Monday, July 11, 2011

**JP** MONSANTO Lobbying for introducing Genetically Modified Crops in Pakistan

Dear friends and colleagues

 

 

Below*** is an invitation and attached is program details sent out to the media by MEDIATORS which is the Public Relations (PR) agency for Monsanto.

 

The latest lobbying effort in the ongoing Biotech/genetically modified (GM) crops approval process in Pakistan is that media is being invited to attend a seminar/workshop in Indonesia. So in the next few months expect some very pro-GM crop stories in the media with examples from the Philippines, India, USA and rest of the World except, Pakistan since nothing actually has been done locally at the Govt., and private sector to analyze/verify the so called socio-economic or yield benefits of Bt corn/maize and Bt Cotton.

 

In 2007-8, then Federal Secretary Food & Agriculture Mr. Zia-ur-Rehman visited Monsanto headquarters at Creve Couve, Missouri, USA on the Company's invitation. Later a group of farmers was taken to the USA. In 2009, Punjab Govt., Advisor Haroon Khawaja visited St. Louis. In 2010, 6 Govt., officials visited the Philippines through Monsanto sponsored 'Biosafety Coalition 'BCP' of the Philippines'. In early 2011, Pioneer Seed Company brought in people from abroad to make some pro-Biotech statements and convince decision-makers just before launching its Bt Corn commercial approval process without even starting the large-scale open field trials. Now media is being taken to Indonesia in the name of capacity building regarding GM crops'.

 

So no wonder with such lobbying at work, about 2 months back, ex-Chairman of TAC sub-committee Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad thought it's OK to let Monsanto drafted reports be circulated among colleagues and recommend its word on face value without any analysis by the Pakistani regulators themselves.

 

The question is: What's wrong with us? We blame politicians of unethical behavior but conveniently forget the same when we are accepting sponsored visits from Corporate sector. Is blaming politicians correct then?

 

Throughout this effort of introducing Biotech or GM crops in Pakistan, multinational seed companies (especially Monsanto) have indulged in lobbying and such 'Sponsored' visits to influence decision makers and opinion makers. That is why instead of focusing on issues, all we hear is propaganda and quoting examples of Philippines, India etc., instead of any local data. Instead of focusing on conducting proper regulatory procedure, environmental due diligence and socio-economic benefits/disadvantages in local Pakistani conditions, corporate seed sector is trying to make puppets in all segments of Pakistani society who will speak their language and agenda. Media is the latest target of lobbying now.

 

Is Biotechnology so poor a technology that it requires lobbying and sponsored visits? Is ethics of any importance to regulators, media?

 

Media should stop blaming the politicians for wrong-doings, if it can accept visits sponsored by Corporate entities, what's wrong with politicians doing what they do.

 

3 cheers for tireless flouting of regulatory process and related ethics, by the multinational/Corporate seed companies, to get Biotech approvals in Pakistan.

 

Regards

 

Ijaz Ahmad Rao



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Email from Monsanto (PR) agency MEDIATORS


***  

 

Subject: Invitation for Media Capacity building workshop
 
> XXXX,
> Editor,
> XXXX
> XXXX

> Dear
> XXXX,

As discussed on telephone on behalf of our client Monsanto Pakistan Agritech Limited, we would request you to kindly nominate a senior reporter / feature writer on agriculture based in Lahore for capacity building to attend a workshop on :

Status, Impacts and Future Prospects of Agri-biotechnology in a Changing Climate. It is a Regional Workshop for Media Practitioners from July 20-22, 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
  
The workshop is organized by BIOTROP, Bogor, Indonesia. Other organizers and sponsors of this workshop are SEAMEO Southeast Asian Regional Center on Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), SEAMEO Regional Center for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP), the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA)and the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSPII), Indonesian Biotechnology Information Center (IndoBIC) and Crop Life Asia(CLA)Please note that Air-fare and accomodation would be covered by our client.

Kindly let us have the name and contact details of your nominee as soon as possible as we have to arrange Visas and make other necessary travel arrangements. Please note that your nominee must have a valid passport with at least six months validity.
 
A copy of the Workshop program is attached for your attention.
 
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest

 
Kind Regards

Babar Ayaz
Mediators
10-11, Mezzanine Floor, Progressive Plaza, Beaumont Road, Karachi
00-92-21-5656177

-----------------------------------------------------------

Muhammad Boota Sarwar

H#193, Street#42

Margala Town, Phase II

Islamabad.

Ph#0519241485

Cell#03003003405

Email:msarwar80@hotmail.com

**JP** Important Operation in Karachi....

 

**JP** Paksitan vs USA

 

Looks like Sarah got them again

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/07/im-not-so-egotistical-as-to-believe.html

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[Fwd: Coolest Car Ever]

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Coolest Car Ever







DebbieSchlussel.com Daily Alert

Link to Debbie Schlussel

COOLEST. CAR. EVER.: Ghost Car Up for Auction

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 04:57 PM PDT

By Debbie Schlussel If you love looking at beautiful old-fashioned and classic cars as I do, I think you'll find this–the 1939 Pontiac Plexiglas Deluxe Six Ghost Car–very cool.  As its name implies, you can see through its outer, clear Plexiglass cover made by the company Rohm and Haas.  General Motors made it for its [...]
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Re: Most dangerous cities in America

the black to white ratio says tons

On Jul 10, 9:23 pm, dick thompson <rhomp2...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/most-dangerous-citi...

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Re: State Hypocrisy on Anti-Bribery Laws

In 1977 the US enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which
makes it a crime for American citizens and businesses to bribe foreign
public officials
---
somebody needs to remind AIPAC about our laws

On Jul 10, 1:16 pm, MJ <micha...@america.net> wrote:
> State Hypocrisy on Anti-Bribery LawsJuly 10, 2011 byStephan Kinsella
> In 1977 the US enacted theForeign Corrupt Practices Act(FCPA), which makes it a crime for American citizens and businesses to bribe foreign public officials for business purposes. It also imposes certain accounting standards on public US companies, which I wrote about in a 1994 legal article, "The Accounting Provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act." The hypocrisy of the law is blinding: it's okay for the state to bribe (and extort and coerce) private business by means of threats, subsidies, tax breaks, and protectionist legislation; it's okay for businesses to bribe elected officials (campaign contributions); and it's okay for the US central state to bribe foreign governments; and it's okay for US companies to be forced to pay bribes in the form of taxes, that are less than the amount of bribes they would have to pay to foreign officials. But it's not okay for US companies to bribe foreign officials–even if this is customary and essential to "doing business" in that country, and even if this puts American businesses at a competitive disadvantage with companies from other countries that do not prohibit such bribery–some countries even permit such bribes to be reported as an expense for tax purposes.
> As Lew Rockwell notes inExtortion, Private and Public: The Case of Chiquita Banana,Paying bribes and being subject to this kind of extortion is just part of what it takes to do business in many countries. This might sound awful, but the truth is that such payments are often less than the companies would be paying to the tax man in the US, which runs a similar kind of extortion scam but with legal cover.In fact, it was theBananagatescandal (in whichChiquita Brandshad bribed the President ofHondurasto lower taxes) which helped to spur passage of the FCPA.
> Naturally American businesses squealed at the competitive disadvantage this law imposed on them. So of course, instead of repealing this ghastly law, the US used its legislative imperialism to force other countries to adopt similar laws (it also twists the arms of other countries in a number of areas, including IP (see my postIntellectual Property Imperialism), antitrust law, central banking policies,oil & gas ownership by the state, environmental standards, labor standards, tax levels and policy, and so on). It did this mainly by pushing theOECD Anti-Bribery Convention, now ratified by 38 states which are required by the Convention to implement FCPA style laws nationally. The UK has just done so inThe UK Bribery Act, which just came into force this month. According to thisFreshfields release, the UK Bribery Act is "the most far-reaching bribery legislation in the world." The spread of such laws prove the Whig Theory of History is wrong…

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Labor Groups in California and taxes

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_18447419?source=email

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Re: Interesting article of what it was like to group up tought during the 30's and 40's in Boston

More tempting still is to imagine Whitey sitting down with a pair of
sociologists and, in the name of science, spilling his guts to them
about where it all went wrong.
-----------------------------------------

Spilling his guts is why Whitey is gonna die and prison, and I ain't
talking old age
On Jul 10, 1:57 pm, dick thompson <rhomp2...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/07/10/whiteys_g...

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WOMAN FACES 93 DAYS IN JAIL FOR PLANTING VEGETABLE GARDEN



with-mulch-4.jpg

Photo Credit: Julie Bass

http://www.vosizneias.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gare.jpg

(above): Julie Bass

Video at http://tinyurl.com/6bqz2g2


 
WOMAN FACES 93 DAYS IN JAIL FOR PLANTING VEGETABLE GARDEN -
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/blogpost/Images/garden.jpg?uuid=WjiVxKmMEeC3-rgEfeg4Bg
 
(above): One of Bass's offending plots. (Courtesy "Oak Park
Hates Veggies" Facebook group) - Washington Post
 
 
 
Colleen Vanderlinden reports:

"It just doesn't get more ridiculous than this.

"Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan -- a mother of 6, law-abiding citizen, and gardener -- is facing 93 days in jail after being charged with a misdemeanor.

"Her crime? Planting a vegetable garden in the front yard.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQjjvRw14pRbARedh71YoX7f0AgyFIdSMXtMNdMW240x0wU1ssbqg

"Bass says that she planted the garden after her front yard was torn up for some sewer repairs. Rather than wasting the opportunity to start with a clean slate by planting a lawn, she decided to really put the area to use, and plant a vegetable garden.

"Her garden consists of 5 raised beds, where she grows a mix of squashes, corn, tomatoes, flowers, and other veggies. Bass received a warning from the city telling her to remove the vegetable garden, because it doesn't adhere to city ordinances (more on that later.) When she refused, she was ticketed and charged with a misdemeanor. Her trial, before a jury, is set to begin on July 26th. If she is found guilty, she can be sentenced to up to 93 days in jail." (see below for more)

http://a57.foxnews.com/static/managed/img/U.S./396/223/veggardenbass.gif

Michigan woman faces 93 days in jail for planting a vegetable garden - what are your comments?
 
======
 
by Colleen Vanderlinden on 07. 8.11

About the City Ordinance

Supposedly, Bass is in noncompliance with a city ordinance that states that only "suitable" plant material is allowed on the lawn area of residences. When local media asked city planner Kevin Rulkowski what that meant, he said suitable means "common:" lawn, nice shrubs, and flowers. However, the city ordinance does not specifically state that those are the only allowed plant materials.

About Oak Park

This is not some gated community with HOA regulations. This is an ordinary, working class neighborhood in Oakland County, Michigan. Like nearly every other city in my home state right now, Oak Park is facing financial issues. Here at home, people are amazed that a cash-strapped city has the resources to investigate, charge, and prosecute a resident for something as innocuous as planting a vegetable garden.

What's Being Done

This story is gaining traction all over the web. Gawker covered it this morning. There are Facebook pages devoted to supporting Mrs. Bass and her family during this ordeal. Will social media help change the city's mind? That's what many of us are hoping. Local television affiliates for ABC and Fox news have already covered the story, and media attention continues to grow.

If you want to help support a gardener's right to grow food for her family (even if it is -- gasp -- in the front yard!) there are several things you can do:

1. Email or call officials for the city of Oak Park. Mrs. Bass has listed contact information for the mayor, city manager, and other city officials in the sidebar of her blog.

http://oakparkhatesveggies.wordpress.com/

2. "Like" the Oak Park Hates Veggies Facebook Page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oak-Park-Hates-Veggies/184553881597878?v=wall 
3. Spread the word via Facebook and Twitter. By gaining attention to this particular issue, with this particular homeowner, the hope is that other cities will reconsider before they harass another homeowner for something like this.


__._,_.___
Recent Activity:
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Re: Boston mayor is really being an idiot about illegal immigrants

PURE politics, which is odd (dumb) for Mumbles. He is in no danger at
all.

On Jul 11, 5:47 am, dick thompson <rhomp2...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/11/me...

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Re: The tea party is so over! The Koch brothers will move to Germany!

rofl

your idiocy is so amusing turdlet

On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 4:06 PM, Less Lee <not4udude@yahoo.com> wrote:
FOX news ratings keep dropping and their owner is neck deep in a major
scandal. This is no longer 2010 when American voters decided to give
Republicans a chance out of frustration over the economy.

Republicans got that chance and they blew it badly. Newly elected
Republican Governors are fighting it out to see who can lose the most
voter approval polling points each month, while recall petitions
blossom for them and their legislative stooges. There isn't a single
Republican Presidential candidate to the left of loony who is
generating any grass roots Republican enthusiasm.

Republicans took power in the House of Representatives over the issue
of lost jobs, then promptly ignored the economy to focus on "social
values" issues and their crusade to strangle government. That included
fumbling Republican assaults on two of the most admired government
programs in the country, Social Security and Medicare. Meanwhile
Republicans continued to hitch their wagon to homophobic outrage while
a sea change took place among the electorate in favor of gay
marriages. With unemployment stuck at extremely painful high levels,
the Republican response boiled down to eliminating the jobs of public
workers. The only group of voters who want the national debate to
focus on cutting the deficit rather than adding jobs are tea party
fanatics who keep shrinking in numbers and loosing support from the
public every week.

So how on Earth, with Democrats perfectly positioned to cash in on the
electorates buyers remorse over having voted in Republicans last time,
after the electorate has vehemently rejected Republican plans to
"reform" Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and with Americans
clearly demanding more jobs, rather than more belt tightening, how on
earth did we end up in this place?

Why is a Democratic Party President agreeing with the increasingly
marginalized Right that deficit reduction is the central debate in
America, with trillions of dollars of spending cuts now one of his
highest priorities? And why the hell did he put Social Security,
Medicaid and Medicare back on the table to face cuts when the public
emphatically wants those benefits preserved?

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**JP** Jobs in Middle East

Dear All

Please follow the links to view the Jobs details. Apply to email address provided in Jobs detail.

Managing Director - Qatar
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/managing-director-qatar.html


Human Resource Manager - Saudi Arabia
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/human-resource-manager-saudi-arabia.html


Administrative Manager - Qatar
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/administrative-manager-qatar.html


Civil Engineer - UAE
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/civil-engineer-uae.html


IT Network Engineer - Sharjah
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/it-network-engineer-sharjah.html


Service Adviser / Sales Executive / Sales Manager / Booking Center Supervisor and Agents - Bahrain
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/service-adviser-sales-executive-sales.html


Nurses Required - Saudi Arabia
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/nurses-required-saudi-arabia.html


Management Accountant - UAE
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/management-accountant-uae.html


Auto Electrician / Mechanic / Sales Man (Auto Spare Parts) - Bahrain
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/auto-electrician-mechanic-sales-man.html


Sales Executive in Islamic Bank - Qatar
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/sales-executive-in-islamic-bank-qatar.html


Civil Draftsman - Saudi Arabia
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/civil-draftsman-saudi-arabia.html


Architect / Civil Engineer / Wed Designer - Saudi Arabia
Dated: Sunday, July 10, 2011
http://gulf.jobsq.org/2011/07/architect-civil-engineer-wed-designer.html


For More Jobs Visit http://gulf.jobsq.org/.
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Regards

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Boston mayor is really being an idiot about illegal immigrants

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/11/menino_threatens_to_quit_plan_targeting_crime_by_immigrants/

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Taxes upon Taxes upon ...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303812104576438130028027412.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h

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ANARCHO-COMMUNISM IS AN ANCIENT JEWISH CONCEPT

ANARCHO-COMMUNISM IS AN ANCIENT JEWISH CONCEPT

I have termed my vision of Anarchy, that is, the one and only version
of Anarchy that I propound and believe is possible, Mystical Anarchy.
By Mystical Anarchy I mean that the exalted and noble (non)state of
true Anarchy can only be realized by a People, or, preferably,
Peoples, who *know* that there is a God because they are in God-
consciousness and whose faith in Humankind is unshakable.

Faith in God alone will not suffice to bring us to an Anarchy that
will not quickly deteriorate into chaos. Even the knowledge of God
without faith in Humankind that has been tested in the crucible of
failure and disappointment repeatedly, and over a protracted period of
time, but has yet been sustained, and thus proven true, will not
suffice as the basis upon which we will build a society.

Anarchy, then, is the mode of society built and sustained by Peoples
who are in God-consciousness and love Humankind enough to want every
Human being to fulfill his or her potential and much as they want this
for themselves and possess the requisite patience not to be
disappointed when Humankind falls short of their potential for
greatness.

Religion requires revision (in the sense of seeing it with new eyes),
rehabilitation, restoration return to the Source, rekindling and
rededication. It is not organized religion that is the source of our
woes, but, rather, the ersatz that has been put in its place. Indeed,
Anarchy is the most perfect realization of organized religion.
Only those Jews with an intimate knowledge of the intricacies of
Jewish Law are fully equipped for the task of returning we Jews to
true Judaism. However, in order to do so, they must admit and be fully
cognizant of the fact that Judaism is deeply infiltrated with foreign
ideas and they must be brave enough to examine every teaching in light
of ancient sources and on the basis of its merits – that is: whether
or not they serve to build a just world that is fit for human
habitation.
That it was God's intention that the Jews were intended to live in a
society that we would now call Anarcho-Communism from the time we
crossed the Yarden into the Promised Land is amply evidenced in the
Book of Yehoshua (Joshua).

Yehoshua 's intention was to settle the Holy Land according to Anarcho-
Communistic principles.

Please Read Yehoshua 6:18-19

19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are
holy unto the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.'

This is the translation that I have used because, although very
partial and imperfect, as all translations of Hebrew necessarily are;
at least it is not skewed and intentionally misleading as are all
versions of the "Christian Bible":
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0606.htm

Yehoshua wanted everything that can be made into capital or weapons to
be sanctified to God, not to fall into the hands of private owners.

It should be mentioned that the Hebrew word חרם which is translated as
'devoted', is not precisely devoted. A more correct translation of
the term would be that which is to be expropriated.

In the Hebrew version of this piece I will prove that the Holy Name of
God comprised of four letters (known as "the Tetragrammaton and
translated as the Lord) is actually the Name of the phrase the Whole
House of Yisrael Together. From this we understand that all of the
silver, the gold and the implements of brass and iron were to be
expropriated from the treasuries of the gentiles who had defiled
Yericho with their paganism and immorality and made the common
property of the Whole House of Yisrael Together. Had the Hebrews been
ready to live in this exalted, noble and holy (non)state in this
world, they would have realized Anarcho-Communism in its purest form
from their very entrance into the Holy Land.

The incident with Akhan (Book of Yehoshua, Chapter 7) surreptitiously
taking booty and hiding it for his own personal use and that of his
relatives, and the other members of the tribe of Yehudah who protected
him, made Yehoshua understand that compelling the Hebrews to adopt
Anarcho-Communistic principles before they were prepared to was a
higher level of moral-spirituality than they were ready to live
according to and would only lead to many being punished and so he
relaxed his expectations. There are a number of places in Torah in
which the will of God and the will of the Prophets was more than the
People were ready for and concessions were made.

Nevertheless, that the Jewish People will live according to Anarcho-
Communism is the will of God and has been the way of life either aimed
for or adopted by those Jews who have striven for the highest level of
perfection of this world.

It must be mentioned that Yehoshua was a moral-spiritual and military
leader who was chosen by the Lord – that is, the Whole House of
Yisrael Together and he derived all of his authority and duties from
them. His leadership was based solely upon the trust and love that the
Whole House of Yisrael Together had invested in him. He was the
embodiment of the collective Will of the entire House of Yisrael and
he was fully aware of this collective Will. He in no wise imposed his
will on the People.

Our earliest record of Jews having lived communally comes from the
time of Elisha the Prophet and there is every reason to believe that
he inherited that tradition from his Teachers. We learn from the Book
of Kings II, Chapter 4, Verses 38 – 44 that the followers of Prophets,
called B'nei Nevi'im, the Spiritual children of Prophets, lived
communally and took their meals communally. We learn from these
passages that eating communally results in abundance.

Likewise, HaYachad (as they called themselves, meaning the Ones Who
are Unified, a derivative from the Hebrew 'chad', meaning 'one; uni-,
mono-), more commonly known as "the Dead Sea Sect" and also as "the
Essenes" (probably from the Aramaic 'assouta' meaning healing, for
they were renowned for their knowledge of health and healing), the
sect of very pious Jews during the Second Temple Period who wrote and
preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls, lived communally according to their
reports about themselves; the writings of Josephus Flavius, who lived
amongst them; the observational reports of Philo; an account by Pliny
the Elder and contemporaneous reports of their way of life based on
archeological evidence. They, like the Prophets and their students,
took all their meals communally. A large communal dining hall was
built for this specific purpose. Their community and their habit of
communal dining, as witnessed by Josephus, are described by him in
Chapter VIII of his WARS OF THE JEWS. There he writes: "These are
despisers of riches…Nor is there any one to be found among them who
hath more than another; for it is a law among them, that those who
come to them must let what they have be common to the whole order –
insomuch, that among them all there is no appearance of poverty or
excess of riches, but every one's possessions are intermingled with
every other's possession; and so there is, as it were, one patrimony
among all the brethren." Josephus' description of their communal
dining is borne out by the archeological evidence of their dining hall
that was discovered at Qumran. Communal dining always was, and
remains, an important aspect of life on Kibbutz as well.

Thus, our records establish that Communism is a very ancient Jewish
social system.

When I speak of Communism I do not refer at all to the system of
Marx, which is nothing other than transfer of property rights to the
State. I am an Anarcho-Communist, one who believes in the abolition of
the concept of property all in all as well as in the abolition of all
States. Anarchists have always warned about the dangers of Marxism.
The most articulate and prolific proponent of Anarcho-Communism was
Peter Kropotkin. Only Anarcho-Communism, a society in which there is
no personal property whatsoever, can provide the conditions under
which we can keep such mitzvoth as Pesach (Passover) and the Yovel
(Jubilee), and to a lesser extent Shmitta (every 7th year when the
land must lie fallow) as well.

A bit less than one hundred years before the "Manifesto" was written
by Marx and Engels, Rabbi Hillel Livlin of Shklover, the grand-nephew
and disciple of the famous Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Kramer, the Ga'on
(Genius) of Vilna (1720-1797; See: http://tinyurl.com/ccwdh
http://tinyurl.com/a9mzr http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_Ga'on )
wrote the very mystical work קול התור, KOL HATOR, meaning VOICE OF
THE TURTLEDOVE, - the latter term being a designation for the Messiah,
as found in Song of Solomon 2:12. Rabbi Livlin of Shklover did not
simply interpret the passages in the Bible that I will quote presently
to mean that one must not use unfair weights and measures when
conducting commerce, as they are usually interpreted. He went much
further than that. He said that the passages actually mean that the
Messianic Age cannot come until there is economic equality in Israel
and he was basing his interpretation on ancient sources. The passages
that speak of the demand for equality most clearly are: Deuteronomy
25: 13- 16. "There we read: "Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverse
weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thy house diverse
measures, a great and a small. A perfect and just weight shalt thou
have; a perfect and just measure shalt thou have; that thy days may be
long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. For all that do
such things, even all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto
the LORD thy God." The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic
Text, The Jewish Publication Society translation [1917].
Rabbi Livlin's interpretation is astounding. For it means that only
in an Anarcho-Communistic society will the inner Torah, the Torah as
it will appear during the Messianic Age, be revealed. Therefore, that
society must be founded previous to the Messianic Age. We cannot wait
for the Messianic Age in order for perfect economic justice to be
brought about. We are invested with the responsibility to create that
society, not the Messiah.

Marx had to dress ancient Jewish ideas in Teutonic garments (most
certainly, appealing to the philosophical authority of one George
Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel served as a more reliable endorsement in the
minds of the Germans and English than would appealing to the exegesis
of one Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman) in order to gain legitimacy in
a xenophobic and anti-Semitic Europe, even as Freud didn't mention how
many of his ideas came from the Zohar (one of the central works of
Jewish mysticism).It must be mentioned that the Ga'on of Vilna based
all of his Biblical studies on the Talmud (the compendium of the Oral
Jewish tradition as passed down to and interpreted by the Pharisees of
the Second Temple Period. It is considered the unquestionable body of
Biblical exegesis based on ancient authority among Orthodox Jews to
this day) and would not have made so categorical a statement about
economic equality had he not found ample basis for doing so in the
Bible as interpreted in the Talmud. The year that Hegel was born, The
Ga'on of Vilna was a man of 50, surrounded by adoring students and
renowned internationally in the European Jewish Diaspora. After his
death he became equally famous in the Jewish Diasporas of North
Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, India and the Far East as well. No one
in the Jewish world questioned or questions his brilliance or
exegetical ability. No matter how assimilated and Western in his
orientation Marx was, he could not have but come under the influence
of Rabbinical thinking.

The most startling example of a Jewish mystic who propounded Anarcho-
Communistic ideas known to me is that of Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag. Rabbi
Ashlag was aware of Marxist theory, but was wholly in disagreement
with the authoritative aspects of it. He arrived at Anarcho-Communism
through his study of the Kabbalah. Evidently, he was not aware of the
writings of the Anarchists, with which his own teachings were in full
agreement. I surmise this because though the concepts he speaks of,
which he termed "altruist Communism" are pure Anarcho-Communism; he
employed Marxist, not Anarchist rhetoric. (See the heading
"Teachings" on this link: http://tinyurl.com/ywuydc). The personal
notes of David ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of the State of
Israel, who belonged to the Labor Party reflect the fact that he and
Rabbi Ashlag met on a number of occasions. Ben Gurion wrote: "While I
wanted to speak with him about the Kabbalah, he wanted to speak to me
about Socialism and Communism". [My translation. Quoted from דרך הקבלה
אל הקומוניזם ("Arriving at Communism by Way of the Kabbalah". See:
http://tinyurl.com/3xeqxe (in Hebrew)]. That same article speaks of
the close friendship that Rabbi Ashlag enjoyed with Avraham Yitzchak
Kook (1864–1935), who was the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi during the
time of the British Mandate for Palestine and is renowned for his
devotion to the mystic tradition of Judaism as well. While Rav Kook
did not call for Anarchy or Anarcho-Communism, as did his dear friend
Rabbi Ashlag, he did see the Kibbutz Movement, including the secular
Kibbutz Movement, as part of the heralding of the Messianic age.

In classical Jewish thought economic equality in communal society is
a sine qua non for the attainment of spiritual advancement, as the
very desire to amass property and hold it to oneself reflects
spiritual taint. However, communal living is not seen as an end in
itself, or as the zenith of human achievement. It is meant to serve
the mega-purpose of man's existence on earth, which is the revelation
of God in the material world. In order to do this, Man is "clothed" in
a physical body, which has its own needs. By supplying those needs in
a pure and holy way: by eating as prescribed the tenants of one's
spiritual culture, temperance in sexual relations, attending to
agriculture and horticulture with loving-kindness, uprightness in
business dealings, and by being as concerned with the welfare of one's
fellows exactly as one is concerned with one's own, one purifies one's
own body as well as strengthens the vessels of physical existence to
receive Godliness. Communism, as understood in Jewish thought is the
physical and cultural parallel of the spiritual quest - the attainment
of the greatest good FOR ALL. As God imparts of Its Divine Knowledge
freely, so we are to share our knowledge and all manners of wealth one
with the other.

The ability to live according to the principles "LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS
YOURSELF" and, as Rabbi Akiva taught during the time of the Second
Temple: "What is mine is yours. This is the great central point of the
entire Bible" is the sine qua non of communism. These are central
Jewish teachings.

The fact that Marx presented Communism removed from its Jewish ground,
which, no doubt, was a capitulation to European anti-Semitism, opened
Communism to being arrogated entirely by those who, not knowing the
Spiritual substrate of true Communism, without which it is
impracticable, distorted Communism into being the basis not only of
repressive regimes, but as yet another excuse for anti-Semitism.

Anarcho-Communism is the social invention of the Jewish People. It is
certainly not the exclusive social invention of the Jewish People.
Other people lived in Anarcho-Communist societies, but it was our way
of living during the time of the Judges. It is the sine qua non for
the establishment of a just society. It was our past. It will be our
future.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com


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Beware Unhampered Capitalism


Beware Unhampered Capitalism
by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Read part 1 and part 2.

I've been spending some time refuting common complaints against capitalism, as formulated by a Twitter critic of mine. Here are a few more.

(9) Capitalism creates inequality!

As Ludwig von Mises observed, in the old days the rich traveled in a coach-and-four while the poor traveled on foot. That is inequality. Today the rich travel in fancy cars while the poor travel in run-down cars. That is a dramatic reduction in inequality. This is all the more true when we consider that the amenities many poor people now have in their cars would have been unheard of in the richest people's homes just four generations ago.

The American middle class and poor take for granted amenities that the greatest kings and queens of Europe could scarcely have imagined.

Over the course of the twentieth century the real incomes of the poor increased by 1900 percent, a far greater increase than any other economic group enjoyed.

Most arguments about income inequality are based on static analysis. They speak of the "lowest quintile" earning a certain amount in 1990 and a certain amount in 2000. We are then supposed to grieve over these numbers. But the numbers are so static as to disconnect them from reality. They neglect to add that people in the lowest quintile in 1990 are not the same people as those in 2000. Robert Murphy, quoting a 1995 report from the Dallas Fed, points out that fully 29 percent of those in the bottom quintile of income in 1975 had moved to the very top quintile by 1991. This movement among quintiles is not captured at all in the standard figures.

And the market economy has repeatedly tried to cut the most politically connected men of wealth down to size, but my critic's own political hero, Barack Obama, has supported bailing them out. That is not the free market's fault.

(10) Her complaints included a tweet directing me to the "Catholic Church condemning free-market philosophy."

Well, I have written an entire book on this, after all, not to mention quite a few articles (among them this, this, this, and this), so presumably there is a teensy bit to be said for my side of things.

(11) Unhampered capitalism yielded the terrible "robber barons" of the late nineteenth century.

First of all, it is clear from her other posts that my critic thinks unhampered capitalism is pretty much what we have now. We are supposed to overlook the 80,000 pages of regulation – all of which is innocently aimed at protecting the common good, of course – in the Federal Register added to the Code of Federal Regulations every year. We are not supposed to think about the hundreds of federal agencies (not to mention those of state and local governments), the millions of federal employees whose salaries are paid out of the productive labor of the rest of the population, and the trillions of dollars in taxes.

She likewise thinks the banking system is pretty close to a free market – after all, hasn't she seen news reports about bank "deregulation"? To the contrary, the banking system is perhaps the least free-market sector of the entire economy. The whole system is overseen by the government-created Federal Reserve System, which presides over a system-wide cartel. It involves monopolistic legal tender laws, a monopoly of the note issue, artificial disabilities on other media of exchange apart from the depreciating dollar, and various forms of bailout guarantees. For a sense of what a free market in banking would actually look like, read Murray N. Rothbard's The Mystery of Banking.

And that's not to mention the layers of cronyism all through the federal apparatus, most obviously within the military-industrial-congressional complex. That's another area I cover in Rollback. What does any of this have to do with capitalism?

But on to the robber barons. We are supposed to believe that these men ruthlessly exploited the public to satisfy their insatiable greed – a human inclination that never seems to afflict our selfless public servants, I might add. I spend some time correcting this cartoon version of history in my Politically Incorrect Guide to American History.

To be sure, no one should try to excuse those who sought to use state power to cripple their competitors. Burt Folsom made a helpful distinction between political entrepreneurs, who got ahead using underhanded tactics like this, and market entrepreneurs, who prospered because they produced what the public demanded at prices people could afford.

Andrew Carnegie almost single-handedly managed to reduce the price of steel rails from $160 per ton in the mid-1870s to $17 per ton in the late 1890s. Given the importance of steel to a modern economy, that massive price reduction yielded greater wealth and a higher standard of living for everyone. Carnegie was so efficient, in fact, that the 4000 people who worked at his Homestead plant in Pittsburgh produced three times more steel than the 15,000 workers at Germany's Krupps steelworks, Europe's most modern and renowned facility.

Likewise, John D. Rockefeller was able to reduce the price of kerosene from one dollar per gallon to ten cents per gallon. People could finally afford to illuminate their homes. Rockefeller also developed 300 products out of the waste that remained after the oil was refined. Claims that Rockefeller was an "unfair" competitor (whatever that means), the usual gripe of those who cannot deliver a product at prices that sufficiently please consumers, were laid to rest half a century ago in John S. McGee's study for the Journal of Law and Economics. (John S. McGee, "Predatory Price Cutting: The Standard Oil (N.J.) Case," Journal of Law and Economics 1 [October 1958]: 137-69.)

We might also mention James J. Hill, who grew up in poverty but whose entrepreneurial skill helped make the Great Northern Railroad, which extended from St. Paul to Seattle, a major success without any government subsidies at all. In 1893, when the government-subsidized railroads went bankrupt, Hill's line was able both to cut rates and turn a substantial profit.

Still another of the alleged robber barons was Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1798 the government of New York had granted Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton a monopoly on steamboat traffic for thirty years. Vanderbilt was hired to run a steamboat between New Jersey and Manhattan in defiance of that monopoly. Vanderbilt evaded capture while at the same time charging only one-quarter of the monopolists' fare.

After Gibbons vs. Ogden (1824) overturned New York's steamboat monopoly, the fare for a trip from New York City to Albany dropped from seven dollars to three. The trip from New York to Philadelphia, which had been three dollars, fell to one dollar. Travelers going from New Brunswick to Manhattan now paid only six cents, and ate for free. When he moved his steamboat operation to the Hudson River, Vanderbilt charged a fare of ten cents, as opposed to the previous three dollars. Later he dropped the fare entirely, running his operation on the proceeds from concessions aboard the ship.

Even when his competitors had unfair advantages, Vanderbilt came out on top. Edward Collins received a government subsidy for his steamship business to provide mail delivery across the Atlantic – to the tune of $858,000 a year by the 1850s. When Vanderbilt entered the field in 1855, he outperformed Collins in passenger travel and mail delivery with no subsidy at all. Congress did away with Collins' subsidy in 1858, and before long he went bankrupt.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt was also outperforming two subsidized steamship lines that brought passengers and mail to California. They charged $600 per passenger per trip. The unsubsidized Vanderbilt charged $150 per passenger, and nothing to deliver the mail.

Forgive me, but I am supposed to fear and despise these benefactors of mankind why, exactly?

These men were able to acquire such substantial portions of their industries because they consistently produced goods at low prices. When they stopped innovating, they lost market share. The cartoon version of events notwithstanding, competition was vigorous. It was only after voluntary efforts ­ pools, secret agreements, mergers, and the like ­ failed to stabilize this highly competitive environment that some firms began to look to the federal government and its regulatory apparatus as a way to reduce competition coercively. "Ironically, contrary to the consensus of historians," acknowledges New Left historian Gabriel Kolko, "it was not the existence of monopoly that caused the federal government to intervene in the economy, but the lack of it."

Speaking of the situation that faced Standard Oil, Kolko writes:

In 1899 there were sixty-seven petroleum refiners in the United States, only one of whom was of any consequence. Over the next decade the number increased steadily to 147 refiners. Until 1900 the only significant competitor to Standard was the Pure Oil Company, formed in 1895 by Pennsylvania producers with $10 million capital…. By 1906 it was challenging Standard's control over pipelines by constructing its own. And in 1901 Associated Oil of California was formed with $40 million capital stock, in 1902 the Texas Company was formed with $30 million capital, and in 1907 Gulf Oil was established with $60 million capital. In 1911 the total investment of the Texas Company, Gulf Oil, Tide Water-Associated Oil, Union Oil of California, and Pure Oil was $221 million. From 1911 to 1926 the investment of the Texas Company grew 572 percent, Gulf Oil 1,022 percent, Tide Water-Associated 205 percent, Union Oil 159 percent and Pure Oil 1,534 percent.

Standard Oil's decline preceded the antitrust ruling against it in 1911, and was "primarily of its own doing ­ the responsibility of its conservative management and lack of initiative." By the time government got around to breaking up Standard Oil, the normal operation of the free market had already reduced its market share from 80 to 25 percent.

As a matter of fact, it was very difficult for top firms to maintain their positions in a great many industries in the United States in the late nineteenth century. This was true of industries as diverse as oil, steel, iron, automobiles, agricultural machinery, copper, meat packing, and telephone services. Competition was extremely vigorous.

It is not easy to understand the hostility toward a system that has made possible the greatest explosion in wealth and living standards in human history, and which has done more to eradicate poverty than all the rock stars and government transfer programs put together. (Ludwig von Mises takes a crack at it in The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality.) People seem almost eager to believe the most transparently false claims about the market. Commerce is viewed with suspicion. We treat merchants with a disdain we would never show the TSA. The critical role of the entrepreneur is not understood at all.

Help change all this. Learn Austrian economics.

http://lewrockwell.com/woods/woods175.html

Most dangerous cities in America

http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/most-dangerous-cities-in-america

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Political Humor

Barack and Michelle are at the White Sox game.,Sitting in the first row
with the Secret Service,people directly behind them. One of the
Secret,Service guys leans forward and says something,to the president.
Barack stares at the guy,,looks at Michelle, looks back at the
agent,,and shakes his head violently. The agent then,says, "Mr.
President, it was a unanimous request,,from the owner of the team down
to the bat boy.,And...the fans would love it! "So, Barack shrugs,his
shoulders and says, "If that's what the people want.",He gets up, grabs
Michelle by her collar and,the seat of her pants, and drops her right
over,the wall into the field. She gets up kicking,,swearing, and
screaming -- and the crowd goes,wild, cheering, applauding, and
high-fiving.,Barack is bowing and smiling, and leans over to,the agent
and says, "You were right, I would have,never believed that!" Then
noticing the agent has,gone totally pale, Barack asks what is wrong.,The
agent replies, "Sir, I said, they want you to,throw out the first PITCH!"

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Order Your Very Own Gunwalker T-Shirt




Order Your Very Own Gunwalker T-Shirt

Fellow blogger Sean Sorrentino has the perfect T-Shirt for the Project Gunwalker/Fast and Furious scandal that involves the ATF, Eric Holder and President Obama. Be sure to order one and over at Sean's site.

The ATF allowed illegally purchased firearms to flow across the Mexican border and into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. These guns were used to kill Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Attorney General Eric Holder, testified that he didn't know about the Fast and Furious scheme but openly bragged about it to a Mexican audience. Then we have the ATF's Director, Melson, testifying that Holder's DOJ is obstructing justice in the gunwalker scandal.

Obama is tied to the scandal because his $830 billion dollar stimulus funded the Fast and Furious scheme. Over $40 million went to states along the Mexican border of which $10 million went to pay for the gun control scheme. Both Holder and Obama claim they had no idea about the scandal.

Like Nixon, it wasn't about the lie, it was the cover-up.

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