o'humor - Breaking news from Nashville [redux]

From: burd Sent: Monday, October 26, 2009

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o'noble - Heisman Trophy

From: kd Sent: Monday, October 19, 2009 

This just in:  Obama wins the Heisman Trophy after watching a college football game. 

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o'noble - Nobel Charade, o'war against Fox News, Hillary says no

From: Newsmax.com  Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009

1. Nobel Peace Prize Called 'Left-wing Charade'
2. Obama's War on Fox News Could Backfire

3. Hillary Firmly Rules Out White House Bid

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1. Nobel Peace Prize Called 'Left-wing Charade'

The Nobel Peace Prize has become "worthless" and should be overshadowed by an award named for a man who truly did achieve peace � Ronald Reagan, according to former White House official Jeffrey Lord.

Writing in The American Spectator after Barack Obama became the latest recipient of the Nobel, Lord observes: "The decision to give the award to Obama was made by a group of Norwegian parliamentarians dominated by socialists."

The prize "has become essentially worthless, a charade for left-wing Norwegian politicians to award like-minded liberals and liberalism under the guise that the award in some objective fashion determines an individual's contributions to peace," writes Lord, who was a political director in the Reagan administration.

"It's easy to cite the current story. Obama today, Al Gore yesterday, Jimmy Carter the day before that. . . Reagan? Thatcher? Pope John Paul II? George W. Bush? Of course not.

"It's time for the Reagan Peace Prize. Actually, it's past time."

Lord cites a number of Nobel recipients whose efforts at promoting peace ultimately resulted in failure, beginning in 1919 with U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. He was honored for his work on the disastrous Treaty of Versailles ending World War I and the League of Nations, which Lord described as "an embarrassing failure."

"The hard cold facts of history illustrate that the peace through strength policies initiated by President Reagan were a success," says Lord, now a journalist and author whose works have appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal and National Review.

"His belief in the importance of human freedom, in directly opposing tyranny and protecting liberty, combined with the maintenance and, when needed, projection of a strong military, ended the Cold War and the 'evil empire' that was the Soviet Union.

"Reagan's strategy freed millions of East Europeans enslaved since the end of the Second World War, which in turn was brought on by the inexcusably wrong-headed, naive if well-intentioned policies of one Nobel Peace Prize winner after another."

Recipients of the Reagan Prize would be chosen by a panel of conservative Americans drawn from the worlds of politics, journalism, entrepreneurship and entertainment. And it would be presented in Berlin, a "symbol of Reagan's successes: the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the fall of the Soviet Union that built it, and the Cold War that made that Wall and all it stood for possible," Lord writes.

As for who might win the award, Lord suggests likely candidates would be "the three Iranian dissidents known only by their initials in current news reports, all identified as being sentenced to death for protesting Iran's rigged elections."

Lord concludes: "It's time to award real prestige to those who achieve real peace. It's time for the Reagan Prize."

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2. Obama's War on Fox News Could Backfire

The Obama administration's recent declaration of war on Fox News could backfire and be seen as an "admission of weakness," according to an opinion piece in New York magazine.

White House communications director Anita Dunn fired a volley at the network when she declared: "We're going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent," The New York Times reported on Oct. 11.

"As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don't need to pretend that this is the way legitimate news organizations behave."

She later said: "Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party."

Fox Senior Vice President for News Michael Clemente fired back at what he called the White House�s �attack mentality.�

"Perhaps the energy would be better spent on the critical issues we are worried about,� Clemente said in a statement issued by the network.

The White House's logic "seems to be that there's no point in trying to be fairly portrayed on Fox News," Chris Rovzar observed in New York magazine.

"But there are plenty of negatives to this take-no-prisoner approach. . .

"Recognizing Fox as an enemy worth fighting is an admission of weakness for a president whose appeal has been partly predicated on the promise of unity."

Rovzar also wrote: "Beyond the fact that Fox will use this White House move to boost their ratings (Obama winning the election has always been their golden ticket � they're on track now for their best year ever), it makes it seem as though they're actually wounding the president."

In June, President Obama attacked Fox without mentioning it by name, saying it was devoted entirely to attacking his administration and that its coverage of his actions was entirely negative.

And last month, the president appeared on all the major networks� Sunday talk shows except for "Fox News Sunday," which the White House called an �ideological outlet."

But Bill Shine, Fox�s senior vice president for programming, told The Times: �Every time they [attack], our ratings go up.�

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3. Hillary Firmly Rules Out White House Bid

For the first time, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton clearly has ruled out another presidential run.

During an interview with NBC's Ann Curry on the "Today" show on Monday, Clinton discussed her role in the Barack Obama administration. Curry suddenly asked: "Will you ever run for president again? Yes or no."

Hillary laughed and said firmly, "No."

Curry: "No?"

Clinton: "No. No. I mean, this is a great job. It is a 24-7 job. And I'm looking forward to retirement at some point."

Hillary's declaration came just days after leading political analyst Dick Morris suggested that Obama could be vulnerable to a challenge from Clinton for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination.

Appearing on Fox News Channel, Morris told Bill O'Reilly that Obama was elected as a "peace candidate," but the U.S. is still in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and the president is going to increase troop levels in Afghanistan.

Obama, then, "is vulnerable primarily to a primary from the left," Morris said, "and he's got a Secretary of State who would make a dandy candidate for the left."

Newsmax.com
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1st Amendment - Who's Behind the White House War on Fox News?

Who's Behind the White House War on Fox News?

By Michelle Malkin, Wednesday, October 14, 2009

White House interim communications director Anita Dunn assumed the role of lead Fox News Channel-basher this weekend. The attack was a dud. The left-leaning Nation magazine ridiculed President Obama's press shop for turning him into the "whiner-in-chief." AOL media columnist Jeff Bercovici called the war on Fox a "loser's strategy" that "signals weakness." And that's the friendly fire.

Dunn found refuge in rival CNN's green zone, where she blasted Fox News as a "research arm of the Republican Party." Unhappy with headline-generating Fox News hosts who have wrested control of the news cycle from Team Obama, Dunn complained about "opinion journalism masquerading as news."

Well, that is certainly an apt description of an Obama-sympathizing "news" segment on "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer," which purported to "fact check" a Saturday Night Live skit mocking the president's lack of accomplishments.

Yes, the "real" news fact-checked the fake news to cover for Obama's deficiencies. Zero complaints from the White House communications office about that. Or about authentic CNN journalist Anderson Cooper using his prime-time show to make vulgar sexual jokes about Tea Party activists. Or about the joint White House-ABC News health care reform infomercial that aired earlier this summer.

Some "opinion journalism" is more equal than others.

Debates about the blurred lines between opinion and journalism are all well and good. But don't the talking-points crafters in the Oval Office have something better to do than carp about the talking points they don't like hearing on the one cable network that hasn't been completely overrun by Obama sycophants? (Full disclosure: I've been a Fox News contributor since 2001.)

Where are the seasoned press gurus to help Nobel Peace Prize-winner Barack Obama appear more presidential and less petty and thuggish?

The corruptocratic affiliations of Obama's communications team are illuminating. His press shop can't rise above the fray because they've been entrenched in the Beltway fray for years. They can't help themselves.

Democratic media consultant Dunn's claim to fame is her decade-long service as chief strategist for disgraced Democrat and former Senate Majority Leader turned health care lobbyist Tom Daschle. She was in the thick of his failed re-election campaign as Daschle asserted a bogus property-tax homestead exemption claim on his $1.9 million D.C. mansion -- which he listed as his primary residence despite voting in South Dakota and claiming it as his primary residence in order to run for re-election. And Dunn was with Daschle during the years he failed to pay gobs of taxes on a luxury car and driver provided to him by crony donor Leo Hindery Jr.

After working as communications manager for Obama's political action committee and then as senior adviser to his 2008 presidential campaign, Dunn "trained" White House press secretary and anti-Fox sniper Robert Gibbs. Deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer is another young protege of Dunn's, who worked with her on the disastrous 2004 Daschle re-election campaign.

(Another Daschle connection: Obama transition adviser John Podesta, who served as Daschle's counselor and has helped staff the administration with many alumni of his left-wing think tank, the Center for American Progress. One CAP fellow, Hugo Chavez-admiring radical Mark Lloyd, has attacked conservative talk radio -- the second home of several Fox News hosts -- and is now the FCC's "Diversity Czar.")

Dunn is married to Robert Bauer, a Washington, D.C., corporate lawyer who served as general counsel for Obama for America. It was Bauer who lobbied the Justice Department unsuccessfully last fall to pursue a criminal probe of American Issues Project (AIP), an independent group that sought to run an ad spotlighting Obama's ties to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.

It was Bauer who attempted to sic the DOJ on GOP donor Harold Simmons and sought his prosecution for funding the ad. It was Bauer who tried to bully television stations across the country to compel them to pull the spot. All on Obama's behalf.

While conservatives revel in the left's hysteria over Fox News Channel's dominance, more of Obama's friends hope he'll wipe his nose and man up. Fat chance. As long as he's surrounded by career flacks who demonize dissent to distract from the Beltway stench, the White House will remain an all-whine zone.

Michelle Malkin is the author of "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies" (Regnery 2009).

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM

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o'noble - Obama and the Nobel Prize: When War becomes Peace, When the Lie becomes the Truth

From: kd Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009

     Even if you don't believe all this its simply another reason that the great one getting the prize is a joke, even on the left...KD

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Obama and the Nobel Prize: When War becomes Peace, When the Lie becomes the Truth

By Michel Chossudovsky

URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15622 - Global Research, October 11, 2009

When war becomes peace,

When concepts and realities are turned upside down,

When fiction becomes truth and truth becomes fiction.

When a global military agenda is heralded as a humanitarian endeavor, 

When the killing of civilians is upheld as "collateral damage", 

When those who resist the US-NATO led invasion of their homeland are categorized as "insurgents" or "terrorists".  

When preemptive nuclear war is upheld as self defense.

When advanced torture and "interrogation" techniques are routinely used to "protect peacekeeping operations",

When tactical nuclear weapons are heralded by the Pentagon as "harmless to the surrounding civilian population"

When three quarters of US personal federal income tax revenues are allocated to financing what is euphemistically referred to as "national defense" 

When the Commander in Chief of the largest military force on planet earth is presented as a global peace-maker,

When the Lie becomes the Truth. 

Obama's "War Without Borders"

We are the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history. The US in partnership with NATO and Israel has launched a global military adventure which, in a very real sense, threatens the future of humanity.

At this critical juncture in our history, the Norwegian Nobel Committee's decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to President and Commander in Chief Barack Obama constitutes an unmitigated tool of propaganda and distortion, which unreservedly supports the Pentagon's "Long War":  "A War without Borders" in the true sense of the word, characterised by the Worlwide deployment of US military might. 

Apart from the diplomatic rhetoric, there has been no meaningful reversal of US foreign policy in relation to the George W. Bush presidency, which might have remotely justified the granting of the Nobel Prize to Obama. In fact quite the opposite. The Obama military agenda has sought to extend the war into new frontiers. With a new team of military and foreign policy advisers, the Obama war agenda has been far more effective in fostering military escalation than that formulated by the NeoCons.

Since the very outset of the Obama presidency, this global military project has become increasingly pervasive, with the reinforcement of US military presence in all major regions of the World  and the development of new advanced weapons systems on an unprecdented scale.

Granting the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama provides legitimacy to the illegal practices of war, to the military occupation of foreign lands, to the relentless killings of civilians in the name of "democracy".

Both the Obama administration and NATO are directly threatening Russia, China and Iran. The US under Obama is developing "a First Strike Global Missile Shield System":

"Along with space-based weapons, the Airborne Laser is the next defense frontier. ... Never has Ronald Reagan's dream of layered missile defenses - Star Wars, for short - been as....close, at least technologically, to becoming realized."

Reacting to this consolidation, streamlining and upgrading of American global nuclear strike potential, on August 11 the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, the same Alexander Zelin cited earlier on the threat of U.S. strikes from space on all of his nation, said that the "Russian Air Force is preparing to meet the threats resulting from the creation of the Global Strike Command in the U.S. Air Force" and that Russia is developing "appropriate systems to meet the threats that may arise." (Rick Rozoff, Showdown with Russia and China: U.S. Advances First Strike Global Missile Shield System, Global Research, August 19, 2009)

At no time since the Cuban missile crisis has the World been closer to the unthinkable: a World War III scenario, a global military conflict involving the use of nuclear weapons.

1. The so-called missile defense shield or Star Wars initiative involving the first strike use of nuclear weapons is now to be developed globally in different regions of the World. The missile shield is largely directed against Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

2. New US military bases have been set up with a view to establishing US spheres of influence in every region of the World as well as surrounding and confronting Russia and China.

3. There has been an escalation in the Central Asian Middle East war. The "defense budget" under Obama has spiraled with increased allocations to both Afghanistan and Iraq.

4.  Under orders of president Obama, acting as Commander in Chief, Pakistan is now the object of routine US aerial bombardments in violation of its territorial sovereignty, using the "Global War on Terrorism" as a justification.

5. The construction of new military bases is envisaged in Latin America including Colombia on the immediate border of Venezuela.

6. Military aid to Israel has increased. The Obama presidency has expressed its unbending support for Israel and the Israeli military. Obama has remained mum on the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza. There has not even been a semblance of renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.  

7. There has been a reinforcement of the new regional commands including AFRICOM and SOUTHCOM 

8. A new round of threats has been directed against Iran.

9. The US is intent upon fostering further divisions between Pakistan and India, which could lead to a regional war, as well as using India's nuclear arsenal as an indirect means to threaten China.

The diabolical nature of this military project was outlined in the 2000 Project for a New American Century (PNAC). The PNAC's declared objectives are:

- defend the American homeland;

- fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars;

- perform the "constabulary" duties associated with shaping the security environment in critical regions;

- transform U.S. forces to exploit the "revolution in military affairs;" (Project for a New American Century, Rebuilding Americas Defenses.pdf, September 2000)

The "Revolution in Military Affairs" refers to the development of new advanced weapons systems. The militarization of space, new advanced chemical and biological weapons, sophisticated laser guided missiles, bunker buster bombs, not to mention the US Air Force's climatic warfare program (HAARP) based in Gokona, Alaska, are part of Obama's  "humanitarian arsenal".

War against the Truth

This is a war against the truth.  When war becomes peace, the world is turned upside down. Conceptualization is no longer possible.  An inquisitorial social system emerges.

An understanding of fundamental social and political events is replaced by a World of sheer fantasy, where "evil folks" are lurking. The objective of the "Global War on Terrorism" which has been fully endorsed by Obama administration has been to galvanize public support for a Worldwide campaign against heresy.

In the eyes of public opinion, possessing a "just cause" for waging war is central. A war is said to be Just if it is waged on moral, religious or ethical grounds. The consensus is to wage war. People can longer think for themselves. They accept the authority and  wisdom of the established social order.

The Nobel Committee says that President Obama has given the world "hope for a better future." The prize is awarded for Obama's

"extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."

...His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population. (Nobel Press Release, October 9, 2009)

The granting of the Nobel "peace prize" to president Barack Obama has become an integral part of the Pentagon's propaganda machine. It provides a human face to the invaders, it upholds the demonization of those who oppose US military intervention.

The decision to grant Obama the Nobel  Peace Prize was no doubt carefully negotiated with the Norwegian Committee at the highest levels of the US government. It has far reaching implications. 

It unequivocally upholds the US led war as a "Just Cause". It erases the war crimes committed both by the Bush and Obama administrations.

War Propaganda:  Jus ad Bellum

The "Just war" theory serves to camouflage the nature of US foreign policy, while providing a human face to the invaders.

In both its classical and contemporary versions, the Just war theory upholds war as a "humanitarian operation". It calls for military intervention on ethical and moral grounds against "insurgents", "terrorists", "failed" or "rogue states".

The Just War has been heralded by the Nobel Committee as an instrument of Peace. Obama personifies the "Just War".

Taught in US military academies, a modern-day version of the "Just War" theory has been embodied into US military doctrine. The "war on terrorism" and the notion of "preemption" are predicated on the right to "self defense." They define "when it is permissible to wage war": jus ad bellum.

Jus ad bellum has served to build a consensus within the Armed Forces command structures. It has also served to convince the troops that they are fighting for a "just cause". More generally, the Just War theory in its modern day version is an integral part of war propaganda and media disinformation, applied to gain public support for a war agenda. Under Obama as Nobel Peace Laureate, the Just War becomes universally accepted, upheld by the so-called international community.  

The ultimate objective is to subdue the citizens, totally depoliticize social life in America, prevent people from thinking and conceptualizing, from analyzing facts and challenging the legitimacy of the US NATO led war.

War becomes peace, a worthwhile "humanitarian undertaking",  Peaceful dissent becomes heresy.

Military Escalation with a Human Face. Nobel Committee grants the "Green Light" 

More significantly, the Nobel peace prize grants legitimacy to an unprecedented  "escalation"  of US-NATO led military operations under the banner of peacemaking. 

It contributes to falsifying the nature of the US-NATO military agenda.

Between 40,000 to 60,000 more US and allied troops are to be sent to Afghanistan under a peacemaking banner. On the 8th of october, a day prior to the Nobel Committee's decision, the US congress granted Obama a 680-billion-dollar defense authorization bill, which is slated to finance the process of military escalation:

"Washington and its NATO allies are planning an unprecedented increase of troops for the war in Afghanistan, even in addition to the 17,000 new American and several thousand NATO forces that have been committed to the war so far this year".

The number, based on as yet unsubstantiated reports of what U.S. and NATO commander Stanley McChrystal and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen have demanded of the White House, range from 10,000 to 45,000.

Fox News has cited figures as high as 45,000 more American soldiers and ABC News as many as 40,000. On September 15 the Christian Science Monitor wrote of "perhaps as many as 45,000."

The similarity of the estimates indicate that a number has been agreed upon and America's obedient media is preparing domestic audiences for the possibility of the largest escalation of foreign armed forces in Afghanistan's history. Only seven years ago the United States had 5,000 troops in the country, but was scheduled to have 68,000 by December even before the reports of new deployments surfaced. (Rick Rozoff, U.S., NATO Poised For Most Massive War In Afghanistan's History, Global Research, September 24, 2009)

Within hours of the decision of the Norwegian Nobel committee, Obama met with the War Council, or should we call it the "Peace Council". This meeting had been carefully scheduled to coincide with that of the Norwegian Nobel committee.

This key meeting behind closed doors in the Situation Room of the White House included Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and key political and military advisers. General  Stanley McChrystal participated in the meeting via video link from Kabul.

General Stanley McChrystal ias said to have offered the Commander in Chief "several alternative options" "including a maximum injection of 60,000 extra troops". The 60,000 figure was quoted following a leak of the Wall Street Journal (AFP: After Nobel nod, Obama convenes Afghan war council, October 9, 2009)

"The president had a robust conversation about the security and political challenges in Afghanistan and the options for building a strategic approach going forward," according to an administration official (quoted in AFP: After Nobel nod, Obama convenes Afghan war council  October 9, 2009)

The Nobel committee had in a sense given Obama a green light.  The October 9 meeting in the Situation Room was to set the groundwork for a further escalation of the conflict under the banner of counterinsurgency and democracy building.   

Meanwhile, in the course of the last few months, US forces have stepped up their aerial bombardments of village communities in the northern tribal areas of Pakistan, under the banner of combating Al Qaeda.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Centre for Research on Globalization. The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article.

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For media inquiriescrgeditor@yahoo.com © Copyright Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2009

The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15622

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