Mark Dankof: The Treyvon Martin Case

In a nutshell, the Treyvon Martin case is a classic manipulation of the American public, and a diversionary tactic par excellence on the part of a Zionist-controlled American Corporate Media for reasons classically obvious only to those in this country who can still think, and exercise dispassionate judgment accordingly. Irresponsible, racially oriented demagoguery comes to us via electronic barrage from the usual Establishment shills in the African-American community, evidenced by the inflammatory rhetoric and self-serving actions of Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters, and Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush (D-ILL), among others. Although it has received less media attention, the racist wing of the American Right Populist movement has been equally irresponsible, as evidenced by simian statements and analysis laced with vicious appellations directed at African Americans like "nigger," "chimps," and "coons."Neither side can claim to know yet what really happened in Florida and all its nuances and dimensions. Both sides fail to understand the Real Game in how this terrible situation is being deliberately exploited at the expense of decent people of good will with different shades of skin color. One thing is not in doubt. The issues surrounding this tragedy discussed by Pat Buchanan in his essay, "It's All About Race Now," will not be aired on CNN or MSNBC. A second thing is not in doubt. Lost in all this is the way the false Hegelian dialectic between mutually public racists African American and European serves as a strategically-designed diversion from the real issues confronting a sick and terminally ill American culture, economic, and political system. 

Leon Watson: McDonald's Turned Me Into a Prostitute!

A woman has launched a lawsuit against McDonald's, claiming the fast food giant turned her into a prostitute. Shelley Lynn, from California, says the burger joint should have protected her against her 'predatory' ex-husband and former boss Keith Handley. Mr Handley hired her to work behind the counter 30 years ago at his franchise in Arroyo Grande before the pair began dating five years later. But when Ms Lynn lost her job, the relationship, and her life, started to break down. Lynn said Hanley, who still runs the franchise, forced her termination to make her more vulnerable to his demands. She blames McDonald's for putting her at the mercy of a company that provided no protections for female employees against predatory bosses. Ms Lynn is also suing Handley and his restaurant company Ivernia in California Central District Court. Ms Lynn says that Handley, who still runs the franchise, forced her termination to make her more vulnerable to his demands. 'McDonald's had no policy in place whereby Lynn could have filed a grievance against Handley, Ivernia, and McDonald's, she said in the filed court documents. Ms Lynn said Handley lied when he said he would help her fulfill her dreams of working as a Las Vegas dancer. He bought her a home in Vegas to live in, but then told her she'd have to get a job as a prostitute in one of the legal brothels to pay for it. The complaint said: 'Handley then began pressuring Lynn on an almost daily basis, arguing: It was no big deal to engage in sex to make money, that she would lose her home and everything she had, which was true.' Lynn said she took a job at the Chicken Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada, where she became a 'top booker,' required to sleep with up to 12 men at night.

Jim Hightower: The Truth About the US Postal Service

What do 50 cents buy these days? Not a cuppa joe, a pack of gum or a newspaper. But if you can get a steal of a deal for a 50-cent piece: a first-class stamp. Plus a nickel in change. Each day, six days a week, letter carriers traverse 4 million miles toting an average of 563 million pieces of mail, reaching the very doorsteps of our individual homes and workplaces in every single community in America. From the gated enclaves and penthouses of the ueber-wealthy to the inner-city ghettos and rural colonias of America's poorest families, the US Postal Service literally delivers. All for 45 cents. The USPS is an unmatched bargain, a civic treasure, a genuine public good that links all people and communities into one nation. So, naturally, it must be destroyed. For the past several months, the laissez-fairyland blogosphere, assorted corporate front groups, a howling pack of congressional right-wingers and a bunch of lazy mass media sources have been pounding out a steadily rising drumbeat to warn that our postal service faces impending doom. It's "broke," they exclaim. USPS "nears collapse", it's "a full-blown financial crisis!" These gloomsayers claim the national mail agency is bogged down with too many overpaid workers and costly brick-and-mortar facilities, so it can't keep up with the instant messaging of Internet services and such nimble corporate competitors as FedEx. Thus, say these contrivers of their own conventional wisdom, the Postal Service is unprofitable and is costing taxpayers billions of dollars a year in losses. Wrong! Since 1971, the Postal Service has not taken a dime from taxpayers. 

Devvy Kidd: What's Wrong With These Headlines?

US troops in Afghanistan now have far-reaching new protections against rogue killers among their Afghan allies, including assigned "guardian angels", fellow troops who will watch over them when they sleep. Marine General John Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan, ordered the added protections in recent weeks to guard against insider threats, according to a senior military official. They come in the wake of 16 attacks on US and coalition forces by Afghans that now represent nearly one-fifth of all combat deaths this year." Do the cheerleaders of those illegal, immoral invasions and occupations of countries like Afghanistan not get it yet about 'blow-back'? As I wrote in my recent column regarding the Obama/Socotro administration proposing to impose higher medical premiums for vets, here we are with our troops, who will be veterans someday, having to guard each other even when sleeping, against Afghani's who don't want our troops there. I wish that those who wave the flag and cheer on our soldiers in those countries remember the body bags you never see on the propaganda machine called TV. 1/5th of all combat deaths isn't just a statistic. Every one of those soldiers is dead, and their families and friends will forever have a huge hole in their hearts. For what? Please, don't insult my intelligence by sending me email they're fighting for our freedom. That carefully crafted "justification" long ago wore out its place in history. While the troops are there to protect the opium poppy crops, a sick culture of death, and where pedophilia is common in some regions, here is what their president, Hamid Karzai, said as the flag-draped coffins continue to arrive back on US soil: The Americans in Afghanistan are demons".  

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey: Slutwalk, A New Movement!

It started in the USA and Canada, after a Toronto policeman said if women want to avoid being raped or victimized, they should not dress like sluts. The reaction was instead of telling women how to dress, the police should tell men not to rape. Now the movement has come to Europe. Thousands of "sluts" took to the streets of London on Saturday. Over 5,000 women took to the streets in London on Saturday in the latest Slutwalk, a movement which defends a woman's right to dress as she pleases without the insinuation that if someone says something or gropes her, "she was asking for it". The notion that a woman should not dress in a certain way to avoid being raped or victimized is as absurd as it is insulting, the result of hundreds of years of macho culture and male supremacy, running along the same lines as "women are too emotionally unbalanced to form an opinion and vote" and in some countries, for instance post-Saddam Iraq, a man has the right to beat his wife "if she misbehaves". The word "slut" seems to have had several meanings and interpretations over time. Its etymology comes from the Germanic Schlutt (slovenly woman), Swedish slata (idle woman). It was originally taken to mean lazy or careless, or uncared-for appearance. Hard pieces in bread arising from sloppy kneading were called "slut's pennies" in the 18th century. However, it was not restricted to women. In the 14th century, Chaucer uses the word sluttish to describe an untidy or unkempt man. Samuel Pepys (17th century) uses the word to describe a happy, bold girl: "Our little girl Susan is a most admirable slut, and pleases us mightily".      

Dianna C. Cotter: Barack Obama Case Threatened into Silence

On March 7th, 2012, Pravda called out the US press for its deliberate neglect of the largest scandal in modern American history. Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio released credible forensic evidence that Barack Obama, presumed President of the United States, presented to the world a forged Birth Certificate on April 27th, 2011. Since then, the scandal has only expanded. Former United States Postal Service worker Allen Hulton has recently come forward with compelling testimony given under Oath, which leads to only one conclusion: Barack Obama attended College in the United States as a Foreign Student. In the summer of 2008, the presidential primary season was winding down, and America could not help but note the fervor a significant number of media personalities expressed while supporting the candidacy of Barack Obama. Indeed, it was collectively decided within the liberal media, that Obama's associations with racist pastors and violent domestic terrorists was to be suppressed. The exposure of the "Journolist" email scandal in 2010 made this glaringly clear: Stories like Obama's ties to Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. of the Trinity United Church, and more relevant, to Bill Ayers and his radical past in the Weather Underground Organization were to remain largely un-reported and un-investigated. Any realistic investigation into Barack Obama's background was to be minimized, inquiries eventually mocked, and investigators labeled racists. These tactics have isolated honest media who could and should have reported on these and other important stories, yet have inexplicably remained silent. Now we know why!

RT: US Obstructing Kandahar Massacre?

The defense lawyer for Robert Bales, who is accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians, is blaming the US for blocking his team's fact-finding mission into the Kandahar incident. He says he can't interview witnesses and prosecutors won't cooperate. John Henry Browne claims US forces in Afghanistan obstructed him and his associates from reaching the injured civilians at a hospital in Kandahar province to interview them about the incident, Reuters reports. Brown also said that after investigators interviewed the injured, they let them go freely with collecting any contact information, making it virtually impossible to find them. He further charges they are not sharing the data which was obtained from the witnesses with his team. He says Bales' defense has only managed to talk to US soldiers in Afghanistan, but not the actual victims of the attack. Browne explains that the military prosecutors who filed the charges against Bales have been possibly unwilling to cooperate because "they are concerned about the strength of their case." The lawyer complained of an "almost complete information blackout from the government, which is having a devastating effect on our ability to investigate the charges preferred against our client." Browne's statements raise even more suspicion about whether the US really wants to punish the guilty party to the fullest extent of the law, or if the government is concealing some ugly truth about the Kandahar massacre. An independent Afghan probe into the killings alleges that up to 20 US soldiers were involved.