(Reuters)

The White House announced a slate of 13 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Thursday — a list that includes folk singer Bob Dylan, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, former Israeli president Shimon Peres, novelist Toni Morrison, and former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

Other notable recipients include astronaut and former Sen. John Glenn, University of Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low (posthumously), and Polish resistance figure Jan Karski (posthumously).

The Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, is presented to individuals “who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

“These extraordinary honorees come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but each of them has made a lasting contribution to the life of our Nation. They’ve challenged us, they’ve inspired us, and they’ve made the world a better place. I look forward to recognizing them with this award,” President Obama said in a statement.

The ceremony will be in “late spring,” according to the White House.

Full list of recipients and bios after the jump.

Madeleine Albright

From 1997 to 2001, under President William J. Clinton, Albright served as the 64th United States Secretary of State, the first woman to hold that position. During her tenure, she worked to enlarge NATO and helped lead the Alliance’s campaign against terror and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, pursued peace in the Middle East and Africa, sought to reduce the dangerous spread of nuclear weapons, and was a champion of democracy, human rights, and good governance across the globe. From 1993 to 1997, she was America’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Since leaving office, she founded the Albright Stonebridge Group and Albright Capital Management, returned to teaching at Georgetown University, and authored five books. Albright chairs the National Democratic Institute and is President of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

John Doar

Doar was a legendary public servant and leader of federal efforts to protect and enforce civil rights during the 1960s. He served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. In that capacity, he was instrumental during many major civil rights crises, including singlehandedly preventing a riot in Jackson, Mississippi, following the funeral of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evars in 1963. Doar brought notable civil rights cases, including obtaining convictions for the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi, and leading the effort to enforce the right to vote and implement the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He later served as Special Counsel to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary as it investigated the Watergate scandal and considered articles of impeachment against President Nixon. Doar continues to practice law at Doar Rieck Kaley & Mack in New York.

Bob Dylan

One of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century, Dylan released his first album in 1962. Known for his rich and poetic lyrics, his work had considerable influence on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and has had significant impact on American culture over the past five decades. He has won 11 Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award. He was named a Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Art et des Lettres and has received a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation. Dylan was awarded the 2009 National Medal of Arts. He has written more than 600 songs, and his songs have been recorded more than 3,000 times by other artists. He continues recording and touring around the world today.

William Foege

A physician and epidemiologist, Foege helped lead the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. He was appointed Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1977 and, with colleagues, founded the Task Force for Child Survival in 1984. Foege became Executive Director of The Carter Center in 1986 and continues to serve the organization as a Senior Fellow. He helped shape the global health work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and remains a champion of a wide array of issues, including child survival and development, injury prevention, and preventative medicine. Foege’s leadership has contributed significantly to increased awareness and action on global health issues, and his enthusiasm, energy, and effectiveness in these endeavors have inspired a generation of leaders in public health.

John Glenn

Glenn is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States Senator. In 1962, he was the third American in space and the first American to orbit the Earth. After retiring from the Marine Corps, Glenn was elected to the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 1974. He was an architect and sponsor of the 1978 Nonproliferation Act and served as Chairman of the Senate Government Affairs committee from 1978 until 1995. In 1998, Glenn became the oldest person to visit space at the age of 77. He retired from the Senate in 1999. Glenn is a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Gordon Hirabayashi

Hirabayashi openly defied the forced relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. As an undergraduate at the University of Washington, he refused the order to report for evacuation to an internment camp, instead turning himself in to the FBI to assert his belief that these practices were racially discriminatory. Consequently, he was convicted by a U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle of defying the exclusion order and violating curfew. Hirabayashi appealed his conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him in 1943. Following World War II and his time in prison, Hirabayashi obtained his doctoral degree in sociology and became a professor. In 1987, his conviction was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Hirabayashi died on January 2, 2012.

Dolores Huerta

Huerta is a civil rights, workers, and women’s advocate. With Cesar Chavez, she co-founded the National Farmworkers Association in 1962, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. Huerta has served as a community activist and a political organizer, and was influential in securing the passage of California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, and disability insurance for farmworkers in California. In 2002, she founded the Dolores Huerta Foundation, an organization dedicated to developing community organizers and national leaders. In 1998, President Clinton awarded her the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights.

Jan Karski

Karski served as an officer in the Polish Underground during World War II and carried among the first eye-witness accounts of the Holocaust to the world. He worked as a courier, entering the Warsaw ghetto and the Nazi Izbica transit camp, where he saw first-hand the atrocities occurring under Nazi occupation. Karski later traveled to London to meet with the Polish government-in-exile and with British government officials. He subsequently traveled to the United States and met with President Roosevelt. Karski published Story of a Secret State, earned a Ph.D at Georgetown University, and became a professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Born in 1914, Karski became a U.S. citizen in 1954 and died in 2000.

Juliette Gordon Low

Born in 1860, Low founded the Girl Scouts in 1912. The organization strives to teach girls self-reliance and resourcefulness. It also encourages girls to seek fulfillment in the professional world and to become active citizens in their communities. Since 1912, the Girl Scouts has grown into the largest educational organization for girls and has had over 50 million members. Low died in 1927. This year, the Girl Scouts celebrate their 100th Anniversary, calling 2012 “The Year of the Girl.”

Toni Morrison

One of our nation’s most celebrated novelists, Morrison is renowned for works such as Song of Solomon, Jazz, and Beloved, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988. When she became the first African American woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1993, Morrison’s citation captured her as an author “who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.” She created the Princeton Atelier at Princeton University to convene artists and students. Morrison continues to write today.

Shimon Peres

An ardent advocate for Israel’s security and for peace, Shimon Peres was elected the ninth President of Israel in 2007. First elected to the Knesset in 1959, he has served in a variety of positions throughout the Israeli government, including in twelve Cabinets as Foreign Minister, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Transport and Communications. Peres served as Prime Minister from 1984-1986 and 1995-1996. Along with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then-PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as Foreign Minister during the Middle East peace talks that led to the Oslo Accords. Through his life and work, he has strengthened the unbreakable bonds between Israel and the United States.

Read entire article here

Coming up today and every Friday at 7:00pm Pacific * 10:00pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT

ECOSHOCK — The Beginning of the End

Economic collapse will come before peak oil or climate disruption, says investment guru Chris Martenson, author of “Crash Course”. Matthew Stein, author of “When Technology Fails” explains how a solar flare could cripple society and set off 400 Chernobyls – and how we could fix it. Alex rants against 2012 mythology.

Let’s end the crazy distractions and deal with real problems – while we still can.
Speakers: Chris Martenson, Matthew Stein. Visit Radio Ecoshock here.

Given The Dominance of The Machines, Do Flesh-and-Blood Traders Have a Chance?

As of 2010, 50-70% of all stock trades were done by high frequency trading computer algorithms.

And many other asset classes are dominated by high frequency trading as well.

High-frequency trading distorts the markets. And see this, this and this. And it lets the big banks peek at what the real traders are buying and selling, and then trade on the insider information. See this, this, this, and this.

Morgan Stanley has just shown (via the Financial Times) that the percentage of high frequency trading in the stock market has skyrocketed to 84%:

Trading by “real” investors is taking up the smallest share of US stock market volumes [since Morgan Stanley started keeping track 10 years ago.]

The findings highlight how US trading activity is increasingly being fuelled by fast turnover of shares by independent firms and the market-making desks of brokerages, many using high-frequency trading engines. [actually all of the market-making desks are using it.]

***

The proportion of US trading activity represented by buy and sell orders from mutual funds, hedge funds, pensions and brokerages, referred to as “real money” or institutional investors, accounted for just 16 per cent of total market volume in the form of buying, and 13 per cent via selling in the final quarter of last year, according to analysis by Morgan Stanley’s Quantitative and Derivative Strategies group.

It’s not just the U.S. High frequency trading dominates in the U.K. as well.

Given the dominance of the machines, do flesh-and-blood traders have a chance?
Washington’s Blog is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Washington’s Blog

READ FULL STORY HERE

Public Banking In America Conference

Forty-eight states currently have budget shortfalls. The common strategy being dictated in many of these states and in Washington is to call for budget cuts, eliminating important safety nets for the middle-class and those below the poverty line, as well as to repeal legislation guaranteeing collective bargain rights for unions. It’s as if the states and the federal government were corporations with no responsibility to their real stockholders, the citizens of the U.S.

Visit the Conference Website Here

This is a No Lies Radio News Live Radio & Video-Cast from Philadelphia, PA. Many Thanks to Bright Path Video and the Public Banking in America Conference for providing this live broadcast feed.

Welcome to the Alphabet series! Every other week we will be tackling a letter of the alphabet and connecting that letter with a physical, emotional and/or spiritual ailment that impacts us individually and as a community. We will gather as many recipes, rituals, remedies and resources as we can to support the healing of these ailments. This is not by any means a comprehensive list, but a working list of possible things that can reinforce and engage healing. Please be sure to consult your doctor/practitioner/spiritual guide/intuition before using and as you use any of these therapies. We are all different and respond uniquely to various healing methods. Its important to only use what is meant for you specifically. We started of the series with A is for Anger…Lets continue with the letter B. B is for Burnout.

“Caring for myself is not self indulgence. It is self preservation-that is an act of political warfare.”
– Audre Lorde

Regardless of whether you are smart, rich, experienced, naiive, supported by tons of people, a lone strong warrior, young, old, Buddha-like, a strategiest, an activist, unemployed, or in your dream job, YOU CAN EXPERIENCE BURNOUT!!!! Burnout syndrome affects people across race, age, class, gender, sexuality, and work industry. Ofcourse certain jobs, practices, lifestyles are more prone to burnout. But it is important to recognize that burnout is something that impacts us all. Recognizing this truth allows us to be more conscious of signs when they arise in us or around us.

Burnout is often confused with stress. Unlike stress, burnout is a consistent and prolonged state of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual exhaustion caused by constant exposure to stressful demands. It is the result of persistent stress over a long period of time.
Stress vs. Burnout
Stress

Burnout
Characterized by overengagement Characterized by disengagement
Emotions are overreactive Emotions are blunted
Produces urgency and hyperactivity Produces helplessness and hopelessness
Loss of energy Loss of motivation, ideals, and hope
Leads to anxiety disorders Leads to detachment and depression
Primary damage is physical Primary damage is emotional
May kill you prematurely May make life seem not worth living
Source:Stress and Burnout in Ministry

Burnout is a disease!! and like a lot of diseases, it is contagious!! If you are someone who does not prioritize healing in your life and burnout has become a default mode of functioning, think about all the spaces you occupy on a daily basis and how these spaces are impacted by your burnout state. Think about your friends, family members, children, parents, colleagues, neighbors, partners, and community members. How you are feeling impacts them. On the flip side, if you are in stressful environments, jobs and/or relationships that are prone to burnout breakouts, you could easily be a bystander caught in the fire.

Sadly, we have not been given adequate tools to recognize the signs and symptoms and practice prevention and sustainable and intentional healing. Even sadder, burnout has become a badge of honor to legitimize people and prove that folks are doing “good work”. These unhealthy beliefs build dangerous and unhealthy patterns, clouding our ability to lead full, healthy, fulfilling, and nourishing lives. Luckily, burnout does not have to be a barrier, it can be a blessing, helping you to listen to parts of your self that need to speak.

POTENTIAL INGREDIENTS, WHAT CAUSES BURNOUT?

* Prolonged physical, mental, emotional and spiritual exhaustion
* Stressful jobs with unclear and/or unrealistic job expectations, dysfunctional power dynamics, lack of control, disconnect in values
* Stressful relationships that are co-dependent, abusive, unfulfilling, unreciprocal
* Not knowing how to listen to or name your needs
* Trauma
* Oppression
* Self judgment and rejection, feeling like nothing is ever good enough, you are never good enough
* Cultural, societal and generational messages about burnout
* Abuse
* Taking on too many responsibilities
* Perfectionist tendencies

PHYSICAL, SPIRITUAL, EMOTIONAL MANIFESTATIONS
Physically: People may experience physical exhaustion that is prolonged over time. Feeling incredibly tired and not having the will to get up or move through the day, inability to sleep, getting sick a lot, muscle aches, headaches, migraines, loss of appetite, weight gain.
Emotionally: Folks may feel a loss in motivation, internalized oppression, pessimism about everything, decreased sense of accomplisment, detachment, cynicism, helplessness.
Spiritually: People may show withdrawal from relationship to oneself and/or source of power, isolation, inability to connect to oneself and to others.
Here are a few Burnout self-tests to see where you are on the spectrum

* Burnout Self Test from Mind Tools
* Mayo Clinic Burnout Questions
* Burnout Scale from American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

RECIPES AND REMEDIES

* Use clary sage and lavendar essential oils over a prolonged period of time. You can apply it on your body or burn it on an aromatherapy vessel.
* Daily doses of the flower remedy Walnut has been shown to decrease stress and in turn help heal burnout.
* Ingesting siberian ginseng in tablet form or tincture form.
* Acupressure and acupuncture
* Use reflexology to locate major points on the hands and feet that support relaxation and stress reduction.
* Healing baths with epson salt and lavendar
* Relaxing breathing exercises
* Sleep at least 6-8 hours a day
* Yoga
* Eliminate any stressors in your life
* Take yourself out on a healing date
* “Just say ‘no’. Setting boundaries early with others should not be considered walls, but paths to your sanity.”
* Adopt healthy eating habits

If you are in a job that has high burnout factor, here are some helpful tips from the ACLU

1. Create a group culture / ethos that supports self-care, balance and sustainable work loads and patterns.
2. Take a long-term perspective of planning and working for the long haul, to keep experienced / skilled group members for as long as possible
3. Balance task focus with process and relationship / maintenance focus – in meetings, in daily work, in planning, and in evaluation
4. Provide workshops / training in stress management and burnout prevention – can be as part of conferences, gatherings or ongoing training / orientation.
5. Use regular planning and evaluation as a tool to reduce stress
6. Build stress level checks into reviews and evaluations – how stressed do people feel? What is contributing? What do we need to do about these?
7. Put stress prevention strategies on the agenda for meetings.
8. Allow people to express feelings of distress, grief and loss and frustration – regard them as normal and healthy responses to unhealthy situations and state of the world.
9. Provide individual or group debriefing after critical incidents or high stress campaigns. Keep an eye open for vulnerable individuals and see intervention as valid.
10. Create support structures, eg supervision, mentoring, support / affinity groups, larger group workshops.
11. Put value on socialising, fun, humour, relaxation time as a group.

RITUALS

* Begin and end your day with relaxing breathing exercises and meditation.
* Write down positive affirmations for yourself and place them in spaces where you will see them on a regular basis.
* Create a vision board that clearly defines what you want your life to look like.
* Do a letting go ritual to release anything in your life that is causing you burn

Read entire article here

by Dibia

Welcome to the Alphabet series! Every other week we will be tackling a letter of the alphabet and connecting that letter with a physical, emotional and/or spiritual ailment that impacts us individually and as a community. We will gather as many recipes, rituals, remedies and resources as we can to support the healing of these ailments. This is not by any means a comprehensive list, but a working list of possible things that can reinforce and engage healing. Please be sure to consult your doctor/practitioner/spiritual guide/intuition before using any of these therapies. We are all different and respond uniquely to various healing methods. Its important to only use what is meant for you specifically. Lets kick things off with the letter A. A is for Anger!!!

“And true, sometimes it seems that anger alone keeps me alive; it burns with a bright and undiminished flame. Yet anger, like guilt, is an incomplete form of human knowledge. More useful than hatred, but still limited. Anger is useful to help clarify our differences, but in the long run, strength that is bred by anger alone is a blind force which cannot create the future. It can only demolish the past. Such strength does not focus on what lies ahead, but upon what lies behind, upon what created it – hatred. And hatred is a deathwish for the hated, not a lifewish for anything else.”

~Audre Lorde

We are all recipients and givers of anger. To feel anger is normal and a natural expression of emotion. Anger, used effectively, can be an incredible atlas of discovery. It can help us uncover unhealthy patterns, highlight areas in our lives that need change, open us up to stand up for ourselves and our communities and help us release parts of ourselves that have been clogged down. On the flip side, anger can be a beaaasssstt!!! Allowed to run rampant, it can manifest violently in our physical and spiritual selves and cause damaging rippling effects in our relationships with friends, family, strangers and the earth. The trick to making anger work for us, is to find a balance of expressing anger without causing harm to yourself and/or others. How do we do that? Well, It helps to start from the root of what causes our anger and work our way up, picking up answers along the way.

Potential Ingredients: What causes Anger?

* Unaddressed emotions
* Frustration
* Your loud ass neighbor who refuses to respect silence
* Stressful environments ie people, workspaces, relationships, living spaces
* Change that feels out of our control
* Oppression
* Unforgiveness of yourself and/or others
* Abuse
* Physical, emotional and/or spiritual pain
* Not feeling heard/seen
* Any part of you being disrespected
* Self judgement
* Self rejection
* Cultural and societal messages about anger
* Biased information processing
* Fear
* Adrenal release

Physical and Spiritual manifestations

Anger can manifest in any number of ways. Physically, people may experience headaches, dizziness, stomach aches, rapid heart beat, pain in isolated parts of the body, sweating. I personally experience hot ears and sweat palms. If I’m hella angry, I have a hard time articulating my thoughts. People may also notice that they begin to pace, speak aggressively, act abrasively, raise their voice, feel anxious. Spiritually, folks might feel ungrounded, unbalanced, chaotic and foggy. Some folks might feel a deep sense of clarity. Its important to note that that these physical manifestations can also be indications of other emotional, physical and/or spiritual issues. Everybody’s expression of anger is different. Whats most important is that when anger arises, its important to pay attention to how your body physically expresses and stores it. It is important that we deal with our anger so that it does not escalate to place that is destructive to ourselves or others. If you find yourself experiencing difficulty breathing, chest pain, hurting yourself or another person, getting into verbal and physical fights, it is important to seek the help of a professional who can support your healing.

Recipes & Remedies

* Steep 1/2 teaspoon of chamomile and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped cilantro leaves in hot water for 10 minutes. Allow the tea to cool, strain and sip slowly.
* Reduce and/or eliminate sugar in your diet. Healthy fruits and vegetables can help regulate moods.
* Rose essential oil has been a successful treatment for anger. Inhale it directly from a bottle or put a few drops on the pulse points of your wrist. You can also add a few drops in a candle diffuser and burn it in your preferred space.
* Another helpful essential oil is sandalwood. Dab a drop of it on the middle of your forehead, throat, breastbone, temple, and wrists.
* Use guided imagery to imagine yourself expressing your anger to the person or thing you are annoyed with
* Listen to relaxing and calming music.
* Practice a breathing meditation for at least 10 minutes, certain forms of pranayama are particularly helpful
* Make an anger chili.
* LET IT OUT!!!!Find a productive way to express your anger; dance, writing, singing, being a part of an organizing campaign for change, visual art, screaming at the top of your lungs, beating a punching bag etc
* Come up with a safe and effective action plan to implement when you get angry. Identify ways you can be proactive rather than reactive.
* As a community, it is important to support folks dealing with anger with as much compassion and non-judgement as possible.

Rituals

* Practice a letting go ritual to release anger that is being destructive in your life.
* Create time and space with a friend and/or community to share the source of your anger.
* Participate in a grieving ritual. The root of a lot of anger we experience is deeply connected to unacknowledged and unresolved grief. The better we are at grieving, the less likely anger arising from this greif can have a negative impact on our lives.

Read entire article here

A US-Libya Business Association (USLBA) delegation headed by US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Jose Fernandez arrived in Libya yesterday at the start of a five-day visit focusing on trade and investment.

The delegation includes 37 representatives from 20 US companies and organizations which represent a range of sectors including healthcare, education administration, training, energy, construction, logistics, infrastructure, construction support, vehicles and equipment, transportation, public safety, agriculture, public relations and telecommunications.

While in Libya, the delegation will travel to Tripoli and Benghazi to meet with senior Libyan national and local government officials, including Prime Minister Abdurrahim Al-Kib. The delegation will participate in events with private business groups from Tripoli, Misrata and Benghazi to discuss national priorities in the rebuilding of the country.

They will also participate in two major trade shows for the oil and gas and infrastructure industries, which are taking place in Tripoli.

The delegation is joined by US Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz.

“We are very grateful to US Ambassador Gene Cretz and the entire US embassy team in Libya,” said USLBA Executive Director Chuck Dittrich.

“Ambassador Cretz has been a driving force in involving the US private sector in the rebuilding of Libya. Without his leadership and the dedication of his team, this delegation visit would not have been possible. We are excited to be here and look forward to a very productive week.”

American business sees Libya as an important potential economic partner. “In the short term, in addition to the energy sector, the country offers opportunities for companies in the vocational training, healthcare and infrastructure sectors, and in the long term, opportunities in tourism development, financial services and banking, construction, agriculture and the digital economy,” said Dittrich in a press statement.

“Among all of those with whom we’ve had an opportunity to meet here in Libya, we’ve found that American technology, entrepreneurship and creativity are met with a warm welcome. Long-term partnerships and collaborative new ventures, especially among emerging young business leaders in Libya are being formed, and we see vast opportunities to strengthen US-Libya economic ties now and in the future.”

Dittrich was upbeat about Libyan progress.

“While much press coverage about Libya is focused on the historic political transition to representative government now underway, it ignores the underlying fact that Libya is already in the process of building a new economy focused on the nation’s private sector,” he said.

“Among the keys to generating and sustaining private sector growth, job creation and diversifying the economy is putting in place institutions and policies focused on governance, transparency, accountability, rule of law, property rights and access to finance.”

There is, he said “an energy and a true sense of optimism that day by day, things are moving forward”.

The challenge, he believed, would be “to create government institutions that allow an independent business community to keep growing to create the jobs necessary to move from an economy that is still reliant on public subsidies”.

Read entire article here

Gantz says the international pressure on Iran, in the form of diplomatic and economic sanctions, is beginning to bear fruit. By Amos Harel Tags: Iran IDF Benny Gantz Gaza Hezbollah

“If Iran goes nuclear it will have negative dimensions for the world, for the region, for the freedom of action Iran will permit itself,” Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told Haaretz in an Independence Day interview.

That freedom of action might be expressed “against us, via the force Iran will project toward its clients: Hezbollah in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad in Gaza. And there’s also the potential for an existential threat. If they have a bomb, we are the only country in the world that someone calls for its destruction and also builds devices with which to bomb us. But despair not. We are a temperate state. The State of Israel is the strongest in the region and will remain so. Decisions can and must be made carefully, out of historic responsibility but without hysteria,” Gantz said.

Both 2012 and 2013 are seen as critical with regard to Iran’s nuclear program. At his rare public appearances Gantz has taken a cautious approach to the issue – mentioning the military option, whose development and preparation he oversees, while leaving the door open to international negotiations with Iran. His language is far from the dramatic rhetoric of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and is usually free of the Holocaust comparisons of which Israeli politicians are so fond.

Asked whether 2012 is also decisive for Iran, Gantz shies from the term. “Clearly, the more the Iranians progress the worse the situation is. This is a critical year, but not necessarily ‘go, no-go.’ The problem doesn’t necessarily stop on December 31, 2012. We’re in a period when something must happen: Either Iran takes its nuclear program to a civilian footing only or the world, perhaps we too, will have to do something. We’re closer to the end of the discussions than the middle.”

Gantz says the international pressure on Iran, in the form of diplomatic and economic sanctions, is beginning to bear fruit. “I also expect that someone is building operational tools of some sort, just in case. The military option is the last chronologically but the first in terms of its credibility. If it’s not credible it has no meaning. We are preparing for it in a credible manner. That’s my job, as a military man.”

Iran, Gantz says, “is going step by step to the place where it will be able to decide whether to manufacture a nuclear bomb. It hasn’t yet decided whether to go the extra mile.”

As long as its facilities are not bomb-proof, “the program is too vulnerable, in Iran’s view. If the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wants, he will advance it to the acquisition of a nuclear bomb, but the decision must first be taken. It will happen if Khamenei judges that he is invulnerable to a response. I believe he would be making an enormous mistake, and I don’t think he will want to go the extra mile. I think the Iranian leadership is composed of very rational people. But I agree that such a capability, in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who at particular moments could make different calculations, is dangerous.”

About three months ago Gantz’s U.S. counterpart, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, visited Israel as his guest. “We speak a great deal with the Americans. It’s not on the level of a discussion, where I want something concrete and he forbids it. We are partners. We and the United States have a large common alignment of interests and relations, but America looks at America and Israel [looks at] Israel. We aren’t two oceans away from the problem – we live here with our civilians, our women and our children, so we interpret the extent of the urgency differently. America says its piece openly, and what it says in the media is also said behind closed doors. It cannot be translated into lights, red or green, because no one is asking them anything in that regard.”

Critical decisions

Gantz knows that in the event of another war he will face time pressures as a result of enemy operations against the home front. The IDF will have to bring massive force to bear from the outset, employing most of the means at its disposal quickly and without hesitation or delay.

Ground operations, long-distance fire and in-depth operations as well?

“I don’t pretend to determine that now. I am preparing for full deployment of our capabilities. The political leadership will have to take courageous, painful decisions. There are a certain number of critical decisions in a war. The chief of staff makes about 10 of these in his sphere of responsibility in wartime, and the political leadership makes about half this number.”

These decisions, Gantz knows, will be made under a barrage of rockets and missiles against civilian areas.

In light of the Arab Spring, Israel’s military preparedness must now include a much greater and more varied range of arenas and possibilities.

“I don’t know what will happen in Syria, but presumably the Golan Heights won’t be as quiet as before. I cannot remove Syria from the military equation, nor Lebanon. I assume that if there are terror threats from the Golan or Lebanon I’ll have to take action. I cannot do everything by ‘stand-off’ [remote]. The enemy’s fire capabilities have developed at every distance, four or five times what they were in the Second Lebanon War and four or five times compared to the Gaza Strip before Operation Cast Lead, not to mention the new ground-to-air missile in Syria. I go to sleep with the understanding that what we did in the recent long and comprehensive exercises could happen in reality.”

The IDF is also being used as a battlefield for the cultural and political wars of outside forces. The latest skirmish followed Gantz’s dismissal of Lt. Col. Shaul Eisner, deputy commander of the IDF’s Jordan Valley brigade, for hitting a left-wing activist from Denmark in the face with a rifle. Gantz terms the political interference in the affair a disaster.

“I don’t see anyone benefiting from this story. I made my decision, and it’s behind me. I don’t understand what the right is defending, what the left is attacking. Who turned it into a political matter? Do you have to be a religious right-winger with a kippah in order to be resolute? Do you have to be a leftist in order to be principled? Where did that idiocy come from? Eisner made a professional error and a specific ethical mistake.”

The interview with Gantz took place right after additional videos of the incident were made public, showing Eisner hitting additional left-wing activists.

“I didn’t like even the first blow I saw. I will not cover for people so that others will say I backed them up. The lieutenant colonel erred and failed, and it’s done and dusted. We are an army that uses force, not violence.”

Measured, thoughtful and practical

With regard to another delicate issue, Gantz says he believes the IDF could draft more ultra-Orthodox men if an alternative to the Tal Law, recently overturned by the High Court of Justice, can be found.

“It’s for the politicians to decide. What I’m looking for is equality in service,” he says.

The end of his predecessor’s assignment was tarnished by the so-called Harpaz affair, in which Lt. Col. Boaz Harpaz allegedly forged a document in a bid to keep Yoav Galant from being appointed chief of staff. Gantz received the draft report of the State Comptroller’s Office on the affair last month. When the final version is issued Gantz will face career decisions about several figures connected to the affair, including Col. Erez Weiner, aide to former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.

Gantz believes it is important that the final version be issued before State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss ends his term, at the beginning of July.

Read entire article here

Published on Mar 31, 2012 by ConspiracyFox

Excellent documentary for the naive conspiracy theorist!
Who do you trust? Icke? Jones? Moore?…

Are they telling us the truth or leading us into a trap!

The Revolution Trap – Excellent eye-opening documentary from Grace Powers and her team at Amenstop Productions.

This documentary has been uploaded with the permission of the copyright holders.

Source www.youtube.com

Published on Apr 24, 2012 by RTAmerica
Abby Martin of Media Roots and Russia Today reports…

Mumia Abu Jamal is an African American writer, journalist and activist whose infamous prison case has sparked international outrage for decades.

In 1981, Mumia was charged with first degree murder for allegedly killing a police officer, but many have disputed the evidence that put him behind bars and demand for him to be re-tried.

He has spent the last 29 years of his life on death row, but in January of this year the sentence was reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

At the “Occupy the Justice” rally in Washington DC, Abby Martin of RT spoke with protesters who gathered in solidarity with the Occupy Movement to “Occupy the Justice Department” on Mumia’s 58th birthday.

Hundreds rallied in front of the Department of Justice to call attention to not only Mumia’s case, but also to the inequalities of the US justice system, the privatization of the prison industry and to end mass incarceration in the US, where currently one out of every 100 Americans are in jail.

People have long used Mumia’s case to lobby attention to the inherent corruption and racial inequality in the American prison system.

Mumia supporter Matthew Johnson equated the racial injustice surrounding Mumia Abu Jamal to the controversial case of the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. “It’s the whole idea that if you’re black, you’re somehow more dangerous than a white person. [In the case of Trayvon] you’re carrying iced tea and Skittles and wearing a hoodie and somehow you’re a threat to a man who weighs 60 pounds more than you who has a gun. It just wouldn’t happen the other way around.”

He continues to explain that this particular case needs to be broadened in the context of social justice for everyone, regardless of color or creed.

Some came to protest more generally what they called the prison industrial complex, in which government and corporations collude to keep the private prisons occupied to capacity with prisoners. Activist Kevin Price elaborates on the growing trend of for profit prisons. “As violent crime rates have fallen and imprisonment rates have skyrocketed, it just doesn’t make sense unless you are looking at [the issue] in the context of for profit incarceration,” he says.

Read entire article here

President Barak Obama and former President George W. Bush

U.S. plans to attack Iran with a mix of nuclear and conventional weapons have been in readiness since June, 2005, according to Michel Chossudovsky. a distinguished authority on international affairs.

“Confirmed by military documents as well as official statements, both the U.S. and Israel contemplate the use of nuclear weapons directed against Iran,” writes professor Michel Chossudovsky, Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization in Montreal.

The plans were formulated in 2004. The previous year, Congress gave the Pentagon the green light to use thermo-nuclear weapons in conventional war theaters in the Middle East and Central Asia, allocating $6 billion in 2004 alone to create the new generation of “defensive” tactical nuclear weapons or “mini-nukes”.

“In 2005, Vice President Dick Cheney ordered USSTRATCOM (Strategic Command) to draft a ‘contingency plan’ that included “a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons,” Chossudovsky writes. The plan went beyond the terms of reference outlined in the Pentagon’s 2001 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which called for a “preemptive” “first strike use” of nuclear weapons against Russia and China as well as Iran and North Korea.

The 2005 plan identified more than 450 strategic targets in Iran, including numerous alleged nuclear-weapons-program development sites. The plan, incredibly, was rationalized on a second 9/11 type attack on the US that Cheney believed Iran would allegedly support!

“President Obama has largely endorsed the doctrine of pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons formulated by the previous administration,” Chossudovsky writes in his new book, “Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War” (Global Research, 2012). His Administration “has also intimated it will use nukes in the event of an Iran response to an Israeli attack on Iran.”

Chossudovsky points out, “The new nuclear doctrine turns concepts and realities upside down. It not only denies the devastating impacts of nuclear weapons, it states, in no uncertain terms, that nuclear weapons are ‘safe’ and their use in the battlefield will ensure ‘minimal collateral damage and reduce the probability of escalation.’ The issue of radioactive fallout is not even acknowledged with regard to tactical nuclear weapons, neither is the issue of ‘Nuclear Winter’.”

“What is unfolding (in Iran) is the outright legitimization of war in the name of an illusive notion of global security. America’s mini-nukes, with an explosive capacity of up to six times a Hiroshima bomb, are upheld as a ‘humanitarian’ bomb, whereas Iran’s nonexistent nuclear weapons are branded as an indisputable threat to global security,” Chossudovsky writes.

He points out that a U.S.-Israeli strike against Iran would probably not be limited to Iran’s nuclear facilities but likely would be “an all-out air attack on both military and civilian infrastructure, transport systems, factories and public buildings.”

Employed would be “the entire gamut of new advanced weapons systems, including electro-metric weapons and environmental modification techniques (ENMOD),” Chossudovsky writes.

He notes that the U.S. has stepped up its military shipments to Israel, its NATO allies, and to countries bordering Iran. Israel in 2004 took shipment of the first of 500 U.S.-made BLU 109 “bunker buster” bombs, and the U.S. has supplied thermonuclear bombs to Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Turkey, and Great Britain. Turkey alone, a partner in the U.S. anti-Iran coalition, has 90 thermonuclear B61 bombs at its Incirlik nuclear air base.

“It is not Iran and North Korea which are a threat to global security by the United States of America and Israel,” he adds. What’s more, Western European governments have joined the bandwagon and “have endorsed the U.S.-led military initiative against Iran.”

He goes on to say, “At no point since the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, has humanity been closer to the unthinkable — a nuclear holocaust which could potentially spread in terms of radioactive fallout over a large part of the Middle East.”

Read entire article here

10 Reasons Why Corporations Aren’t People

1. People generally pay their annual income taxes.

2. People generally don’t have spreadsheets in place of a soul.

3. People generally have to make their own breakfast, wipe their own asses, and drive themselves to work in a vehicle that’s cheaper than the mini bar on a corporate jet.

4. People can show their faces in public without the fear of being bludgeoned by custard pies.

5. People don’t usually consider themselves a native of the Dutch Antilles for tax purposes.

6. People don’t generally dump chemicals into their drinking water and sell their coworkers to Vietnam.

7. People generally don’t eat caviar out the anus of a Michelangelo statue for breakfast during an economic recession.

8. People generally don’t forget how many pieces of real estate they own.

Read entire article here

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

FLASHPOINTS BEST
The Battle Against Cannibus Prohibition.
Today on Flashpoints: We spend the entire show on the battle against cannibus prohibition. We’ll talk about the impact the recent raid on Oaksterdam university in Oakland had on the movement. We’ll have a sound collage from today’s protests by pro marjuana advocates and we’ll speak to several key leaders in the movement. This show was first broadcast on April 20, 2012. Visit Flashpoints here.

Every Tuesday: 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

Science news
1) March was the hottest month ever recorded in the history of science.
2) Are we having more earthquakes?
3) Are solar flares dangerous?
4) Last hurrah for Space Shuttle.
Exploration covers the world of science, war and peace, and the environment.

Coming up Tuesday at 9am Pacific – 12 Noon Eastern – 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Tuesday evening.

“THE KEVIN BARRETT SHOW”
EXCLUSIVE –Tuesday on KB Show:
Jim Hogue: poet, actor, radio host, 9/11 truth advocate

Guest: Jim Hogue: poet, actor, radio host, 9/11 truth advocate, and secessionist. He is the author of what may be the best 9/11 truth poem ever, The Ballad of Ladder Five.

The Kevin Barrett Show is independently produced and hosted by Kevin Barrett and these shows are externally produced content. All externally produced content broadcast on No Lies Radio is the sole responsibility of the program-content producer and is not the responsibility of NoLiesRadio.org. Any questions or concerns should be directed to the content producer.

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner

Modern Money Theory Explained — Stephanie Kelton
Myths about taxation and government revenues in a sovereign currency situation; debts and deficits; full social security and price stability; the use of sectoral balances to analyze the financial position of the different sectors of the macro economy; the three sectors of the macro economy; the two rules governing the three sectors; the financial balance model.

Coming up today and every Monday at 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

ECONOMIC UPDATE with Richard D. Wolff

Updates on huge fines for major pharmaceutical firms, long-standing huge wealth redistribution from richer to poorer states by Washington, and crisis in public higher education funding. Major interview with Dr Harriet Fraad regarding profound psychological costs of capitalism’s instability. Response to questions on transition to mass transit from private cars.

On Economic Update with Professor Richard Wolff, Wolff and guests discuss the current state of the economy, both locally and globally in relation to the economic crisis. We will focus on wages, jobs, taxes, and debts – and on interest rates, prices, and profits. We aim to explain why certain economic changes are happening and other changes get postponed or blocked and we will explore alternative ways to organize enterprises, markets, and government policies. Each show wraps up with Professor Wolff answering some questions that he receives through his website or on Facebook. Economic Update is in partnership with Truthout.org.

Coming up every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific – 04:00 pm Eastern – 21:00 GMT


Blood on the Tracks — Brian Wilson

Cindy brings us the powerful & moving story of S. Brian Willson (No: not that one, not the Beach Boys vocalist.) This one’s the peace activist, with his own web site, S. Brian Willson. After serving in the Vietnam War, S. Brian Willson became a radical, nonviolent peace protester and pacifist, and this memoir details the drastic governmental and social change he has spent his life fighting for. Chronicling his personal struggle with a government he believes to be unjust, Willson sheds light on the various incarnations of his protests of the U.S. government, including the refusal to pay taxes, public fasting, and, most famously, public obstruction. On September 1, 1987, Willson was run over by a U.S. government munitions train during a nonviolent blocking action in which he expected to be removed from the tracks. Providing a full look into the tragic event, Willson, who lost his legs in the incident, discusses how the subsequent publicity propelled his cause toward the national consciousness. Twenty three years later, Willson told his story of social injustice, nonviolent struggle, and the so-called American way of life. He wrote Blood on the Tracks: The Life and Times of S. Brian Willson. He tells an inspiring tale of a “good boy” from New York state who volunteered to “fight Communism,” was sent 9,000 miles from his home and ordered to kill Vietnamese civilians, thus creating his own personal “Howard Zinn” moment of profound regret. Listen in to him and Cindy discussing his long journey!

This interview is from April 15, 2012.
Cindy’s website is here.

Don’t Miss our Saturday – Economic Collapse Truth Teach-in Marathon
11am Pacific – 2pm Eastern – 19:00 GMT – Saturday
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.


Coming up Saturday –
ONE KEY ECONOMIC COLLAPSE TRUTH Revelation
Key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Modern Money Theory Explained — Stephanie Kelton

Myths about taxation and government revenues in a sovereign currency situation; debts and deficits; full social security and price stability; the use of sectoral balances to analyze the financial position of the different sectors of the macro economy; the three sectors of the macro economy; the two rules governing the three sectors; the financial balance model. From A Guns & Butter Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Every Saturday – Anti-War – Progressive Truth Teach-in
Coming up at 9:00am Pacific * 12 noon Eastern * 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.


The Time Out for Peace Plan–John M. O’Connell
John M. O’Connell first developed the concept of a “Time Out for Peace” in 1986. John had been facilitating strategy sessions for corporations and trainings for ‘New Games’ play events with thousands of players of all ages, bringing communities together. While working with the Institute for Conscious Evolution on a project to bring R. Buckminster ‘Bucky’ Fuller to San Francisco for a series of programs he conceived of calling a global ‘time-out for peace,’ as a way to change the win/lose ‘War Game’ the world was playing.

Over the past twenty-five years, the Time Out for Peace Plan has evolved along with changing world conditions and input from colleagues. In 2010 John decided that our global situation was so dire that it was time to take the Time Out for Peace Project public, through the World Peace Campaign, a non-profit 501c3 organization. For more information visit Time Out for Peace Here.This is a No Lies News Radio Presentation recorded 4-9-2012 in Walnut Creek, California at a Friendly Favors Event.

The Anti-war Progressive Teach-in broaches upon some of the most highly charged subjects of our day—War & Peace, national healthcare, women’s rights, human rights, civil rights, torture, vets against the war, freedom, democracy, protest, demonstrations, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Coming up Saturday & Sunday at 3pm Pacific – 6pm Eastern – 23:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcasts.
On BackStage: Teri Perticone of No Lies Radio interviews
Singer/Songwriter Joel Rafael


Joel Rafael has the hit songs, China Basin Blues, Still Alive, This Is My Country, Rich Man’s War(by Steve Earle), Ball and Chain and Open Up Your Heart all now playing on No Lies Radio. Joel talks to Teri about his music, his community in Southern Coastal California and his upcoming gigs in England at the Glastonbury Festival on the Acoustic Stage Sunday, the 27th of June and the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Oklahoma. Visit his website here.