourage protesters — and may even encourage more people to support the opposition. And Putin has shown tentative signs of trying to mollify the opposition without actually giving ground.

Whether that thinking underlies the Seliger camp’s new image is unclear — but the changes this year were striking.

Inaugurated in 2005, the Seliger summer session for years were open only to members of Nashi, the pro-Kremlin youth group noted for its vehement devotion to those in power, and affiliated groups. The camp, located 220 miles northwest of Moscow, long had an iconography that some have likened to a neo-Soviet personality cult....

--more--"

And someone said something somewhere about this being an attempt to give Putin his own Arab Spring?

"Russian officials unearth underground Muslim sect" by Mansur Mirovalev  |  Associated Press, August 09, 2012

MOSCOW — A self-proclaimed prophet had a vision from God: He would build an Islamic caliphate under the earth.

The digging began about a decade ago and 70 followers soon moved into an eight-level subterranean honeycomb of cramped cells with no light, heat, or ventilation.

Children were born. They, too, lived in the cold underground cells for many years — until authorities raided the compound last week and freed the 27 sons and daughters of the sect.

Ages 1 to 17, the children rarely saw the light of day and had never left the property, attended school, or been seen by a doctor, officials said Wednesday. Their parents — sect members who call themselves ‘‘muammin,’’ from the Arabic for ‘‘believers’’ — were charged with child abuse.

The sect’s 83-year-old founder, Faizrakhman Satarov, who declared himself a prophet in contradiction to Islamic principles, was charged with negligence, said Irina Petrova, deputy prosecutor in the provincial capital of Kazan.

The children were discovered when police searched the sect grounds as part of an investigation into the recent slaying of a top Tatarstan Muslim cleric, an attack local officials blame on radical Islamist groups that have mushroomed in the oil-rich, Volga River province of Tatarstan.  

Radical Islamist groups = western intelligence agency operation.

Satarov ordered his followers to live in cells they dug under a three-story brick house topped by a small minaret with a tin crescent moon. Only a few sect members were allowed to leave the premises to work as traders at a local market, Russian media reported.

The children were examined at hospitals and will temporarily live in an orphanage, pediatrician Tatyana Moroz said. ‘‘They looked nourished but dirty, so we had to wash them,’’ she said in televised remarks.

Their parents expressed concern about the children’s medical treatment.

Doctors ‘‘can do anything to them,’’ Fana Sayanova, a woman wearing a long white dress with her face veiled, told local television.

The decrepit house on a 7,530-square-foot plot of land was built illegally and will be demolished, Tatarstan police said.

‘‘They will come with bulldozers and guns, but they will have to demolish this house over our dead bodies,’’ sect member Gumer Ganiyev said on the Vesti television channel. The ailing Satarov appointed Ganiyev as his deputy prophet, according to local media.

Satarov, who according to local media had followers in several other cities in the region, said in a 2008 interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily that he fell out with other clerics and authorities in the Communist era.

Police raided Satarov’s house Friday as part of an investigation into the killing of Valiulla Yakupov, Tatarstan’s deputy chief mufti, who was gunned down in mid-July as he left his house in Kazan. Minutes later, chief mufti Ildus Faizov was wounded in the legs when a bomb blast ripped through his car in Kazan.

Both clerics were known as critics of radical Islamist groups that advocate a strict and puritanical version of Islam known as Salafism.    

Translation: they both knew those groups are covert intelligence operations.

Prosecutors have named two suspects in Yakupov’s killing who remain at large and arrested five others in the case.

--more--"  

Update: Bomb kills 7 police officers in Russia

Also see: Russian rocket fails to reach target orbit

Sunday Globe Special: French Flatten Gypsy Camps

I think they are too friendly with Israel and are picking up some bad habits.

"In France, Gypsies go into hiding after camps destroyed" by Lori Hinnant  |  Associated Press, August 19, 2012

GENNEVILLIERS, France — The camps weren’t much to begin with: They had no electricity or running water. Grocery carts served as makeshift grills. Rats ran rampant, and fleas gnawed on young and old alike. 

How big are their rats?

But they were home — and they were better than the new reality for thousands of Gypsies who have been forced into hiding after France launched its latest campaign to drive them from their camps.

The last big sweep came in 2010, when France expelled Gypsies to Romania and Bulgaria. Then the European Commission imposed sanctions, and thousands of French protested in sympathy for the Gypsies, also known as the Roma.

Related: France's Genocide of the Gypsies

This time, the Gypsies left quietly — gathering their belongings and heading into the woods — with plans to reemerge when the coast is clear.

“Why did God even create us, if Gypsies are to live like this?” said Babica, 35, as bulldozers moved in to tear down the camp in Gennevilliers, on the outskirts of Paris. He did not give his last name in fear of arrest or deportation.

The Palestinians of Paris.

Most of the Gypsies have no plans to return to Romania, where their citizenship would at least allow them to educate their children and treat their illnesses. Amid a dismal economic environment across Europe, they say, begging in France is still more lucrative than trying to find work where there is none.

France has cast the most recent demolitions as necessary for public health and safety. It is hard to pinpoint how many camps were taken down. At least five around Paris were demolished, and several hundred of their residents were ordered out; others came down in Lille and Lyon.

This time, France’s Interior Ministry said, the camps were demolished in accordance with legal guidelines agreed upon with the European Union.

“Respect for human dignity is a constant imperative of all public action, but the difficulties and local health risks posed by the unsanitary camps needed to be addressed,” the Interior Ministry said. In no case, the government said, “did the removals take the form of collective expulsion, which is forbidden by law.” 

It wasn't, huh? Because the government said so?

Mina Andreeva, spokeswoman for the European Commission, said the executive body is studying the situation.

The Roma Forum, which has ties to the 47-member Council of Europe, condemned the evictions, saying they contradict “President [Francois] Hollande’s commitment from his election campaign to not expel Roma families without proposing alternative accommodation.” It is not clear whether France consulted any Roma before moving in on the camps.

Yes, this is a VERY SURPRISING MOVE from the leftist/socialist. It's something you would have expected from a Sarkozy

Human Rights Watch said 240 Romanian Gypsies evicted from camps around Lyon in southern France left on a charter flight to Romania after accepting 300 euros for a “voluntary return.”  

Related:  

"Roma advocates countered the repatriations were hardly voluntary, claiming that those who refused the deal would end up in holding centers and eventually be sent home without funds.

I $uppo$e I would take the money.

The French government has offered no hard numbers on how many Roma camps have come down, or how many Roma have been evicted.

--more--"

Related: Sunday Globe Special: France's Femme Fatales

Let's fill in the week and be done with France for a while:  

"Riot engulfs troubled French district in north" by Lori Hinnant and MILOS KRIVOKAPIC  |  Associated Press, August 15, 2012

AMIENS, France — Months of tension between police and young people in a troubled district of northern France exploded Tuesday, with dozens of youths facing off against riot officers in a night of violence....

The immediate cause of the riots was unclear, but a standoff between police and people attending a memorial for a young man who died in a motorcycle accident may have been one trigger. Officials underlined that police were not involved in that death.

The eruption of violence shows how little relations have changed between police and youths in France’s housing projects since nationwide riots in 2005 raged unchecked for nearly a month, leaving entire neighborhoods in flames in the far-flung suburbs.

The sister of the young man who died in the accident said it was impossible for people in her community to even speak with police.

“As soon as they see young people, it’s to handcuff them or harass them,” said Sabrina Hadji, 22. “The dialogue is completely broken.”

Free France.

Anger was still running high when Interior Minister Manuel Valls arrived in the neighborhood Tuesday afternoon. A small group of people tried to push through Valls’s security detail as he walked through the area, alternately booing him, cursing him, and trying to speak to him.  

More politicians need that kind of treatment.

One shouted, “When are you going to speak to us?” before the minister ducked into a building to meet with the mayor, the head of the local prefecture, and Hadji and her mother.

Valls, who used to represent an impoverished area outside of Paris in Parliament, showed anger himself, expressing disbelief that police officers had been shot at.

“Shooting a police officer? Burning a school? And then questioning these forces? It’s intolerable,” he said at a news conference. “Nothing excuses shooting at police officers and burning public buildings.”

While he took a tough line in saying that order had to be restored, he added that the residents of the neighborhood are the primary victims and said his door would always be open to them.

Relations between police and youth in housing projects have been troubled for years, perhaps decades....

--more--"

Also see: Airplane passengers are asked for gas money

France deploys troops to Syria-Jordan border

Globe was quiet on that last one, sigh.