premonition of civil war - dali

“Physical and social differences between North and South did not in themselves necessarily imply an irrepressible conflict. They did not mean that civil war had been decreed from the beginning by Fate. It came when problems arising from rapid growth and expansion got into such shape that they could not be solved by discussion, tolerance, and compromise…How this happened is not entirely clear. We only know that sectional rivalry in the nation turned into a struggle between…‘civilizations,’ between progress and backwardness, between right and wrong. Men ceased to reason, to tolerate, to accept compromise. Good men then had no choice but to kill and be killed.” ~ Avery Craven, The Coming of the Civil War (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942, 1957, 1966; 1967) p 1-2

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” ~ St. Paul (Galatians 6:7-9).

“We shall overcome because the Bible is right, ‘You shall reap what you sow.’” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

“For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death” ~ (Proverbs 8:35-36).

Because I’ve read history, I find little-to-no hope for America at present.

As the first quote, above, points out, concerning the political lead-up to the American Civil War, history will show that we, today, are living in similar times and will suffer a similar – though much worse – “fate”.

As it was 150 years ago, Americans, today, live during a time when we have ceased to reason, to tolerate, to compromise on political issues. And the breakdown of politics always leads to bloodshed.

Unlike many Americans today, I don’t see us entering into a second American Revolution; rather, I see us entering into a second American Civil War.

Americans hate their fellow Americans. They do not reason together, they call each other vicious, horrible, and hateful names instead.

Shame on us!

We live in terrible times. Yet I can see the good that will, eventually, come from the terrible – but well-deserved – catastrophe that is about to befall America.

For one thing, we have been on the course of secularizing America for the past 50 years and we have now had the time to see where this course of secularization has taken us: a society in which over 50 million babies have been brutally slaughtered without being given so much as a chance to take their first breath. Many Americans are very proud of this “accomplishment” and will seemingly fight to the death in order to defend a person’s “right” to hire someone to slaughter their offspring via “legalized” abortion on demand.

So much for human life, human dignity, and human rights. So much for justice. So much for peace.

Americans, both during the lead-up to the Civil War as well as today, are engaged in a conflict between two civilizations with two different standards regarding right and wrong, progress and backwardness. Some Americans see baby slaughter as progress while others do not. Some Americans see baby slaughter as right while other Americans see baby slaughter as wrong. And there is no compromising, no toleration, no reasoning with people who hold such conflicting views regarding the slaughter of innocent little children, is there? Nor should there be. Ever.

America and Americans will get what we deserve:

“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” ~ Hosea 8:7

My only hope is that once the greater slaughter is over (i.e., WW III) we will have the opportunity to rebuild America upon the ashes of whatever is left of her. And we will have the opportunity to build a culture that loves, respects, and welcomes each and every human life; unlike the culture of death we live in today, which so easily – even proudly – snuffs out the most precious of all the gifts that God himself has given to us.

Perhaps after 150 million deaths, all Americans will learn to treasure, rather than to destroy, human lives? Perhaps then, and only then, will we begin to consider all children who are conceived to be wanted children?

The ugly truth about abortion – Dr. Kermit Gosnell Charged With 8 Counts of Murders – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kNWotDyZO8&feature=related

The ugly truth about abortion – Phila. Doctor Kermit Gosnell charged with murder in abortion cases – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzBdgrlujrk&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLD7145E41FA8038B1

“Sad…” – Congress Approval Rating Lower Than Porn, Polygamy, BP Oil Spill, ‘U.S. Going Communist’ (VIDEO): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/congress-approval-rating-porn-polygamy_n_1098497.html

“Civil War!”- New American Revolution or New American Civil War? http://www.benzinga.com/general/politics/11/12/2184181/new-american-revolution-or-new-american-civil-war#ixzz1fszN9dCB http://www.benzinga.com/general/politics/11/12/2184181/new-american-revolution-or-new-american-civil-war

“Pathetic!” – Houses of Pain: More Americans Support Communism than Approve of Congress: http://www.benzinga.com/media/cnbc/11/11/2152795/houses-of-pain-more-americans-support-communism-than-approve-of-congress#ixzz1fszavYlO http://www.benzinga.com/media/cnbc/11/11/2152795/houses-of-pain-more-americans-support-communism-than-approve-of-congress

“Dysfunction?!” – Our Reading Guide on Congressional Dysfunction: http://www.propublica.org/article/reading-guide-why-is-congress-so-dysfunctional

“No Compromise!” – Compromise on Capitol Hill: Is it really what Americans want? http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/exclusive/compromise-capitol-hill-really-americans-want-003210133.html

“…before the whole thing blows apart?” – Are the political parties destroying American politics? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQVrZBKIAk8&list=LLYPN6LhlIBXrDFxCNvRJaiQ&index=26&feature=plpp_video

Ron Paul Interview On DeFace The Nation 11/20/11 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pf5eJlDupo

First tower collapse view from 6th avenue – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMibXJjx_DE&feature=relmfu

Shot from across hudson of South tower collapsing – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGfe-3f-N6s&feature=related

WTC2 ‘Collapse’ Rare Trinity Zoom, Slow Motion – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9wN4eReSWM

Tower two collapses people run for safety – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqztV1fK8BY&feature=relmfu

9/11 WTC 7 Demolition – Penthouse Collapse Close Up, Flashes, And Gas Ejections (WCBS) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrd-wJoZo0M&feature=autoplay&list=LLYPN6LhlIBXrDFxCNvRJaiQ&lf=plpp_video&playnext=1

9/11: WTC 7 Collapse – NIST FOIA Release – WCBS – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5XAUUnBYpY&feature=autoplay&list=LLYPN6LhlIBXrDFxCNvRJaiQ&lf=plpp_video&playnext=1

The ugly truth about 9/11 – Col. Alan Sobrosky PhD USMC (Ret.) – Israel Did 9/11 – 100% Certain – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQk4jOcV8RA

Chossudovsky: US will start WW3 by attacking Iran – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4p1kD8CZX8

William Engdahl – Arab Spring a western ploy to control Eurasia – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-zSma_P63s

DECLINE of EMPIRES: The Signs of Decay – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2CCs-x9q9U

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am looking out of the window of my apartment onto the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, the home of the School of the Americas. It is a place that has stolen the dreams and the lives so many people throughout the Americas, such as Walter Trochez, a good friend of young Honduran activist Jimena Paz who marched to these gates at my side just a few weeks ago.

Many of you joined Jimena and I at the gates, others joined us from afar in solidarity, and one friend – Theresa – chose to scale right over the gate in the face of armed soldiers who promptly dragged her to be arrested. Her trial on January 5 will be an opportunity to put the SOA on trial for its complicity in the death and disappearance of thousands of our Latin American neighbors.

I write today to invite you to join me at another line that is a concrete expression of the suffering caused by our nation’s policies: the southern border of the United States. So many of our neighbors have also tried to cross, climb or swim across this line, fleeing economies broken by U.S. free trade agreements, violence armed and funded from this side of the border, and atrocities caused by the booming U.S. drug market. Many of these line crossers have reached the other side, some have been criminalized and returned, while others have died trying.

The most vicious perpetrators of the violence that is jolting Mexico are none other than graduates of the SOA who comprised two-thirds of the original ranks of the Zetas, the most brutal hired assassins of the drug cartels. These deserters from the elite Special Air Mobile Force Group of the Mexican army acquired specialized knowledge of arms and techniques at the SOA that have brought the brutality of the drug violence to unprecedented levels.

For years the SOA Watch movement has cried “No más, no more” at the gates of School of the Americas.Now it is time to take this message to the US-Mexico border. We go to stand in solidarity with the 50,000 victims of Mexico’s so-called “war on drugs.” We go to stand at our southern border - every day more militarized – and demand that policies such as the Merida Initiative cease. We go because we believe that justice in Latin America can only exist if we close the SOA, bury the failed military policies of the past, and replace them with policies based on the needs of real people on both sides of the border. As the Obama Administration continues to deport record numbers of immigrants and states pass xenophobic immigration laws, NOW is the time to say “No más, no more.”

Please consider joining me on a delegation to the US/Mexico border in El Paso/Ciudad Juarez from February 12-19, 2012 to experience the realities of both sides of the border, and to understand the border itself. For more information, write Lisa Sullivan at LSullivan@soaw.org.

Thank you so much for your support and solidarity,
abrazos, Father Roy Bourgeois, MM
SOA Watch founder

Jesus was sent only to Jews

Jesus seeks Jews who are lost – “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 18:12-13).

Jesus came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:17-20).

Jesus came to reveal the foundation of the Law and the Prophets: Love – “But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets’” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 22:34-40).

Jesus rejected those Jews who rejected him and proclaimed God’s abandonment of the house of Israel – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 23:37-39).

Jesus proclaimed and foretold the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem – “Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down’” (Matthew 25:1-2).

Jesus proclaimed both his humanity and his divinity and he proclaimed that nothing would ever destroy his Church, which he would build – “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:13-18).

Jesus foretold his being delivered up for execution by Jews (i.e. Israel) who rejected him – “When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, ‘You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.’ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people’” (Matthew 26:1-5).

Jesus died – “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:50-54).

Jesus was buried and his tomb secured – “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, ‘Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.’ Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.’ So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard” (Matthew 27:57-66).

Jesus rose from the dead, lives forevermore, and proclaims the good news of God’s salvation, which is offered to all peoples (Jew and Gentile) of all nations – “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.’ So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.’ While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, ‘Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:1-20).

This writer’s hope and belief – “I believe in the risen Christ – the Son of the living God – who is the living savior of all humankind. I believe that this good news of our salvation, which comes to us only through Jesus Christ our risen Lord, is for both Jew and Gentile. I believe that anyone who hears and willfully rejects this great offer of salvation, who willfully refuses to turn away from doing evil, and who willfully refuses to do good works, is forever and rightfully damned to receive the eternal punishment of almighty God, because I believe what Jesus, in the Gospels, has said. My hope is that all – both Jew and Gentile – will repent of (turn away from) their evil deeds (sins), believe in the resurrected Christ (have faith), and begin doing good for all peoples everywhere (good deeds) so that all might be saved and so that none should ever be damned. This is the only way we, together, can do God’s will, which is to love one another, as a human community on earth, just as his will is being done by the community of angels and saints who are in heaven.” ~ A. J. MacDonald, Jr.

Scapegoating – People who blame Jews (or anyone) for all the evils of the world are making a scapegoat of Jews, which means that such people are falsely blaming Jews for evil acts they did not commit.

Accusations of crimes committed – People who blame Jews (or anyone) for evils they actually do are not placing blame upon them falsely, because such people are rightly placing blame upon Jews for evil acts they did commit.

According to today’s usage of the word, a scapegoat is a person (or persons) innocent of evil doing who has the sins of others (i.e., evil doers) wrongly placed upon them.

According to Jesus, a goat is: an evil doer.

Lies – Speaking lies about Jews (or about anyone) that are born from a hatred of others, which improperly blames innocent Jews (or anyone) for evil acts they have not committed, can properly be call: hate-speech. (This is also slander and, if written: libel.)

Truth – Speaking the truth about evil acts committed by Jews (or by anyone) is to take a stand for justice and for truth, which cannot properly be called: hate-speech (or “anti-semitic” hate-speech).

Holy Scripture – Scapegoats

“And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel” (Leviticus 16:5-10).

“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:20-22).

Holy Scripture – Jesus separates the sheep from the goats: Which are you?

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left . . . Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-33; 41-46).

*An Important Point to Keep in Mind: All of the Apostles and most all of the early followers of (and believers in) Christ were Jews

Gentiles are offered salvation and possession of the Kingdom of God only because Jews (i.e., Israel) rejected Jesus Christ – The Parable of the Tenants

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house [God] who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants [Jews], and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants [prophets] to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son [Jesus] to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants [Gentiles]who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [Jews] and given to a people [Gentiles]producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone [Jesus] will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet (Matthew 21:33-46).

The Pharisees – The Law, Traditions, and Commandments Without Love

“Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.’ He answered them, ‘And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, ‘What you would have gained from me is given to God’, he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:1-9).

What Defiles a Person? Unclean Foods? Or an Unclean Heart? 

“And he called the people to him and said to them, ‘Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.’ Then the disciples came and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?’ He answered, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘Explain the parable to us.’ And he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone’” (Matthew 15:10-20).

The Faith of a Canaanite (i.e., Palestinian Gentile) Woman

“And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.’ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she is crying out after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ And he answered, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed instantly” (Matthew 15:21-28).

The Cleansing of the Temple

“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers’” (Matthew 21:12-13).

Christ’s Seven Woes to (i.e., curses upon) the Scribes and Pharisees (i.e. Israel)

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger’” (Matthew 23:1-4).

“They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others” (Matthew 23:5-7).

“But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:8-12).

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:13-15).

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it” (Matthew 23:16-22).

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! (Matthew 23:23-24).

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean” (Matthew 23:25-26).

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27-28).

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation” (Matthew 23:29-36).

Jesus’ Lament over Jerusalem and his Proclamation of Judgement upon Israel

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:37-39).

The Object and Doctrinal Teaching of the First Gospel – Catholic Encyclopedia

Immediately after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, Peter preached that Jesus, crucified and risen, was the Messias, the Saviour of the World, and proved this assertion by relating the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord. This was the first Apostolic teaching, and was repeated by the other preachers of the Gospel, of whom tradition tells us that Matthew was one. This Evangelist proclaimed the Gospel to the Hebrews and, before his departure from Jerusalem, wrote in his mother tongue the Gospel that he had preached. Hence the aim of the Evangelist was primarily apologetic.

He wished to demonstrate to his readers, whether these were converts or still unbelieving Jews, that in Jesus the ancient prophecies had been realized in their entirety. This thesis includes three principal ideas:

Jesus is the Messias, and the kingdom He inaugurates is the Messianic kingdom foretold by the prophets; because of their sins, the Jews, as a nation, shall have no part in this kingdom the Gospel will be announced to all nations, and all are called to salvation.

Jesus as Messias

St. Matthew has shown that in Jesus all the ancient prophesies on the Messias were fulfilled. He was the Emmanuel, born of a Virgin Mother (1:22-23), announced by Isaias (7:14); He was born at Bethlehem (ii, 6), as had been predicted by Micheas (v, 2), He went to Egypt and was recalled thence (ii, 15) as foretold by Osee (11:1). According to the prediction of Isaias (40:3), He was heralded by a precursor, John the Baptist (iii, 1 sqq.); He cured all the sick (viii, 16 so.), that the Prophecy of Isaias (53:4) might be fulfilled; and in all His actions He was indeed the same of whom this prophet had spoken (xiii, 1). His teaching in parables (13:3) was conformable to what Isaias had said (6:9). Finally, He suffered, and the entire drama of His Passion and Death was a fulfilment of the prophecies of Scripture (Isaiah 53:3-12; Psalm 21:13-22). Jesus proclaimed Himself the Messias by His approbation of Peter’s confession (16:16-17) and by His answer to the high priest (26:63-64). St. Matthew also endeavours to show that the Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus Christ is the Messianic Kingdom. From the beginning of His public life, Jesus proclaims that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (4:17); in the Sermon on the Mount He promulgates the charter of this kingdom, and in parables He speaks of its nature and conditions. In His answer to the envoys of John the Baptist Jesus specifically declares that the Messianic Kingdom, foretold by the Prophets, has come to pass, and He describes its characteristics: “The blind see, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them.” It was in these terms, that Isaias had described the future kingdom (35:5-6). St. Matthew records a very formal expression of the Lord concerning the coming of the Kingdom: “But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon you” (xii, 28). Moreover, Jesus could call Himself the Messias only inasmuch as the Kingdom of God had come.

The Exclusion of Jews as a Nation (i.e., Israel) from Christ’s Messianic Kingdom

The Jews as a nation were rejected because of their sins, and were to have no part in the Kingdom of Heaven. This rejection had been several times predicted by the prophets, and St. Matthew shows that it was because of its incredulity that Israel was excluded from the Kingdom, he dwells on all the events in which the increasing obduracy of the Jewish nation is conspicuous, manifested first in the princes and then in the hatred of the people who beseech Pilate to put Jesus to death. Thus the Jewish nation itself was accountable for its exclusion from the Messianic kingdom.

The Universal Proclamation of the Gospel

That the pagans were called to salvation instead of the Jews, Jesus declared explicitly to the unbelieving Israelites: “Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof” (xxi, 43); “He that soweth the good seed, is the Son of man. And the field is the world” (xiii, 37-38). “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come” (xxiv, 14). Finally, appearing to His Apostles in Galilee, Jesus gives them this supreme command: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations” (xxviii 18, 19).

Goatology – Just Say: “No!”

The Inverted and Perverted – But Very Popular – False Teaching of Judaized American Evangelical Christianity: Christian Zionism. 

SHOCKING VIDEO – Judaized American Evangelical Christian Zionist Pastor John Hagee teaches – contrary to Holy Scripture – the Jews never refused to believe that Jesus was Messiah, because Jesus never claimed to be Messiah; therefore the Jews cannot be blamed for rejecting Jesus as Messiah. (WTF?!)

VIDEO – Christian Zionism Exposed

VIDEO – “Has the Church Replaced Israel?” Revelation TV Debate

Christian Zionism – Roadmap to Armageddon?

Christian Zionism – The 100 Year-Old Duping of American Evangelical Christianity

Jews Who Reject Zionism – True Torah Jews Against Zionism

“So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 15:6-9).

Those hypocritical Pharisees and Jews who rejected Christ and survived the judgment and destruction of Jerusalem, which Jesus proclaimed and foretold, having made void the word of God, codified their vain worship “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” in the Talmud and in what eventually became known as: Judaism. “The Pharisees held the Jews together after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The sect continued into the 2nd century, working on the redaction of the Talmud and looking for the restoration of Israel through divine intervention” (see: Pharisees).

The Jewish Babylonian Talmud – Jesus Was a Magician

According to The Jewish Encyclopedia, Jesus was often accused by the Talmudists of performing magic.

It is the tendency of all these sources to belittle the person of Jesus by ascribing to him illegitimate birth, magic, and a shameful death …

Magic may have been ascribed him over against the miracles recorded in the Gospels …

The sojourn of Jesus in Egypt is an essential part of the story of his youth. According to the Gospels he was in that country in his early infancy, but Celsus says that he was in service there and learned magic …

According to Celsus (in Origen, “Contra Celsum,” i. 28) and to the Talmud (Shab. 104b), Jesus learned magic in Egypt and performed his miracles by means of it; the latter work, in addition, states that he cut the magic formulas into his skin. It does not mention, however, the nature of his magic performances (Tosef., Shab. xi. 4; Yer. Shab. 18d); but as it states that the disciples of Jesus healed the sick “in the name of Jesus Pandera” (Yer. Shab. 14d; Ab. Zarah 27b; Eccl. R. i. 8 ) it may be assumed that its author held the miracles of Jesus also to have been miraculous cures. Different in nature is the witchcraft attributed to Jesus in the “Toledot.” When Jesus was expelled from the circle of scholars, he is said to have returned secretly from Galilee to Jerusalem, where he inserted a parchment containing the “declared name of God” (“Shem ha-Meforash”), which was guarded in the Temple, into his skin, carried it away, and then, taking it out of his skin, he performed his miracles by its means. This magic formula then had to be recovered from him, and Judah the Gardener (a personage of the “Toledot” corresponding to Judas Iscariot) offered to do it; he and Jesus then engaged in an aerial battle (borrowed from the legend of SIMON MAGUS), in which Judah remained victor and Jesus fled.

The accusation of magic is frequently brought against Jesus. Jerome mentions it, quoting the Jews: “Magum vocant et Judaei Dominum meum” (“Ep. 1v., ad Ascellam,” i. 196, ed. Vallarsi); Marcus, of the sect of the Valentinians, was, according to Jerome, a native of Egypt, and was accused of being, like Jesus, a magician (Hilgenfeld, “Ketzergesch.” p. 870, Leipsic, 1884). The accusation of magic is frequently brought against Jesus … As Balaam the magician and, according to the derivation of his name, “destroyer of the people”, was from both of these points of view a good prototype of Jesus, the latter was also called “Balaam” …

“Jesus performed all his miracles by means of magic…” ~ The Jewish Encyclopedia (26)

See: Four Avenues of Research into the Babylonian Talmud

See: Judaism’s View of Jesus

See: Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew – English Standard Version Study Bible

See: The Resurrection of Christ in Matthew’s Gospel

The place and value of the gospel miracles – Catholic Encyclopedia

In studying the Gospel miracles we are impressed by the accounts given of their multitude, and by the fact that only a very small proportion of them is related by the Evangelists in detail; the Gospels speak only in the most general terms of the miracles Christ performed in the great missionary journeys through Galilee and Judea. We read that the people, seeing the things which He did, followed Him in crowds (Matthew 4:25), to the number of 5000 (Luke 9:14) so that He could not enter the cities, and His fame spread from Jerusalem through Syria (Matthew 4:24). His reputation was so great that the chief priests in council speak of Him as one who “doth many miracles” (John 11:47), the disciples at Emmaus as the “prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people” (Luke 24:19), and St. Peter describes Him to Cornelius as the wonder-working preacher (Acts 10:38). Out of the great mass of miraculous events surrounding our Lord’s person, the Evangelists made a selection. True, it was impossible to narrate all (John 20:30). Yet we can see in the narrated miracles a twofold reason for the selection.

(1) The great purpose of the Redemption was the manifestation of God’s glory in the salvation of man through the life and work of His Incarnate Son. Thus it ranks supreme among the works of God’s Providence over men.

This explains the life and teaching of Christ; it enables us to grasp the scope and plan of His miracles. They can be considered in relation to the office and person of Christ as Redeemer. Thus they have their source in the hypostatic union and follow on the relation of Christ to men as Redeemer. In them we can see references to the great redemption work He came to accomplish. Hence the Evangelists conceive Christ’s miraculous power as an influence radiating from Him (Mark 5:30; Luke 6:19), and theologians call the miracles of Christ theandrical works.

Their aim is the glory of God in the manifestation of Christ’s glory and in the salvation of men, as e.g. in the miracle of Cana (John 2:11), in the Transfiguration (Matthew 17), the Resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:15), Christ’s last prayer for the Apostles (John 17), the Resurrection of Christ (Acts 10:40). St. John opens his Gospel with the Incarnation of the Eternal Word and adds, “we saw his glory” (John 1:14). Hence Irenaeus (Against Heresies V) and Athanasius (Incarn.) teach that the works of Christ were the manifestations of the Divine Word who in the beginning made all things and who in the Incarnation displayed His power over nature and man, as a manifestation of the new life imparted to man and a revelation of the character and purposes of God. The repeated references in the Acts and in the Epistles to the “glory of Christ” have relation to His miracles. The source and purpose of the miracles of Christ is the reason for their intimate connection with His life and teaching. A saving and redeeming mission was the purpose of the miracles, as it was of the doctrine and life of the eternal Son of God.

Their motive was mercy. Most of Christ’s miracles were works of mercy. They were performed not with a view to awe men by the feeling of omnipotence, but to show compassion for sinful and suffering humanity. They are not to be regarded as isolated or transitory acts of sympathy, but as prompted by a deep and abiding mercy which characterizes the office of Saviour. The Redemption is a work of mercy, and the miracles reveal the mercy of God in the works of His Incarnate Son (Acts 10:38).

Hence we can see in them a symbolical character. They were signs, and in a special sense they signified by the typical language of external facts, the inward renewal of the soul. Thus, in commenting on the miracle of the widow’s son at Naim, St. Augustine says that Christ raised three from the death of the body, but thousands from the death of sin to the life of Divine grace (Serm. de verbis Dom., xcviii, al. xliv).

The relief which Christ brought to the body represented the deliverance He was working on souls. His miracles of cures and healings were the visible picture of His spiritual work in the warfare with evil. These miracles, summarized in the answer of Jesus to the messengers of John (Matthew 11:5), are explained by the Fathers of the Church with reference to the ills of the soul (ST III:44). The motive and meaning of the miracles explain the moderation Christ showed in the use of His infinite power. Repose in strength is a sublime trait in the character of Jesus; it comes from the conscious possession of power to be used for the good of men. Rousseau confesses “All the miracles of Jesus were useful without pomp or display, but simple as His words, His life, His whole conduct” (Lettr. de la Montag., pt. I, lett. iii). He does not perform them for the sake of being a mere worker of miracles. Everything He does has a meaning when viewed in the relation Christ holds to men. In the class known as miracles of power Jesus does not show a mere mental and moral superiority over ordinary men. In virtue of His redeeming mission He proves that He is Lord and Master of the forces of nature.

Thus by a word He stills the tempest, by a word He multiplied a few loaves and fishes so that thousands feasted and were filled, by a word He healed lepers, drove out demons, raised the dead to life, and finally set the great seal upon His mission by rising from death, as He had explicitly foretold. Thus Renan admits that “even the marvellous in the Gospels is but sober good sense compared with that which we meet in the Jewish apocryphal writings or the Hindu or European mythologies” (Stud. in Hist. of Relig., pp. 177 203).

Hence the miracles of Christ have a doctrinal import. They have a vital connection with His teaching and mission, illustrate the nature and purpose of His kingdom, and show a connection with some of the greatest doctrines and principles of His Church. Its catholicity is shown in the miracles of the centurion’s servant (Matthew 8) and the Syro-phoenician woman (Mark 7). The Sabbatical miracles reveal its purpose, i.e., the salvation of men, and show that Christ’s kingdom marks the passing of the Old Dispensation. His miracles teach the power of faith and the answer given to prayer. The central truth of His teaching was life. He came to give life to men, and this teaching is emphasized by raising the dead to life, especially in the case of Lazarus and His own Resurrection. The sacramental teaching of the miracles is manifested in the miracle of Cana (John 2), in the cure of the paralytic, to show he had the power to forgive sins [and he used this power (Matthew 9) and gave it to the Apostles (John 20:23) ], in the multiplication of the loaves (John 6) and in raising the dead. Finally, the prophetic element of the fortunes of the individual and of the Church is shown in the miracles of stilling the tempest, of Christ on the waters, of the draught of fishes, of the didrachma and the barren fig tree. Jesus makes the miracle of Lazarus the type of the General Resurrection, just as the Apostles take the Resurrection of Christ to signify the rising of the soul from the death of sin to the life of grace, and to be a pledge and prophecy of the victory over sin and death and of the final resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4).

(2) The miracles of Christ have an evidential value. This aspect naturally follows from the above considerations. In the first miracle at Cana He “manifested His glory“, therefore the disciples “believed in Him” (John 2:11). Jesus constantly appealed to His “works” as evidences of His mission and His divinity. He declares that His miracles have greater evidential value than the testimony of John the Baptist (John 5:36); their logical and theological force as evidences is expressed by Nicodemus (John 3:2). And to the miracles Jesus adds the evidence of prophecy (John 5:31). Now their value as evidences for the people then living is found not only in the display of omnipotence in His redeeming mission but also in the multitude of His works. Thus the unrecorded miracles had an evidential bearing on His mission. So we can see an evidential reason for the selection of the miracles as narrated in the Gospels.

This selection was guided by a purpose to make clear the main events in Christ’s life leading up to the Crucifixion and to show that certain definite miracles (e.g., the cure of the lepers, the casting out of demons in a manner marvelously superior to the exorcisms of the Jews, the Sabbatical miracles, the raising of Lazarus) caused the rulers of the Synagogue to conspire and put Him to death.

A second reason for the selection was the expressed purpose to prove that Jesus was the Son of God (John 20:31).

Thus, for us, who depend on the Gospel narratives, the evidential value of Christ’s miracles comes from a comparatively small number related in detail, though of a most stupendous and clearly supernatural kind, some of which were performed almost in private and followed by the strictest injunctions not to publish them. In considering them as evidences in relation to us now living, we may add to them the constant reference to the multitude of miracles unrecorded in detail, their intimate connection with our Lord’s teaching and life, their relation to the prophecies of the Old Testament, their own prophetic character as fulfilled in the development of His kingdom on earth.

Jesus’ Exorcism for a Gentile Child – An Atheist’s Perspective (See also: “The Faith of a Canaanite (i.e., Palestinian Gentile) Woman” (above) and Matthew 15:21-28)

The following quote, which is taken from an atheist’s perspective, is something I can agree with and I think the author, here, makes some very good and very important observations regarding the differences between Christ’s healing miracles performed upon Jews (= all) and upon Gentiles (= only two), although I would disagree with his article regarding other points. Remember: Jesus said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24).

“Jesus’ fame is spreading beyond the Jewish population and on to outsiders — even beyond the borders of Galilee. Tyre and Sidon were located to the north of Galilee (in what was then the Province of Syria) and were two of the most important cities of the ancient Phoenecian empire. This was not a Jewish area, so why did Jesus travel here?

Perhaps he was attempting to find some private, anonymous time away from home but even there he couldn’t be kept secret. This story involves a Greek (thus a Gentile rather than a Jew) and a woman from Syrophenicia (another name for Canaan, the region between Syria and Phoenicia) who hoped to get Jesus to perform an exorcism on her daughter. It’s not clear whether she was from the region around Tyre and Sidon or from somewhere else.

Jesus’ reaction here is odd and not entirely consistent with how Christians have traditionally portrayed him. Instead of immediately showing compassion and mercy towards her predicament, his first inclination is to send her away. Why? Because she isn’t Jewish — Jesus even likens non-Jews to dogs who should not be fed before his ‘children’ (Jews) have had their fill.

It is interesting that Jesus’ miraculous healing is done at a distance. When he heals Jews, he does so personally and by touching; when he heals Gentiles, he does it at a distance and without touching. This suggests an early tradition whereby Jews were given direct access to Jesus while he was alive, but Gentiles are given access to the risen Jesus who helps and heals without physical presence.” ~ Austin Cline

The Faith of a (Roman Gentile) Centurion

“When he [Jesus] entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, ‘Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.’ And he said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed at that very moment” (Matthew 8:5-13).

Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest

“At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light’” (Matthew 11:25-30).

The Sermon on the Mount

“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.”

The Beatitudes

“And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:1-12).

Love Your Enemies

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).

The Sacrifice Lamb – Joel Chernoff

Tahrir Square - Fall 2011

Why would any group wish for America to become another Egypt? Or for Washington, DC’s Freedom Plaza to become “our Tahrir Square”? Have we been paying attention to what’s happened in Egypt and Tahrir Square? What’s happened has been violence, riots, and killings, which have resulted in the Egyptian people’s having gotten a military dictatorship. Why would any group do this? To create a violent revolution that will overthrow our current government and “usher in” a new and “better” government:

11/19/2011 – ADBUSTERS: “#OCCUPYWALLSTREET is a leaderless people powered movement for democracy that began in America on September 17 with an encampment in the financial district of New York City. Inspired by the Egyptian Tahrir Square uprising and the Spanish acampadas, we vow to end the monied corruption of our democracy … join your local #OCCUPY! We’re now in DAY 64.” See: http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/occupywallstreet

10/6/2011 – Stop The Machine! (a.k.a. Occupy DC) – “I pledge that if any U.S. troops, contractors, or mercenaries remain in Afghanistan on Thursday, October 6, 2011, as that occupation goes into its 11th year, I will commit to being in Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., with others on that day with the intention of making it our Tahrir Square, Cairo, our Madison, Wisconsin, where we will NONVIOLENTLY resist the corporate machine to demand that our resources are invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation. We can do this together. We will be the beginning.” See: http://october2011.org/pledge

Video – 11/19/2011 – Violence erupts in Tahrir Square

Video – 10/17/2011 -  Occupy Wall Street vs. Tahrir Square

Article/Video – Amy Goodman – 26 October 2011: From Tahrir Square to Occupy Wall Street: Asmaa Mahfouz’s message to US protesters proves the links between OWS and the Arab Spring are meaningful, not fanciful

Article – Thanassis Cambanis – OCT 25 2011 – Tahrir Square Meets Occupy Wall Street

“The same non-violence non-profits who take CIA money when they can get it (I’m not talking about ICNC, which just shares an accountant, has parallel goals, and whose president used to work there; ICNC has enough junk bond money to operate on its own) also give non-violent communication trainings and are inserting themselves wherever they can in the OWS movement. In DC, this is particularly worrisome, since the think-tank/lobbying/pro-USG logic is so hegemonic. And I’ve received four email invitations this week to attend think tank and right-wing academic seminars on What the Occupy Wall Street Movement Means and Why it Should Matter to Me. Framing is everything. Who gets to speak, what they get to say, whether their whole movement can be invalidated because somebody got justifiably angry and threw a rock. We don’t need to be tackling the rock-thrower. People throwing rocks doesn’t explain or justify the police violence I saw and felt in Oakland last Tuesday. We need to be tackling the derivative Christian logic of non-violence (but lacking the possibilities of liberation theology) that chastises the oppressed for rising up against the oppressor, using fictitious narratives about Egypt’s and Eastern European countries’ “revolutions” as legitimation. And when people come to town claiming to speak for a revolution and making their way into lefty media with the same bland lies, we need to be asking who is paying for their plane ticket, and why the hell are they not back at home, where their “revolution” is not in great shape at all.” ~ Professor Adrienne Pine – American University, Washington, DC

Source: Resisting the Cult of Non-Violence

Article – The Serbian Connection to International Unrest

Article - Facebook and People Power- The View From Tahrir Square

Article – Global Nonviolent Action Database – Egyptians Campaign to Oust President Mubarak, 2011 – 2011-08-24

Video – OTPOR/CANVAS agent Ivan Marovic at OWS

Article – 10/24/2011 – OTPOR/CANVAS Egyptian agent Ahmed Maher is working with Stop The Machine in Washington, DC

Video: Egypt – After the “Revolution”

Video: William Engdahl: Arab Spring a western ploy to control Eurasia

Video: Otpor – The Revolution Business

Text - CANVAS Core Curriculum – A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle (Student’s Book)

Audio - Occupy Wall Street/Occupy DC Marxist Ted Rall advocates violent revolution

Article - OWS – Occupy Oakland: Lumpenproletariat Mobs Incited to Revolt Against the Capitalist Ruling-Class

Video: The American Form of Government

Video: Which form of government is this?

Video – Dr King’s peaceful march on Washington

Video – Angry Masked Mob (Occupy Oakland) Invades Oakland Case Bank Branch

Video – Angry Masked Mob (Occupy Oakland) Invades Oakland City Streets and Meets Police

Video – Stop The Machine! Invades Public Museum in Washington, DC

Video – Stop The Machine! (aka Occupy DC) – Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) and Bob Avaikian supporter

Article - The socialist smashing of the American political system

FAIL – The Occupy Movement’s wrong-headed and dangerous attempt to create “another Tahrir Square” here in America

“Those of us in the peace community, including those who directly support the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, should ask hard questions about its role. Criticizing the ICNC and the associated Albert Einstein Institution is not to say that violence is an acceptable solution to social problems. In this regard, there are many radical anti-capitalist groups utilizing nonviolent action to fight their adversaries, though activists might exercise caution in advertising the good work of any specific activist organizations — in 2008, a young man called Sean Kirtley was convicted for “merely updat[ing] a website with details about authorised and peaceful protests” and subsequently sentenced to four and a half years in a British prison, of which he served sixteen months before being acquitted on appeal. Massive displays of nonviolent resistance have always been an essential component to challenging oppression successfully. One can only hope that Western citizens will learn from contemporary history and rise up to overthrow the ultra-violent warmongers who manage their countries too, mindful of the fact that nonviolent liberal institutions are routinely complicit in the brutality of the systems they ostensibly criticize.” ~ Michael Barker

Source: Capitalising On Nonviolence

America - Fall 2011

If He is what He claimed to be, a Savior, a Redeemer, then we have a virile Christ and a leader worth following in these terrible times; One Who will step into the breach of death, crushing sin, gloom and despair; a leader to Whom we can make totalitarian sacrifice without losing, but gaining freedom, and Whom we can love even unto death.

We need a Christ today Who will make cords and drive the buyers and sellers from our new temples; Who will blast the unfruitful fig-trees; Who will talk of crosses and sacrifices and Whose voice will be like the voice of the raging sea. But He will not allow us to pick and choose among His words, discarding the hard ones, and accepting the ones that please our fancy. We need a Christ Who will restore moral indignation, Who will make us hate evil with a passionate intensity, and love goodness to a point where we can drink death like water.”

- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

“Life of Christ” (1958)

Source: Resisting the Cult of Non-Violence

“The ICNC is the phony left-wing outfit founded by Wall Street-Washington insider Peter Ackerman. The organization is largely concerned with the destabilization scenarios the CIA has a history of engineering in countries it is too costly and militarily unfeasible to invade. These days the ICNC dresses up destabilization with the high-sounding phrase “non-violent pro-democracy activism” to sell it to the gullible. Sounds good, but what it really means is fomenting conflicts in countries, which while accused of being undemocratic and hostile to human rights, have earned Washington’s enmity for rejecting free trade and unconditional foreign investment and failing to enshrine private property rights. The conflicts are resolved on Washington’s terms, when a new “democratic” free-market government takes power and opens the country to US military bases and unconditional integration into the US economy on terms that favor US investors and corporations, that is, the people Peter Ackerman hangs out with. It is, you see, a class thing.” ~ Stephen Gowans

Source: Moralism and Instrumentalism in Peace Scholarship

“Those of us in the peace community, including those who directly support the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, should ask hard questions about its role. Criticizing the ICNC and the associated Albert Einstein Institution is not to say that violence is an acceptable solution to social problems. In this regard, there are many radical anti-capitalist groups utilizing nonviolent action to fight their adversaries, though activists might exercise caution in advertising the good work of any specific activist organizations — in 2008, a young man called Sean Kirtley was convicted for “merely updat[ing] a website with details about authorised and peaceful protests” and subsequently sentenced to four and a half years in a British prison, of which he served sixteen months before being acquitted on appeal. Massive displays of nonviolent resistance have always been an essential component to challenging oppression successfully. One can only hope that Western citizens will learn from contemporary history and rise up to overthrow the ultra-violent warmongers who manage their countries too, mindful of the fact that nonviolent liberal institutions are routinely complicit in the brutality of the systems they ostensibly criticize.” ~ Michael Barker

Source: Capitalising On Nonviolence

Michael Barker exposes (in depth) these fake USG/NGO “democracy” movements: MICHAEL JAMES BARKER’S WEBLOG

Press TV Interview with Maidhc Ó Cathail (excerpt)

Ó Cathail: I think we need to look at the bigger picture here, and look at the forces that have decided it’s time for Saleh to go. Of course, the Yemeni people are looking for democracy and they are naturally tired of his autocratic rule.

But at the same time, we have to look at who’s going to benefit from this, and who has been supporting the protesters? Not just in the past couple of months, but for the past couple of years.

We’ve seen reports in The Washington Post and The New York Times about groups like the National Endowment for Democracy and their affiliates, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute and Freedom House and so on that have been giving all kinds of support, training and funding dissidents throughout the Arab world.

Press TV: You were just speaking about someone profiting from this whole situation. Tell me who you have in mind.

Ó Cathail: I think if we look at the people involved, for example the longtime president of the National Endowment for Democracy is Carl Gershman; Carl Gershman, back in the 1960’s, was working in the research department of the Anti-Defamation League. As most people know, the Anti-Defamation League defends Israel and attacks critics of Israel, and its research often amounts to espionage on critics of Israel.

If you look at who’s the president of the National Democratic Institute, it’s Kenneth Wollack. Kenneth Wollack was a legislative director for AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee) in the 1970’s.

Everywhere you look, for example, there are groups online such as cyberdissidents.org which supports pro-democracy activists in the Arab world and in Iran. It sounds very good but look at who founded this group.

This was set up by the Adelson Institute which was located at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. It is backed by people like Sheldon Adelson and Ronald Lauder. These are close friends of Benjamin Netanyahu.

It was chaired by Natan Sharansky. Natan Sharansky, who poses as a human rights activist, resigned from Ariel Sharon’s government over the withdrawal from Gaza. He chaired a group called onejerusalem.org which rejects Palestinian sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem (al-Quds).

These are the kinds of people that are supporting the dissidents in the Arab world and in Iran.

Source: Press TV Interview with Maidhc Ó Cathail

Video – Israel sowing discord in Middle East – Press TV Interview with Maidhc Ó Cathail

“CANVAS works closely with the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), with which it has shared a number of staff members—including Dr. Stephen Zunes, who has collaborated with CANVAS in training Egyptian activists. Founded in 2002, the ICNC is funded entirely by Peter Ackerman, its founding chair. Ackerman, who chaired the board of Freedom House from September 2005 until January 2009, also indirectly funds CANVAS.”

Source: Maidhc Ó Cathail: THE JUNK BOND “TEFLON GUY” BEHIND EGYPT’S NONVIOLENT REVOLUTION

“Dr. Sabrosky, former director of studies of the Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College, has recently stated that “it is 100 percent certain that 9/11 was a Mossad operation. Period.” Either way, it’s hardly surprising that some of the most obsessive critics of 9/11 “conspiracy theories” have ties to Israel. If Americans ever find out that their “staunchest ally” had anything to do with the mass murder of their fellow citizens on September 11, 2001, the would-be conspiracy debunkers have good reason to be afraid.”

Source: MAIDHC O’CATHAIL: WHO’S AFRAID OF 9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES?

“Finally, Mr. O’Cathail notes that Dr. Ackerman spoke at the Herzliya Conference in 2008, as did people associated with Ariel Sharon and the later Netanyahu government, as if somehow Dr. Ackerman’s physical proximity to those speakers indicates that he is associated with their politics, which he is not.  Mr. O’Cathail uses this particular guilt-by-association reference to suggest that Israel was somehow pleased with the Egyptian revolution.  This reference to an Israeli connection reminds us of an earlier article by Mr. O’Cathail, in which he writes approvingly of those who have propounded conspiracy theories that Jews and Israel were behind the 9/11 attack on the United States:  http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/04/03/maidhc-0cathail-whos-afraid-of-911-conspiracy-theories/  These speculations are about all the reader needs to know to gauge the credibility of Mr. O’Cathail’s article on Dr. Ackerman.”

Source: ICNC – Response to Maidhc O’Cathail’s article, “The Junk Bond ‘Teflon Guy’ Behind Egypt’s Nonviolent Revolution

Text – US Military Knows Israel Did 9/11 – Alan Sobrosky (USMC)

Audio – The Ugly Truth Podcast – Alan Sobrosky (USMC)

Video – Col. Alan Sobrosky PhD USMC (Ret.) – Israel Did 9/11 – 100% Certain

Video – The controlled demolition of WTC Building 7 on September 11, 2001

June 8, 2011 – 6 p.m.

Thomson Reuters Building
30 South Colonnade
Canary Wharf
London E14 5EP

In the space of 18 days in January and February, the people of Egypt overthrew the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak in a peaceful uprising that transfixed the world, and whose consequences are still reverberating. Behind this revolution was a group of young activists with the courage, tactical skill, and mastery of 21st-century social media to mobilize a whole society in opposition to an authoritarian ruler.

Please join us for a special event at the London office of Thomson Reuters as we peer inside the engine room of the Egyptian revolution with the help of some of those most closely involved. And with the Arab world in ferment, we ask where the road from Tahrir Square will lead.

Panelists:

Dr. Sally Moore, an Egyptian-British psychiatrist who was closely involved in the strategic planning, publicity, and logistics of the protest movement.

Mahmoud Salem, aka Sandmonkey, an irreverent blogger and tweeter whose commentary became a must-read for everyone watching the dramatic events unfold.

Srdja Popovic, executive director of the Centre for Applied NonViolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS), a Serbian-based group that grew out of the struggle to overthrow dictator Slobodan Miloševic and has worked with activists from 46 countries, including Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, and Egypt to advise on the tactics and strategy of peaceful protest.

Wael Ghonim (by video link), Google’s marketing manager for the Middle East and Africa, who was arrested and interrogated for 12 days before emerging as one of the heroes and symbols of the Egyptian revolution.

Watch on live Webcast at http://www.trust.org/

Contact:

Sean Harder

653-264-6880

sharder@stanleyfoundation.org

Source: Facebook and People Power: The View From Tahrir Square

Video – Otpor/CANVAS – The Revolution Business

Text – CANVAS Core Curriculum – A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle (Student’s Book)

Video – F. William Engdahl – Arab Spring a western ploy to control Eurasia

Article – F. William Engdahl – Egypt’s Revolution: Creative Destruction for a ’Greater Middle East’?

Video - Egypt – After the “Revolution”

A group calling themselves: Stop The Machine! (STM) is currently occupying Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. I have been in contact with this group since July 2011 and I immediately recognized the controlled opposition of its nature. Only recently, through much research, I have now concluded this group’s “nonviolent” tactics to be those of Otpor/CANVAS and Gene Sharp as opposed to those of Gandhi and Dr. King, as this group claims. (See: Stop The Machine! is CANVAS/OTPOR operation intent on disruption; not peace and justice.)

Text – OTPOR/CANVAS – Nonviolent Struggle: 50 Crucial Points

Video – Dr. Kurt Schock – Radical Flank Effect – USIP/ICNC Webinar

Consider the following statement, made by Kevin Zeese, organizer of Stop The Machine! Does this sound like Gandhi or Dr. King to you?

“A message for the elites: THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING. LISTEN TO US NOW OR THE PRICE OF CHANGE WILL GET MORE EXPENSIVE FOR YOU: What do we seek? We seek an end to corporate rule and shifting power to the people.” ~ Kevin Zeese,  Organizer of the Freedom Plaza Occupation, www.OccupyWashingtonDC.org. (See quote here.)

Stop The Machine! says they want to engage “in nonviolent resistance similar to the Arab Spring” and has “the intention of making it [Freedom Plaza] our Tahrir Square”:

Stop the Machine! Create a New World!

A Call to Action – Oct. 6, 2011 and onward

October 2011 is the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan and the beginning of the 2012 federal austerity budget. It is time to light the spark that sets off a true democratic, nonviolent transition to a world in which people are freed to create just and sustainable solutions.

We call on people of conscience and courage—all who seek peace, economic justice, human rights and a healthy environment—to join together in Washington, D.C., beginning on Oct. 6, 2011, in nonviolent resistance similar to the Arab Spring and the Midwest awakening.

A concert, rally and protest will kick off a powerful and sustained nonviolent resistance to the corporate criminals that dominate our government.

Forty-seven years ago, Mario Savio, an activist student at Berkeley, said, “There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.”

Those words have an even greater urgency today. We face ongoing wars and massive socio-economic and environmental destruction perpetrated by a corporate empire which is oppressing, occupying and exploiting the world. We are on a fast track to making the planet unlivable while the middle class and poor people of our country are undergoing the most wrenching and profound economic crisis in 80 years.

“Stop the Machine! • Create a New World!” is a clarion call for all who are deeply concerned with injustice, militarism and environmental destruction to join in ending concentrated corporate power and taking direct control of a real participatory democracy. We will encourage a culture of resistance—using music, art, theater and direct nonviolent action—to take control of our country and our lives. It is about courageously resisting and stopping the corporate state from destroying not only our inherent rights and freedoms, but also our children’s chance to live, breathe clean air, drink pure water, grow edible natural food and live in peace.

As Mother Jones said, “Someday the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit!”

We are the ones who can create a new and just world. Our issues are connected. We are connected. Join us in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 6, 2011, to Stop the Machine.

Take the pledge and sign up to attend here. Let America know you are coming to make history and a new world!

“I pledge that if any U.S. troops, contractors, or mercenaries remain in Afghanistan on Thursday, October 6, 2011, as that occupation goes into its 11th year, I will commit to being in Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., with others on that day with the intention of making it our Tahrir Square, Cairo, our Madison, Wisconsin, where we will NONVIOLENTLY resist the corporate machine to demand that our resources are invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation. We can do this together. We will be the beginning .”

Video – Stop The Machine! Invades Public Museum in Washington, DC

Video – Stop The Machine! (aka Occupy DC) – Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) and Bob Avaikian supporter

See: Otpor Egyptian agent Ahmed Maher now working with Stop The Machine! in Washington, DC: http://www.salon.com/2011/10/24/at_occupydc_egypts_revolutionaries_chide_u_s_policymakers/

“Mr. Maher and his colleagues began reading about nonviolent struggles. They were especially drawn to a Serbian youth movement called Otpor, which had helped topple the dictator Slobodan Milosevic by drawing on the ideas of an American political thinker, Gene Sharp. The hallmark of Mr. Sharp’s work is well-tailored to Mr. Mubark’s Egypt: He argues that nonviolence is a singularly effective way to undermine police states that might cite violent resistance to justify repression in the name of stability.”

“The April 6 Youth Movement modeled its logo — a vaguely Soviet looking red and white clenched fist—after Otpor’s, and some of its members traveled to Serbia to meet with Otpor activists.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

OWS and STM – International Road to Dignity – United for Global Change: http://www.scoop.it/t/15-o-unitedforglobalchange/p/388582011/2011-international-road-to-dignity

Occupy Wall Street (NYC) and Stop The Machine (DC) – International Road to Dignity – Global Class Warfare: Global Capitalist Class vs. New Transnational Labour Class

OWS and STM  – International Road to Dignity – Global Class Warfare: Global Capitalist Class vs. New Transnational Labour Class | P2P Foundation: http://snuproject.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/global-class-warfare-global-capitalist-class-vs-new-transnational-labour-class-becoming-for-itself-p2p-foundation/

OWS and STM – International Road to Dignity – Moving towards a peaceful ‘war of manoeuvre’ in a global class war See also: http://www.scoop.it/t/mapping-social-network-unionism-worldwide/p/518964149/moving-towards-a-peaceful-war-of-manoeuvre-in-a-global-class-warfare

OWS and STM – Mapping Social Network Unionism Worldwide “For a peer to peer, transnational, common, grassroots, and hyperempowered labour class movement”

Global Revolution 2011-2012 (organized in 2010): http://acampadabcninternacional.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/2011-international-road-to-dignity/

Video: October 6th: This Time Is Different. This Time We Are Not Leaving!

Video: October 15 United for Global Change

Video: ANONYMOUS declares war on the system! JOIN THE RESISTANCE!

Article: Occupy Wall Street’s Strategy and Philosophy – Occupation and Decommodification

Article: The socialist smashing of the American political system

Article: FAIL – The Occupy Movement’s wrong-headed and dangerous attempt to create “another Tahrir Square” here in America

“Emphasizing the crowd means de-emphasizing individual humans in the design of society, and when you ask people not to be people, they revert to bad, mob-like behaviors.” ―

“Propaganda’s great power is precisely that it furnishes modern man with simple, global explanations, broad, dogmatic causes without which, engulfed by information, he cannot live. Man is doubly reassured by propaganda: first, because he sees in it an explanation which he can readily understand of the events as they occur; second, because he is promised certain solutions to problems which arise when his limited personal experience yields to objectivity. But propaganda also teaches him that these problems can be solved only if he participates in the actions proposed for their solution. This is how it makes the individual feel his worth. Overwhelmed by information, he regains his balance, thanks to propaganda. He had acquired a sense of his extreme helplessness in a world that had become too vast and too complex, and now he becomes aware of his own importance. Propaganda tells him that his adherence is essential, that his intervention is being relied upon, that his action is decisive, and that nothing can be solved without him. While information is necessary for self-awareness, propaganda is necessary to prevent self-awareness from turning into despair.” ~ Jacques Ellul - Propaganda

“Otpor’s founders realized that young people would participate in politics — if it made them feel heroic and cool, part of something big. It was postmodern revolution. “Our product is a lifestyle,” Marovic explained to me. “The movement isn’t about the issues. It’s about my identity. We’re trying to make politics sexy.” Traditional politicians saw their job as making speeches and their followers’ job as listening to them; Otpor chose to have collective leadership, and no speeches at all” ~ Tina Rosenberg – Revolution U

“The obsession with rule-making and process within the Occupy movement is now discussed as the defining feature of this new radicalism. One of the websites supporting the occupations declares that ‘the non-hierarchical decentralised structure, the inclusiveness and cooperation, are staples of the occupations’. Time and again, the occupiers boast that they are leaderless and non-hierarchical. Indeed, they have invented rules for achieving consensus without the need for political debate or an old-fashioned show of hands. Instead, agreement or dissent is expressed through silent gestures, such as waving your arms upwards to show consent or downwards to signal disagreement” ~ Frank Furedi – Occupy movement: all process and no principle

“It appears that CANVAS’s trainers, like their ‘nonviolent’ collaborators Peter Ackerman and Stephen Zunes, are acting as an integral part of the US government’s imperial propaganda machinery. Indeed taken together they represent a sophisticated ‘democratic’ approach to global domination, exported in close coordination with US foreign policy elites disguised under the persuasive ‘nonviolent’ propaganda offensive. 

This of course is not to say that nonviolent resistance should not have a central role in any revolutionary struggles for social change, only that the twisted imperial-friendly narrative of nonviolence promoted by such individuals should be treated with extreme caution by all activists who wish to avoid being oppressed by US backed dictatorships or their latest equally toxic manifestation, US managed ‘democracies.” ~ Michael Barker – CANVAS[ing] For The Nonviolent Propaganda Offensive: Propaganda In The Service Of Imperial Projects

“This movement [OWS] is winning. It’s winning by being broad and inclusive, by emphasizing what we have in common and bridging differences between the homeless, the poor, those in freefall, the fiscally thriving but outraged, between generations, races and nationalities and between longtime activists and never-demonstrated-before newcomers. It’s winning by keeping its eyes on the prize, which is economic justice and direct democracy, and by living out that direct democracy through assemblies and other means right now.” ~ Rebecca Solnit  Throwing Out the Master’s Tools and Building a Better House: Thoughts on the Importance of Nonviolence in the Occupy Revolution

“The only remedy available to working people is to smash the death grip of the modern-day capitalist class over society and its political system, and especially over its economic institutions.” ~ Brian Becker (ANSWER Coalition) – The case for the next revolution

“I live in Portland, OR. This morning, I saw a branch of Chase (about three miles from the downtown occupation) with a couple of smashed windows and a security guard standing in front. I was delighted. It was a symbolic attack on a symbolic target. It was done at night, with zero chance that anyone would get injured. It was a politically conscious acts of resistance that shatters the illusion of business-as-usual.” ~ Comment on Common Dreams

“Capitalism, a mode of production where the worker earns only subsistence while property owners retain the remainder of the productive output, can only create a society where the interests of the property owner will be reflected in the social institutions, and the interests of subjugated producers. Both venture communism and copyfarleft have, as their goal, the creation of a productive commons that producers can use to accumulate mutual wealth, and thus work towards realizing their historic role of creating a society free of economic classes.” ~ Dmytri Kleine The Telekommunist Manifesto,

Let there be no mistake. The Occupy Movement is dangerous. The protesters are the shock troops of elitists behind the scenes who are manipulating these (mostly) young people, because they are easily organized and manipulated. The nefarious purpose? To increase the power of the military-security state. Far Left groups have long been organized, frustrated, and seeking new (young) members, which these elitists are now exploiting for their own purposes (i.e. increasing their hold on power).

The Party for Socialism and Liberation outlines four (4) demands of “the occupation”:

“Put the assets and profits of the banks under the people’s control to:

Fund a massive jobs program! Jobs for all with union wages, rights and benefits. Full rights for all workers regardless of citizenship or legal status.

Provide free education for all—cancel student debt! Fund free, quality education for everyone from Pre-K through college,

End all foreclosures and evictions! Abolish interest payments to the banks—access to affordable housing for all.”

Source: PSL – Seize the Banks!

- End Quote -

The quotes below are taken from four articles that were sent to me today (11/14/2011) via links contained in the email newsletter (Liberation News) of PSL Web (Party for Socialism and Liberation).

“The only remedy available to working people is to smash the death grip of the modern-day capitalist class over society and its political system, and especially over its economic institutions.” ~ Brian Becker (ANSWER Coalition)

Source: http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/09-08-03-the-case-next-revolution.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=major&utm_campaign=Liberation%20Newsletter

“The repressive institutions of the state—the courts, the police, the military and the prisons—exist primarily to protect not society as a whole, but a society’s ruling class; in short, the 1%.” ~ A participant in the Oct. 1 Occupy Wall Street march on the Brooklyn Bridge quoted in Liberation News

Source: http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/are-police-part-99-percent-ows.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=major&utm_campaign=Liberation%20Newsletter

“Simply abolishing the Fed without simultaneously destroying the entire capitalist system would accomplish little.” ~ Liberation News

Source: http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/end-the-fed-misleading-slogan.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=major&utm_campaign=Liberation%20Newsletter

“Those who propose mere reforms to the capitalist system can only alter the degree of suffering felt by the 99% temporarily, until the next, worse crisis comes along. We believe that production should be dictated not by a tiny, parasitic group of billionaires. We should work and produce things to meet the needs of society, not for the private profits of Wall Street—that’s socialism.” ~ Liberation News

Source: http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/deeper-than-greed.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=major&utm_campaign=Liberation%20Newsletter

“On what basis can we build unity and with whom?…For this movement to move forward, we must be clear: There is no room for right-wing ideologies in the struggle against Wall Street. Those views reinforce the status quo and serves the interests of Wall Street.” ~ Liberation News

Source: http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/ron-paul-tea-party-not-our.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=minor&utm_campaign=Liberation%20Newsletter

- End Quotes -

Two video interviews containing rare, straightforward admissions, which are made by three (3) Occupy spokesmen, concerning the true, radical, and revolutionary nature of the Occupy Movement:

Video – Portland Among Cities Grappling With How to Handle ‘Occupy’ Protesters

Video – Occupy Movement & American Awakening-News Analysis-11-11-2011

Official Occupy Portland Notes – Meeting With Police – 11/08/2011

OWS Marxist – OWS – Occupy Oakland: Lumpenproletariat Mobs Incited to Revolt Against the Capitalist Ruling-Class

OWS: Philosophy and Strategy – Occupy Wall Street’s Strategy and Philosophy – Occupation and Decommodification

Video – Arab Spring: Western ploy to loot, control Eurasia : F. William Engdahl

Video – The Revolution Business

Text - CANVAS Core Curriculum – A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle (Student’s Book)

Video – From Tahrir Square to Occupy Wall Street

Michael Barker exposes (in depth) these fake USG/NGO “democracy” movements: MICHAEL JAMES BARKER’S WEBLOG

Weapons of Mass Democracy?

“The materials they [revolutionaries today] hand out are not the words of Che Guevara, but of Gene Sharp, the former Harvard scholar who has pioneered the study of strategic nonviolent action.” ~ Steven Zunes (CANVAS staff member)

Source: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/learn-as-you-go/weapons-of-mass-democracy

OTPOR/CANVAS – Nonviolent Struggle: 50 Crucial Points

“It appears that CANVAS’s trainers, like their ‘nonviolent’ collaborators Peter Ackerman and Stephen Zunes, are acting as an integral part of the US government’s imperial propaganda machinery. Indeed taken together they represent a sophisticated ‘democratic’ approach to global domination, exported in close coordination with US foreign policy elites disguised under the persuasive ‘nonviolent’ propaganda offensive.

This of course is not to say that nonviolent resistance should not have a central role in any revolutionary struggles for social change, only that the twisted imperial-friendly narrative of nonviolence promoted by such individuals should be treated with extreme caution by all activists who wish to avoid being oppressed by US backed dictatorships or their latest equally toxic manifestation, US managed ‘democracies.” ~ Michael Barker

Source: http://www.countercurrents.org/barker260311.pdf

USIP/ICNC – OWS and the Radical Flank Effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5bcwtijco8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Stephen Zunes and the Zionist Tinderbox: http://pulsemedia.org/2010/05/12/stephen-zunes-and-the-zionist-tinderbox/

The origins of OWS and the Arab Spring: http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/films/pdfs/studyGuide-en.pdf

Civil resistance also generates popular, grassroots participation. It embodies the idea of “local ownership” of society. Bottom-up civic movements have driven a vast majority of the transitions from unjust rule over the past 35 years. Whether the goals are democracy, indigenous rights, social justice, or ending corruption, they can be achieved through cumulative, persistent “people power.”

As cases of civil resistance multiply, it is essential that NGOs, journalists, scholars, and policy makers understand how this form of struggle works, the strategies that make it effective, and the skills involved in its execution.

Source: http://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/index.php/learning-and-resources/educational-initiatives/fletcher-summer-institute

“The obsession with rule-making and process within the Occupy movement is now discussed as the defining feature of this new radicalism. One of the websites supporting the occupations declares that ‘the non-hierarchical decentralised structure, the inclusiveness and cooperation, are staples of the occupations’. Time and again, the occupiers boast that they are leaderless and non-hierarchical. Indeed, they have invented rules for achieving consensus without the need for political debate or an old-fashioned show of hands. Instead, agreement or dissent is expressed through silent gestures, such as waving your arms upwards to show consent or downwards to signal disagreement.” ~ Frank Furedi

Source: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/11556/

Frank Furedi – Occupy movement: all process and no principle – ESSAY: If the occupiers are so opposed to ‘the one per cent’, why do they keep ripping off its soul-destroying managerial style of politics?

“But Otpor’s founders realized that young people would participate in politics — if it made them feel heroic and cool, part of something big. It was postmodern revolution. “Our product is a lifestyle,” Marovic explained to me. “The movement isn’t about the issues. It’s about my identity. We’re trying to make politics sexy.” Traditional politicians saw their job as making speeches and their followers’ job as listening to them; Otpor chose to have collective leadership, and no speeches at all. And if the organization took inspiration from Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., it also took cues from Coca-Cola, with its simple, powerful message and strong brand. Otpor’s own logo was a stylized clenched fist — an ironic, mocking expropriation of the symbol of the Serb Partisans in World War II, and of communist movements everywhere.”

Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/16/revolution_u?page=full

CIVIL RESISTANCE AND THE DYNAMICS OF NONVIOLENT CONFLICT

“USIP’s Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding, the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and Georgia State University”

Source: http://www.usip.org/education-training/domestic

USIP/ICNC Fall 2011 Course Description: http://www.usip.org/files/Adan/Civil%20Resistance%20Course%20Schedule.pdf

“Josef Korbel (born Josef Körbel; 20 September 1909 – 18 July 1977) was a Czechoslovakian diplomat and U.S. educator, who is now best known as the father of Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and the mentor of George W. Bush’s Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Though he served as a diplomat in the government of Czechoslovakia, Korbel’s Jewish heritage forced him to flee after the Nazi invasion in 1939. Prior to their flight, Körbel and his wife had converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Korbel

Video – Civil Resistance and the Dynamics of Nonviolent Conflict – USIP/ICNC Course

Video - Dr. Kurt Schock – Radical Flank Effect (USIP/ICNC Webinar)

Article  - Michael Barker - People Power Leashed Kurt Schock on the Ousting of Dictators

CANVAS and the USIP/ICNC like to fill the heads of young radicals with the notion that South Africa was liberated by Gene Sharp/Otpor-style techniques of nonviolence. Some of us, however, are old enough to remember the angry, radical Marxist ANC practice of inciting angry mobs to throw a burning tire around the necks of “traitors’ to the ANC groupthink (so-called “necklacing”). We older folks know that it was violence and not nonviolence that “liberated” the black South Africans. Do the OWS mobs have something similar in mind for those of us who disagree with their angry, radical Marxist OWS groupthink?

CANVAS – “Nelson Mandela has celebrated the 20th anniversary of his release from prison with a special dinner, inviting ex-wife Winnie and one of his former jailers. The beginning of the Video shows a report during the Apartheid era including an interview with Mr Mandela, who became South Africa’s first black president, was freed on 11 February 1990 after 27 years in jail, served mostly on Robben Island.”

Source: http://canvasopedia.mediaworks.rs/index.php?Itemid=2&id=756&option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink

“During Nelson Mandela’s trial, they found a document wherein he had said that some hideous punishment must be found for “traitors” (i.e. Blacks who actually support, work with and are friendly to Whites). In this document, Nelson Mandela suggested – cutting off their noses. Years later, his wife, Winnie Mandela, publicised the idea of “necklacing” the traitors. For non-South African readers: the “necklace” was a method of execution used by the ANC ‘liberation army guerillas” whereby black ‘sellouts to apartheid” were cruelly torched to death with petrol-filled tyre placed around their necks. Some 400 people were burnt alive by this ANC-horror execution.”

Source: http://southafrica-pig.blogspot.com/2008/05/execution-by-necklacing.html

Video – Winnie Mandela calls for revolution and violence

Audio - Occupy Wall Street/Occupy DC Marxist Ted Rall advocates violent revolution

Occupy Oakland – City of Oakland Cost Estimates:

* Preliminary City of Oakland costs spent on responding to Occupy Oakland events total is estimated at $2,402,400.

* Personnel — $1,088,500

* Oakland Police Department: $1.04 million

* Public Works Agency: $31,500

* Information Technology and KTOP: $17,000

* Other Costs — $1,313,900

* Oakland Police Department: $100,900

* Public Works Agency: $70,000

* Information Technology security upgrades: $100,000

* Early opening of Winter Shelter by one day: $3,000

* Mutual Aid for 11/14/11: $500,000

* VMA Security Contract for 30 days: $540,000

• These are preliminary costs and are subject to change. The personnel costs are mainly for overtime costs and do not reflect regular staff time. An estimated $100,000 in regular staff time that would have been devoted to other activities was spent addressing Occupy Oakland events.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/occupy-oakland/ci_19331752

Video – Occupy Oakland Protesters Storm and Vandalize Bank

Video – Occupy Oakland general strike video Black bloc attacks Bank of America

Video – Occupy Oakland General Strike- Video of protests at Whole Foods

Video – ANC & UDF Justice – Part 2

Article – Occupy Wall Street – Lighting The Fuse To Begin A Bloodbath

11/14/2011 – ADBUSTERS TACTICAL BRIEFING #18 – Occupy the High Ground!

“STRATEGY #1: We summon our strength, grit our teeth and hang in there through winter … heroically we sleep in the snow … we impress the world with our determination and guts … and when the cops come, we put our bodies on the line and resist them nonviolently with everything we’ve got.

STRATEGY #2: We declare “victory” and throw a party … a festival … a potlatch … a jubilee … a grand gesture to celebrate, commemorate, rejoice in how far we’ve come, the comrades we’ve made, the glorious days ahead. Imagine, on a Saturday yet to be announced, perhaps our movement’s three month anniversary on December 17, in every #OCCUPY in the world, we reclaim the streets for a weekend of triumphant hilarity and joyous revelry.

We dance like we’ve never danced before and invite the world to join us.

Then we clean up, scale back and most of us go indoors while the die-hards hold the camps. We use the winter to brainstorm, network, build momentum so that we may emerge rejuvenated with fresh tactics, philosophies, and a myriad projects ready to rumble next Spring.

Whatever we do, let’s keep our revolutionary spirit alive … let’s never stop living without dead time.”

Source: http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/adbusters-tactical-briefing-18.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 09, 2011

COEUR D’ALENE – Edgar J. Steele, 65, of Sagle, Idaho, was sentenced in United States District Court today to 50 years in prison for using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, use of explosive material to commit a federal felony, possession of a destructive device in relation to a crime of violence, and tampering with a victim, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Steele to serve three years of supervised release and pay a total of $2,836.91 in restitution to the State of Idaho Military Division, Quik Lube, and Cyndi Steele.

Yesterday in a written order the district court rejected Steele’s contentions that prosecutors or FBI agents engaged in misconduct by reviewing attorney-client communications or failing to disclose exculpatory evidence. The district court also rejected Steele’s contention that an FBI agent manipulated the recordings in which Steele made statements suggesting his own guilt. “Steele was given ample opportunity during the [pretrial] hearing and trial to test the authenticity of the recordings,” wrote the court. “And Steele does not present any additional evidence to persuade the Court that another hearing on this issue is warranted.”

Following a seven-day trial, Steele was convicted on all counts on May 5, 2011. At trial, the jury heard audio tapes of Steele making statements to Larry Fairfax, the person he tried to hire, confirming his participation in the murder-for-hire plot. Fairfax testified at trial that he had worked as a handyman for Steele and his wife. He testified that Steele paid him approximately $10,000 in silver coins as a down payment to kill Steele’s wife and mother-in-law. Fairfax also testified that he had installed the pipe bomb on Mrs. Steele’s car in May 2010 at Edgar Steele’s direction. Fairfax pled guilty and was sentenced in May to 27 months in prison for possession of an unregistered firearm and manufacturing a firearm.

In a statement released today, U.S. Attorney Olson said, “[T]he long prison sentence imposed by the Court . . . sends a necessary and strong message that trying to hire a person to commit murder, that use of a destructive device to achieve that end, is depraved and violent conduct that will be dealt with swiftly and severely by the criminal justice system. Through his conduct, including his attempts to influence a witness, Mr. Steele earned every month in prison to which the district court sentenced him.”

“Mr. Steele represents a clear danger to society and today’s sentence ensures he will no longer pose a threat to our community and its residents,” said Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Don Robinson, supervisor of the Coeur d’Alene office of the FBI and the North Idaho Violent Crime Task Force.

The Steele case was investigated by members of the North Idaho Violent Crime Task Force (NIVCTF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The NIVCTF’s members include the FBI, Idaho State Police, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department, Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office, Bonner County Sheriff’s Office, Coeur d’Alene Police Department, Post Falls Police Department, and the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Police Department, and is tasked with investigating a myriad of violent crimes to include armed robbery, kidnaping, felonious assault and drug trafficking.

Source: http://www.justice.gov/usao/id/news/2011/nov/steele11092011.html

Free Edgar Steele: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/

Details of the Edgar Steele case as it relates to gold, silver, and the Goldsmiths: http://www.analysis-news.com/Gdetailfolder/Goldsmiths-151.htm

KXLY on-camera interview of Mr. Steele in jail, 11/3/2011: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/?p=690#more-690

Audio – Edgar and Cyndi Steele speak with Rick Adams, 9/22/2011: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/?p=513

Edgar Steele sentenced at extended hearing, observer report, 11/9/2011: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/?p=695

Details of the case: http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2011/10/framing-steele-case-study-of-sovietized.html

KXLY on-camera interview of Mr. Steele in jail, 11/3/2011: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/?p=690

Prosecutors: Jealousy Motivated Edgar Steele To Hire Hitman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgFu-ybUPVQ&feature=player_embedded#!

Sex, Lies, and Audiotape: http://downwithjugears.blogspot.com/2011/08/sex-lies-and-audiotape-contd.html

News of conviction: http://www.aol.com/2011/11/10/edgar-j-steele-sentenced_n_1086090.html

ADL – Edgar Steele: http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/steele.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=steel

FBI and ADL collusion: http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/adl_7.htm

The Edgar Steele Trial, Day Two: Prosecution And Defense Give Opening Statements, FBI Agent Acknowledges Lying To Steele To Induce Confession: http://whitereference.blogspot.com/2011/04/edgar-steele-trial-day-two-prosecution.html

Jurors hear FBI recordings in Steele case: http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_5ea26c44-ac01-500e-851a-cf19701a4852.html

Defense: Fairfax stole silver then set-up Edgar Steele: http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/sirens/2011/apr/27/defense-fairfax-stole-silver-set-steele/

Archive for the ‘Edgar Steele News’ Category: http://billwhitetrial2.wordpress.com/category/edgar-steele-news/

The frame-up of Edgar Steel: http://www.takeourworldback.com/steeleframeup.htm

The judicial lynching of Edgar Steele: http://americanfreepress.net/Supplements/Issue_21_Steele_Insert1.pdf

News report: Testimony of FBI special agent Michael Sotka: http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/sirens/tags/mike-sotka/

Jailhouse inmate Darrell Hollisgsworth testified that Fairfax told him that the FBI had “made a deal” with him to frame Edgar Steele: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/?p=325

Criminal Complaint – Larry Fairfax: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/May30_Fairfax_Court_Paperwork.pdf

Judge orders Fairfax held: http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/news/article_0418cf5d-e41c-5ee2-96aa-d8d4dd96cda4.html

Affidavit of Edgar Steele: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Affidavit-of-Edgar-Steele.pdf

Affidavit of Cyndi Steele: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Affidavit-of-Cyndi-Steele.pdf

Affidavit of David I. Amendola: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Exhibit-D.pdf

Affidavit of Al Banks: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Affidavit-Al-Banks.pdf

Affidavit of Robert T. McAllister: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Exhibit-N.pdf

Affidavit of Billy Cochran: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Affidavit-of-Billie-Cochran.pdf

Declaration of Herbert Joe: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Exhibit-I.pdf

Reporter’s transcript – Jury Trial Day 1: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/04-26-11-Day-1-FINAL.pdf

Reporter’s transcript – Jury Trial Day 2: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/04-27-11-Day-2-FINAL.pdf

Text of Mrs. Cyndi Steele’s victim statement, sentencing hearing, 11/9/2011: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/?p=698

Edgar Steele Denied Defense, Framed on All Counts: http://www.davidduke.com/general/pro-white-dissident-denied-chance-to-present-key-evidence-in-his-defense_23670.html

Steele – On Petition for Writ Mandamus and Writ of Prohibition to the United States District Court for the District of Idaho Criminal Case Number 10-CR-148-BLW: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Petition_Writ_Prohib_Mandate_Final_10-26-11.pdf

Supplemental motion for new trial: http://media.spokesman.com/documents/2011/08/steelenewtrial_20110811132841.pdf

Memorandum decision and order: http://protect.theinfo.org/pacer/ecf.idd/0631924349.pdf

Motion for new trial: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/MOTION-NEW-TRIAL-WWH-08-08-11.pdf

Motion to vacate no contact order: http://media.spokesman.com/documents/2010/09/steele_20100928190610.pdf

Opposition to vacate no contact order: http://media.spokesman.com/documents/2010/10/opposevacate_20101006194601.pdf

Edgar Steele desperate, files US Supreme Court Writ petition

By americafarm

Udpate, November 5th, 1911. Edgar Steele Interview Video from KXLY:

Corruption and Conspiracy (part 3)

ANNOUNCEMENT: North Idaho TV station KXLY will air an interview with Mr. Steele, in prison on Thursday, Nov. 3rd at 6:00 pm. It is likely that the interview will be accessible via their web site http://www.kxly.com, if you wish to watch. See: http://www.kxly.com/localvideo/index.html?v=27763

Edgar Steele’s Combined Petition for Writs of Mandamus and Prohibition document at:

http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Petition_Writ_Prohib_Mandate_Final_10-26-11.pdf

Some bits from the document:

On Petition for Writ Mandamus and Writ of Prohibition to the United States District Court for the District of Idaho - Criminal Case Number 10-CR-148-BLW

QUESTION 12: Will the Court issue a Writ of Mandamus requiring that the trial court dismiss the case below or at least grant a new trial because of pervasive governmental misconduct by intrusion into Petitioners right to confidential attorney-client privileged communication.

***

CONCLUSION

Ancient Greek philosophers said, and it is axiomatic that, “truth is the daughter of time.” Now that the truth of the eavesdropping policy is known, the manifest error of the trial court in upholding such policy created by the US Marshals Service will continue to fester unless dealt with in a forthright fashion by the U.S. Supreme Court. The sooner that the encroachment over the line that separates the powers of the Executive Branch from the Judicial is corrected, the less likely it is that fundamental rights of individuals and structural constitutional grounding will be harmed. By granting the Writ of Prohibition and Writ of Mandamus as requested herein, the U.S. Supreme Court has a unique opportunity to prevent erosion of court-centered rule-making under the separation of powers doctrine and due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution, thereby stopping Executive Branch agencies including the US Marshals Service from invading the province of the Court. As this case raises the relatively rare invocation of the summary powers of the Court, it provides a unique opportunity to clarify the importance of separate governmental functions and agency noninterference with fundamental rights; but, immediate action is required.

State of Idaho - County of Latah

You Only Think You’ve Got Rights

No Attorney-Client Privilege (Part VIII)
by Edgar J. Steele
October 31, 2011

I like to say that, while we never want to repeat boot camp, always we are glad to have had the experience. Jail is (way) different. Never will I say that I am glad I spent this time in jail. Perhaps a week or two in jail, at most, would be instructive for many of us, but extended imprisonment simply exacts too great a personal toll to justify the lessons it teaches.

The Real Cost of Imprisonment

Don’t Do the Crime if you Can’t Do the Time? No. Don’t do the crime, to be sure, but “serving” time simply makes no sense for, perhaps, 95% of all current prisoners in America. Serving time creates massive unemployment (ex-convicts are unemployable), turns ordinary people into “nothing to lose” criminals, hardens petty truants and mischief-makers into genuinely dangerous criminals, fuels the exploding use of drugs throughout America and costs an ever-exploding share of federal, state and local budgets (America’s prison population has tripled during the last two decades).

Nor is the cost restricted to government. The War on Drugs inexorably becomes a war on Americans, with drug users criminally seeking money for their habits and law enforcement officers desperately trying to advance themselves and their departmental funding. America’s prison industry (yes, that is exactly what American jails and prisons have become) now is a huge slavering, self-sustaining beast, out of control and growing ever-faster as its product (discontent, resentment, rebellion and hopelessness) increasingly provide its own raw material (ordinary people-cum-criminals).

The Criminalization of Innocence

Worse, even ignoring those jailed for victimless “crimes” (drug users, tax avoiders/evaders, etc.), a huge and growing segment of America’s prison population consists of people who are innocent! How could it be otherwise, after all, with the Feds’ 97% conviction rate and a tripling of American prisoners in just 20 years?

I have been telling you how they’re doing it to me. I face 60 years, minimum, for a crime I did not commit; a crime with no victim, no damage and the self-confessed perp already serving his 2-year sentence (a slap on the wrist in exchange for his false testimony against me). No – actually, there was some damage: $45,000 in silver bullion stolen by the perp from my wife (the victim) and myself.

From the beginning, my wife (the “victim,” don’t forget) resolutely has stood by my side, proclaiming my innocence to the world, despite the massive federal effort to put me away for the rest of my life.

60 Years!

Murderers routinely are released from prison after serving 6-8 years, but no less than 60 years is what our government says I deserve for the (non) “crime” I committed against nobody, least of all my biggest supporter: my wife. 60 years! Think about it for a moment.

What’s more, the government repeatedly has lied, cheated and stolen during its scorched-earth campaign against me, a genuine American political dissident. There are so many stories of government treachery in my case that I could tell you (not to mention many other cases I have handled, mostly pro bono, during my 30-year career as a trial lawyer).

How They Do It

In the last 7 weekly installments, I have been serializing part of a chapter from my upcoming book, Evil Edgar. I have told you precisely how the feds and the judge illegally, unethically and unconstitutionally have denied me the right to confidential communications with my attorneys, while using the information they illegally obtained by eavesdropping against me – before, during and after my trial.

Of All Things, a Writ Petition

With the deck totally stacked against me, I feel like a drowning man, going down for the third time. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I have just unleashed the “Hail Mary” of all legal maneuvers. This past week, I filed a Petition for Writ with the U.S. Supreme Court, highest court in America.

U.S. Supreme Court Writ petitions almost never are granted, I was taught over 30 years ago in law school. I recall the image conjured by my law professor then, of a mail-room clerk stamping “Rejected” on all the just-opened envelopes holding Writ petitions.

What else can I do? The very same Federal District Court judge who refused to allow me to put on any sort of defense at trial now is bent upon denying me confidential access to any appellate attorneys to help me with my appeal, due out in 3 weeks.

My combined Petition for Writs of Mandamus (tell ‘em to do something, Supremes) and Prohibition (tell ‘em to stop doing something else) concerns only the topic of the last seven installments: the illegal invasion and denial of my 5th and 6th Amendment right to confidential “assistance of counsel.”

Predictably, my petition for writ is a substantial legal filing. Go here for a copy of the Writ petition. Go here for a 23-page, plain language, synopsis of the governmental wrongdoing that led me to file this petition.

What I Want

Here, in brief, are what I ask from the U.S. Supreme Court via my just-filed petition:

1. Writ of Prohibition – Order this trial court (others, too) to stop enforcing the unwritten U.S. Marshals Service policy that allows the Feds to eavesdrop, record and copy all communications (written, telephonic and in-person) between federal detainees and their private (as well as “of record”) lawyers.

2. Writ of Mandamus – Order the outright dismissal of my case or, in the alternative, a new (and, hopefully this time a fair) trial, because of the extensive governmental and judicial misconduct that has taken place.

You Can Help

Please help in drawing attention to my Petition for Writs, thereby enhancing the chance that the Supremes will agree to schedule it for hearing. Go here for a letter to supporters describing how to join our letter-writing campaign to the Supreme Court justices, Presidential candidates, congressional leaders and mass media outlets.

Let’s face it – since they have eliminated virtually all of the “Movement” leaders and now are imprisoning Movement lawyers, too, just who do you suppose will be there to help when the Feds come for you?

If we can just get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear my Petition, then it certainly will grant it. That would make a huge difference to thousands of federal detainees, both now and going forward. We would strike a genuinely history-making blow for liberty in our time.

I still wouldn’t be able to say I am glad to have spent all this time in jail, but I would be proud of the outcome. Very proud.

Together

Together, we can do this

Together, we can make a difference.

Together, we can strike a blow that, just maybe, will begin America’s march back from the very precipice of outright, full-blown tyranny.

Join us.

Copyright ©2011, Edgar J. Steele

Forward as you wish. Permission is granted to circulate this article and its related audio file among private individuals and groups, post on all Internet sites and publish in full in all not-for-profit publications.

Contact author for all other rights, which are reserved.

This entry was posted on October 31, 2011 at 7:46 pm and is filed under Edgar Steele News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

EDGAR J. STEELE (Resignation in Lieu of Discipline)

On August 1, 2011, the Idaho Supreme Court entered an Order accepting the resignation in lieu of discipline of Coeur d’Alene attorney, Edgar J. Steele. The Idaho Supreme Court’s Order followed a stipulated resolution of a disciplinary proceeding that related to the following conduct.

On June 11, 2010, a warrant for Mr. Steele’s arrest was issued by the United States District Court for the District of Idaho pursuant to a criminal complaint. On July 20, 2010, a federal grand jury issued a Superseding Indictment. The Superseding Indictment charged Mr. Steele with four criminal counts.

On May 5, 2011, following trial, a federal jury found Mr. Steele guilty of all four counts of the Superseding Indictment. Those counts were: Count One, Use of Interstate Commerce Facilities in the Commission of Murder for Hire, 18 U.S.C. § 1958; Count Two, Use of Explosive Material to Commit Federal Felony, 18 U.S.C. § 844(h); Count Three, Pos- session of a Destructive Device in Relation to a Crime of Violence, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(B)(ii); and Count Four, Tampering with a Victim, 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b) (3). Following the jury verdict, Mr. Steele self-reported to the Idaho State Bar that he had been found guilty of those felonies.

The Idaho Supreme Court accepted Mr. Steele’s resignation effective August 1, 2011. By the terms of the Order, Mr. Steele may not make application for ad- mission to the Idaho State Bar sooner than five years from the date of his resignation. If he does make such application for admission, he will be required to comply with all bar admission requirements found in Section II of the Idaho Bar Commission Rules and shall have the burden of overcoming the rebuttable presumption of “unfitness to practice law.”

By the terms of the Idaho Supreme Court’s Order, Mr. Steele’s name was stricken from the records of the Idaho Supreme Court and his right to practice law before the courts in the State of Idaho was terminated on August 1, 2011.

Inquiries about this matter may be directed to: Bar Counsel, Idaho State Bar, P.O. Box 895, Boise, Idaho 83701, (208) 334-4500. Source: http://isb.idaho.gov/pdf/advocate/issues/adv11sep.pdf

Free Edgar Steele: http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/