Tenzin Phuntsog – a Buddhist monk in his forties from the Monastery of Karma – set himself on fire this week as an act of self- immolation. He is the twelfth Buddhist monk to attempt self- immolation this year, an observance that the Chinese Communist government describes an act of terrorism. Tenzin Phuntsog survived his voluntary religious ceremonial act of setting his body on fire, now he is identified by the Chinese government as a terrorist. Self- immolation is an expression of prayer in self- sacrifice intended to spread the message that the ideals of Buddhism are being brutally suppressed by the government of China.
(Read more)
Health in the US
Interesting interactive maps, trends, state ranking can be found here.
UBS whistle blower jailed while criminals fined
Philosophically, I don’t think tax evasion is a crime. Nevertheless, this story shows the state of our justice department.
Bradley Birkenfeld, former banker for Swiss giant UBS, blew the whistle on the largest tax-evasion scheme in American’s long U.S. history of people think others should pay for their government programs.
Rather than praising Birkenfeld, the Justice Department gave him a 40-month prison sentence.
However his former colleagues at UBS and thousands of rich American clients that hid away billions of dollars for decades in the Swiss Bank UBS seem to have gotten the opposite treatment.
In fact, the Justice Department let them buy their way out of jail.
UBS pled guilty and paid a $780 million fine, while thousands of U.S. citizens with undisclosed offshore accounts where permitted to belatedly disclose them and pay civil fees and penalties.
Only Birkenfeld, the 44-year-old whistleblower, landed in jail, this is another examples of injustice and hypocrisy in the Obama administration, and if Obama having upwards of 30 former employees of Goldman Sachs and its subsidiaries in his cabinet did not prove our government is controlled by bankers this does. (Read more)
Media and banking baron, Evelyn De Rothschild, makes the case for regulation and bailouts
* “you had to face up to the fact that you couldn’t let these people collapse”
* “it’s very easy to have regulation, but you have to have the regulation supervised”
Russia seizes radioactive material bound for Iran
I’m suspicious of the timing of this story.
Putin: See, all you Iran haters need to support me!
Fox’s Chris Wallace: If Ron Paul Wins In Iowa, It Will Discredit The Iowa Caucuses
With the Iowa caucuses right around the corner, some people are saying that the victor may actually end up being Ron Paul. Yeah, you know, the guy who’s had steady numbers in the polls this whole time despite some people seeming to want to ignore that fact. So, what does that mean if he wins? Well, according to Fox News’ Chris Wallace, it will “discredit the Iowa caucuses.” (Read more)
David Frum: Ron Paul’s damaging impact on GOP sympathy for the middle class
This article is so convoluted and confused, it’s barely readable.
Glad to see Frum is getting slaughtered in the comments.
Marxist Levin attacks Ron Paul
Ron Paul Highlights at the Fox News Iowa GOP Debate
Ron Paul Defends The 99 Percent: ‘It’s A Very Healthy Movement’
PAUL: In many ways, it’s a very healthy movement. I’m not one to say, “why don’t you get a bath and go get a job and quit crybabying.” I don’t like that at all. I think that’s a misunderstanding of where the unemployment comes from. The unemployment comes from policy, government policy, and it’s the federal reserve and the business cycle is not a consequence of free markets. That doesn’t mean I think they’re all perfect out there. […]
When spontaneous movements occur in a country, the johnny-come-latelys like to join and redirect the original intent of the Tea Party Movement and the original intent of the Occupiers, so for that reason the political people get involved and they try to grab hold of the message, and I think that’s been the case on both sides.
If Free Markets are Good for Giant Banks, Why Don’t they Support Ron Paul?
(dated Octomber 19, 2011, retrieved Dec 9, 2011)
Ron Paul compilation
Obama Insisted on Indefinite Detentions of Citizens
Rand Paul prevents war with Russia
A few days ago, some Republican senators attempted to lay the groundwork for a shooting war with Russia. I wish I were exaggerating.
Last week, while most senators were focused on the important national issues of war funding and Americans’ constitutional liberties, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) seemed more concerned with the fate of a foreign country. Behind the scenes, Rubio moved to have a unanimous consent vote that would have hastened Georgia’s entry into NATO. The unanimous consent vote never happened because Senator Rand Paul single-handedly prevented it.
This is not a triviality. Make no mistake: Bringing Georgia into NATO could lead to a new military conflict for the United States, which is why any move that would facilitate Georgia’s entry into the alliance should be publicly debated. Rubio’s attempt to push this through by unanimous consent — that is to say, without any formal debate or vote — is highly suspect and calls into question the senator’s better judgment.
But what Sen. Rubio is advocating is nothing new. Examining the political context of McCain’s declaration of solidarity with Georgia in 2008 should give Americans pause about the Washington establishment’s foreign policy agenda. After the 2008 South Ossetia conflict, Pat Buchanan wrote:
Who is Randy Scheunemann? He is the principal foreign policy adviser to John McCain and potential successor to Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski as national security adviser to the president of the United States. But Randy Scheunemann has another identity, another role. He is a dual loyalist, a foreign agent whose assignment is to get America committed to spilling the blood of her sons for client regimes who have made this moral mercenary a rich man.
[emphasis added]
Continued Buchanan:
From January 2007 to March 2008, the McCain campaign paid Scheunemann $70,000 — pocket change compared to the $290,000 his Orion Strategies banked in those same 15 months from the Georgian regime of Mikheil Saakashvili. What were Mikheil’s marching orders to Tbilisi’s man in Washington? Get Georgia a NATO war guarantee. Get America committed to fight Russia, if necessary, on behalf of Georgia. Scheunemann came close to succeeding.
Buchanan’s description of Scheunemann and his activities is instructive because Georgia’s entry into NATO would commit the United States to fighting for Georgia. Buchanan explains what would have happened in 2008 if Georgia had been part of NATO at that time:
Had [Scheunemann succeeded], U.S. soldiers and Marines from Idaho and West Virginia would be killing Russians in the Caucasus, and dying to protect Scheunemann’s client, who launched this idiotic war the night of Aug. 7. That people like Scheunemann hire themselves out to put American lives on the line for their clients is a classic corruption of American democracy.
. . . .
FLASHBACK: CIA plane filled with cocaine
A private jet that crash-landed almost one year ago in eastern Mexico carrying 3.3 tons of cocaine had previously been used for CIA “rendition” flights, a newspaper report said here Thursday, citing documents from the United States and the European Parliament. (Read more)