HALLELUJAH - State Scraps Anti-Racist Bill - Says It's Unconstitutional

The State Legislative Commission said on Monday that the controversial anti-racist bill which PASOK and DIMAR have been pressuring the government to ratify is totally unconstitutional and therefore should be totally ignored. As noted by Supreme Court Judge Fotis Kafmenakis, the bill is not only unconstitutional but it is also "unnecessary" since the existing legislative framework covers all the provisions that the anti-racist bill sought for.

Besides the PASOK-DIMAR anti-racist law denies the importance of genocidal crimes, or crimes against humanity, war criminals and the crimes of Nazism and Fascism. At the same time it directly violates the Greek Constitution and the right of all citizens to partake in the social and political life (article 5, section 1). It also violates the right to free expression of ideas and the prohibition of Press censorship (article 14, section 1 and 2). It also violates the freedom of religious consciousness (article 13, section 1) - since it demands to forbid expression against other dogmas which is a basic element of the freedom of speech.

Thankfully for us, there are still some legislators who have common sense.

In the meantime, and in a bid to mend a widening rift in his fragile government regarding the fate of a contentious anti-racism bill, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras would meet with his coalition partners on Monday afternoon for talks that are expected to be very heated (amid reports that the smaller parties feel sidelined by conservative New Democracy).

The meeting, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Maximos Mansion, was called to resolve the dispute over the anti-racist law.

All of last week ND officials, and countless press reports, expressed serious concerns that the proposed anti-racist law would impinge on freedom of expression, prompting angry reactions from the two smaller parties, PASOK and Democratic Left, who know all of this but are desperate to get the bill to Parliament.

The bill also caused upheaval within the government’s inner circle with Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis, who is aligned with DIMAR, pushing back against ND’s attempts to freeze the bill, or to heavily amend it before submission. Democratic Left officials and other critics have accused the conservatives of yielding to opposition to the bill by the Church and the armed forces.

(What about the general public? Why not conduct a poll and see if it was accepted by the general population you m***rons!)

PASOK officials have struck a similar tone.

Over the weekend, PASOK leader, Evangelos Venizelos went a step further, firing a broadside at the New Democracy party for its general approach to governance. Addressing his party’s political central committee on Saturday, Venizelos accused the conservatives of “thinking that the government is a one-party administration” and repeated that PASOK is “cooperating with ND but is not politically aligned with it.”

(Thank God it isn't!)

In comments that suggested he would push again for a cabinet reshuffle, Venizelos said he would call for “a comprehensive evaluation of the operation of the government and its representatives.”

And if that wasn't enough, SYRIZA accused the New Democracy of pandering to far right Golden Dawn. Speaking to SKAI radio on Monday, SYRIZA spokesman Panos Skourletis accused Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s party of having direct lines of communication with Golden Dawn.

     “There is a conscious political convergence between the government and neoNazi Golden Dawn,” said Skourletis.

The SYRIZA representative said that if the meeting between the coalition leaders ends in disagreement and the bill is not brought to Parliament, the leftist party would press for new legislation to be drawn up.

     “However, tackling neoNazism is not just an issue of a single draft law,” added Skourletis.

Samaras should really strike back at characters such as Venizelos, and the DIMAR and SYRIZA parties. He should even threaten them with elections. As it is, SYRIZA is dropping everyday in popularity, PASOK on the other hand is in a complete shambles and it is highly unlikely that this party will even be able to mass the 3% needed to get into Parliament again. And let us not even speculate what DIMAR's percentage will be in the next election countdown either! We are certain here at HellasFrappe that all of these pseudo-Leftists will calm their hormones once Samaras puts them into their place.

Signed
HellasFrappe

Gov't Modifies DEPA Privatisation Terms to Accommodate Russia's Gazprom

Gazprom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Greece agreed to change some terms in the planned privatisation of natural gas distributor DEPA, opening the way for Russian energy giant Gazprom  to bid for the firm, a senior official directly involved in the sale talks was quoted by Reuters as saying on Saturday.

According to a report on capital.gr, privatisation agency HRADF finalised the terms of the sale contract late on Friday, lowering the amount that DEPA΄s buyer will have to deposit as a guarantee before the deal gets regulatory approval.

"The guarantee was halved to 10 percent of the purchase price," the Greek official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. HRADF also said it would compensate the buyer if DEPA fails to collect overdue bills owed by recession-struck Greek clients. "We are guaranteeing up to 180 million euros of arrears if they are not settled by December 31, 2015," the official said.

Gazprom has been lobbying hard to wring these concessions from Athens, leveraging its position as the only major energy company interested in buying DEPA. Cash-strapped Greece needs the DEPA sale to go through to hit the privatisation revenue targets set in its EU/IMF bailout. Gazprom last year made a preliminary bid of 900 million euros for DEPA, whose 2012 net profit stood at 106 million euros. But the Russian firm΄s role as DEPA΄s main supplier has raised concerns that the EU, already trying to loosen Gazprom΄s grip on Europe΄s energy market, might block or impose stringent conditions on the deal.

Under the final terms of the DEPA sale, Gazprom will not lose any of its deposit if the EU blocks the DEPA acquisition, the official said on Saturday.

HRADF also pushed back by about ten days a May 29 deadline for the submission of final bids to give DEPA΄s suitors more time to study the final sale terms, the official said.

Gazprom΄s only rival for DEPA is M&M Gas, a joint venture by Greek energy firms Motor Oil (MORr.AT) and Mytilineos (MYTr.AT). But M&M΄s initial bid of about 550 million euros was far below Gazprom΄s and its parent firms owe money to DEPA and compete with it in the wholesale gas market.

Sintez, a small Russian energy firm controlled by Russian tycoon Leonid Lebedev, is expected to submit a binding bid just for grid operator DESFA, which is part of DEPA but can be sold separately. Sintez΄s major rival for DESFA, a regulated business with a steady profit margin, is Azerbaijan΄s state gas firm SOCAR. Greek-Czech consortium PPF/Terna may also submit a final bid for DESFA.

Oregano -Greece's Tastiest Herb- Kills Prostate Cancer Cells

This time every year women from all over Greece head to the mountains and begin to harvest Oregano. The wild variety is best and most aromatic. This herb is a must in Greek cooking, and especially on Greek tomato salad. But did you know that Oregano, which is the most common pizza and pasta seasoning herb, has long been known to possess a variety of beneficial health effects? Well a new study by researchers at Long Island University (LIU) indicates that an ingredient of this herb could potentially be used to treat prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in men.

Prostate cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the prostate gland and usually occurs in older men. Recent data shows that about 1 in 36 men will die of prostate cancer. Estimated new cases and deaths from this disease condition in the US in 2012 alone are 241,740 and 28,170, respectively. Current treatment options for patients include surgery, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, and immune therapy. Unfortunately, these are associated with considerable complications and/or severe side effects.

Dr. Supriya Bavadekar, PhD, RPh, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at LIU's Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, is currently testing carvacrol, a constituent of oregano, on prostate cancer cells. The results of her study demonstrate that the compound induces apoptosis in these cells. Apoptosis, Dr. Bavadekar explains, is programmed cell death, or simply "cell suicide." Dr. Bavadekar and her group are presently trying to determine the signaling pathways that the compound employs to bring about cancer cell suicide.

"We know that oregano possesses anti-bacterial as well as anti-inflammatory properties, but its effects on cancer cells really elevate the spice to the level of a super-spice like turmeric," said Dr. Bavadekar. Though the study is at its preliminary stage, she believes that the initial data indicates a huge potential in terms of carvacrol's use as an anti-cancer agent. "A significant advantage is that oregano is commonly used in food and has a 'Generally Recognized As Safe' status in the US. We expect this to translate into a decreased risk of severe toxic effects."

"Some researchers have previously shown that eating pizza may cut down cancer risk. This effect has been mostly attributed to lycopene, a substance found in tomato sauce, but we now feel that even the oregano seasoning may play a role," stated Dr. Bavadekar. "If the study continues to yield positive results, this super-spice may represent a very promising therapy for patients with prostate cancer."

Greek Philosophy: Pyrrho & Skepticism

Pyrrho (360 - 270 BCE), the greatest skeptic of ancient Greece, was from Elis, Northwest of Athens on the Dorian peninsula.  Diogenes Laertius says that Pyrrho was originally a painter, an interesting first profession for a thinker skeptical of human judgements as images that never fully capture the original.  Originally, the word ‘skeptikos’ meant ‘inquirer’, someone who investigates matters continuously.

As we have discussed with previous thinkers such as Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Democritus and Socrates, skepticism is often portrayed by more dogmatic thinkers as a pessimistic nihilism, a dreary attitude that no knowledge is possible, but skeptics (with an exception being Thrasymachus in Plato’s Republic, who serves as a device for Plato’s dogmatic turn in his middle and late dialogues) are often quite optimistic about seeking knowledge and wisdom within oneself and without the cosmos.  While skeptics are relativists, critical of claims to absolute universal knowledge, skeptics are passionate about seeking relative truth, which they find a continuous source of insight and engagement.  Clearly, skeptics as “inquirers” believe that there is no end to inquiry, no end to what we can discover.

As a young painter, Pyrrho became fascinated with philosophy through the works of Democritus, the atomist who was quite skeptical of human judgements inspite of his atomic theory.  Democritus said, “Reason is a powerful persuader”, and about the gods and the workings of the heavens, “Man is what we know”.  Critical of knowledge, said we should have much thought rather than much learning, and said, “In reality, we know nothing, for truth is in the depths”, arguing that we must remind ourselves that we are always relatively removed from the reality that surrounds us.  This is similar to Heraclitus, who wrote, “Nature loves to hide”, and “Things keep their secrets”.  Also, like Heraclitus, Democritus said, “The world is change, life is opinion”, and “The world is a stage, life is our entrance: You came, you saw, you left”.  Pyrrho also was acquainted with the paradoxical thought of the Eleatics, which he learned from the Megarian School, founded by a follower of Socrates.

Pyrrho traveled with his teacher Anaxarchus, also a follower of Democritus, and Alexander, student of Aristotle and brief emperor, to Persia and India, some sources say as a soldier and others as a scholar.  Alexander failed to conquer India, unlike he had Egypt and Persia.  Pyrrho learned from the Persian Magi as well as Indian ‘gymnosophists’, a strange term meaning those who trained and studied both gymnastics (likely yogic postures) and philosophy.  These could have been Jains, who were known for logical debate as well as extreme practices of bodily discipline, including fasting while standing in the jungle for days.  Statues of Jain teachers frequently show vines growing up their very naked bodies.  Sources say that one Indian gymnosophist set himself on fire to go willingly to death, terrifying Alexander and his entourage.

After returning to Elis, Pyrrho chose to live a simple life of poverty, but he was known both in Elis and in Athens for his skill at debate, and the Athenians went so far as to offer him citizenship and construct a statue to his honor after his death.  The people of Elis offered Pyrrho the job of chief priest, believing his command of truth to be divine, and to honor him made philosophers exempt from taxation.  Pyrrho wrote nothing, though his work was recorded by his student Timon (not the same Timon as the meercat of the Lion King), and then his skepticism was elaborated much later by Sextus Empiricus, from whom we know of Pyrrho’s thought today.

Jains, good candidates for the ‘gymnosophists’ Pyrrho met in India, advocate two principles that are shared with Indian thought but credited to Jain innovation: anekantavada, the multiplicity and relativity or “non-one-endedness” of reality, and syadvada, the hypothetical and imperfect nature of perspective and judgment that is always the fiber of human truth.  According to these two principles, all human beliefs and judgments are temporary and partial views of each particular thing, including the self, and the cosmos, the greater whole.  Jains, like Buddhists, believe that things may or may not be as they seem and may or may not be expressible as they are.

Pyrrho’s skepticism is summed up under the term ‘acatalepsia’, withholding judgement.  Like Zeno, Pyrrho taught that any belief can be countered by the opposite belief which contradicts it.  Thus, like Jains, Pyrrho held that reality is not one-sided, like human judgements, and that all judgements are partial and should be treated as hypothetical, as a best guess.

While some in ancient or modern times might accuse Pyrrho of being a sophist, of being a destroyer of truth who merely argues any side skillfully but without genuine pursuit of the truth, Pyrrho, like the Eleatics and Socrates, believed that seeing the limitation and contradictions inherent in all sides of the truth, in all positions of human judgement, brings one closest to the full truth, giving one the god’s eye view, as far as mortally possible.

Just as Socrates’ knowledge that we mortals are ignorant was considered divine (as we saw in Plato’s Apology and Symposium), Pyrrho, like Parmenides in Plato’s dialogue of that name, argued each side knowing that each side was ignorant and limited.  Just as Socrates in Plato’s Meno argued that we can pursue the good, though we do not know what it is, both knowing and not knowing it, Pyrrho put this into practice like Parmenides, showing that each side of any argument is simultaneously a knowing and not knowing, both true and false, as is the opposing side.  As evidence of this, Pyrrho pointed to the continuous fact of differences of opinion amongst both the foolish and the wise, constant argument among both the educated and uneducated, the common and the distinguished alike.

Pyrrho argued that each thing is both this and that, and neither this nor that.  This is very similar to the great Buddhist logician Nagarjuna, who argued that each thing or judgement is, is not, both is and is not, and neither is nor is not.  Consider the example of a fire being hot.  Because a particular fire is not simply hot, but only relatively hot (cooler than the plasma in a star, for example), it is also correct to say that the fire is not hot, insofar as it is not simply or entirely hot.  Similarly, then, it is also correct to say that the fire both is and is not hot.  Finally, because the fire is not simply or exclusively hot or not hot, it is correct to say that the fire neither is nor is not hot.

Recall that Plato’s Parmenides told Socrates that if one practices this sort of dialectical exercise, one will grow wise and come to see the truth of the forms of things.  Pyrrho may very well have found this sort of exercise in debate with Indian logicians, and brought it back to Greece.  Legend has it that Pyrrho could defeat anyone in argument, then take his opponent’s position and defeat his own.  He could do this because he knew that human truth was fundamentally one-sided, and so could not eliminate opposition.

Pyrrho believed that seeing this theoretically and then putting it into practice, exercising as Plato’s Parmenides suggests, brings peace of mind and freedom from fear, what Pyrrho and later Pyrrhonians called ‘ataraxia’, a state of tranquility.  If one is attached to neither side of an argument, then one has nothing to fear of either side being asserted.  Because things are non-onesided, appearing to us as one-sided but then as two-sided, we must ask ourselves what our relationship is to the truth and how we should approach life.  Pyrrho believed in a life of simplicity and being emotionally detached and at peace, similar to Greek philosophers we have already studied, as well as the Epicureans and Stoics we will study next week, who while disagreeing with Pyrrho also believed that the practical goal of life was attainment of ataraxia.

Some sources, critical of Pyrrho, said that wherever he went he needed to be chaperoned by friends so that he would not skeptically try to walk off the sides of cliffs or in front of chariots and waggons.  It is likelier that Pyrrho could argue that one could pass through a chariot or walk through the air without feeling it necessary to prove this physically, and this story was told by more dogmatic thinkers who Pyrrho angered with his skepticism.  It is true that no chariot or waggon is absolutely solid, nor is walking off a cliff certain death.

Aenesidemus founded Pyrrhonism or Pyrrhonian Skepticism as a school in the first century BCE.  Continuously angering more dogmatic thinkers and schools of thought, Pyrrhonians were known for relativising every assertion with, “It seems that...”, or “It appears to me that...”, rather than state categorically what is the truth.  Critical of the logic of Aristotle and his Peripatetic school, the Pyrrhonians argued that there were no truths that could be absolutely asserted (All X is Y) or absolutely denied (No X is Y).  All that we can know, given our limited perspective and ability to gather knowledge through experience, is what can be relatively asserted (Some X is Y) or relatively denied (Some X is not Y).

Here, there is an interesting difference between our use of the terms ‘general’ and ‘universal’, both of which Aristotle applied to absolute assertion and negation.  When we say ‘universal’, we mean absolute, but when we say ‘general’, this can also mean relative.  Thus, for Aristotle, to say, “X is generally Y” means X is always Y, but we can read that as saying, “X is relatively and mostly Y”.  While Pyrrhonians did not deny this second sort of statement, asserting or denying something predominantly, they would deny Aristotle the ability to make universal statements, which he would also call ‘general’ statements.

ericgerlach.blogspot

Which Countries Are Friendliest To FYROM? (Greece On Bottom of List - lol)

Serbia is regarded as the friendliest country to FYROManians, or 56.6%, while Albanians living in the FYROM believe it is Albania. Greece on the other hand is the least friendliest country to FYROM, according to a poll conducted by the "Dimitrie Cupovski" Institute.

(Now why is that? Hmmm...)

According to a report macedoniahellenicland, 24% of the respondents believe that Bulgaria is a friendly country while the number increases among FYROM Albanians to 36.1%.

This was a telephone survey conducted between May 17-21, 2013. Some 1,050 respondents took part.

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PROVOCATION - Sunbathers Terrorized By Turkish Warship - Sails By 8 Greek Islands!

(The exclusive photo was posted by defencenet after the ship's initial departure from the dockyard in the Dardanelles).

A Turkish war ship (and/or missile carrier) violated Greek territorial waters on Sunday and litterally terrorized sunbathers and vacationers that were enjoying a lazy Sunday on eight Greek islands. In fact one report on defencent said that a yacht that was docked near Sounion spotted the Turkish warship while its clients were enjoying a fun filled morning of water skiing!

The warship was a ATAK (P337) which sailed from the port of Smyrna and entered Greek territorial waters at 07:00 am.

The Turkish warship then sailed close to a Greek fishing boat and a pleasure craft that belonged to a posh hotel in Mykonos (between Mykonos and Naxos) terrorizing all concerned, and then began to sail westerly between the southern areas of Sifnos and Serifos islands. Here it was once again spotted by port authorities on Serifos. It then changed its course and began sailing towards Sounion.

After terrorizing sunbathers at Sounion and the surrounding area, it then began to sail towards the islands of Kythnos and Kea. The warship then sailed close the island of Andros and left our territorial waters around 14:25.

According to the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, “a ship of the Hellenic Navy, as well as aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force were watching the said warship closely during the whole duration of its course.”

Papandreou & Angelopoulos To Form New Party With The Blessings of the Clintons!

With the blessings of Hillary and Bill Clinton, George Papandreou and Gianna Angelopoulos are the main personalities that press reports claim will head the leadership of a new party in Athens, titled the Democrats. The US will finally have two figures it trusts in Athens and the new party could possibly even battle heads with the pro-Europe New Democracy party, as well as PASOK and DIMAR.

As mentioned earlier, the new party is going to be modeled after the relevant party in the US. The official Democratic party in Greece denied this report, but there are too many reports surfacing all over the Greek press that claim that it is true.

When we heard the name of the party here at HellasFrappe we began to laugh, because much like Pizza Hut and KFC it looks like politics are now going global as well.

On a serious note, it is still unknown what type of role Gianna and George will play, but it is believed that she will probably deal with foreign contacts while George Papandreou lays the groundwork (or awakens his shady socialist network) all over Greece.

(We wonder how many advisers he will need for that, last time he required a whole mess of people just to keep is IPad in top working order! Lol)

Gianna never hidden her political ambitions. In fact when former premier Costas Karamanlis was in power it was reported that she was pressuring him through Eleftheros Typos (a newspaper which she had owned) to nominate her for President of the Republic.

As for George, well three years after totally destroying Greece's economy and ridiculing our country and its people globally, he plans to make a comeback. In fact George Papandreou says that he is now ready and willing to return to the central political scene so that he can answer to all of his critics and at the same time prove to all concerned that the decisions he took in office were for Greece's benefit.

(God help us all!)

With George's mastery in lies, Gianna's charm in deception and a dark and shady global network around the Clintons, one thing is certain, Soros' plans for Greece, and the wider region will become even easier than expected.

Looks like it is going to be an interesting summer.

Signed
HellasFrappe

Editor's Note - Some info on George Papandreou which we find pretty interesting. In 2009 Greeks elected a full blown American as their prime minister, and ousted a man that was more pro-Europe and pro-Russia. Papandreou's first and original name was Jefferson (he was born in the US), the family later changed it to Georgios (his information was available on his wikipedia entry until a few years ago).

Some say that George Papandreou is the "Greek" version of Bill Clinton, a real child of the 60s.

Some also say that he is Jewish (the maternal line of his father was Jewish) and it is believed that his mother was Jewish as well. (But this is irrelevant).

His father, Andreas Papandreou, founded the center-left in Greece (or the PASOK party), which was developed and fully supported by the West. In other words, PASOK was a 100% US creation since it was the only way that the communists could be stopped from gaining astounding electoral results in the 1980s in Greece. The idea was simple. They created a third force in Greek politics which was between the Right and the Left, and used left-wing rhetoric. It worked, because the trend at the time was tilting towards the left and PASOK was quickly supported by the vast majority of those who wanted economic reforms but without having red commissars and soviet troops in Greece.

Basically the creation of PASOK was a typical US Cold War strategy which worked pretty well.

Andreas Papandreou, or the founder of PASOK, spent most of his time in the US. While there he served in the US navy and was a trotskyist (something which apparently opened several prominent positions at American universities for him). He apparently always claimed that there were two Americas. There was the "bad" America of the corporations, the CIA, Reagan etc and on the "good" America of the Kennedys, the democratic party etc. (We agree)

He was (according to his claims) with the "good America". (This is highly doubtful)

Andreas might of used many anti-NATO, anti-US, anti-West slogans in his pre-election rhetoric but we all know that it was just jargon because he kept Greece in NATO, he did not severe the ties with the EU and of course he never expelled the US-NATO bases (and the stationed nuclear weapons) from Greece.

The Papandreou dynasty was and is the real pro-American force in Greece. No wonder Jeffrey Papandreou (or GAP) essentially severed all the ties Greece had developed with Russia between 2004 and 2009.

Andreas Papandreou served the US by keeping Greece in all western institutions and away from the former Soviet Union, he also did it in a few other ways, but this will be analyzed at another time. His son, Jeffrey/Georgios (George or GAP) Papandreou did the same, and served (and still does) the US by supporting multiculturalism and the "Open Society" policies of George Soros. (In simple words this means that he too supports the replacement of the native Greek population with Islamic/Asian and African hordes, as Soros does).

Keep in mind that until 1991 Greece was an almost 100% homogeneous country and with 98% Greek orthodox population (the rest 2% were a few catholics of ethnic Greek origin and some Muslims). Today almost 1/3 of the population are illegal immigrants....  Foreigners who Mr. Papandreou believes can become Greeks, due to his 1960s American way of understanding race and nations. As he said there can be Greeks of Philippine or Somalian or Pakistani origin. As you have Americans of Japanese or Mexican origin... (In other words, fabricated Greeks). 

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Ancient Greek "Katiniasma" - Philosophers at Each Other’s Throats

"Katiniasma" as we jokingly say here at HellasFrappe, or constructive criticism, looks like it has been around for thousands of years. Check out what some of our ancient ancestors said about eachother. LOL, we loved this article. Simply brilliant!

-Aristotle had written (Μεταφυσικά (Metaphysics), vol.A, 986b, 27) that Xenophanes was far inferior to Parmenides and in fact “slightly boorish”.

-Aristotle called the Cynic philosophers “uneducated”, when he wrote: “….the Antisthenians and the likewise uneducated….” (Μετά τα Φυσικά, (Meta ta fysika – Post Nature) vol.8, 3 (1043b, 24)).

-Aristotle wrote about Protagoras: “while the intellectuals are saying nothing of the sort, they give the impression that they are saying something of significance…” (Μετά τα Φυσικά, (Meta ta fysika – Post Nature) vol.10, 1 (1053b, 4)).

-Parmenides had taken a negative stance towards Heracletus from the beginning. He wrote somewhere: «...οι δε φορούνται κωφοί ομώς τυφλοί τε τεθηπότες άκριτα φύλαυτόν εστι κέλευθος» (Ap. 6, 8). (“..While they stumble about, deaf as well as blind, dazed – mobs without discretion, they, who do nothing but view the “being” and the “non-being” as though they are the same thing..”)

-Heracletus mocked Pythagoras (Ap.81): «Πυθαγόρας κοπίδων εστίν αρχηγός» («Pythagoras is the leader of charlatans».)

-Heracletus snubbed Hesiod, Pythagoras, Xenophanes and Hecataeus, saying (Ap.40): «Πολυμαθίη νόον έχειν ου διδάσκει˙ Ησίοδον γαρ αν εδίδαξε και Πυθαγόρην αύτις τε Ξενοφάνεά τε και Εκαταίον». (“Scholarship does not teach how to acquire intellect. If it did, then it would have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras, even Xenophanes and Hecataeus.”

-“When Empedokles told Xenophanes that a wise man cannot be found anywhere, he replied sarcastically : “of course he can’t – it takes a wise man to recognize a wise man” («Εμπεδοκλέους δε ειπόντος αυτώ ότι ανεύρετός εστιν ο σοφός, "εικότως," έφη: "σοφόν γαρ είναι δει τον επιγνωσάμενον τον σοφόν"» Diogenis Laertios, IX, 20).

-As for Epicurus, «the Stoic Diotimus, who was vehemently against him, defamed him in the worst possible manner, by circulating fifty vulgar epistles in the name of Epicurus. The same thing was done by someone else, who had collected loveletters attributed to Chrysippos and rumored them to be Epicurus’ letters. In another instance, the stoic philosopher Posidonius and his circle, along with Nikolaos and Sotion (…) maintained that Epicurus used to frequent hovels and read purification rites (…..) They also claimed that he was a procurer for one of his brothers (….), that he apparently presented as his own certain teachings of Democritus on atoms, and of Aristippus on pleasure; also that he was not a genuine Athenian citizen (…) Epictetus calls him vulgar-mouthed and insults him thoroughly. Even Timocrates – Metrodorus’ brother and student of Epicurus until he abandoned the School - had written in his play titled “Eufrantai” (Delighters) that Epicurus vomited twice a day, because he enjoyed relishing his meals, and that he (Timocrates) himself with great difficulty managed to escape from those nocturnal philosophical discussions (..) Diogenis Laertios, X, 3-6), while Timon, a sceptic and student of Pyrrhon, said of Epicurus: “…he is the most contemptible and most impertinent of all physicists, an insignificant little teacher of children that came over from Samos island, more ill-bred than the animals….” (Diogenis Laertios, X, 3).

-Correspondingly, Epicurus “referred to the Platonics as the ‘fawners of Dioysios’ (the tyrant of Syracuse), and Plato himself as ‘golden’, Aristotle as ‘a prodigal, who wasted away his paternal inheritance, was drafted in the army and sold medicines’; Protagoras was labelled a ‘porter’ and the ‘scribe of Democritus’ and ‘a provincial teacher’. He nicknamed Heracletus a “mazist” (attributed to his theory on mazes, ap.125), Democritus was nicknamed “Deliriocritus” (a ranter), Antidorus “Sannidorus” (dope), the Kyzikians (the astronomer and mathematician Evdoxos) he called “the enemies of Hellas”; the dialectics (of Megara, of his friend Socrates, Euclid) he called “envious of everything” and Pyrrhon as “uneducated and uncultured” (Diogenis Laertios X, 7-8). While for his teacher: “Epicurus himself says in his epistles on Nausiphanes: “those things caused him to be beside himself, to the point that he insulted me, calling me ‘professor’.” He also called him a squid, illiterate, a fraud and lecherer.” (Diogenis Laertios, X, 7-8).

-“He (Aristotle) in general was – according to Epicurus – the most harmful opponent for the saving of the lives of those who were preparing themselves –like athletes- for the arena of politics” (Philodemos Περί ρητορικής, (Peri Rhetorikis – On rhetorics) 2, 58, 10-15).

-In one of his two writings against the Epicurians, the “Ει καλώς είρηται το λάθε βιώσας”, (If it is good to live a discreet life) (ch.1 (1128bc), Plutarch stresses that “just as those who, with an unbridled and insatiable ambition, decry any glory in others as though they are their rival lovers, in order to attain it themselves without any competition”, thus Epicurus, instead of “living in obscurity”, proclaimed the ‘discreet lifestyle’ so that the rest of the world would follow his motto, while he reaped glory and stayed out of obscurity – which he should have done,, if he had followed his own motto.

-Plutarch wrote four books against the Stoic philosophers, accusing them –among other things- that the things they dogmatized on were even more absurd than what the poets of ancient Greek mythology asserted.

-Kleanthis had commented that the Peripatetic (Ambulatory) philosophers underwent something similar to that of a lyre, which emits a pleasant sound, but is never able to hear itself. (Diogenis Laertios, VII, 173).

-The Platonic philosopher Arcesilaus had said “I am not moved by flattery”, while the Stoic philosopher Cleanthis replied “I am flattering you, by saying that you say one thing and do another”. (Diogenis Laertios, VII, 171).

-Arcesilaus likened the Epicurians and non-Epicurians to men and eunuchs respectively.(Diogenis Laertios, IV, 6).

-Plato accused the Sophists. Plato not once mentioned the name of Democritus (who had acquired a fame in 5th century Athens similar to Plato’s today), because he despised him for his materialistic philosophy.

-Plato mockingly called the first of the Cynics –Antisthenes- “a belated in learning old man” (Σοφιστής, Sophistes 251b).

-Antisthenes respectively called Plato “conceited”: «Έσκωπτέ τε Πλάτωνα ως τετυφωμένον» (Diogenis Laertios, VI, 7).

-Plato had accused Aristotle for abandoning him: «Απέστη δε Πλάτωνος έτι περιόντος· ώστε φασίν εκείνον ειπείν, "Αριστοτέλης ημάς απελάκτισε καθαπερεί τα πωλάρια γεννηθέντα την μητέρα."» (He moved away while Plato was still nearby, which made them say “Aristotle pushed us away, like a new-born foal from its mother”) (Diogenis Laertios, V, 2).

-“Timon vituperated the Academics with the following words: The Academics’ insipid redundancies” (Diogenis Laertios, IV, 67).

-The philosopher Menedemus “snubbed the teachers of Plato’s and Xenocrates’ school” (Diogenis Laertios, II, 134).

-Diogenis the Cynic made fun of Plato and his philosophy. “Diogenis the Cynic called Euclid’s (not the mathematician) school ‘gall’, while Plato’s dissertation he called ‘waste’”. (Diogenis Laertios VI, 24, 26, 40, 53).

-Theopompos in his work Ηδυχάρη (Edichare) says: “There is nothing that is truly one, since even the number two is barely one, as Plato says”. (Diogenis Laertios, III, 26).

-Timon, in his play on words with Plato’s name, had said: «ως ανέπλασσε Πλάτων πεπλασμένα θαύματα ειδώς»). (just as Plato used to recreate odd banalities) (Diogenis Laertios, III, 26).

-Alexis in his work Αγκυλιώνα (Angylion) writes: “You speak of things you don’t know of. Go and run alongside Plato, and you will learn everything about soap and onions” (Diogenis Laertios, III, 27).

-Amphis in his work Δεξιδημίδη (Deximedes) writes: “O Plato, the only thing that you know is how to frown, knitting your brow modestly, like a snail.” (Diogenis Laertios, III, 28).

-Alexis in his work Παράσιτο (Parasitos) writes: “Rather than ranting alone with Plato”. He is also mocked by Anaxilas in his work Βοτρυλίων (Votrylion), Κίρκη (Circe) and Πλούσιες (Plousies). (Diogenis Laertios, III, 28).

-Loukianos derided Aristotle („the most obscene of all flatterers”) in his work Νεκρικοί διάλογοι Διογένους και Αλεξάνδρου (Dialogues of the Dead: Diogenes and Alexander), he also derided Empedocles (pompous, obtuse) in the (Dialogues of the Dead: Menippos and Aeakos), Plato („experienced in the art of flattering tyrants“), in his (Dialogues of the Dead: Menippos and Aeakos), and Socrates (sophist, pseudo-brave) in the (Dialogues of the Dead: Menippos and Cerberus).

-Julian recommended the reading of Pythagoras, of Plato, of Aristotle and the Stoic philosophers, but not the works of Pyrrhon (Sceptic philosopher) and Epicurus (Epistle to Arsakios). He also wrote a treatise against the Cynics. Albeit not a Cynic himself, he nevertheless gave advice to a Cynic on how to be a Cynic.

-The Neo-Platonic, Paganist philosopher Iamblichos who was a student of Porphyrios and who greatly influenced the thinking of Julian, in his work “Αβάμμωνος διδασκάλου προς την "Πορφυρίου προς Ανεβώ επιστολήν αποκρίσεις και των εν αυτή απορημάτων λύσεις” (Abammon the tutor’s Responses and solutions to the epistle of Porphysrios to Anebo) characterizes the Greeks immature by nature, with no esoteric world, incapable of discovering the truth by themselves; he accuses them of distorting with their fastidiousness all the things that they learnt from other peoples (Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους, History of the Hellenic Nation – published by Ekdotiki Athinon S.A., vol.6, page 513). Why would he say something like that, given that he was a Paganist?

-Philosophers did not limit themselves to insulting each other; Plato had actually attempted to burn Democritus’ books, but didn’t get too far, not because he changed his mind and abandoned the mentality of an ancient Greek Inquisitor, but because they convinced him that no matter how many books he burnt, they were already in the possession of many other people (Diogenis Laertios IX, 40: «Πλάτωνα θελήσαι συμφλέξαι τα Δημοκρίτου συγγράμματα, οπόσα εδυνήθη συναγαγείν, Αμύκλαν δε και Κλεινίαν τούς Πυθαγορικούς κωλύσαι αυτόν, ως ουδέν όφελος· παρά πολλοίς γαρ είναι ήδη τα βιβλία»). (Plato, having wished to burn the writings of Democritus, as many as he could collect, was hindered by the Pythagorians Amyclas and Kleinias, who convinced him that it would be of no use, as those writings were already possessed by many)

That Time Has Come

BRILLIANT - The Individual vs. The Collective In The Matrix

In the 1950s, before television had numbed minds and turned them into jelly, there was a growing sense of: the Individual versus the Corporate State. Something needed to be done. People were fitting into slots. They were surrendering their lives in increasing numbers. They were carving away their own idiosyncrasies and their independent ideas.

by Jon Rappoport
www.nomorefakenews.com

Collectivism wasn’t merely a Soviet paradigm. It was spreading like a fungus at every level of American life. It might fly a political banner here and there, but on the whole it was a social phenomenon and nightmare.

Television then added fuel to the fire. Under the control of psyops experts, it became, as the 1950s droned on, the facile barrel of a weapon:

     “What’s important is the group, the family, peers. Conform. Give in. Bathe in the great belonging…”

Recognize that every message television imparts is a proxy, a fabrication, a simulacrum, an imitation of life one step removed. It isn’t people talking in a park or on a street corner or in a saloon or a barber shop or a meeting hall or a church.

It’s happening on a screen, and that makes it both fake and more real than real. Therefore, the argument that television can impart important values, if “directed properly,” is specious from the ground up. Television tells lies in its very being. And because it appears to supersede the real, it hypnotizes. When this medium also broadcasts words and images of belonging and the need to belong, it’s engaged in revolutionary social engineering.

The very opposite of living as a strong, independent, and powerful individual is the cloying need to belong. And the latter is what television ceaselessly promotes.

This is no accident. After World War 2, psychological-warfare operatives turned their attention to two long-term strategies: inculcating negative stereotypes of distant populations, to rationalize covert military plans to conquer and build an empire for America; and disseminating the unparalleled joys of disappearing into a group existence.

When, for example, television promotes “family,” it’s all on the level of fictitiously happy, desperate, yearning, last-chance, problem-resolving, melted-down, trance-inducing, gooey family.

This isn’t, by any stretch, an actual human value. Whether it’s the suburban-lawn family in an ad for the wonders of a toxic medical drug, or the mob family going to the mattresses to fend off a rival, it’s fantasy time in the land of mind control.

Television has carried its mission forward. The consciousness of the Individual versus the State has turned into: love the State. Love the State as family.

The political Left of the 1960s, who rioted against Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, at the Century Plaza Hotel, and ended his hopes to run again in 1968… that Left is now all about the State and its glories and gifts. The collective.

A great deal of the television coverage of mass shootings is now dedicated to bringing home the spurious message: we all grieve together and heal together.

In the only study I have been able to find, Wictionary partially surveys the scripts of all television shows from the year 2006, to analyze the words most frequently broadcast to viewers in America.

Out of 29,713,800 words, including the massively used “a,” “an,” “the,” “you,” “me,” and the like, the word “home” ranks 179 from the top. “Mom” is 218. “Together” is 222. “Family” is 250.

This usage reflects an unending psyop.

Are you with the family or not? Are you with the group, the collective, or not? Those are the blunt parameters.

     “When you get right down to it, all you have is family.” “Our team is really a family.” “You’re deserting the family.” “You fight for the guy next to you.” “Our department is like a family.” “Here at Corporation X, we’re a family.” “Above all, this is a community.”

The committee, the group, the company, the sector, the planet, the family. The goal? Submerge the individual and tie him inexorably to a group. Individual achievement, imagination, creative power? Not on the agenda. Something for the dustbin of history.

All you need to do is fall into the arms of a group. After that, everything is settled. You can care exclusively about the collective.

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World: “‘Ninety-six identical twins working ninety-six identical machines’! The voice was almost tremulous with enthusiasm. ‘You really know where you are. For the first time in history.’”

George Orwell, 1984:

     “The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought.”

Television seeks to emphasize one decision: inclusion or exclusion. Exclusion is portrayed as the only condition that is possible if you aren’t part of the group. And exclusion carries the connotation of exile, excommunication, and criminality.

The soap opera is the apotheosis of television. The long-running characters in Anytown are irreversibly enmeshed in one another’s lives. There’s no escape. And with that comes mind-numbing meddling.

     “I’m just trying to help you realize we all love you (in chains).”

     “Your father, rest his soul, would never have wanted you to do this to yourself…”

     “How dare you set yourself apart from us. Who do you think you are?”

The Matrix Revealed

Of the three elite network anchors, the one who fictionally conveys the sense that “we’re all in this together” is Brian Williams (NBC). He’s also the number-one-rated anchor on the evening news.

Am I saying that no groups anywhere can achieve important objectives? Of course not. I’m talking about a state of mind wherein the individual surrenders his own life-force.

There is an indissoluble link between the artifact called “we” and “limited context.” This is precisely what television news gives to the public. With each story that fails to explore the deeper players and their motives, the news speaks to a collective consciousness, which is to say, the sharing of a fabrication.

What “we” shares is foreshortened perspective, lies, misdirection, and superficial gloss. Those qualities are built for the group, and the group digests them automatically.

The group needs something to focus on, to claim is of the greatest significance. So it settles on those deceptions fed to it. It works with those deceptions, rearranges them, voices them, troubles itself over them, massages them, sculpts them, complains about them, praises them.

Retired psyops specialist Ellis Medavoy once said to me, “I think we’ve reached the point where the collective doesn’t even need a leader anymore. It can take all its cues from television.”

For some people, “we” has a fragrant scent, until they get down in the trenches with it. There they discover odd odors and postures and mutations. They find self-distorted creatures running around doing bizarre things with an exhibitionist flair.

The night becomes long. The ideals melt. The level of intelligence required to inhabit this cave-like realm is lower than expected, much lower.

Perceptions formerly believed to be the glue that holds this territory together begin to crack and fall apart, and all that is left is a grim determination to see things through.

As the night moves into its latter stages, some participants come to know that all their activity is taking place in a chimerical universe.

It is as if reality has been constructed to yield up gibberish.

Whose idea was it to become deaf, dumb, and blind in the first place?

The heart and soul of THE MATRIX REVEALED are the text interviews I conducted with Matrix-insiders, who have first-hand knowledge of how the major illusions of our world are put together. One of those Matrix-insiders is ELLIS MEDAVOY, master of PR, propaganda, and deception, who worked for key controllers in the medical and political arenas. 28 interviews, 290 pages. And then perhaps one person in the cave suddenly says: I EXIST.

That’s starts a cacophony of howling.

The spell is being broken.

People dimly wonder whether, beyond this night, there is another whole world where individuals live, where some of them do, in fact, join together, but not in a desolate way.

Where individuals finally separate from the sticky substance of coordinated defeat. The “we” that television gives us is a fiction designed to make the independent individual extinct. That is its job.

In the aftermath of the 1963 assassination of JFK and the 1995 bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the covert theme was the same: a lone individual did this.

A lone individual, detached from the group, did this. See what happens when the group is rejected? Lone individuals are really no different than individuals. They are people who left the fold. They wandered from the communal hearth. They thought for themselves. This is what happens when individuals assert their independent existence. They become killers. They lose their way. They break the sacred bond. They are heretics who fall away from the collective.

In 1995, after the Oklahoma City Bombing, President Bill Clinton made a speech to the nation. He rescued his presidency by essentially saying, “Come home to the government. We will protect you and save you.” He framed the crime in those terms. The individual versus the collective.

Of course, he was an individual who had chosen to be a mouthpiece and a middleman for the elite players who run the collective from above. But that went unnoticed.

The strongest argument against the free and independent and powerful individual, and in favor of the collective is, simply: the collective has advanced to such a degree that there is no going back; the individual can’t win; the battle is over.

All I can say is, I’ve never accepted an argument on that basis, and never will. The liberation of the individual has existed as an aim since the dawn of time on this planet. That aim will not vanish.

Why? Because underneath all the programs for mind control, there is, obviously, something to control. Otherwise, why bother? The deeper you go in discovering what “must be controlled,” the more freedom and power and imagination you encounter in the individual.

There is no limit. These three qualities are endless.

It may not seem so. It may seem that all the propaganda about the inherent weakness and smallness of the human being is accurate. But that is a false dream.

The reality is far different.

A million psyops won’t change that reality.

Exit From the Matrix

Finally, here is a 1980 quote from author Philip K Dick. He is writing poignantly about another titan of science fiction, Robert Heinlein. The relevance of his words to the subject of this article? There are probably a number of interpretations. I won’t try to flesh it out. I’ll leave it to you to decide:

     “Several years ago, when I was ill, Heinlein offered his help, anything he could do, and we had never met; he would phone me to cheer me up and see how I was doing. He wanted to buy me an electric typewriter, God bless him—one of the few true gentlemen in this world. I don’t agree with any ideas he puts forth in his writing, but that is neither here nor there. One time when I owed the IRS a lot of money and couldn’t raise it, Heinlein loaned the money to me. I think a great deal of him and his wife; I dedicated a book to them in appreciation. Robert Heinlein is a fine-looking man, very impressive and very military in stance; you can tell he has a military background, even to the haircut. He knows I’m a flipped-out freak and still he helped me and my wife when we were in trouble. That is the best in humanity, there; that is who and what I love.”

Okay, I can’t resist giving you one more from Philip Dick. I don’t agree with the “motive” part of the quote, but everything else? Perfect.

     “Because today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups…So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing.”

The question is, in gaining freedom from these pseudo-realities, does the process happen for everyone at once, or is it one individual at a time? The answer is clear, and it tells us a great deal about the illusion of the collective.

Jon Rappoport - The author of two explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED and EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com

More FBI Agents Mysteriously Killed While Investigating the Boston Bombing

This is also what apparently happened to the Navy Seals who apparently "killed" Osama bin Laden. It seems there isn’t anyone left to tell any tales . . .

According to the Intelhub two FBI agents died in what the report said was a “fall” from a helicopter in Virginia this past week. The report claims that several days later it emerged that these two agents were somehow involved in the arrest of  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

This is from the intellihub.com

     "During a training mission in Virginia, 2 FBI agents were killed after falling from a helicopter into the water.
      41-year-old Christopher Lorek, and 40-year-old Stephen Shaw both belonged to an experienced hostage rescue team that was involved in the arrest of Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Pilot Online reported that the founder of the Hostage Rescue Team and other former special agents called the unit “elite” while outlining the difficult training exercises members must endure.

     “It’s the most rigorous training regiment in law enforcement, probably in the world,” said Danny Coulson, a former deputy assistant director of the FBI who started the team 30 years ago and served as its first commander. “They have to be able to do any mission, at any time.”

Among other things, members of the Hostage Rescue Team are trained to rappel from helicopters, scuba dive and use explosives to break down doors and walls. When needed, the team can deploy within four hours to anywhere in the U.S.

     “It sounds risky, and it absolutely is,” Coulson said. “They have the same skill sets as SEAL Team 6 and Delta Force.”

Last month, the team was involved in the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

There have been a series of suspicious deaths surrounding people who were close to the investigation and the arrests.  Just yesterday we reported that a former MMA fighter was killed by the FBI when they payed him a visit for “questioning.”

As Shepard Ambellas reported, “In what continues to be the most bizarre series of ongoing events, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, Ibragim Todashev, was shot and killed in his apartment by the FBI just before midnight last night. Authorities believed the man to be a friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the alleged Boston bombing suspects.” And if that’s not enough. It was also reported by Infowars.com on April 29, 2013 that the original bombing suspect, Sunil Tripathi, was found dead in Providence River.

We will be keeping a close eye on this story and this case in general as the establishment moves in to cover up their tracks and tie up loose ends.

Sources:

• http://intellihub.com/2013/05/23/fbi-agents-killed-in-virginia-were-investigating-the-boston-bombing/
• http://hamptonroads.com/2013/05/fbi-agents-died-fall-helicopter-va-coast
• http://www.officer.com/news/10946547/fbi-agents-fell-to-deaths-during-training?page=2

PROVOCATION - Turkish Audacity: Greeks Charged of "Violating" Airspace Over Lesvos, Ikaria &Rhodes!

Talk about incredible Turkish audacity. Just 24-hours after Ankara sent several planes to purposely fly over the tomb of the Lieutenant Costas Iliakis (on the anniversary of his death) in the framework of provoking our sentiment on this day of remembrance, the Turkish General Staff announced that Greek fighter jets intercepted Turkish planes near the islands of Rhodes, Lesvos and Ikaria.

(In other words... Rhodes, Lesvos and Ikaria do not belong to Greece and Athens did not have a right to intercept the Turkish planes that flew over these islands! WTF?)

Defence officials who at times get so frustrated with all the stupidities that are announced from the Turkish side, now claim that this cat and mouse game with Turkey is purely a political issue and should be handled as such. They are right, because throughout the Deniz Kurdu 2013 naval exercises Turkey has been raising the issue of Greek sovereignty on more than one occasion. And as we all know when issues such as these cannot be handled by the Hellenic military then they must (and should) be addressed by our political leaders.

But getting back to the Greek provocation of Greek territorial waters - The Turkish General Staff claims that on 05/22/13, several Turkish warplanes (type F-16), that were performing training flights in international air space over the Aegean, were intercepted west of Rhodes from Greek F-16 fighter jets which took off from the Souda airport.

A similar announcement was made for the area northwest of Lesvos where Turkish fighters were apparently intercepted by Greek fighter planes that took off from Anchialo. Also, the Turkish side claims that the same thing also occurred south of Ikaria, but in this case the Turkish F-16's were intercepted by Greek F-4 planes which took off from the Skyros airport.

Friends, if we didn't know any better then we would guess that Turkey is expecting Greeks to automatically bend over backwards and welcome their fighter planes with open arms in Greek airspace. Defending our sovereignty is a no-no to Turkey. On the other hand,the bullies (meaning Turkey) can come and go as they please and even sail near Athens, or fly over the Greek islands whenever they feel the itch. Are they for real?

Last Thursday for example four Turkish aircraft entered the Athens FIR off in the southeastern Aegean and were intercepted by Greek aircraft. Two of them, Phantom aircraft with photographing capabilities, flew at 8,000 feet over the southeastern island of Agathonissi at 8:43 a.m., and joined by two F-16s that had entered the Athens FIR slightly earlier south of Samos. All four exited Athens FIR at 9:23 a.m. east of Rhodes.

And we ask, since our military cannot take care of this problem, shouldn't our government address these issues at a diplomatic level? Wouldn't it be wise for our leaders to also report these violations at both the United Nations as well as to the European Union? And lastly, why isn't the European Union handling this situation? Aren't Greek borders European borders?

And if you think that Ankara's audacity is limited to the skies only, think again. The Turks have also decided to provoke our sentiment at sea as well. For example earlier last week, or specifically on Wednesday, between the hours of 12:29 and 13:08 the Greek coastguard apparently violated Greek territorial waters at Imia. Yes, Greece's Imia!

Aside from painting grey zones in the Aegean the Turks have also turned black into white and claim that Greece is violating the area around Imia (which they say belongs to them) when all along they send fishing boats to the same area everyday in order to induce and maintain tension in the entire region.

Is there any justice in this world?

Are our leaders listening?

Source in Greek - http://www.defencenet.gr/defence/item/%CF%84%CE%BF%C

Attorneys of Tsochatzopoulos Want Costas Simitis To Testify!

The attorney of former minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, who is currently on trial for money-laundering and taking kickbacks for armaments' procurements programs while serving as defence minister under the PASOK Costas Simitis government, asked that Simitis be called to the stand to testify in court.

Based on the arguments used by Tsochatzopoulos' defence, the Simitis was fully aware of the needs that existed at the time in terms of armaments programs and the funds necessary for their implementation because of his position.

Also Read

Tsochatzopoulos Ready To Name Names In Money Laundering Trial (VIDEO)
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2013/05/tsochatzopoulos-ready-to-name-names-in.html

Tsochatzopoulos: The Sausage Maker's Son Who Became a Millionaire
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/04/tsochatzopoulos-sausage-makers-son-who.html

SPECIAL REPORT - Zigras "Gives" Tsochatzopoulos & Reveals How PASOK "Fixied" 2000 Elections (VIDEOS)
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/07/special-report-zigras-gives.html

ALTERNATIVE Kind of Greek Tourism - Volcanoes of the Aegean Sea

There are groups of tourists who strive for adventures and prefer to spend their holidays exploring caves and even volcanoes! Thousands of tourists flock to the Greek islands in the summer not to enjoy the sun and sea,bur rather to experience the thrill and chill of the so-called volcanic-geologic tourism. Others take advantage of Greece's active volcanoes and enjoy the hot springs,after all Greece has about 752 of them!

Greek volcanoes are part of the "Aegean Volcanic Arc", which is caused by the subduction of the African tectonic plate under the Eurasian plate.

As you all probably already know, the most recent volcanic eruption in Greece was Santorini in 1950. Santorini erupted in 1600 BC and buried the city of Akroteri and possibly gave rise to the legend of Atlantis.

Three islands remained after the eruption - Thera, Therasia, and Aspronisi.

Santorini caldera has a diameter 11 km N-S and 7.5 km E-W, with a depth of 390 m in the north. The 1950 eruption of Santorini produced a lava dome, lava flow, and explosive activity.

In January 2011 Santorini started to wake from 60 years of inactivity. The episode began with a seismic swarm and radial deformation of the volcano. The unrest has been interpreted as radial inflation of the volcano by 5-9 cm by a magma source, 4 km below the northern half of the caldera.

Another active volcano is found on the 8 km-wide island of Nisyros which is located at the eastern end of the Hellenic island arc, 340 km SE of Athens. Nisyros is part of the Kos-Yali-Nisyros Volcanic Field in the SE part of the Aegean Sea. The Hellenic Volcanic Arc is a magmatic expression of the active northeastward-directed subduction of the African.

Historical activity of Nisyros volcano produced phreatic eruptions in the caldera. Currently fumarolic activity occurs in the caldera, and hot springs are found on the coast. The volcano has erupted at least 13 times during recorded history.

In January 2003 the crater was declared off limits due to increasing temperatures and growing surface cracks.

Interestingly, both the Santorini and Nisyros volcanoes are under constant observation from special stations, and the data is analysed on a 24-hour basis. Also, it is good to know that the volcanoes on these two particular islands are considered to be the largest in the Mediterranean.

Volcanos also exist on Milos island and in Sousaki and Methana. Historic magmatic eruptions have not occurred at Milos Island. The most recent magmatic activity consisted of two large explosive phreatomagmatic eruptions that produced Trahilas and Fyriplaka tuff rings 380,000 and 90,000 years ago.

Loutra Methana is located at the southern end of the town of Methana, and comprises a group of springs issuing from fractures of the Asprovouni lime stones close to the coast. They are hydrogen sulphide springs and are used as a thermal bath by a nearby hotel. The estimated total water flow of the spring is several tens of litres per second.

All of the above areas are considered "active", a classification of any volcano that has erupted in the last 10,000 years.

Global March Against Monsanto

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc),- Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 May an estimated 200.000 activists under the umbrella of “March Against Monsanto” will rally against Monsanto in a campaign that spans six continents, 40 nations and at least 48 US states. Another 200.000 pr more protesters are, according to organizers in Germany expected to join the worldwide protest rallies.

MarchagainstmonsantoThe transnational biotechnology colossus is among other accused of genetically engineering agriculture and food while ignoring the potentially lethal ramifications, the risks for the environment, the devastating consequences for local farmers and communities, and the devastating social consequences.

March Against Monsanto has taken the initiative to raise awareness about the lack of action from national governments and activists have prepared protest marches in major cities, including Berlin, Brussel, Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Montral, Moscow, New York, Paris and many other major cities. The main focus will be on the lack of government action and the demand to ban Genetically Engineered and Genetically Modified Organisms.

Networking among grassroots organizations, among other with the help of social media, helped the initially small grassroots initiative to develop into a global campaign and manifestation.

March Against Monsanto director Nick Bernabe stated, that genetically engineered food could affect everybody, even the apathetic: “

What we’re trying to do is bring awareness to GMOs and the health effects that they’re causing and bring about some solutions about what people can do to take back their food supply,” he said. “They’re expecting more than 15,000 people in San Francisco alone… We want to get people working together in their communities.”

Monsanto, who recently has described current research into GMO crops as inconclusive, is engaged in a global lobbying campaign so as to being able to continue with the manufacturing of laboratory-made foods without governmental oversight.

In March 2013 the U.S. Congress has passed a biotechnology rider which was dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act”. The legislation effectively allows Monsanto and other corporations that use GMOs to plant and sell genetically altered products even if legal action is being taken against them. Effectively this means, that the U.S. Congress has given Monsanto and others card blanche to largely ignore the country´s judiciary.

Prior to the adoption of the “Monsanto protection Act” the U.S. Department of Agriculture had oversight over the companies and it either approved or denied the testing of genetically modified seeds. Also prior to the adoption of the “Monsanto Protection Act” by the U.S. Congress the U.S. Federal Courts retained the authority to halt the testing or sale of genetically modified plants if the courts reasoned that there could be a danger to the public health.

The Monsanto protection Act was co-authored by Missouri Senator Roy Blunt who reportedly has received thousands of dollars from Monsanto for crafting the language of the Monsanto protection Act. Being by far the largest agribusiness worldwide, Monsanto is known for having invested millions into lobbying as well as into lawsuits against farmers, or governments.

In the case of the Protect Monsanto Act, co-authored by Senator Roy Blunt, Monsanto could hardly have been more blunt with its openness about how the transnational corporation uses its economic muscle to bias or bribe legislators.

According to Food & Water Watch, the relationship between Monsanto and the U.S. government extends even beyond congress and the Supreme Court. According to Food & Water Watch, communications which were uncovered by WikiLeaks, the U.S- State Department actively lobbies foreign governments to adopt pro-agricultural biotechnology legislation and lobbies to improve the image of biotechnology while challenging commonsense biotechnology safeguards and rules. This lobbying of the U.S. State Department includes lobbying against opposition to genetically engineered food and food labeling laws.

The organizers of the protests, which are to be held on Saturday and Sunday, have accused Monsanto of going on the offensive by planting false statements on social media, such as the one that the protest marches would not be held.

The organizers are also accusing Monsanto of having infiltrated social media groups and pages with so-called Trolls or Debunkers in an effort to derail a constructive dialog, to deflect attention, to spread disinformation and misinformation and so forth.

Tom Canal, who is one of the administrators of the March Against Monsanto´s Facebook page said:

     “Events are disappearing, posts are being put on city events pages that say events are being cancelled”. The Organic Pepper Blog states, “In no way, shape or form, has any event been cancelled. I believe Monsanto is behind this. Some of the people on the page that are commenting have newly made profiles and seemingly those profiles were made strictly to cause problems and get a rise out of our participants on the page.”

While mainstream media have largely ignored the initiative, the March Against Monsanto activists have, through social networking and independent media, achieved that 200.000 activists are expected to March Against Monsanto on Saturday and Sunday, while the total number of protesters remains to be seen. It is likely that at least another 200.000 will be joining the protests, and that despite of an almost complete media blackout from mainstream, corporate or government media.

The March Against Monsanto initiative has outlined a number of demands, solutions and goals which they are advocating. These include, the labeling of GE/GMO, so that consumers more easily can make informed decisions, a demand for further scientific research on the health effects of GE/GMOs and the demand of taking into the streets to show the world and Monsanto that the people won´t take injustices quietly.

CANCER - Curcumin (and Tumeric) Curbs Metastases! - It Is A Miracle Spice

Curcumin (credit: Wikipedia)

Powdered turmeric has been used for centuries to treat osteoarthritis and other illnesses. Its active ingredient, curcumin, inhibits inflammatory reactions. A new study led by a research team at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich now shows that it can also inhibit formation of metastases.

Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies in the Western world, and is often diagnosed only after metastatic tumors have formed in other organs. In three percent of cases, these metastases are lethal. A research team led by PD Dr. Beatrice Bachmeier at LMU Munich has been studying the mode of action of a natural product that inhibits the formation of metastases. The compound is found in turmeric, a plant that has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years, and is a major ingredient of curry.

Bachmeier's research centers on curcumin, the polyphenol responsible for the characteristic color of curry. Curcumin is well tolerated and is therefore, in principle, suitable both for prophylactic use (primary prevention) and also for the suppression of metastases in cases where an established tumor is already present (secondary prevention). In a previous study Bachmeier and her colleagues had demonstrated that the substance reduces statistically significantly the formation of lung metastases in an animal model of advanced breast cancer.

Mitigating metastasis

The new study was designed to investigate the efficacy of curcumin in the prevention of prostate cancer metastases, and to determine the agent's mechanism of action. The researchers first examined the molecular processes that are abnormally regulated in prostate carcinoma cells. Breast and prostate cancers are often associated with latent or chronic inflammatory reactions, and in both cases, the tumor cells were found to produce pro-inflammatory immunomodulators including the cytokines CXCL1 und CXCL2.

The researchers went on to show that curcumin specifically decreases the expression of these two proteins, and in a mouse model, this effect correlated with a decline in the incidence of metastases. "Due to the action of curcumin, the tumor cells synthesize smaller amounts of cytokines that promote metastasis," says Bachmeier. "As a consequence, the frequency of metastasis formation in the lungs is significantly reduced, in animals with breast cancer, as we showed previously, or carcinoma of the prostate, as demonstrated in our new study."

Curcumin and chemoprevention

Bachmeier therefore believes that curcumin may be useful in the prevention of breast and prostate cancers – which are both linked to inflammation – and in reducing their metastatic potential. "This does not mean that the compound should be seen as a replacement for conventional therapies. However, it could play a positive role in primary prevention – before a full-blown tumor arises – or help to avert formation of metastases. In this context the fact that the substance is well tolerated is very important, because one can safely recommend it to individuals who have an increased tumor risk."

A daily intake of up to 8g of curcumin is regarded as safe, and its anti-inflammatory properties have long been exploited in traditional oriental medicine. Men with benign hyperplasia of the prostate (BHP) are one possible target group for prophylaxis, as are women who have a family history of breast cancer. The agent might also be valuable as a supplement to certain cancer therapies. At all events, curcumin's beneficial effects must first be confirmed in controlled clinical tests. Bachmeier is now planning such a trial in patients who suffer from therapy-resistant carcinoma of the prostate.