World Prout Assembly

Lynne Stewart: Heroic Human Rights Lawyer Jailed

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:42:13 -0500

Her 2004 - 2005 show trial was a mockery of justice with echoes of the worst McCarthy-like tactics. Inflammatory terrorist images were displayed in court to prejudice the jury, and prosecutors vilified Stewart as a traitor with "radical" political views. In addition, days before the verdict, the militant pro-Israeli Jewish Defense Organization put up flyers near the courthouse displaying her address. It threatened to "drive her out of her home and out of the state," and said she "needs to be put out of business legally and effectively." It was part of the orchestrated scheme inside and outside the courtroom to heighten fear, convict Stewart, and intimidate other lawyers to expect the same treatment if they dare represent unpopular clients effectively. - Stephen Lendman

Transformation of fearful love into fearless love

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:03:44 -0500

Now this sádhaná [meditation] which is sádhaná for complete merger, for unification, starts with fearful love. Love must be there. Unless and until there is love there cannot be unification. So love must be there but it starts with fearful love and ends in fearless love; and the space between fearful love and fearless love is the space of sádhaná. What is sádhaná? Sádhaná is the transformation of fearful love into fearless love.
-
Shrii Prabhat R. Sarkar

US home foreclosures at record high as jobs crisis deepens

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:24:28 -0500

High unemployment is in fact a deliberate policy of the Obama administration, which is seeking to drive down the conditions of the working class in order to restore profitability of American companies. Obama has rejected any serious jobs program or further stimulus measures. Meanwhile, Wall Street profits are likely to set a new record this year, according to a report released Tuesday by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The report noted that Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and a section of JPMorgan Chase are set to make $22.5 billion this year, compared to losses of $40.3 billion last year. There is every likelihood that the year-end bonuses at these banks will be equally unprecedented. - Andre Damon

The civilized world

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:19:00 -0500

"The civilized have created the wretched, quite coldly and deliberately, and do not intend to change the status quo; are responsible for their slaughter and enslavement; rain down bombs on defenseless children whenever and wherever they decide that their 'vital interests' are menaced, and think nothing of torturing a man to death: these people are not to be taken seriously when they speak of the 'sanctity' of human life, or the 'conscience' of the civilized world."

James Baldwin

UN warns of 70 percent desertification by 2025

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:15:01 -0500

Sunday, 4 October 2009 - Drought could parch close to 70 percent of the planet's soil by 2025 unless countries implement policies to slow desertification, a senior United Nations official has warned. "If we cannot find a solution to this problem... in 2025, close to 70 percent could be affected," Luc Gnacadja, executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, said Friday. Drought currently affects at least 41 percent of the planet and environmental degradation has caused it to spike by 15 to 25 percent since 1990, according to a global climate report.

Torture

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:12:36 -0500

"Torture presupposes, it requires, it craves the abrogation of our capacity to imagine others' suffering, dehumanizing them so much that their pain is not our pain. It demands this of the torturer, placing the victim outside and beyond any form of compassion or empathy, but also demands of everyone else the same distancing, the same numbness."

Ariel Dorfman

Dalit family camps in front of collectorate

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:55:33 -0500

by Vivek Vijayapalan / DNAThursday, November 19, 2009 - Ahmedabad: - Nathubhai Solanki has been camping outside the district collectorate office for the past few days with his family. His aim is to get justice for his family which was allegedly pushed out of his native village over caste issues. Solanki, a Dalit, has also submitted a memorandum to the district collector, saying that if he does not get justice immediately, he and his family will immolate themselves in front of the office. In the memorandum submitted to the district collector, he has alleged that his house in his village Alav in Ranpur taluka was razed to the ground by Bhaga Bharwad, Vala Vindani and Bhima Bharwad belonging to the upper caste. He has also said in his memorandum that the trio attacked him with swords and sticks in a bid to kill him and his family. Solanki told DNA, "I have been camping outside the collectorate to get justice. I have also been booked under section 151 of the IPC after I submitted the memorandum which stated that if I do not get justice I will immolate myself. However, I have decided that I will continue my struggle to get justice." "I don't want money, I merely want to protect my family," adds Solanki. Sources aware of the development said that the three people against whom Solanki raised allegations had been booked and a charge-sheet had been filed in the case. Solanki points out, "If I succeed in my struggle to get justice, then there will be hope for many more people like me who belong to the lower caste." Manjula Pradeep, Director of Navsarjan who is supporting Solanki, says: "The situation has become hostile in his village because of which he had to leave. Even the police have not been able to provide him with protection in the village. He lost property worth Rs65,000 when his house was razed but the state government has reimbursed him only with Rs10,000. This clearly shows that the state is not fulfilling its responsibility." On the other hand, senior collectorate officials say that the allegations made by Solanki will be probed. A senior official said, "We will verify the matter but it seems that the dispute is personal and not caste-based." The matter has been referred to the office of Ranpur mamaltadar.

As always, we read the final sentence that "The matter has been referred to the office of Ranpur mamaitadar." No action. No justice. But something must be done for the Dalits of India, as well as for the Adivasis. There is a limit to how much they are to be oppressed, marginalized and tortured by inhuman humans. There has to be a limit to the time - the decades and centuries, nay, even millennia, that these sweet people are to be brutalized by higher castes. We need to turn everything upside down. We need to re-write the Indian constitution and delete all mention of caste. We need to base all issues on economics. Let all the poor people receive assistance and jobs. Let all poor people be guaranteed food, clothes, shelter, health care and education. But let there also be an end to mental torture brought on by social discrimination carried out by higher castes. The greatest problem in India seems to be the police, because many laws have been passed by the Supreme Court but local police in the towns and villages never ensure they are carried out. Rather, the police protect those who break those laws They protect the people who perpetuate the caste system, who perpetuate the torture of marginalized peoples. So some kind of moral movement must be started in India to completely reform the police. All police should be sent to schools where they learn morality, compassion, kindness, respect for women, and above all respect for the most neglected, downtrodden human beings - the outcastes of the society. The police above all should be taking care of these people. At present the police serve as the instruments of oppression and torture - utterly needless torture. See what is happening in Lalgarh and entire Medinipur districts of West Bengal, where Maoists are catching the police and beheading them. There is a reason for their rage. It is because the police have passed all limits in their torture of the poor. So perhaps the first movement to start in India is redemption of all police departments across the land. The police in every country are extremely powerful. But that power MUST be accompanied by morality. by basic love and affection for the suffering humanity. So now, who will come forward to start such a movement? Who will rescue the suffering masses from the tortures of police atrocities across this land? Who will start the long task of educating police and turning them into compassionate human beings? - Garda Ghista

A Messenger from the South Brings Word to the North: There's a Better Way to Feed the World - A Conversation with Miguel Altieri

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:16:38 -0500

The reason I went to England to see Prince Charles earlier this year was to report the results of 208 sustainable agricultural projects and agroecological approaches from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The studies showed that nine million farmers, working on more than 29 million hectares, have increased their overall yields from 50 to 100 percent. And these are in marginalized environments-hillsides and semi-desert areas-and they did so at one-tenth the cost of the Green Revolution. Not to mention the empowerment of the people-which can't be measured-and the biodiversity, the regeneration of the land, the conservation of the resources, and such things. - Miguel Altieri

Lynne Stewart, The Patriot Act and Cointelpro

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:59:04 -0500

This incredibly courageous, seventy-year-old former librarian, who is presently also battling a serious medical condition that requires surgery must never be abandoned by us. She did not abandon justice-loving people and we cannot abandon her. She is a target and a victim of the Patriot Act (the 21st century COINTELPRO) and the ongoing hysteria which was whipped up under the Bush / Cheney administration and is being continued and further tweaked under the Obama / Biden administration. We must remember that Lynne Stewart spoke and speaks truth to power on behalf of the every day people and we can do no less. DO NOT LET HER STAND ALONE! DO NOT ALLOW THIS CORRUPT, HYPOCRITICAL, WAR MONGERING GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY TO COWER US INTO SUBMISSION! Continue to follow the developments in Lynne Stewart's case closely, with a view towards reversing this gross injustice to her and to all of us! By supporting Lynne Stewart, we are loving and supporting the very best in ourselves. Bear in mind that the above-described developments with respect to Lynne Stewart, are part and parcel and yet another example, of the ongoing shredding of the Bill of Rights and civil liberties in this nation. - Larry Pinkney

Going Hungry In The USA: America's Economic Pain Brings Hunger Pangs

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:22:36 -0500

Food shortages, the report shows, are particularly pronounced among women raising children alone. Last year, more than one in three single mothers reported that they struggled for food, and more than one in seven said that someone in their home had been hungry -- far eclipsing the food problem in any other kind of household. The report also found that people who are black or Hispanic were more than twice as likely as whites to report that food in their home was scarce. In the survey used to measure food shortages, people were considered to have food insecurity if they answered "yes" to several of a series of questions. Among the questions were whether, in the past year, their food sometimes ran out before they had money to buy more, whether they could not afford to eat nutritionally balanced meals, and whether adults in the family sometimes cut the size of their meals -- or skipped them -- because they lacked money for food. The report defined the degree of their food insecurity by the number of the questions to which they answered yes. - Amy Goldstein

Salary & Govt. Concessions for a Member of Parliament

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:42:56 -0500

Politics is not a SERVICE anymore but a PROFESSION.

Salary & Govt. Concessions for a Member of Parliament

Monthly Salary: Rs. 12,000/-

Expense for Constitution per month: Rs. 10,000/-

Office expenditure per month: Rs. 14,000/-

Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km): Rs. 48,000/-

(eg. For a visit from South India to Delhi & return: 6000 km)

Daily DA TA during parliament meets: Rs. 500/day

Charge for 1 class (A/C) in train: Free (For any number of times)
(All over India )

Charge for Business Class in flights: Free for 40 trips / year (With wife or P.A.)

Rent for MP hostel at Delhi: Free.

Electricity costs at home: Free up to 50,000 units.

Local phone call charge: Free up to 1, 70,000 calls..

TOTAL expense for a MP [having no qualification] per year: Rs.32, 00,000/-

[i.e. 2.66 lakh/month]
TOTAL expense for 5 years: Rs. 1, 60, 00,000/-

For 534 MPs, the expense for 5 years:
Rs. 8,54,40,00,000/-

(Nearly 855 crores)

AND THE PRIME MINISTER IS ASKING THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED, OUT PERFORMING CEOs TO CUT DOWN THEIR SALARIES...
..
This is how all our tax money is been swallowed and price hike on our regular commodities.........

And this is the present condition of our country:

855 crores could make their life livable!!

Hightower: Obscenely Rich Bankers Claim to Do God's Work -- They Can Go to Hell

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:33:26 -0500

Such narcissism reminds me of a story about a selfish, no-good rich man who died and tried to get into heaven. But you can't just walk through the Pearly Gates. An angel reviews your life, then St. Peter decides if you can enter. To counter the angel's negative review, the rich man argued that he had a history of charitable giving. He'd once tossed a nickel into a beggar's cup, he pointed out. Plus, some years later, he had aided a poor woman by giving her a nickel. Then there was the time he put a nickel into the Salvation Army kettle. Hearing all this, the angel turned to St. Peter and asked, "What in the world should we do with this man?" And St. Peter said, "Give him back his 15 cents, and tell him to go to hell!" - Jim Hightower

CHILDREN IN POVERTY IN THE RICHEST NATION ON EARTH

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:27:24 -0500

Nov 20, 2009 - British news reports this morning "Half of children in 17 U.S. counties live in poverty." Corporate media delight in telling us the recession is over, the stock market is booming for the few who own most of the stock, and billions in bonuses are going to banksters to whom we recently guaranteed trillions of dollars in interest free loans. Our government will do whatever it can to wrench a crust of bread from the hand of a starving child so that a Wall Street bankster can market it for profit, the legacy of elections based on campaign financing from the Forces of Greed who rule. It is no accident that poverty is growing. A system which awards most of the wealth to one-fourth of one percent of the population means that millions must go homeless and hungry. As the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn simplifies it, "wealth creates poverty, and poverty creates wealth."

Rising Indian influence in Afghanistan worries US and Pakistan

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:24:54 -0500

Think-tanks and press pundits are insisting that India cannot remain a "soft power." Dr. Subhash Kapila, a former military officer and diplomat, has written that India has so far been reluctant to resort to "hard power." However, he writes, "As India grows more powerful and her strategic worth figures in the global strategic calculus ... [it] may not continue to be reluctant and restrained." He called for a reorientation of US policy in south Asia from "Pakistan-Centric" to an "India-Centric" fixation. The Indian government is looking to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the US this month to take Indo-US relations to a new level. The Indian ambassador to the US recently boasted, "the India-US relationship has evolved into a truly comprehensive partnership of mutual trust and confidence ... that is increasingly global in reach, and [based on] deepening strategic understanding." But despite the warming of relations over the past two decades, any Indo-US partnership remains fraught with tensions and ambivalences as the ruling elite of each country ruthlessly pursues its own interests. - Ajay Prakash

Huge contradictions behind China's stimulus-driven recovery

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:14:56 -0500

Social inequality is deepening. The stimulus package helped to expand the list of Chinese dollar billionaires from 101 last year to 130 this year. At the same time, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated in September that 41 million Chinese workers had lost their jobs, mostly in the export sector, since the beginning of the financial crisis, or 40 percent of the world's total job losses. As the impact of the stimulus package starts to wane, China confronts the prospect of falling growth rates and the danger of financial turmoil as well as rising social tensions and instability. - John Chan