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KUDOS TO RAWSTORY.COM FOR BRINGING YOUR CORRESPONDENT'S ATTENTION to the following item from the New York Sun as deserves some wholehearted popular support for once, the fact of this being an Election Year being irrelevant:

A new U.N. Human Rights Council official assigned to monitor Israel is calling for an official commission to study the role neoconservatives may have played in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

On March 26, Richard Falk, Milbank professor of international law emeritus at Princeton University, was named by unanimous vote to a newly created position to report on human rights in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. While Mr. Falk's specialty is human rights and international law, since the attacks in 2001, he has devoted some of his time to challenging what he calls the "9-11 official version."

On March 24 in an interview with a radio host and former University of Wisconsin instructor, Kevin Barrett, Mr. Falk said, "It is possibly true that especially the neoconservatives thought there was a situation in the country and in the world where something had to happen to wake up the American people. Whether they are innocent about the contention that they made that something happen or not, I don't think we can answer definitively at this point. All we can say is there is a lot of grounds for suspicion, there should be an official investigation of the sort the 9/11 commission did not engage in and that the failure to do these things is cheating the American people and in some sense the people of the world of a greater confidence in what really happened than they presently possess."

Mr. Barrett, who is the co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth, said in an interview yesterday of Mr. Falk, "I would put him on a list of scholars who are sympathetic to the 9/11 truth movement."

He added, "Unlike most public intellectuals today, he is both honest and very, very knowledgeable in that he understands the probable reality of 9/11. He understands that the evidence that it was a false flag operation is very strong."

The narrative that the attacks from 2001 were a "false flag" operation is a recurring theme in the literature challenging the consensus that 19 Al Qaeda hijackers flew commercial jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. False flag refers to espionage or covert actions taken by one government made to seem like the work of another. The false flag thesis has it that the Bush administration is somehow responsible for the September 11 attacks as a pretext for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. Falk yesterday did not return e-mails and phone calls asking for a comment. But in 2004 he wrote the foreword to the book "The New Pearl Harbor," by David Ray Griffin. Mr. Griffin has posited that such an inside job is the likely explanation for the attacks.

In the preface, Mr. Falk writes, "There have been questions raised here and there and allegations of official complicity made almost from the day of the attacks, especially in Europe, but no one until Griffin has had the patience, the fortitude, the courage, and the intelligence to put the pieces together in a single coherent account."

It's about time to expose 9/11 for what it really was all along--a "false flag" operation of His Fraudulency's Great Within, and especially so the "inside of the inside," designed to find ways to suspend the Constitution and invoke Unitary Executive Privilege, to use His Fraudulency's preferred dysphemistic code for dictatorial power.

So where's the outrage now? 

glitter-graphics.com

YOU MAY HAVE HEARD BY NOW THAT BAGGED UNSWEETENED PUFFED WHEAT AND PUFFED RICE CEREALS MADE BY MALT-O-MEAL and sold under not only the Malt-O-Meal name and stylee, but also under several private store-brand labels (details follow), have been contaminate with salmonella bacteria.

Which, under the right conditions, can only mean that your brekkie can be a rather unpleasant experience. As in making you sick.

In any case, the afflicted products are bagged unsweetened Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat cereals manufactured by The Malt-O-Meal Company with "best if used by" dates between 8 April 2008 and 18 March 2009, inclusive, sold in 6-oz. and 16-oz. bags under not only the Malt-O-Meal name and stylee, but also under these private label brands:

• Acme
• America's Choice
• Food Club
• Giant
• Hannaford
• Jewel
• Laura Lynn
• Pathmark
• Shaw's
• Shop-Rite
• Tops
• Weis Quality

(The compleat list of afflicted products, and the UPC codes involved, can be found @ www.malt-o-meal.com/recallinfo/ when you have time. If it turns out that you have any such, please return it to your store for full refund.

(And if you can't find any bags of the product in question, please understand that all such specimens have been removed from store shelves as a health and safety precaution.)

In the meantime ... how about some Carnation Instant Breakfast instead?

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NO DOUBT AS FAMILIAR AS THOSE BUMPER STICKERS FOR THE LIKES OF CERTAIN SHOOBIE TRAPS like Wall Drug Store, the Tommy Bartlett Show and Rock City--or are they?--are these ladies' bumper stickers you might find hilarious:

Bumper Stickers For Women -- powered by flowgo.com

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ANOTHER UNLIKELY BYPRODUCT OF THE UR-RAHOWA IN IRAQ IS THE USE OF FOREIGN GUEST WORKERS from other Muslim countries (Indonesia in particular) tricked into working there under false or misleading pretenses by employment agencies promising employment in Dubai or Bahrain as, say, domestics or construction labourers--only to wind up in the Khurdistani region of Iraq.

Your Correspondent understands where an Indonesian woman who was thus deceived is suing the employment agency she used for fraud and deception, claiming, among other things, that:

• she was tricked into paying thousands for job placements as were not as promised;
• she was paid in Iraqi dinars (and in notes, @ that) when her work was finished; and
• she was asked to pay US$2,500 for the "privilege" to return to Indonesia when she started complaining about working conditions and the ruses she wound up falling for.

Which can likely be expected of such among the American Lower Classes tricked into "resettlement" in Occupied Iraq under the guise of "social betterment."

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AND WHICH BRINGS UP DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL WANNABE BARAK OBAMA'S REMARKS @ THE WEEKEND about working-class Americans somehow have lost touch with both major political parties for their not addressing the real issues facing the working classes, prompting same to consider distractionary issues like gun control, abortion, homosexuality and the ur-RAHOWA when it comes to how to cast their ballot.

Especially such resident in rural, small-town and otherwise low-income and socioeconomically-disadvantaged communities--which, it turns out, have perhaps some of the biggest and most loyal audience numbers for Fox Prolefeed and its perversion of the Fifth Estate on cable and satellite TV systems.

Something which Sen. Obama may want to ponder as a fact. 

MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT IN THE BLOGOSPHERE OF LATE ABOUT JUST HOW DESPERATE THINGS HAVE BECOME FOR AMERICAN TROOPS DEPLOYED to the Greater ur-RAHOWA Against International Terrorism to the point where many such have suffered psychoemotional disorders, emotional trauma and depression in unprecedented numbers, forcing many, owing to prolonged waitlists for medical treatment @ Veterans' Administration medical facilities, to turn to drugs, alcohol, gaming, petty crime--even the Dutch act--just to cope.

Which the conservative propaganda masheen suggests is nothing more than psychosomatic that the veterans brought on themselves, and should deal with on their own, never mind the emotional toll in the end.

But then again, such a scenario with ur-RAHOWA veterans is likely to pale with that discussed in the following recent "WaiWai" piece in Japan's Mainichi Daily News (the credibility of which, as per usual, cannot be guaranteed):

Japan's bright lights and beautiful women prove to be great lures for many of the bumpkins forming the bulk of the U.S. military in Japan, leading to a greater rate of desertion than most expect, according to Nikkan Gendai (3/24).

"A common pattern is for a service member to go AWOL after not returning from the side of some woman they've met in a bar," a source well-versed on the U.S. military tells Nikkan Gendai. "Even if they are the U.S. military, there are a lot of naive country kids in the forces. The moment they come to Japan, they're surrounded by all these bars and clubs and women who make a fuss over them. They just get caught up in it all. It's particularly so in the navy, where they can't get either booze or women while they're at sea, so there is a desertion in Japan at a pace of about one every month or two. The most common time for servicemen to desert is just before their ship leaves port."

But Japan--an island nation, as the locals are frequently wont to let others know--is not necessarily the best option a deserter from the U.S. forces could plump for.

Although the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement says U.S. military members don't need to carry a passport in Japan, this same extra-territorial right means deserters here have to prepare well in advance if they want to simply buy an airline ticket out of the country, the lowbrow afternoon daily says.

And if the deserter can't speak Japanese, they can't find a job, meaning most of those who go AWOL are quickly captured.

"Really, the only option for most U.S. deserters in Japan is to eventually give themselves up back at their bases. But deserting in Japan is not regarded as an act of hostility toward the United States, so the punishments are light. Usually, offenders might get somewhere from 30 to 45 days in the base clink," military journalist Motoaki Kamiura tells Nikkan Gendai. "It's similar in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Someone absent from their duty post is looking at a suspension of about a week. During that time, the offender is forced to stay in their room the whole time and write 'letters of reflection' about their act."

see more crazy cat pics

YOUR CORRESPONDENT JUST HOPES FOR ONCE THAT THE COLD, WET, DREICH WEATHER OF THE WEEKEND NOW WINDING DOWN has left these parts for another season ... even if, for the time being, such is seeing itself around Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge and the general surroundings.

As a matter of fact, mild weather should be on tap here in the Minnwissippi in the week ahead, with maxima occasionally in the 60's.

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OFTENTIMES, READERS--IN PARTICULAR THOSE AMONG YOU STILL INSISTING THAT I "SPEAK AMERICAN" OUT OF AN ILLOGICAL SENSE OF PATRIOTISM--you may notice my using the term que vive in these items I contribute.

And wonder what it means.

Such, in fact, is Latin, and can be translate as "who goes there?"

Which, in fact, was its original form; i.e., as the challenge issued by the Prętorian Guards @ the gates of Imperial Rome to such seeking to so enter.

And survives in the expression "on the que vive," which means "to be watchful or vigilant." Which, in Indecision 2008, may be all the more important, as our antient and pecuilar soverignty and soverign identity is all the more @ stake.

One way you can be on the que vive electorally is to be on watch for attempts by elements weird and unwholesome to harrass or otherwise discourage certain vulnerable classes of voters, particularly so in lower-income or National Minority districts. And report such by freecalling 1-866-OUR-VOTE, not to mention your local police.

For those who think such vigilance is "harrassment," "invasion of privacy" or suchlike other patsies, remember that "silence=acceptance."

And remember that your reports are kept in strictest confidence and trust.

*************

THE NEWS OF A MOSQUE BOMBING IN THE IRANIAN CITY OF SHIRAZ, WITH AN ESTIMATED 12 CASUALTIES AND TEN TIMES AS MANY INJURED, YESTERDAY is enough to make some of us wondering if such was, perhaps, "black operations" by super-secretive CIA operatives under lettres de cachet from His Fraudulency's Great Within.

The whole made to justify the cause of extending the Iraqi Theatre in the ur-RAHOWA Against Terrorism to Iran, if only as a way to distract the attention of the Lower Classes from Indecision 2008 and further exploit their simple patriotic feelings--as can be reinforced by these recent smarty remarks from Pat "700 Club" Robertson:

And, for the sake of Fairness and Balance (to borrow from Fox News Prolefeed's much-hackneyed slogan) in response to the preceding:

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BUT THEN AGAIN, ONE CAN NEVER BE TOO CAREFUL what to make of things in these rather interesting times.

Especially when weird and unwholesome elements seek to exploit certain events to the point of interpretation as could be too attractive to elements Who Should Know Better.

As the Chinese proverb hath it, "When being interesting, you have lived, it may, is."

YOUR CORRESPONDENT, AMONG OTHERS RESIDENT HERE IN THE MIDWESTERN STATES, are rather frustrated about the persistence of cool weather and snowfall well into mid-April as I write this.

Witness where some snow as was discerned on grassy surfaces @ sunrise this morning here in the Minnwissippi is now melting as I put these comments down in the virtual canvas of the blogosphere. (In contrast, Duluth saw blizzard conditions galore, including some wicked whitecaps in Duluth Harbour lapping close to the Aerial Lift Bridge in its down position.)

Luckily, though, milder weather should make its return by Monday or thereabouts. Let's just hope things dry out seriously enough to get the lawn, garden and farm work started within measurable distance, even more so in the spring wheat regions of the Red River Valley as are likely to get so waterlogged, farmers are likely to see frustration and delays in getting the crop planted against a short time frame for growing. (Or so Motherdear, originally from that general area, tells me.)

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YOUR CORRESPONDENT, FOR ONE, IS INCLINED TO CONCUR WITH THE REMARKS OF DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL WANNABE SEN. BARAK OBAMA as have drawn considerable fire from her Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham-Clinton, and their GOP candidate-presumptive rival, John McCain (a/k/a The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang), suggesting that both established political parties have lost contact with the working classes and their needs.

As in creating various distractionary non-issues such as gun control and gay marriage to trick voters away from paying attention to their best interests in favour of misguided articles of faith using "feel-good" notions like "national unity" and "patriot love" as can be distilled down to simple, easily-understood bumper-sticker slogans.

Which, come to think of it, may have oh-so-subtle Producerist undertones throughout.

=============

AND SPEAKING OF THE TERRIBLE-TEMPERED MR. BANG, what with anecdotal evidence emerging of his potential for lapsing into Billingsgate without provocation or warning:

May I suggest that the public pay especially close que vive to McCain's campaign appearences for the likelihood of his suddenly going into "Macaca Moments"--as in:

• unprovoked, spontaneous use of one or more of the Seven Dirty Words or their variants;
• sudden mood changes or swings; and
• other misadventures characterised by erratic moods.

The which can easily be put onto YouTube and the like for all to see--and for which to further "swiftboat" The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang of Indecision 2008.

Which he deserves, come to think of it.

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PERHAPS IT MIGHT ALSO BE A GOOD TIME TO REMIND ALL OF YOU TO RMAIN ESPECIALLY WATCHFUL of attempts by the weird and unwholesome element to harrass or intimidate intending voters, especially in low-income, rural and National Minority communities as are prime targets of "caging" campaigns questioning the validity and celerity of voter-identity cards ... or campaigns warning the targeted against voting because of possible criminal action.

Voter intimidation and interfering with voter-registry campaigns are considered penal offences, with hate-crimes enhancements likely under certain circumstances.

If you hear of any such in your community, remember to freecall the Voter Protection Project of People For the American Way anytime on:

1-866-OUR-VOTE

And while you're @ it, contact law-enforcement agencies as well.

Even if you hear rumours or whispers of vote-supression campaigns afoot, be alert and vigilant. The weird and unwholesome will love to stop @ nothing to keep voter turnout down, and claim that such is necessary "for G-d and Country," or so the official patsy would go.

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SPOT THE COMMON THREAD HERE:

• Refugees from flooding-related disasters and recent notoriously destructive hurricanes living in caravans supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pending availability of replacement permanent housing.
• Social workers with the Australian Government's Aboriginal Intervention Programme in the Northern Territory whose makeshift offices are converted freight containers.

Give up?

It's complaints of cancer aggravated by the use of formaldehyde in insulating material in the former and as wood-liner preservative in the latter.

Which have doubtless generated complaints about illness among such thus afflicted to the circumstances, and the relevant authorities taking a lax attitude of response, translating no doubt into frustration, bedlam and confusion as has raised whispers of legal action.

And considering where many of those resident in FEMA's caravans tend to be from the Lower Classes, Your Correspondent, for one, has to wonder if FEMA is (un)consciously (un)aware of the presence of formaldehyde in caravan insulation--perhaps looking for cheap and cheerful ways, aided and abetted by the forces of Neo-Conservatism ranking among the best and most loyal of droogs in His Fraudulency's Great Within, to kill off the poor, undereducated and easily-influenced short of "resettling" them in Occupied Iraq.

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THAT RATHER WHINY-SOUNDING SINGSONG MEME OF "RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION! RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION!!" against the so-called "Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" seems to only get more pathetic as new reports surface of Indecent Sexual Liberties with Minors @ the FLDS' ancestral compound (so to speak) on the Arizona-Utah border on top of such @ the Texas compound leading to the removal of some 420 girls from same after just one phone call to a sexual-abuse hotline in hushed tones.

In fact, the Colorado City compound saw a rather infamous raid in 1953 as exposed the world to the fact that polygamy--officially disavowed of by the mainstream Latter-Day Saints congregation since 1890--is still making its presence known.

And is being justified by a rather warped interpretation of Holy Writ.

And, come to think of it, is bringing to light a rather darkly interesting side of the FLDS as sounds like something out of radio drama shows like Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Escape or Suspense: The world of the "lost boys" of the FLDS, essentially chattel culled from the FLDS community and expected to go into what their faith taught them was an "evil and dangerous" world on their own to protect what amounts to the breeding rights of older husbands.

Numbering some 400, the vast majority thereof are essentially "dumped" upon Utah's Dixie to fend for themselves.

CNN has some insight into the phenomenon:

Gary Engels, an investigator for the state of Arizona, has seen many "lost boy" cases. The reasons for leaving are many. Sometimes, it's because parents are too strict. Other times, it's for minor reasons.

"They leave because they have been caught talking to a girl or if they have been caught out at one of these beer parties or just not obeying the rules," Engels says.

He adds, "How a father or a mother can suddenly take a child and kick them out and never speak with them again, that's just unbelievable."

[***]

About a half dozen "lost boys" filed suit against Jeffs and the FLDS, saying they were thrown out of the FLDS community to allow older men to have more wives. The suit was partially settled earlier this year, with an agreement for a $250,000 fund to be created for housing assistance, education help and other aid to boys who leave the FLDS.

Jeffs' trial is unrelated to that suit.

Franky, who was not part of the lawsuit, left the sect three years ago--just weeks after his father got kicked out of the sect. He decided to leave because he didn't want to suffer the same fate as his dad, growing up in the FLDS and then having his family "pulled away."

Franky left behind three mothers and about three dozen siblings. Two of his sisters are married to Jeffs. He's not allowed to contact any of his family and nervously agreed to speak with CNN. Members of the FLDS have been banned from speaking with outsiders.

"[Jeffs] would be very angry that I am talking to you," Franky says.

Quite simply, he says they're not supposed to talk "to you outside people."

Learning to cope is another thing altogether. When the boys leave their structured religion-filled lives in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, they find themselves totally unprepared for society. Most have no money, no real education and nowhere to live.

Dozens of "lost boys" gather in homes like Robbie Holm's to blow off steam and drink.

"They're going to do what they feel is good to them," says Holm. "Drinking alcohol and drugs are one of those things they want to do."

Franky says he soaked up pot, ecstasy and cocaine to "cope with the outside world and deal with where and what it is."

"I couldn't have done it without the drugs," he says.

But it came with a price: He went to jail for drug possession.

"It's almost a natural consequence for them to get involved to some extent or another with alcohol or drugs," says Greg Hoole, a Salt Lake City-based attorney who represented the "lost boys" in the civil suit.

One group is trying to help the boys and young men adapt. St. George, Utah, just down the road from the FLDS headquarters, has become an epicenter for the lost boys. Next month, a home will become refuge for 10 "lost boys."

Franky and others who have left the sect have volunteered their time to paint, tile, and clean up the house and call it simply "the house off bluff."

Michelle Benward, a psychologist and activist for the lost boys, sees it as much more.

"It's really a transitional home. It's an opportunity for them to have a place to stay, food to eat, and a time to sort of adjust," she says. "We like to think of it as a bridge between the two communities."

As for Franky, he remains perplexed about the man he once knew as "prophet." He still admires Jeffs in some ways and comments that "he enlightened my view of how to perceive things."

"He figured out how to distill people's hearts into loving one another unconditionally."

Sometimes, he still longs for his old life. "I miss the society of it. Somebody that cares. Somebody that you know that you can go home and have a good plate of food, home-grown cooking sat in front of you."

That cozy home cooking may soon get replaced with a heap of gossip. Jeffs' trial is expected to put the highly secretive organization's beliefs and practices of faith, power, isolation and sex front and center.

"It will be very quiet out here all through the trial. I am sure they will be fasting and praying for his release," says Engels. "Most of them believe that God's going to step forward and free him anyway and punish us 'bad-doers.' "

Engels believes there will be celebration among the flock if Jeffs is freed. If he's convicted, Engels predicts, the FLDS will "go more underground and they will continue to scatter out into the world."