The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has conducted an extensive survey of the websites of pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East and has published a guide to events planned for 2012. Some activities are focused on public relations, others have the potential to cause violence, and yet other activities seem aimed at further destabilizing Israel’s already shaky neighborhood. The Center reports : The networks waging the campaign to delegitimize Israel are planning a series of propaganda displays for 2012, some of them in the upcoming months. They intend to hold marches (promoted by Hamas), a protest fly-in to Ben-Gurion International Airport, a flotilla and propaganda events for the “Israeli apartheid week.” The most high profile event on the horizon is the Global March to Jerusalem , which is encouraging activists worldwide to gather in convoys and head together to Jerusalem on March 30th, or “Land Day” a day Palestinians mark the killing of six Israeli Arabs over a land dispute with Israeli authorities in 1976. Upon entering its website, the Global March’s logo says a lot: a map of Palestine including all territory from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, with Israel completely wiped off the map. The map is painted in green, the signature color of Islam, suggesting organizers view their struggle as a religious one. Activists plan to gather in areas bordering Israel, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. The Meir Amit Center reports: The organizers of the marches plan to send groups from several countries to Arab states bordering on Israel. The participants will attempt to cross the border and invade Israeli territory. Global March organizers describe combating the “Judaization of Jerusalem” as a key objective: The march will demand freedom for Jerusalem and its people and to put an end to the Apartheid, ethnic cleansing and Judaisation policies affecting the people, land and sanctity of Jerusalem… The march will confirm that the policies and practices of the racist Zionist state of Israel against Jerusalem and its people are a crime not only against Palestinians but against all humanity. According the Global March’s North American website , endorsers include a mix of Palestinian and anti-war groups, as well as “United Progressives,” an anti-war group that promotes various progressive causes. Individual endorsers include Lauren Booth, a British broadcaster for Iran’s Press TV who has called Gaza a “concentration camp” and Richard Falk, an expert on the UN Human Rights Council who was derided for publishing an anti-Semitic cartoon on his blog last year depicting Jews as a bloodthirsty dog urinating on Lady Justice. Falk has also suggested that the U.S. government was behind 9/11 and that the media covered it up. While American and European activists purporting to be peaceful are endorsing the Global March to Jerusalem, it is simultaneously being promoted by Hamas, a group committed to Israel’s destruction which the U.S. and European Union categorize as a terror group. Gaza’s Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced the march at a December 14th rally as seen in the video organizers posted: Hamas frequently invokes its goal of “saving” Jerusalem from the “impurity of the Jews” painting the issue as a religious struggle. These hard-core Islamists decry what they call the “Judaization” of Jerusalem without any regard to the historical fact that Jews have lived for millennia in the city holy not only to Islam, but to Christians and Jews. A YouTube video promoting the Global March includes images equating Israel with “cancer” and suggesting Israel’s founding was a “great plundering.” It calls Jerusalem “a Holy City inhabited by Palestinians for centuries.” The Meir Amit Center assesses that so far, response from the West has been small. Another obstacle: activists need permission to hold marches in neighboring countries. Besides the Global March, Pro-Palestinian activists are planning protests from the sea. The Meir Amit Center reports on a planning meeting that took place in Italy in November aimed at learning lessons from the past failed flotillas whose goal is to break Israel’s sea blockade of Gaza. It reports: …the coalition sending the flotillas is also apparently examining the possibility of sending a large flotilla from several different European ports. […] The flotilla organizers are also busy raising donations for the funds necessary to purchase a large number of ships. Another protest aims to enter Israel by air. Last summer, international activists flew to Ben-Gurion Airport for demonstrations, but most were arrested and sent home on outbound flights. The Meir Amit Center examined activists’ websites and reports that this year’s “fly-in” is scheduled for April 15th, during the Passover holiday and a week after Easter: The objective of the fly-in was described by its organizers as challenging the “policy of isolation” Israel imposes on the West Bank. Fly-in participants have been requested to arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport but to keep a low profile, apparently to make it difficult for Israel to prevent them from entering the country. All these activities are being described as peaceful protests, but as history shows, there are potential flash-points. Israeli police are aware of the chance of violence, as occurred last spring when pro-Palestinian protesters marking the anniversary of the 1967 Six Day War tried to storm the Israeli border from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. The Israel Defense Forces called it a Syrian-government “provocation.” As it is, tensions are high, especially with the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks not showing any signs of progress. It’s also worth keeping an eye on Jordan — the launching point for some of the Global Marchers — a country where the “Arab Spring” has not arrived. With a majority Palestinian population living under minority Hashemite rule, it’s not unfathomable that a march ostensibly aimed at Israel could take on a life of its own to air grievances against King Abdullah’s regime. So far, demonstrations bringing together Palestinians and international activists have not been game-changing events. The Free Gaza Flotilla failed to break the sea blockade, and “Boycott Israel” activists have not impacted Israel’s economy. It remains to be seen if this spring’s “Global March” will recruit “massive” throngs as advertised, or not. Organizers say they are banking on “the spirit of the Arab spring revolutions and the determination of young people who were able to overthrow dictatorships.” Israeli police and border patrols are no doubt preparing for the worst.
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‘Global March to Jerusalem’: Pro-Palestinian Activists Planning Protests from Land, Air, & Sea
The reason I remind Mr. Rich is that this connection to Nazi Germany appeared to be relevant to him when he wrote about Prescott Bush’s tenuous connection in 2008. In May 18th of that year as Rich was pontificating about the state of the Presidential election he wrote : Just 36 hours after the Mississippi debacle, Mr. McCain tried to distance himself from the administration by flip-flopping on his signature issue, Iraq, suddenly endorsing just the kind of timetable for withdrawal he has characterized as “surrender” when proposed by Democrats or Mitt Romney. (When Mr. McCain proposes it, he labels it “victory.”) But hardly had Mr. McCain spoken than his message was upstaged by Mr. Bush’s partisan political speech in Israel. The president implied that Mr. Obama would have enabled the Nazis even more foolishly than his own grandfather, Prescott Bush, did in the 1930s when he maintained “investment relationships with Hitler’s Germany,” as Kevin Phillips delicately describes it in “American Dynasty.” (Emphasis added) If this detail was important enough to commit to the pages of New York Times in 2008, it’s strange that Rich’s New York Magazine Kennedy tongue-bath /Conservative hit piece is notably bereft of such details about the Camelot clan’s Nazi sympathies. Allow me to submit the following entry from Edward Renehan, Jr.’s The Kennedys at War to the record on Mr. Rich’s behalf. During May of 1938, [Joseph Kennedy Sr.] engaged in extensive discussions with the new German Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s, Herbert von Dirksen. In the midst of these conversations (held without approval from the U.S. State Department), Kennedy advised von Dirksen that President Roosevelt was the victim of”Jewish influence” and was poorly informed as to the philosophy, ambitions and ideals of Hitler’s regime. (The Nazi ambassador subsequently told his bosses that Kennedy was”Germany’s best friend” in London.) … Like his father, Joe Jr. admired Adolf Hitler. Young Joe had come away impressed by Nazi rhetoric after traveling in Germany as a student in 1934. Writing at the time, Joe applauded Hitler’s insight in realizing the German people’s “need of a common enemy, someone of whom to make the goat. Someone, by whose riddance the Germans would feel they had cast out the cause of their predicament. It was excellent psychology, and it was too bad that it had to be done to the Jews. The dislike of the Jews, however, was well-founded. They were at the heads of all big business, in law etc. It is all to their credit for them to get so far, but their methods had been quite unscrupulous … the lawyers and prominent judges were Jews, and if you had a case against a Jew, you were nearly always sure to lose it. … As far as the brutality is concerned, it must have been necessary to use some … .” Rich can be forgiven his omission, I suppose. To those who would have you believe that progressivism sprang forth from the brow of John F. Kennedy Jr., the mythology can be useful, especially when used as weapon with which to smear political opponents.
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Reminder to Frank Rich: The Kennedys were anti-semitic Nazi sympathizers
That’s correct. Herman Cain announced that his signature “9-9-9″ plan is actually a ” 9-0-9 ” plan — at least when it comes to the nation’s poor. Cain, who has accused critics of never having read his 9-9-9 plan through to completion, insisted the 9-0-9 provisions of his plan have been included in his campaign literature all along. Speaking at the Michigan Central Station in downtown Detroit — where the unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation — Cain announced his proposal to create “opportunity zones” in the country’s inner cities. “If you’re at or below the poverty level, your plan isn’t ‘9-9-9,’” Cain said to the crowd. “It’s ‘9-zero-9.’ Say ‘Amen,’ y’all! In other words, if you are at or below the poverty level based upon family size, because there’s a different number for each one, then you don’t pay that middle ‘9′ tax on your income. This is how we help the poor.” Cain’s announcement reportedly comes on the heels of a study released by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington, which concluded the 9-9-9 would increase taxes by more than 900 percent on U.S. households earning between $10,000 and $20,000 annually. Fox News adds: A day earlier, Fox News had exclusively reported that Cain’s opportunity zone proposal is stirring displeasure among leaders of organized labor. Although he did not dwell on this during his appearance in Detroit, Cain insists that those areas that wish to qualify as an opportunity zone must eliminate what the campaign calls “barriers” to economic growth. Examples of how to do that, as provided by campaign sources, include a number of steps considered anathema to Big Labor. They include the abolition of the minimum wage; the institution of school choice for parents; and the establishment of “right to work” conditions, which allow workers to refuse to join unions in unionized workplaces. “It’s tough to take anything like that seriously,” AFL-CIO President richard Trumka told Fox News. “Look, workers are working hard and their wages have stagnated. To have Herman Cain, a serious contender on the Republican side, make a statement like that – that he wants to further lower wages, he wants to do away with the minimum wage – it’s almost laughable.” Even Teamsters President James Hoffa weighed in, stating: “Herman Cain’s ‘opportunity zones’ appear to be an opportunity for corporate America to exploit workers and turn the United States into a third-world country.”
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Herman Cain Announces ‘9-9-9‘ is Actually a ’9-0-9′ Plan for those at Poverty Level
**Written by Doug Powers Hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear from somebody connected to the administration chastizing companies for exploiting labor or accusing private sector business of being greedy for accumulating profits instead of hiring more people. If more jobs, securing living wages for all and putting an end to labor exploitation are issues that are near and dear to your heart, the Obama campaign has some work for you — as long as you don’t mind not getting paid : President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is asking artists to design promotional posters that convey a message: “support American jobs.” The brutal irony for artists, however, is that they will receive no payment for their work. The campaign, which has $61 million on hand, will reward only the three artists whose work is selected for use. The compensation? A copy of their artwork, signed by the president. The Graphic Artists Guild isn’t pleased with the ask. On Saturday, the guild issued an open letter to the campaign voicing outrage over what it called a “shameful” competition. So, not unlike working as a caddy for the 12th son of the Lama, there’s no money, but you will receive total consciousness — that and a framed, signed print of your poster (well, at least the signature might be worth something ). Team Obama raised $70 million in the 3rd quarter of 2011 and they can’t expand an “art department” to create a couple of graphic designer jobs for the “support American jobs” promotion? Artists are a little slower in responding to the call for designs this year, and based on the latest submissions it would appear that a segment of the arts community isn’t as filled with Hope and enchantment as they were in 2008: **Written by Doug Powers Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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Help Wanted: Political Campaign Seeks Artists to Support American Jobs; Greedy Profiteers Who Want to Get Paid Need Not Apply
Last week we brought you part one of Victoria Jackson’s interviews with protesters down at New York’s Occupy Wall St. gathering. At the time, we were wondering when part two would surface. Well now it has. And since you loved the first one so much (or at least clicked on it a lot), we’re more than happy to bring you the second installment. (Watch part one of the interviews) Part two includes an interview with an anti-war Quaker, more Socratic-like questions about Marxism, and even more of Jackson delivering tracts about Jesus. And all delivered in her signature voice. If you’re ready, here it is: Of course, not everyone is a fan of Jackson’s interviews. Fellow comedian and Impersonator Jenn Dodd decided to have some fun with Jackson’s video and made a parody of it. Consider that Dodd tries to interview Van Jones and instead ends up grilling a black van. And she also mocks the fact that the videos are called “Vickie Goes to Washington” when the interviews take place in NYC (although the Washington reference could be the name of an ongoing segment where Jackson does actually visit the nation’s capital). Funny? You decide: (H/T: Mediaite )
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Want to See Part 2 of Former SNL Star Victoria Jackson’s Occupy Wall St. Interviews?
Top Republican presidential contender Herman Cain said Sunday the 2012 race is “absolutely not” a factor in the 2012 campaign, and that the support he has is based on voters liking his ideas, not his skin color. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Cain reiterated the fact that he prefers the term “black American” to “African American.” Cain’s race has been the target of prominent black leaders and other commentators, some attacking him for not being “authentically” black due to his conservative politics. “My roots go back through slavery in this country. Yes, they came from Africa. But the roots of my heritage are in the United States of America. So I consider myself a black American,” Cain said. Pressed by host David Gregory about an analysis of his signature “9-9-9″ tax plan, Cain the proposal would cost some people more, but that it would eliminate other “invisible taxes” that hike up the price of goods. “Some people will pay more, but most people will pay less, that’s my argument,” Cain said. The people who will pay more, Cain said, are those who buy more new goods. The national sales tax would apply only to new goods, not used goods, benefiting poorer people, he said. Questioned about what has shaped his foreign views, Cain said he’s read the writings of Amb. John Bolton, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and K.T. McFarland. Asked whether he would describe himself as a “neoconservative,” the foreign policy philosophy embraced particularly by former President George W. Bush, Cain did not appear to know what Gregory was asking about. “I’m not sure by what you mean by a neoconservative. I am a conservative, yes. Neoconservative — labels, sometimes, will put you in a box. I’m very conservative,” Cain said. Gregory pressed, “But you’re familiar with the neoconservative movement?” “I’m not familiar with the neoconservative movement,” Cain said. “I’m familiar with the conservative movement. And let me define what I mean by the conservative movement: less government, less taxes, more individual responsibility.” Cain also said a comment he made Saturday on the campaign trail that the U.S. should secure its border with Mexico by building a 20-foot, barbed-wire, electrified fence with English and Spanish signs saying “it will kill you” was “a joke.” “That’s not a serious plan,” he said. He added that solving the problem of illegal immigration will require a combination of a physical barrier, better technology, U.S. troops, and more freedom for states to “do what the federal government can’t do.”
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Herman Cain: I Prefer ‘Black American’
This is amazing, at WSJ , “Cain Vaults to Lead in Poll” (at Google ): CONCORD, N.H. — Former restaurant-industry executive Herman Cain has catapulted to the lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, as GOP voters grow disenchanted with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and remain wary of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds. Drawn by Mr. Cain’s blunt, folksy style in recent debates, 27% of Republican primary voters picked him as their first choice for the nomination, a jump of 22 percentage points from six weeks ago. Mr. Romney held firm in second place at 23%, his same share as in a Journal poll in late August, while Mr. Perry plummeted to 16%, from 38% in August. The poll of 1,000 adults, conducted from Oct. 6-10, comes as many Republican donors and officials have begun to rally around Mr. Romney as the party’s likely nominee, despite a continued lack of enthusiasm for him documented in the new poll. For Mr. Cain, the question is whether his newfound prominence, driven in part by his signature “9-9-9″ plan to overhaul the tax code, will be a lasting phenomenon in a campaign that has seen many others surge and then fade. Since the spring, conservatives have given short-lived bursts of support for a string of contenders, including Donald Trump, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Mr. Perry. “Will I be the flavor of the week?” Mr. Cain said Wednesday in New Hampshire, where reporters followed him as he addressed the state legislature. “Well, the answer is an emphatic, ‘No,’ because Häagen-Dazs black walnut tastes good all the time.” Mr. Cain in many ways isn’t operating a traditional campaign. He was on tour promoting his new book in recent weeks, and he will make stops between Memphis and Nashville on Friday and Saturday, though Tennessee is unlikely to factor in the Republican nomination. He doesn’t plan to return to Iowa, site of the first nominating contest, for weeks, his aides say. Also at Public Policy Polling, ” Cain leads nationally ” (via Memeorandum ). Cain discusses the Wall Street protests around 10 minutes at the video. See also The Other McCain, ” Pundette Likes Herman Cain .”
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Herman Cain Surges Ahead in New Wall Street Journal Poll!
CNN : Days after being dropped from ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” Hank Williams Jr. fired back at that network, “Fox and Friends” and what he called the “United Socialist States of America” in his signature style — a song bellowing biting lyrics in between guitar licks. “This country sure as hell has gone down the drain,” Williams sings in a tune posted Monday on his official website. “We know what we need. We know who to blame.”
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‘Keep the Change’: Hank Williams Jr. Unleashes Fiery New Anthem
Well, yeah, according to Lloyd Constantine, at New York Times , ” Debit Card Fees Are Robbery “: Debit cards were developed by banks as a replacement for paper checks. When a consumer pays with a debit card instead of a check, the bank saves money. In the 1980s, Visa calculated the savings at 55 cents to $1.60 per check. The savings is much higher today. For decades, Bank of America, the founding owner and member of Visa (originally called BankAmericard) and all of the Visa and MasterCard banks, including Chase, hid the identity of their debit cards from stores by designing them to look and function like their signature authorized credit cards and by charging stores the same price for debit and credit transactions. Banks did this despite the fact that purchases made with a debit card didn’t involve a loan from the bank, posed very little fraud risk and were extravagantly profitable to banks because they eliminated the costs of processing and clearing checks. RTWT. Constantine won a huge antitrust lawsuit against the banks in 2003, so he’s knowledgeable about this. But he’s practically arguing that the big banks are public utilities, entities ostensibly in the public trust. Businesses certainly have social responsibility, but don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining when you’re alleging robbery for $5.00 monthly fees to use a debit card. I don’t love the big banks, obviously, but having a debit card has simplified life for untold millions of people. And some banks having eliminated banking fees for basic checking accounts, and careful consumers who maintain their balances, avoid overdrafts, etc., avoid penalty fees. So, shop around. That’s how it works. Constantine makes a decent point at the conclusion, in any case: Retail customers of Bank of America and of any other bank that follows its lead should swiftly move their business. I am certain that other banks will welcome the competitive opportunity that Bank of America has given them with its arrogant and disingenuous action and justification. Glenn Reynolds has some brief comments as well, perhaps sympathetic to Constantine.
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It’s Robbery to Charge for Debit Cards?
