Why Obama can't be soft on North Korea

Below is the "The Christian Science Monitor" anaylis about Barack Obama stance against North Korea. The reason I find this particular article interesting is that its written within a context of religion. In recent news reports about Donald Rumsfeld use of biblic text sent to President Bush oval office describes what I consider the fog war. While news reports have indicated the use of biblical text in Iraq and other religious fanatic soldiers promoting conversion. One tends to wonder how far the Imperial United States is willing to go in converting the Middle East. The United States has been on going with the religious propaganda. In every home and house hold they are waging two physcos wars on every American. One is from the constant bombardment on television shows that deal with commercial consumerism. The other deals with the Christian religious propaganda that is on a 24 hour a day brain washing. But let me get back to the actual article. The article promotes a stronger stance from the Barack Obama against North Korea. That would be that America Empire is at war with the world. The "religious" website is promoting the bombing of North Korea with a nuclear bomb! If his isn't bad enough already the American Empire would also like to overthrow Iran Islamic Revolutionary Vanguard. The nature of this economic system will stop at nothing to ensure its hegemony in the world. I urge the people of the world to stop the American Empire. End all foreign and military occupation in the world. End the support for Saudi Arabia undemocratic system. End the support the United Arab Emerit undemocratic system. It's time that the world unite and end the SuperHyper power. -Don Famoso





Why Obama can't be soft on North Korea
Japan and South Korea already see him as eroding the US military posture in Asia.
By the Monitor's Editorial Board
from the May 28, 2009 edition
link:http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0528/p08s01-comv.html




It would be hard to imagine President Obama ever standing only a few feet from the North Korean border and warning its leaders that if they ever used nuclear weapons, "it would be the end of their country."
Mr. Obama is not the threatening kind. He prefers "soft" power to win over his adversaries. In fact, after North Korea's May 25 test of a bomb close in size to the one dropped on Hiroshima, he said the US would merely "work with our friends and allies to stand up to this behavior."
What a contrast to the last Democratic president.
It was President Clinton who actually spoke those threatening "hard power" words – within earshot of North Korean soldiers – in 1993. At the time, Pyongyang was revving up its nuclear-bomb program.
Mr. Clinton knew something back then that Obama is learning on the job: Tough talk against an enemy is sometimes needed simply to reassure America's allies that the US will live up to its defense promises. Those commitments include its unique role to provide nuclear deterrence, or promised retaliation, if an ally is attacked.
By his actions and his words, Obama is sending worrisome signals to Japan and South Korea that they might be left alone in a confrontation with North Korea or even perhaps China.
It's an impression he needs to correct quickly with credible reassurance.
Beyond Obama's lackluster response so far to North Korea's first successful atomic blast, Japan and South Korea worry that the president's focus on his big domestic agenda will erode the US military posture in Asia and the will of Americans to defend allies.
They see Obama's pullout of troops from Iraq and the calls by some in the Democratic Party to set a timetable for a US retreat from Afghanistan.
They worry that his proposed cuts in ballistic-missile defense would leave Asian allies vulnerable while his cuts in F-22 fighter jets would harm Japan's ability to build a similar plane to defend itself against China.
They watch as Obama cuts the US Navy's plans to build more ships to counter China's growing submarine fleet.
They worry about US willingness to defend Taiwan – as Bill Clinton did in 1996 – against a hostile confrontation with China. That worry stems from Beijing's recent success in luring Taipei's leaders toward closer ties with the mainland, thus weakening US support for Taiwan's sovereignty and its military strength.
Tokyo also notices that Obama has appointed a Democratic Party fund-raiser as US ambassador to Japan and not a professional diplomat with Japanese experience. And both Seoul and Tokyo are worried about signals that Obama will hold direct talks with North Korea without including them.
All these moves help explain recent steps in Japan and South Korea to prepare for an Obama era of American retrenchment.
Many legislators in Seoul now want to delay the planned 2012 hand-over of the wartime operational control of South Korean troops from the US. With North Korea soon able to place a nuclear weapon on a missile, they prefer the US keep its hand on a military response. South Korea also decided this week to join the US-led global effort to interrupt air or sea deliveries by North Korea of unconventional weapons or missile parts.
In Japan, officials are so worried about the reliability of the US nuclear umbrella that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is debating whether to develop a capability to strike North Korea – "in order not to sit and wait for death," as an LDP committee stated this week.
Some LDP officials even want Japan to openly consider acquiring its own nuclear-weapons capability. They cite polls showing a drop in trust of the US by the Japanese public, caused in part by its weak stance toward North Korea.
Coincidentally, a US Council on Foreign Relations report released Tuesday warned Obama that if he doesn't reaffirm the US nuclear deterrence, "some US allies may decide in the future to acquire nuclear weapons."
Obama must not let North Korea's nuclear weapons ignite an arms race in Asia. The world must not again witness the kind of military rivalry between Japan and China that led to World War II.
In both words and deeds, the president must reaffirm a strong, long-term US military commitment to its many allies in the region.

Venezuela Targets Cable Station

Hugo Chavez has recently taken another measure against private ownership. This time he has been able to place certain regulations on the media outlets that are privately owned. In 2002 the CIA attempted to fund right wing opposition groups in Venezuela. In a failed attempt and with the media full support against Hugo Chavez regime. Hugo Chavez has decided to settle the score by re-empowering the people. He will continue to make private property a tool for the public and in support of the Bolivarian Revolution. I posted this news article in order to explain to issues with the U.S. media propaganda machine and the alternative news media we have her on the internate. Throughout my whole childhood up bringing I never experienced a media outlet that represented my country Puerto Rico in the United States. Like Unionvision, Fox News, and La Prensa in Puerto Rico are used as tools to undermine Democracy, Freedom and Justice for all of the third world countries. These Media outlets are tools that support Imperialism, Inhuman conditions, and are even counter-revolutionary. Their main objective is to destablize the socialist governments and replace them with regimes that are undemocratic in nature. They tend to impose the will of a few Rich people instead of the population as a whole. Our mission is to distrupt, intercept, and destroy our enemies media capabilities. The Puerto Rican people are under the same media propaganda attacks. Our mission should be simple and to the point. Restrict funding for these terrorist outlets. Terrorist sympathizers should also be under surviellance. We encourage the people of the world to help liberate Puerto Rico from the grips of Imperialism. To end the military occupation of Puerto Rico and to reduce the media outlets in Puerto Rico. To re-establish an alternative source of News Media that can help further the objectives for a Unified Latin America. -Don Famo$o

Venezuela Targets Cable Station
Globovisión Complaint Is Part of a Larger Offensive, Critics Say

President Hugo Chávez has declared that "no land is private," stirring fears of more state seizure of farms. (Miraflores Press Office Via Associated Press)

By Juan ForeroWashington Post Foreign Service Friday, May 15, 2009
BOGOTA, Colombia -- The government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has taken actions that could shutter a private television news station, part of an offensive that has led to the seizure of foreign oil firms and a congressional effort to control the financing of nongovernmental organizations critical of the state.
Authorities have accused Globovisión, an anti-government cable station, of inciting panic through its coverage of a May 4 earthquake before authorities released an official report. Then Monday, the government announced that 39 foreign and domestic companies that provide services to the state-run oil company had been brought under government control.
Chávez also declared Sunday that "no land is private" in Venezuela, stirring fears of more state seizures of farms. Several top opposition leaders, meanwhile, are under investigation for corruption, and the federal government has stripped one of Chávez's most intractable foes, the mayor of greater Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, of the authority to control the city budget.
The government's latest measures, coming three months after Chávez won a referendum that permits him to run for office indefinitely, have increased tensions in the oil-rich country. Opposition groups have vowed to organize protests, and press-freedom organizations have cautioned that free expression may be in jeopardy.
"This is a new effort by the government to control the flow of information and to restrict the critical coverage of news," said Carlos Lauría, Americas program director for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The result "of the permanent threats by the government . . . is a very damaging situation for Venezuelan society."
Venezuela has not closed any media outlets during Chávez's decade in power. But in May 2007, Chávez refused to renew the broadcast license of a stridently anti-government station, RCTV, accusing it of plotting against him. Harangues and threats against journalists are common, press-freedom groups say, and the state has made the creation of a parallel, pro-government media apparatus a priority.
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Globovisión is particularly reviled by Chávez and his aides for giving voice to politicians and military officers who participated in a failed coup in 2002. But most recently, it was the station's quake coverage that angered Chávez.
"They are playing with fire, manipulating, inciting hatred," Chávez said Sunday on his television show.
He called Globovisión's director, Alberto Federico Ravell, a "crazy man" and said, "This has to end, or I will stop calling myself Hugo Chávez Frías."
On Monday, Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro said Globovisión was guilty of "media terrorism." Another official close to Chávez, Andrés Izarra, director of a state television channel, called Globovisión coverage part of a "ferocious campaign" against the government.
Authorities have not explained how the station's reporting on the quake, which caused little damage, panicked and divided the public.
Chávez has referred the case to the Venezuelan National Telecommunications Commission, which has begun administrative proceedings against Globovisión and special inspections of private television stations. The National Assembly has also been investigating Ravell, as well as other media executives, for participating in an alleged plot to assassinate Chávez.
"It doesn't seem to me that closure is imminent," Lauría said, referring to Globovisión. "But what's clear is the government is preparing the terrain so that can happen."
Ravell said Globovisión offered a factual report, citing the U.S. Geological Survey. Globovisión also questioned why authorities had not released information about the quake.
"We went on the air with the news, as would any news channel, without calling for class warfare, without scaring children," Ravell said by phone from Caracas.
In a recent report, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an arm of the Organization of American States, expressed concern about "acts of intimidation" against government foes, including statements by Chávez "that could have instigated the use of violence." The organization's Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression also noted attacks by a pro-Chávez group against Globovisión and said administrative actions taken by the government against reporters have been based on a "highly discretionary" application of the law.
The National Assembly is preparing a bill that would require that all foreign donations to NGOs be deposited in a government fund before disbursement. Government officials said that would permit the state to better control groups aiming to undermine Chávez; critics say the state simply wants to put the NGOs out of business.

Teachers rip PPP bill as unconstitutional

Privatization has been an on going problem in Puerto Rico. Since the Spanish-American war Puerto Rico has been fighting against the onslaught of Private Interest. From turning Puerto Rico's beaches into private owned property to establishing golf resorts for Rich Buisness man. Luis Fortuno is currently the governor of the commonwealth but since he has been in power a majority of Puerto Ricans are not satisfied with his plans to layoff thousands and create private schools.-Don Famoso Reporting

Teachers rip PPP bill as unconstitutional
By CB Online Staff
Teachers Federation President Rafael Feliciano said Saturday the union would “shred” proposed legislation that would set guidelines for the establishment of public-private alliances (PPPs).
During testimony during a public hearing at the Capitol, Feliciano charged that the PPP measure was unconstitutional and would lead to the privatization of the island’s public schools.
“As it is this bill is unconstitutional and I think it should be scrapped. We are not going to allow the privatization of our schools and I am issuing a warning that the Teachers Federation are going to get involved because a law that is unjust we have to take apart,” Feliciano told members of the House Government Committee during the second day of hearings on the PPP measure.
Reyes Rodríguez, a representative of the rival Teachers Association, agreed with Feliciano.
“Unfortunately, the PPP legislation could destroy our island’s public schools as established under Section 5 of the Commonwealth Constitution,” Rodríguez said.
Among the more than two amendments added to the bill before it was passed by the Senate early this week was language that would allow educational institutions to operate as PPPs if the contract is with a workers cooperative, an employee-owned corporation or nonprofit organization.
The original bill limited PPPs in education to the construction and maintenance of schools, leaving academic issues out of the equation.
The teachers unions argued that the Constitution allows only the government to run public schools, establishing that “neither public funds nor property can be used for the support of schools or educational institutions that are not owned by the state.”
“I think the framers of the Constitution established that public education cannot be a business, not even in appearance,” Feliciano said.
The Teachers Federation and Teachers Association also spoke out against allowing nonprofits or worker-owned cooperatives and corporations to administer public schools under the proposed PPP legislation.
Feliciano said the organizations could be “groups of people who have concepts of education that are plenty dangerous.”
Popular Democratic Party Rep. Jorge Colberg Toro characterized the bill as “unsalvageable.”
House Government Committee Carlos “Johnny” Méndez said he has asked the Justice Department for an opinion on the constitutionality of the measure.
The House Government Committee was in the middle Saturday of three days of public hearings on the legislation to regulate the establishment of PPPs.
The bill, which was initially lodged by La Fortaleza more than two months ago, was heavily amended before being approved by the Senate earlier this week.
More than a dozen witnesses were expected to testify between Friday and Sunday.
The was to include the Office of Management and Budget, the Planning Board, the Manufacturers Association and the upstart Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico political party.
Representatives from the Private Sector Coalition, American Contractors Association and Cooperative Insurance and Supervision Corp. were also slated to be heard.
The hearings continued Saturday with leaders from a host of local labor organizations and unionized public workers testifying.
On Sunday, officials from the Government Development Bank, Labor Department and Government Ethics Office are expected to appear.
The hearings were scheduled to get underway at 10 a.m. on each of the three days.
The bill passed in a majority vote in the upper chamber late Monday after two months of negotiation and a raft of amendments to the Fortuño administration bill hammered out by La Fortaleza, the Senate and the House.
The measure was approved with 20 votes in favor by the majority New Progressive Party delegation and seven votes against by the Popular Democratic Party delegation. PDP Sen. Juan Eugenio Hernández Mayoral abstained.
The measure is a cornerstone of Gov. Luis Fortuño’s fiscal and economic recovery plan. The governor has said PPPs are vital to undertake costly infrastructure works that the cash-strapped central government simply cannot afford. Critics, including public labor unions, charge the bill is a bid to privatize essential services.
Among the amendments was to substitute the Planning Board president in place of the Labor Department secretary as part of the five-member Public-Private Partnership Authority, which the legislation will create to approve specific PPP projects. The authority can approve decisions by a supermajority of four of five of its members.
The board’s five members would also include the Government Development Bank president and the Treasury secretary. The other two members would represent the public interest and would be selected by the House speaker and the Senate president subject to approval from La Fortaleza.
The measure allows any commonwealth agency, public corporation, central government or municipal entity and the legislative and judicial branches to establish a PPP.
Another amendment would allow city halls to establish pay deals or municipal tax breaks for PPPs.
The Public-Private Partnership Authority is prohibited from transferring title of public property to private individuals or entities, but some installations developed by a contracted business may remain under title of the private concern over the life of the PPP.

link:http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=30486&ct_id=1

Puerto Rican Independence Party Regains Legal Status

In a sign of resistance the Puerto Rican Political party has been able to gather over 100,000 people to sign a petition that will allow it to continue its existence within the Political process.-Don Famo$o

Puerto Rican Independence Party Regains Legal Status


SAN JUAN – After more than a month of delays, Puerto Rico’s elections commission certified on Wednesday that the Puerto Rican Independence Party is again eligible to field candidates, the PIP said in a statement.“This triumph is due to the more than 100,000 Puerto Ricans who endorsed the re-registration of the PIP and to the party’s rank and file,” Secretary-General Juan Dalmau said.The PIP had threatened to take legal action if the elections commission did not accept the signed petitions seeking the party’s reinstatement, which were submitted more than a month ago.The pro-independence party was decertified after garnering only 2 percent of the vote in last November’s elections, short of the 3 percent threshold required to remain eligible under Puerto Rican electoral law.Last week, the elections commission agreed to examine a challenge to the PIP’s re-certification bid filed by the main opposition Democratic Popular Party, or PPD, one of the two organizations that have long dominated Puerto Rican politics.“The harvest of more than 100,000 signatures across the length and breadth of the country, from independentistas and non-independentistas, shows the enormous respect Puerto Ricans feel toward our party and is a resounding demand that the PIP continue having a voice and presence in the political debate,” Dalmau said Wednesday.Puerto Rico was occupied by the United States after the 1898 Spanish-American War, and island residents were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917.On July 25, 1952, Congress allowed Puerto Rico to establish a “permanent association with a federal union,” or commonwealth. The island became a self-governing, unincorporated territory of the United States, with broad internal autonomy but without the right to conduct its own foreign relations.While the governing New Progressive Party, or PNP – which has links with the Republicans in the mainland United States – wants Puerto Rico to become the 51st U.S. state, the Democrat-allied PPD calls for an enhanced commonwealth status.The PNP’s Luis Fortuño ousted incumbent PPD Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila in a landslide last November, thanks largely to the federal corruption charges filed against the governor in March 2008.Acevedo Vila was acquitted on all counts in March. EFE