Tag: June

All about Miss Holocaust 2012 the good the bad the ugly!

Miss Holocaust 2012

Posted by Liam McGonagle on June 29, 2012

Pure class.  I wonder how the acceptance speeches went?  ” . . . and most of all, without whom none of this would have been possible, I’d like to thank . . . ”  From Haaretz:

Grinning and waving, 14 women who survived the horrors of World War II paraded Thursday in an unusual pageant, vying for the honor of being crowned Israel’s first “Miss Holocaust Survivor.”

Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy. In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, and even offensive.

“It sounds totally macabre to me,” said Colette Avital, chairwoman of Israel’s leading Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group. “I am in favor of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading (survivors) with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful.”

Pageant organizer Shimon Sabag rejected the criticism, saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.

Out of darkness, into light: Israeli pageant crowns Miss Holocaust Survivor

Pageant organizer rejects criticism against event, says winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival.

By The Associated Press | Jun.29, 2012 | 11:31 AM
Miss Holocaust Survivor - Gil Cohen-Magen - 28.6.2012

Miss Holocaust Survivor pageant, Haifa, June 28, 2012. Photo by Gil Cohen-Magen

Grinning and waving, 14 women who survived the horrors of World War II paraded Thursday in an unusual pageant, vying for the honor of being crowned Israel’s first “Miss Holocaust Survivor.”

Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy. In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, and even offensive.

“It sounds totally macabre to me,” said Colette Avital, chairwoman of Israel’s leading Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group. “I am in favor of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading (survivors) with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful.”

Pageant organizer Shimon Sabag rejected the criticism, saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.

“They feel good together. They are having a good time and laughing in the rehearsals,” said Sabag, director of Yad Ezer L’Haver, or Helping Hand, which assists needy Holocaust survivors and organized the pageant.

“The fact that so many wanted to participate proves that it’s a good idea.”

Nearly 300 women from across Israel registered for the competition and contestants were whittled down to the 14 finalists who appeared Thursday.

Contestants at the Miss Holocaust Survivor pageant in Haifa, June 28, 2012.

Contestants at the Miss Holocaust Survivor pageant in Haifa, June 28, 2012.Gil Cohen-Magen

The contest, part of Helping Hand’s annual “cultural” night, included a lavish dinner and music at a Haifa reception hall. Some 600 people attended, including two Cabinet ministers, Moshe Kahlon and Yossi Peled, himself a Holocaust survivor.

The women, ranging in age from 74 to 97, clearly enjoyed themselves. Wearing black dresses, earrings and necklaces, and sporting blue-and-white numbered sashes, they grinned and waved as they were introduced to the adoring audience. Music played as the contestants walked along a red carpet, introduced themselves and described their memories of World War II.

“I have the privilege to show the world that Hitler wanted to exterminate us and we are alive. We are also enjoying life. Thank God it’s that way,” said Esther Libber, a 74-year-old runner-up who fled her home in Poland as a child, hid in a forest and was rescued by a Polish woman. She said she lost her entire immediate family.

A four-judge panel consisting of three former beauty queens and a geriatric psychiatrist who specializes in treating Holocaust survivors chose the winner. Hava Hershkovitz, a soon-to-be 79-year-old, was banished from her home in Romania in 1941 and sent to a detention camp in the Soviet Union for three years. Today, she lives in an assisted living home run by Helping Hand.
“This place is full of survivors. It puts us at the center of attention so people will care. It’s not easy at this age to be in a beauty contest, but we’re all doing it to show that we’re still here,” the silver-haired Hershkovitz said.

Wearing a glittering tiara, she was joined by her granddaughter, Keren Hazan. “I’m very proud of her because she’s the most beautiful woman in the room tonight,” Hazan said.

In addition to the contestants’ accounts of surviving Nazi ghettos and concentration camps, their later contributions to their communities were also considered, Sabag said. Physical appearance was maybe “10 percent” of the criteria, he said, though a cosmetics company was recruited to help the women dress up for the occasion.

“We always tell them to dress well and look good. To think positive and to take care of themselves,” Sabag said. “Always look at life with a smile and continue to live.”

The thought that physical appearance could even remotely be a factor rubbed some the wrong way. Avital, of the Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group, criticized the cosmetics company, saying it was using Holocaust survivors in a cheap marketing stunt to promote their products.

“Why use a beauty contest to show that these people survived and that they’re brave?” wondered Lili Haber, a daughter of Holocaust survivors who heads an Israeli organization that assists survivors from Poland. “I think it’s awful. I think it’s something a decent person shouldn’t even think about.”

The Holocaust, in which Nazi Germany oversaw the systematic slaughter of 6 million European Jews, plays a unique role in Israeli society. The country gained independence in the wake of the Holocaust, serving as a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people who survived the genocide.

Nearly 200,000 aging survivors live in Israel today, and the country’s annual Holocaust Day is one of the most solemn occasions on the calendar. Restaurants and cinemas close, and the country comes to a standstill as sirens wail for two minutes. Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, frequently make references to the Holocaust when discussing the threat they believe a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the Jewish state.

Thursday’s contest was among the many unconventional beauty pageants that have sprouted up over the years. The war-torn countries of Angola and Cambodia have held “Miss Landmine” contests for survivors of land mine explosions, Star Trek fans enjoy the “Miss Klingon Empire” contest in Atlanta, and plus-sized women in Thailand compete for the honor of “Miss Jumbo Queen.” There are also a senior citizens’ pageants in the U.S.

Gal Mor, editor of the popular Israeli blog “Holes in the Net,” said Thursday’s pageant was well-intentioned but misguided.

“Why should a decayed, competitive institution that emphasizes women’s appearance be used as inspiration, instead of allowing them to tell their story without gimmicks?” he wrote. “This is one step short of ‘Survivor-Holocaust’ or ‘Big Brother Auschwitz.’ It leaves a bad taste. Holocaust survivors should be above all this.”

2

Executive Privilege Keeps ‘Fast and Furious’ Documents In the Dark by Obama!

BREAKING: Obama’s Executive Privilege Keeps ‘Fast and Furious’ Documents In the Dark

 JUNE 20, 2012 10:47 AM

Fox News is reporting that President Obama “has granted an 11th hour request by Attorney General Eric Holder to invoke executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents, a last-minute maneuver that appears unlikely to head off a contempt vote against Holder by Republicans in the House.”

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is still expected to move on with its vote Wednesday to put Holder in contempt of Congress.

More coming shortly…

UPDATE:

So much for being the most transparent administration ever…

This last-minute move by President Obama, to use his executive privilege over documents concerning ‘Operation Fast and Furious,’ is downright sickening.

“There’s been a tendency on the part of this administration to try to hide behind executive privilege every time there is something a little shaky that’s taking place, and I think the administration would be best served by coming clean on this.” – Sen. Barack Obama (D – Illinois), 2007.”

Just before a scheduled contempt vote, Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R – California)received a letter from a Justice Department official stating that President Obama’s executive privilege would be applicable to the documents. Just last night, Attorney General Eric Holder met with Issa in a failed attempt to reach an agreement in which Holder would turn over these documents. Issa told reporters after the 20-minute meeting that Holder briefed him on the documents, but provided nothing in writing.

“We want the documents. [Deceased Border Patrol agent] Brian Terry’s family would like the documents that are responsive to how in fact their son was gunned down with weapons that came from lawful dealers but at the behest of the Justice Department,” Issa said yesterday.

“The assertion of executive privilege raises monumental questions,” said Senator Chuck Grassley, a ranking Republican from Iowa on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “How can the president assert executive privilege if there was no White House involvement? How can the president exert executive privilege over documents he’s supposedly never seen? Is something very big being hidden to go to this extreme? The contempt citation is an important procedural mechanism in our system of checks and balances. The questions from Congress go to determining what happened in a disastrous government program for accountability and so that it’s never repeated again.”

The less ‘wordy’ response: What the hell in those documents is so important that the President wants to hide?

As I type this (just after noon), Issa is forging on with plans for a committee vote to hold Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. According to Fox News:

The announcement instantly touched off a caustic debate on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, as Democrats accused Issa of prosecuting a “political witch hunt” and Republicans stepped up their criticism of Holder’s “stonewalling” over the Fast and Furious probe. Even for Washington, the tone at the hearing was decidedly bitter and accusatory.”

Issa simply said, “This untimely assertion by the Justice Department falls short of any reason to delay today’s proceedings.”

Why are we even talking about this? If these documents say what Holder says they do, why wouldn’t he just turn them over? Eric Holder has now pulled President Obama into the situation that will now only serve to divide political Washington even further.

Mr. Holder, If the documents clear you, hand them over and make Republicans look stupid. If you can’t do that, you end up making yourself look guilty…very guilty.

Check back to IJReview.com for updates throughout the day.

0

345 Ground Zero workers have died of cancer and other CANCER-STRICKEN Ground Zero workers have finally received a compensation checks – for zero dollars.

The city recently settled lawsuits by 10,000 WTC workers, more than 600 of whom have developed cancer. But officials have so far insisted there is no scientific proof that Ground Zero smoke and dust caused cancer.

An FDNY spokesman gave a statement for Dr. Prezant, saying: ‘The study is ongoing, and no conclusions have been reached on whether cancer rates have increased for firefighters.’ But fire union bosses in New York have expressed their concern about the findings.

Al Hagan, head of the fire-officers union, told the New York Post: ‘I’m led to believe that the numbers for those cancers across all ranks in the Fire Department of people who worked at Ground Zero is up significantly, and we’re all very concerned about it, as are our families.’ Steve Cassidy, president of the firefighters union, said Ground Zero’s ‘toxic stew’ has proven lethal. He said: ‘It’s a fact that New York City firefighters are dying of cancer in record numbers. ‘We have buried 10 firefighters in just the last 15 weeks, seven with cancer. On Sept. 10, 2001, they were young, healthy firefighters.’

In 2007, doctors at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, which monitors World Trade Center rescue workers, noted blood cancers like multiple myeloma, which normally strikes in the 60s or 70s, were being found in relatively young officers.

The New York state Health Department has confirmed that 345 Ground Zero workers have died of various cancers as of June 2010.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1373108/9-11-fi…
———

Are these cancers all from toxins in the dust? You know what else causes high rates of cancer?

Every potential client considering a contingent fee agreement with a lawyer should first consider this story about a worker who spent hundreds of hours cleaning up the “ground zero” site in New York City after the 9/11/01 terror attacks.  He was steered to a NY law firm which is handling 10,000 such claims, so he probably assumed they knew what they were doing.  They twisted his arm to get him to accept a settlement for just $10K, all of which went to the firm’s fees, unitemized firm expenses, and paying back a small amount of his workman’s compensation benefits, leaving him, literally, with a check for $0.00, totally broke, and now diagnosed with life-threatening cancer:

CANCER-STRICKEN Ground Zero worker Edgar Galvis has finally received a compensation cheque – for zero dollars.

The man … was relieved to get a cheque in the mail for his court settlement with Merrill Lynch, whose offices he had cleaned.

But he was stunned when he saw the amount: $0.00.

His award had been $10,005, but his lawyers at the firm Worby, Groner, Edelman & Napoli Bern lopped off $2579 for unitemised legal expenses.

Then they took a 33.3 per cent fee of $2124. They also subtracted $352, a fee to the lawyer who referred him.

The remaining $4950 was withheld for unspecified “liens”, the letter says.

Mr Galvis thinks this was repayment of workers’ compensation for aid.

…”I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke.”…In May 2005, a friend gave him a business card passed out by the law firm. A representative came to his home.

“The man told me that more than likely I will get sick and I would get 60 per cent of whatever he won,” Mr Galvis said.

“He even mentioned the words ‘millions of dollars’.”

In April 2010, he got a $10,000 offer. A letter from the law firm said he could expect about $5000 after expenses and fees.

It warned that if his case went to trial and he lost, he could owe the firm up to $100,000 in costs.

He took the settlement.  [Apparently the settlement was based on losing sleep and sinus problems, but then he was diagnosed with cancer, but the firm told him] it was “too late” to adjust his claim.  [Sounds odd to me.]

The total Merrill settlement came to $18 million for about 400 clients, documents show.

Galvis is one of nearly 10,000 Ground Zero workers represented by Napoli Bern, which led talks for a separate settlement with the city for $712 million. A partner in the firm, Paul Napoli, did not respond to a request for comment.

Lawyers working on a contingent fee basis can’t make money spending lots of time on small claims, which is what they thought this was when they settled it.  (There’s even a chance the expenses aren’t real, just another profit center.)  Even though they knew the client might get sicker — they even predicted it — they sold him out, pressured him to settle, and apparently didn’t make any effort to amend or restart the proceedings to protect his interests once he got sicker.  Settling for $10K, given his financial situation, even if he got to keep the whole $10K, wouldn’t solve any of his problems — but for the firm, assuming they spent little or no time on a matter, you can make $50 million if you make roughly $5K each on 10K cases.

A particularly dirty tactic was to threaten the client with an absurdly inflated amount for expenses to go to trial — not something they mentioned up front, apparently.  The primary expense in this sort of case is usually expert medical testimony, but this shouldn’t cost anything close to $100K and it wouldn’t make sense for the firm to recommend settlement without already having an expert opinion.  More reasonable contingent fee lawyers eat the expenses rather than bankrupt the clients they fail to help.  (This is one of the firms that also earned international disdain for the amount of money they demanded for “legal fees” from the government fund created to help the first responders, etc., who took well over half the money — including payments to government lawyers — and didn’t try a single case.  I gather they’ve been paid hundreds of millions of dollars and haven’t even come close to trying a single case.)

Lawyers doing contingent fee work often resort to the same sorts of tactics to woo clients that are used by used car salespeople and con men.  This happens every day with many of the contingent fee mills.  You need to shop around, make a record of what they tell you before and after you sign, and complain to the police and bar if you believe you’ve been taken advantage of.

In this case, the plaintiff’s lawyer rendered a far more valuable service to Merrill Lynch, which dodged a multi-million dollar bullet thanks to their opponent’s professional advisers.  We’ll have to see whether the authorities in New York decide to step in — not likely based on their track record.

Australian Story: Cancer-stricken Ground Zero worker receives compensation cheque for 0$.

0

All About Agenda 21, The Good, The Bad. The Ugly!

Agenda 21 for Dummies

Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center has put together an excellent one pager to educate people about Agenda 21 policies, the intent and how it is meant to affect every person on the planet!  Thanks, Tom, this is a great tool!  ~LTG

Agenda 21 In One Easy Lesson

Awareness of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development is racing across the nation as citizens in community after community are learning what their city planners are actually up to. As awareness grows, I am receiving more and more calls for tools to help activists fight back. Many complain that elected officials just won’t read detailed reports or watch long videos. “Can you give us something that is quick, and easy to read that we can hand out,” I’m asked.

So here it is. A one page, quick description of Agenda 21 that fits on one page. I’ve also included for the back side of your hand out a list of quotes for the perpetrators of Agenda 21 that should back up my brief descriptions.

A word of caution, use this as a starter kit, but do not allow it to be your only knowledge of this very complex subject. To kill it you have to know the facts. Research, know your details; discover the NGO players in your community; identify who is victimized by the policies and recruit them to your fight; and then kill Agenda 21. That’s how it must be done. The information below is only your first step. Happy hunting.

What is Sustainable Development?

According to its authors, the objective of sustainable development is to integrate economic, social and environmental policies in order to achieve reduced consumption, social equity, and the preservation and restoration of biodiversity. Sustainablists insist that every societal decision be based on environmental impact, focusing on three components; global land use, global education, and global population control and reduction.

Social Equity (Social injustice)

Social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people “to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment.” Redistribution of wealth. Private property is a social injustice since not everyone can build wealth from it. National sovereignty is a social injustice. Universal health care is a social injustice. All part of Agenda 21 policy.

Economic Prosperity

Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Special dealings between government and certain, chosen corporations which get tax breaks, grants and the government’s power of
Eminent Domain to implement sustainable policy. Government-sanctioned monopolies.

Local Sustainable Development policies

Smart Growth, Wildlands Project, Resilient Cities, Regional Visioning Projects, STAR Sustainable Communities, Green jobs, Green Building Codes, “Going Green,” Alternative Energy, Local Visioning, facilitators, regional planning, historic preservation, conservation easements, development rights, sustainable farming, comprehensive planning, growth management, consensus.

Who is behind it?

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (formally, International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives). Communities pay ICLEI dues to provide “local” community plans, software, training, etc. Addition groups include American Planning Council, The Renaissance Planning Group, International City/ County Management Group, aided by US Mayors Conference, National Governors Association, National League of Cities, National Association of County Administrators and many more private organizations and official government agencies. Foundation and government grants drive the process.

Where did it originate?

The term Sustainable Development was first introduced to the world in the pages a 1987 report (Our Common Future) produced by the United Nations World Commission on Environmental and Development, authored by Gro Harlem Brundtland, VP of the World Socialist Party. The term was first offered as official UN policy in 1992, in a document called UN Sustainable Development Agenda 21, issued at the UN’s Earth Summit, today referred to simply as Agenda 21.

What gives Agenda 21 Ruling Authority?

More than 178 nations adopted Agenda 21 as official policy during a signing ceremony at the Earth Summit. US president George H.W. Bush signed the document for the US. In signing, each nation pledge to adopt the goals of Agenda 21. In 1995, President Bill Clinton, in compliance with Agenda 21, signed Executive Order #12858 to create the President’s Council on Sustainable Development in order to “harmonize” US environmental policy with UN directives as outlined in Agenda 21. The EO directed all agencies of the Federal Government to work with state and local community governments in a joint effort “reinvent” government using the guidelines outlined in Agenda 21. As a result, with the assistance of groups like ICLEI, Sustainable Development is now emerging as government policy in every town, county and state in the nation.

Revealing Quotes From the Planners

“Agenda 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by EVERY person on Earth…it calls for specific changes in the activities of ALL people… Effective execution of Agenda 21 will REQUIRE a profound reorientation of ALL humans, unlike anything the world has ever experienced…” Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet (Earthpress, 1993). Emphases – DR

Urgent to implement – but we don’t know what it is!

“The realities of life on our planet dictate that continued economic development as we know it cannot be sustained…Sustainable development, therefore is a program of action for local and global economic reform – a program that has yet to be fully defined.” The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide, published by ICLEI, 1996.

“No one fully understands how or even, if, sustainable development can be achieved; however, there is growing consensus that it must be accomplished at the local level if it is ever to be achieved on a global basis.” The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide, published by ICLEI, 1996.

Agenda 21 and Private Property

“Land…cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth, therefore contributes to social injustice.” From the report from the 1976 UN’s Habitat I Conference.

“Private land use decisions are often driven by strong economic incentives that result in several ecological and aesthetic consequences…The key to overcoming it is through public policy…” Report from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, page 112.

“Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class – involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work air conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable.” Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UN’s Earth Summit, 1992.

Reinvention of Government

“We need a new collaborative decision process that leads to better decisions, more rapid change, and more sensible use of human, natural and financial resources in achieving our goals.” Report from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development

“Individual rights will have to take a back seat to the collective.” Harvey Ruvin, Vice Chairman, ICLEI. The Wildlands Project

“We must make this place an insecure and inhospitable place for Capitalists and their projects – we must reclaim the roads and plowed lands, halt dam construction, tear down existing dams, free shackled rivers and return to wilderness millions of tens of millions of acres or presently settled land.” Dave Foreman, Earth First.

What is not sustainable?

Ski runs, grazing of livestock, plowing of soil, building fences, industry, single family homes, paves and tarred roads, logging activities, dams and reservoirs, power line construction, and economic systems that fail to set proper value on the environment.” UN’s Biodiversity Assessment Report.

Hide Agenda 21’s UN roots from the people

“Participating in a UN advocated planning process would very likely bring out many of the conspiracy- fixated groups and individuals in our society… This segment of our society who fear ‘one-world government’ and a UN invasion of the United States through which our individual freedom would be stripped away would actively work to defeat any elected official who joined ‘the conspiracy’ by undertaking LA21. So we call our process something else, such as comprehensive planning, growth management or smart growth.” J. Gary Lawrence, advisor to President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development.

1

All About Bilderberg 2012, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

1

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑