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September 24th, 2012
A Tibetan monk creates a compassion sand mandala, co-sponsored by the Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation, in Billings Montana.
UN General Assembly Opens in New York
The UN General Assembly opened today in New York. The annual gathering of world leaders will see 116 heads of state and government leaders meeting in New York. This year discussions will be dominated by the civil war raging in Syria as well as the heightened tensions between Israel and Iran. Also on the agenda is the continued economic crisis in Europe.
On Tuesday President Obama will address the assembly as well as the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and French President Francois Hollande. Wednesday will see the controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in past years his speeches have seen mass walk outs of delegates, appalled by his hate-filled rhetoric. On Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will both be speaking. Last year the issue of Palestinian statehood was on the agenda, however it is believed this year the matter will be sidelined.
The gathering ends on Monday October 1st. The week will allow meetings of different delegates to discuss in detail the Middle East issues as well as the economic problems facing the world.
NY Newsmagazine on gay, lesbian issues shutting down
New York, NY. “In The Life”, a public television news magazine that focuses on issues regarding LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) content will be closing this December.
“In The Life” claims that they are the only national television program focusing on the “gay experience”. They have been nominated for an Emmy (twice), a Webby, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Ribbon of Hope, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association 2011 Excellence in HIV/AIDS Coverage, the 2006 Seigenthaler Award for excellence in network television and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism-Newsmagazine.
According to the interim director Ellen Carton, funding is partly to blame for the closing down of the network.
Asian American Community Honors Pelosi
Strange news coming from San Francisco today.
The ardent Dalai Lama supporter Nancy Pelosi (a Democrat from San Francisco), is being honored by the Asian American community in San Francisco’s Chinatown
China has been an ardent critic of the Dalai Lama for years as well as being critical of nations who entertain talks with him.
American Ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, diplomat, father, husband, and American Citizen, being dragged through the streets of Benghazi
You will not hear about this in the liberal media. Our US Ambassador to Libya being dragged through the streets before being murdered.
To most Americans this is an act of war. To our president it’s just another act of office violence (like Fort Hood). He and the Secy of State have already apologized and will soon send them another $6.3 Billion in foreign aid. This is as sad as it gets.
Debt crisis: Spain ‘will need extra bail-out’ – Telegraph
It is thought Spain’s banking sector will require another bailout of more than more than €100bn.
Spanish banks face a record number of bad debts with 1 in 10 loans in arrears.
Spain already received €100bn in June to recapitalise it’s banks, but at the time many economists warned the amount was not sufficient and it would only be a matter of time before Spain required more cash.
The political mood in Spain is also deteriorating with the Catalonian region threatening to break away from the rest of Spain because of the financial crisis and the austerity measures.
via Debt crisis: Spain ‘will need extra bail-out’ – Telegraph.
Iran Warns Israel: “We will Destroy you”.
Iran have sent a chilling message to Israel warning them not to strike, or they will destroy Israel. The chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Gaurd, General Mohamed Ali Jafari, has publically acknowledged for the first time that war with Israel is highly likely but warned that a was would see the nation of Israel destroyed. General Jafari said at a military exhibition in Tehran, “The shameful and cancerous tumour that is Israel is seeking war against us, but it is not known when that war will happen. They now consider war as the only way to confront us, but they are so stupid that their (US) masters should stop them,”
“If they begin, it will spell their destruction and will be the end of the story, even if they act rationally, this incident will happen,” he added, noting that the Islamic revolution is “moving rapidly towards its goals and they (Israel) cannot tolerate this.”
Jalfari also warned that any military action between the two countries would be “very different” to any previous conflicts.
Jalfari’s warnings came after the US Senate passed a measure endorsing their continued diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran to halt it’s nuclear program. However, these measures do not go far enough for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli PM is continuing to push Washington to define its criteria for a US-led military strike against Iran.
New Low in U.S. Trust of Main Stream Media
The trust in the media to report news “fully, accurately, and fairly” hit a new low this year.
According to Gallup, 60% say they have little to no trust in the mass media.
Excerpts from this study reveal that Republicans are identified as trusting the media the least while Democrats the most and Independents’ trust in the media has seen a dramatic downward trend from 2008.
Luc Besson unveils Cinema City production studio in Paris – FRANCE – CINEMA – FRANCE 24
Luc Besson unveils Cinema City production studio in Paris – FRANCE – CINEMA – FRANCE 24.
French film maker Luc Bessson has realised his dream of building a Hollywood style studio complex on the outskirts of Paris.
Cinema City will provide costume and model building; as well as production and post production facilities.
“France has Europe’s biggest film industry and yet until now it was the only European country without the infrastructure to produce a film,” said Christophe Lambert, general director of Besson’s production firm EuropaCorp.
Cinema City is being called “Hollywood on Seine”.
The project as cost 170 million euros and will need to major productions a year to cover operational costs. EuropaCorp believes the facility will be fully booked within the year, with European and America producers eager to use the studios.
Former Guantanamo inmate accused of attack on US ambassador to Libya – Telegraph
US intelligence officials believe a former Guantanamo Bay inmate with ties to Al-Qaeda is “likely” to have organized the attack which killed the American ambassador to Libya last week, according to new reports.
A burnt car is seen parked outside the U.S. consulate in Benghazi Photo: REUTERS
By Richard Spencer, Benghazi11:59AM BST 20 Sep 2012
The former inmate, Sufyan Ben Qumu, is one of the leaders of Ansar al-Sharia, a Libyan militant Islamist group with a high-profile presence in the east of the country that has already been identified by local officials as involved in the attack on the consulate in Benghazi in which Chris Stevens died.
“It was people from Ansar al-Sharia – not all of them but some of them, and I think (the organization) knows who did it.”
Oil Prices drop to $91 per barrel which should improve the cost of living-
Monday saw a drop in oil prices which has continued through today. No one can figure out what happened, as much of the news reports.
Many are quick to report that these are all indicators of a further down turn in the economy.
But we must be quick to remember, it is HIGH oil prices that drive the cost of living up and CHEAP oil prices that bring prosperity.
Which brings the question, is the news media bent on seeing the worst on every side or have they just been doing it for so long that they forgot to be optimistic?
Court keeps Indefinite Detention effective during lawsuit against it
by Joel McDurmon on Sep 19, 2012
A lone appeals judge bowed down to the Obama administration late Monday and reauthorized the White House’s ability to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge or due process.
Last week, a federal judge ruled that an temporary injunction on section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 must be made permanent, essentially barring the White House from ever enforcing a clause in the NDAA that can let them put any US citizen behind bars indefinitely over mere allegations of terrorist associations. On Monday, the US Justice Department asked for an emergency stay on that order, and hours later US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge Raymond Lohier agreed to intervene and place a hold on the injunction.
The stay will remain in effect until at least September 28, when a three-judge appeals court panel is expected to begin addressing the issue.
UN Small Arms Treaty Passes While Media Sleeps
The United Nations Small Arms Treaty passed in its second session. The Media was silent over its passage.
According to the UN’s press release,
Concluding its two-week session today, the second United Nations conference to review the 2001 Programme of Action on trafficking in small arms and light weapons adopted a consensus outcome document that highlighted the international community’s renewed commitment to preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade.
The document’s adoption represented a major achievement for delegations, who had failed to agree on a final outcome at the first review conference, held in 2006. “We accomplished something great today,” said U. Joy Ogwu ( Nigeria), President of the Conference, formally known as the United Nations Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.
According to the text, Member States renewed their pledge to rid the world of the scourge brought upon it by the illicit manufacture, transfer and circulation of small arms and light weapons, and their excessive accumulation and uncontrolled spread in many parts of the world. They also committed to mobilizing the necessary political will and resources to implement the Programme of Action and the International Tracing Instrument, with the aim of achieving clear and tangible results over the next six years, through 2018.
Further by the text, States emphasized that the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons continued to sustain conflicts, exacerbate armed violence, undermine respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law, aid terrorism and illegal armed groups, and facilitate increasing levels of transnational organized crime, as well as trafficking in humans, drugs and certain natural resources.
Ahhh yes, the cries of terrorism and drugs and boogey men for the passage of the treaty. This comes from member nations who knowingly promote these kinds of things. Even the United States is now in the midst of a scandal involving gunwalking, known as Fast and Furious, and at least one man arrested has come forward and said that Fast and Furious was all about arming drug cartels in Mexico, never about tracking them.
All countries signed the declaration and further documentation can be found here.
According to the program of action:
“8. Reaffirming our respect for and commitment to international law and the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, including the sovereign equality of States, territorial integrity, the peaceful resolution of international disputes, non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of States, “. Non-intervention and non-interference? How about Syria? NATO is part of the United Nations.
Right about now you are probably thinking, so what? As long as the Senate doesn’t ratify all if well. Ask yourself if you are familiar with the United Nation’s Agenda 21. The Senate didn’t ratify that. Instead Bill Clinton basically passed it by executive order. Mike Opelka, at the Blaze writes:
Agenda 21 is a two-decade old, grand plan for global ’Sustainable Development,’ brought to you from the United Nations. George H.W. Bush (and 177 other world leaders) agreed to it back in 1992, and in 1995, Bill Clinton signed Executive Order #12858, creating a Presidential Council on ‘Sustainable Development.’ This effectively pushed the UN plan into America’s large, churning government machine without the need for any review or discussion by Congress or the American people.
French Satirical Magazine Charlie Hebdo Prints Prophet Mohammed Cartoons
The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has printed cartoons of the prophet Mohammed naked in it’s latest addition. The magazine has a history of using satire to poke fun at organized religion. Last year the magazine was attacked by a fire bomb after it ran cartoons depicting Mohammed. This latest publication has been condemned by the French government, and has led to riot police being deployed to protect the magazines Paris headquarters. France has also shut it’s embassies, and schools in Islamic countries, in fear of a backlash
Charlie Hebdo has responded to the criticism by saying they were not attacking Islam, by commenting on the protests against America as a result of the anti-Islam, “Innocence of Muslims”.