#OWS Update: Banks Panic Over MayDay Protests!!! and New York City & NYPD Being Sued Meanwhile Banks & police track ‘Occupy’ protesters And Maddow On The GOP's War On Women

 "Freedom" sign made out of bricks in English and Arabic in Bahrain

 Protesters Pepper Sprayed at Berekley 

Civil Rights marches were not turned around from doing their duty no matter how the Police treated them

 Yes if thousands of police hit the streets dressed in Riot Gear we can expect a riot - Their aim is not to serve and protect the 99% They are the willing tools of the authorities at the Municipal level and guided by The Tacit support of Washington!!!

UPDATE #OWS MAY DAY

"The city and police violated demonstrators' free speech rights, used excessive force, arrested protesters on dubious charges and interfered with journalists' and council members' efforts to observe what was going on, the four City Council members and others say in the federal civil rights suit."


"This unlawful conduct has been undertaken with the intention of obstructing, chilling, deterring and retaliating against (the) plaintiffs for engaging in constitutionally protected protest activity," says the suit, which was filed a day before Occupy and labor activists planned a large May Day march..."

From: NYC officials sue police over response to Occupy Wall Street protests By JENNIFER PELTZ - Associated Press
, April 30, 2012

Mayday! Mayday! "Mayday!" Bankers Panic Over May Day Demonstrations by Jerry Ashton at Huff Post, April 30,2012

"Mayday," which is used as a distress signal and derives from the French "m'aider ("come help me"), is being given new meaning by Wall Street and its Bankers in response to the upcoming "May Day" Occupy national protests.

This May Day demonstration will be the largest of its kind in a half-century and will take place in cities across the U.S. On May 1, 2012, tens of thousands of people throughout the U.S. and the world -- workers, students, immigrants, professionals, houseworkers -- employed and unemployed alike - will take to the streets to unite in a General Strike against "a system that does not work for us."

May Day is a holiday for the 99 percent. It is a day for people to come together, across all those lines which too often divide us -- race, class, gender, religion -- and challenge the systems that create these divisions.

...Pointedly, the extent to which Wall Street (and city government) will use their near-military police force to corral and subdue protestors will be the likely determiner as to how peaceful the protests will be.
(When I visited Union Square the other day for the student rally against $1 trillion in educational debt, there were close to 50 - FIFTY! - police cars surrounding the Park. If that is their response to several hundred people at a Student demonstration, what is in store for May 1?)

...In 2010, JPMorgan gave the New York City Police Foundation the largest donation it has ever received -- $4.6 million. They outfitted over 1,000 officers with state-of-the-art laptops and communications tools. Donations are large and ongoing from Wall Street to the cops to this day... and one has to ask -- Is this not turning New York City's police department into the largest de-facto privately funded anti-protest army in the United States?


Will justification for police violence be concocted, as exampled by the police and the military actions taking place even today against protestors in Greece, Spain and the Middle East? Will the suppression of the "American Spring" begin on May Day?

Planning for exactly that possibility, New York City's Occupy has organized neighborhoods and sites into what it terms "Green, Yellow and Red" zones. The safest for protestors (from arrest and harassment) are designated green, the more problematical as yellow, and the more risky as red.

And once again the Republicans prove they are in fact engaged in a war as it were on Women's rights in America. The GOP is attacking women's reproductive rights and their right to equal . Rachell Maddow argues that these are important issues while the GOP spokespersons are patronizing and condescending in their attitudes towards women's issues.

Rachel Maddow Coolly Smacks Down ‘Condescending’ GOP Strategist On MTP VIDEO by Josh Feldman Mediate.com, April 29, 2012

Rachel Maddow sat in on today’s Meet the Press panel to talk about the importance of the women’s vote in the 2012 election and the ongoing “War on Women,” which is a totally real thing and not something being overplayed by both sides to hyperbolize serious economic and gender issues. When Maddow tried to point to disparities in pay between the genders, GOP strategist Alex Castellanos called her out on it in such a way that Maddow found his tone incredibly condescending.

also see: Martin Bashir: ‘If There Isn’t A War On Women, Most of Us Must Be Ignorant’ VIDEO by Jon Bershad at Mediaite, April 27,2012



UPDATE: #OWS blowback for The City of New York and NYPD for police brutality and false arrests and breach of the rights of protesters.
But still no word from Obama or the DOJ .
It appears that in the post 9/11 America citizens do not have the same rights they had prior to 9/11.

NYC City Councilors Sue NYPD Over Occupy Wall Street Abuses- Common Dreams staff April 30, 2012

The City of New York, the New York Police Department, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and several large corporations including JPMorgan Chase have repeatedly violated the constitutional rights of Occupy Wall Street protesters, according to a wide-ranging federal lawsuit filed on Monday morning.

The NYPD made false arrests and violated free- speech rights of protestors and journalists last year, according to a complaint filed today in a Manhattan federal court.

Four New York City Councilors - Letitia James, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Ydanis Rodriguez and Jumaane Williams - filed the civil rights lawsuit alleging that city police used excessive force and violated free speech rights as part of its crackdown on protesters. Also joining the suit as plaintiffs are a local Democratic Party official, freelance journalists, and Occupy activists.

"This unlawful conduct has been undertaken with the intention of obstructing, chilling, deterring and retaliating against (the) plaintiffs for engaging in constitutionally protected protest activity," the lawsuit alleges.

The City Council members are calling for an independent monitor to review all of the more than 2,000 OWS-related arrests and further explore the city's decision to temporarily close Zuccotti Park and other public spaces during the protests. The suit also seeks unspecified damages.

The new lawsuit is a 146-page "compendium of complaints, amplified by the council members' participation."

* * *

Banks cooperating with police to track ‘Occupy’ protesters | The Raw Story

The nation’s largest financial institutions are preparing for the upcoming Occupy Wall Street’s May 1st demonstrations by communicating with police, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.Brian McNary, director of global risk at Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, said that banks from America and overseas are working together to “identify, map and track” protesters across social networks in order for business meetings to avoid disruption.
Demonstrations in 115 cities are being planned for this coming Tuesday, inspired by the 1886 Chicago’s Haymarket Square clash between police and workers.

and: Taking Back May Day: What to Expect on the Nationwide Day of Rallies, Strikes and Actions Organizers and activists have planned direct actions and mass rallies, marches and blockades, as well as mutual aid and concerts to include as many people as possible. viaAlternet.org,April 29,2012

The stickers, posters and graffiti have been popping up for months on subway walls, street signs, pay phones, and abandoned buildings, all with the same message: "May 1: Strike!"

...The last time May 1 brought coordinated action across the country was in 2006, when immigrant workers took to the streets to remind the country what it would be like without them in the famous “Day Without an Immigrant.” May 1, 2012 has been called a general strike, but also, in direct reference to and solidarity with the immigrant rights actions of 2006, “A Day Without the 99%.” Organizers and activists, aware that actually pulling off a nationwide general strike will take years, not months, of work, have planned direct actions and mass rallies, marches and blockades, as well as mutual aid, concerts, and other events to include as wide a swath of the population as possible, providing workers who can't strike with other ways to take part.

Educate and celebrate

Internationally, May 1 is a day for celebration, a holiday in many countries, and many of the actions this year focus on bringing that spirit of celebration back and into the streets. “I've actually spent two May Days not in the States and it was just amazing, the workers are out in the streets and it's their holiday,” Stamp said. “My favorite art for May Day depicts the shedding of chains,” George Machado, an Occupy Wall Street organizer who helped put together a concert in New York's Union Square, told AlterNet. “We have our grievances and yeah we're angry, but we want to celebrate with one another.”

Unlike last fall's rumor that Radiohead was playing the Liberty Plaza occupation, this concert is really happening: Tom Morello, Das Racist, Immortal Technique and others are playing in the public square from 4 to 5:30pm. But like that rumored show, Machado and other organizers hope that the big-name artists will help draw in people who've never been involved with Occupy, labor, or immigrant rights organizing. “It's been so difficult for the media to categorize this movement because there's this large social aspect to it,” Machado noted. The concert aims to bring people together around music, but in a politicized context, adding weight to the already political work of the musicians involved, but also reminding everyone that there is a joyful dimension to collective action.

For More on War on Women

GOP seeks to cut breast and cervical cancer screenings - The Rachel Maddow Show (April 28th, 2012)

The Rachel Maddow Show - Rape, incest survivors find no quarter from Virginia governor

In Response To Hate Speech and Hate Crimes Of Right Wing Extremists : 40,000 Norwegians sing Children of the rainbow.

Tens of thousands of rose-waving Norwegians gathered in central Oslo Thursday to deride mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik by singing a song he hates, viewing it as Marxist indoctrination.

Published on Apr 26, 2012 by CatchATiger4
Tens of thousands of rose-waving Norwegians gathered in central Oslo Thursday to deride mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik by singing a song he hates, viewing it as Marxist indoctrination.
Some 40,000 people, according to police, massed in the rain at a square near the Oslo district courthouse where Breivik is on trial for his July 22 attacks that killed 77 people, to sing "Children of the Rainbow" by Norwegian folk singer Lillebjoern Nilsen.
Inside the court, the 33-year-old accused right-wing extremist sat listening without showing emotion to powerful testimony from survivors of his bloodbath on the ninth day of his trial.
Drawn by an Internet campaign, the protesters streamed into Youngstorget Square wearing colourful raincoats and carrying Norwegian flags and roses, which have come to represent Norway's peaceful response to the horrifying attacks.

40,000 Norwegians in support of liberalism and pluralism and muliculturalism and tolerance gather together in Oslo Norway to show they will not give in to the bigotry of the fear mongers and racist who spread fear of anyone who has a different religion or is of a different ethnicity. Mass murderer Anders Breivik was influenced by the various groups and individuals in Europe, Great Britain and especially those Islamophobes in the USA who preach fear against Islam and all Muslims and all those who preach tolerance and defend multiculturalism.

Ubfortunately the hate mongering Islamophobes far too often are treated as if their ignorant bigotry against Islam were a
reasonable and defensible point of view.

Yes there are among Muslims an extremist element but there is an extremist element among Christians as well. It appears that many Westerners have replaced their historical anti-semitism with Islamophobia. These Islamophobes want to recreate a homogeneous society of White Christians of European extraction. Isn't this precisely what Hitler and the NAZI party were also wanting to achieve. The NAZIS believed that the Jews and other religious or ethnic groups and other foreigners such as the Slavs and Black people were a corrupting influence and were undermining the Pure Aryan Race.

Today the far right uses the concerns people have over immigration and especially the immigration of those who come from the outside of Western Civilizations to stir up hatred for those who are not descended from pure European stock.

Since the 9/11 terrorists attacks these bigots in America have been stirring up hatred against Islam and all Muslims. The American based Islamophobes include media and internet personalities such as Pam Geller,and Robert Spencer, David Horowitz,Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, Michelle Bachmann, Michele Malkin, Newt Gingrich ,Fox News Channel and the ultraright which now dominates the GOP/ The Republican Party.

In 2010 these Islamophobes went balistic because American Muslim group planned to build a
community and cultural center which would include a Mosque in New York city close to the 9/11 terrorist
attack. They characterized the building of a Mosque in that part of New York as a means of Islamic triumphalism. They claim that whenever Muslims conquered a nation they would build a Mosque. They ignore the fact that other religious groups have throughout history built a house of worship or for instance Christian conquerers and explorers often erected large crosses to mark the geographical area as a Christian or potential Christian land.

These Islamophobic extremists in the USA maintain that Christian Europe has already been taken over by Islam . They see Europe as a lost cause and so are doubling down on their anti-Muslim rhetoric . They seem to believe that those who preach tolerance towards
Islam and Muslim Americans as being anti-American and anti-Christian and of course anti-Israel.

In essence they characterize anyone who argues in favor of tolerance towards Muslim Americans is ipso facto anti-Semitic and wishes to destroy Israel.

Below is a video which spreads hatred of all Muslims and Islam itself as America's and the West's enemies.

Newt and Callista Gingrich in anti-Islam propaganda clip: "The war on terror has only just begun"




On Pamela Geller's Islamophobia and her connection to Anders Behring Breivik

Investigate Pamela Geller (mirror from coughlan616)

Published on Mar 17, 2012 by mojosideburns
Download this video here
http://www.mediafire.com/?16rul3b83ix1r35

Pamela Geller Busted by Coughlan616
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqEjb7u6wHw

The 2007 Email from Norway as it reads today
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2007/06/email-from-norw.html

The question this video raises is note worthy because it seems in the West and especially in the USA one can preach hate against all Muslims and even propose taking violent action against Muslim Americans without any real consequences for such speech.

For more on Islam and Islamophobia see pages above .

Racists, bigots ,Islamophobes and the Far Right characterize the murderer Breivik as a hero who was defending in their view Christian White Western Civilization. The danger to our democratic society comes from the ultra-right more so than the over-hyped Islamic stealth Jihad.Here's an example of their far right extremism from Russia

Far-right Russians cite Breivik as a 'hero'




Anger as Hard-Right Italian MP praises Norway gunmen



Meanwhile whatever Muslim Americans do from building an Islamic community center or Mosque at ground Zero or any other place in America to even something as innocent as a spelling bee is seen as part of the Stealth Jihad to enforce Sharia law on all Americans.

Spelling Bee for Muslim schools provokes Islamophobic Hate Fest by Sheila Musaji at Islamophobia Today .com , April 14, 2012

There will be a Muslim Spelling Bee this year for students of Islamic schools across the country. This is the first year that Muslims have held such an event.

OnIslam reported that

A Michigan Muslim school is planning to organize the world’s first national spelling bee in an effort to help connect the sizable minority with the wider American society.

The competition will “help connect the Muslim community to the mainstream community.” Tausif Malik, the owner of TMA Worldwide with his wife Asma, told Ann Arbor news portal.

“Muslims are not aware of spelling bees because they are focused on getting their children into engineering or medicine.

Sounds like an excellent idea, certainly not one that anyone could object to, or at least that’s what any reasonable person would think.

There are many other such events for other private and religious schools and groups. Here are just a few:

—A Hebrew Spelling Bee in Cleveland, and a tri-county Hebrew Spelling Bee in Florida
— a spelling bee for Jewish Day Schools in New York, and for the Jewish community inOmaha, Nebraska,
— a spelling bee for Catholic grade schools in Philadelphia, and another in Minnesota,
— a spelling bee for Lutheran schools in Michigan
— Christ Methodist Church School has a spelling bee in Memphis, Tennessee

Nevertheless, there are some who are so filled with hatred towards Islam and Muslims that even such a simple activity as holding a spelling bee for children becomes an opportunity to spread their poisonous bile.

Bonni Benstock-Intall of Bare Naked Islam posted an article MICHIGANISTAN: ‘Muslim-Only’ Spelling Bee which opened with

So much for integration and assimilation with the filthy kuffar. Then again, how many of us pork eaters know how to spell ‘Intifada’ in Arabic?

Here are a few of the comments left by readers

—We should sponsor a little infidel into the contest and when they disqualify our little infidel – SUE THE CRAP OUTTA THEM!!! Lawfare can go both ways!!

— AMEN! Can you spell A-S-S-L-I-F-T-E-R?!

— Well its always nice to see the future terrorists of the world at least able to spell allah,or dirt bag,or mohammad,or virgin,before they detonate their bomb vest in one of our schools.

— Like Mr. Rogers: Now children, can you spell “DEPORTATION” ? How about “BEHEADING” ? Maybe “INBRED” ?
“ANIMALISM” ? “BAGHEAD”?

— Muslims can’t spell. They’re too f*&%ing inbred and retarded to spell. F*&% Muslims. Jesus sent Mohammed to hell f*&%ers.On the site the actual swear words are spelled out

— Can you believe that this is happening? We are watching them take over our county piece by piece.

— Imagine the uproar if there was a Christian only spelling bee.

This goes beyond Islamophobia into the realm of pure hatred, and such hatred is truly savage. They should be ashamed, but I don’t believe that they are capable of even that much awareness.

and here's a bit from Loonwatch.com about Pam Geller and her blog Atlas Shrugs and her hysterical Islamophobia:

Pamela Geller unfortunately has been all over the news recently. First because she was an invited speaker at a Tea Party conference in Tennessee, second for her and her hate group’s (SIOA) active role in opposing the proposed Mosque in Manhattan that is near ground-zero, and for her inciting Ad campaign that essentially calls on people to “Leave Islam.”

Geller doesn’t make any distinctions between radical Muslims and Islam, she doesn’t blame Islamism or violent Islamism but instead impugns the whole religion of Islam.


There are a number of things wrong with this video, it is too easy on Pamela. No where is her background or radical conspiratorial beliefs brought to the fore to inform the viewer. The fact that she is the looniest blogger out there should be the first piece of biographical information that we hear.

This is the equivalent of interviewing a KKK member or an anti-Semite and not bringing up their zany ideas.
Should a woman who believes and regularly states that Obama is an anti-Semitic, Jihadist Mohammadan who is aiding the Iranian regime get a pass? Does someone who calls for the Golden Dome Mosque (Masjid as-Sakhra) to be destroyed and replaced by a Jewish temple get a pass? Should a historical revisionist who says Hitler adopted Jihad and was inspired by Islam to commit the Holocaust get a pass? Should someone who states that Israel should nuke Mecca and Medina be given a pass?

The scary thing is there is so much more that we can go into in regards to the loonie and wing-nut beliefs that Pamela Geller holds dear to her heart but what’s the point, we have documented it all and it is easily retrievable by anyone who cares to search for it on our site. Unfortunately, none of the news reports, including the one above see fit to challenge Pamela on her obvious as day and night hateful beliefs.

In the meantime James Wolcott took the words right out of my mouth,

Hey, Look Who Just Crawled Out From Under the Creaking Floorboards
The Crypt Keeper‘s number one soul sister herself, Pamela Geller, making the pages of New York Daily News this morning with her bus-ad campaign against Islamization, which apparently the three-card-monte suckers who read her blog bankrolled by breaking into their piggy banks, forking over all those quarters they were squirreling away for the slot machines on their next Atlantic City day-trip.
Ms Geller will no doubt be miffed as only she can be miffed (at the top of her lungs) at having her blog characterized as “replete with attacks on Islam and unfounded claims about President Obama.”
Unfounded!?! Only if you insist on trifling nuisances like evidence and a faint semblance of plausibility.

Obama Favors Freedom For Some Not All --Bahrain: Shouting in the dark - - Al Jazeera English, 3/4

Bahrain The Forgotten Uprising ; Shouting In The Dark-AlJazeera 4/4



When the USA and its allies fail to abide by international law in their ongoing military conflicts they are then robbed of taking the moral, ethical or even legal high-ground.

The USA and its allies in Iraq have killed or murdered one million Iraqis arguing that all Iraqis must pay the price in blood for the 9/11 attacks and for the wounding or killing of any American soldier or other American or allied personnel in Iraq.
So given these facts as I have argued below the Americans and their allies by their criminal and barbaric actions cannot expect their so-called enemies to abide by international law or even common decency.

See International Law on reprisals and collective guilt : International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.Part III : Status and treatment of protected persons #Section I : Provisions common to the territories of the parties to the conflict and to occupied territories

ARTICLE 33. -- INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY --
COLLECTIVE PENALTIES -- PILLAGE -- REPRISALS


[p.225] Article 33 is derived from Article 50 of the Hague Regulations: "No general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall be inflicted upon the population on account of the acts of individuals for which they can not be regarded as jointly and severally responsible".
The text adopted unanimously in Geneva in 1949 reproduces, with only slight changes, the original draft of the International Committee of the Red Cross (1).

PARAGRAPH 1. -- PRINCIPLE OF INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY

1. ' Prohibition of collective penalties '

The first paragraph embodies in international law one of the general principles of domestic law, i.e. that penal liability is personal in character.
This paragraph then lays a prohibition on collective penalties. This does not refer to punishments inflicted under penal law, i.e. sentences pronounced by a court after due process of law, but penalties of any kind inflicted on persons or entire groups of persons, in defiance of the most elementary principles of humanity, for acts that these persons have not committed.
This provision is very clear. If it is compared with Article 50 of the Hague Regulations, it will be noted that that Article could be interpreted as not expressly ruling out the idea that the community might bear at least a passive responsibility (2).
Thus, a great step forward has been taken. Responsibility is personal and it will no longer be possible to inflict penalties on persons Who have themselves not committed the acts complained of.
Obviously, the belligerents will retain the right to punish individuals who have committed hostile acts, in accordance with Article 64 et sqq. concerning penal legislation and procedure, when it is a matter of safegarding their legitimate interests and security.

2. ' Measures of intimidation or of terrorism '

During past conflicts, the infliction of collective penalties has been intended to forestall breaches of the law rather than to repress [p.226] them; in resorting to intimidatory measures to terrorise the population, the belligerents hoped to prevent hostile acts. Far from achieving the desired effect, however, such practices, by reason of their excessive severity and cruelty, kept alive and strengthened the spirit of resistance. They strike at guilty and innocent alike. They are opposed to all principles based on humanity and justice and it is for that reason that the prohibition of collective penalties is followed formally by the prohibition of all measures of intimidation or terrorism with regard to protected persons, wherever they may be (3)...

Even in war time or in a civil war medical personnel are expected to treat any person wounded no matter what side they happen to be on.
Under International Law it is a war crime to target medical personnel or to detain them for carrying out their duties.
The authorities in Bahrain backed by Saudi Arabia and the USA argue that medical personnel are breaking the law by treating these protesters.

see World Medical Association : WMA Statement on the Protection and Integrity of Medical Personnel in Armed Conflicts and Other Situations of Violence

Adopted by the 62nd WMA General Assembly, Montevideo, Uruguay, October 2011

PREAMBLE
During wars and armed conflicts hospitals and other medical facilities have often been attacked and misused and patients and medical personnel have been killed or wounded. Such attacks are a violation of the Geneva Conventions (1949), Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions (1977) and WMA regulations in times of war (2006).

The World Medical Association (WMA) has been active in condemning documented attacks on medical personnel and facilities in armed conflicts. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols shall protect medical personnel in international and non-international armed conflicts. The warring parties have duty not to interfere with medical care for wounded or sick combatants and civilians, and not attack, threaten or impede medical functions. Physicians and other health care personnel must be considered as neutral and must not be prevented from fulfilling their duties.

The lack of systematic reporting and documentation of violence against medical personnel and facilities creates threats to both civilians and military personnel. The development of strategies for protection and efforts to improve compliance with the laws of war are impeded as long as such information is not available.

also see: Crimes of War International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (ICRC)By Michael Ignatieff

That the Obama Regime has not condemned and called for investigations into the government of Bahrain's arresting and charging medical personnel for carrying out their duties. This sin of Omission by the Obama Regime and its allies shouldn't surprise anyone who has been paying attention to the way the USA and the West have conducted their on going wars of Aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and so forth.

According to the post 9/11 rules of engagement the Geneva Conventions and international laws regarding the treatment of combatants and non-combatants the USA even under the Obama administration they believe that all such laws no longer apply at least to the USA and its allies including NATO and middle Eastern nations which are considered American allies.

As George W. Bush said "you are either on our side or on the side of the terrorists" and Obama agrees . Meanwhile it is the White House and the Pentagon who decide which groups or which protesters are to be encouraged or discouraged.
As we know the USA reserves the right on its own to decide which actions contravene international law and which do not.
The USA rejects the very idea that its military forces and the CIA and Special Ops and their mercenaries (Blackwater etc.) have committed numerous war crimes.

So when American forces attack civilian infrastructure such as highways, factories, schools, hospitals, water and sewage treatment plants and power stations they are according to their rationalizations doing what they need to do to stop the "terrorists".

We have watched in Iraq how little concern was shown for non-combatants innocent civilians .
According to International Humanitarian Laws "It is forbidden to use weapons or methods of warfare that are likely to cause unnecessary losses or excessive suffering."

So when American forces surrounded Fallujah they refused to allow human rights representatives, or the red Cross or Red Crescent into the city which the US forces bombed murdering thousands . As the USA did in Vietnam and elsewhere they were more concerned with getting a high body count than ensuring that civilians would not purposely be targeted.

The major attack on Fallujah was in fact done as an act of revenge or reprisal blaming all the citizens of Fallujah that is holding them collectively responsible for the deaths of four American mercenaries murdered and their bodies mutilated by a mob.
So like other rogue states such as Saddam's Regime before them the US and allied forces decided to destroy Fallujah and kill thousands of innocent civilians to send a message to all insurgents and terrorists. This form of killing as an act of revenge or reprisal is prohibited under International law.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya the Americans and their allies used banned weapons such as White phosphorus /Napalm and cluster bombs and land mines even in densely populated towns and cities. Obama added to America's arsenal by relying more and more on Armed unmanned Drones to take whole villages because there might be terrorists hiding in these villages. The Drones were also used to target weddings, funerals, religious gatherings etc. if they received intel on "terrorists" taking part in these community events. The attitude since 9/11 is that everyone is a possible threat to US security or to the security of America's allies or a threat to American interests.

Since 9/11 American leaders have informed the world that whatever they do is justified and therefore morally acceptable and therefore legal.
So when an American soldier guns down innocent civilians or members of the press it is justifiable. But when America's enemies commit similar actions they are branded "Terrorists" and war criminals.
So given the fact that tens of thousands of civilians have been murdered by the USA's military and that of its allies we can not expect them to criticize their allies for doing the same things ie abusing detainees (POWS) or dissidents denying them their civil rights or their human rights.

The USA and its allies have also been guilty of not giving medical aid to those who are wounded who are either enemy combatants or innocent civilians.

American forces and its allies have also shot and killed enemy combatants who tried to surrender to them.
There are or were a number of videos showing US soldiers shooting wounded Enemy Combatants who were on the ground having no weapon either crawling or lying still.
there are a number of cases where US helicopters have shot and killed wounded persons or even those who tried to surrender.
If someone puts their hands up to surrender it is up to US soldiers to take them prisoner themselves or call for ground troops to take the person prisoner.
In the Infamous Bagdad helicopter massacre the US crew even shot and killed those who were wounded but not killed. They also fired on Good Samaritans who attempted to give aid to the wounded.
In the same incident US forces refused to evacuate the children who had been shot to an american medical center or to treat them on site.
It is forbidden to kill or wound an adversary who surrenders or who can no longer take part in the fighting.


Therefore since Bahrain is an American ally they are permitted to do whatever they feel is necessary to crush dissidents and protesters and others who support anti-government pro-reform protesters.
Since 9/11 the USA has committed numerous war crimes with impunity because the USA no longer recognizes International laws including the Geneva Conventions.

So tell me again why the Obama Regime is supposedly somehow morally or ethically superior to the former Bush Regime.
For instance Obama did not close Guantanamo prison . Obama still insists on calling those captured on the battlefield "Detainees" who have no rights as opposed to calling them POWs who do have rights.

President Obama also failed to investigate the alleged crimes committed by the Bush Regime. He claimed he wanted to move forward and not in his view waste time trying to bring these criminals to justice. Obama has even chastised any American or any nation which might insist that these War Criminals be arrested, detained ,prosecuted in an open court and allow Justice to be served.
We now can see why Obama did not want to go after members of the Bush Regime for alleged crimes because he had already decided before taking office to continue with the Bush Regimes policies including torture, renditions, using death squads and targeted assassinations and pre-emptive war ie Libya and Iran and Syria and now possibly North Korea or even China.
Obama is more concerned with in expanding the American Empire than he is with such quaint notions as human rights and the International rules , laws and agreements on how a war is to be conducted. So when the USA destroyed the infrastructure of Iraq or Libya or Afghanistan this was considered to be necessary and therefore legal.

But also it should be obvious to anyone that the Obama Regime when it comes to its endless wars and to how American citizens have been treated taking who have taken part in the #OWS/ Occupy Movement protests.

The police in New York, Denver, Portland, Chicago and on university campuses across America have used brute force and unnecessary force on these protesters even though they the protesters remained non-violent. So President Obama has said and done nothing to stop the police brutality. Instead protesters have been gassed, beaten, abused and arrested without much concern for American law or the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. We can only conclude that the various municipalities have been given the green light to use whatever force they wish to against these protesters because the White House considers these protesters as enemies of the state. In other words US citizens can protest as long as they do not protests in order to undermine the status quo and the ruling elites.


Also see:

The essential rules of international humanitarian law

Persons who do not or can no longer take part in the hostilities are entitled to respect for their life and for their physical and mental integrity. Such persons must in all circumstances be protected and treated with humanity, without any unfavorable distinction whatever.

It is forbidden to kill or wound an adversary who surrenders or who can no longer take part in the fighting.

The wounded and sick must be collected and cared for by the party to the conflict which has them in its power. Medical personnel and medical establishments, transports and equipment must be spared. The red cross or red crescent on a white background is the sign protecting such persons and objects and must be respected.

Captured combatants and civilians who find themselves under the authority of the adverse party are entitled to respect for their life, their dignity, their personal rights and their political, religious and other convictions. They must be protected against all acts of violence or reprisal. They are entitled to exchange news with their families and receive aid.

Everyone must enjoy basic judicial guarantees and no one may be held responsible for an act he has not committed. No one may be subjected to physical or mental torture or to cruel or degrading corporal punishment or other treatment.

Neither the parties to the conflict nor members of their armed forces have an unlimited rights to choose methods and means of warfare. It is forbidden to use weapons or methods of warfare that are likely to cause unnecessary losses or excessive suffering.

The parties to a conflict must at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants in order to spare the civilian population and civilian property. Neither the civilian population as whole nor individual civilians may be attacked. Attacks may be made solely against military objectives.

For more on America's resistance in International Law or The United Nations :

US Renounces UN's World Court Move outrages human rights groups

Dateline: 05/07/02

Through a letter to the U.N., the Bush administration has reserved the right of the U.S. to ignore decisions and orders issued by the International Criminal Court. The action effectively neutralizes President Clinton's signature to the treaty creating the court.

Established under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998, the court was established to serve as an ad hoc world tribunal responsible for prosecuting war crimes and "crimes against humanity," when national criminal justice systems are "unwilling or unable to act." [See: Establishment of the Court]

While human rights organizations have expressed outrage over President Bush's action, former President Clinton, who signed the treaty on behalf of the U.S. on Dec. 31, 2000, stated at the time that he did not intend to sending the pact to the Senate for official ratification. Clinton stated that he agreed to sign the treaty only to allow the U.S. to participate in discussions on the court's structure and jurisdiction.

Both former President Clinton and President Bush expressed reservations that the treaty could lead to politically-motivated prosecution of U.S. government leaders or military personnel.

While Canada and all but one of the 15 nations of the European Union have ratified the treaty since 1998, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues Pierre-Richard Prosper is quoted in an Associated Press article as stating that President Bush's action makes it clear to the U.N. that, "we [the U.S.] are not going to be a party to the process."

and here's a scathing attack by Russia concerning Human Rights Abuses in the USA. Pretty bad when Russia

Russia Slams US for Human Rights Abuses via Voice Of America,Dec. 28, 2011
is calling out the USA for its human rights abuses in the US and in the US's Global War on Terror.

Russia's foreign ministry is accusing the United States of human rights violations both at home and abroad, in its first-ever report on the state of human rights in other countries.

The report, released Wednesday, criticizes the U.S. for the continued operation of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and accuses the White House of sheltering officials and CIA operatives from prosecution.

The report also laments what it calls U.S. prying into citizens' private lives and says the situation in the United States is "far from the ideals" proclaimed by Washington.

In the past, the Russian foreign ministry has strongly slammed U.S. accusations of Russian rights violations in the State Department's annual reports on human rights worldwide.

Russia's Interfax news agency says a Russian foreign ministry representative on human rights, Konstantin Dolgov, speaking at a briefing on the report, also accused NATO of committing human rights violations during the conflict this year in Libya.

Interfax quotes the official as saying Russia believes there is a need for an "unbiased investigation" into all violations of international humanitarian law in Libya.

also see: UN to Investigate US for Human Rights Abuses Against Native Americans via Fox News, April 23, 2012

and: Ellsberg: Wikileaks Logs Show Clear US War Crimes in Iraq—Manning Was Reportedly Motivated By Conscience
by ELLSBERG.NET on MARCH 18, 2011

and : Obama Gave Manning “Verdict First, Trial Later.” by ELLSBERG.NET on DECEMBER 23, 2011

and: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: Documents on 'thousands' of possible US war crimes in Afghanistan BY RICHARD SISK AND CORKY SIEMASZKO DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, July 26, 2010

And Obama's reaction to leaked documents exposing US war crimes is to ignore the crimes committed and to go after Wikileaks and the supposed leaker Bradley Manning . This provides evidence of Obama's so called open government being as secret if not more so than George w. Bush and the gang. One gang replaces another. Obama is not a real friend of open government .
Obama even more so than Bush is determined to prosecute Whistleblowers even though
he had promised more protection for Whistleblowers.

White House blasts leak of secret Afghanistan documents posted on WikiLeaks whistleblower website BY RICHARD SISK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU Monday, July 26, 2010

and see my blog post: US War Crimes: Bagdad Massacre & Murdering Afghan Women & Pentagon Targeting Whistleblowers & Wikileaks April 7, 2010 by Al-Jazeera-English Iraq Outrage over US Killing Video

and my post: #OWS War Crimes ? What War Crimes ? From Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan US Military Covers up War Crimes With Successive White House Blessing Update: 5:14 ,October 11, 2011

#OWS Prepare For Mayday Protests While Obama Tacitly Approves Police Violence Against Protesters In USA And Bahrain

In this image taken from video, a police officer uses pepper spray as he walks down a line of Occupy demonstrators sitting on the ground at the University of California, Davis on Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Thomas K. Fowler)

And here's the video of Police brutality sanctioned by the state and the Obama administration. Obama should not be given a "free pass" on the numerous situations in which police actions were criminal and which contravene the US Constitution and its amendments and Supreme Court rulings on said Amendments.



To Prove to The Governments and The Elites that The Occupy Movement Will Continue!!!

If for no other reason people should take part in the MayDay celebrations and protest to prove that the elites and the government and the quislings who do their bidding have not beaten the #OWS/ Occupy Movement

#OWS Prepare For Mayday Protests While Obama Tacitly Approves Police Violence In USA And Bahrain



Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.  U.S. Constitution - Amendment 1

''The right of the people peaceably to assemble for the purpose of petitioning Congress for a redress of grievances, or for anything else connected with the powers or the duties of the National Government, is an attribute of national citizenship, and, as such, under the protection of, and guaranteed by, the United States. The very idea of a government, republican in form, implies a right on the part of its citizens to meet peaceably for consultation in respect to public affairs and to petition for a redress of grievances." United States v. Cruikshank 1876

''The privilege of a citizen of the United States to use the streets and parks for communication of views on national questions may be regulated in the interest of all; it is not absolute, but relative, and must be exercised in subordination to the general comfort and convenience, and in consonance with peace and good order; but it must not, in the guise of regulation, be abridged or denied.'' Hague v. CIO SCOTUS
Above quotes from:RIGHTS OF ASSEMBLY AND PETITION

The Argument and my thesis:

Obama given his power as President of the United States by ignoring the evidence of police brutality in dealing with #OWS protesters from October 2011 to the present by his silence and lack of action President Obama has given his tacit approval of the police to use whatever tactics they wish to Crack-down on #OWS protesters. .
In Essence President Obama in the case of #OWS protesters he has suspended the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, freedom of the press and the freedom to petition the government for alleged grievances.


We cannot be too surprised that President Obama refuses to without qualification to condemn the authorities in Bahrain for brutally cracking down and terrorizing all those who dare criticize those in authority when Obama said nothing while Police in New York  and Portland and in other municipalities used overwhelming unnecessary brute force against their own fellow citizens.
 The Citizens in the USA used to have the right to assembly without fear of being beaten and arrested- this is no longer the case. Instead municipalities make all gatherings by those who criticize the governments and the elites. In Canada, Briton,Australia and other countries peaceful protesters are gassed , beaten arrested kept in indefinite detention for hours or days or longer.
 Then when some protesters defend themselves the police us this as an excuse to use even greater force.
Eventually the US and other countries will look more like Bahrain or Greece or France etc.

Obama's speeches about protecting the rights of citizens in America or elsewhere is just a lot of flowery insipid rhetoric wich is just meant as a PR stunt to pacify and hopefully he thinks to undermine the movement.
Because if Obama and others in positions of authority can at least appear to be reasonable and even sympathetic with some of the movements goals then the media and many citizens then draw the erroneous conclusion that those in power are willing to discuss the issues and so why they ask are the protesters still protesting.

We must not take Obama or others at their word because in the end the politicians, the elites, the media are all self-serving entities whose only goal is survival in the next election or getting more money and promises from Lobbyists and for the media it is all about advertising revenue and ratings.

The majority of those mentioned above are not real friends of the Occupy Movement .
Some opportunists may court the movement to possibly get a few extra votes or just for the publicity.
But we must reach out to those few who do sympathize but fear retribution at the polls come November.

Other than that we must fill the streets and eventually the jails.
MLK and Gandhi both knew that such struggles against the status quo may take a longer period of time to accomplish anything substantial and not mere window dressing .
In such a struggle if the authorities are willing to use brute force knowing they can do so with impunity the response should not be violence but more protests and acts of Civil Disobedience and Peaceful Non-Cooperation. That means when the police threaten arrests everybody sits and refuses to move and forces the police to physically carry each person who is willing to be arrested to the waiting police vehicles.
My own view is that swearing, calling the police Pigs or whatever is not helpful.
This was one that Civil Rights leaders would get people to chant non-violent slogans or to sing as a way to maintain discipline among participants .
This is also why in various protests people linked arms as a form of solidarity and to encourage people to try to remain calm as possible.
Just think of that Iconic moment when the students at Berkeley  sat on the ground linked arms and as best they could resisted fighting back while they were dosed with Mace/Pepper Spray at close range and then was repeated - that was a form of real courage which otherwise is hard to come by.

Bahrain: Shouting in the dark - - Al Jazeera English 2/4




The people of Bahrain want reform. They want the Parliament to be truly representative of all the people of Bahrain not just the 1% Elite. The Elite in Bahrain as in the USA believe that they are entitled to the greater part of the wealth of the nation.
They believe that their position is sanctioned by God or by natural law or the hidden hand of market forces.
The elite see any criticisms or questioning of the elites entitlement as akin to heresy. The heretics are those who question rapacious unfettered deregulated Capitalistic system. The elites in America or Briton or Bahrain or Saudi Arabia or whatever nation they are in characterize their belief in Capitalism and the market place as an ideology which is the only ideology which can be dominant in society.
Those who dare to object are characterized as Heretics and as fifth columnists out to destroy the USA and the free unfettered system of capitalism which leaves millions without much financial stability without a promising future.
Those who labor in America are regarded as expendable and replaceable.

War With China #Anon #Newz US Invasion of AU etc The South China Sea Troubled Waters

President Obama now engaged in a game of chicken with China???
White House challenges China's jurisdiction to control access to waterways which have been traditionally under China's Jurisdiction.

So is Obama giving into the far right, the GOP and restarting the cold war with China and possibly Russia.
It appears Obama characterizes as a threat and an enemy any nation which resists America's claims to certain rights and privileges in international waters or air space.
Is this saber rattling with China merely a ploy used by Obama to show how tough he is as "The Commander in Chief" in hopes of ensuring his re-election in November.
But is this new conflict really all about the vast amounts of oil under these waterways which America and other nations want access to.

Once again American interests trump the sovereignty of any nation.

The Forgotten People of Bahrain Abandoned By Pres. Obama & His Self-serving Allies "Shouting in the dark" - Al Jazeera 1/4

The West's shame having abandoned the people of Bahrain. The leaders in the West have no interest in real substantive reform and the protection of the citizenry's civil and human rights. The West is too involved with demonizing the leaders in Syria and Iran as the USA and West get ready for more wars to change regimes to be replaced by Regimes more compliant to the interests of the USA and The West. The West wants oil and gas the people in the middle east are seen as obstacles to US and Western hegemony and imperialism.

Published on Apr 24, 2012 by gothgod/gordspoetryfactory.ca/Gord's Cafe ***FAIR USE*** for educational purposes Documentary about the forgotten people of Bahrain. The US government under President Obama refused to put any pressure on the Bahrini government or Royal Family to stop their abuse of protesters.

 The Western Media became complicit in promulgating the Washington and Bahrain Governments lies and propaganda. Obama and the West created a narritive about Bahrain which purported that the uprising was really part of an Iranian conspiracy to use Shia Muslims in Bahrain combined with a few Iranian under-cover operatives to destablize Bahrain. But this was not a sectarian issue in Bahrain . Sunni and Shia dissidents and activists joined together to insist upon about major substantive not merely cosmetic reform. Obama and his Western Allies are all for regime change and other cosmetic changes but resist any real substantive change in which the average citizens of Bahrain or citizens of other nations have a real influence within their respective governments.

The people of Bahrain have been betrayed by President Obama and his self-serving gang of neo-liberals . Obama did nothing to stop the carnage in Bahrain and publicly defended the Bahraini Regimes as an important ally to the Usa and even suggested that Iran was behind the protests in Bahrain.

Meanwhile Obama and the West have continued to send arms and tear gas ,Mace etc. so the government could continue to attack protesters in the street and to track them down wherever they lived . The Bahraini government has received the help of Saudi Arabia's military and that of Pakistan to invade and occupy Bahrain terrorizing, beating ,abducting, and torturing citizens for protesting . It is the government of Bahrain which has and is still using undercover agents to attack and kill those who dared to speak out.


The Forgotten People ---Bahrain: Shouting in the dark - Al Jazeera English 1/4

#OWS Should Support Bahrain's Pro-Reform Movement While Pres. Obama And Allies Hypocrisy Supporting Oppression In Bahrain

UPDATE BAHRAIN:


Bahrain's Formula 404: Protests Not Found?

Published on Apr 25, 2012 by RussiaToday
In Bahrain, there are no signs of violence dying down - with police firing tear gas at protesters during yet more clashes in the capital Manama. Anti-government demonstrations have been intensifying since the weekend when the world's eyes were on the Formula One Grand Prix race there. But as the world's top drivers went home, foreign criticism of the regime seems to have gone with them.




Gasoline and oil trump Civil Rights and human rights of Bahrain's oppressed citizenry.
The West should be ashamed but just doesn't care .



Tariq Ali About West' Hypocrisy When It Comes To Bahrain



As Tariq Ali points out the USA and president Obama and the West have proven that their promises about supporting reform movements and pro-democracy movements in the Arab countries and the Middle East and Africa is a lot of Bollocks .
Even the Western media has gone out of its way to not report on the vicious and brutal crackdown on Bahrain's pro-reform movement .When the Mainstream Media does report on Bahrain they present the uprising in Bahrain according to the script the USA has developed which says that the Uprising in Bahrain is just a sectarian battle between Shia And Sunni but this is not the case.
In reality the great majority of the people of Bahrain both Shia and Sunni took part in the uprising which began over a year ago .
The other part of the narrative that the President Obama and Western Leaders and the Mainstream Media are deligitimizing the popular uprising in Bahrain by claiming without any evidence that the Uprising in Bahrain is the result of foreign elements notably Iran.

The MSM erroneously claims that those in power in Bahrain are now like the Saudis slowly moving towards reform and that they do protect the basic rights of their citizens-again Bollocks, BS .

The Saudi rulers and the rulers in Bahrain may talk about reform but on the ground in either country it is another matter. There is no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no freedom of assembly , not even freedom of worship-the only rights people have in these countries are whatever the Monarchy decides to bestow on the people - " noblesse Oblige "

And it is becoming more obvious that the current and past administration in the White House have the same high handed disdain for the citizens of Saudi Arabia or Bahrain or any other nation.

And given how the #OWS the Occupy Movement is treated in the USA and Canada and Britain we can only conclude that they will only tolerate certain non-threatening forms of speech and protests.

But when the protesters start to criticize the system of oppression in these nations it is not tolerated.
Even with President Obama in power he too believes in the status quo ie American Exceptionalism, American Imperialism and is also a true believer in rapacious capitalism .

Obama used naive liberals and progressives to get himself elected and since them has turned on those who once supported him as he sets his cowardly middle of the road course between the Far Right and the so-called centrist who are those who once were the liberals in the Republican Party.

So in the USA the Tea Party movement has to a great degree managed to get Obama and the Democrats to cave in over and over again in their fear of being chastised and called UnAmerican for daring to do the "Right Thing" as Eric Alterman told Bill Moyers in their recent discussion.

#OWS the Occupy Movement should realize how much they have in common with the pro-reform protesters in Bahrain.
Both are fighting a powerful arrogant sanctimonious ethically and morally challenged elite.
Both groups do not want some superficial cosmetic change such as a rich leader as opposed to a monarch or as favoring a black man as opposed to a white person. This is just a change in names and faces without any substantive change.
Obama for instance has continued many of the security and foreign policies as President Bush.
Obama has shown that he too wants perpetual war to help keep the American Empire safe and growing as the US bombs one nation after another.

In Bahrain and Saudi Arabia what people are fighting against is that 1% who rule at times with an iron fist and tell the majority of the citizens that those who rich and powerful and the well connected know what's best for the masses.

And as for sports versus politics:
While citizens are gassed and beaten the elite act as if they are civilized as they ignore the violence in the street as they watch their heroes(like gladiators/ Chariot Racers)driving around and around.
The elite truly believe that as long as they are being entertained and having fun that's all that really matters. This is the type of attitudes and thinking which lead to further oppression of those who dare to interfere with the elites pass-times.

The holding of the Grand Prix Formula 1 race in Bahrain only proved how the West and the wealthy are completely insensitive to the oppression of various peoples in their respective countries and abroad. Once again we hear the same old rationalization that the event was about sports not politics. But staging such an event in a police state such as Bahrain sends the wrong message to those in power and those pro-reform protesting citizens being tear gassed, beaten and shot or imprisoned and tortured or abducted and killed by Saudi and American backed Bahraini death squads.

Of course these days the USA ,Canada and Britain now have a poor record when dealing with citizens exercising their right to assemble and protest against government policies.

Holding Bahrain GP turns into public relations disaster for Formula One MICHAEL CASEY
The Associated Press , Apr. 25, 2012 via Globe and Mail

Formula One got into the troubled nation of Bahrain and back out last weekend having run a successful grand prix.

The cost was more criticism of the racing series.

Sectarian violence on the streets of Manama, causing death and injury during the race weekend, created a disturbing background for the race, which itself was incident-free and won by two-time world champion Sebastian Vettel — the Red Bull driver's first victory of the season.

Those who are part of or who support the #OWS Occupy Movement should realize that their goals are similar to those who took part in the Arab Spring over the last year and that includes Bahrain.

In Libya the USA claimed to be on the side of peaceful reformers but in fact the US backed the most violent extremists in order to bring down Qaddafi. The US didn't like Qaddafi because he leaned to the left and not to the right and that he believed that the resources of Libya should be under the control of the Libyan people and not international oil consortiums. But Qaddafi also made the great sin in the eyes of Washington and the West by encouraging African countries to join together inorder to be in a better situation when dealing with Western Nations especially the USA and the American and Western imperialists.

Qaddafi forgot the cardinal rule of the USA and the West that is it is the USA and its allies who will decide on how the resources of Libya or any other country are to be meted out which usually means the USA gets what it wants at the price it is willing to pay.

In the typical US government meaningless statement on Bahrain the spokesperson blamed citizens of Bahrain as much as the government of Bahrain for resorting to violence. There is no moral equivalency here between the two groups. The protests which began over a year ago were peaceful and the reaction of the police was a brutal unnecessary crack down on protesters or anyone suggesting reform in Bahrain. After months of violence perpetrated by the police and armed forces of not just Bahrain but also those of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan some citizens began resorting to violence. But this must be seen in context . The officials in Bahrain did not just force protesters out of Pearl Roundabout but have sent the military forces and undercover thugs to terrorize towns and villages across Bahrain. These armed soldiers and pro-regime thugs stormed into these towns and villages and neighborhoods beating anyone on the streets and then attacked homes of either suspected dissidents and or because the inhabitants were Shia.
It is the government which has done all it can to control the media Narrative by making it look like sectarian violence.
The fact is that the majority of the people in Bahrain are Shia so any popular uprising is bound to include a majority of Shia.
But the protests have been attended and supported by Shia and Sunni Muslims who insist that their civil rights and human rights be protected.

Note this time the official statement from the Obama regime is not from Obama or Biden or Hillary Clinton instead it is some lower down public relations individual Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland which means that Obama does not really give a hoot about the people of Bahrain and is just concerned that the US make a statement to cover its own ass.

The US still wants the world to act as if the United States has played no role in the crackdown in Bahrain or other countries such as Saudi Arabia or Pakistan etc. Its allies can do what they want as long as they kow tow to America on issues which are a concern for the wealthy and political elites in the USA.

And the statement from the US is further weakened by her moral equivalency saying "We condemn the use of violence in all its forms -- whether against peaceful demonstrators or police and government institutions -- and urge all parties to reject such actions.."

In other words the US is not blaming the Bahraini government exclusively for the violence even though that is the case.
Protesters defending themselves and their families their neighborhoods and towns and villages are not perpetuating violence they are merely doing what they can while facing over-whelming brute force.

US urges Bahrain to show restraint
(AFP),April 25,2012

WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday urged Bahrain to exercise restraint and allow peaceful protests, condemning a new outbreak of unrest in the US-allied Sunni Muslim-led

"We are deeply concerned about the increase in violence in Bahrain," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, voicing hope that authorities would stay true to pledges to hold those responsible to account.
We condemn the use of violence in all its forms -- whether against peaceful demonstrators or police and government institutions -- and urge all parties to reject such actions," Nuland said in a statement."We call on the government of Bahrain to permit peaceful protest and to exercise maximum restraint in maintaining order, just as we call on all those demonstrating to do so peacefully," she said.

The Gulf state's Shiite majority claims marginalization and disenfranchisement by the Sunni regime. New clashes erupted after a Shiite, 36-year-old Salah Abbas Habib, was found dead over the weekend.

Authorities have since sealed off the village of Diraz after what official media said was a "terrorist explosion" that wounded four Bahraini policemen.The new unrest came after the country controversially staged the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, a year after the event was canceled amid the crackdown on protests that an independent probe said left more than 35 people dead.

Selected reading:

* Abrahamian, Ervand: A History Of Modern Iran, Pub. 2008.

Ali, Tariq : Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq, pub. 2003.

* Ali, Tariq : The Duel: Pakistan On The Path Of American Power, Pub. 2008.

* Allen, Charles : God's terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and The Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad, Pub. 2006.

* Axworthy, Michael: A History of Iran; Empire of the Mind, pub. 2008.

* Baer, Robert : The Devil We Know : Dealing with the new Iranian Superpower, pub. 2008.

* Bronson, Rachel: Thicker Tan Oil; America's Uneasy Partnership With Saudi Arabia, Pub. 2006.

* Filkins, Dexter: The Forever War , Pub. 2008.

* Hiro, Dilip: The Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys Through Theocratic Iran and Its Furies,Pub. 2005.

* Katouzian, Homa: The Persians; Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern Iran, Pub. 2009.

* Keddie, Nikki R. : Modern Iran; Roots And Results of Revolution, Pub. 2006 updated.

* Lacey, Robert : Inside The Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle For Saudi Arabia, Pub. 2009.

* Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza : The Shia revival : how conflicts within Islam will shape the future, Pub. 2006.

* Polk, William R. : Understanding Iran, pub. 2009.

* Smith, Lee The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and The Clash of Arab Civilizations, Pub. 2010.

* Vandewalle, Dirk A History of Modern Libya, Pub. 2006.

* Weston, Mark : Prophets and Princes : Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the present pub 2008

* Wright, Robin : Rock The Casbah : Rage and Rebellion Across The Islamic World, Pub. 2011

Draft Dodgers Ted Nugent And Romney Update Bahrain British Journalist Beaten and then Deported

Update Bahrain Still Cracking Down on protesters ignored by most of the Western media as the few Western Media left are being beaten and deported. Meanwhile the West concentrates on Iran and Syria and ignore Bahrain because they fear upsetting an Allie .
Our allies can do what they like to suppress even peaceful protesters and suppress the media even arrest and jail doctors who dared to commit a crime by taking care of injured and dying protesters.
But it appears the American Empire is not really interested in real change or substantive reforms that would have a positive impact on the citizens of a particular nation. Bahrain is needed by the USA because it is the home of the US Fifth Fleet and Bahrain is a client state of Saudi Arabia. These factors are more important than the freedom of an entire population. It is a calculus of the cold calculating rulers of the American Empire and its quislings.

also see video documentary Bahrain: Shouting in the dark The story of the Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West and forgotten by the world.Special programme Last AlJazeera, 03 Apr 2012

Bahrain: Journalists Beaten, Arrested, Deported (VIDEO)The Huffington Post | By Jack Mirkinson April 23, 2012

A string of crackdowns on journalists accompanied Bahrain's controversial Grand Prix race over the weekend.

As the ruling government locked down opposition neighborhoods during the glitzy Formula One event, it also beat and deported several reporters.

Among these was a crew for Britain's Channel 4 News. Correspondent Jonathan Miller was arrested on Sunday, along with his crew and their driver, while reporting on a demonstration. The British team was then ejected from the country. The driver was apparently beaten badly.

Japanese journalists covering a protest on a highway leading to the site of the race were also arrested Sunday.

The incidents followed an attack on Mohammed Hasan, a fixer for several outlets including HDNet, the BBC and ITN. A tweet from HDNet's "Dan Rather Reports" said that, while reporting on another demonstration on Friday, Hasan was "ambushed" from behind by police. They used a stun gun on him, beat him and then put him in prison. Hasan has since been released, but faces criminal charges.

Miller was darkly comic in a tweet sent upon his exit from the country:
@millerC4
Jonathan Miller
OK... Channel 4 Three finally being deported aboard a non-British airline. Goodbye Bahrain. I met some lovely people but not many were cops.

Meanwhile as noted president Obama is concerned about the Syrian and Iran's government for their crack down on dissidents on the internet and social media. But Obama says nothing about Bahrain. In fact the US is still shipping arms and tear gas to the government of Bahrain which uses these imports to crush dissidents and protesters in Bahrain.see: US pushes Bahrain arms deal despite abuses Obama administration using legal loophole to sell arms to Bahrain despite ongoing abuses and crackdown on NGOs.
Gregg Carlstrom at AlJazeera, 02 Feb 2012

Obama: Use Tech to Abuse Rebels, We'll Sanction You EXECUTIVE ORDER FINGERS ENTITIES BACKING IRAN, SYRIA, BUT COULD BE ENLARGED at Newser.com, April 23, 2012

If you use technology to help a repressive regime commit human rights abuses, you'll find yourself slapped with US sanctions. That's the message from President Obama, who this morning announced a new executive order specifically targeting those backing Iran and Syria via technology, though it could be expanded to other regimes, reports the Washington Post. The new sanctions will include a US visa ban and financial restrictions on a number of Syrian and Iranian businesses and government agencies, along with a lone Syrian individual.

Obama announced the sanctions in a speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the AP reports. "National sovereignty is never a license to slaughter your own people," he said, drawing a parallel between the Holocaust and modern day atrocities. He also called for the first-ever National Intelligence Estimate of the potential for mass-killings around the world. "We must tell our children about a crime unique in human history: the one and only Holocaust," he said. But "remembrance without action changes nothing."

Update Ted Nugents Paranoia goes mainstream within the Republican Party . So wacky know-nothing Conspiracy nutters is now the GOP base and a few racists and the Tycoons on Wall Street and the Christian Taliban of America.

Lawrence O'Donnell at MSNBC comments on Ted Nugent's violent rhetoric and ask if a democrat said this about Mitt Romney would the GOP take exception.

Homicidal Hate-Monger Ted Nugent Plays The GOP Staple -- 'White Victimology'

Published on Apr 18, 2012 by politicalarticles
The Politics of White Grievance Mongering & Victimology: http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/tag/white-grievance-mongering-victimology/

And Ed Schultz takes exception to Ted Nugents' racist paranoid Hate Speech against President Obama.
Ted Nugent argues if Obama is re-elected this would be a terrible tragedy for America.
He argues that America will become a suburb of Indonesia if Obama has his way.
Nugent is under the impression like a large number of Conservatives and Conspiracy theorists and the so called " Birthers" that Obama is not an American citizen and is in fact anti-American and is really a socialists or communists and or a secret Muslim.
So they claim Obama is anti-capitalism and anti-Christian and part of some larger international conspiracy.
Some conspiracists go so far as to claim Obama is part of one of a number of international conspiracies such as the Masons or the Illumanati or for some hidden Jewish Talmudic cabal or as part of some race of Lizard People who have been working behind the scenes for thousands of years. These Lizard people are either space aliens or live inside the hollow earth. Check out video of the insane conspiracy theory of David Icke The Reptilian Agenda - David Icke [complete] - Part 1.1.1 .
or check out : video How the ILLUMINATI made Obama President 8/9
These conspiracists even blame Obama for the death of Michael Jackson Obama & Illuminati Killed Michael Jackson Part 1

One wonders if the reason some people are drawn to these conspiracy theories no matter how outrageous because otherwise they find it difficult to believe that the American people willingly and consciously put a Black Man into office.

Ed Schultz : Racist Ted Nugent's Violent Anti-Obama Rhetoric; Nugent Wants To Lynch Democrats

Published on Apr 18, 2012 by politicalarticles
The Politics of White Grievance Mongering & Victimology: http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/tag/white-grievance-mongering-victimology/

Ted Nugent: Vietnam Draft Dodger

Published on Apr 18, 2012 by TheYoungTurks
In that 1990 interview with the Free Press and from information collected from the Chickenhawk Web site, Nugent told about how he avoided the draft: "He claims that 30 days before his Draft Board Physical, he stopped all forms of personal hygiene. The last 10 days he ingested nothing but junk food and Pepsi, and a week before his physical, he stopped using the bathroom altogether, virtually living inside his pants caked with excrement and urine. That spectacle won Nugent a deferment."

Borking America : Mitt Romney Judicial Extremism And Ted Nugent's Violent Rhetoric ??? And Moyers & Eric Alterman Discuss "The Liberal Cause " Part 1/2

Mitt Romney's Judicial Extremism Exposed by People For The American Way

Ted Nugent and Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney Won’t Disavow Supporter Ted Nugent’s Violent Rhetoric at People For The American Way, April 2012

Contrary to some media reports, Mitt Romney has failed to disavow the inflammatory and violent remarks made by Ted Nugent on Saturday at the NRA national convention. Nugent, a longtime NRA board member, made his remarks one day after Romney addressed the convention.

Ted Nugent Stumps for Mitt Romney at NRA Convention: “Chop their heads off in November” (VIDEO)
Submitted by Josh Glasstetter on Mon, 04/16/2012

Borking America
WHAT ROBERT BORK WILL MEAN FOR THE SUPREME COURT AND AMERICAN JUSTICE By Jamie Raskin, Senior Fellow, People For The American Way

YES, AMERICA, ROBERT BORK IS BACK

But what does this appointment say to the rest of us? Surely Romney must be assuming that it is safe to accede and pander to the Right because we have all forgotten about Bork’s anti-consumer, anti-environmental and anti-worker record as a judge, not to mention his snarling opposition to women’s rights, civil rights and civil liberties — the hard-core positions that moved the Senate to reject his nomination by President Ronald Reagan to the United States Supreme Court on a bipartisan vote of 58-42.

Romney is also presumably trusting that, ever since Bork resigned from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to launch a career as a conservative polemicist with the American Enterprise Institute,1 most of the public has tuned out his increasingly bitter diatribes against the “feminized”2 Supreme Court and his embarrassing tirades against “American cultural decline,” and the social “rot and decadence” of our country.

But Romney’s elevation of Bork to advise him on the kinds of judges who should serve on the Supreme Court and the federal bench spells serious trouble for the American people. At a time when a pretty reliable 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court is already sanctifying the power of large corporations and closing down individual Americans’ access to the courts, when reproductive freedom and voting rights hang by a thread, it is a cause for public alarm that Romney wants to try once again to put Robert Bork in the driver’s seat of America’s constitutional journey.

...BORK’S SUPREME COURT NOMINATION: Extremism Exposed And Defeated

On July 1, 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Bork to the Supreme Court, setting off a profound national debate about the meaning of the Constitution and the role of the Justice. Is the Constitution the expansive charter of the freedoms and liberties of the people, as Justices like William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall argued, or is it a straitjacket on democratic freedom designed primarily to protect those with power, privilege, wealth and property? Bork’s performance was not reassuring. In his most reflective moment at his confirmation hearings, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he wanted to serve on the Court because it offered him an “intellectual feast,” but most Americans rapidly came to the conclusion that, if Bork were seated at the table, they were themselves going to appear somewhere on the menu.

Bork’s opposition to reproductive freedom as a constitutional principle, his skepticism about modern civil rights law, his blithe constitutional acceptance of poll taxes and literacy tests, his reflexively pro-corporate, anti-worker and anti-environmentalist stances, his historical U-turns and dodgy answers all inspired a huge popular mobilization against him. Ultimately, his nomination was defeated with a strong, bipartisan vote of 58-42, with six Republicans voting no and two Democrats voting yes. (Lest one reach the conclusion that the Senate would have rejected anyone nominated to the Court by President Reagan, the body ultimately confirmed, by a vote of 97-0, the deeply conservative Anthony Kennedy, who later came to author the Court’s devastating Citizens United decision.)

Borking America at People For The American Way





Moyers and Eric Alterman Discuss "The Liberal Cause " Part 1/2
American Liberals suffer from a loss of self-confidence
Conservatives have managed to make Liberalism a dirty word
Liberals have been branded as UnAmerican



Moyers and Eric Alterman Discuss "The Liberal Cause "Part 2 of 2

Sunday Sermon Nazarene and The Roman/American Empire Meanwhile The Glorification of War and The Demonization of Marijuana

"That which we call sin in others is experiment for us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson * * *

"If the government can't keep drugs away from inmates who are locked in steel cages, surrounded by barbed wire, watched by armed guards, drug-tested, strip-searched, X-rayed, and videotaped – how can it possibly stop the flow of drugs to an entire nation?"

– Ron Crickenberger

No theory from medicine or philosophy or psychology demands alcohol, tobacco and caffeine must be legal while marijuana, cocaine, and heroin must be prohibited.

Chris Berg a Research Fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs.
From website Spirit Caller: War on Drugs

Today's items:
War On Drugs
War on Islam
Roman Empire Versus American Empire
The Christian Way: Nationalism, Militarism, Materialism, Nihilism
and the Abandoned Nazarene

The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying To Keep Marijuana Illegal | AlterNet
The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying To Keep Marijuana Illegal | AlterNet

Last year, over 850,000 people in America were arrested for marijuana-related crimes. Despite public opinion, the medical community, and human rightsexperts all moving in favor of relaxing marijuana prohibition laws, little has changed in terms of policy

1.) Police Unions: Police departments across the country have become dependent on federal drug war grants to finance their budget...

2.) Private Prisons Corporations: Private prison corporations make millions by incarcerating people who have been imprisoned for drug crimes, including marijuana...

3.) Alcohol and Beer Companies: Fearing competition for the dollars Americans spend on leisure, alcohol and tobacco interests have lobbied to keep marijuana out of reach...

4.) Pharmaceutical Corporations: Like the sin industries listed above, pharmaceutical interests would like to keep marijuana illegal so American don’t have the option of cheap medical alternatives to their products...

5.) Prison Guard Unions: Prison guard unions have a vested interest in keeping people behind bars just like for-profit prison companies...

The article doesn't mention other groups such as politicians who have sold to the above mentioned groups and lobbyists. Most politicians having little or no personal integrity vote whichever will get them the most money for their election campaigns and for plum jobs once they leave politics.

Many politicians also are afraid to back legalization of marijuana in fear of losing votes. It's the equivalent to being anti-war in general or against a particular war ie Iraq , Libya or the coming war with Iran. There are even those who anticipate a war with North Korea, Russia.

Being anti-war in America is the kiss of death even Obama gave up on that once he was sworn into office. As for drug policies President Obama has doubled down on The War On Drugs . But it is difficult to judge if this is merely a political move fearing a backlash from those groups against legalization or something he believes in. And if so does he erroneously think Marijuana is a 'Gate-way Drug" because he is no better informed about marijuana than most people.

The Gateway drug proposition is just nonsense. We could as easily say coffee or any caffeine drink is a Gate Way drug if most people who use Marijuana began as Coffee Drinkers .

Another group who are gung-ho on the War on Drugs is the US mainstream media who believe whatever urban myths they have heard about Marijuana. Watch the old and the unintentionally very funny Reefer Madness circa 1950. The film shows how after taking a few puffs off of a joint the drugged individual will rape or kill or commit suicide or will take part in sexual debauchery practice "Free Love" and various criminal activities .

The stigma and paranoia and hysteria about drugs goes at least as far back to the book by Thomas DeQuincy The Confessions of an Opium Eater in which various racist tropes about people from the East who are seen as evil, debauched, lazy and so forth. This if you like is the negative side of Orientalism in which the people outside the West are depicted as mysterious and as untrustworthy and so on. Because as we know or at least this is what many misinformed people believe that anyone who uses Marijuana or opium develops a love for Eastern Music, dress, philosophy and religion. Smoking pot the anti-drug crowd fear on a conscious level or unconsciously will turn a Westerner away from Christianity and lead one to become a Hindu or a Buddhist OMG???

Universities in the old days often played the film Reefer Madness at the beginning of each year as part of their welcoming of the new students . These days universities are more apt to show the hyper-macho militarist film Top Gun or some other pro-war film or a combat film based upon a pro-war video game or they might play the anti-semitic The Passion of The Christ which to me is just another violent bloody torture-porn film disguised as some sort of bizarre religious message. So much for The Sermon On the Mount instead what matters is the suffering of the Nazarene caused by unbelievers . The message is also according to some theologians that we are all guilty of spilling the blood of the Nazarene which gets added to "Original Sin" and so all life is merely suffering before one goes to Paradise if one has real faith and prays a lot. All works one performs are pointless.And here we find the root of Nihilism because nothing matters beyond Faith so murdering thousands invading nations to prove one's power or to take their natural resources is of no interest to a God whose hands are bloodied by the millions killed by Him or in His name.

The early Christians once they took control of the Roman Empire they identified themselves as being Romans and so needed to reconcile their Christian belief system and history with bein part of a militaristic , materialistic self-serving brutal Empire.
We see these days the same sort of twisted logic being used by Christians in the USA who have identified themselves with the American Empire and Nation State. Jesus said render onto Ceaser that which is Ceaser's and render unto God that which is God's.
But the Nazerene never says that Chistians should idenify themselves with the state or whatever nation they reside.

The Wild Hypocrisy of America's Conservative Christians In Britain, the devout tend to be economic progressives. Why have American Christians embraced social Darwinism? by David Sirota , Alternet April 20, 2012

Here's a newspaper headline that might induce a disbelieving double take: "Christians 'More Likely to Be Leftwing' And Have Liberal Views on Immigration and Equality." Sounds too hard to believe, right? Well, it's true -- only not here in America, but in the United Kingdom.

That headline, from London's Daily Mail, summed up the two-tiered conclusion of a new report from the British think tank Demos, which found that in England 1) "religious people are more active citizens (who) volunteer more, donate more to charity and are more likely to campaign on political issues" and 2) "religious people are more likely to be politically progressive (people who) put a greater value on equality than the non-religious, are more likely to be welcoming of immigrants as neighbours (and) more likely to put themselves on the left of the political spectrum."

These findings are important to America for two reasons.

First, they tell us that, contrary to evidence in the United States, the intersection of religion and politics doesn't have to be fraught with hypocrisy. Britain is a Christian-dominated country, and the Christian Bible is filled with liberal economic sentiment. It makes perfect sense, then, that the more devoutly loyal to that Bible one is, the more progressive one would be on economics.

Here in the United States, those who self-identify as religious tend to be exactly the opposite of their British counterparts when it comes to politics. As the Pew Research Center recently discovered, "Most people who agree with the religious right also support the Tea Party" and its ultra-conservative economic agenda. Summing up the situation, scholar Gregory Paul wrote in the Washington Post that many religious Christians in America simply ignore the Word and "proudly proclaim that the creator of the universe favors free wheeling, deregulated union busting, minimal taxes, especially for wealthy investors, and plutocrat-boosting capitalism as the ideal earthly scheme for his human creations."

For more on drugs check out: The decriminalisation (or even legalisation) of drugs , 01/03/2012 -in Newspaper items Vaada E-News ABC Online, The Drum, 1 March 2012 by Chris berg at Incorporating Comorbidity E-News

It doesn't take more than a moment of thought to recognise that the rulings on which drugs are legal or illegal are governed by no particular logic.
No theory from medicine or philosophy or psychology demands alcohol, tobacco and caffeine must be legal while marijuana, cocaine, and heroin must be prohibited.
We cannot rely on distinctions about relative harm. Many experts have pointed out that marijuana is on balance less dangerous than alcohol. But this legal discord isn't unusual. One British police chief controversially stated a few years ago that ecstasy is safer than aspirin.
Nor is the distinction between recreational or medicinal use any help. There are legal and illegal drugs that fall on both sides of that artificial line.
The generally accepted definition of the word "drug" offers no guide to legality either: "any substance other than food which by its chemical nature affects the structure or function of the living organism".

Whether a drug is illegal is nothing more than an accident of history. Drug laws were not written dispassionately by a panel of the best medical and ethical minds in the world. The laws bear no relation to the damage those drugs could cause or their danger to society – they were not written to minimise harm or protect health.

see for instance:

The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs by Edward M. Brecher and the Editors of Consumer Reports Magazine, 1972

also see: Drug Hysteria: U.S.A. :

John Strausbaugh & Donald Blaise eds, foreword by William S. Burroughs, The Drug User: Documents 1840-1960

. New York: Blast Books, 1991. at CTHEORY.net