The John Batchelor Show

Thursday 26 July 2012

Air Date: 
July 26, 2012

​Mourners carry the coffin of the late Cuban activist Oswaldo Paya and his picture from a church to a cemetery for his burial in Havana on Tuesday.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Thursday 905P Eastern Time:  Mary Anastasia O'Grady, WSJ, in re: Osvaldo Payá  - a devout Catholic and deeply spiritual; held it was important never to be afraid -died in a car crash in Cuba on Sunday. Also killed was another Cuban dissident; the two Europeans who survived have not been allowed to speak to the press; the Spaniard is detained by police, the Swede allowed to return to Havana but not to speak or leave the country. Osvaldo Paya's video camera in the car was confiscated by the police.

Both Paya and a man attending the funeral had won the Sakharov Prize. 

Castro regime cannot allow people to assemble in a public square lest they be fomenting counterrevolution.

In a film about Paya played at the Tribeca Film Festival, he said, "I don’t hate the regime; I tell them, 'You're my brother and I love you; I just won’t allow myself to be subjected to you.' "

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18990351   Pressure group the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said most of those arrested had been freed, but the group did not give exact numbers.  The dissidents were picked up for questioning by police after shouting slogans against the government.

Miami Herald: the Swede communicated to people in Sweden that the car was rammed on purpose. The regime says it was a one-car accident.   Mary O'Grady: My info is that the Swede lost his cell phone, borrowed the cell of the Spaniard to say (by text msg?) that they were being menaced by someone on the road and then forced down an embankment.

Full story:  http://ariadna.elmundo.es/buscador/archivo.html?q=paya&t=1&s=1

Thursday 920P Eastern Time: Mary Anastasia O'Grady, WSJ, in re: Osvaldo Payá.  A good deal of Cuba's forex is from remittances from the SUS; we've given the Cubans everything they want and still not made progress in getting Mr Gross out of prison. He was an AID employee; State has been tiptoeing around the issue, wouldn't even send an emissary till 25 days after Gross was grabbed.

Thursday 935P Eastern Time:  William A. Jacobson, Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell, and legalinsurrection.com, in re: "You didn’t build that; someone else made that happen." ." Obama and Warren cribbed their “build it” narrative from a progressive Berkeley professor, George Lakoff – "There is no such thing as a self-made man. Every businessman has used the vast American infrastructure, which the taxpayers paid for, to make his money. He did not make his money alone. He used taxpayer infrastructure. He got rich on what other taxpayers had paid for: the banking system, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and the judicial system, where nine-tenths of cases involve corporate law."  Most Americans think of the government as structurally a servant of us; Lakoff seems to entertain the opposite view. 

The approach of Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama is a cribbed narrative of the progressive movement, which seeks to realign our individual-centered political dialogue around the individual’s indebtedness to the government.

Lakoff's videos [q.v.] are fairly jolly presentations of his specialty: cognitive linguistics. "Repetition of words is usually in conservative territory; progressives need to be able to do this." Warren and Obama spit this idea out almost resentfully.  The language of Lakoff on one hand and Waren and Obama on the other is so similar that they have to be working from the same script

Thursday 950P Eastern Time:  Reza Kahlili, A Time to Betray, and focus of ad hominem attacks by CAIR, in re: "Hamas-Linked CAIR Targets Iranian Dissident/Christian Convert Reza Kahlili"    http://www.persecution.org/2012/07/26/hamas-linked-cair-targets-iranian-...

JCITA (joint counterintel training).  Reza's reports on terrorist cells have deeply alarmed CAIR – human rights violation, regime change, and the like – so CAIR has tried to discredit Reza, up to the Asst SecDef, asking him to fire Reza (who lectures to DoD); Pentagon grew annoyed and released a statement of total support for Reza.

CAIR attacked Reza for having somehow dissed Islam; in fact, Reza has never spoken publicly of Islam.  Bizarre conduct. Can’t say for sure that Iran asked CAIR to take this weird and futile course of action, but that's a rational speculation.

..  ..  .. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the Department of Defense (DoD) to drop an anti-Islam lecturer at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA) in Elkridge, Md., who wrote on an Islamophobic hate site that he “renounced Islam and began the quest to find the real God.” (reza kahlili:”Why I Renounce Islam and Choose Christ)(reza kahlili:” WND)(reza kahlili:8/24/11)

That lecturer, “Reza Kahlili,” a pseudonym for a man who says he is a former CIA operative in Iran, also claims that Iranian agents are “coordinating operations out of [American] mosques and Islamic centers,” that Iran already has nuclear weapons, and that Iranian agents have infiltrated the United States through the “Muslim Brotherhood’s Muslim Students Association.” (Daily Caller, 7/22/12; Washington Times, 10/27/11, Los Angeles Times, 7/6/12, American Thinker, 2/23/12)

A program coordinator for Iran instruction at JCITA confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that Kahlili is a paid lecturer for the DoD-chartered academy. His lectures are audio-only, allegedly to protect his identity. The newspaper called Kahlili “one of the most influential and outspoken voices in the U.S. advocating the overthrow of the Iranian government.”

“This is yet another unfortunate example of our nation’s military and counterterrorism personnel being trained by individuals who weaken America’s security by promoting their own religious and political agendas,” wrote CAIR national Executive Director Nihad Awad in a letter sent to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.

CAIR chapters in Florida recently held news conferences in Tampa and Pembroke Pines to ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to stop using a notorious anti-Muslim bigot as a counterterrorism trainer.

Thursday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): David Feith, WSJ Assistant Op-Ed Editor, in re: Forty years ago the Olympics were scarred by the mass murder of Israeli athletes.  During these decades, the Olympic Committee has never spoken of it, never taken the most basic steps. Long history of anti-Jewishness among leaders of IOC, who forbad a moment of silence at the start of these Olympics. Bob Costas, famous sportscaster for BNBC, says he'll hold a moment of silence before an audience of about 35million Americans and will explain that this is in memory of the slain Olympians and which the Committee has "shamefully" refused to acknowledge.  The Palestinian Authority wrote tot the Olympic Committee to thank them for refusing t hold a minute of silence. (It was Palestinians who committed the slaughter.)  IOC president claims "We don’t so political issues at eh Olympics" – bogus, of course: corrupt bureaucracy of their own, plus in 1996 spoke of the Bosnian war; in 1992, the flag from Ground Zero was displayed in a long silence and commemoration.  Major distinction: the Israeli athletes  were kidnapped inside the Olympic Village and murdered en masse at the airport. Countless security guards now in London, but IOC won’t even acknowledge the profound failure of their own security forty years ago. This persistent anti-Jewishness, long record of unseemly politics, Nazi-sympathetic politics, and Avery Brundage's unwillingness even to suspend the games after the mass murder – in this world, Jews and Israelis are on the outside.  [A huge raft of boring, self-important Euros believe anti-Jewishness to be their birthright. These are largely a group whose parents profited from the Second World War, who now consider themselves the upper elite of the most  important world region; whose substantial incomes would not have occurred if Europe had paid for its own defense for the last sixty years. Konnen Sie Deutsch?]

Thursday 1020P (720P Pacific Time):  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:  Syria holds many important tribes, e.g., Shamar Federation, of more than a million people. recently, discussion of an independent Alawi state; Tartus, Latakia, and a few others, would somehow be able to sustain themselves within an independent Syria. Not likely. Russia is the large presence; it favors commerce and military bases. We don’t know who the "Free  Syrian Army" is – it's many groups, and no agreement on who should lead. A general whose father was a notorious bigot and is close to Assad, is pointed to but not acceptable.  Of Assad's appointments to replace the four recently-murdered advisor, three are Sunni.  Minorities across : Sunni have decided to destroy Jews, Christians, Ismailis, Kurds. 

MUNICH — An indomitable Avery Brundage told a shocked and horrified world here Wednesday that the Olympic ideals must go on despite politics, commercialism and terror.

Brundage's remarks, made in emotion-racked tones and with a determination belying his 84 years, echoed across the sun-drenched Olympic Stadium which had been the scene of pomp and gaiety at opening ceremonies just 12 days ago.

Wednesday, the same stadium was filled with more than 80,000 somber dignitaries, officials, athletes and fans, gathered to honor the 11 dead Israelis who were the victims of an Arab terrorist attack. By JACK ELLIS Stars and Stripes Published: September 7, 1972

Thursday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Eli E. Hertz, MythsAndFacts.org, in re: Mandate for Palestine and why it matters today. The Mandate is still legally binding today, ninety years on; that is, binding in the sense that it's international law. The Balfour Declaration 1917 was incorporated in the San Remo Resolution and then incorporated into intl law.  Every country that voted for the League of Nations (51 in all?) accepted this – including what today is all of Jordan, and Israel and the West Bank.  "Recognition of establishing a Jewish home in Palestine."  The documents were subsumed into the United Nations; Jews went to San Francisco in 1949 to lobby to insert something in the Charter that could not easily be erased and to ensure that this land would materialize; succeeded: Article 80 - at end supports the Mandate for Palestine.   If the UN want to kick out Israel, it'll have to kick out Syria, too. In Article VI, Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria are encouraged. Jewish national home: land cannot be bought, sold, claimed. In resolution 181, recommendation anent Jerusalem (Jerusalem needs to be separated between the municipality and the holy sites – municipality must keep the streets clean and protect the holy sites.  Self-determination for Arabs was given in the four mandates – brake-up of the Ottoman Empire, now ignored by the UN. The problem is the govt of Israel: they all nod their heads and pretend it’s all easy.  Let the Prime Minister go to show what the history is.  Gingrich called them[?] "fake stuff." See:  MandateforPalestine.org

Thursday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Ambassador Ido Aharoni, Consul General of Israel in New York, in re: Israel’s view of regional development. Hisham Kandil is Egypt's new Prime Minister [former Minister of Water; not especially well regarded]. Israel sees relations with Egypt as of strategic importance.  Haniya in Cairo. Whole intl Quartet sees Hamas as a terrorist organization – to be accepted, it must recognize Israel's right to exist; recognize all agreements signed with neighbors; commit to renounce terrorism. Also alarming: events in Sinai Peninsula.  Only one member of the UN openly denies the Holocaust – Iran - and the world is silent. Only one nation is instigating and supporting terrorism world wide – Iran.   Bulgaria [the murderous attack a week ago] is one link in a very long chain – Thailand, Kenya, many others.

The BBC website portrayed Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, and Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel.  Thousands of indignant e-mail msgs to the Beeb and to its Facebook page.

Thursday 1105P (805P Pacific Time): David Keyes is the executive director of Advancing Human Rights and co-founder of CyberDissidents.org, in re:  Syria. A year ago, Secretary Hillary Clinton called Assad "a reformer," now it wants to kick him out. Twenty thousand people or more have been killed in this last year. She also said "Assad has lost his legitimacy. A Syrian dissident jailed for years laughed – how did Assad gain or lose legitimacy; he supposedly won with 97% of the electorate.  He was illegitimate from Day One. Refugees on the Turkish border: I met with people whose entire families had been wiped out by shelling, begging for antiaircraft weapons just to stand up against the regime, promised that Assad would then be brought down in hours. One of our delegation said: The opposition is so fractured we need to start a new group to unite them. FSA inside and outside are quite separate; backstabbing, fights. Everyone however is sure that the days of he Assad dictatorship are over.  "The wall of fear has been shattered." Almost impossible to get a grasp of how dominant al Qaeda may be.   People who'd be thought to be anti-Israel said they'd gladly accept weapons from Israel. As the Syrian army makes inroads . .  "If you see the teeth of a lion, don't think it’s smiling at you."

Thursday 1120P (820P Pacific Time):  Malcolm Hoenlein, in re:  The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran: new virus plays "Thunderstruck" by ACDC on Iranian nuclear-related computers.  A former FSB expert says his crew discovered the virus. Centrifuges. All negotiations together haven't stopped one centrifuge from operating, Mitt Romney in London, headed to Israel. Bibi outsourced Israeli jobs to Boston, to Bain Capital . . . 

Thursday 1135P (835P Pacific Time):   Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: Gu Kailai indicted for murder, trial to be in a provincial capital away from Shanghai; also, Tom Donilon in Beijing, uncomfortable with Bain attacks on China.

 

The trip originally commenced on May 24th with eight stops that included landings in Madrid, Morocco and France. The Solar Impulse HB-SIA plane has 12,000 solar cells on its wings that power the plane’s four 10-horsepower engines. Thanks to the plane’s four batteries, the Solar Impulse plane is capable of flying day and night without fuel.

Thursday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): Bob Zimmerman, Behindtheblack.com, re new record parachute jump, solar panel airplane, new life for space junk in orbit.

Thursday/Fri 1205A (905 Pacific Time): Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America by Adam Winkler

Thursday/Fri  1220A (920 Pacific Time): Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America by Adam Winkler

Thursday/Fri  1235A (935P Pacific Time): William A. Jacobson, Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell, and legalinsurrection.com, in re: "You didn’t build that; someone else made that happen." "Obama and Warren cribbed their 'build it' narrative from a progressive Berkeley professor, George Lakoff – "There is no such thing as a self-made man. Every businessman has used the vast American infrastructure, which the taxpayers paid for, to make his money. He did not make his money alone. He used taxpayer infrastructure. He got rich on what other taxpayers had paid for: the banking system, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and the judicial system, where nine-tenths of cases involve corporate law."  Most Americans think of the government as structurally a servant of us; Lakoff seems to entertain the opposite view. 

The approach of Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama is a cribbed narrative of the progressive movement, which seeks to realign our individual-centered political dialogue around the individual’s indebtedness to the government.

Lakoff's videos [q.v.] are fairly jolly presentations of his specialty: cognitive linguistics. "Repetition of words is usually in conservative territory; progressives need to be able to do this." Warren and Obama spit this idea out almost resentfully.  The language of Lakoff on one hand and Waren and Obama on the other is so similar that they have to be working from the same script

Thursday/Fri  1250A  (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt. Eric Hanushek, Hoover, in re:  California to cut K-12 education to close budget gap; make deals with unions.

Early evening storm cells over Manhattan, leaving the city damp and very damp.

Music (according to Eastern Daylight Time broadcast)

9-hour: Salt, The Raid, Empire Total War

10-hour:  Empire Total War

11–hour:  Die Another Day, AC/DC "Thunderstruck," Tomorrow, Prometheus

midnight hour:  Babylon, A.D.; The Raid; Thirteen Days