(At the 1:55 mark you can see me flash my Occupy Monsanto sign)
Yesterday, in Kailua-Kona, over 500 people came together to support the Global March against Monsanto…! We had members of: Idle No More, GMO~Free Big Island, Occupy Hilo and Kona, Veterans For Peace, and, various other local community groups, all coming together…! We all enjoyed the live entertainment, free food(all organic and vegan), the excellent lecturers, the Seed Bank swaps(w/many starters), the Poi pounders, and, the Kava…!
As the AP reported, which also seems to be the only nation-wide MSM story written to date…
…Two million people marched in protest against seed giant Monsanto in hundreds of rallies across the U.S. and in over 50 other countries on Saturday.
“March Against Monsanto” protesters say they wanted to call attention to the dangers posed by genetically modified food and the food giants that produce it. Founder and organizer Tami Canal said protests were held in 436 cities in 52 countries…
…“It was empowering and inspiring to see so many people, from different walks of life, put aside their differences and come together today,” she said. The group plans to harness the success of the event to continue its anti-GMO cause. “We will continue until Monsanto complies with consumer demand. They are poisoning our children, poisoning our planet,” she said. “If we don’t act, who’s going to?”
Head of US Central Command says diplomatic efforts against Islamic Republic are useless, but it’s not too late to bring Iran ‘to its senses’…
Top US commander in the Middle East, General James Mattis, said the current sanctions and diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from gaining nuclear capabilities are not working. He said Tehran has a history of denial and deceit and is enriching uranium beyond any plausible peaceful purpose…
That’s absolute Bullsh*t…! But wait, there’s more BS Mattis…
…A top U.S. general said on Tuesday that American efforts aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon were not working, even as he voiced support for crippling sanctions and diplomatic efforts aimed at isolating the Islamic state.
“I still support the direction we’re taking. I’m just paid to take a rather dim view of the Iranians, frankly,” General James Mattis, the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, told a Senate hearing…
New U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel hosted Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the Pentagon on Tuesday, making a special effort to express warmth and friendliness toward his Israeli counterpart during their first meeting together since the prior assumed office.
Hagel assured Barak during their meeting that he was committed to the security of Israel and of preserving the Israel Defense Forces’ qualitative advantage over the armies of the Arab world. He also said that he would work to ensure that U.S. funding toward Israel, particularly with regard to its defense systems, would continue “despite fiscal uncertainty.”
Where’s all that “I’m not Israel’s Tool Senator” rhetoric now…? *sigh*
THOMAS: I’m not retired! I was fired. In fact, I’ll die with my boots on. I’m still writing and I’ll continue to write and ask hard questions. I will never bow out of journalism. [...]
PLAYBOY: Did the phone ring off the hook?
THOMAS: No. Nobody called. But I still have some friends in the White House press pool, who reached out to me. I understand they formed Jews for Helen Thomas at one point.
PLAYBOY: That’s interesting.
THOMAS: I also heard from Jimmy Carter. He called a few weeks later. [...]
PLAYBOY: What did you really mean?
THOMAS: Well, there’s no understanding of the Palestinians at all. I mean, they’re living there and these people want to come and take their homes and land and water and kill their children and kill them. How many are still under arrest in Israel—never been charged, never been tried, never been convicted? Thousands. Why? Meanwhile, we keep giving Israel everything. Our government bribes the Israelis by saying, “Please come to the [negotiating] table and we’ll give you this and we’ll give you that.” Obama’s last offer to the Israelis was $22 billion in new fighter planes, a veto at the UN for anything pro-Arab or pro-Palestinian and a three-month freeze on the colonization and settlers. I mean, what is this? They gave away the store, just as Reagan and every other president did. Why do you have to bribe people to do the right thing? I don’t want my government bribing anybody. I want them demanding. Stop all this aid to Israel when they’re killing people
Palin visits Israel in attempt to prove her foreign policy prowess
Former U.S. vice presidential candidate is set to visit Israel next week, where she will meet with Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu, following in the footsteps of other Republican presidential nominee hopefuls.
*snort* ‘Prowess’, eh…?
Btw, if any Right Coasters are available from May 21-24, 2011, there’s a big confab going on…
Come to DC this May to tell AIPAC it’s time for a new Middle East policy
CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Global Exchange, and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, together with over 50 peace and justice groups, are organizing a gathering in Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, called “Move Over AIPAC: Building a New US Middle East Policy,” and we would like to invite you to be a part of this important national happening! Timed to coincide with the annual policy meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), we will bring activists and concerned citizens from around the country to learn about the extraordinary influence AIPAC has on U.S. policy and how to strengthen an alternative that respects the rights of all people in the region.
Any and all efforts by ya’ll would be greatly appreciated by me, for whatever that’s worth…! *g*
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed Palestinian unity efforts, saying national Palestinian reconciliation would be the end of the peace process with Israel.
In a CNN interview broadcast Thursday, Netanyahu compared Hamas to Al-Qaeda, and said the Palestinian Authority could not be “for peace with Israel and peace with Hamas that calls for our destruction.”
It is extremely heartening to see the Palestinian Youth actually making their voices heard loud and clear…
Thousands of Palestinians have gathered in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in response to calls by various youth campaigns for an end to the division between the two main factions, Hamas and Fatah. The rallies in the centre of Gaza City and in Manara Square in Ramallah were made up mainly of young Palestinians fed up of the in-fighting that has plagued Palestinian society in recent years.
In Gaza, Hamas leaders and officials joined the protesters calling for the reconciliation of all Palestinian factions and an end to the siege of the territory. Political leaders also joined the demonstrators in Ramallah. Palestinian flags and various banners were raised calling for unified Palestinian representation. Some witnesses tweeted that there were minor skirmishes with pro-Fatah and pro-Hamas supporters trying to hijack the protest, but the overwhelming majority of the demonstrators took a non-partisan approach.
President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday instructed Civil Affairs chairman Hussein Al-Sheikh to make logistical arrangements for his visit to Gaza as quickly as possible.
Abbas also asked Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh to make arrangements to receive him at Erez border crossing in the coming days.
The president said Wednesday that he was ready to hold unity talks with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the midst of massive youth protests across the West Bank and Gaza demanding an end to the division.
Haniyeh called for emergency talks with Fatah as security forces violently cracked down on protests in the Gaza Strip. Hamas welcomed Abbas’ acceptance of the invitation.
A group of independent leaders in Gaza said Thursday that preparations were already underway to receive the president.
Coalition leader Yasser Al-Wadieh praised Abbas and Haniyeh for their “courageous initiative.”
UN envoy Robert Serry threw his support behind the renewed reconciliation efforts, saying that unity was “overdue and vital for Palestinian legitimate aspirations.”
Folks, that is awesome news and would be Abu Mazen’s first trip back to the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over in ’06…!
Even Ehud Barak states that Bibi needs to wake up…
Now, to be fair to our Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prez, I cannot conclusively state that he’s lying about ‘No US Ground Troops’ in Libya, however, having firsthand knowledge about our SOP on SOF ops, I will state unequivocally that we most assuredly have A/B Teams and/or Seals on the ground in Libya…!
Anybody else remember the recent egg on the face of the vaunted SAS, I wrote about…?
Incidentally, nobody has ever won just an Air War…!
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