Your letters and views – an Omnibus Cuba – Poland – Gaza - elsewhere

(1) Re: American Elections are sham

From Tom White, Texas

Dear Israel:

Thank you for both brilliant pieces. I haven't read much Chomsky and know not everybody thinks he is an A-1 Straight Arrow, but he is sure impressive in this one. I think he's dead right at the end in quoting Orwell. Our thick-headed ruling class (now significantly Jewish: check the Harvard roster of profs. and the people cited in its glossy magazine) can not conceive how we are hated because, after all, are we not all here in the United States the most lovable, mildest, sweetest people ever? Let me repeat the final two paras of Chomsky; they ought to be writ on the heavens in letters of fire for all to see:

"I will just finish with a word from George Orwell. In the introduction to Animal Farm he said, England is a free society, but it's not very different from the totalitarian monster I have been describing. He says in England unpopular ideas can be suppressed without the use of force. Then he goes on to give some dubious examples. At the end he turns to a very brief explanation, actually two sentences, but they are to the point. He says, one reason is the press is owned by wealthy men who have every reason not to want certain ideas to be expressed. And the second reason -- and I think a more important one -- is a good education. If you have gone to the best schools and graduated from Oxford and Cambridge, and so on, you have instilled in you the understanding that there are certain things it would not do to say; actually, it would not do to think. That is the primary way to prevent unpopular ideas from being expressed.

"The ideas of the overwhelming majority of the population, who don't attend Harvard, Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge, enable them to react like human beings, as they often do. There is a lesson there for activists."

So we go toward perdition in a fat-headed fog. The same gang that brought us the present set of military and financial horrors are firmly in their seats devising a rescue. I tried out a "totally unacceptable idea" on a semi-rich friend the other day: The U.S. government ought to outlaw all interest charged on money loans, and I noted it would be easy to police. Said friend gagged and half-shrieked. I knew then I was on  the right track. Slobs of the world arise, a new life is in sight! Or could be, just over the next hill.

Tom White

From Karin Maria Friedemann:

Dear Shamir,

 

While I respect Mazin Qumsiyeh and believe his concern for Palestinians is genuine, his article confirmed my worst fears about Arabs and Jews marching in lockstep to destroy America. He joined them in considering Ron Paul unelectable and therefore refused to call his followers to join the LOVE Revolution. Then, after RP fails to get the votes he uses this as "proof" that there is no hope for the system. That is intellectual dishonesty and criminal laziness at its worst! So what is his plan of action? More of the same protests.

 

 "Why not join an activist group or build your own. Why not block congressional offices. Why not build the revolution that could transform the US and the rest of the world. "

 

Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. Arabs and Muslims in America have collectively become completely useless and irrational. I'm saying this as an admonition because it's not too late to snap out of it - not as a label. We need them.

 

The rational conclusion to Mazin Qumsiyeh's otherwise solid article would have been that those of us who are upset that the voter system in America is flawed should work on fixing it. It is becoming obvious to a lot of ordinary people who are not typical activists that our democratic system is not functioning. There is a great movement afoot, spearheaded by the Ron Paul movement, to start documenting voting irregularities in every local precinct. Please visit my mini-list to get some good links to shocking home videos and reports of voter fraud across America. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Muslims_for_RonPaul/

 

What is happening now, which the Arabs refused to help out of loyalty to their leftist anti-American fringe element friends, and while Zionists infiltrated the Ron Paul campaign and sabotaged it from within, ordinary grandmothers and other citizens have been spending weeks in NH poring over voter counts and chasing down lost ballots. They are still there doing that. It is very important for Americans to start looking into how our democracy works and doesn't work, and collectively work to fix it. What's our alternative? The Ron Paul activists were taken by surprise because it's the first time regular people came so far in getting beyond "the system" to the point where they actually had a fighting chance at the presidency - if they had a well oiled campaign machine and the human resources of the status quo. But we didn't, because the "peace activists" were too cynical to help. Bottom line is the Arabs seem to prefer to work with Zionists than with Americans.

 

Here was my post-vote message to my local Ron Paul list -

 

 

The most important information for me coming out of the Ron Paul campaign was learning who is a useful ally and who is full of shit. During the Iraq sanctions years I came to rely on leftists and progressives because they were the only groups willing to publish information sympathetic to dying Iraqi children and showing the film footage at universities. However, over time I have realized that the "progressives" simultaneously act very caring, while preventing anything from being done about the problems. This became clear when they refused to back Ron Paul. Ralph Nader even wrote an editorial against the US Constitution - calling it a hypocritical document written by slaveholders - the day before Super Tuesday. So if you think there is anything different between a neocon and a liberal, think again. They are united in lock step to destroy America. I never quite realized how bad they were until now. They are actually just USING the sensational aspects of human suffering to gain adherents to their groupthink. By traumatizing people they are able to bypass the rational thinking process to make nonsensical "recommendations." This method was used by the Save Darfur movement to get sanctions placed on Sudan as if cutting off ordinary people's ability to put food on the table would help decrease crime and poverty in Africa??? It's a genocidal plan masked in artificial concern, just like the Hillary Clinton feminist "concern" for Afghan women.

 

This Ron Paul campaign has changed my life entirely because I totally repudiated a lot of people who were a drain on my energy because they gave me false hope. I exhausted myself and got smeared in the press because of supporting Divestment from Israel. But these people would not help me work for Ron Paul. I noticed a definite pattern of being willing to take but not to give. They expect you to work with them on common causes even if you disagree on some other issue, but they would never do the same for you. Same with the abortion issue. All my life I was OK with "choice" in order to respect other people's opinions on abortion. I kept quiet out of respect for others. Finally one day I admitted that I personally would never consider having an abortion, and these lifelong friends emotionally distanced themselves from me.

 

So that is why I am happy to learn that in order to find people who are willing to work for the Good, you can find them in the "mainstream" society here and there. You don't find them at peace protests or at leftist bookstores. The problem is just that Libertarians tend to be loners. Now we have a way to meet each other.

 

America is really in for a lot of problems after next election. We may face starvation or chemical contamination in this nation. It will be worse than the Great Depression because no one really has a family farm anymore. Start planting vegetables if you have a backyard. The UN may not come to bail us out once we go under. Local meetups may be the key to survival in case of internet blackout. That is why we must exchange our addresses to each other, IMHO. We need to have regular Libertarian town meetings probably.

 

Whether or not Ron Paul wins, Ron Paul is right. Our government is going belly up. We will have to rely on ourselves because nobody is going to come to our rescue. Remember Katrina? If we don't get organized and sacrifice and build trust among a group of ourselves, we put ourselves at risk of a LOT of danger. Both the Republican Party and the Democrats in MA are in the twilight zone. As the economy plummets, I don't see Americans "waking up" and realizing Ron Paul is right. They will however increase their dependence on churches for food, and We the People will have to learn how to live with less, because it's that or homelessness. The future is bleak, but at least we have each other! It was far bleaker before.

 

LOVE Always!

 

Karin Friedemann

 

From Tom Mysiewicz

Nesta Webster in the 1924 "Secret Societies and Subversive Movements" reproduced a 1300 A.D. (C.E.) letter from a Moslem during the Judeo-Islamic period of cooperation in Spain. He opines that the Moslems are in rags while the Jews accumulate all the wealth for themselves and behave as their lords. It's very convenient to heap all the blame on the U.S. and vent one's rage on the U.S. But we're just the fall guys.

Cuba Responses

From Tom Mysiewicz

I have listened to Radio Havana for about 40 years now and I must admit, I sometimes wish I could spend a few winter weeks in that warm sun and get to meet the talented Arnie Corro.  Ever since the fall of the USSR, I have become less and less hostile to their revolution--at least to where I feel they ought to be left alone to demonstrate the efficacy (or lack of) their system.  (That would mean no blockade.) I note that, since the collapse of the USSR, the number of U.S. companies offering health care has been on an almost geometric decline along with the real wages of American workers.  It almost seems that, once the threat of communism was past, the capitalists seemed less concerned about the wellbeing of their workers along with the "freedom" they ballyhooed during the Cold War.  Now the Anglo-Judeo capitalists feel they can collapse the currency, kick people out of their homes and throw them into concentration camps if they protest too strongly.

Will the blockade be lifted before the Castro government abdicates?  Not as long as the Neocons hold the reins.  For it was most likely Cuban expatriates who were the trigger men in the JFK hit and, as such, most responsible for the Neocons coming to power.

From David Pinto, Montreal, Canada

…this last refuge of liberty

 

Cuba, a refuge of liberty? What planet are you living on, Mr. Shamir?

Replied by Ian Buckley, the UK:

In the financial oligarchies aka capitalist democracies there is said to be much liberty.

 

But it is mostly an illusion, like the old joke about the Savoy Hotel being freely open to all. The crucial factor is money, economic power.. which gives some 'freedom' and curtails it for others. In the GB and USA, 75% of the populace are in debt bondage, which drastically restricts freedom. As for freedom of expression, what does that mean in those countries except the freedom for the mega-wealthy mogul to print distortion and downright lies?  

 

How about freedom from fear? Which would inspire more fear ... late-night London or late-night Havana?

 

Viva el Jefe!

From Luci Murphy, Washington, DC

Dear Brother

I don' t think that I have written you in years, but as someone who visited the Soviet Union in 1986 and Cuba in 1978, 1987, 1988, 2004 and 2006, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article.

You might enjoy hearing me sing Matt Jones' song "Palestine" no charge at the following link

http://www.collectivecry.com/platform.cfm?mode=profile&ID=61

More power to your elbow,
Luci

Luci Murphy
Community Coalition for Justice and Peace
1525 Newton Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20010
(202) 234-8840

From Marek Glogoczowski, Gdansk, Poland

Bravo camrade Israel Adam (Edom)!

tovarish Marek Andrei iz Gdanska

From Norman Kurland

Israel,

I appreciate your providing your readers an opportunity to connect up
with our "Just Third Way" approach to global peace and prosperity.
Because of your connections in Russia, I was wondering whether you know
Dr. Mullanur Ganeyev, Ph.D., Chairman, Russian Duma Commission for
Review of the Privatization Program., who invited me to testify in
December 1996 in opposition to the privatization "solutions" being
peddled by Wall Street and London financial gurus, including George
Soros and Jeffrey Sachs.

Dr. Ganeyev, a member of the Communist Party was very open to our "Just
Third Way" paradigm. As a development strategy, our plan would
restructure the basic economic architecture of any economy (the monetary
system, the tax system, inheritance laws, education, etc.) to bring
about equality of access to ownership of the means of production within
a "just" market economy, and promote what we call "Justice-Based
Management for the democratic governance of individual enterprises. I
testified as a critic of Russia's disasterous privatization strategy.
Dr. Ganeyev was pleased to hear an American testify that the greed of
Wall Street is not a good antidote for the flaws of communism, but was
more impressed that I was offering a better alternative.

In Poland, Sachs labeled our ownership-spreading ideas "economic
bolshevism", figuring to intimidate Polish Solidarity backers of our
Just Third Way from applying it in Poland. Milton Friedman, who was
blind to the exclusionary institutional barriers of capitalism, attacked
my mentor Louis Kelso, the father of the Just Third Way and the binary
theory of economics. Friedman was quoted in TIME magazine as saying that
Kelso "turned Karl Marx on his head." And on this Friedman was right.

Kelso, who agreed with Marx's analysis of why monopoly capitalism would
ultimately fail, did a superb critique of Marx's /Das Kapital/, pointing
out three basic theoretical flaws in Marx's "solution" and offered what
the Aristotelian scholar Mortimer J. Adler called "an original theory of
capitalism." While I found Kelso's systems logic and articulation of the
essential principles of economic justice brilliant, I think Kelso and
Adler (perhaps because of the red-baiting hysteria in Washington during
the McCarthy era) committed a serious semantic blunder in using the term
"capitalism" to describe Kelso's theoretical breakthrough. You, Israel,
will want to read and comment on this 1957 article by Kelso:
http://www.cesj.org/thirdway/almostcapitalist.htm My paper on Kelso's
vision was published by the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State
University at http://www.cesj.org/binaryeconomics/kelsovision.htm.

If these ideas make sense to you, Israel, why don't you try to introduce
them to Castro and Hugo Chavez?

Own or Be Owned,
Norm Kurland
Center for Economic and Social Justice
www.cesj.org
www.americanrevolutionaryparty.us

Shamir replied: Indeed, the Third Way is always the way; and I supported this ideology for a long time, see http://english.pravda.ru/usa/2001/11/29/22292.html We need new solutions for the old – and new problems. Whenever our enemy offers us a choice of two evils, we must chose the third one!

Gaza responses:

From Nidal Abed:

Couple of interesting thoughts:

1- My home in Gaza is only few meters away from Muntar hill. It is a little hill (only 70 meters above the sea level) in the old city.  However it is considered the highest altitude in the entire Gaza Strip, which is very flat area. When you stand on top of it you can oversee the entire city of Gaza including its sea -- used to be a spectacular view. Since this is such a unique landmark in Gaza, you can accurately assume that any person who lived or passed by Gaza must have at least stopped by it. It is quite different feeling when you know that you stand on exactly the same spot that significant leaders in history had once stood.

  

2- I don't know if this is historically accurate, but it is widely believed that Gazans had never built any wall around their city to fence it against invaders, at least in Gaza's modern history. They considered that a sort of cowardice and they believed they would always be ready to confront foreign invaders face to face. This might be the reason or it could simply be due to the fact that Gaza's soil is mostly sandy, you could not find many rocks in a close proximity. However the district where I lived, which is also the heart of the old city, is called Shaja'eia, it translates exactly to "courage". The name goes back to Saladin's era. So courage has been one of Gazan's oldest values, though now it can manifest itself in violence between Gazans themselves. May be because they can not get hold of their enemy, the Jews who separate themselves from Gaza by walls, so they have to fight someone :)

 

3- Gaza has never been Jewish nor Christian, at least till 400 AD. Christianity spread out thousands of miles to Europe and never reached Gaza, which was only tens of miles away from Jerusalem :) most Gazans transformed directly from Paganism to Islam. Why to go thru the junk ? :):)

 

I do not know how accurate these claims are. Haven't done any research on them, but this is what I grew up on believing.

 

Ironically the only wall that was built around Gaza was to fence against Gazans’ attacks.

 

 

Nidal

Re Poland

From Marek:

The story of Katyn looks indeed somewhat bizarre: Russia (and Russians) become considered as collectively responsible for the mass execution of Polish officers, while their fate was signed by Georgians (Stalin and Beria), which were submitted to the pressure of the Jewish Faction at Kremlin. At the place they were killed by Ukrainians - today all these four national states (Poland, Georgia, Ukraine and Israel) become closest allies of USA in its drive for Weltmacht!

 

Please do not forget that immediately after the WW2 Anglo-Americans killed - mostly by hunger - about 1 million of German POW, all members of German elite SS were shot in these two zones of Germany occupied by Anglosaxons, so German officers were escaping to French and Soviet zones in order to save their lives!

Re: Ron Paul

From Ken Freeland

Mr. Bjerknes makes only three arguments that lend any cogency to his position, and I maintain that they are each of them false.  The fact that he provides no documentation at all for these claims only underscores my point.  He variously claims that Ron Paul:

 

1)  (is) a Zionist so extreme that he praised Israel for illegally bombing Iraq  [When did he say this and exactly what did he say please?]

 

2)  (Ron) Paul is telling us NOT to discuss "911 truth".   [Really?!  And who is the "us" here?  His critics (like Bjerknes... maybe a good idea!).  His supporters?  The country?  I have NEVER heard anything to this effect, and I am very close to the Ron Paul campaign.  Again, no citation or quotation is offered.]

 

3) Ron Paul has openly advocated an Israeli attack on Iran, which he must know will result in a war between the US and Iran. [This is by far the most serious allegation.  If true, I will say that it would mitigate my support for Ron Paul considerably. But once again, close student that I am of Ron Paul's campaign, I have seen nothing at all along these lines.]

 

So.....Mr. Bjerknes' openly accuses Israel Shamir of sophistry, but he himself has made three claims here in support of his position which I consider disingenuous to the extreme.  If he can back them up with facts, then he has done us all a great service, and Ron Paul will have lost one more supporter and potential voter  (or more... I can speak only for myself here). But if he cannot, then of course, his allegation that Shamir's representation of Ron Paul is sophistical is purest projection.... he is only projecting his own sophistry. 

 

 

Peace,

Ken Freeland

 

Our friend, a Californian poet Robert Leverant advises to read:

Olmert & Israel: The Change
By Amos Elon

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21015

New York Review of Books
Volume 55, Number 2 · February 14, 2008