A Citizen of the World

Asking World Leaders Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:59:00 PDT

There are few if any times in the past 50 years that world leaders were asked questions from citizens. All we ever get to hear are the well worded scripts from people who can read a formatted question. We certainty would not want to pass on the blame although this new concept could catch on. With all the alternative means of getting the truth from around the world people are getting an education. Certainly one they could not get from the Mainstream Media that is now insisting that we should get into another war. It was this time of year in 2002 that the drums began to beat in Mainstream Media with lies about Iraq.

It is time for the MSM (mainstream media) to bang the drums of war with Iran. Not one of these media outlets cares about feeding a hungry person anywhere. The biggest no no is to talk about the criminals that walked away with billions of dollars from every country they hand a hand on. Were any real jobs created with all the trillions of dollars tossed around? We cannot have the MSM talking about the real world now could we?

They are losing their audiences to the journalists would will publish the truth and ask the good questions. Soon it will be in the millions of people world wide who are passing material to each other in a split second. Those big old churners of 10 second news clips that get played over and over best be looking for a real job. McDonald’s will give you work for minimum wage minus the taxes and you can could on them for 10-15 hours a week.

To the UN Secretary General I posted this response to his request for questions or ideas to world leaders.

George Clooney also asked citizens to ask questions for world leaders. It was a wonderful opportunity as a life long independent journalist to be able speak up.

Of course a few of the “experts” have posted a long drawn out scenario that they taped a few years ago. They are as boring to watch now as then and the citizens are responding with short to the point videos. We know that our world leaders have a limited capacity to understand us so we are making the questions both sincere and short.

Imagine 10s of millions of people world wide voicing their concerns. The world leaders would be unable to give their bankers, auto industry, brokers and good friends more money. Good grief they may have to lower taxes and give the disabled and those below the poverty line an increase! They may have to do the will of the people instead of their own self-interest bag of tricks.

Share this post :

Review of Windows 7 Ultimate

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:06:00 PDT

If you want an experience with the worst piece of programming crap ever released go ahead and give Windows 7 a try.

You will become familiar with the “Access Denied” term quickly.

This infamous revamped version of the ultimate operating system is pure garbage. Just when you think Microsoft could not create something more horrible than Vista they dreamed up Windows 7. This time “Access Denied” has been revamped to appear everywhere.

You set yourself up as the Administrator and then Mickey Soft decides that you have no access to your own files. How stupid do these people of Microsoft believe people can be today?

Here is a great example of the help forums and you will only love to be treated as a complete moron. From all of my own wandering into and quickly out of the forums you get to know quickly that most answers are about money. I figure some of them are using a MAC from their lack of anything intelligent to say. Being rude is the answers from the MVP members that must be on the MS payroll. Rude, arrogant, misleading and the “attitude” must be where the came up with the Ultimate idea.

This example will make you laugh and then cry!

You spend a few days preparing an audio video presentation backed up with 20 pages of documentation. Then you decide to double check everything to make sure you have it all down correctly. You notice a few errors, and as any intelligent person would do, you make a few changes.

Here is the message you get “ACCESS DENIED” and “YOU DO NOT HAVE PRIVELEGES TO MAKE CHANGES TO THIS FILE”

To add insult to injury you are told to get the Administrator to make changes to your account. You look, and then scratch your head, and utter “but I am the Administrator?”

Not according to Windows 7! You have been kicked out of your own file and you no longer have access to it. Go ahead and spend the evening and then all night trying to access your file. You can leave a message in the forums (either Public or Tech forums) and their answer is “buy a new computer”, buy this, buy that, spend, spend, spend!.

I am sure the public paid release, now being offered, will have more dogs, cats and mice wandering around the screen even when you have not added them.

I started doing programming with good old fashioned “punch cards” a long time ago. Anyone with any intelligence knows that the switch is either “off” or “on”. Apparently nobody at Microsoft has that sort of intelligence. Then what can a person expect from an MVP who “knows everything”? After all they read “Programming for Dummies” and watch YouTube everyday for the knowledge base. They has to be a lot of pictures, and not too many words, since none of them own a dictionary.

The group who are running Microsoft, (Mickey Soft), must be desperate to even put this Ultimate crap on the market.

It is a pure and simple “con job” manufactured with the hopes of you spending money on memory, terabyte hard drives, huge monitors and even faster video cards. In other words get ready to pick up the costs for another computer. Almost forgot that most of those extra attachments you bought will not work with Windows 7 Ultimate.

Since I do a lot of digital photo as well I thought it must be something I was doing with my cameras. Did I not set those photos to 5 megs? Why is Windows 7 is importing them as 1.25 megs? Guess I need a few thousand dollars to replace the cameras as well because Microsoft must be right?

Of course you will also need to purchase the big bloated Office 2009 which I am certain will take a terabyte of space.

Yes you will have to upgrade all of your software as well since very few programs actually function with Windows 7 Ultimate. That screen is almost laughable when you sit and wait while the monitor dims and Windows 7 closes the program. Sorry you do lose all of the work you were doing while it decides whether you can use the program. You are going to love that “accessed denied” while you sit back and have a beer or ten. In case you are at work get ready to spend a lot of time chatting with your fellow workers.

They have even gone so far as to ensure that most of the best “open source” programs do not function properly. Many of those great programs that the open source community offer will not work with Windows 7 Ultimate. That is sad and wrong.

Many of the best “spyware” programs do not function on Windows 7. After doing a little tinkering on my own a good piece of software found over 4000 entries of spyware mostly from Microsoft.

Vista was and is a disaster, and Windows 7 is going to make history, as the most disastrous operating system of the century.

My advice to any network Administrator is to stay clear of this product. There are great alternatives on the market, or, stay with what you know.

For the home user go ahead and get suckered into nothing more than a very poorly revised Vista.

After the introduction of the set of great programs, available with Windows Live, I had great hopes of something better. Somebody actually appeared to be listening to what the public wanted from this over bloated corporation.

The market shows that Windows XP Home or Professional are still the favorite operating system. What did Microsoft do in response to the demand? Once again they completely ignored the public support for all versions of Windows XP and now Vista.

With all the world economies in a depression why not upgrade XP and leave out the “access denied” feature?

I tested over 1000 programs with Windows 7 beta and it is complete and utter disappointment.

“Access Denied” is the only “feature” that you know for certain will work.

Save your money for something important, and beware of all the advertising, this 50+ Billion dollar corporation will spend.

( Everything except the text writing for the blog was created with free open source software. I have no affiliation with any of the mentioned software producers. There are hyperlinks and each have their own corporate or website trademarks and names)

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,Microsoft,upgrade,software,technical,advice,support,forum,blog,information,article,Ultimate,money,computer,computers

Free Canada Now

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:29:00 PDT

We lost our identity as a peace loving nation and world leader in Human Rights over recent years.

It definitely started when lying Brian was the Prime Minister of Canada. Up on the stage with a 3rd rate movie actor from a foreign government wrapped in the flag of the United States. He did that in front of an all Canadian audience.

Lying Brian was rewarded in the following election by having only 2 seats in the House of Commons. There were other factors in the total crash of the Conservative Party in Canada.

All of the video clips are around 1 minute long as I bring you some of the issues facing Canada today.

As a people we no longer have any desire to continue being slaves to any foreign government.

Jean Chretien brought back a sense of being a Canadian when we went through the Quebec separation referendum. PM Jean could not stop the greedy foreign owners from bringing in their low paying jobs to Canada. Fast food and big box stores paid and still pay horrible wages below the poverty line.

We now see young children aged 12 and seniors over 65 working for the lowest possible wage in these quick fix places. When the master wants to keep the slaves in place he keeps them working long hours with no benefits or real wage. This is way a master can distract the slaves from seeing what is going on around them.

Some of the tactics that have taken place is under funding health care in Canada. Getting rid of the higher paid jobs that Canadians enjoyed for decades were shipped over seas to low paying places such as China. Why not after all China is another dictatorship that keeps absolute control of the people.

Health care in Canada was once Universal for all Canadians and now became the place where only the elite had all the benefits. Health care now may get you into see a Doctor, if you can find one, and emergency rooms are crowded. Prescription medicine is only covered if a Canadians can pay the monthly premiums. Those premiums are set at various levels according to a persons income so that the low paying jobs are almost entirely excluded.

With a poverty line at $19,000.00 Canadian per year almost 40% of the population is in this lower scale. Slaves!

Now with total control of the media the foreign governments have a new group of struggling Canadians. Then along comes short lived PM Martin who become one of the three Amigos with George W. Bush in hand. Jean had averted any Canadian involvement with the Iraq mess so PM Paul become the masters cute slave. He will do anything to win the heart of this lunatic store bought boss and invites more Canadian takeovers by another country. More Canadians are placed in the leftover jobs in very low paying businesses.

While all of this is going on the Provincial Premieres are having a field day with higher taxes and unaccounted for billions of Canadian dollars. (they pay themselves with high increases into their own pockets)

From the time of the referendum in Quebec there is no longer any public debate on any issues in Canada. Canadians are on the outside looking into their once great nation. It is tough to keep up with the spending of billions when a person or family are attempting to put food on the table and take care of their children and close family. The corporate media keeps up the hype with very little or no coverage on what is happening in Canada. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are losing their jobs and the story lasts for a few days. It is more important to them to regurgitate snooze/news stories from other countries in the pretence that nothing is happening to Canadians. Keep the slaves busy with a long running story of lying Brian stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.

I would bet their would be no story had a Canadian crossed the U.S. border with pockets stuffed with 1000 dollar bills. Customs and Revenue Canada will go after a Canadian owing $88.00 for years with fines, interests and penalties. It is nonsense meant to keep the minds of Canadians distracted from the truth of our own country thus keeping the master happy.

The World Economy Goes into the Tank

What does the minority leader PM Harper do as the economy in Canada joins the world wide depression? He calls another election instead of talking to Canadians and telling them the truth. Harper tells the country that all is well and there will be no effect in Canada and calls another election. He wins another minority government and begins to appease the master by spending billions more Canadian dollars to hold their companies up. “Hello PM the food lines are getting longer…”

Greed happens when there are people who buy into greed. It is that simple.

“Things are just horrible in that country….” becomes the chatter of the media owned by greedy corporate bosses. Everyone has had a chance to see how greedy these sleazy bosses can be and they get away without any jail time. A Canadian gets caught with medicinal pot and is brought into a court room! Keep the slaves busy trying to find money for food, shelter and medicine is the order of the day.

Rather than come up with new technologies, and find ways to have great new jobs in Canada, the Province of Alberta wants to spend billions on a Nuclear Power plant. Canadian ingenuity is tossed out the window again.

The Premiere of the same Province gave himself a pay raise from $140,000.00 to $240,000.00 a year with lots of benefits. It is happening from coast to coast in Canada and not one political leader will listen to or talk to Canadians. They say they do when they are speaking to an audience made up of members or greedy supporters of their own Party. A national crisis is taking place in Canada and where are the leaders? Pandering to foreign governments that want more censorship in Canada!

Along comes Liberal leader by default Michael Ignatieff who is going to make things right in Canada. First of all the man has not been in Canada for over 30 years. He has earned his way by teaching at a University in the United States! Now he can add a pension plan paid for by Canadians on top of the one he will get from his years teaching. Lots of promises yet he keeps passing legislation that keeps the minority Conservative government in office. “Michael why not try to talk with Canadians and maybe try a novel idea by doing some listening…please stop pointing your finger at me it is annoying..”

Where Is the Canadian Spirit and Pride?

After doing a lot of traveling around Canada I started to count Canadian flags. What a silly thing to do right?

Faded, torn and dirty flags of our country are see from place to place. They are noticeably missing around cities and rural towns in Canada. I set out to find one to purchase and after hitting over 20 stores found one at a discount store with a marking on the side Made in China.

We have some work to do in Canada and here are two quick videos with a little laughter and an idea…again.

Buy a Canadian flag and bring it to your festivals, parades and put one in your front yard. Keep it clean! Read a book or articles about Canada written by Canadians and find out about our wonderful history of being a peace loving people.

I wish we had an all Canadian hockey league again where cities could have fun playing our sport. Leave the big greedy corporate owners out and let us be Canadian again. The slaves are waking up!

Technorati Tags: Canada,Canadian,pride,flag,Liberal,Conservative,media,video,opinion,Ottawa,provincial,federal,politics,people,life,tradition,history,slave,slaves

Share this post :

Nuclear Power for Alberta, Canada?

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:45:00 PDT

There is very little public input on this new plan from the Province of Alberta. There could be if people want to take the time to go to the Alberta Government website and download the forms to fill out.

Current research shows that there are billions of dollars in costs and many years of work to bring one of these polluters online.

In a Province that has some of the brightest minds a person has to wonder why they have not looked at solar power. The cost would be around 40% of the cost of nuclear and there is no environmental damage.

The south eastern section of Alberta gets more sunshine than any place else in Canada. Why is the Alberta Government so intent on doing something that is so 20th Century when they have the money and the people to do something innovative?

There would be the creation of Canadian jobs with Canadian investment and power for millions of Canadians. Let’s just make sure that under NAFTA Canada does not have to give this clean power away to the United States for pennies.

Do a search on Internet for “solar energy 2009”. You will be surprised at how many countries are now getting into solar power.

Technorati Tags: Canada,solar,nuclear,energy,Canadians,power,politics,journalist,research,world,Alberta,Saskatchewan,sun,heat,video

Share this post :

Free Canada Now May 11, 2009 – Debate

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:35:00 PDT

There used to be a time in Canada when we debated issues of importance from coast to coast. Over the past few years beginning with Paul Martin and continuing with minority PM Harper the process was halted.

The only sources of media that now exist in Canada continue to get their news from a world wire service. They say little or nothing about the current economic situation that millions of Canadians are facing.

The Liberal Party of Canada plays no role in opposing anything that PM Harper does. Why are Canadians so quiet while they loose their jobs, have problems with Health Care, get little support without massive amounts of paperwork from the Federal Government?

64% of Canadians voted in opposition to the minority government headed by Stephen Harper. Where are the opposing views from the opposition parties? Why are they so quiet or is it the media that is keeping them quiet?

Where has the Canadian concept of debating gone? Canadians are no longer being included in debating critical issues that effect our lives.

Technorati Tags: Canada,news,Canadian,media,opposition,free,freedom,Canadians,politics,Harper,Iggy,Liberal,Conservative,Ottawa

Share this post :

Free Canada Now - May 8, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:15:00 PDT

Corporate propaganda 24x7 is all Canadians get. Where is our Independent News and Opinion?

Have Harper, Michael and the CRTC forgot there are supposed to be representing Canada? We get to hear the censored version of whatever the Conservatives and Liberals are doing in Ottawa from their media moguls.

Here are today’s top stories from our 2 networks in these photos. Both are identical except in how they place the top news or snooze as I call it.

The propaganda ministers must be working overtime to give Canadians such a one sided view of OUR country. Misleading and disinformation pretending that all is well as unemployment climbs and more jobs are lost everyday. Neither of the two ever ask any questions on how Canadians are doing with prices on all goods sky rocketing.

Technorati Tags: Canada,Canadians,media,rights,news,independent,propaganda,Liberal,Conservative,NDP,politics,free,freedom,citizen,journalism

Share this post :

Free Canada NOW May 7, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:35:00 PDT

Let's ask "exactly" what those green jobs are and where they are going to be located?

Will these supposed “green jobs” pay a minimum wage while the corporation liars earn billions?

How much more destruction to the environment will be involved with these “green jobs”?

Will we move away from a petroleum based economy in Canada or continue to march to our “masters” in the United States? Look at the great job they are doing of protecting liars and criminals in high places.

Share this post :

Technorati Tags: Canada,Canadians,green,jobs,politics,news,Liberal,Conservative,Greens,media,liars,false,environment,people,land,air,water

Free Canada NOW - May 6, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Wed, 06 May 2009 07:27:00 PDT

The “Swine Flu” media madness circus.

Ask sincere questions of corporate controlled media in Canada. Canadians are being censored by so few choices. Fear tactics is all they know...challenge them!

Tell Harper and “Iggy” this is Canada NOW.

The Canadian media moguls do not want to ask what can be done with nearly 15% unemployment in Canada.

Canadian Media is so super concentrated that the people of Canada have no alternate point of view.

Share this post :

Technorati Tags: Canada,Canadians,media,censor,radio,television,CRTC,CBC,CTV,Canwest,Global,concentrated,Harper,Liberal,citizen,climate,fear

Juan and Amy interview William Greider

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:20:00 PDT

The Nation‘s national affairs correspondent William Greider on the roots of the economic crisis, how US militarism is making the country less safe, Wall Street’s inflated power, the role of the Federal Reserve, and the future of healthcare reform. “My belief is, and I feel it strongly, is that we are just at the beginning of a really long, hard passage in which Americans, like it or not, have to adjust to these new realities,” says Greider.

Democracy NOW May 5, 2009 Interview

A new book from William Grieder Come Home America

Technorati Tags: Grieder,Come Home America,book,Democracy Now,Goodman,military,United States,world,author

Share this post :

Free Canada NOW - May 4, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:30:00 PDT

Canadians it is time to start asking questions. Ask your political leaders tough questions. Are they in Parliament for the Corporate bosses or for the people of Canada?

Who exactly is in charge in Ottawa and our Provincial Governments in Canada?

Do you know about Bill C-10 that deregulates all of the waterways in Canada? It was passed through the House of Commons with Liberal support. It then went right through our unelected Senate without a word in our lame duck Canadian Media.

Democracy NOW! – April 24, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:58:00 PDT

A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 750 stations, broadcasting in the U.S. and many other countries around the world.

Democracy Now! is funded entirely through contributions from listeners, viewers, and foundations. We do not accept advertisers, corporate underwriting, or government funding. This allows us to maintain our independence.

A look at one of the most famous special Senate investigations of government misconduct. In the mid-1970s, a US Senate committee chaired by Democratic Senator Frank Church of Idaho conducted a massive investigation of the CIA and FBI’s misuse of power at home and abroad.

Technorati Tags: pacifica,news,independent,demcracy now,Goodman,Frank Church,Senate,world

Share this post :

War Stories – People and Power

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:21:00 PDT

Does the daily listing of crimes being committed by top bosses and political leaders surprise you?

Are the conspiracy theories beginning to sound surreal and highly suspicious?

Do you find yourself wishing that just one of those politicians would be able to walk in your shoes for a day?

Why is it that there are people in prisons, for getting caught with a few joints of pot, and people stealing other people’s money walk free? The names of many of the thieves are listed in newspapers and around the Internet daily yet none are charged with any crime.

It is called “greed” and it has been and will be the highest point of pride amongst most of the top world leaders. The pinnacle of false prophets gone completely mad is what you are witnessing.

The corporate elite digging into the pockets of the working people to give themselves what they call a worthy bonus. History is a littered trail of the once powerful pockets lined with gold.

Look around the world and you will see the monuments they placed in their name. Most are crumbling into the dust from which they came built on the backs of the working people.

Of all the riches in the world they have none.

Their once great coins and artifacts now sit in museums to remind us of their flings with the universe. Are you waiting for some special person to tell you the truth? You will be waiting a very long time for their are as many truths as there are people who will tell them.

I read today that a person is considered dangerous when that person is willing to speak about matters that concern almost 80% of everyone on earth.

I was shocked too!

Those who are still committing the crimes of theft have indeed made subjects such as homelessness, starvation, working poor, sanitation and health unworthy topics. Take a closer look and see who gave these high flying savages the power to censor what you read, view and listen to each day. They were given this power by the governments that in many cases were elected by the working people. We are so easily deceived by great promises and well thought out words of wisdom on their rise to power.

Do you see the circle of lies?

“Okay buddy I will give you the path to be the top political dog if you give me another 200 television and radio stations”

“Then when you get to be the top dog I own you…and you will never question my authority or crimes”

“Deal?”

As bright as they think they are, for the better part of the past 7000 years, they always make the same mistake. Eventually the working people find their actions revolting and collectively do something about them.

It is time to make a change by walking the path of Gandhi.

Technorati Tags: corporate,greed,politics,homeless,food,wisdom,wealth,world,people,power,crime,crimes,Gandhi

Share this post :

Canadian message to US on Gay Marriage

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:42:00 PDT

Our congratulations to you on the Gay Marriage laws in the United States recently.

In a world full of war, starvation and cruelty you have chosen to go with love. We see this differently from Canada than it is being played in the mainstream media.

It is in fact a big step to normalizing the International Human Rights Laws world wide. We are keeping a watchful eye here in Canada, on the minority PM Harper, as he works on undoing decades of Canadian effort towards equality.

From Canada to the United States with Love

Technorati Tags: gay,rights,marriage,United States,Canada,Times .10 Magazine,Edmonton,editor,law,news,indepent

Share this post :

Canadian Democracy a Joke

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:26:00 PDT

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviews George Galloway who is currently speaking in various cities in the United States.

MP George Galloway was banned from entering Canada by the “minority” PM Harper backed by Jewish organizations B'nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress. The Liberal Party did not intervene on behalf of British MP Galloway.

This comes shortly after “minority” PM Harper shut down Parliament in Ottawa, Canada, and destroyed more rights for women in the January 2009 Canadian Budget.

Technorati Tags: Canada,freedoms,George Galloway,censorship,Harper,democracy,peace activist,Gaza,Canadian

Share this post :

Notes from the War Zone

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:07:00 PDT

The first note needed is my sincerest apology to those who had their life effected by association with me. To you I offer my deepest apology. It was never my intention to bring any kind of harm into your lives.

I was taught by some fascinating people from around the world while in College. They had worked in many industries, in many countries, before they entered the educational system. Their wisdom, intelligence and keen perspective came from India, Australia, England, France, Germany and Italy to name a few.

It was a part of a Canadian experiment to bring people into the educational system that actually worked in industry. They brought with them, along with their own education. a brilliant perspective by having travelled the world. Over the 3 years I was in College none of my instructors were purely academic in the sense that they poured out their knowledge, from a textbook.

We were taught to question anyone in the government on a policy to which they adhered.

We were taught to ask questions of the media on any reported news.

We were taught the fundamentals of a democratic system while given all the known information about communism and socialism. Our minds were taught to remain open and seek out missing pieces on almost any topic. In my 3rd year I had a major battle with the instructor of Political Science. It was his way or the highway and obvious to most that he had a tarnished opinion on the capitalist and/or democratic system.

The experiment would be replaced with one of purely academic instructors in the coming years. They had written many books, without ever having experienced the working world, or travelled it.

Yes, the exception can be the rule of the measurement.

Since my first big love was the broadcasting industry that is the path I choose to follow. The political system plays a big part in that industry, almost to the point, where the two are indistinguishable.

During the time period up to the 1980s it was unheard of to have one person or corporation owning more than a few dozen broadcasting platforms. One corporation that I worked in owned 29 radio and television stations covering Ontario eastward. That company was the biggest one at the time.

This kind of media created a diverse look into the world for the viewers and listeners. In one case I wrote articles for three different publications in the same city. Three different publications owned by 3 separate people in the same city. (an article about music with another about entertainment and one political commentary)

We had to research our material before we wrote it down or opened up a microphone to the public. In other words it was necessary, to be as close to accurate, in order to create something that was thought provoking. It gave our audience the opportunity to share many viewpoints without creating fear of an unknown “boogie man”.

After coming this far in life I can now assure you that I am not one of the bad guys. In the short time that I still have remaining , I will do my best, to explain how the balance of supply and demand went wrong. It is this supply and demand principle that is the major pillar in our democratic system.

This series of articles opening welcomes your input.

Here is a piece of the puzzle that will be written on in this series. Having worked and travelled in an open way there are no borders from my perspective.

Technorati Tags: opinion,world,news,media,independent,dennis cambly,journalist,writer,activist,democracy

Share this post :

Dear Shopper

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:36:00 PDT

While we thank you for your valued patronage of Walmart, the Manager of our Wal Mart store is considering banning you and your family from shopping with us, unless stop your antics. Below is a list of offenses over the past few months all verified by our surveillance cameras:

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's trolleys when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to feminine products aisle.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official tone, "Code 3" in housewares..... and watched what happened.

5. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

6. September 15: Set up a tent in the outdoor clothing department and told shoppers you'd invite them in if they would bring sausages and a Calor gas stove.

7. September 23: When the Deputy Manager asked if she could help, you began to cry and asked, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"

8. October 4: Looked right into the security camera; used it as a mirror, picked your nose, and ate it.

9. November 10: While appearing to be choosing kitchen knives in the Housewares aisle asked an assistant if she knew where the antidepressants were.

10. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously, loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.

11. December 6: In the kitchenware aisle, practised the "Madonna look" using different size funnels.

12. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed, yelled "PICK ME!" "PICK ME!"

13. December 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, assumed the foetal position and screamed "NO! NO! It's those voices again."

And; last, but not least:

14. December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited a while; then yelled, very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here."

Yours sincerely,

Charles Brown
Store Manager

Share this post :

Good Day Tzipi Livni

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:15:00 PDT

Is it all that complicated Tzipi Livini my friend or has that gang shouted us down again?

Seems every time we make a little traction forward there is a force that shoves us back to the line. The cons keep telling us that they are the voice of the people while the liberal voice remains quiet. In fact their voices remind me of the teacher scratching their finger nails across the chalkboard. (For those who have no idea what a chalkboard is go to your highly edited and censored wiki to seek an answer)

Tzipi the cons have only one solution to bring to the people everywhere. We know after many millennia spent killing that their solution will never work on behalf of the people. Far too many people around our only inhabitable planet look at life as though it were a video game. It is now highlighted as a “reality” show for them so as not to confuse it with real life. Some call it “virtual reality” as if there is some magical place to live other than their own bodies.

The “right is might” gang almost accomplished a victory with their 22 more days of attacks on the people in Gaza. We cannot say how it happened, only we can say, they are falling all over each other in their quest of power. Anyone who has played a game of chess knows that such a strategy fails.

The liberal voice has to come to your side Tzipi and be vocal. There is a voice of reasonable people that the big media will never allow in their domains. It will take a big effort for the more liberal voices to put their ego aside for the betterment of everyone. This is the challenge we face today all over the planet.

A vision is lost once it becomes all about the ego trippers instead of the vision. It is up to us Tzipi to state very clearly the vision that will bring everyone to the table. When did our capacity to listen to others go out of style? In the real world does slapping someone on the face make them less comfortable speaking to us?

In your role as Foreign Minister you travelled and spoke to people in many countries. Remember my dear, those articles that said you would be a terrific PM, were written from the heart. They were written sincerely while watching and reading as you travelled and spoke.

Go to the time you spoke to the young people at the mini United Nations Conference. That was one of your better visions of a better, safer and more secure world.

The nose is keen now as it smells the stench of death coming from the big media owners. Ego is now in full control as our eyes can envision and our ears can hear.

Those who send out a message of hate have forgotten they are a mere speck of sand on the beach.

Let us be the ones who shout down those who would have us live in fear of one another.

Share this post :

Media "Factual" Lies about Durban 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:05:00 PDT

The US, Colonial Canada and Italy have announced they will not attend the United Nations Conference on Racism out of their misplaced fear. They are using the Israeli cover story so they can side step this overlooked fact. On March 14, 2009 Der Spiegel, the ezine that wants Germans to stay in perpetual apology for WWII, repeated the same lies as previously reported by this blog. Colonial Canada is also hiding behind the fact, that in January 2009 it was the only UN member to vote NO, on a statement being issued to Israel regarding Humanitarian Principles regarding Gaza. When are these small minded countries and their media going to join the human race? When are they going to stop selling lies as factual disinformation? After they were hood winked into a preemptive attack on the people of Iraq a person might believe they would change.

Within a few hours of each other, back on 9 and 10 December, the Wall Street Journal and The Australian – both serious newspapers with long-established records of honest, factual reporting – published editorials focusing partly or wholly on an international conference on racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance that is scheduled to take place in Geneva next April. The purpose of this Durban Review Conference (sometimes misleadingly referred to as 'Durban II') is to examine the implementation of the outcome document of the World Conference against Racism which took place in Durban, South Africa, in 2001.

Unfortunately both newspapers replay a number of factual distortions which have become increasingly widespread on the Internet over the past year, including numerous references to the review conference as an anti-Semitic "hate-fest."

A Google search on 10 December, using "fest" in conjunction with 'Durban' and 'hate' or 'anti-Semitic,' produced 49,900 web-page hits.* "Hate-fest" is not a common phrase, but it has been used in connection with the Durban process by people ranging from the Canadian Prime Minister to other politicians, academics, journalists, anti-Durban NGOs and a huge number of bloggers and other commentators.

The 2001 World Conference was indeed marred by the grotesque behavior of some anti-Israel NGOs at the parallel NGO forum. Their inexcusable anti-Semitic actions, coupled with some difficult debates at the state level, have unfortunately cast the entire 2001 Conference and next year's review in a negative light that is, by and large, unmerited.

This year's conference will focus on the 2001 outcome document, known as the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action (DDPA), which was adopted by consensus at the end of the 2001 World Conference. The DDPA consists of 341 paragraphs, of which six refer to the Middle East, anti-Semitism and directly related issues.

The first of those says: "We recall that the Holocaust must never be forgotten." The second says "We recognize with deep concern the increase in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in various parts of the world, as well as the emergence of racial and violent movements based on racism and discriminatory ideas against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities."

The remaining four paragraphs include references to "the plight of the Palestinian people" and "the right to security for all States in the region, including Israel," as well as calling upon "Israel and the Palestinians to resume the peace process, and to develop and prosper in security and freedom."

The contents of the DDPA were agreed by all the states present at the end of the 2001 conference. It is a fundamental, thorough and very wide-ranging framework document on racism and related issues. It takes a vivid imagination to turn it into the manifesto of a "hate-fest."

There are other specific distortions centered on two main aspects: firstly a widely repeated allegation that control of the Review Conference's preparatory process, steered by an organizational body of 20 states, has been seized by a group of three countries, namely Libya (whose representative is the Chair), Cuba (Rapporteur /Vice Chair), and Iran (Vice-Chair). Such reports imply that these three states have an enormous amount of executive power. They do not. Chairpersons of bodies of this type fulfill an essentially functional role and are not in a position to push their own country's agenda.

Such reports also routinely – and in some cases deliberately – omit to mention that, along with Iran and Cuba, there are 17 other Vice-Chairs including Belgium, Greece, Norway, Turkey, Armenia, Croatia, Estonia, Senegal, South Africa, India, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. The role of the Rapporteur /Vice-Chair is to oversee reports on proceedings produced by UN staff. If those reports were in any way distorted, the other Vice Chairs could, and would, intervene.

The second area of distortion involves some condemnatory language on Israel that is described in both the Wall Street Journal and The Australian as being included in the "draft declaration" being prepared for the Review Conference. This is also misleading. There is currently no draft declaration in existence. The contentious language was included in one of four regional inputs, which have been combined with various other texts into a basic (and not necessarily complete) background compilation.

In the negotiations ahead, delegations will try to narrow differences, find common ground and work out compromises so as to arrive at a consensus document. As in all negotiations of this type, the text that remains at the end of the process will be something that is agreeable to all states taking part.

Another clear example of distortion is an article that appeared on the Forbes website on 4 December, written by the journalist Claudia Rosett (who also writes on occasion for the Wall Street Journal). Rosett had been briefed at great length by UN human rights officials about the limited role played by the Chair, and the fact that there are 19 Vice-Chairs whose votes and views have equal weight. She was also clearly informed that all decisions of this 20-country 'Bureau' (four countries per region) have so far been reached by consensus.

Rosett's article brushed all this aside: "Among the vice-chairs of the preparatory committee," she wrote, "are emissaries of such unfree countries as Iran, Russia, Pakistan and Cameroon (which, according to New York-based Freedom House, still tolerates slavery in its northern reaches). Cuba, where wholesale repression includes the additional frill of job discrimination against Afro-Cubans, fills two seats at this Durban II table, which features both a Cuban vice-chair and Cuba as Rapporteur."

Rosett even went so far as to try and imply the review conference process is somehow complicit in "the terrorist assault in Mumbai, in which hundreds were murdered, but where the targets most deliberately hunted down were Americans, Britons and Jews."

The issues covered by this review process, racism, xenophobia, and other forms of intolerance, are extremely important and can have a devastating impact on human rights. They affect myriad groups, and millions of individuals, across the world on a daily basis. They clearly merit serious discussion in international forum. It would be a sad state of affairs if, as a result of concerted efforts to derail this review conference, such discussion, which inevitably touches on controversial and sensitive areas, is rendered taboo.

* Google searches using the same terms on different days have produced both much higher and much lower numbers of hits. The figure cited is close to the median. A simpler search on 18 December using "fest" as the exact term, and 'Durban' and 'hate' in the 'all these words' search line, produced 49,200 hits with few false matches. Another example of the misleading information surrounding the Durban process is contained in a full-page advertisement that appeared in the New York Sun on April 3 2008. The advertisement was built around the central theme – "What does the Durban Declaration declare? That ISRAEL, and only ISRAEL, is guilty of racism." It declares no such thing.

The above article was sent on 12 December to the Wall Street Journal, The Australian and Forbes.com by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Given that distorted information about an up-coming anti-racism review conference is now being repeated on a regular basis in major newspapers, which operate under journalistic codes of ethical conduct, OHCHR – which acts as secretariat for the conference process – urges journalists and editors to be alert to the distortions affecting the coverage of this event.

[A Google search done on March 11 and 12th, 2009 shows the same results as those pointed to in this article. When a search is done with other less name brand search engines the results include 1000s of articles with positive results on the importance of the Durban 2009 conference.]

Share this post :

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:30:00 PDT

You or going to love this illustration on what a Trillion $$ is!

In the past 9 years 22 Trillion was spent on the making of war when you add it up.

This shows 1 Trillion so imagine 22 Trillion. People wonder why they are broke?

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

Share this post :

GAZA - We Are Almost There - Convoy

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:57:00 PST

Al Jazzera reports that their crew has been prevented from reporting the arrival of the convoy at El Arich.

The “Souad Viva Palestina” convoy is now entering the town of El Arich after a long trek of 10 hours on the roads and motorways of Egypt.

Gaza is within touching distance and the dreams and aspirations of so many members of this magnificent adventure will be realized tomorrow when they enter Gaza carrying not only aid, but also the hopes of the millions to see the siege broken.

Today. the convoy members had to endure a hard journey as they were escorted throughout by the Egyptian authorities who dictated a pace that was extremely frustrating. They only stopped on a couple of occasions after setting off from Jamsa - and did not stop as planned at the El Salam Bridge.

The convoy is now being taken to their accommodation. A press conference and speeches were planned but as it is very late in the night, this may be shelved.

According to the Palestinian Information Centre bulletin this evening, the 'Justice for Palestine' Scottish convoy managed to get into Gaza late this afternoon after the Egyptian authorities gave permission for the crossing to take place at Rafah.

To our knowledge the convoy includes 20 members in 10 vehicles carrying vital medical aid and equipment for the people of Gaza.

This convoy crossed into Gaza after 60 female American peace activists managed earlier to cross the Rafah gate to show their support to the women of Gaza, on the eve of International Women’s Day, and to call for the lifting of the siege.

Many news agencies and reporters are awaiting the arrival of this phenomenal convoy. Al Jazzera reports that their crew has been prevented from reporting the arrival of the convoy at El Arich.

Tonight, El Arich will experience something special when the people of this town will witness at first hand the arrival of the saviors of Gaza. They will see lorries, vans, cars, driven by humble human beings coming in peace, carrying vital aid and supplies, and answering the critics and skeptics who doubted the aims of this noble mission.

Tonight, The western mass media remains SILENT in its coverage of this massive story, a story created by the people of Britain, with aid coming from the people of Britain.

By ignoring the cries of the people of Gaza, once again, Gaza exposes the hypocrisy, double standards and opportunism of the British media.

But the British people can see through this injustice, and like never before, Gaza has broken into many British homes and has touched many British hearts.

(a video update follows)

Share this post :

Convoy to Gaza Update

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:06:00 PST

Egypt will Allow Convoy into Gaza

They are in their thousands in the Green Public square of Tripoli attending a big rally to welcome the Viva Palestina humanitarian Gaza convoy.

This is the first of many planned in Libya. Ambassadors, dignitaries, representatives from the Gadaffi Foundation as well as the children of Palestine have spoken of the horrors and the tragedy of Gaza.

Gift bags containing caps, T-Shirts, books have been given to members of the convoy as a gesture of thanks and admiration for their efforts to get the aid to the destitute people of Gaza.

This morning,it was announced at the rally that Egypt has agreed to let the convoy through to Gaza to the cheers of all the people and to the relief of our convoy members.

It will be one less matter to worry about and to only concentrate on the noble goal they set out to achieve when their vehicle rolled from the UK on the 14Th February.

Up to 100 Libyan trucks are joining the convoy starting with the Tripoli contingent today including ambulances and a fire engine. The Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation(GICDF) is sending a considerable quantity of medical aid.

After drinks and sandwiches, they will head for the city of Misrata passing and possibly stopping in Khums.

(by Farid Arada in the Convoy)

Share this post :

Israel still Stopping aid to Gaza

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:15:00 PST

International donors to Gaza's reconstruction and development should call on Israel to end its punishing blockade of the territory and to allow needed humanitarian assistance and normal commerce to resume, Human Rights Watch said today. Even after the enormous war damage to civilian life in Gaza, Israel continues to block desperately needed aid from entering the territory and to strangle Gaza's economy.

Representatives of prospective donor countries are convening in the Egyptian Sinai resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh on March 2, 2009, for a one-day conference. Human Rights Watch said that ending the blockade was absolutely critical to any prospects for reconstruction and economic recovery. Among those attending will be the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and the EU high representative for common foreign and security policy, Javier Solana.

"All the pledges of aid this conference is expected to produce will be worth next to nothing if the donors do not demand that Israel open the borders to commercial goods as well as humanitarian essentials," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "This unlawful blockade is the primary impediment to reconstruction and to the economic activity that is essential to any society."

Israel effectively controls Gaza's borders and airspace. Human Rights Watch said that the blockade, which has been in place since June 2007, after Hamas took control of Gaza, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods should be strictly limited to weapons and items whose direct military potential clearly outweigh their civilian usage.

According to the United Nations, Gaza needs a minimum of 500 truckloads of humanitarian aid and commercial goods every day. Israeli authorities have told humanitarian agencies that they would allow up to 150 truckloads a day. However, the actual number has not exceeded 120, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The average in February has only been between 88 and 104, including grain shipped by conveyor belt at the Karni crossing.

Aid workers with operations in Gaza told Human Rights Watch that Israeli procedures since major hostilities ceased were making it virtually impossible to plan for aid deliveries more than 24 hours in advance. On several occasions Israeli authorities refused to allow passage of pre-scheduled aid shipments hours before they were supposed to arrive, they said.

Israel continues to block goods on trucks from entering Karni, the one border crossing point with sophisticated security screening equipment and the capacity to handle up to 750 trucks per day. Sufa crossing, which can also accommodate trucks on a smaller scale, also remains closed. Instead, Israel requires all trucks to enter through Kerem Shalom, located near Gaza's southern tip, where every item on trucks must be unloaded, inspected, repackaged and reloaded, with a "handling fee" of US$1,000 per truck.

In the weeks since heavy fighting ceased on January 18, Israel has arbitrarily refused entry to items like chickpeas, macaroni, wheat flour, notebooks for students, freezer appliances, generators and water pumps, and cooking gas, OCHA said.

Human Rights Watch researchers in Gaza observed several areas - including eastern Jabalya (Izbt Abd Rabbo neighborhood), Juhr al-Dik, Khuza`a, and al-Atatra - that had suffered extensive damage to homes and civilian objects during Israeli military operations that began on December 27, 2008. Across Gaza, researchers observed the wide-scale destruction of greenhouses and agricultural land, destroyed factories, a hospital burned by fire from white phosphorus shells, and the bombed Ministry of Justice building.

In total, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that the fighting in December and January damaged or destroyed 14,000 homes, 219 factories, 240 schools, and 31

Nongovernmental organizations. Gaza's electricity generator sustained US $10 million in damage, and the water utility $6 million.

Restrictions on humanitarian aid and commerce need to be targeted, and not so broad as to block the movement of ordinary civilian goods, Human Rights Watch said. Israel has provided no security or other justification for its refusal to allow goods to enter or leave Gaza via the Karni crossing, or for its strict limits on what is allowed in and in what quantities. Nor has Israel provided any security rationale for its complete ban on any exports from Gaza for more than a year, with the exception of a one-time shipment of flowers to Europe in mid-February.

"If Gaza business people can ship one truckload of flowers for Valentine's Day, why can't they export flowers, or strawberries and oranges, every day?" Roth said. "Israel's blockade policy can be summed up in one word and it is punishment, not security."

Share this post :

As the Arabs see the Jews - Historical

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:19:00 PST

(written by King Hussein’s grandfather King Abdullah)

His Majesty King Abdullah

The American Magazine November, 1947

I am especially delighted to address an American audience, for the tragic problem of Palestine will never be solved without American understanding, American sympathy, American support.

So many billions of words have been written about Palestine—perhaps more than on any other subject in history—that I hesitate to add to them. Yet I am compelled to do so, for I am reluctantly convinced that the world in general, and America in particular, knows almost nothing of the true case for the Arabs.

We Arabs follow, perhaps far more than you think, the press of America. We are frankly disturbed to find that for every word printed on the Arab side, a thousand are printed on the Zionist side.
There are many reasons for this. You have many millions of Jewish citizens interested in this question. They are highly vocal and wise in the ways of publicity. There are few Arab citizens in America, and we are as yet unskilled in the technique of modern propaganda.
The results have been alarming for us. In your press we see a horrible caricature and are told it is our true portrait. In all justice, we cannot let this pass by default.

Our case is quite simple: For nearly 2,000 years Palestine has been almost 100 per cent Arab. It is still preponderantly Arab today, in spite of enormous Jewish immigration. But if this immigration continues we shall soon be outnumbered—a minority in our home.
Palestine is a small and very poor country, about the size of your state of Vermont. Its Arab population is only about 1,200,000. Already we have had forced on us, against our will, some 600,000 Zionist Jews. We are threatened with many hundreds of thousands more.

Our position is so simple and natural that we are amazed it should even be questioned. It is exactly the same position you in America take in regard to the unhappy European Jews. You are sorry for them, but you do not want them in your country.

We do not want them in ours, either. Not because they are Jews, but because they are foreigners. We would not want hundreds of thousands of foreigners in our country, be they Englishmen or Norwegians or Brazilians or whatever.

Think for a moment: In the last 25 years we have had one third of our entire population forced upon us. In America that would be the equivalent of 45,000,000 complete strangers admitted to your country, over your violent protest, since 1921. How would you have reacted to that?

Because of our perfectly natural dislike of being overwhelmed in our own homeland, we are called blind nationalists and heartless anti-Semites. This charge would be ludicrous were it not so dangerous.

No people on earth have been less "anti-Semitic" than the Arabs. The persecution of the Jews has been confined almost entirely to the Christian nations of the West. Jews, themselves, will admit that never since the Great Dispersion did Jews develop so freely and reach such importance as in Spain when it was an Arab possession. With very minor exceptions, Jews have lived for many centuries in the Middle East, in complete peace and friendliness with their Arab neighbours.

Damascus, Baghdad, Beirut and other Arab centres have always contained large and prosperous Jewish colonies. Until the Zionist invasion of Palestine began, these Jews received the most generous treatment—far, far better than in Christian Europe.

Now, unhappily, for the first time in history, these Jews are beginning to feel the effects of Arab resistance to the Zionist assault. Most of them are as anxious as Arabs to stop it. Most of these Jews who have found happy homes among us resent, as we do, the coming of these strangers.

I was puzzled for a long time about the odd belief which apparently persists in America that Palestine has somehow "always been a Jewish land." Recently an American I talked to cleared up this mystery. He pointed out that the only things most Americans know about Palestine are what they read in the Bible. It was a Jewish land in those days, they reason, and they assume it has always remained so.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is absurd to reach so far back into the mists of history to argue about who should have Palestine today, and I apologize for it. Yet the Jews do this, and I must reply to their "historic claim." I wonder if the world has ever seen a stranger sight than a group of people seriously pretending to claim a land because their ancestors lived there some 2,000 years ago!

If you suggest that I am biased, I invite you to read any sound history of the period and verify the facts.

Such fragmentary records as we have indicate that the Jews were wandering nomads from Iraq who moved to southern Turkey, came south to Palestine, stayed there a short time, and then passed to Egypt, where they remained about 400 years. About 1300 BC (according to your calendar) they left Egypt and gradually conquered most—but not all—of the inhabitants of Palestine.

It is significant that the Philistines—not the Jews—gave their name to the country: "Palestine" is merely the Greek form of "Philistia."

Only once, during the empire of David and Solomon, did the Jews ever control nearly—but not all—the land which is today Palestine. This empire lasted only 70 years, ending in 926 BC.

Only 250 years later the Kingdom of Judah had shrunk to a small province around Jerusalem, barely a quarter of modern Palestine.
In 63 BC the Jews were conquered by Roman Pompey, and never again had even the vestige of independence.

The Roman Emperor Hadrian finally wiped them out about 135 AD. He utterly destroyed Jerusalem, rebuilt under another name, and for hundreds of years no Jew was permitted to enter it. A handful of Jews remained in Palestine but the vast majority were killed or scattered to other countries, in the Diaspora, or the Great Dispersion. From that time Palestine ceased to be a Jewish country, in any conceivable sense.

This was 1,815 years ago, and yet the Jews solemnly pretend they still own Palestine! If such fantasy were allowed, how the map of the world would dance about!

Italians might claim England, which the Romans held so long. England might claim France, "homeland" of the conquering Normans. And the French Normans might claim Norway, where their ancestors originated. And incidentally, we Arabs might claim Spain, which we held for 700 years.

Many Mexicans might claim Spain, "homeland" of their forefathers. They might even claim Texas, which was Mexican until 100 years ago. And suppose the American Indians claimed the "homeland" of which they were the sole, native, and ancient occupants until only some 450 years ago!

I am not being facetious. All these claims are just as valid—or just as fantastic—as the Jewish "historic connection" with Palestine. Most are more valid.

In any event, the great Moslem expansion about 650 AD finally settled things. It dominated Palestine completely. From that day on, Palestine was solidly Arabic in population, language, and religion.

When British armies entered the country during the last war, they found 500,000 Arabs and only 65,000 Jews.

If solid, uninterrupted Arab occupation for nearly 1,300 years does not make a country "Arab", what does?

The Jews say, and rightly, that Palestine is the home of their religion. It is likewise the birthplace of Christianity, but would any Christian nation claim it on that account? In passing, let me say that the Christian Arabs—and there are many hundreds of thousands of them in the Arab World—are in absolute agreement with all other Arabs in opposing the Zionist invasion of Palestine.

May I also point out that Jerusalem is, after Mecca and Medina, the holiest place in Islam. In fact, in the early days of our religion, Moslems prayed toward Jerusalem instead of Mecca.

The Jewish "religious claim" to Palestine is as absurd as the "historic claim." The Holy Places, sacred to three great religions, must be open to all, the monopoly of none. Let us not confuse religion and politics.

We are told that we are inhumane and heartless because do not accept with open arms the perhaps 200,000 Jews in Europe who suffered so frightfully under Nazi cruelty, and who even now—almost three years after war’s end—still languish in cold, depressing camps.

Let me underline several facts. The unimaginable persecution of the Jews was not done by the Arabs: it was done by a Christian nation in the West. The war which ruined Europe and made it almost impossible for these Jews to rehabilitate themselves was fought by the Christian nations of the West.

The rich and empty portions of the earth belong, not to the Arabs, but to the Christian nations of the West.

And yet, to ease their consciences, these Christian nations of the West are asking Palestine—a poor and tiny Moslem country of the East—to accept the entire burden. "We have hurt these people terribly," cries the West to the East. "Won’t you please take care of them for us?"

We find neither logic nor justice in this. Are we therefore "cruel and heartless nationalists"?

We are a generous people: we are proud that "Arab hospitality" is a phrase famous throughout the world. We are a humane people: no one was shocked more than we by the Hitlerite terror. No one pities the present plight of the desperate European Jews more than we.

But we say that Palestine has already sheltered 600,000 refugees. We believe that is enough to expect of us—even too much. We believe it is now the turn of the rest of the world to accept some of them.

I will be entirely frank with you. There is one thing the Arab world simply cannot understand. Of all the nations of the earth, America is most insistent that something be done for these suffering Jews of Europe. This feeling does credit to the humanity for which America is famous, and to that glorious inscription on your Statue of Liberty.
And yet this same America—the richest, greatest, most powerful nation the world has ever known—refuses to accept more than a token handful of these same Jews herself!

I hope you will not think I am being bitter about this. I have tried hard to understand that mysterious paradox, and I confess I cannot. Nor can any other Arab.

Perhaps you have been informed that "the Jews in Europe want to go to no other place except Palestine."

This myth is one of the greatest propaganda triumphs of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, the organization which promotes with fanatic zeal the emigration to Palestine. It is a subtle half-truth, thus doubly dangerous.

The astounding truth is that nobody on earth really knows where these unfortunate Jews really want to go!

You would think that in so grave a problem, the American, British, and other authorities responsible for the European Jews would have made a very careful survey, probably by vote, to find out where each Jew actually wants to go. Amazingly enough this has never been done! The Jewish Agency has prevented it.

Some time ago the American Military Governor in Germany was asked at a press conference how he was so certain that all Jews there wanted to go to Palestine. His answer was simple: "My Jewish advisors tell me so." He admitted no poll had ever been made. Preparations were indeed begun for one, but the Jewish Agency stepped in to stop it.

The truth is that the Jews in German camps are now subjected to a Zionist pressure campaign which learned much from the Nazi terror. It is dangerous for a Jew to say that he would rather go to some other country, not Palestine. Such dissenters have been severely beaten, and worse.

Not long ago, in Palestine, nearly 1,000 Austrian Jews informed the international refugee organization that they would like to go back to Austria, and plans were made to repatriate them.

The Jewish Agency heard of this, and exerted enough political pressure to stop it. It would be bad propaganda for Zionism if Jews began leaving Palestine. The nearly 1,000 Austrian are still there, against their will.

The fact is that most of the European Jews are Western in culture and outlook, entirely urban in experience and habits. They cannot really have their hearts set on becoming pioneers in the barren, arid, cramped land which is Palestine.

One thing, however, is undoubtedly true. As matters stand now, most refugee Jews in Europe would, indeed, vote for Palestine, simply because they know no other country will have them.

If you or I were given a choice between a near-prison camp for the rest of our lives—or Palestine—we would both choose Palestine, too.

But open up any other alternative to them—give them any other choice, and see what happens!

No poll, however, will be worth anything unless the nations of the earth are willing to open their doors—just a little—to the Jews. In other words, if in such a poll a Jew says he wants to go to Sweden, Sweden must be willing to accept him. If he votes for America, you must let him come in.

Any other kind of poll would be a farce. For the desperate Jew, this is no idle testing of opinion: this is a grave matter of life or death. Unless he is absolutely sure that his vote means something, he will always vote for Palestine, so as not to risk his bird in the hand for one in the bush.

In any event, Palestine can accept no more. The 65,000 Jews in Palestine in 1918 have jumped to 600,000 today. We Arabs have increased, too, but not by immigration. The Jews were then a mere 11 per cent of our population. Today they are one third of it.
The rate of increase has been terrifying. In a few more years—unless stopped now—it will overwhelm us, and we shall be an important minority in our own home.

Surely the rest of the wide world is rich enough and generous enough to find a place for 200,000 Jews—about one third the number that tiny, poor Palestine has already sheltered. For the rest of the world, it is hardly a drop in the bucket. For us it means national suicide.

We are sometimes told that since the Jews came to Palestine, the Arab standard of living has improved. This is a most complicated question. But let us even assume, for the argument, that it is true. We would rather be a bit poorer, and masters of our own home. Is this unnatural?

The sorry story of the so-called "Balfour Declaration," which started Zionist immigration into Palestine, is too complicated to repeat here in detail. It is grounded in broken promises to the Arabs—promises made in cold print which admit no denying.
We utterly deny its validity. We utterly deny the right of Great Britain to give away Arab land for a "national home" for an entirely foreign people.

Even the League of Nations sanction does not alter this. At the time, not a single Arab state was a member of the League. We were not allowed to say a word in our own defense.

I must point out, again in friendly frankness, that America was nearly as responsible as Britain for this Balfour Declaration. President Wilson approved it before it was issued, and the American Congress adopted it word for word in a joint resolution on 30th June, 1922.

In the 1920s, Arabs were annoyed and insulted by Zionist immigration, but not alarmed by it. It was steady, but fairly small, as even the Zionist founders thought it would remain. Indeed for some years, more Jews left Palestine than entered it—in 1927 almost twice as many.

But two new factors, entirely unforeseen by Britain or the League or America or the most fervent Zionist, arose in the early thirties to raise the immigration to undreamed heights. One was the World Depression; the second the rise of Hitler.

In 1932, the year before Hitler came to power, only 9,500 Jews came to Palestine. We did not welcome them, but we were not afraid that, at that rate, our solid Arab majority would ever be in danger.

But the next year—the year of Hitler—it jumped to 30,000! In 1934 it was 42,000! In 1935 it reached 61,000!

It was no longer the orderly arrival of idealist Zionists. Rather, all Europe was pouring its frightened Jews upon us. Then, at last, we, too, became frightened. We knew that unless this enormous influx stopped, we were, as Arabs, doomed in our Palestine homeland.

And we have not changed our minds.

I have the impression that many Americans believe the trouble in Palestine is very remote from them, that America had little to do with it, and that your only interest now is that of a humane bystander.

I believe that you do not realize how directly you are, as a nation, responsible in general for the whole Zionist move and specifically for the present terrorism. I call this to your attention because I am certain that if you realize your responsibility you will act fairly to admit it and assume it.

Quite aside from official American support for the "National Home" of the Balfour Declaration, the Zionist settlements in Palestine would have been almost impossible, on anything like the current scale, without American money. This was contributed by American Jewry in an idealistic effort to help their fellows.

The motive was worthy: the result were disastrous. The contributions were by private individuals, but they were almost entirely Americans, and, as a nation, only America can answer for it.
The present catastrophe may be laid almost entirely at your door. Your government, almost alone in the world, is insisting on the immediate admission of 100,000 more Jews into Palestine—to be followed by countless additional ones. This will have the most frightful consequences in bloody chaos beyond anything ever hinted at in Palestine before.

It is your press and political leadership, almost alone in the world, who press this demand. It is almost entirely American money which hires or buys the "refugee ships" that steam illegally toward Palestine: American money which pays their crews. The illegal immigration from Europe is arranged by the Jewish Agency, supported almost entirely by American funds.

It is American dollars which support the terrorists, which buy the bullets and pistols that kill British soldiers—your allies—and Arab citizens—your friends.

We in the Arab world were stunned to hear that you permit open advertisements in newspapers asking for money to finance these terrorists, to arm them openly and deliberately for murder. We could not believe this could really happen in the modern world. Now we must believe it: we have seen the advertisements with our own eyes.

I point out these things because nothing less than complete frankness will be of use. The crisis is too stark for mere polite vagueness which means nothing.

I have the most complete confidence in the fair-mindedness and generosity of the American public. We Arabs ask no favors. We ask only that you know the full truth, not half of it. We ask only that when you judge the Palestine question, you put yourselves in our place.

What would your answer be if some outside agency told you that you must accept in America many millions of utter strangers in your midst—enough to dominate your country—merely because they insisted on going to America, and because their forefathers had once lived there some 2,000 years ago?

Our answer is the same.

And what would be your action if, in spite of your refusal, this outside agency began forcing them on you?

Ours will be the same.

Share this post :

Get on Board the Convoy

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:11:00 PST

Your sleaze media will never show what has happened in Gaza and to the Palestinian people. All you will hear them say over and over again, is that the genocide being committed by Israel, is the fault of Hamas. They will forget to tell you, that before Hamas was democratically elected, the border crossings to bring food and supplies into Gaza had been closed.

The Jews of Israel and the Jews in the United States shut down those border crossings in January 2005.

Hamas was elected in mid 2006.

It would take many pages to try to explain to you, the reader, how and when this started. You can do a little research for yourself on the Internet to get the facts. Do it soon though because Google in particular, along with Yahoo, are deleting the information and not publishing websites that do explain the details.

Every time anyone tries to explain what is going on the Jews immediately pull out their “trump card” of the holocaust. Then everyone who does try to give people the facts are labeled as anti-Semitic.

Keep in mind that all of the western media is controlled by 7 to 9 people who own every form of media. The same people own the TV networks, magazines, newspapers and radio stations etc.

The simplest way to explain it is to give you an example.

Imagine that wherever you are currently living and have built up friendships and a home is suddenly taken away. Not by a person down the road or some big corporation but by 1000s of people from another place in the world. They just arrive and take away your homes, land and tell you to move out or you will be killed. It would make you very unhappy when you are told to leave without any compensation or reason other than they are claiming your land etc to be theirs.

To top it all off they make sure that once you build somewhere else, they construct a 25 foot walls, around your former settlement. You now need their permission to cross the border into another walled in neighborhood where some of your family and friends are living. Sorry you are not allowed to grow any food so you depend on convoys of trucks to get food, water, medicine and other goods to you. The crossings are closed for months at a time. Your electricity can be cut off at their will, and nobody anywhere, cares about your situation. Nobody knows because the sleaze media does not tell the world the truth. You are blamed.

You might get angry.

A photo of the Wall in which you are imprisoned.

In order to ensure that you behave, another country far away, supplies the occupiers with highly sophisticated weapons. Whenever the people who have you walled into this prison want you are hit at random with missiles, chemical weapons and tank fire. The next photo gives you an idea of what is thrown at you.

Keep in mind that you have no place to hide or run to since you are surviving within the walls. Your children are massacred and the outside world does not see any pictures and you are filled with grief and sorrow.

Finally, the word reaches the outside world by a few real journalists and not entertainment baboons.

Here is what happened to one of those walled in prisons recently

The Massacre – Part 1

The Massacre – Part 2

The Massacre – Part 3

The Massacre – Part 4

Then you get word that a group of people have a convoy on their way. You are hopeful knowing that their journey to you could be stopped at the walled border crossing.

You wish that the world would know that help is on the way. Sleaze media owners are not letting anyone know that you are hungry, you are thirsty, you have no medicine, your rights have been violated, your children are dying and yet, you are hopeful.

We are on our way to you because we see a wrong and want to make it right.

“Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth…” Corinthians 13:6

Share this post :

Canada becomes Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Pilot) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:24:00 PST

Yves E

Yves Engler - February 12, 2009

Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper's government publicly supported Israel's brutal assault on Gaza and voted alone at the UN Human Rights Committee in defense of Israel's actions three weeks ago. Now Canada has taken over Israeli diplomacy. Literally.

In solidarity with Gaza, Venezuela expelled Israel's ambassador at the start of the bombardment and then broke off all diplomatic relations two weeks later. Israel need not worry since Ottawa plans to help out. On 29 January, The Jerusalem Post reported that "Israel's interests in Caracas will now be represented by the Canadian Embassy." This means Canada is officially Israel, at least in Venezuela.

Prior to the recent bombing in Gaza, the Harper government made it abundantly clear that it would support Israel no matter what that country did. It publicly endorsed Israel's 2006 attack on Lebanon, voted against a host of UN resolutions supporting Palestinian rights and in January 2008 refused to criticize illegal Israeli settlement construction at Har Homa near Jerusalem (even Washington publicly criticized these settlements). Canada was also the first country (after Israel) to cut off financial aid to the elected Hamas government and Ottawa has provided millions of dollars as well as personnel to create a US-trained Palestinian police force to act as a counterweight to the Hamas government and to oversee Israel's occupation.

Harper's support for Israel is extreme, but despite what many well-meaning commentators claim, it is not a break from Canada's role as an "honest broker" in the Arab-Israeli conflict. There is a long history of Canadian support for Zionism, a European settler ideology that has violently dispossessed Palestinians for more than six decades.

The idea for a Middle Eastern Jewish homeland to serve Western imperial interests has a long history in Canada. Since at least the 1870s Christian Zionists called for their biblical prophesies to be fulfilled under British auspices. By November 1915, Solicitor General (and then Prime Minister) Arthur Meighen publicly proclaimed, "I think I can speak for those of the Christian faith when I express the wish that God speed the day when the land of your [Jewish] forefathers shall be yours again. This task I hope will be performed by that champion of liberty the world over -- the British Empire." Two decades later Prime Minister RB Bennett began a national radio broadcast of the United Palestine Appeal with a speech about how the Balfour declaration and British control over Palestine was a step towards Biblical prophecies. "Scriptural prophecy is being fulfilled," he noted. "The restoration of Zion has begun."

During the 1947 UN negotiations over the British mandate of historic Palestine, Canada played an important role in creating Israel. Lester Pearson (then under-secretary of state for External Affairs) who chaired two different UN committees dealing with the mandate and Supreme Court Justice Ivan C. Rand, a member of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), played central roles in the negotiations that led to partition. In State in the Making, David Horowitz (the first governor of the Bank of Israel and first director general of Israel's ministry of finance) writes: "It may be said that Canada more than any other country played a decisive part in all stages of the UNO [United Nations Organization] discussions of Palestine."

The UN's 1948 partition plan gave the new Jewish state the majority of Palestine despite the Jewish population owning roughly seven percent of the land and representing a third of the population. Rand's assistant on UNSCOP, Leon Mayrand, provides a window into the dominant mindset at External Affairs: "The Arabs were bound to be vocal opponents of partition but they should not be taken too seriously. The great majority were not yet committed nationalists and the Arab chiefs could be appeased through financial concessions, especially if these accompanied a clearly declared will to impose a settlement whatever the means necessary." A dissident within External Affairs, the department's only Middle East expert, Elizabeth MacCallum, claimed Ottawa supported partition, "because we didn't give two hoots for democracy."

Above all else support for partition was driven by a geostrategic worldview. An internal report circulated at External Affairs explained: "The plan of partition gives to the western powers the opportunity to establish an independent, progressive Jewish state in the Eastern Mediterranean with close economic and cultural ties with the West generally and in particular with the United States." The Ottawa mandarins largely supported Israel as a possible western outpost in the heart of the (oil-producing) Middle East.

When the first Palestinian intifada broke out in 1987, then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) that Israel's brutal suppression of rock throwing Palestinian youth was handling the situation with "restraint." When questioned by a CBC reporter about the similarity between the plight of Palestinians and Blacks in South Africa, Mulroney replied that any comparison between Israel and South Africa was "false and odious and should never be mentioned in the same breath."

A decade later, Ottawa signed a free trade agreement with Israel. It was only Canada's fourth free trade agreement. Begun January 1997, the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement includes the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of where Israel's custom laws are applied.

The political motivation for supporting Israel has not changed significantly over the years. The government in Ottawa today receives limited electoral support from the Jewish community, but is close to a right-wing Christian Zionist movement. Most importantly, the Harper government strongly supports Western (US-led) imperialism in the Middle East. This is why Canada has taken over Israeli diplomacy in Venezuela.

Yves Engler is the author of the forthcoming Canada on the World Stage: A Force for Good or Bad Actor? and other books. He can be reached at yvesengler A T hotmail D O T com

Share this post :