• 6 AUGUST - *1907 - Gen. Macario Sakay, one of the Filipino military leaders who had continued fighting the imperialist United States invaders eight years into the Ph...
    11 years ago

......................................................................................

The Daily Tribune

(Without Fear or Favor)

Specials:

Bulatlat.com

World Wildlife Fund for Nature-Philippines

The Philippines Matrix Project

The other poll fraud EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 11/11/2011

Friday, November 11, 2011

The other poll fraud

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
11/11/2011
It is quite ironic that the current administration is running after Gloria, Mike and some former Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials over massive and orchestrated fraud in the 2004 elections while Noynoy hasn’t come clean yet on similar allegations of computerized large-scale cheating to win the presidency.

The ghost of the 2010 automated fraud returned to haunt Noynoy the other day after the group called Tanggulang Demokrasya (TanDem) enumerated clear pieces of evidence that were already raised in the past but nonetheless remained unresolved until now.

It cited several violations of the automated election law, including the Comelec’s decision to disable digital signatures in violation of the requirement in the law that election returns be transmitted electronically and digitally to be considered as official election results and shall be used as the basis for the canvassing of votes and the proclamation of a candidate..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111111com1.html

From WMD to ‘laptop WMD’ DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 11/11/2011

From WMD to ‘laptop WMD’

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
11/11/2011
This century began with hopes of lasting peace as the threat of a nuclear MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) came to an end. Only one superpower was left; and in its hands, the peace that could prosper. But no sooner had the new century limped through toddlerhood that this lone superpower staged a “false flag” operation against its own people.

Supposedly to avenge the three-building 9/11 World Trade Center “terror attacks,” the US pounded heavily on the medieval nation of Afghanistan in order to flush out the attacks’ alleged mastermind, Osama bin Laden. But it was too small a war.

In his 2002 State of the Union Address, then US President George W. Bush lashed out against the “Axis of Evil,” shattering all dreams of world peace. The following year, his country attacked another nation (Iraq) under the pretext of securing Saddam Hussein’s “Weapons of Mass Destruction” (WMD), which scenario turned out to be a “Weapon of Mass Distraction.”

Ten years later, and with $1.2 trillion spent, 30,000 civilian casualties (including disproportionate number of children and women); 20,000 Taliban and 2,700 coalition forces’ deaths in Afghanistan; 650,000 (according to a Lancet study) to 1.5 million dead Iraqis; mounting Pakistani civilian drone killings; and an expansion of the conflicts into Côte d’Ivoire and Libya, now coming to be known as the new colonial resurgence, there is no end in sight to the Western powers’ 21st Century wars.

The peoples of the world should take heed: There is planning for all these wars and more to come. This was already detailed in the 1990s by US neoconservative think tank, PNAC (Project for a New American Century), which drafted the plan “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” that called for a “New Pearl Harbor” to justify US military resurgence.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), a military alliance against a bygone Soviet regime, then shifted its support to US military aggression and went off to start its own adventures in Côte d’Ivoire and Libya, with current US President Barack Obama “leading from behind.” The whole of Africa is now even threatened by the US’ own Africom (Africa Command) as interventions in Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Yemen loom.

Even the much ballyhooed “Arab Spring” was a component of the plan with Arab Spring NGOs and “civil society” now shown to be funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and Freedom House, and trained in Serbia’s CANVAS (Center for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies), with experience in the Balkanization of Serbia.

Now, Egypt is far more repressive than ever, with sham elections bringing in worse dependency on the West, as in Tunisia and Libya. Then there’s the US-Israeli thrust through Syria and then Iran.

The drums of war against Iran have been beaten for years now. Previous IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) heads, though, from Hans Blix to Mohamed El Baradei, have never given credence to claims of Iran’s nuclear capability for military use.

But suddenly, with a new Japanese nuclear watchdog chief who was aggressively lobbied for by the US, the agency is now producing a “laptop” of weapons of mass distraction.

The latest came in 2004 when “a mysterious figure handed over to the CIA a laptop he had purloined from an Iranian technician, purportedly working at a nuclear plant in Iran. (It was) said to contain pages and pages of top-secret information in English detailing Iran’s lust for attaining technical knowhow to produce nuclear payroll for Shahab III missile” — this, according to Iranian scholar and author Ismael Shalabi on the Center for Research on Globalization Web site.

Furthermore, “non-proliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis of the New America Foundation says the biggest loophole in the claim is the crude manner in which the laptop documents were constructed… (with reports indicating that) ‘some of the view graphs were done in Power Point, which suggested to me that the program was not terribly sophisticated.’ Another fault… is that the documents were written in English, a language barely used in official Iranian documents, let alone in documents of such paramount sensitivity. In 2005, the US officials briefed the IAEA of the contents of the documents, but they declined to provide the IAEA officials with any actual documents. In 2008, a battle ensued between IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei and George W. Bush… (as El Baradei) thought Iran should be given a fair chance to see at least some of the invisible documents” (Inter Press Service, Dec. 9, 2006; New York Times, Dec. 4, 2007). But the US would not oblige.

According to a cable released by WikiLeaks in October 2009, “(Yukiya) Amano (current IAEA chief) reminded (the US) ambassador on several occasions that he would need to make concessions to the G-77 (the developing countries group), which correctly required him to be fair-minded and independent, but that he was solidly in the US court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program.”

Furthermore, “Amano recently delivered, reporting that Iran had carried out activities ‘relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device’ with ‘evidence’ provided by ‘more than 10 member states as well as its own information’ which turns out to be the US ‘laptop of WMD.’”

All these remind us of Bush’s infamous “Sixteen Words” in his 2003 State of the Union speech: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
Those 16 words were about the Niger “Yellow Cake” Colin Powell said before the UN that Saddam obtained for his WMDs. After, the CIA sent US Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger to investigate and found the allegation to be false, the US eventually had to admit that Saddam had no WMDs. It was a barefaced lie told to 300 million Americans and 6 billion people of the world.

We have an obligation today to inform our fellow human beings of this new US lie for war — this “laptop Weapon of Mass Distraction.” We must take our role seriously as peacemakers and stop the warmongers-for-profit from destroying more than they already have. A war on Iran will raise oil to $300 per barrel that would devastate our already suffering nation.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111111com5.html

Noy in big Blunderland FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 11/11/2011

Noy in big Blunderland

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
11/11/2011
It has been one big blunder after another that Noynoy and his Palace aides have been committing, giving themselves more problems they themselves create.

The latest blunder is the way Noynoy and his Injustice Secretary Leila de Lima have been handling the case involving the travel appeal of Gloria Arroyo for her medical needs.
If they don’t know it yet, the whole shebang is boomeranging on them. Not only are they being seen by many Filipinos as being vindictive, but also that they are being seen as usurpers of judicial power, making it appear that a Department of Justice (DoJ) circular is higher than the law and the Constitution.

It has been noted that while Noynoy and De Lima keep on claiming that there are pending charges of plunder and electoral sabotage against her which are all non-bailable crimes, the nation knows that this is not so, because there have been no charges filed in court at all against Gloria and even her spouse, Mike Arroyo. What exists are complaints and even in the case of electoral sabotage, the preliminary investigation on this has not even been finalized..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111111com2.html/

W/ Video: Make money, make war: UK profits from Libya mess

NATO may have ended its operations in Libya, but the Western presence is far from over, with big companies replacing the warplanes. The countries that bombed the oil-rich state are now getting lucrative contracts to rebuild it.



First, British bombs tore it apart. Now, British companies will get paid to put it back together. Libya is open for business, and UK firms are being encouraged to join the gold rush.

“Libya is a relatively wealthy country with oil reserves, and I expect there will be opportunities for British and, indeed, other companies to get involved in the reconstruction of Libya,” British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond has said. He is urging CEOs and sales directors to “pack their suitcases” and head to the North African country..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/profit-libya-companies-british-067/

11/11/11: Eleven craziest facts you need to know about it

11/11/11: Eleven craziest facts you need to know about it


From Freemasons, spiritualists to RPG-fans around the world, this day has something to offer to everyone.

1) First and foremost – the date’s number is a full palindrome (reads the same from left to right, and right to left), which occurs only once per century. Nothing crazy about this one, it's just plain math. Rather, it’s the date’s palindromic qualities that get people stirred up. Occultists, Freemasons and numerologists each have their own connotation for the number. Oh, and lotto players often refer to 11 as “the drumsticks”.  The Last time a full double-figure palindrome date occurred (November 11, 1911), US citizens in Missouri witnessed an extraordinary temperature drop from 80F to 10 F. Friday will show if it had anything to do with the date or was mere coincidence.

2) Russians get married en masse. Registry services in various Russian towns will be working overtime and setting up additional offices to cater for all the couples who wish to tie the knot. The other popular wedding days – like January 1st, or August 28th – are given a run for their money, as the trend doesn’t stay exclusively Russian. There was also a funny coincidence concerning divorce: trying to stand out in the happy crowd, one Russian couple got married on 09/09/09…and got divorced on 11/11/11!.... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/11-november-date-numerology-freemasons-041/

The right to travel C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 11/11/2011

The right to travel

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S
Jonathan De la Cruz
11/11/2011
The 1987 Constitution upholds the right to travel as inviolable subject only to considerations of national security, public safety and public health as maybe determined by competent authorities. International law recognizes this right as well as provided in Article 12, Section 3 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states in part that “...everyone shall be free to leave any country including his own and return to it...” save only in “...times of emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed...” So, what compelling reason or reasons within the ambit of these “prohibitions” have P-Noy and his advisers offered thus far to bar former President Gloria Arroyo from availing of her right to travel? Well, despite their best efforts we have yet to be shown one..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111111com6.html

Happy birthday, Mr. Vice President NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 11/11/2011

Happy birthday, Mr. Vice President

NO HOLDS BARRED
Armida Siguion-Reyna
11/11/2011
Today, we do the 73rd episode of what first started as your pet project as mayor of your beloved city, an early National Heroes Month production, entitled Aawitan Kita sa Makati: Mga Bayani ng Bayan, at the program’s regular venue at the University of Makati’s 6th floor auditorium, 5:30 p.m., featuring the talents of Bimbo Cerrudo, Cris Villonco, Richard Reynoso, Bayang Barrios, Miguel Castro, Bangge Mabanta, Joel Villaflor and I. The decision to do an advance show was to accommodate our Middle East performances in December, but as it falls also on your birthday, how perfectly right to likewise have it as a tribute to you.

AKSM has gone a long way since you first put it on stage, in July of 2005, at around the same time the nation was glued to the revelation of the “Hello Garci” CDs. It is almost seven years old..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111111com4.html

Reds score Noy for not filing single case vs GMA 11/11/2011

Reds score Noy for not filing single case vs GMA

11/11/2011
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has scored the administration of President Aquino for not filing a single case against former President, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo despite so much noise and after more than 500 days in office.

In a statement, the CPP noted that the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) denial of Arroyo’s request to travel abroad to seek medical treatment only opened the possibility that the former President could leave the country for good and evade criminal proceedings following the filing for a temporary restraining order before the Supreme Court.

“The more important issue is that the Aquino regime has wasted its almost 500 days in office in failing to file a single case against Gloria Arroyo and prosecute her for the high crimes of plunder and electoral fraud as well as war crimes committed against the Filipino people during her nine-year rule,” said the CPP..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111111nat1.html

Discontentment in AFP brass feared over Noy’s top Army pick By Mario J. Mallari 11/11/2011

Discontentment in AFP brass feared over Noy’s top Army pick

By Mario J. Mallari 11/11/2011

President Aquino’s appointment of Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista as commanding general of the 86,000-strong Philippine Army has drawn some questions on how he would lead officers in the field who are mostly his upperclassmen in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) where seniority is “sacred.”

As Army chief, Bautista has supervision of the 10 Infantry Division (ID) commanders throughout the country and all major support units of the Army such as the Army Support Command (Ascom), Light Armor Division (LAD) and the Special Operations Command (Socom), among other units.

At present, all division commanders except one, 6th ID commander Brig. Gen. Rey Ardo, are senior than Bautista, a member of the PMA Class of 1981 where Ardo also belongs..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111111hed6.html

VP Binay marks 11-11-11 birthday with Marines, Navy boodle fight 11/11/2011

VP Binay marks 11-11-11 birthday with Marines, Navy boodle fight

11/11/2011
Vice President Jejomar Binay will celebrate his birthday today, Nov. 11, 2011 — or “11-11-11” — with a boodle fight with 1,111 Marine and Navy personnel at the Marines headquarters in Fort Bonifacio.
Binay is a reservist colonel in the Marines.

The boodle fight will be followed by the awarding of financial assistance from the Alay sa Kawal (ASK) Foundation, which Binay chairs, to families of 69 Marines who were killed in action.

The Vice President said he intends to celebrate his next birthdays with the military..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111111nat7.html

LTFRB hailed for suspending franchises of striking buses 11/11/2011

LTFRB hailed for suspending franchises of striking buses

11/11/2011
Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco yesterday lauded the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s (LTFRB) decision penalizing the bus lines which participated in a strike on Nov. 15 last year in protest of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA)’s new number coding scheme implemented on that same day. The strike resulted in hundreds of commuters stranded along Edsa.

“It was a fair decision,” said Tiangco on the LTFRB decision cancelling the franchise of Philippine Corinthian Liner as well as suspending the licenses of 15 other bus liners that also participated in the strike..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111111met5.html

Archbishop warns lawmakers vs betting in Pacquiao fight 11/11/2011

Archbishop warns lawmakers vs betting in Pacquiao fight

11/11/2011
A ranking official of the Catholic Church has advised lawmakers, who will watch the boxing match of their colleague, Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao on Sunday (Manila time), to refrain from using public funds in placing their bets.

Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said instead of engaging in gambling, solons should just allot their money to help the poor.

“Hindi natin sila hinuhusgahan pero sana lang huwag naman sa ganitong sitwasyon na kung saan hinirang sila ng bayan, dapat maging mabuting ehemplo pero ipinapakita pa nila na sila ang nangunguna sa sugal (We are not prejudging them, but they should set a good example as they were elected by the people),” Arguelles said over Church-run Radyo Veritas..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111111met4.html

Blog Archive