Saturday, June 30, 2007

Who am I

Who am I?
As a small boy I had to endure the pain of not knowing who I was.
My parents moved to a town in New Jersey that was populated mostly by Catholic polish immigrants who were brought over by the slave traders with help from the church to work in the rubber and textile mills. They were greatly influenced by the anti-Semitic Detroit Radio priest father Coughlin, who often referred to the president of the United States as President Roosenfeld. At Easter time, when the priests came around to bless the kielbassa and Ham and get their hand out, Polish kids threw rocks at me because I killed Jesus.
At school we had to start the day by taking turns reading from the bible. The teacher always gave me the same page to read from. "The ungodly are not so, They are like the chaff that the wind driveth away." I could feel her eyes burning in my back.
My father’s family in the old country were non-practicing Russian Orthodox and my mother’s family Orthodox Jews. Neither of my parents were religious, although my mother did keep a set of kosher dishes for family visits.
I have never been a member of any church or temple, and I was astounded years later when I was in Israel to listen to the debates over who is or is not a Jew. I remember when I asked my mother. "Mom, am I a Jew?" Her answer was always the same. "I am a Jew so therefor you are a Jew. That’s all there is to it." "But if you don’t come from Jewland and you call the rabies gonifs how can you be a Jew?" My mother never called herself a Jew. She said she was an American of Russian Yiddish descent. That didn’t help me because then Yiddish was a derogatory word like the infamous N word.
It was all so confusing. If your family came from Ireland you were an Irish American. If they came from Italy you were an Italian American. My parents came from Russia so how come I was a Jewish American. I didn’t mind being a Jewish American and I still don’t.
Israeli Law of Return is not a law at all because it still defies definition. Russian is a second language in Israel and most of those who speak it are not religious Jews and many do not call themselves Jews at all.
Wikipedia includes the following paragraph "the registering of "nationality" on Israeli Teudat Zehut ("identity card"). This is also controlled by the Ministry of the Interior, which has generally only registered as a "Jew" those who meet the traditional definition according to the (Orthodox) Chief Rabbinate. However, in a small number of cases the secular Supreme Court of Israel has forced the ministry to register as Jews individuals who did not meet that definition." WHAT?
Uri Avnery said, "Anyone who calls himself a Jew is a Jew." WHAT?
My wife insists that Jewish means religion and genetics has nothing to do with it. It is an important subject because those who blindly support Israeli aggression do so because they feel if there is no "Jewland" i.e. Israel and they do not belong to any religious group they are faced with the same dilemma I had.
That is forever asking the question, who am I? To them Jewish is not religious, not political, but simply a nationality.
I solved it long ago with the help of Avnery. When I brought him to America for a book tour, my mother was already too sick to talk to him, but he taught me to separate Zionism, religion, and the awful Israeli politics from my mother’s beautiful Yiddish culture and I am free to oppose the madness of greater Israel.
David Truskoff
www.erols.com/suttonbear

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Shrill lies getting louder and more shrill
A statue purported to be a memorial to victims of Communism worldwide was unveiled on June 13,2007 In Washington D.C. The propaganda show kicked off a barrage of lies that would even make the wild eyed claims of the Hearst press and the New York times of 1933 seem mild.
Cal Thomas, Tribune Media Services, wrote on June 15, 2007.
"The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression" by Stephan Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, Andrzej Paczkowski, Karel Bartosek and Jean-Louis Margolin lists by country the number of people murdered under communist regimes: 65 million (and counting) in China; 20 million in the Soviet Union, 2 million (and counting) in North Korea, 2 million in Cambodia, 1.7 million in Africa, 1.5 million in Afghanistan, 1 million in Vietnam." Other hysterical screaming followed; "Who knows that the communist holocaust has exacted a death toll surpassing that of all of the wars of the 20th century combined."
President Bush at the unveiling said, "In short, communism, an evil ideology unlike any the world has seen, is responsible for the slaughter of more than 94 million human beings. It tops all plagues, natural disasters, crime, and other political ideologies, probably combined. According to the best scholarly estimate, Communism took the lives of tens of millions of people in China and the Soviet Union."
In Moscow Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov who narrowly lost the 1996 Russian presidential election to Boris Yeltsin, was quick to respond. He called the memorial an "attempt to distract the attention of world opinion from the bloody evils of American imperialism as a whole."
Since the Russian Revolution of 1917 the US media propaganda barrage of anti-communism was steeped in lies and hypocrisy, but today it has reached a new level of hysteria and sophism. A brief look at truth and real history shows that in the early thirties America was in the throes of the Great depression. Millions were out of work and there was no safety net for the poor and hungry. Thousand died for lack of proper nutrition and health care. Socialism and the radical labor movements were forming in the States. It was, the conservatives thought, imperative for the media to try and distract Americans and steer them from the left by claiming the famine in Russia was a Communist plan to kill millions of their own people. For years they hammered away at that lie and the lie took on a life of its own growing like the puppet's nose longer and longer.
The 1932-1933 Ukrainian famine had many causes. The main cause was the anti Communist effort led by the kulaks and those who wanted to return to the days of the Tsars. They fought against giving up their land and their oppressive hold on the peasants. In the face of losing their power they began a system of slaughtering their cattle and horses in preference to having them collectivized. The result was a blow to Stalin’s idea of collectivization. He felt the shared machinery and free workers could produce more Soviet agriculture, Kulaks slaughtered tens of thousand of live stock. Some armed themselves and joined the anti-Semitic Black hundreds and murdered officials, burned the property of some of the collectives, and even burned their own crops. What followed was the horrible famine of 1933.
Add to that the terrible drought that hit the area causing more sickness and death in the remote areas. ANOTHER FACTOR overlooked by the US media was the disruption following the Russian revolution by the ruthless 15,000 troops the US sent to Murmansk, Archangel, and Vladivostok as part of an Allied force in opposition to the Bolsheviks. Until the late thirties many other attempts were made by covert operatives to overthrow the Soviet Government. Yes, through all that chaos, many died. It must have been the most difficult situation to try and raise crops in. By 1934 the Russian famine was ending, but the US needed ten years and World War 11 to recover from the disastrous economic bust the robber barons of the twenties created.
In September of 1947, the Russians proposed at the UN a mutual withdrawal of USSR and US troops from the peninsula of Korea. The UN in 1947 declared that elections should be held throughout the entire country to choose one government to unify the country. The US rejected the proposals. The south under the advice of the US held its own election and created an independent Republic of Korea with Dictator Syngman Rhee as its leader. Rhee Threatened to "annihilate the north" prompting the civil war.
U.S. President Truman authorized the use of American land, sea, and air forces in Korea. On 7-1-1950. The Army's 24th Infantry Division became the first US troops to arrive in Korea. That intervention into a civil war led to American battle deaths that totaled 33,629 and another 20,617 deaths from other causes making a total of 54,246. The number of wounded came to 103,284. Almost half a century later the US still has 37 thousand troops stationed in Korea. The gunboat diplomacy that FDR rejected and the ignoring of a democratic election was the criminal act resulting in that disaster.
The people of Vietnam took the opportunity to establish their own government lead by Ho Chi Minh after the Japanese withdrew. However, at the end of the war the Allies gave back South Vietnam to the French while the North was left in the hands of the non-communist Chinese The Russians didn’t invade Vietnam in 1954, we did. There was an election, but once again America refused to recognize a democratic election. The result that time was approximately 3 to 4 million Vietnamese on both sides were killed in addition to another 1.5 to 2 million Lao and Cambodians who were drawn into the war. More than 58,000 Americans died and another 304,000 were wounded.
This month America has again refused to recognize a democratic election in Gaza. These deceitful machinations have taken their toll on the frustrated American public who feel they have lost their hold on their own country.
One needn’t wonder why the Communist bogeyman has been resurrected. America’s Gunboat diplomacy of the last fifty years has fueled anti America and leftist movements all over the world, but as the US ship of state begins taking on water the screaming liars intend to go down with the ship.
Sadly, I do not see any FDR type savior on the horizon to throw us life jackets and save our ship.
David Truskoff
www.erols.com/suttonbear

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Connect the dots

Connect the dots of those who are connected
Start connecting the dots at the very beginning.
On the 27th of February 1933, the Reichstag (German parliament) caught fire. Hitler described the fire as a "beacon from heaven". History shows that it removed many obstacles to the Nazi power grab and led directly to the rise of Hitler and the brutal killing spree that followed. Communists were blamed, and many were rounded up and imprisoned, but evidence shows the Nazi’s were responsible for the fire. "You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in German history...This fire is the beginning," Hitler told a news reporter at the scene. What followed was death, destruction, and horror. The Bush family is all too well acquainted with that part of history as Prescott Bush (GW’s grandfather) was instrumental in bringing Hitler to power. One former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor insisted that Prescott Bush should have been prosecuted for, "giving aid and comfort to the enemy."
(I can not believe that the Republican Party of Connecticut still has the annual Prescott Bush honor dinner.)
Shortly after George Bush was inaugurated on January 20, 2001, the US stock market seemed to be crumbling. The 171.32-point drop on August 30, 2001 left the Dow down more than 500 points for that week alone. Markets the world over caught the jitters and showed signs of crashing. Close to $5 trillion in paper wealth was wiped out. Personal debt, caused by credit card and ballooning mortgages was rising by an average of 8.2% a month. Thousands of workers were being laid off. Americans were unhappy. They did not feel that they had elected GW Bush, but that the election was stolen and Bush was appointed by a stacked Supreme Court. He had no mandate from the people. There was an American mind lock and a yawning void waiting to be filled by a political explosion. The explosion came on September 11, 2001.
There were people who knew a way to save Bush and the empire. Names jump at you. Larry Silverstien. Rupert Murdoch, Frank Lowy, Lewis Eisenberg, among others.
There is nothing really new here. It has all been written about before, but facts are piling up and now that the big payoff has occurred on May 24,2007 and the money trail becomes more visible, it all must be brought before the world again, and again and again. We must not allow 9/11/01 to simply pass into history. Those who suffered the unspeakable crimes that followed scream for justice.
As the reign of the Bush family comes to an end and the empire shudders and shakes, perhaps a new Nuremberg Tribunal will mete out punishment for those responsible for the tens of thousands who died and the suffering of millions of others as a result of that awful Tuesday 9/11/01.
The deadly dust had not yet settled when the drums of war began to beat. Murdoch’s pro Israel New York paper, (New York Post, 9/12/01) headlined "Kill THE BASTARDS. An editorial stated, "The response to this unimaginable 21st-century Pearl Harbor should be as simple as it is swift-- kill the bastards. A gunshot between the eyes, blow them to smithereens, poison them if you have to. As for cities or countries that host these worms, bomb them into basketball courts."
That kind of inciting gutter, journalism was poured into the eyes and ears of people the world over via the Murdoch Media Empire and there was no letup for years. The Muslim community was astounded by the hate of Fox news and other Murdoch outlets. Murdoch’s unabashed support of Bush and his own devotion to Israel made him a well-known figure to those who took control of the World Trade Center shortly before its destruction.
Larry Silverstein and Frank Lowy, who leased the WTC property six weeks before 9/11, insisted on the unusual insurance coverage under Terrorist acts, added to the contract. Port Authority Chairman Lewis M. Eisenberg approved the transfer of the leases. One has to wonder how that all came down.
On March 19.2001, Lewis M. Eisenberg released this statement, " re: Net Lease of World Trade Center.
"In connection with the net lease of the World Trade Center, on February 22, 2001, the Port Authority entered into an exclusive negotiating period with Vornado Realty Trust. During this period, Port Authority staff and its advisors, JP Morgan, Cushman & Wakefield and Milstein Brothers Realty Advisors have worked with representatives of Vornado to complete the contract and associated transactional documents. In view of the lack of a final agreement at this time, the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners has instructed staff and our advisors to engage in exclusive negotiations with Silverstein Properties and Westfield America to conclude a 99-year net lease transaction."
In February of 2002 Silverstein Properties were granted a $861 million settlement from Industrial Risk Insurers to rebuild on the site of WTC 7. Silverstein Properties investment in WTC 7 was approximately $386 million. Silverstein Properties gained almost half a billion. More litigation was to follow.
It is well known that Murdoch, Silverstein and Eisenberg were members and supporters of
many right wing Zionist organizations. It is also well known that Ariel Sharon, the man responsible for the massacre at Sabra and Shatila, and Murdoch were friends and Sharon looked to Murdoch for support. Murdoch was also a friend and supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu who said on the day of the 9-11 attacks, "It's very good (for American and Israeli relations)…Well, it's not good, but it will generate immediate sympathy (for Israel)."
As soon as I heard about the Mossad agents being present and taking pictures across from the twin towers on 9/11/01 I immediately thought of The Lavon affair in 1954. The Israeli secret service set up a spy ring in Egypt with the purpose of blowing up US and British targets. The operation was code-named "Susanah." The terrorist hits were to be blamed on the regime of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser, with the purpose of alienating the US and Britain from Egypt and Nasser. A bomb exploded prematurely and the ring was discovered. Israel denied knowledge and kept the information from its own citizens until the secret could be kept no longer.
On 9/11/01 police received several calls from angry New Jersey residents claiming "middle-eastern" men with a white van were videotaping the disaster with shouts of joy and mockery. The men in the white van were stopped and arrested in East Rutherford NJ.
On 9/12/01, The New York Times reported that a group of five men had set up video cameras aimed at the Twin Towers prior to the attack on Tuesday, and were seen congratulating one another afterwards. The Jewish weekly The Forward reported that the FBI finally concluded that at least two of the detained Israelis were agents working for the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and that Urban Moving Systems, the ostensible employer of the five Israelis, was a front operation. Two former CIA officers confirmed this, and they noted that movers' vans are a common intelligence cover. The Israelis were held in custody for 71 days before being quietly released. If by their own admission, "they were there to document the event" does that not mean, to any intelligent person, that they knew in advance what was going to happen?
After 9/11 on a PBS documentary Silverstien admitted that he made the decision to have the building WTC 7 "pulled." meaning he planned to have it taken down well before the disaster. Not Silverstein himself or his daughter who normally would be in the building were present on 9/11/01.
On May 24, 2007 an AP story stated, "The builders of the World Trade Center site and seven insurers have reached a $2 billion settlement that ends all outstanding legal battles over its multibillion-dollar policy, state officials said Wednesday."
Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo announced the settlement after leading two months of talks with the insurers, trade center developer Larry Silverstein and the site's owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The $2 billion, added to $2.55 billion already paid out since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the trade center, is about $130 million less than the amount awarded to rebuild the site after the trial in 2004.
So those connected all got what they wanted. Silverstein got his money. He will rebuild and hold a 99-year lease. Murdoch sold a lot of papers and got the hate Palestinians propaganda into high gear. The Israelis got millions more of American taxpayers dollars and as Benjamin Netanyahu said, "a lot of sympathy".
Bush became the ‘war’ President and The Commander in Chief.
No one except a seemingly deranged man (Zacarias Moussaoui) went to jail.
Tens of thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the oil barons are running amuck. Murdoch’s media still controls the minds of millions of people. Realists are wondering are the people going to allow the 9/11 commission report to stand? Should we not be demanding a new investigation? Do we not owe that to the children of Iraq and the millions of other suffering people including Americans?
David Truskoff
www.erols.com/suttonbear