Palindromedary ~ Here's some excerpts from that interview with Assad that RACadmin posted from RT:
Quote RT:RT: For years there have been so many stories about almighty Syrian army, important and strong Syrian secret services, but then we see that, you know, the government forces are not able to crush the enemy like people expected it would, and we see terrorist attacks take place in the middle of Damascus almost every day. Were those myths about the Syrian army and about the strong Syrian secret services?
BA: Usually, in normal circumstances when you have the army and the secret services and the intelligence, we focus on the external enemy even if we have an internal enemy, like terrorism because the society is helping us at least not to provide terrorist’s incubator. Now in this case, it is a new kind of war; terrorism through proxies, either Syrians living in Syria or foreign fighters coming from abroad. So, it is a new style of war, this is first and you have to adapt to this style and it takes time, it is not easy. And to say this is as easy as the normal or, let us say, the traditional or regular war, no, it is much more difficult. Second, the support that has been offered to those terrorists in every aspect, including armaments, money and political aspect is unprecedented. So, you have to expect that it is going to be a tough war and a difficult war. You do not expect a small country like Syria to defeat all those countries that have been fighting us through proxies just in days or weeks.
RT: Yes, but when you look at it, I mean on one hand, you have one leader with an army, and he orders this army go straight, go left, go right and the army obeys. On the other hand, you have fractions of terrorists who are not unified and have no one unified strategy to fight you. So, how does that really happen when it comes to fighting each other?
BA: This is not the problem. The problem is that those terrorists are fighting from within the cities, and in the cities you have civilians. When you fight this kind of terrorists, you have to be aware that you should do the minimum damage to the infrastructure and minimum damage to the civilians because you have civilians and you have to fight, you cannot leave terrorists just killing and destroying. So, this is the difficulty in this kind of war.
Quote RT:RT: You know that the infrastructure and economy are suffering; it is almost as if Syria is going to be fall into decay very soon and the time is against you. In your opinion, how much time do you need to crush the enemy?
BA: You cannot answer this question because no one claimed that he had the answer about when to end the war unless when we have the answer to when they are going to stop smuggling foreign fighters from different parts of the world especially the Middle East and the Islamic world, and when they are going to stop sending armaments to those terrorists. If they stop, this is when I can answer you; I can tell that in weeks we can finish everything. This is not a big problem. But as long as you have continuous supply in terrorists, armaments, logistics and everything else, it is going to be a long-term war.
RT: Also, when you think about it, you have 4,000 km of loosely controlled borders, so you have your enemy that can at any time cross over into Jordan or Turkey to be rearmed, get medical care and come back to fight you!
BA: No country in the world can seal the border. Sometime they use this word which is not correct, even the United Stated cannot seal its border with Mexico for example. The same can be applied to Russia which is a big country. So, no country can seal the border. You can only have a better situation on the border when you have good relations with your neighbor and this is something we do not have at least with Turkey now. Turkey supports more than any other country the smuggling of terrorists and armaments.
Quote RT:BA: In order to find the answer, you need a joint committee between the two armies in order to know who shells who because on the borders you have a lot of terrorists who have mortars; so, they can do the same. You have to go and investigate the bomb in that place itself and that did not happen. We asked the Turkish government to have this committee but they refused; so, you cannot have the answer. But when you have these terrorists on your borders, you do not exclude them from doing so because the Syrian army does not have any order to shell the Turkish land because we do not find any interest in this, and we do not have any enmity with the Turkish people. We consider them as brothers, so why do it; unless that happened by mistake, then it needs investigation.
RT: Do you accept that it may be mistakenly from the government forces?
BA: That could happen. This is a possibility and in every war you have mistakes. You know in Afghanistan, they always talk about friendly fire if you kill your soldier; this means that it could happen in every war, but we cannot say yes.
Quote RT:RT: Why has Turkey, which you call a friendly nation, become a foothold for the opposition?
BA: Not Turkey, but only Erdogan’s government in order to be precise. Turkish people need good relations with the Syrian people. Erdogan thinks that if Muslim Brotherhood takes over in the region and especially in Syria, he can guarantee his political future, this is one reason. The other reason, he personally thinks that he is the new sultan of the Ottoman and he can control the region as it was during the Ottoman Empire under a new umbrella. In his heart he thinks he is a caliph. These are the main two reasons for him to shift his policy from zero problems to zero friends.
RT: But it is not just the West that opposes you at this point; there are so many enemies in the Arab world and that is to say like two years ago when someone heard you name in the Arab world they would straighten their ties, and now in the first occasion they betrayed you, why do you have so many enemies in the Arab world?
BA: They are not enemies. The majority of Arab governments support Syria in their heart but they do not dare to say that explicitly.
RT: Why not?
BA: Under pressure by the West, and sometimes under pressure of the petrodollars in the Arab world.
Quote RT:RT: Iran which is a very close ally also is exposed to economic sanctions, also facing a threat of military invasion. If you were faced with an option to cut ties with Iran in exchange for peace in your country, would you go for it?
BA: We do not have contradicting options in this regard because we had good relations with Iran since 1979 till today, and it is getting better every day, but at the same time we are moving towards peace. We had peace process and we had peace negotiations. Iran was not a factor against peace. So, this is misinformation they try to promote in the West that if we need peace, we do not have to have good relation with Iran. There is no relation; it is two completely different subjects. Iran supported Syria, supported our cause, the cause of the occupied land and we have to support them in their cause. This is very simple. Iran is a very important country in the region. If we are looking for stability, we need good relations with Iran. You cannot talk about stability while you have bad relations with Iran, Turkey and your neighbors and so on. This is it.
Quote RT:RT: Do you have any information that the Western intelligence is financing rebel fighters here in Syria?
BA: No, so far what we know is that they are offering the know-how support for the terrorists through Turkey and sometimes through Lebanon mainly. But there is other intelligence, not the Western, but the regional intelligence which is very active and more active than the Western one under the supervision of the Western intelligence.
RT: What is the role of Al-Qaeda in Syria at this point? Are they controlling any of the rebel coalition forces?
BA: No, I do not think they are looking to control; they are looking to create their own kingdoms or emirates in their language, but they mainly try now to scare the people through explosions, assassinations, suicide bombers and things like this to push the people towards desperation and to accept them as reality. So, they go step by step but their final aim is to have this, let’s say, Islamic Emirate in Syria where they can promote their own ideology in the rest of the world.
Quote RT:RT: There has been many times…not you but the government forces have been accused for many times of war crimes against your own civilians, do you accept that the government forces have committed war crimes against their own civilians?
BA: We are fighting terrorism. We are implementing our constitution by protecting the Syrian people. Let’s go back to what happened in Russia more than a decade ago when you faced terrorism in Chechnya and other places; they attacked people in theaters and schools and so on, and the army in Russia protected the people, would you call it war crimes?! No, you would not. Two days ago, Amnesty International recognized the crimes that were committed few days ago by the armed groups when they captured soldiers and executed them. Also Human Rights Watch recognized this. Human Rights Watch recognized more than once the crimes of those terrorist groups and few days ago it described these crimes as war crimes, this is the first point. The second point, if you have an army that committed a crime against its own people, this is devoid of logic because the Syrian Army is made up of Syrian people. If you want to commit a crime against your people, then the army will divide, will disintegrate. So, you cannot have a strong army while you are killing your people. Third, the army cannot withstand for twenty months in these difficult circumstances without having the embrace of the public in Syria. So, how could you have this embracement while you are killing your people?! This is a contradiction. So, this is the answer.
Quote RT:RT: Do you think a foreign invasion is imminent?
BA: I think the price of this invasion if it happened is going to be more than the whole world can afford because if you have a problem in Syria, and we are the last stronghold of secularism and stability in the region and coexistence, let’s say, it will have a domino effect that will affect the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific and you know the implication on the rest of the world. I do not think the West is going in that direction, but if they do so, nobody can tell what is next.
The question is, did Pres. Obama have to rewrite his speech tonight, or will it be canceled. My personal belief is Pres. Obama and Mr. Putin worked things out.
Palindromedary ~ Thanks for that link to the Syrian women's passionate plea with McCain. I must say one thing I admire about McCain, as screwed up as he obviously is (especially according to the Twain Report) he did have the patience and restraint to respectably give both those individuals the microphone and let them say their peace without interruption. Bravo for McCain! Well done!
That man had a ton of Chutzpah. Another American hero gets booed for telling the truth and defending the country from itself.
Quote MMmmNACHOS:I have to say that I am hopeful for the first time in my life (I'm 41) that We the People will take back our Government from the Corporate Warmongering Capitalist.
I certainly agree, sir! It is a shame.
So many other opportunities to fix this mess. We could have stormed the White House when we had it surrounded during Vietnam. We could have prosecuted Nixon when he left office. There was an opportunity to prosecute Reagan when we had him on trial and he suddenly developed Alzheimers symptoms. No contempt of court there just unholy sympathy. You try telling a judge that you can't remember what you did. See you later, maybe!
We really blew it big (no pun intended) when we elected a Constitutional scholar who promised to investigate and prosecute the Bush Administration for obvious war crimes and crimes against humanity; and, instead were fed Bush III.
Yet, as MMmmNACHOS so poignantly points out, people are wising up and getting fed up.
I must say that I was very disappointed in Thom today when he ridiculed that same man for what he said. The man said the US was "probably behind" not that they did it. The idea that our Government or one of our allies--or any fringe element thereof(ie. Al Qaeda)--could pull off such a false flag as a prelude to war just seems ridiculous to Thom. Perhaps Thom has Alzheimers too!
Here's a refresher course in historical false flags governments (including the United States of America) have used to start wars that have been documented in recent and not so recent history:
In the future the list will go on and on. I might remind Thom that to deny the past is to repeat it in the future.
By the way, wasn't Al Qaeda behind 9/11? Didn't we just fight two wars to eliminate the influence of Al Qaeda in the middle east? Just why are we supplying them with weapons and itching to go to war for them now? Are they now our allies? If so, maybe they were working for us in 9/11 too? If you ask me, that is what the man talking to McCain was referring to. Sounds fishy to me! Doesn't it sound fishy to anyone else? I know that the vast majority of the American people just aren't that stupid.
Most important of all, isn't arming an enemy the same as offering aid and comfort to the enemy anymore? ISN'T THAT TREASON???
Nevertheless, I cut Thom some slack because after all he did spend some time arguing--and rightly so--for the need to obtain UN approval before resorting to any military action against foreign sovereign entities. And for that alone Thom, BRAVO!
MMmmNACHOS: Yes, right on! And thanks for your reference to that guy in Arizona who read that speech to McCain. He was, of course, very correct in what he said about McCain and all the other treasonous war criminals that are running this country.
Thanks RACAdmin...I read the transcript and tried to download the video from RT but after it "downloaded" I tried to watch the "download" and found that it quits playing after a few minutes (it did appear that the download was going to take a while and then, all of a sudden, it finishes unexpectedly sooner than it was initially indicating it would. I've read that YouTube does often censor things...including free speech. And that sure looks to be true.)
Then I just tried to watch the video on-line and it got about 3/4 way through and the video stopped. I don't know if this is a problem with RT or if it is being "interfered" with (if you know what I mean). I have noticed, in watching various programs on RT on the TV that there is often an interruption in the audio or the whole satellite interception goes dead.
How come major USA television broadcast stations do not air the above interview so that millions of americans can learn the truth and get another perspective on what is really going on in Syria?
You can bet top officials have seen it in our government but you do not see them sharing it with us or the rest of the nation on prime time but give them a football game and everyone sees the advertisments....
How come it is only available for viewing on youtube which gets such a small number of viewers?
We can blame the ignorance and stupidity of the masses here in america including our elected officials on the major United States Media statiopns (both television and radio) that do not offer to air what is aired in other countries... i.e., just take a look at the small number of views the above interview made available on youtube has had... you will see that many of youtube videos that you think would reach millions are lucky if they get 100,000 views.... but come election time with citizens united ruling, these major media stations do not hesitate to air all the bullshit and deceptive campaine ads to also keep us in the dark or to misslead us as to who to vote for that will be making all the decisions that affect all of us... after all, billionaires and big corporations just love to give millions away in super pac money for legislated favors that benifit the military industrial complex for war machinery as there is gold in them and lets not go after the manufactures of mwd's but those that would use them since allowing their production makes that possible
Published on Nov 8, 2012
In an exclusive interview with RT, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Syria is not going through a civil war, but rather a different kind of war -- terrorism through proxies - FULL SCRIPT: http://on.rt.com/4sugfx
RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 500 million YouTube views benchmark.
Any one hear about the man in Arizona who "stood up to" John McCain during a Town Hall Meeting last week?
Google search "I would have you arrested for treason" and you will find several sites to watch in amazement...The only thing that would have made this tongue lashing better is if the police would have lead McCain away in cuffs. Instead...Well I won't ruin it for you.
I have to say that I am hopeful for the first time in my life (I'm 41) that We the People will take back our Government from the Corporate Warmongering Capitalist.
FUCK McCain and Obamney, Tar and Feather all the Corporate NeoNazi Capitalist!
Americans need to take this one directly to the door steps of these Facist Robber Barron Swine!!! The Gallow Tree will be busy! ;)
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Google Earth: 33°31'14.10"N 36°21'26.76"E
matches this paused video at 4 minutes and 21-22 seconds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwBOT8VDbS8 which is .36 miles southeast of the Zamalka, Syria town center. This is one place where a missile hit..looks like into a building which is on one of those other videos. The other missile in the videos that hit a rock fence...I don't know for sure what town that hit. Zamalka had the highest number of kills at around 1000 of the 1400 reported. There was a map at that brown-moses blog site that showed 8 skull and cross bones representing people who died. The 8 areas, towns, were all from the northeast to the southeast of Damascus. It was unclear as to whether each of these areas were hit by a missile but it could have just been that the wind spread the gas from the two that were shown in the videos.
There was a lot of very interesting information at this blog site. I learned that many journalists who went into the area to cover the news, right after the attack, died from Sarin gas. Also, that many people, including health care providers, died from being exposed from secondary exposure from the patients. One story I read was from a so-called expert who said that many people died because they hid in their basements...and since Sarin is heavier than air it settled in the basements. While another so-called expert said that Sarin was lighter than air and would quickly dissipate. Also the fact that since it was about 3am, many people probably just died in their sleep. If the Sarin attack had happened during the day...the heat would have caused the Sarin to dissipate faster but at night it remained longer...killing more people.
This blog also talked a lot about the other chemical attacks in and in the towns around Aleppo, Syria months earlier. Lots of information. Lots of videos and photos.
And if Assad agrees to give up his chemical weapons how can it be assured that the rebels no longer have any? They may have buried lots of chemical weapons in tunnels...how in the world can it be assured that the rebels no longer have chemical weapons?
I agree with DAnneMarc:
Quote DAnneMarc:This is not unlike the position that the previous administration was in just prior to the invasion of Iraq when Saddam offered to give unlimited access to his ammunitions to UN inspectors and Bush decided to invade anyway.
You know...it really does serve Obama right for letting the Bush administration get away with blatant war crimes and then carrying on with the same war crimes himself. And, in addition, prosecuting whistle blowers, using the NDAA to quash dissent.* The US has no credibility! They've lied way too many times. No one believes them anymore! Except for a few, maybe. Obama deserves to be seen by the world as a lying hypocrite failure.
By the way, here is a web site that has done a lot of investigation into the Aug 21 alleged chemical attack:
There seems to be far more evidence that the rebels were responsible for the gassing. They are the ones with the motive (along with Israel and the US empire believers). And, contrary to what Kerry and Obama say they certainly had the ability. Remember last May when the UN human rights commission Under Carla del Ponte concluded that the evidence of chemical weapons attack to that point pointed to the rebels, not tho the Syrian Government. Also in May the Turkish government reported arresting 12 members of the Al Nusra front (Al Qaeda linked rebel group) on the Syrian border with 2 kilos of sarin. Who can believe that Assad would invite (or allow) UN inspectors to come to Damascus and then launch a huge chemical attack within 10 miles of their hotel. He may be a "brutal dictator", but he is not an idiot. This is what makes "common sense" to me. What would be his morive when he is actually winning the war now.
If Assad falls who will take over? The most powerful rebel groups are radical muslims who have been imposing Sharia law and burning Christian churches. Do we want to see the end of the very last secular state in the Middle East?
We (the controlling faction of our government) have helped with sarin attacks before, like when we helped Sadam gas Iranians with our satellite intel. I believe this suposed moral outrage is a cover for an attack on Syria. We should be asking the question of who wants it and why.
I also believe that we, through the UN should bring ALL affected parties to the table to work out a peaceful conclusion to the hostilities. Syria is a country of 20 some million people. At least 100,000 are dead. 2 million are refugees who fled with nothing to neighboring countries. 5 million are displaced within the country. If the same were to happen here in proportion, we would have almost 100 million people homeless. Can you imagine?
Yeah, Palindromedary, it wasn't me in China during the Boxer Rebellion. The guy was very old, but he apparently learned some sort of internal martial art in China, which kept him energetic and so flexible that at age 90 he could stand in a doorway and raise one leg up and lay it flat up and down against the doorframe.
You've had some real adventures. I have a number of friends from that part of the world, but I have only been to Canada and Mexico.
Good news, Kerry was asked how a confrontation (bombing syria) could be avoided... his reply opened the door for avoiding such action and Russia seized on his answer as a way to avoid undesirable consequences by offering a proposal to both the United States and Syria to come to terms (as a solution suggested by Kerry) by getting Syria to agree to turn over control of its chemical wepons to international control overseen by the United Nations of which they and the US are members... a smart move by them to draw down the middle east unrest rather than escalate it... i.e., it should be a combined effort and and the United States (who ever that is) would be a fool not to work with Russia and the United Nations (of which both are a part) rather than taking on the whole middle east conflict on its own when our military is already strapped to the limit and our econemy is tanking... this gives congress and, the president too, a means to save face and put pride of obligation or prior commitment to a line drawn in the sand aside, be sensable and back down on its threat of retaliation which was based on the assumption that the chemicals in question that were recently used, weren't used by the rebels or terrorists in an attempt to get the United States to hold to their red line previously drawn... i.e., as a way to help them wage war against the syrians... i.e. peace will only come via negotiation with all parties whos interests are involved ... and, until agreements and resolusions are arrived at in which all parties can be satisfied... that is, when did retaliation ever solve disagreements between parties in disagreement?
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says any move by Syria to surrender its chemical weapons to international control would be an "important step" to avert a U.S. military strike.
"But this cannot be another excuse for delay or obstruction,” she said, adding that Russia, which proposed the action, “has to support the international community's efforts sincerely or be held to account."
Clinton spoke at the White House on Monday after meeting with President Barack Obama. Read More Here
Now that Kerry offered to let Syria off the hook if they turn in all their chemical weapons, Syria quickly agreed, and Russia offered to moderate, verify and destroy the weapons Obama finds himself in a very precarious position. This is not unlike the position that the previous administration was in just prior to the invasion of Iraq when Saddam offered to give unlimited access to his ammunitions to UN inspectors and Bush decided to invade anyway.
How many more times can the US Government side step voluntary offers of peace and concession to pursue war before the international community gets fed up. What did Bush once say, "Fool me once..."
It seems to me that the picture of the two men looking at the missille casing that was sukpposedly used to deliver the Sarin Nerve gas was the same pictukre about six months or so ago being firedd from Gaza toward Tel Aviv. Can you check it out?
Well, I can tell you one thing for certain. Assuming that there even was nerve agent used against civilians in Syria, it was ordered by Assad, by his military, by the Israelis (who have long fomented trouble in every country around them, while blaming other people for the trouble), by the American Military, the American CIA (which has always engaged in illegal activities), the FBI (which now illegally operates outside of American borders), Obama himself, someone else in the White House, the leaders of the republican party and/or the leaders of the democrat party, a "rogue" element in the republican and/or democrat parties, or by any one or more of a number of other people or militaries or agencies in any one of a number of other countries.
And as far as where the nerve gas came from, well, it probably came from America- we have a very long and honored tradition of supplying dictators with nerve gas and all sorts of other weapons to use against their own people. But it could just as easily have come from Israel, Russia, or China, all of whom behave as monstrous perversions of humanity on a regular basis.
But golly-dang-it, we HAVE to bomb someone about this nerve gas situation, and there is only one way we can make sure that we bomb the proper culprits: we must bomb everyone! Including ourselves! Sure, there will be collateral damage, but who cares, as long as we also bomb the guilty parties?
And for proper measure, we better bomb the moon again, because I don't think I'm talking out of school when I say that I do not think the moon learned its lesson, the last time we bombed it. And while we're at it, don't you think we should bomb all of the other planets in out solar system? I mean, I'm pretty sure that Mercury and possible Jupiter were responsible for the nerve gas being used in Syria, and obviously all of the other planets fully cooperated and are therefore just as responsible as if they had done it themelves.
Then, having taken care of all of the above guilty parties, we must bomb the rest of the known universe just on the off chance that some other galaxy shared responsibility with our solar system.
And we must bomb all dark matter- who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of dark matter? Obama knows!!!!
And as usual, not knowing when to leave bad enough alone, don't you think we should bomb God? I mean, I seem to remember with varying degrees of certainty that the director of the CIA told us that with varying degrees of certainty, God was directly or indirectly responsible or possibly not responsible for the nerve gassing of those Syrians. So bomb Him!
And in conclusion, my friends, please join me and John McCain in that time-honored patriotic chant that is beloved of all patriotic Americans and that strikes fear into all creation: "Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb-whatever! Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb-whatever!"
No matter what happens in Syria, the whole episode illustrates that the world needs to upgrade its methods of dealing with such events and conditions.
This whole situation in Syria, the nightmare the refugees face, and the past failures of international response to humanitarian tragedies such as Rwanda and Darfur point out that the nations must re-think when, how, and who needs to intervene to prevent prolongation of suffering or spread of the threats.
There was a man in the 1800s who presented a simple, but very cogent framework of a peace plan that needs to be developed and implemented now. He describes his Plan, below. The leaders of the world need to take these general principles and use them as the framework for how to achieve world peace. His writings:
“… The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world's Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquillity of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him. If this be done, the nations of the world will no longer require any armaments, except for the purpose of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining internal order within their territories. This will ensure the peace and composure of every people, government and nation. We fain would hope that the kings and rulers of the earth, the mirrors of the gracious and almighty name of God, may attain unto this station, and shield mankind from the onslaught of tyranny. ... He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.
[Elsewhere in these writings] “Lay not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed. Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book, and take good heed not to overstep their limits. Be vigilant, that ye may not do injustice to anyone, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed. Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path. …..We have learned that you are increasing your outlay every year, and are laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is more than they can bear, and is a grievous injustice. Decide justly between men, and be ye the emblems of justice amongst them. This, if ye judge fairly, is the thing that behoveth you, and beseemeth your station.”
I am not going to give the name of the Author. If I did, you all would dismiss the above without giving it any thought whatsoever. In fact, many of you will dismiss it anyway to perpetuate the errors of humanity since the time the Peace Plan was proposed in the late 1800s.
How about making the case that WAR AIN'T FREE! Just ask the former members of the Soviet Union, hell, just ask Bush II, or how about whipping out the ole pie charts and let the taxpayers see where half of their federal tax money is going. I know one thing, I don't want anymore of my Social Security retirement fund or tax dollars financing killing for profit. I want my part to be invested in a green energy company.....an investment with a return that's not in a body bag.
The outlook here near Portland seems to be that Obama may be 'baiting' his Congressional opponents to show their true colors to their money/backers and create a showdown for the 2014 and the 2016 elections by weakening the primaries for them. These opponents may be clearly portrayed as a racial/hater by the way they handle themselves now, as the President may not in hisheart want any conflict now. (ps-are any of these comments ever read or used on your program?)
The problem is basically one of precedent, in that if we allow anything to happen anywhere in the world without bombing someone, other countries might form the unrealistic expectation that we have become civilized. And if we quit bombing people for long enough, the Americans who own the bomb factories will have to start living off the billions of dollars they have already made and defrauded our government out of. And that just wouldn't be fair to those poor billionaires.
And because retirement funds are very often invested in bomb-making factories, many of our retirees would suffer financially if we quit bombing people. And let's not blame that on people who invest in bomb-making factories, because that would not be fair. Let's blame it on the people who don't want us to bomb people. (And don't get me started on whether it would be fair for the people we bomb, to say, "Hey, you attacked us, now we're going to attack you." Because that wouldn't be fair at all. Here's how it works: it is right, fair, decent, good, kind, and compassionate when we bomb them, but it's just plain wrong when they bomb us back. In fact, I will go so far as to say that God wants us to bomb those people, but God just hates it when they bomb us.)
And what's even worse is, if we quit bombing other countries, people might start thinking that we have quit being rank hypocrites and started being real Christians, and let's face it, virtually no one in our government- whether republican or democrat- wants anyone to think that they are a real Christian. Obama, McCain, and the other hawks in our government would much rather pretend that Jesus wants us to bomb other countries.
And as an aside, a Muslim guy has set up a stand in the farmer's market where I live, and a Christian guy set up a stand right next to him. I asked the Christian guy, "What do you think of Muslims?"
He said, "Well, Muslims are misguided."
I told him, "You should be more tolerant."
Then I went to the Muslim guy, and asked him to describe Islam.
He said, "Islam is the one true religion. Christianity is mistaken about all sorts of things."
I left, thinking, "That intolerant fake Christian and that intolerant fake Muslim deserve each other."
All The News That Mark Twain Says He Would Report If He Was Alive Today
9-09-2013
The other day, the Twain Report's Editor took a stroll along the scenic waterfront near our heavily-fortified undground bunker in an undisclosed city in Washington State. And while strolling there, he saw a massive private yacht tied to the dock. And being- like all journalists- an incurably snoopy person, he went down onto the dock to get a closer look.
Gleaming like tens of millions of dollars worth of stainless steel, that huge, sleek ship had open portholes (windows) facing the dock. Our editor was just about to lean over the edge of the dock to put his nose against a window and look inside, when he saw a strip of blue tape on one of the windows. And written on that piece of tape were these two words: "Privacy, Please."
Let's do a little comparison here: millions of people do not know where their next meal will come from, millions of people do not have adequate health care or even dependably clean water to drink, and millions of bright young children will never get an education. It is very important to have something to believe in. And some hyper-wealthy guy believes that it is more important for him to own and operate a massive ocean-going ship for his personal amusement, than to help those people.
Now, the Twain Report cannot presume to know what- if anything- occurs in the hearts of hyper-wealthy people, but parking that ship on a public dock and asking for "Privacy," is like Lady Gaga removing all of her clothing, getting on a stark white horse, and riding through New York City, screaming, "Please don't look at me!" (But that is not really a fair comparison, because Lady Gaga would never scream, "Please don't look at me." But you get the idea.)
Anyway, in an attempt to create harmony between the rich and the poor, our editor got some blue tape and put it on all the other windows on the ship, and wrote on the tape, "Hey, look what's in here!" and put a nice "Everyone Welcome!" door mat in front of the gangplank.
http://rt.com/news/assad-interview-exclusive-syria-265/
The question is, did Pres. Obama have to rewrite his speech tonight, or will it be canceled. My personal belief is Pres. Obama and Mr. Putin worked things out.
Palindromedary ~ Thanks for that link to the Syrian women's passionate plea with McCain. I must say one thing I admire about McCain, as screwed up as he obviously is (especially according to the Twain Report) he did have the patience and restraint to respectably give both those individuals the microphone and let them say their peace without interruption. Bravo for McCain! Well done!
There, I said something nice about McCain.
MMmmNACHOS & RACadmin ~ That was a great moment for the people. Everyone should see it. Oh, by the way, here it is:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/09/07/fireworks_man_at_mccain_town_hall_tells_him_id_have_you_arrested_and_tried_for_treason.html
That man had a ton of Chutzpah. Another American hero gets booed for telling the truth and defending the country from itself.
I certainly agree, sir! It is a shame.
So many other opportunities to fix this mess. We could have stormed the White House when we had it surrounded during Vietnam. We could have prosecuted Nixon when he left office. There was an opportunity to prosecute Reagan when we had him on trial and he suddenly developed Alzheimers symptoms. No contempt of court there just unholy sympathy. You try telling a judge that you can't remember what you did. See you later, maybe!
We really blew it big (no pun intended) when we elected a Constitutional scholar who promised to investigate and prosecute the Bush Administration for obvious war crimes and crimes against humanity; and, instead were fed Bush III.
Yet, as MMmmNACHOS so poignantly points out, people are wising up and getting fed up.
I must say that I was very disappointed in Thom today when he ridiculed that same man for what he said. The man said the US was "probably behind" not that they did it. The idea that our Government or one of our allies--or any fringe element thereof(ie. Al Qaeda)--could pull off such a false flag as a prelude to war just seems ridiculous to Thom. Perhaps Thom has Alzheimers too!
Here's a refresher course in historical false flags governments (including the United States of America) have used to start wars that have been documented in recent and not so recent history:
* Franco-Prussian War
* Russo-Swedish War
* Spanish-American War
* Reichstag Fire
* The Gleiwitz Incident
* Winter War
* Kassa Attack
* Operation Ajax
* Operation Northwoods
* Gulf of Tonkin Incident
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-05/these-false-flags-were-used-start-war
In the future the list will go on and on. I might remind Thom that to deny the past is to repeat it in the future.
By the way, wasn't Al Qaeda behind 9/11? Didn't we just fight two wars to eliminate the influence of Al Qaeda in the middle east? Just why are we supplying them with weapons and itching to go to war for them now? Are they now our allies? If so, maybe they were working for us in 9/11 too? If you ask me, that is what the man talking to McCain was referring to. Sounds fishy to me! Doesn't it sound fishy to anyone else? I know that the vast majority of the American people just aren't that stupid.
Most important of all, isn't arming an enemy the same as offering aid and comfort to the enemy anymore? ISN'T THAT TREASON???
Nevertheless, I cut Thom some slack because after all he did spend some time arguing--and rightly so--for the need to obtain UN approval before resorting to any military action against foreign sovereign entities. And for that alone Thom, BRAVO!
MMmmNACHOS: Yes, right on! And thanks for your reference to that guy in Arizona who read that speech to McCain. He was, of course, very correct in what he said about McCain and all the other treasonous war criminals that are running this country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8SycdU3QDk
And that woman from Syria also took McCain down a few notches as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMBn0qzw2as
Thanks RACAdmin...I read the transcript and tried to download the video from RT but after it "downloaded" I tried to watch the "download" and found that it quits playing after a few minutes (it did appear that the download was going to take a while and then, all of a sudden, it finishes unexpectedly sooner than it was initially indicating it would. I've read that YouTube does often censor things...including free speech. And that sure looks to be true.)
Then I just tried to watch the video on-line and it got about 3/4 way through and the video stopped. I don't know if this is a problem with RT or if it is being "interfered" with (if you know what I mean). I have noticed, in watching various programs on RT on the TV that there is often an interruption in the audio or the whole satellite interception goes dead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pdH4JKjVRyA
How come major USA television broadcast stations do not air the above interview so that millions of americans can learn the truth and get another perspective on what is really going on in Syria?
You can bet top officials have seen it in our government but you do not see them sharing it with us or the rest of the nation on prime time but give them a football game and everyone sees the advertisments....
How come it is only available for viewing on youtube which gets such a small number of viewers?
We can blame the ignorance and stupidity of the masses here in america including our elected officials on the major United States Media statiopns (both television and radio) that do not offer to air what is aired in other countries... i.e., just take a look at the small number of views the above interview made available on youtube has had... you will see that many of youtube videos that you think would reach millions are lucky if they get 100,000 views.... but come election time with citizens united ruling, these major media stations do not hesitate to air all the bullshit and deceptive campaine ads to also keep us in the dark or to misslead us as to who to vote for that will be making all the decisions that affect all of us... after all, billionaires and big corporations just love to give millions away in super pac money for legislated favors that benifit the military industrial complex for war machinery as there is gold in them and lets not go after the manufactures of mwd's but those that would use them since allowing their production makes that possible
Published on Nov 8, 2012
In an exclusive interview with RT, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Syria is not going through a civil war, but rather a different kind of war -- terrorism through proxies - FULL SCRIPT: http://on.rt.com/4sugfx
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We must resist the urge for power...Change our way of thinking so that people and planet last.
Any one hear about the man in Arizona who "stood up to" John McCain during a Town Hall Meeting last week?
Google search "I would have you arrested for treason" and you will find several sites to watch in amazement...The only thing that would have made this tongue lashing better is if the police would have lead McCain away in cuffs. Instead...Well I won't ruin it for you.
I have to say that I am hopeful for the first time in my life (I'm 41) that We the People will take back our Government from the Corporate Warmongering Capitalist.
FUCK McCain and Obamney, Tar and Feather all the Corporate NeoNazi Capitalist!
Americans need to take this one directly to the door steps of these Facist Robber Barron Swine!!! The Gallow Tree will be busy! ;)
This is so beautiful and creative. I just love the colors and whoever gets it in the mail will be \\surprised with the analysis you made to make this particular publish incredible. Wonderful activity! Arrowhead Ranch real estate
Google Earth: 33°31'14.10"N 36°21'26.76"E
matches this paused video at 4 minutes and 21-22 seconds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwBOT8VDbS8 which is .36 miles southeast of the Zamalka, Syria town center. This is one place where a missile hit..looks like into a building which is on one of those other videos. The other missile in the videos that hit a rock fence...I don't know for sure what town that hit. Zamalka had the highest number of kills at around 1000 of the 1400 reported. There was a map at that brown-moses blog site that showed 8 skull and cross bones representing people who died. The 8 areas, towns, were all from the northeast to the southeast of Damascus. It was unclear as to whether each of these areas were hit by a missile but it could have just been that the wind spread the gas from the two that were shown in the videos.
There was a lot of very interesting information at this blog site. I learned that many journalists who went into the area to cover the news, right after the attack, died from Sarin gas. Also, that many people, including health care providers, died from being exposed from secondary exposure from the patients. One story I read was from a so-called expert who said that many people died because they hid in their basements...and since Sarin is heavier than air it settled in the basements. While another so-called expert said that Sarin was lighter than air and would quickly dissipate. Also the fact that since it was about 3am, many people probably just died in their sleep. If the Sarin attack had happened during the day...the heat would have caused the Sarin to dissipate faster but at night it remained longer...killing more people.
This blog also talked a lot about the other chemical attacks in and in the towns around Aleppo, Syria months earlier. Lots of information. Lots of videos and photos.
And if Assad agrees to give up his chemical weapons how can it be assured that the rebels no longer have any? They may have buried lots of chemical weapons in tunnels...how in the world can it be assured that the rebels no longer have chemical weapons?
I agree with DAnneMarc:
You know...it really does serve Obama right for letting the Bush administration get away with blatant war crimes and then carrying on with the same war crimes himself. And, in addition, prosecuting whistle blowers, using the NDAA to quash dissent.* The US has no credibility! They've lied way too many times. No one believes them anymore! Except for a few, maybe. Obama deserves to be seen by the world as a lying hypocrite failure.
By the way, here is a web site that has done a lot of investigation into the Aug 21 alleged chemical attack:
videos here:
http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/
----
Chemical Weapons Specialists:
http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/chemical-weapon-specialists-ta...
-------------------------
* Abby Martin of RT interviews Susan Lindauer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnCIVeX0Ukc
There seems to be far more evidence that the rebels were responsible for the gassing. They are the ones with the motive (along with Israel and the US empire believers). And, contrary to what Kerry and Obama say they certainly had the ability. Remember last May when the UN human rights commission Under Carla del Ponte concluded that the evidence of chemical weapons attack to that point pointed to the rebels, not tho the Syrian Government. Also in May the Turkish government reported arresting 12 members of the Al Nusra front (Al Qaeda linked rebel group) on the Syrian border with 2 kilos of sarin. Who can believe that Assad would invite (or allow) UN inspectors to come to Damascus and then launch a huge chemical attack within 10 miles of their hotel. He may be a "brutal dictator", but he is not an idiot. This is what makes "common sense" to me. What would be his morive when he is actually winning the war now.
If Assad falls who will take over? The most powerful rebel groups are radical muslims who have been imposing Sharia law and burning Christian churches. Do we want to see the end of the very last secular state in the Middle East?
We (the controlling faction of our government) have helped with sarin attacks before, like when we helped Sadam gas Iranians with our satellite intel. I believe this suposed moral outrage is a cover for an attack on Syria. We should be asking the question of who wants it and why.
I also believe that we, through the UN should bring ALL affected parties to the table to work out a peaceful conclusion to the hostilities. Syria is a country of 20 some million people. At least 100,000 are dead. 2 million are refugees who fled with nothing to neighboring countries. 5 million are displaced within the country. If the same were to happen here in proportion, we would have almost 100 million people homeless. Can you imagine?
HSBC was slapped on the wrist for laundering lots of drug money.
Yeah, Palindromedary, it wasn't me in China during the Boxer Rebellion. The guy was very old, but he apparently learned some sort of internal martial art in China, which kept him energetic and so flexible that at age 90 he could stand in a doorway and raise one leg up and lay it flat up and down against the doorframe.
You've had some real adventures. I have a number of friends from that part of the world, but I have only been to Canada and Mexico.
Good news, Kerry was asked how a confrontation (bombing syria) could be avoided... his reply opened the door for avoiding such action and Russia seized on his answer as a way to avoid undesirable consequences by offering a proposal to both the United States and Syria to come to terms (as a solution suggested by Kerry) by getting Syria to agree to turn over control of its chemical wepons to international control overseen by the United Nations of which they and the US are members... a smart move by them to draw down the middle east unrest rather than escalate it... i.e., it should be a combined effort and and the United States (who ever that is) would be a fool not to work with Russia and the United Nations (of which both are a part) rather than taking on the whole middle east conflict on its own when our military is already strapped to the limit and our econemy is tanking... this gives congress and, the president too, a means to save face and put pride of obligation or prior commitment to a line drawn in the sand aside, be sensable and back down on its threat of retaliation which was based on the assumption that the chemicals in question that were recently used, weren't used by the rebels or terrorists in an attempt to get the United States to hold to their red line previously drawn... i.e., as a way to help them wage war against the syrians... i.e. peace will only come via negotiation with all parties whos interests are involved ... and, until agreements and resolusions are arrived at in which all parties can be satisfied... that is, when did retaliation ever solve disagreements between parties in disagreement?
Breaking from Newsmax.com
Hillary: WMD Handover 'Important Step'
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says any move by Syria to surrender its chemical weapons to international control would be an "important step" to avert a U.S. military strike.
"But this cannot be another excuse for delay or obstruction,” she said, adding that Russia, which proposed the action, “has to support the international community's efforts sincerely or be held to account."
Clinton spoke at the White House on Monday after meeting with President Barack Obama.
Read More Here
Now that Kerry offered to let Syria off the hook if they turn in all their chemical weapons, Syria quickly agreed, and Russia offered to moderate, verify and destroy the weapons Obama finds himself in a very precarious position. This is not unlike the position that the previous administration was in just prior to the invasion of Iraq when Saddam offered to give unlimited access to his ammunitions to UN inspectors and Bush decided to invade anyway.
How many more times can the US Government side step voluntary offers of peace and concession to pursue war before the international community gets fed up. What did Bush once say, "Fool me once..."
It seems to me that the picture of the two men looking at the missille casing that was sukpposedly used to deliver the Sarin Nerve gas was the same pictukre about six months or so ago being firedd from Gaza toward Tel Aviv. Can you check it out?
Well, I can tell you one thing for certain. Assuming that there even was nerve agent used against civilians in Syria, it was ordered by Assad, by his military, by the Israelis (who have long fomented trouble in every country around them, while blaming other people for the trouble), by the American Military, the American CIA (which has always engaged in illegal activities), the FBI (which now illegally operates outside of American borders), Obama himself, someone else in the White House, the leaders of the republican party and/or the leaders of the democrat party, a "rogue" element in the republican and/or democrat parties, or by any one or more of a number of other people or militaries or agencies in any one of a number of other countries.
And as far as where the nerve gas came from, well, it probably came from America- we have a very long and honored tradition of supplying dictators with nerve gas and all sorts of other weapons to use against their own people. But it could just as easily have come from Israel, Russia, or China, all of whom behave as monstrous perversions of humanity on a regular basis.
But golly-dang-it, we HAVE to bomb someone about this nerve gas situation, and there is only one way we can make sure that we bomb the proper culprits: we must bomb everyone! Including ourselves! Sure, there will be collateral damage, but who cares, as long as we also bomb the guilty parties?
And for proper measure, we better bomb the moon again, because I don't think I'm talking out of school when I say that I do not think the moon learned its lesson, the last time we bombed it. And while we're at it, don't you think we should bomb all of the other planets in out solar system? I mean, I'm pretty sure that Mercury and possible Jupiter were responsible for the nerve gas being used in Syria, and obviously all of the other planets fully cooperated and are therefore just as responsible as if they had done it themelves.
Then, having taken care of all of the above guilty parties, we must bomb the rest of the known universe just on the off chance that some other galaxy shared responsibility with our solar system.
And we must bomb all dark matter- who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of dark matter? Obama knows!!!!
And as usual, not knowing when to leave bad enough alone, don't you think we should bomb God? I mean, I seem to remember with varying degrees of certainty that the director of the CIA told us that with varying degrees of certainty, God was directly or indirectly responsible or possibly not responsible for the nerve gassing of those Syrians. So bomb Him!
And in conclusion, my friends, please join me and John McCain in that time-honored patriotic chant that is beloved of all patriotic Americans and that strikes fear into all creation: "Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb-whatever! Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb-whatever!"
No matter what happens in Syria, the whole episode illustrates that the world needs to upgrade its methods of dealing with such events and conditions.
This whole situation in Syria, the nightmare the refugees face, and the past failures of international response to humanitarian tragedies such as Rwanda and Darfur point out that the nations must re-think when, how, and who needs to intervene to prevent prolongation of suffering or spread of the threats.
There was a man in the 1800s who presented a simple, but very cogent framework of a peace plan that needs to be developed and implemented now. He describes his Plan, below. The leaders of the world need to take these general principles and use them as the framework for how to achieve world peace. His writings:
“… The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world's Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquillity of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him. If this be done, the nations of the world will no longer require any armaments, except for the purpose of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining internal order within their territories. This will ensure the peace and composure of every people, government and nation. We fain would hope that the kings and rulers of the earth, the mirrors of the gracious and almighty name of God, may attain unto this station, and shield mankind from the onslaught of tyranny. ... He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.
[Elsewhere in these writings] “Lay not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed. Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book, and take good heed not to overstep their limits. Be vigilant, that ye may not do injustice to anyone, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed. Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path. …..We have learned that you are increasing your outlay every year, and are laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is more than they can bear, and is a grievous injustice. Decide justly between men, and be ye the emblems of justice amongst them. This, if ye judge fairly, is the thing that behoveth you, and beseemeth your station.”
I am not going to give the name of the Author. If I did, you all would dismiss the above without giving it any thought whatsoever. In fact, many of you will dismiss it anyway to perpetuate the errors of humanity since the time the Peace Plan was proposed in the late 1800s.
How about making the case that WAR AIN'T FREE! Just ask the former members of the Soviet Union, hell, just ask Bush II, or how about whipping out the ole pie charts and let the taxpayers see where half of their federal tax money is going. I know one thing, I don't want anymore of my Social Security retirement fund or tax dollars financing killing for profit. I want my part to be invested in a green energy company.....an investment with a return that's not in a body bag.
If Obama can make his case to Congress and get it passed, then our congressional representatives are fools! So what's new? He'll never convince me.
The outlook here near Portland seems to be that Obama may be 'baiting' his Congressional opponents to show their true colors to their money/backers and create a showdown for the 2014 and the 2016 elections by weakening the primaries for them. These opponents may be clearly portrayed as a racial/hater by the way they handle themselves now, as the President may not in his heart want any conflict now. (ps-are any of these comments ever read or used on your program?)
The problem is basically one of precedent, in that if we allow anything to happen anywhere in the world without bombing someone, other countries might form the unrealistic expectation that we have become civilized. And if we quit bombing people for long enough, the Americans who own the bomb factories will have to start living off the billions of dollars they have already made and defrauded our government out of. And that just wouldn't be fair to those poor billionaires.
And because retirement funds are very often invested in bomb-making factories, many of our retirees would suffer financially if we quit bombing people. And let's not blame that on people who invest in bomb-making factories, because that would not be fair. Let's blame it on the people who don't want us to bomb people. (And don't get me started on whether it would be fair for the people we bomb, to say, "Hey, you attacked us, now we're going to attack you." Because that wouldn't be fair at all. Here's how it works: it is right, fair, decent, good, kind, and compassionate when we bomb them, but it's just plain wrong when they bomb us back. In fact, I will go so far as to say that God wants us to bomb those people, but God just hates it when they bomb us.)
And what's even worse is, if we quit bombing other countries, people might start thinking that we have quit being rank hypocrites and started being real Christians, and let's face it, virtually no one in our government- whether republican or democrat- wants anyone to think that they are a real Christian. Obama, McCain, and the other hawks in our government would much rather pretend that Jesus wants us to bomb other countries.
And as an aside, a Muslim guy has set up a stand in the farmer's market where I live, and a Christian guy set up a stand right next to him. I asked the Christian guy, "What do you think of Muslims?"
He said, "Well, Muslims are misguided."
I told him, "You should be more tolerant."
Then I went to the Muslim guy, and asked him to describe Islam.
He said, "Islam is the one true religion. Christianity is mistaken about all sorts of things."
I left, thinking, "That intolerant fake Christian and that intolerant fake Muslim deserve each other."
The Twain Report
All The News That Mark Twain Says He Would Report If He Was Alive Today
9-09-2013
The other day, the Twain Report's Editor took a stroll along the scenic waterfront near our heavily-fortified undground bunker in an undisclosed city in Washington State. And while strolling there, he saw a massive private yacht tied to the dock. And being- like all journalists- an incurably snoopy person, he went down onto the dock to get a closer look.
Gleaming like tens of millions of dollars worth of stainless steel, that huge, sleek ship had open portholes (windows) facing the dock. Our editor was just about to lean over the edge of the dock to put his nose against a window and look inside, when he saw a strip of blue tape on one of the windows. And written on that piece of tape were these two words: "Privacy, Please."
Let's do a little comparison here: millions of people do not know where their next meal will come from, millions of people do not have adequate health care or even dependably clean water to drink, and millions of bright young children will never get an education. It is very important to have something to believe in. And some hyper-wealthy guy believes that it is more important for him to own and operate a massive ocean-going ship for his personal amusement, than to help those people.
Now, the Twain Report cannot presume to know what- if anything- occurs in the hearts of hyper-wealthy people, but parking that ship on a public dock and asking for "Privacy," is like Lady Gaga removing all of her clothing, getting on a stark white horse, and riding through New York City, screaming, "Please don't look at me!" (But that is not really a fair comparison, because Lady Gaga would never scream, "Please don't look at me." But you get the idea.)
Anyway, in an attempt to create harmony between the rich and the poor, our editor got some blue tape and put it on all the other windows on the ship, and wrote on the tape, "Hey, look what's in here!" and put a nice "Everyone Welcome!" door mat in front of the gangplank.