by Peter Chamberlin

What words can I conjure to give meaning to the visions that dominate my brain, images of evil and bloodlust, consuming the flesh of an unwary people. I see the rapidly approaching epic, the cataclysmic convulsion of a violent racist culture, stabbing feverishly at its own womb, hoping to abort the birth of the new man of peace and unity.

I see clearly the rising image of the new race, a new culture dedicated to enlightenment. The new mankind will be hungry for knowledge, in the same way that the current race is hungry for wealth and power. The new man will seek to overcome life’s problems through understanding them, instead of forcefully re-ordering them to a more acceptable configuration.

Bringing forth the “New Man” is the core of all religious teaching, as is the coming catastrophic era, which will draw-out the mind of the new man from the debris of the shattered old mind. No prophet or founder of religions has ever been able to convert more than a handful of his closest followers into these New Men, whose minds have been liberated from the baggage of the old. But each of them clearly described the apocalyptic events which would rip the new earth from the old.

All belief systems, even religious ones, have been corrupted by power-mad individuals who intend to keep mankind in the dark, confused about the most basic items of truth and reality. They perverted the faiths, turning each of them away from the nurturing teachings of their Prophet founders, focusing instead, on sowing division among the faithful. Trusted spiritual leaders, by their actions, have hidden the many ways of growing a generation of “New Men,” ensuring that mankind would only have one path to mass enlightenment open unto them, the path of cataclysm/conversion. The new man would eventually arise, but, like the Phoenix, he would necessarily arise out of the ashes of the old order.

The great intellectual leaps made in the past are portrayed as ends in themselves, not as steps in a series of enlightening revelations. Religion itself, has been turned into a dead end, where personal enlightenment is allegedly only possible if carried-out in a sanctioned group environment.

The closing of minds is the cornerstone of all efforts to claim illegitimate power on this earth. Conversely, the opening of minds must be the foundation for any effort to call forth the new man, who will naturally assume his rightful place between the majority of the human race and the evil minority that seeks to enslave all life.

In order for us to open a new path to awakening a generation of new men we must expose the corruption and imminent collapse of the old order, which is based on economic control, and visualize the new earth, based on cooperation and shared humanity. We see a new world, not based on control and the idea of domination, but one of unlimited human potential, given free rein to grow and understand the problems that we create for ourselves. The old world order must give way to a new world that has no center, where edicts and coercive dictates do not exist. In the new order, power will flow from each person.

In the old order, everyman was encouraged to want to be king. “Success” was measured by how close you came to fulfilling this kingly ambition. The “aristocracy” (“rule by the best,” meaning the wealthiest) came to rule over mankind, with each man giving his consent to the arrangement. The cultivated desire to live like kings is the glue that bound the kingdom together, becoming the basis of the capitalist system.

The “aristocrats” were a minority of individuals possessed of the desire to dominate and control all things within their grasp. The bigger their grasp, the more people there were under their influence, capable of being dominated or controlled. The original kings were the most successful members the self-appointed aristocracy, those most ruthless men who had amassed the most wealth, making them most capable of hiring armies of mercenaries and thugs to enforce their will and to maintain their economic domination.

These were men without consciences, who were never bothered by the human suffering they created in their lust to control and to accumulate the resources now divided amongst the masses.

The aristocratic minority possess abnormal personalities marked by psychopathic obsessions to dominate and control others, as opposed to normal people, whose natures allow them to work and play well with others. The economic system created by the aristocracy is a system of control, enforced by laws and armies, designed to expand, without end, until all life on the planet is brought under aristocratic domination. The expansion of the system will not stop until all resources are brought under their control.

In order for the system to function, the majority of the people have to remain as willing to submit to the economic domination of the wealthy minority as the elite are determined to dominate them. But a funny thing happened on the way to the world dictatorship, just before total resource domination was achieved, the majority began to resist. The “meek” were starting to assert their will to hold onto the little that they had. The resistance of the meek had begun.

For the total global aristocratic dominion to become reality the force levels used to maintain control over the majority have to increase to a level sufficient to eliminate all ideas of further resistance. It had become crystal clear to the elite planners that the only way for the aristocracy to maintain its web of control and to accomplish its plans for total resource domination was to unleash all the force in its arsenal into the heart of the global resistance.

If the key to continued domination of the earth was to unleash a spasm of violence like the world had never before witnessed, culminating in a global thermonuclear war, the death of millions and the destruction of the planet, then so be it! The meek cannot be allowed to inherit anything; everything belongs to the ruling class!

The would-be world rulers are faced with an extreme dilemma, “how to conquer the world without destroying themselves with it?” If the plan for total resource domination calls for the full use of all military power to overcome weaker enemies, then how could you attack adversaries with equivalent forces without causing your own destruction?

The self-appointed rulers of the world determined that these powerful competitors could be compromised through the same formula of economic coercion that their kind had always employed – bribes and threats of force. “King’s ransoms” would surely bend the most-dangerous resistance forces to their wills. “Low-level conflict,” a euphemism for warfare by terrorism, would convey the threat of greater war, along with the exorbitant bribes, for those who were more resistant to the empire’s “reasoning.”

But even this game is running-up against the will of the resistance, the “meek” are getting really pissed-off, in the face of insane measures meant to ignite world war and to unleash the dreaded nuclear “horseman of the apocalypse” upon the resistant “lower” classes. If a majority of us “get our backs up,” no amount of worthless currency will buy us off. We are witnesses to the ongoing attempts by the American government and its foreign minions to ignite an insane world war, for the sake of preserving the illegitimate power that drives their megalomaniacal dreams.

Enough is enough! The time has come for the revolution of the meek. We will not go quietly into the night!

For those who believe in freedom, the revolution calls you.
For those who hate freedom for others, the revolution waits for you.

All power which assumes greater powers for itself than those it was originally given is illegitimate power. In an age when illegitimate power is openly moving to seize all available power, all those free men who love the rights and powers granted to them by their Creator must step forward to oppose the seizure. If all good things flow from the mind of God, then those men who move to separate mankind from these good things are clearly evil.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke. This truism applies to all men, for all time, but it is truer today than in any past era. When governments all over the world work together to preserve their collective illegitimate powers, then it is time for a worldwide revolution to set all men free.

As Americans, we are at the epicenter of the world collective of illegitimate power. It is our destiny to be the ones who stand face-to-face with “the Beast, to force a divide within the government collective (Congress), that will disable the forward thrust to crush the rights of all mankind. To all the members of the United States Congress I say, if you, as our representatives, allow the invasion of another country, or the introduction of American troops into the streets of the United States, for the purpose of ending democracy and eliminating the Bill of Rights, then the revolution awaits you.

To President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid, I say to you, if you move forward with your plans for world war or for establishing a police state in America, for the purpose of seizing control of the world’s energy sources and creating an illegitimate world government, then the revolution awaits you, with all its fury.

America’s illegitimate power can no longer be maintained. America’s military and other powers of persuasion can no longer contain the actions of the other governments of the world. Killing is not the solution, the saving and improving of all life is the answer. This country has amassed the largest debt that the world has ever witnessed, for the sake of empowering the military machine used to dominate the world. This debt will never be repaid.

In the time America has left to continue operations under this debt-based system (before our creditors decide to pull the plug on our borrowing) we must move away from war, towards the path of reconciliation. In a world of near-total chaos, brought about by our double-dealing “diplomacy” and our own military and economic aggression, America will find itself broken and alone. If we have any hope of being allowed back into the world community after it begins to recover from the great collapse, then it will only come about by our trying right now, to repair the damage that we have wrought, before it becomes impossible to do so.

This requires that we stop our war of terrorism and devote a large portion of those funds dedicated to waging the war into an international re-building effort, to begin to repair the nations we have destroyed and to alleviate some of the human suffering we have caused. In the new world economy, the illegitimate power of capitalism, which can only be maintained by military force, will have been broken itself. This breakdown will cause unimaginable suffering to intensify, as the food distribution chains break down, as well. What would an investment equivalent to one year of the Pentagon’s budget (or the amount spent on new weapons systems in one year) do towards insuring that more people do not starve because of America’s mistakes?

Americans must reconcile themselves to the horrendous truth about what has been done to the world in our name. We must face the ugly truth that we have allowed our government to rampage through the world like some rabid beast, devouring the weak and wounding the strong. We have allowed our government to assume illegitimate power to a level that rivals all predecessor progenitors of evil.

As this evil government moves against the world with the fullness of its military power, we can see clearly that the revolution has come to us. Do we allow the destruction of freedom, God’s greatest gift to mankind, or do we follow the example of our own sacred predecessors and stand together as free men, standing between our government and the world? The revolution is all that stands between the evil plans of these men and their fulfillment. What will you do when the rest of us take our stand?

This evil era has been foretold by prophets the world over, for many centuries. Each prophecy spoke of those who stood fast for truth in the face of those who sought to bury freedom and turn the world into a race of slaves. Are you among those few who will place your very life on the frontline of freedom?

The revolution has found you. Can you ignore its call?

Peter Chamberlin, a regular contributor to ZioPedia.org, can be emailed on
peter.chamberlin@yahoo.com

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Source: ZioPedia.org

We concede the point that many Obama voters (read:  liberal elites who believe in the absolute credibility of meritocratic, academic success) place too much stock in academic excellence; in real life, performance cannot be assigned a letter grade, there is multiplicity of views, and simply writing the exam to the professor, whomever that professor’s real world analogue may be, will not solve a problem.  We also concede the notion that had Obama attended UNC or Syracuse Law instead of Harvard Law he probably would not be the Democratic nominee for president.

However, meritocratic success in and of itself can be characterized as “charisma” just like Obama’s highly-evolved oratory.  We know that this is what elites are impressed by:  Ivy League credentials (well, more specifically, Harvard, Yale, or Oxbridge credentials) and Latin honors.  How is Obama’s academic C.V. any different, from say, Biden’s “scrappy kid from Scranton” rhetoric--only that it's for yuppies, the intelligentsia, and limousine liberals instead of working class folk?

Furthermore, Obama’s magna cum laude and President of the Harvard Law Review titles don’t only work on elites—they work on everybody.  Face it, despite what ivory tower intellectuals posit, that we are in a “post-racial” world, we aren’t.  African-Americans are even by prominent figures at liberal news institutions regarded as “less intelligent” than whites or Asians.  Personally, we find such an idea racist and utterly without merit, but a large number of people believe it to varying degrees.  Obama’s superlative academic C.V. nipped these notions in the bud, which is in part why he is so confusing to many people:  he totally upsets people’s preconceived notions of African-Americans with his academic brilliance.

So yes, Obama’s academic excellence may not translate to effective governance.  But it does garner votes, and it does stiff arm a lot of prejudicial and untrue stereotypes of African-Americans—the latter of which we believe may be necessary for the first African-American candidate for U.S. President.  He may just like Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson need to be “perfect,” in the sense that his C.V. and life experiences limit the amount of ad hominem and tangential critiques of his ability as much as possible.

But forget about his Harvard Law exploits.  You already spoke on Obama’s race being a potentially “transformative” feature of his candidacy and we agree with you.  Nothing further needs to be said there.  Let’s talk about oratory.  As much as you want the presidency to be about rigid, logical policy skills, we think that Obama’s gifts for oratory and emotional appeal are just as important.  Yes, in an ideal intellectual world, logic and precise governance should be the primary factors in presidential selection.  It’s the main platform Hillary Clinton ran on—and we think she got screwed over, in many ways.  But we don’t live in an ideal intellectual world, and not only that, analytical thinking is not the sole and best way to effect social change.  Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention showed what the inspirational power of an emotional political speech could do.  It’s kind of what Randy Pausch calls a head fake:  by inspiring people emotionally, you can get them to go along with policy they would not have considered before.  And in American democracy it’s the people that matter:  convince the voters, and you’ll get congressmen to vote along constituent lines.  As Tupac Shakur said, “I'm not saying I'm gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world.”  Most people are moved more by emotional appeal than by dry logical analysis.  Obama’s loyal constituency alone should bolster this claim.

Of course, fine oratorical skill alone could be a dangerous thing.  But Obama seems to be very thoughtful and his academic performance (here it is again!) does seem to support the inference that he is, in your own words, “damn smart.”  Also, it’s important to note that with the political record he does have thus far Obama has done very well.  By most accounts, he has run a splendid campaign.  His strategy has been sharp and innovative.  He has done well in debates and given tremendous speeches.  Over the course of this electoral campaign Obama has shown that he does indeed have political acumen.  It’s not a lot of data points to go on, but it is positive evidence.  It’s still speculation at this moment, given his meager political record, but we would posit that he has both oratorical skill and logical rigor.

In sum, while we agree with your arguments, we think Obama’s academic C.V. is akin to Biden or John Edwards' “working-class roots” or George W. Bush’s “guy you’d like to have a beer with,” applied to elites.  Why is everything that pleases elites stigmatized and everything that appeals to the middle-class praised?  Furthermore, his academic C.V. also works for the many people who have reservations, racist or no (we think racist) regarding African-Americans’ intelligence.  We also think Obama’s nuanced oratorical skills can inspire voters to reconsider old policies and accept new ones, and we think that Obama has the analytical competence to actually apply those policies.  Obama deserves to be the Democratic presidential nominee.

Never mind that I am part of the financial and political elite in this country. I am above questioning and I am exempt from criticism because I WAS A POW!!! Remember? A P-O-W!!! I mean, come on people. Oh, and by the way MY WIFE IS CURRENTLY IN GEORGIA. Yeah, THAT Georgia -- as in the aggressive U.S. puppet state that attacked South Ossetia a couple weeks ago with the assistance and blessing of our government.

What McCain did not mention here is that his top foreign-policy advisor is the Neocon Randy Scheunemann, who is a paid agent of Georgia.

"Rather, the campaign against Obama has metastasized into a variant of class warfare. It's the resentment of the meritocracy. What the GOP realized was that Obama did come across different than the average American, but not so much because he was black as because he was effortless. The very set of supercharged talents and qualities that allowed Obama to levitate past the boundaries of race and class make him different than those who haven't rocketed upward on the strength of their intelligence and charisma and charm. After all, if you're a fumbling, struggling individual out in suburban Ohio, how can you believe that this guy who doesn't look to have struggled a day in his life cares about your pathetic problems? Obama, in other words, is elite. As in "A group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual, social, or economic status." Obama isn't an economic elite, but he is a social and intellectual elite. And it's that creeping sense that he's different, that he's better and knows it, that McCain is trying to exploit.

The Obama campaign, similarly, has realized that McCain is an elite, and that voters won't believe that a guy who has so many houses that he can't keep track of them will care if they lose the small condo they call home. This election, in other words, is becoming a contest to decide which type of elite voters hate -- r fear, or mistrust -- more: A social elite or an economic elite?" Here is the link to the whole article.

Frankly, I am fed up with this whole elite thing. McCain is amongst our super wealthy class. He is the son of an Admiral who was the son of an Admiral. By any measure, he is also a member of the social elite, an aristocrat. He is a true Burkean conservative. Remember that Burke, while arguing for the preservation of tradition, was largely arguing for the continuation of the aristocracy. (Correct me if I'm wrong on this Red or Jane or Cyn). Preservation of an aristocratic class sees un-american to me. Did we not overthrow royalty a long time ago? If you have ever had the opportunity to work or talk with old money or old power people, they often do not have the need to flaunt it like the new money people. Talk with these people for a bit, and it becomes clear they see the world a bit differently. McCain has always been important and/or had money. His campaign may package him as an everyman. The facts speak otherwise.

Obama comes from much more humble roots. However, he ended up at Harvard Law, the nation's most elite law school. He taught at an elite law school. He wrote some books that made millions. Obama has joined the ranks of the elite. He even eats arugula, which seems to be present in almost every salad in every chain restaurant where you sit down to eat.

They are both elite. What about elitist? Your guy acts like he is elite, is the complaint we hear. They both do, just in different ways. Obama uses big words and complex ideas. Very elitist. McCain says the economy is fine. Very elitist. Once again, let us go back to what is important. Energy, health care, the debt, foreign policy, Medicare, Social Security, etc.

Steve

Good morning!

Going back to the recent Georgia-Russia conflict, which is actually a mere dress rehearsal of NATO for its future big war upon the installation of a totalitarian North Atlantic Empire in the near future, the thesis was raised that Georgia had turned itself into a (b) vassal-state of the Anglo-European oligarchy (or ‘global oligarchy’) and (b) was the same elite’s surrogate it its conflict with Russia.

It would pay to know just exactly who are the people involved behind the scene as operators for the global oligarchy for its latest synarchy engagement in Central Asia. Analysts connected with the Executive Intelligence Review were able to identify one named Mark Brown, who works for the same elites through his sponsor George Soros.

Below is a news item from that details the information about the oligarchic operators involved in the aforesaid conflict.

[18 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to the Executive Intelligence Review database news.]

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

Mark `Moloch' Brown: The Empire's Coup Man in Georgia

Aug. 12, 2008 (EIRNS)—There is good reason for the British Empire's silence about the attack by Mikhail Saakashvili's Georgia on South Ossetia on Aug. 7, an attack that brought the world to the brink of World War III. Saakashvili was put in power by the duo of British agents—billionaire speculator and Nazi collaborator, George Soros, and Lord Mark Malloch Brown, now the United Kingdom's Minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). And, by tracking the records of the UN Development Program (UNDP) which Malloch Brown administered, and Soros's Open Society Institute and its offshoots, the proverbial check stubs will be found.

Lord Malloch Brown has been in the business of overthrowing governments since 1986, when he left the London Economist for the international section of an agressive political consulting firm in the U.S. called Sawyer Miller, and from there advised the Presidential campaign of Corazon Aquino in the Philippines. He stuck with Aquino through the overthrow of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, a role about which he boasts. In 1990, he represented the Presidential campaign of Peruvian fascist novelist Mario Varga Llosa, a drug legalization advocate, who lost the election after proposing a vicious austerity program to cut the living standards of Peru's lower classes. Sawyer Miller also helped promote the Dalai Lama against China.

From Sawyer Miller, Malloch Brown spent the next 18 years at the World Bank and the United Nations, forming a deep, but secretive relationship with Soros.

He is also secretive about his finances—he lists only his government salary of about $160,000 on financial disclosure forms. Prior to taking the Ministry job, he served as the Vice Chairman of George Soros's hedge fund, the Quantum Fund in 2007. For a bit of comparison, note that Soros earned billions of dollars heading the Quantum Fund in recent years!

Malloch Brown enhances his meager government salary, however, with a government-subsidized home in London called "The Admiralty House," which is valued at about 7.76 million pounds sterling, according to the British government. Both the Spectator and the Times of London have written exposes of Malloch Brown for this sweetheart deal, where the rent is over $300,000 per year, and for which he "leapfrogged" over 20 higher-ranking cabinet members to get the perk. The price Malloch Brown demanded, to leave Soros's Quantum Fund was a fat portfolio covering the entire world, a peerage (he is now a British Lord), the right to attend Cabinet meetings, and the luxurious home.

The subsidized home deal is identical to the arrangement which Malloch Brown had for about five years when he headed the UN Development Program, and then became Deputy Secretary General of the UN, and lived in New York. There he was a tenant at the five acre estate owned by George Soros in Katonah, New York, which the UN paid for, at $120,000 a year, to Soros. It was about 20% below the market price, but when asked about this house by a reporter, Malloch Brown stormed out of the interview, exclaiming, "I am doing God's work!"

Malloch Brown and Soros have been co-conspirators in a global plot against the nation state since at least 1993, when Malloch Brown joined a group organized by Soros that travelled to Serbia and Bosnia, to advise him on how to best spend a $50 million grant to "rebuild" Bosnia, after the British orchestrated war had destroyed it. In the 1990s, Soros had also funded the street thug apparatus OTPOR, that boasts of toppling Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. Soros's network later used the experienced Serbian mob-controllers to create the "democracy shocktroops" for the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia that put Saakashvili into power.

Throughout his time at the UN, Malloch Brown and Soros were a duo. They held a joint press conference in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002, to announce plans on how use UN funds, integrated with private funding from Soros and his ilk, to control the economies and policies of Third World countries. Soros was not there as a philanthropist—he was there as President and Chairman of the Soros Management Fund, a notorious hedge fund.

The Rose Revolution

There would be no Saakashvili regime today without George Soros and Malloch Brown. Even in 2001, Saakashvili was a Soros-financed operative. In January, 2004, at the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Soros, Malloch Brown, and Mikhail Saakashvili gave a joint press conference where Saakashvili got $1.5 million—two-thirds from Soros's Open Society Institute and one-third from the UN Development Program. The funds were to be for a "Governance Reform Program" for Georgia, of which the main project was payoffs—a "Salary Supplement Fund," for which Malloch Brown arranged millions more.

Malloch Brown's UNDP bluntly describe how he and Soros would, in effect, not only give money, but would stack the Georgia government with the "skilled professionals" they would pick. The UNDP report says that,

Georgia "lacked the skilled professionals needed to design and execute sweeping reforms.... The state lacked the resources to pay salaries" that might lure the kind of globalist operatives that Soros and Malloch Brown wanted there.

So, continues the UNDP Report, "Working in close partnership with billionaire philanthropist George Soros, UNDP moved swiftly.... Speed was recognized as crucial to success. Even before Mr. Saakashvili was sworn into office, UNDP and Mr. Soros's Open Society Institute (OSI) had agreed upon the creation of a new initiative to help the new administration secure the staff and expertise it needed." The initiative—to pay a supplemental salary to Saakashvili and top government officials—went on for three years, and Saakashvili himself admitted its importance at a Washington, D.C. press conference in early 2004, when asked about his financial dependence on Soros.

Saakashvili said: "Now regarding George Soros's contribution, this is primarily UNDP Fund: United Nations Development Program Fund to fund capacity building for Georgian government, and George Soros will not be the only contributor. We said we expect, as we already have pledges from a number of other contributions. We only have at this moment, two million dollars contributed by UNDP and Soros, but we have some other pledges, we need at least eight million dollars already this year and we will need some more for the next year.... Soros played good role in bolstering democratic processes in Georgia. He was very instrumental for many NGOs in their development and I think there is nothing bad about that, wrong about that."

Malloch Brown's UNDP report even boasted that this funding had provoked "Russian President Vladimir Putin ... to chide Mr. Saakashvili that he was on Mr. Soros's payroll." By 2006, the salary supplements were over $1 million per month, says the UNDP report.

These are the funds that go to a large contingent of Soros agents who are the government of Georgia: head of the National Security Council, Alexander Lomaia; Gigi Bokeria, Deputy Foreign Minister (who had been one of the early trainees of the Serbian Otpor for street demonstrations); Chairman of Georgia Parliament's Committee for Eurointegration: David Darchiashvili, to name a few.

His research on ancient cultures, the Nephilim, UFOs, symbology, secret societies and their use by the NWO is second to none, except maybe Jordan Maxwell.

So enjoy this Kentroversy Tapes podcast Kent made with Michael on March 2005. The podcast itself was posted by Kent on June 25th, 2007.

Kentroversy Tapes # 05 - Michael Tsarion (June 25, 2007)

After my 8-mile tempo run, and hours of restless puttering, Husband took pity on me and we went to Wilkes-Barre to catch an afternoon showing of Batman: The Dark Knight. A fantastic movie, my only complaint being Christian Bale was shirtless in only one scene. On the way home we played "Who's Hottest to You?" For me, Clive Owen trumped Bale and Johnny Depp, and Husband settled on Natalie Portman over Pam Anderson and Scarlett Johanson.

We quickly slapped together some dinner, and I planted myself in front of the television. TS and I started emailing frantically back and forth -- Can you see Deena? Oh there's Blake on the right! Liz Yelling is still leading. Please don't mock me when I reveal to you: I cried for Deena when she had to drop out due to a foot injury at the 5k. Not sobbing, but tears of shock, disappointment, and sympathy. I wanted to hug her, but instead I commiserated with TS, who was just as broken-hearted as I was. (This morning, reports confirm she broke her foot.) Huge wishes to Deena for a swift recovery and return to form.

But, the race went on, and we rooted for Blake, and Magda, who dropped out somewhere between 15K and 20K with a knee injury. Again, NBC coverage sucks -- I had no idea until I read that this morning; I clearly have givne them too much credit for at least covering our US atheletes. At some point, TS emailed saying that Liz Yelling had taken a tumble and had a huge bruise; again, we never even saw that here. When Constantina made her break, I was thrilled--someone had to do it, and Constantina Tomescu-Dita provides plenty of reasons to root for her. First, she's 38, the second-oldest woman in the field that day. Also, she's had a splendid career, winning Chicago in 2004 and coming in second after Deena in 2005 (if you've seen Spirit of the Marathon, you'll recall that gutsy finish), but never quite getting that first-class reputation. I got choked up again when Constantina entered the Bird's Nest Stadium, hearing the roar go up from the crowd, her blowing kisses. Catherine "the Great" Ndereba summarily dismissed Chinxiu Zhou when she made her move for silver; I swear Ndereba made it look so easy to outkick that Chinese woman around that track, as if she were swatting a fly, I wondered why she hadn't tried to catch Constantina.  Blake Russell finished in 2:33:13, well within the top half of the field. I can't find video yet, but if you fast-forward through the shots of Paula crying, you'll still see a few images of the marathon. NBC has posted official results and split times. And I really like Burfoot's opining about champions, injuries, and class acts (although he doesn't himself use that term).

Even though it was only 10 PM, I went straight to bed, exhausted from my tempo run and needing a solid eight hours before my 16 this morning. After watching the women's marathon, I was even more excited than usual for my Sunday long run. It was so relaxing, slowing down the pace, it feels like I'm misbehaving. I ran up Route 940 (yet again; my creativity has failed me here in the Poconos) all the way to the on ramp for I-380, then turned around and came back. When I started, the car thermometer said 55 degrees; by the time I'd returned, it said 76. My 10:25 pace felt just right, and I completed the approximately 16 miles in 2:46:37, imagining Constantina the whole way.

Curiosity is starting to get the better of me: how well will I run at the Queens Half in a month?

¿En qué ha cambiado Evo Morales desde 1995?

Para mi sorpresa, el Evo Morales presidente se parece mucho al que conocí cuando era sindicalista. Es el primer presidente de los últimos 30 años que no ha estado manchado con la corrupción, en un país donde el Goni (Gonzalo Sánchez de Losada) tenía 200 millones de dólares.

¿Cuál ha sido la evolución de Evo?

Antes desconfiaba mucho de la política. Pero nunca asumió el rechazo del zapatismo. Evo se dio cuenta de que los cortes de carretera y las protestas no bastaban. Después supo interpretar el cambio que la sociedad boliviana necesitaba. Lo demuestra que sacara el 54% de los votos, incorporando a las clases medias, que se adhirieron a su discurso de nacionalización de hidrocarburos y de reformar la Constitución. Pero su lugar de pertenencia fue, es y siempre será los sindicatos cocaleros.

¿Qué ha cambiado en el Palacio Quemado?

Todo. Una de las cosas más importantes que hizo Evo fue poner en duda el imperativo del presidente ilustrado. Otro cambio fundamental es la renovación de élites. Se ve en los ministerios. Eso tiene un lado transformador novedoso y positivo, pero también muchos riesgos.

Como la falta de experiencia.

Es uno de los obstáculos más graves con los que se enfrenta Evo. A la clase media lo que más le importa es la economía. A diferencia del Partido de los Trabajadores de Lula, que llegó al poder después de haber gobernado, el Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) no tenía ningún tipo de experiencia.

A dos años de la nacionalización de los hidrocarburos hay pocas inversiones y avances.

Los problemas en YPFB (las compañías petroleras estatales bolivianas) tienen que ver con esa falta de experiencia técnica. También se ve en la reforma agraria. Cuando el viceministro de Tierras fue a la propiedad de un norteamericano en Santa Cruz el tipo lo sacó a tiros.

En el libro muestra a Morales controlando cada detalle.

Evo no delega. Concentra mucho poder. Todo el vértigo de Evo, que está detrás de cada detalle, se traslada a la gestión. Hay algo en la vitalidad de Evo, en su entrega total que yo todavía no consigo entender ni explicar. Es inconcebible.

La nueva Constitución, que plantea la reelección, aún no ha sido aprobada. ¿Se sostiene el proyecto del MAS sin Evo?

El proyecto está personificado en él. Pero la agenda del cambio y la llegada de campesinos e indígenas a la Administración hace que lo trascienda, porque ni la Asamblea Constituyente ni la nacionalización de los hidrocarburos o la reforma agraria fueron ideas suyas. En cuanto a la reelección, la oposición dice que se quiere perpetuar, pero la Constitución plantea un solo mandato más.

¿Cómo interpreta la fractura entre Oriente y Occidente, entre ricos y pobres, entre razas?

El conflicto en Bolivia es étnico; es territorial también, pero, sobre todo, es de clases sociales. Si Evo hubiese llevado adelante la agenda del ex presidente Alejandro Toledo en Perú, los dirigentes de Santa Cruz hubiesen dicho “que bien, que civilizado es. Viene de los pueblos originarios pero entiende la modernización del Estado”.

¿Por dónde puede perder popularidad Morales?

Será muy difícil que en cinco años acabe con la pobreza. De momento, los programas sociales aplicados son paliativos y no resuelven el fondo. Lleva tiempo, dinero y capacidad. Por otro lado, si los medios consiguen convencer de que es autoritario le puede hacer mucho daño. El no haber respetado los dos tercios en la votación de la Constitución fue una señal negativa a la clase media. Otro tema es la autonomía. En el Palacio Quemado se está tomando nota del reclamo autonómico y están reaccionando tras haber unido a la Media Luna(las provincias orientales del país) en un frente anti Evo.

¿Cómo se resuelve el empate entre Oriente y Occidente, entre la Constitución del Gobierno y los Estatutos de las regiones?

Yo no creo que exista la posibilidad de un gran acuerdo. Evo tendría que renunciar a políticas en las que no veo que vaya a ceder. En realidad no es una cuestión de autonomía. Se trata de las tierras y del manejo de los recursos naturales que están en Oriente. Los dirigentes de Santa Cruz reconocen que los estatutos son inviables. Son una carta de negociación.

¿Quién cree que puede ser el sucesor de Evo?

Aún no se ha abierto una discusión seria. La identificación de Evo con la gente es impresionante. Con Chávez o Lula, nunca vi nada semejante. Es la idiosincrasia del sindicalista que vuelve al territorio a refrendar su liderazgo, a contar lo que hace. La relación con los dirigentes también es especial. Los escucha mucho.

¿Hasta qué punto llega la influencia de Chávez sobre Evo?

Es infinitamente menor a lo que se escribe. La ayuda económica es necesaria para Bolivia, pero no es incondicional. Chávez no le dice a Morales lo que tiene que hacer. Queda la idea de que es así, y Chávez contribuye a ello. Si ves las grandes nacionalizaciones de Venezuela, llegan después de las de Bolivia. Pero la idea generalizada es que es al revés. El antinorteamericanismo de Chávez tampoco es el de Evo, que tiene raíces históricas. Durante 20 años cerró sus discursos gritando “Viva la coca, mueran los yanquis”. El giro de Chávez se produce en 2002.

http://www.publico.es/142090/el/conflicto/bolivia/clases/sociales

Seven hours later, I dragged my body out of bed (it was so warm, and cozy, and I was having a lovely dream about a handsome man making me lasagna) to go do my scheduled 8-mile race-pace run. I have begun to consider these Saturday tempo runs the toughest of the week, probably because they freaking are! Also because lately I've been doing them on Route 940 in the Poconos, which is hilly, the last two miles all on an incline. But, I hit the pace I'd been hoping for, completing the approximate 8.4 mile route in 1:15:32.

On Friday, I forgot to tell you all, I signed up for my final races of the season with the New York Road Runners (so I have guaranteed entry in 2009 to run with my brother).  In addition to the two remaining half-marathons in the Grand-Prix (Queens and Staten Island), you'll be able to find me at the Fifth Avenue Mile and the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff. I hope to also run a 5k before the year is out, to benchmark my improvement; the last 5k I ran was the Wall Street run in August 2007. Ideally there will be one I can find on Long Island so I can coerce my mom to sign up as a walker, too, on the promise that I'll run my 5k in 24 minutes (wouldn't that be fabulous) and then jog back to finish with her.

Como muestran Bolivia, Colombia y Venezuela, están emergiendo nuevas derechas autoritarias, que no rehuyen los golpes de Estado, pero que ahora asumen formas diferentes a los golpes militares clásicos. Ya no pretenden derribar presidentes con tanques en la calle ni bombardeos a los palacios de gobierno. Uno de los objetivos más destacados, en esta etapa, es obstaculizar la gobernabilidad democrática y popular, no importando si los gobiernos son apoyados por la población, si son sostenidos por mayorías y si actúan dentro de la ley. Pese a haber ganado más de diez elecciones, Hugo Chávez fue acusado reiteradas veces de dictador o de autoritario.

Para impedir la gobernabilidad en procesos de cambio social, las nuevas derechas han encontrado modos para promover una suerte de inestabilidad de masas mediante grandes movilizaciones populares impulsadas desde arriba, convocadas por los grandes medios monopolizados. Aquí el papel de los medios es importante, pero no factor decisivo. Mucho más importante es fomentar la intolerancia y los miedos de las clases medias, y de importantes sectores populares, hacia los diferentes (indios, pobres, otras lenguas y culturas). Insuflar miedo da buenos dividendos, de ahí que en todos los procesos mencionados la delincuencia y la violencia urbana se hayan disparado o ésa es la impresión dominante entre buena parte de la población.

En Colombia el elemento movilizador es el “terrorismo” de las FARC, pero en Argentina un padre de familia, cuyo hijo fue asesinado por delincuentes, Juan Carlos Blumberg, movilizó cientos de miles con la excusa de la inseguridad ciudadana, codo a codo con la ultraderecha, contra el gobierno de Néstor Kirchner. Las nuevas derechas, sean las autonomistas de Santa Cruz o las que defienden una televisora golpista en Caracas, tienen capacidad de movilización de masas, apelan a demandas “democráticas” y utilizan un lenguaje familiar a las izquierdas, pero para promover fines antidemocráticos y los intereses de las elites. A menudo meten en el mismo saco a las viejas derechas y a los dirigentes de los movimientos sociales y de izquierda, como hizo el prefecto golpista de Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas, quien la noche del referendo atacó por igual a Evo y a Jorge Quiroga, dirigente de Podemos: “Con la presencia del pueblo, derrotamos el oportunismo político que sin escrúpulos unió a la derecha conservadora y al masismo totalitario para destruir a esta patria emergente, alejada de los privilegios de la verdadera oligarquía que es el MAS”. Discursos como éste son desvaríos oportunistas, pero lo cierto es que las nuevas derechas enarbolan demandas sentidas por amplias franjas de la población.

Estos discursos y esas prácticas obedecen a dos nuevas orientaciones de las elites globales. La primera fue formulada por Robert M. Gates, secretario de Defensa de Estados Unidos, en su discurso en la Universidad Estatal de Kansas, titulado “La restauración de los instrumentos no militares del poder estadunidense” (Military Review, mayo-junio de 2008). Quien sirvió a siete presidentes como director de la CIA sostiene que su país puede mantener la hegemonía mundial a condición de “fortalecer nuestras capacidades de usar el poder ‘blando’ y establecer una mejor integración con el poder ‘duro’”.

Sacando conclusiones de la experiencia en Irak y Afganistán, Gates sostuvo que “el logro del éxito militar no es suficiente para vencer, sino el desarrollo económico, la construcción institucional y el imperio de la ley”. Para conseguirlo, se trata de “atraer civiles con experiencia en el agro, gobernabilidad y otros aspectos del desarrollo”, como una de las claves de las políticas de contrainsurgencia. La segunda cuestión, íntimamente ligada a ésta, es el apoyo material y en orientación a esas nuevas elites, como sucede en Bolivia.

Según denuncia del premio Nobel Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, el embajador de Estados Unidos en La Paz, Philip S. Goldberg, es el gran articulador de la oposición, inspirada en su odio a los indios. En 2007, la agencia de cooperación USAID desembolsó 124 millones de dólares en ayudas a la “sociedad civil” boliviana, canalizados por los prefectos de los departamentos de la Media Luna autonomista, embanderada detrás del departamento de Santa Cruz. Una estrategia muy similar a la utilizada en Venezuela.

Para los estrategas actuales del imperio, la democracia se reduce a elecciones con resultados mínimamente creíbles. Ni la democracia ni los servicios sociales son derechos que tiene la población, sino formas de mejorar el control y asegurar la hegemonía.

A la era de los golpes de Estado le sucedieron los “golpes de mercado”, como el que obligó la renuncia del presidente argentino Raúl Alfonsín en 1989, o de Hernán Siles Suazo en Bolivia, en 1985, en medio de la hiperinflación promovida por “los mercados” para destituir gobiernos a los que consideraban poco fiables. Ahora se trata de destituir procesos más que presidentes, impedir cambios de fondo motorizados por bases sociales organizadas y que cuentan con masivo apoyo popular. Un golpe de Estado clásico sería contraproducente, toda vez que los sectores populares aprendieron a revertirlos, como sucedió en Venezuela en 2002. La estrategia del desgaste y la ingobernabilidad ocupa el primer lugar en la agenda.

I like reading it for the profiles of the elite runners in the world. They mentioned in the last issue (which of course had gone to press before the Olympics) and they mentioned that Afghanistan was going to be in the marathon. They said her times were not fast enough to put her in medal contention, but that it said a lot that she was going to be there at all.

So imagine how I felt when I was watching the recast of the Opening Ceremonies around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday (had to get up for our long run) and heard the commentators say that she had disappeared about a month ago. She had received multiple death threats, I believe for daring to want to represent her country. The commentators mentioned that she is believed to be in Norway seeking asylum.

While I'm sad I won't be able to see her run in the marathon at the Olympics, I certainly hope she's safe, wherever she is. Coach Dean (thanks to Alissa for telling me of his blog), recently had a post on not taking your running for granted. By the way, if you've not heard about Coach Dean, I find his blog really informative.

By the way, did anyone else hear the smack that one of the French swim team members has been talking about our guy's freestyle relay team?! Why does it have to be like that?

And does anyone else question that a few of those Chinese gymnasts really do look under 16? I know ours have looked young in the past (our 1996 team, for one) but my God, those girls are TINY.

Runner's Lounge Take it and Run Thursday post is up, and Julie is inviting all runners to post their Six-Word Running Memoir... Hhmm wonder where she got that idea?.... Thank you Whitey for tipping me off to this article by one of my favorite writers about one of my favorite runners. I totally cadged by boss's copy of The New Yorker off her today so I could read its entirety... My TNT coach, Ramon Bermo, successfully ran his 100-mile Ultra Marathon last month, and has raised over $59,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Here is his amazing, inspiring and fascinating race report, as filtered through the Nike Running Blog (separately, he emailed all his donors the in-his-own-words version, which printed out to seven pages). 100 freaking miles, people! I also found this one... Speaking of raising money, a month or so ago I signed up with Team Fox to raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation (for a cure for Parkinson's Disease), and in exchange they will get me my bib to the Flora London Marathon in 2009. Stay tuned for more, but I probably won't start fundraising until immediately after NYC.... The New York Times Book Review gives What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami a poor review, saying things like, "There are flashes of quality," and "the potential readership... is 70 percent Murakami nuts, 10 percent running enthusiasts and an overlapping 20 percent who will be on the brink of orgasm before they've even sprinted to the cash register." Yours truly gave this book a much kinder review here...I am so psyched for the Olympics, even though I acknowledge that there will be doping athletes competing, and that some of them will win medals & go undetected despite testing...There's a ton of coverage already online, and in print, regarding last-minute athlete updates and predictions. I feel like I need a vacation to absorb it all...Even though he's not a runner, Michael Phelps is hard to resist, I think (for me) it has something to do with his excellence... Names: Paula Radcliffe, Ryan Hall, Lopez Lomong, Leo Manzano

Today Richard and I were walking to a nearby restaurant for lunch. We saw one person receiving a ticket. Just up the street from this car sat another one, facing the wrong way on this one way street, and without any license plates. This is another thing you see a lot of: unregistered vehicles and, no doubt, drivers without licenses. The officer rode his motorcycle up to the car. The driver rolled down his window and did the FBI badge flip. I saw a picture ID and the window rolled back up.

A car here is a sign of prestige and power, and those white plates, or the ability to drive around without one at all, are another badge of honour. It reminds me of the scene in A Tale of Two Cities when the French nobleman runs over a peasant child and gets angry. These guys could do with a history lesson.

Early in the AM, I headed into the city with my house keys, Metrocard, and stocked Fuel Belt, determined to tread as lightly as possible on the course. The race course is seven miles in Central Park, and six out through the city, down through Times Square to the West Side Highway to end in Battery Park. I entered the park not really comfortable with my shifty and devious plan, sure that everyone could see I was going to steal the race. But then Ritz came by, in the lead pack, and I was hit with a rush of excitement so strong I almost took off after them. Now antsy, I waited as runners streamed by (I saw one guys with a GMR shirt on), until the 2:20 pace group showed up and I jumped in, looking nervously over my shoulder. The whole time in the park I tried to run behind bunches of runners, in the middle of the course, so race volunteers and officials would be less likely to see that I wasn't wearing a number. Seriously-I was sure I was going to get thrown off the course and stripped of my NYRR membership card (not that I was carrying it, or any ID, for that matter; if caught, I would identify myself as Jenna Bush). 

By the time we exited the park (which couldn't have come soon enough-the hills were annoying, and the trees blocked any chance of a breeze, leaving the first seven miles airless and numbing as we all trekked the loop we've run on hundreds of times before), I was a little more relaxed. I had come across some training buddies I knew, chatted with a few women who were running their first ever Half, and seen my old TNT coaches cheering from the sidelines like mad. I tried to demurely trot by these cheering squads, hoping they wouldn't recognize m-since I wasn't racing I didn't want to steal any of the encouragement intended for real competitors. In the same vein, I apologized profusely whenever I bumped into anyone with a number, and tried my best to defer to them on the course-I didn't want to get in the way of their race when I was just there to rack up the miles on the way to November 2^nd. Are these attitudes too much? Maybe I took them on to hide the plain fact that I was a hypocrite; stealing the race even though I have so vociferously argued against that very thing in the past.

I ran the last few miles with SR, a TNT teammate from the Winter 2008 season. It was great to catch up with her, and have someone to chat with. I passed MZ, the team captain from our Green Mountain Relay and ran with her for about half a mile; she was in town from San Francisco for work and was a jump-in runner just like me, except without the guilt. My old student (and fast marathon runner) AL was cheering for his teammates on the sidelines, so I trotted over to him for a quick hug & hello. (Props to AL for hugging my sweaty self.) And then, we were at the finish line, just like that. I let SR run ahead and cross the finish line; she had a fantastic race and has gotten so much stronger as a runner since Disney. My training run took me 2:16:51 for 13 miles, about where I wanted to be given the heat. 

Once out of the recovery area, I walked straight to the subway, where I stretched on the ride home. It gave me a taste of what it must be like after the NYC Marathon - all these sweaty runners splayed all over the subway cars, congratulating each other, snacking on potato chips, sipping Gatorade and apologizing for leaving puddles of perspiration on the seats. Man did that AC feel good. I got home, ate, drank, showered, and took a three-hour nap. So did my guilty conscience.

I have to say, I am glad I tried banditing. It's definitely not for me--I really did feel badly for taking up even the tiniest bit of anything that was intended for the racers. But, at least now when I get on my high horse about it, I can speak from experience.

Here are some race reports by other bloggers. Run Dangerously welcomes a guest blogger, Marathonomy created his own half route, NYC Fly Girl gets in her mileage and her spectating, Kat wears her purple proudly, Runner NYC reviews the music on the course, Famous Ankles gives two fantastic spectator reports (part one has photos of the elites), Trakmaniac at Crazy Bandana races (and bonks) just a week before the San Francisco Marathon, Quinto Sol runs his half in the same model sneaker as Haile Gebreselassie, and Cowboy Hazel sets his speed at "full intensity."

I was sufficiently provoked by your last week’s column captioned, “Criminalisation Of Poverty,” to share my great and exciting success story with Nigerians who throng this page every Wednesday to read you. Let me start by proudly informing you that I am a prominent, highly-placed lady, a distinguished member of the nation’s ruling elite, highly-connected political leader, a super organiser and one of those who decide the future and direction of this great nation. I worked really hard to attain my present exalted status, so no columnist should be jealous of me.

I am very happy and fulfilled. Today, in my community, State and nationally, I am highly respected and always applauded as one of the “illustrious daughters” of the land and role model, despite what some of you journalists may consider as the unflattering route I took in my rapid journey to the top. Well, not all of you are unappreciative of my person and status. I regularly read brilliant reports full of flowery descriptions of my person in the media, especially, when I hold my usually great parties or attend public functions. But whether you would choose to accept it or not, in this our great country, once someone has “made it”, that is, achieved real financial, political and social success as I have done, and is also willing to occasionally dole out some crispy Naira notes, the person would become an instant celebrity, and anyone trying to question his integrity would be impatiently dismissed as an irritant and insufferably jealous.

Right now, I have two highly-rated chieftaincy titles, one conferred on me by the traditional ruler of my community (where I was practically a ‘nobody’ only a few years ago) and the other by a highly respected traditional ruler in another State. I am equally arranging to have a reputable University offer me an honorary doctoral degree to add more dignity, sophistication and intellectual colour to my already high status. My Special Assistant, a former University lecturer, obtained his PhD from a very reputable University in the United States. And my driver? Well, he was always on top of his class while at the University. I have choice properties at highly coveted privileged spots in Lagos and Abuja, and my country home stands out as an exquisite palace befitting my status. I have no interest in owning houses abroad, so I only reluctantly purchased a ‘little mansion’ in London.

I am not ashamed of my very humble beginnings. When I finished secondary school, my father had dismissed me as a horrendous disappointment because of my dismal performance. And just like I had failed at school, I also was unable to learn to sew very well, and was always quarrelling with customers I had messed up their dresses at my shop in the State Capital where I had relocated. My boyfriend was the personal driver of a prominent politician. He lived in the Boys Quarters in the man’s massive compound where they stayed each time he was in town. One day, he agreed I should visit him at home, but on the condition that I introduce myself as his cousin. That suited me perfectly, because I had my own plans too. Everyone agreed I was a very beautiful girl, an asset that helped me through secondary school since I was a favourite of my male teachers. And so as the Security Man admitted me into the massive compound and called my boyfriend, his boss suddenly appeared and barked at his direction:

“Who is she?!” he asked with a malevolent scowl, which could not obscure the undisguised lust with which his eyes devoured me.

“My cousin.” My ‘bobo’ answered almost quaking.

“Okay,” the man said, smiling nicely. Later, he invited me into the massive mansion “to welcome me properly,” and from there I entered a good, exciting life I never imagined existed…

Chief was simply mad about me and took me to many important places in the country and around the world where I met very important people. My (former) boyfriend complained once, but I silenced him by reminding him of his wife and children in the village, showered him with gifts, and occasionally allowed him to sleep with me when Chief travelled without him. Trust me, I can be that generous. Moreover, you never knew with these drivers; he could pull a surprise one day and Chief would just show me the door and all the good life would suddenly end! One day, I told Chief I wanted to be a Council Chairman. He was shocked. A prominent, formidable godfather in our State, even our governor was anointed and installed by him.

“But you don’t have adequate education?”

“What do you mean, Chief? I have a School Certificate. The person who just vacated the office, what had he?” Then, Chief smiled, and soon after I was anointed and installed as the Honourable Chairperson of my Local Government Area. My father could not believe it. A great tumult occurred the day I rode into our community with my convoy to receive a distinguished Chieftaincy title conferred on me by our traditional ruler at a very impressive and well-attended Civic Reception organized by the community in honour of their “illustrious daughter.”

I didn’t want a second term, so Chief got the Governor to appoint me a Senior Special Adviser on Youth and Cultural Affairs, and later Honourable Commissioner for Women and Youth Affairs. Then, my foreign trips increased tremendously, some with Chief, and many others to attend any conference on anything (no matter how insignificant) that had to do with youths or women even in the remotest part of the earth. Although I owe my appointment to Chief’s awesome influence, I nevertheless lured my Governor to my nest, and soon, he also became my active supporter, although he pretended he did it because of Chief, since he knew he could be impeached the very next day if Chief found out about our affair. Chief soon announced me widely at the national level as a “Women Leader” and powerful “grassroots mobilizer” from his State, and with his support, that of my Governor and State Party Chairman (whom I also was sharing very secret moments with), my visibility and prominence at the national level in our great party grew with incredible speed. Chief wanted me to the go to House of Representatives, but I preferred a national appointment (which I still retain). I have an excellent Press Secretary who ensures I am in the news always, and everything I say or do gets duly reported, and prevents my ‘secrets’ from getting into soft-sale magazines. I have invested massively and wisely. Apart from Chief, I have also used other powerful party bigwigs who had lusted after me to get the things I want. They have already anointed me as the next Deputy Governor of my State. I have also acquired significant influence of my own so much so that it is only on rare cases now that I require Chief’s intervention to get whatever I want. I recently launched an NGO to promote morality, honesty and hard work in youths, and regularly speak at youth forums where I draw from my exceptional personal example to warn them on the dangers of prostitution and corner-cutting.

This is my story, Ugochukwu.

And I must tell you, as a prominent member of the ruling class, the present Administration is on course, serious about its war against corruption, and has the capacity to make this nation one of the greatest in the next couple of years. I therefore solicit the support of vocal Nigerians like you, for the president’s excellent Seven Points Agenda and war against corruption.

Very soon, our nation will be ushered into a glorious era of unimaginable prosperity. We are here to ensure that happens.

Thank you.

I am Chief (Ms.)……[Name Withheld]

Erle Frayne Argonza

In a previous article about obesity, I already touched on the hunger issue. It is particularly interesting to study nutrition issues in Manila today, nutrition patterns render the Philippines among the ‘transitional populations’ that characterize emerging markets.

Needless to say, in a transitional population as defined in demographic theory, both problems of hunger and overweight co-exist, with obesity rising at faster paces than hunger. Depending on current circumstance, hunger could fluctuate from low to high. The difference between the two problems is that while hunger fluctuates or varies in occurrence, obesity steadily rises.

When I did an intensive study on fair trade & food security in 2005 for a national center entrusted with addressing fair trade & food matters, I did stumble upon the reports of the Social Weather Stations or SWS about hunger. I also got updated about under-nutrition problems reported by experts of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute or FNRI, which indicated very serious nutrition gaps among children and women, and those for fisherfolks too.

What surprises me till now is that food producers themselves, fisherfolks most especially, suffer from under-nutrition problems. Food producers are abundant with food resources, and so expectedly they should show the least signs of under-nutrition. But this isn’t the case, and in a very informative manner, our nutrition experts led by Dr. Cecilio Florencio have used satisfactory factor analysis to unlock the causes and correlates of the problem.

From the late 1990s till 2004, the hunger incidence fluctuated from 8% to 12%, going up and down as data indicated. However, from 2005 through mid-2008, the pattern shifted to the 12% to 16% range, which surely makes the problem alarming.

As early as 2005, I already raised the alarm bell for hunger, recommended policy measures and the launching of a Hunger Fund as executor of the hunger mission. Unfortunately, state officials were not in the mood to listen to such problems then, and it seems that the FNRI’s own alarm bells to the Office of the President and to the Legislative fell on deft ears. Only when economist Dr. Mahar Mangahas and the SWS experts began raising the alarm bells over media did government respond.

To my own dismay, government response has been re-active. Nary can one find a new, fresh solution to the problem. It’s the same old fogey ‘give-the-poor-porridge’ solution, the same solution that one offers to folks during wars and calamities when people have to line up for scarce food preparations. Porridge & food stumps remain, till these days, as the intervention tool of state.

How to solve hunger in the long run, which our very own nutrition experts are adept at but which continue to fall on deft ears among top state officials and our own people who refuse to change lifestyles, isn’t anywhere in the Presidents’ nor Congress’ list of strategic solutions to the problem.

Let our state officials be reminded of the last years of the monarchy in Old France. When asked for a solution to hunger, Marie Antonette replied “offer the poor cake.” Whether the cake or porridge solution leads to food security is no longer an issue in fact. One need not be reminded that the French monarchy then, too immersed in its own vanity as to be so out of touch with reality, was decapitated.

[Writ 28 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]   

‘My proposal is to make the encouragement of Chinese settlements of Africa a part of our national policy, in the belief that the Chinese immigrants would not only maintain their position, but that they would multiply and their descendants supplant the inferior Negro race,’ wrote Galton.

‘I should expect that the African seaboard, now sparsely occupied by lazy, palavering savages, might in a few years be tenanted by industrious, order-loving Chinese, living either as a semidetached dependency of China, or else in perfect freedom under their own law.’

Related

Francis Galton, letter to the Editor of The Times, June 5 1873

Close relations: Chinese President Hu Jintao accompanies Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing

This is London | Jul 18, 2008

Despite an outcry in Parliament and heated debate in the august salons of the Royal Geographic Society, Galton insisted that ‘the history of the world tells the tale of the continual displacement of populations, each by a worthier successor, and humanity gains thereby’.

A controversial figure, Galton was also the pioneer of eugenics, the theory that was used by Hitler to try to fulfil his mad dreams of a German Master Race.

Eventually, Galton’s grand resettlement plans fizzled out because there were much more exciting things going on in Africa.

But that was more than 100 years ago, and with legendary explorers such as Livingstone, Speke and Burton still battling to find the source of the Nile - and new discoveries of exotic species of birds and animals featuring regularly on newspaper front pages - vast swathes of the continent had not even been ‘discovered’.

Yet Sir Francis Galton, it now appears, was ahead of his time. His vision is coming true - if not in the way he imagined. An astonishing invasion of Africa is now under way.

In the greatest movement of people the world has ever seen, China is secretly working to turn the entire continent into a new colony.

Reminiscent of the West’s imperial push in the 18th and 19th centuries - but on a much more dramatic, determined scale - China’s rulers believe Africa can become a ’satellite’ state, solving its own problems of over-population and shortage of natural resources at a stroke.

With little fanfare, a staggering 750,000 Chinese have settled in Africa over the past decade. More are on the way.

The strategy has been carefully devised by officials in Beijing, where one expert has estimated that China will eventually need to send 300 million people to Africa to solve the problems of over-population and pollution.

The plans appear on track. Across Africa, the red flag of China is flying. ( Link )

It seems that China has been busy doing things other than financing Bu$hco's little escapade in the Middle East. It looks like it's been very, very profitable for them too.

The African continent has been raped, pillaged and plundered for over two hundred years and it looks like there's no end in sight. The ongoing genocide of black Africans and other groups is appalling and history will condemn us for condoning it.

And we'll deserve every bit of it.

China Taking Over Africa

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“There are several curious things about these Pilgrims functions. In the first place there is present at these dinners an array of notables such as it would be difficult to bring together under one roof for any other purpose and by any other society… Among the guests were John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, Thomas W. Lamont and other members of the House of Morgan… We are entitled to know what the Pilgrim Society is, what it stands for, and who these powerful Pilgrims are that can call out the great to hear a British Ambassador expound to Americans the virtues of a united democratic front.”

- John T. Whiteford asking very reasonable questions in his 1940 pamphlet ‘Sir Uncle Sam: Knight of the British Empire’.

“[The aim of the international bankers was] nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences.”

- Professor Carroll Quigley, ‘Tragedy & Hope’, p. 324. Can the Pilgrims, which Quigley never mentioned, verify his story of an Anglo-American Establishment?

Related

P.I.L.G.R.I.M.$: The mysterious, super-elite Pilgrim Society

Official Pilgrims logo. “Hic et Ubique” means “here and everywhere”, apparently a reference to the idea that the United States and Great Britain should stand together side by side everywhere. The eagle represents the United States; the lion Great Britain.

PEHI | July 17, 2008

by Joël van der Reijden

Intro

Most people have at least vaguely heard of the “Eastern Establishment”. This is a reference to a group of people in the Northeast of the United States which to many appears to wield a disproportionate amount of influence over the nation’s politics. This influence, which goes back even further than the days of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. and J. P. Morgan, Sr. has been illustrated by the fact that a great number of individuals working in the senior positions of government have come from a number of New York-based banks, insurance companies and law firms, only to return to this group of banks and businesses after their public term came to an end. Often these individuals served in more than one administration, and together with a number of other peculiarities - think of controversial policies, suspected cover ups, ignored conflicts of interest, lack of media attention, etc. - some people have become suspicious of what at times appears to be almost like a permanent government. A 1962 newspaper column voiced these suspicions best:

“There is an establishment in the United States. The word “establishment” is a general term for the power elite in international finance, business, the professions largely from the Northeast, who wield most of the power regardless of who is in the White House.

“Most people are unaware of the existence of this “legitimate Mafia.” Yet the power of the establishment makes itself felt from the professor who seeks a foundation grant, to the candidate for a cabinet post or State Department job. It affects the nation’s policies in almost every area.

“For example, the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, subsidized by Rockefeller interests since 1927 boasts a membership of at least 90 per cent establishment figures.”

This isn't any different than what's been put out there before, only more proof that there's been a ruling elite of banking interests running the political scene for quite a long while. It's also very natural for a child ( US ) to be like its parent ( UK ), so a relationship like this should come as no surprise.

This little idea was confirmed to me a couple of weeks ago when I was watching CNBC2's World Wide Exchange program while getting ready for work and the British financial analyst made an offhand remark to the American analyst about the US taking up the "family business" and that the UK was proud of its "child".

The American didn't disagree. Which family business were they talking about? The world financial system, empire building or both?

The Pilgrim Society: A Study of the Anglo-American Establishment

Double hat tips to Red Ice Creations and Aftermath News

Part of the discussion is about the blatant abuse and disrespect given to the hotel employees and ordinary working people in general.

Folks, this is the unbridled arrogance that is destroying our country right here, right now. Stick your head in the sand all you want, but eventually you'll have to come up for air.

Either that, or the jackboots will come by and bury your body along with it!

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TK:    Pigtails flying, panting notwithstanding, I PR'ed.

Brian Sell:     I ran away from dental school.

Christian Smith:     The track burn was worth it.

Kara Goucher:     Who said I've got no kick?

Jordan Hasay:      Finals now, London in four years.

Aren't you inspired? If you could describe your last race, or your first race, or your best race, which six words would you use to tell the story? I challenge you to post your own six-word race report, either in the comments here, or on your own blog.  And just so you're not all looking around in cyberspace saying Huh, who, me?  I am calling you out, bloggers. Sarah, Laura, Julie, Laminator, Dada, Paul, Alejandro, Rob, Andrew, ben and Jeremy, Chia, Amy, SF, Robert, Uptown Girl, Staci, 1Mile, FlyGirl, Mike, Robert, JC, Ryan, Phil, Paul, Candy, Bryan, Kevin et al.: I want to read your six-word race report! And to the rest of you who read this blog and sometimes comment, now is your chance to blow us all away with your eloquence, wit, originality and racing chops. I wanna see those six-word race reports all over the comment section. What else do you all have to do at work all day, anyway?

Here's the video:

Oh yeah, and my run home from work today was an encouraging return to form. 3.5 miles in 32:19.