1.11.2003
O.K, this is a lengthy press briefing. A bunch of disembling is apparent. If you are tired of reading tax cut humongous deficit stuff scroll to the bottom where Fleisher is asked about the number of criminals on the White House staff. Amazing how many of Bush 2's staffers came from Bush 1. Anyone remember Iran Contra? Reagan and company's succesful effort to subvert our Constition as well as the free democratic will of the people of Nicaragua? Where tens of thousands of innocent folks were killed by mercenaries under U.S direction? He got off scot free. Most folks don't. But they don't have the money behind them or the media's smoke and mirrors to support them. The " Great Communicator" had the balls to say with a straight face that he and his staff were not arming or supporting the Contras with private funds to illegally circumvent Congress and blow the whole checks and balances that our government is based on. His face on Mount Rushmore my ass. Now look where Negroponte is, Poindexter-
And Bush 2 is trying to seal up the records from this time frame. I happen to be reading " A Very Thin Line" by Theodore Draper detailing Reagan's villanous dealings with Iran's fundamentalist government, trading sophisticated arms with terrorist right after saying in the media "We will not bargain with terrorists" ( remember the hostage crisis?), no ransom, no blackmail will be paid. Iran Contra. A blight on Democracy. Yet few are aware. Contras and Khomeini ... and Saddam Hussein too. What a great President. Bush 1 was in on it too. Looks like a long Bush family tradition . Read the definitions of Fascism on this page. Do a google search or two. Order some well footnoted books from Amazon- you don't really need to get out of your chair. In a couple or three days the books will arrive. Crack those puppies open. Be sceptical, really dig for the truth as you read. What did Marx say about the cyclic nature of History? Something like the first time is a tragedy the second time a farce? I grew up believing in the promise of America. I'm not laughing. Was it Santayana who said those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it?
Read and spread the word. It is more riveting and frightening to read our political history than any CSI or JAG or whatever cops and robbers shoot em' up crap is the flavor of the month. Folks died in WWII so we could be forever free of the curse of Fascism. Gurdjieff said the classic "You have to know you are in prison to escape prison" (one quote I know for sure, "Finally" I can here you thinking)
Some Hitler quotations from The Conservative Forum follow. (Honest, you'd think I made it up, wouldn't you! Look em' up- they refer to him as a socialist fascist, history does not bear out the socialist tag. Also, I should be fair- they don't speak well of him on this page. Oddly enough they put a 'mush' disclaimer on some really harsh Hegelian "individual does not matter, only the state" stuff, as well as on a gun control quote, giving the former the sachet of liberalism ascribed the latter now a days... Whats with that? I stole thier quotes to use cut and paste rather than fish 'sorta' quotes out of my fallible brain as I did with Marx and Satayana- no, I'm not recommending thier site...)
"All propaganda has to be popular and has to adapt its spiritual level to the perception of the least intelligent of those towards whom it intends to direct itself."
"The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for the vast masses of a nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them more easily prey to a big lie then a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell a big one.
The art of leadership...consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention...The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to one category."
"The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are full of students rebelling and rioting. Communists are seeking to destroy our country. Russia is threatening us with her might and the Republic is in danger. Yes, danger from within and without. We need law and order. Without law and order our nation cannot survive. Elect us and we shall restore law and order."
I suppose the saying " The more things change the more they stay the same" applies. And remember, these quotes links musings; they are signposts, nothing more. Inquire. We need to read and network. Education is what it is about, questioning. The information is available, this is the information age. And if you can't apply it, if the knowledge you hold isn't pertinent it is merely data, white noise in the face of living, of being. Public Enemy said "The Revolution will not be televised" Damn straight- it is going on between people, among society. It is you. One must accept the challenge though. Experiance the most countercultural thing we can do in the New Millenium. Shine.
1/11/2003
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1.10.2003
The North Korea "stuff " sounds pretty Hairy. I'll work on getting some informative links.
Until then here's some stuff on drug use in the military .
This is specifically about a "friendly fire" where some Canadian soldiers were killed. I don't have the source but I read that the pilots recieve twice as much Dexedrine( related to methedrine) now as in the Gulf War of '91. What does old drug Czar Barry Mccaffrey think of this, our good American boys mandatorily hopped up? Read this and you'll see that our boys under Mccaffrey didn't need to be tweaked to go Rambo last time in Iraq. Please take the time to read it. It gives a feel for mad ego and official coverup, far from the war as character builder stuff film romantics portray. But hey, they sell. Did you know the Pentagon works with the film industry?
1/10/2003
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1.09.2003
I realize I am a bit link heavy with reading; but to understand the nuances of our particular situation requires a bunch. So yesterday you read the piece from the Atlantic Monthly on Iraq as our 51st state. Along with the Alternet link and the Mother Jones- that was a piece of work, {maybe I should find something on monitors and eyestrain to link to : ) } - but I'm sure you have a fuller world view (This link picked for brevity; it is another fact not widely known). Do the CNN folks mention a projected first year costs of somewhere around 16 billion dollars for post conflict security as well as 1 billion a year for the next 5 or 10 years? I'm guessing not, that might conflict with the tax cut news.
Would you like to see what Bush and Cheney save? Remember thier friends are also in that top 1%. I hope you are too. Me? nope, I'm not...
Citizens for Tax Justice is a wonderful place to get tax facts. I need to share this Molly Ivans tax cut piece too. How can state and federal governments be run with no tax income?
A great link, one you really should forward to as many folks as you can. http://dubyadubyadubya.com/
Thanks to Harry and Mark
And thanks to you, for stopping by...
1/09/2003
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1.08.2003
First of all, if you read yesterdays Alternet link on Enron, Bush the powerplant in India that needed the Afgan pipe line you'll like this follow up piece from MotherJones dealing with Bush, an Enron Pipeline... this time in Argentina- with a bit of government scandal. Well, heard news about the latest "stimulus package" of tax cuts Mr Bush has put out. Please go here for a quick read- some facts and figures will palliate the empty feeling one gets as this tax stuff is blasted by in a 15 second grinning behind the podium photo-op. You do realize that the Network news readers tend to be in the 1% who benefit from this ( of course you do, you already checked out the earlier link- this one will reinforce it: income disparity ). Rabbits guarding the carrot patch; do you think that a millionaire reporter or member of a legislative body is going to come clean about this stuff? Now FDR had a good idea- put folks to work. The worker will go to the store down the street, out to dinner with his family; whatever the case the money flows through the economy... a multiplier effect. We have already seen through he Reagan years what taxcuts for the rich do. There is an illusion of economic health as the market rises- but money tends to be reinvested in investing or luxury items; while (look at the "tracks layoffs" link in the 1/06 posting) manufacturing is going offshore, (as are corporate profits and thier attendant taxes) .
This is nothing new. Remember when manufacturing was located in the U.S North and headed South- lower costs you know, no worker representation (unions), lower taxes -more profits... Then NAFTA- boom, manufacturing goes to Mexico, lower costs you know, lax environmental laws, no unions,vastly lower wages, lower taxes- more profits. And now Mexico's suffering, other countries such as China have, you guessed it , underbid 'em, lower costs you know... 'Free' is a misnomer. It is untaxed trade- meaning as a manufacturer I can hire the poorest people in the poorest countries to make goods to sell to the richest folks- with no tax/tariff in between. This process is called the race to the bottom. I have two links here, one from David Korten, one from the National Labor Commitee. They are both really informative.
It seems to me that America is being ridden into decline. Giving huge tax cuts yet again, while spoiling for a war seems like lunacy on Bushes part if he cares about the welfare of our Nation. Much like a regular person cutting his/her hours and buying a new car-without income how will the bill be paid. How many years and billions will need to be spent on the occupation of Iraq? Will we make Iraq the 51st state? ( yeah, I know ANOTHER link, but you really need to think about this...
On the lighter side:
1/08/2003
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1.07.2003
Please take a moment to read this , a lengthy and really informative article from Alternet. Top it off with this piece from Zmag
This American life had a pretty good show about going to war(this weeks coming up is on the secret government surveillance court)-check NPR near you for times), although it didn't emphasize the first segment; why go to war with a country the CIA says is no threat to us- unless we put him in a corner? Surely Saddam is no worse than other CIA corporate American proxies such as the Somozas,the Shah of Iran,Suhuarto, Pinochet - they all took away thier citizens liberties, tortured and killed segments of the population, criminy, Saddam has gold spurs as a gift from Ronald Reagan... Ideally you read the Alternet link. Add a bit of global corporate hegemony in and you have a recipe for war with Iraq...
1/07/2003
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1.06.2003
Peace Rally January 18th in Washington DC
Peace!
1/06/2003
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Sorry the site looks a bit weird... I'm learning right now. The underlined words below are links.
Now I'm sure that you'll be hearing about Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's allegations of CIA spying occuring during weapons inspections; there's a good chance that you don't know that in 1999 it was in the headlines , something that the news I hear seems to have forgotten. They take us for a public with a short attention span, obviously. Maybe that's why TV keeps showing us the same stupid commercials over and over ; ). Back to Saddam, if he has had the time to read this article he sure has reason to be ticked- the CIA has permission to kill him... in self-defense. And I'm sure that tyrant that he is, he has the time to read... Mr. Bush "leader of the free world" has spent 42% of his time on vacation; surely the man inhabiting the White House is the harder worker. Speaking of workers: the Labor Department program that tracks layoffs had its 'funding dry up'.
First it was the elections- now see what is fishy in Florida
1/06/2003
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