Thursday, December 30, 2010

Former Congressman Paul Findley on Push for Iran War

Former Congressman Paul Findley on Push for Iran War

Begins with ...

"Recently, Senator Lindsey Graham said America should take “bold action” to “deal with Iran.” Graham asserted that if President Obama “decides to be tough with Iran beyond sanctions, I think he is going to feel a lot of Republican support … Containment [of Iran] is off the table.”

At the same time, Senator Joe Lieberman claimed that “there is a base, a broad bipartisan base of support [for military action against Iran] if the Commander in Chief comes to a point where he thinks that’s necessary.”

This saber-rattling foreign policy talk is fueling the push for a military confrontation with Iran. And make no mistake about it, the Israel Lobby is manipulating U.S. opinion makers, government leaders, and the American public into believing that a military face-off with Iran is the U.S. national interest, and indeed necessary.

This war talk is reverberating despite the disastrous results of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which was another agenda item of the Israel lobby.

...

War has always been a part of the Israel lobby’s strategy. Whether its own excursions into Lebanon or military actions by proxy—Iraq, Afghanistan, and perhaps now even Iran—the destabilization of the Middle East always seems to benefit Tel Aviv."


Bill

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The economy

111th Congress Added More Debt Than First 100 Congresses Combined: $10,429 Per Person in U.S.

"The federal government has accumulated more new debt--$3.22 trillion ($3,220,103,625,307.29)—during the tenure of the 111th Congress than it did during the first 100 Congresses combined.

...

The total national debt of $13,858,529,371,601.09 (or $13.859 trillion), as recorded by the U.S. Treasury at the close of business on Dec. 22, now equals $44,886.57 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
"

Ex-Shell president sees $5 gas in 2012

2011 by Paul Craig Roberts

"The year 2011 will bring Americans a larger and more intrusive police state, more unemployment and home foreclosures, no economic recovery, more disregard by the U.S. government of U.S. law, international law, the Constitution, and truth, more suspicion and distrust from allies, more hostility from the rest of the world, and new heights of media sycophancy.

...

The lawlessness of the U.S. government, which has been creeping up on us for decades, broke into a full gallop in the years of the Bush/Cheney/Obama regimes.

"


Bill

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Helping the Wounded

Helping the Wounded: Vets Deal With Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Homelessness, Homicide, Suicide, Brain Injuries, and PTSD
By Laurie Leitch and Elaine Miller-Karas

"Thousands and thousands of young men and women have been profoundly wounded—physically, emotionally, and spiritually."

About 2.1 million troops have served in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan or Operation Iraqi Freedom. Assuming that each returning veteran has five or more close family members (spouse or significant other, mother, father, two siblings), these wars directly affect at least 10 million people. If we include children, other relatives, coworkers, and friends, the number of Americans affected could be 40 million or more.

...

A report developed by the RAND Corporation in 2008 estimated that 300,000 veterans suffer from significant PTSD, anxiety, or major depressive symptoms; an additional 320,000 may have experienced a traumatic brain injury.

...

Unfortunately, the mental health system responsible for serving these men and women is already stretched to the breaking point, even as many thousands are returning to civilian life or are between multiple deployments."



This report goes on and on in an effort to explain the depth and breadth of this problem.


Bill

4 Scenarios for the Coming Collapse of the American Empire

4 Scenarios for the Coming Collapse of the American Empire By Alfred W. McCoy

"The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines.

...

Future historians are likely to identify the Bush administration’s rash invasion of Iraq in that year as the start of America's downfall

...

Viewed historically, the question is not whether the United States will lose its unchallenged global power, but just how precipitous and wrenching the decline will be.

...

If America's decline is in fact on a 22-year trajectory from 2003 to 2025, then we have already frittered away most of the first decade of that decline with wars that distracted us from long-term problems and, like water tossed onto desert sands, wasted trillions of desperately needed dollars.'

Sure, these apocalyptic scenarios may well be shunted by yet another variation on the theme, but one thing that's been very clear to people who have spent time studying and thinking about the problem: America is headed for disaster. In 2003 this statement has highly inflammatory and burned many relationships. Today it's a far different story, and in a mere matter of time will be still another story - none of it good.

You may recall the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), the (Zionist heavy; study the signatures) Neocon manifesto that describes the stinking philosophy that drove America's invasion of the Middle East.

To borrow a question from a Neocon zombie: "How's that working out for you?"


Bill

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Need a reminder that we're at war?

We read the papers and watch the "news" and barely know there is a war going on, and then this comes out.











See this website for details

Bill

Friday, December 3, 2010

Mass media's war on Christianity, scorecard published

Only Half of Americans Rate Clergy as Ethical By Daniel Burke
"Slightly more than half of Americans (53 percent) rate the moral values of priests, ministers and other clerics as "very high" or "high."

That percentage is a slight bump from 2009, when only 50 percent of Americans said men and women of the cloth are ethical paragons, the lowest number in Gallup's 32 years of measuring professional reputations.

Before the Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in 2002, two-thirds of Americans had regularly approved of ministers' morals, according to Gallup."


Bill

Wikileaks

What the Wiki-Saga Teaches Us By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

"Just as american politicians want Bradley Manning executed because he revealed crimes of the US government, they want Julian Assange executed. In the past few days the more notorious of the dumbshits that sit in the US Congress have denounced Assange as a “traitor to america.” What total ignorance. Assange is an Australian, not an american citizen. To be a traitor to america, one has to be of the nationality. An Australilian cannot be a traitor to america any more than an american can be a traitor to Australia. But don’t expect the morons who represent the lobbyists to know this much. "



The Proper Response to WikiLeaks
by Karen Kwiatkowski

"On a more serious note, beyond the debate on whether to assassinate Assange, blow up the Internet, conduct an unwarranted attack on an NPT signatory that is following the rules, or to continue to ally ourselves with the crazies in Pakistan and Israel, it is important to recognize that fascism of one kind or another is currently embraced by a majority in Congress, and by a large minority across the country. An alert and informed citizenry, valued by presidents from Washington to Eisenhower, is now deemed by D.C. to be a nascent domestic terrorism threat. As the American wholesale subsidy of banks, bullets and butter metastasizes, devouring freedom and wrecking the system, the desperation of the ruling class and those in its employ is palpable. Americans ought to gratefully smile as we review these latest Wikileaks, and we should savor the hilarity. Seeing our government as theatrical stooge, as incompetent popinjay, as naked and embarrassed Emperor, sets the stage well for what comes next."

Noam Chomsky: WikiLeaks Cables Reveal "Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership" By Noam Chomsky and Amy Goodman

"The Brookings Institute just a few months ago released extensive polls of what Arabs think about Iran. The results are rather striking. They show the Arab opinion holds that the major threat in the region is Israel -- that’s 80. The second major threat is the United States -- that’s 77. Iran is listed as a threat by 10%.

With regard to nuclear weapons, rather remarkably, a majority -- in fact, 57 – say that the region would have a positive effect in the region if Iran had nuclear weapons. Now, these are not small numbers. 80, 77, say the U.S. and Israel are the major threat. 10 say Iran is the major threat. This may not be reported in the newspapers here -- it is in England -- but it’s certainly familiar to the Israeli and U.S. governments, and to the ambassadors. But there is not a word about it anywhere. What that reveals is the profound hatred for democracy on the part of our political leadership and the Israeli political leadership. These things aren’t even to be mentioned. This seeps its way all through the diplomatic service. The cables to not have any indication of that.

------------------------

AMY GOODMAN: Noam, I wanted ask if you were President Obama’s top adviser, what would you tell him to do right now?

NOAM CHOMSKY: I would tell him to do what FDR did when big business was opposed to him. Help organize, stimulate public opposition and put through a serious populist program, which can be done. Stimulate the economy. Don’t give away everything to financiers. Push through real health reform. The health reform that was pushed through may be a slight improvement but it leaves some major problems untouched. If you’re worried about the deficit, pay attention to the fact that it is almost all attributable to military spending and this totally dysfunctional health program."

The Arrest of Julian Assange By CHRIS FLOYD

Truth in Chains

"Well, they got him at last. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the target of several of the world’s most powerful governments, turned himself into British authorities today and is now at the mercy of state authorities who have already shown their wolfish – and lawless – desire to destroy him and his organization. "

This is an extremely thoughtful and powerful article that is well worth your time to review.

From Jefferson to Assange By Robert Scheer

"That is the issue here, pure and simple. It is unconscionable to target Assange for publishing documents on the Internet that mainstream media outlets have attested had legitimate news value. As in the historic case in which Daniel Ellsberg gave The New York Times the Pentagon Papers exposé of the official lies justifying the Vietnam War, Assange is acting as the reporter here, and thus his activities must be shielded by the First Amendment’s guarantee of journalistic freedom"


Bill

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Seriously, Jail the Bankers or This Economy Will Never Fully Recover

Seriously, Jail the Bankers or This Economy Will Never Fully Recover By Joshua Holland

"The Great Recession showed the world that the crimes that create the most victims are not committed by terrorists, gangbangers or drug traffickers, but by well-heeled crooks in Wall Street’s executive suites. Tens of millions of people have seen their jobs disappear and their pension funds fleeced, and had their homes taken out from under their feet as a result of the crash of Wall Street’s Great Casino. Yet so far, the culprits have been given little more than a slap on the wrist.

...

According to University of Missouri scholar (and veteran regulator) William Black, there was widespread fraud “at every step in the home finance food chain.” As Black and economist L. Randall Wray recently wrote:

The appraisers were paid to overvalue real estate; mortgage brokers were paid to induce borrowers to accept loan terms they could not possibly afford; loan applications overstated the borrowers' incomes; speculators lied when they claimed that six different homes were their principal dwelling; mortgage securitizers made false [representations] and warranties about the quality of the packaged loans; credit ratings agencies were overpaid to overrate the securities sold on to investors; and investment banks stuffed collateralized debt obligations with toxic securities that were handpicked by hedge fund managers to ensure they would self destruct."


Bill

Monday, November 15, 2010

The Evidence Is Overwhelming: We Aren't Getting Out of Afghanistan or Even Iraq

The Evidence Is Overwhelming: We Aren't Getting Out of Afghanistan or Even Iraq By Tom Engelhardt

"It looks and feels like the never-ending story, and yet, of course, the imperium is visibly fraying, while the burden of distant wars grows ever heavier. Those “embassies” are being built for the long haul, but a decade or two down the line, I wouldn’t want to put my money on what exactly they will represent, or what they could possibly hope to control."

Have you noticed that NOBODY is talking about those "embassies"? Why not? Because they aren't mentioned in the "news" - and our frame of reference is controlled by what the "news" says is important and what's not. This is a valid question, and an equally valid observation, yet because the scope of this proposition is so large, you can put it right into people's faces and they STILL wouldn't see it.

It is absolutely amazing - astounding - that we-the-people are allowing the warmongers to act as they have - and continue to - in our name. They tell us "this" and do "that" routinely.

TSA: Despite objections, all passengers must be screened

"In response to a video of a California man's dispute with airport security officials, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday it tries to be sensitive to individuals, but everyone getting on a flight must be screened."


The Origin of America’s Intellectual Vacuum By Chris Hedges

"Most of the professors ousted from universities never taught again. Radical and left-wing ideas were effectively stamped out. The purges, most carried out internally and away from public view, announced to everyone inside the universities that dissent was not protected. The confrontation of ideas was killed."

What Chris Hedges is talking about in this article is the origin of America's intellectual vacuum (as the title says!). If you've wondered what happened to the intellectuals in universities, here's your answer: they were purged.


Helen Thomas: ‘It Was a Sneak, Stealth Attack’ -Truthdig

"In this sit-down discussion with the Real News Network, Helen Thomas, deposed doyenne of the White House press corps, discusses her moment of infamy last spring that led to her resignation, claiming she didn’t know she was being interviewed at the time but standing by her controversial commentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."


Helen Thomas is high on my list of heroes. She had the tenacity, the nerve to actually speak the truth.

She's also a casualty of the Zionist led coupe d'etat that's been taking place in America for years now. Think about it. She got in their face - and they summarily canned her. Where were the protests? Not a word of support, yet I couldn't be more supportive. Now, either I'm that different then the ordinary American, or the ordinary American's voice is being filtered. I believe it's the latter - and I'm using this space to voice that information. In the information age, and the current coupe d'etat, our communications channels (the MSM) have been seized, lock, stock and barrel (Helen Thomas being a big chunk of evidence). Purchased or seized, when it comes to something like our information supply, our mindset, the things we think about and what we think about them, the result is the same. Our talking points agenda is established, and we either follow it or be declared "a loner" and a "a loser" - Helen Thomas' epitaph. Such, I fear, is also the epitaph for all of us who think for ourselves and outside of the Zionist-controlled box that is the American information supply.

Given the "thought control" nature of this attack on America, I will not assume you are really aware of what's happening behind the scenes, and the force of this influence cum control. If you goggle on "neocon video" you can watch the testimony of some independent thinkers - like Helen Thomas, who stood out, but is not alone. I, and all "seekers of truth" invite you to PLEASE peruse the mountain of material that's been put together on the Internet regarding this coupe.

I suspect - believe - it's only a matter of time before some national security excuse is used to seize control of the Internet. But until that happens, there are literally tons of information available on this subject for you to read and cross-check. I've been following this coupe for some 30 years now, and it's so big and in our face today that I find it astonishing so few people are doing anything about it. America today is not the America I thought it was growing up. It's very spirit has been seized.

It's too early to tell the fate of this coupe-in-motion. It is easy to see it growing in strength (witness recent elections). To my way of seeing it, they are getting bolder by the day, and the case of Helen Thomas is a very clear example.


Bill

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The dangers of U.S. militarism

The dangers of U.S. militarism by William Pfaff

"It is time to ask a fundamental question that few in an official or political position in the United States seem willing to ask. Has it been a terrible error for the United States to have built an all but irreversible worldwide system of a thousand or more military bases, stations and outposts?

As the Country Falls Apart, It's Time for Our Revolution By Ted Rall

"It doesn't matter whether you feel it or not. It's happening. The story of the United States of America as we know it -- not merely as the world's dominant superpower, but as a discrete political, economic, and geographic entity -- is drawing to a close due to a convergence of emerging economic, environmental, and political crises."



Europe Map Video Shows Changing Borders, '10 Centuries In 5 Minutes' (VIDEO)



Very interesting video shows how the world's map has changed in 1,000 years - all in 5 minutes!


Bill

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Wikileaks' Iraq War Logs: Secret Files Show How US Ignored Torture

Wikileaks' Iraq War Logs: Secret Files Show How US Ignored Torture By Nick Davies and Jonathan Steele and David Leigh

"A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crime"

The good news is that information wants to be free, and this is clearly another of history's finest examples of this truth. If we survive the current holocaust, we should never again forget this lesson.

The bad news is that our enemies will hold this information as further proof of what they've been saying: that their cause is just, and ours is not. This will add gravitas to their argument that they are just and we are not. This will attract still more people to support and even join their cause.

How long do you think it will be before that embassy in Iraq goes up in flames? Maybe this year, maybe longer to prolong the agony of it all. Let's make no mistake about some things: the Iraqi's have hated the occupier since day 1, the Green Zone is a giant symbol of that occupation, and it's either going down or the trigger happy Neocons still in power will start using our Big Guns. Our troops will not go back into Iraq, so when that embassy does come under siege, we're either going to accept that the utter failure this event will signify, or we're going to watch the trigger-happy Neocons escalate.

Afghanistan, the parking lot for some quarter million soldiers and mercenaries. How long do you think our kids want to continue killing, dying, maiming and destroying once it becomes clear they are fighting for no reason with no goal whatsoever?

Israel and it's enemies are gearing up for the Next Big Action as we speak. Despite the MSM filters we do have enough information to see this writing on the wall. Hatred for us is growing, and seemingly more justifiable. Factories around the world churn out more and more armaments, and while it's anyone's guess how many reach the Middle East, even the most conservative would see it's a net increase. Now combine hatred, terrible weapons, religious fever and righteousness and you've got a formula for disaster.

America has been suckered into an impossible position: an all-out military invasion of the Middle East, an area that we cannot conquer.

The Neocons still control the MSM and Congress (Google "neocon video" for all the evidence you might need, presented in video format. If you prefer writing, there's even more material to read ... we're years down their road by now, and a lot of really smart people have reporting on them, but their work doesn't exist in the MSM, so you'll need to turn to alternative sources - and cross check them).

If people continue to be guided by the MSM, then we can be assured the direction is towards escalation and not a peaceful solution. In fact, we know by now that the words "peaceful solution" aren't even in their lexicon. They are absolutely committed to securing military authority in the Middle East, let us not make the mistake of underestimating the truth and significance of this fact.

I believe we can avoid the calamity that awaits us by doing something dramatically peaceful. If we put the criminals who duped Bush, Congress and America into that invasion on trial for war crimes, and we do everything in our power to make amends for their crimes, we have a shot at stopping what they've set in motion. If we do nothing or let play out, it will be with very bad consequences for America.

By "very bad consequences", consider:

1. Our enemies have amply demonstrated their ability to use suicide bombers, and the fact that they use them so casually clearly indicates there is no shortage of supply.

2. Science has created NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) weapons the likes of which we never want to see used on people again, and there are many, many thousands of them all around the world, and undoubtedly some have reached the black market.

3. The guy who tried to blow up a van in midtown NYC: he was on a mission to deliver a message. While the van didn't blow up as planned, he did demonstrate how easy it is to infiltrate a free society. Now suppose he was a suicide bomber armed with enough vials of some terrible biological weapon to kill huge numbers of people. Perhaps you may wonder, as I do, why this hasn't happened. The volunteers are there, the weapons are there, our society can be infiltrated, and we're at war.

This is more of a fait accompli then a perfect storm.

It's amazed me for a decade now that our enemies haven't used a suicide bomber + a terrible weapon in America. Sometimes I think they are actually enjoying their jihad. As weird as that may sound, our enemies have lived with war, terror and fear for so long that they are as accustomed to that as a way of life as we are to ours. I can imagine no other reason why they haven't use that simple formula to perform a terrible attack here.

The only reason I can see for this not being common knowledge is the power of the MSM propaganda machine. For a current example of how easy it is to spin things, take a look at the NY Times reporting on this Wikileaks dump: they are spinning it into an anti-Iran story, which buries the real significance, which is the psychological effect of the dump on our enemies.


Bill

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Who is more deserving of contempt?

Obama's Cynicism by Mark Shea
“ Who is more deserving of contempt? The commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause, however misguided, in which he sincerely believes? Or the commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause in which he manifestly does not believe and yet refuses to forsake?”

...

“When they stand up, we’ll stand down.” 2011 draw down. New boss, same old lies. Bush, at any rate, was a sincere believer in the messianic mission to save the world at American gunpoint. But Obama’s excuse is what?

When Banks Are the Robbers By Amy Goodman

"The big banks that caused the collapse of the global finance market, and received tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts, have likely been engaging in wholesale fraud against homeowners and the courts."

Corruption runs deep.

Here's the real kick in the ass: when the TV propagandists talk about economic problems, you'll notice they NEVER say A SINGLE WORD about the causes of the problems. Last night PBS (which I'm getting disgusted with, but there isn't any other channel to turn to!) had a story about the British austerity measures being enacted to deal with the economic problems. Not ONCE during the story was any mention made of the CAUSE of the economic problem.

Why not? Because to talk about it will lead to more talk, and eventually the need to put people on trial will get involved. So, to preempt that whole path to begin with, we don't talk about it. It's just like American's so-called devotion to Israel. If people were asked on a level playing field if our country should be on the line for that country, I have absolutely no doubt the American people would vote against any further support until they clean up their act. Maybe they wouldn't, but that isn't an American problem.

This isn't a Jewish problem because it's not all Jews causing these problems for America, but it's also true that a large percentage of those behind the problems are Jewish. Look at the signatures on the PNAC Statement of Principles, and look at media ownership and influence (now including PBS, the last bastion which died when Bill Moyers retired). I suppose many are Zionists, but I think that word misrepresents the gang somewhat as the majority who voted the Zionists in and support them may not be Zionists themselves. Anyway, I came up with the term "Soldiers of Israel", and to this day I can't come up with a better one. Too bad there needs to be a label, but the gang has to be called something, otherwise it's not real. Our plight today is very real, and if we want to set things right, we have to understand the root causes. So does England, BTW.

I want to say one thing very clearly: my problem isn't with people. I like all people. The problem I'm addressing has to do with philosophy. The Soldiers of Israel practice a philosophy that is completely unacceptable to me, yet was the driving force behind the American military invasion of the Middle East and the horror and suffering that resulted in for countless people. Media complicity in getting the invasion launched clear by so many facts, including the fact that the invasion of the Middle East has been called everything else but that. The invasion was never about Iraq or Afghanistan, it was to change the whole Middle East and insure it's countries are subordinate to America and our "ally" Israel. Finally, the treatment of the Palestinians is as barbaric as is the notion of preemptive war. These people do not deserve power, but they've seized it anyway. Now we have to take that power back, and time is of the essence.


Bill

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Big problems, clear solutions. It's up to you

Proposition: Fix our election process and our information supply, and the rest will follow. 

Problem: Control of our government has been seized by special interests, and has grown so far removed from the concept of by/for/of the people that virtually everyone sees it, but since every major organization has been bought out (PBS being just one more perfect example!), we lack the organization to do anything. There are likely bunches of qualified leaders out there - we just don't know about them (think Ron Paul and how the machine dealt with during the so-called "debates")

Solution: Each and every one of us 300 million people need to do SOMETHING. I don't care if it's talking to a neighbor, writing a blog, challenging the propaganda machine, or any other thing you can come up with. It wouldn't be the weight of your effort that changes anything, it will be the combined weight of millions of people. If we all just jumped on one foot at the same time, we'd probably knock the Earth of our orbit, or certainly be felt around the world. If you're not doing anything at all today, start with just one thing.

With so many people talking, writing and communicating, SOMETHING will come into existence that will help us get to the next stage of organization, and then we can be - at long last - a truly democratic state with a gov't of/by/for the people.

Problem: Our information supply, the so-called mainstream media, is a giant propaganda machine, under editorial control of a handful of people who get to 'snuff' and 'puff' the issues, which results in a completely biased ("right wing") point of view that's been eating our country and way of life.

You know why Europe has a different attitude then America? It's all about information and who controls the editorial content. 

Solution: read alternate websites like  alternet, truthdig, counterpunch, antiwar, commondreams and others (and pass around links to these websites to your family and friends!)


Bill

Monday, October 18, 2010

American Warscapes

American Warscapes by Tom Engelhardt

Tom Engelhardt stands back and takes a look at the big picture of what's become of America. It's not a pretty sight. It's ugly, in fact, but it's true - and we tolerate it at our enormous peril.


Bill

Sunday, October 17, 2010

How Neo-Cons Became Honorary Christians

How Neo-Cons Became Honorary Christians By LAWRENCE SWAIM

The Middle East is a ticking bomb. "Oh," someone will say "how could it be a ticking bomb when we're already at war?".

True, we have invaded and occupy two countries so far, but it's not YET a real war because most people in America aren't personally affected by it. It's only a very tiny percentage of families who have kin engaged in the war who are actually feeling it, the rest of America is more concerned with jobs, the economy and whatever "major news" stories of the day break out.

But this status quo will change. The dogs are out, and while they are still contained "over there", the underlying, driving forces have taken a life of their own, as happens with war.

It's very clear that too few of us remember what war actually is, and far too many are willing to put up with and even romanticize it. Be that as it may, the dogs are out and they're running all over the Middle East. It is only a matter of time before things get worse, far worse, first "over there" and eventually - nobody knows when - the devastating consequences of war come home with the chickens to roost.

As anyone who has given any serious thought to the invasion of the Middle East knows, it was fueled and sparked by the Neocons and their sympathizers, especially and particularly in our information supply, the people who frame our national narrative. If you've read anything I've written on the subject in the last decade or so, you'll know that I'm completely and totally against this gang, and as you might guess been stuck with the anti-semite sword as a consequence. Fine. I don't care. I care about America and the world at large. I care about peace and building, and I see mankind's future in space exploration, not to mention repairing our own planet. Everything I see and want is negated by the onslaught of this gang's mind-numbing activities.

The following is from another excellent article on the subject. I'm very pleased to see such intellectual heavyweights gaining momentum if only on alternate websites today. The power of their truth cannot be stifled by Neocon filters over our information supply.


"The neo-con approach to problem-solving is no longer rational, or based on enlightened or even informed self-interest, but has become an apocalyptic movement based on identification with the Holocaust, driven by an almost complete internalization of its trauma and an ever-present and semi-hysterical death worship of the six million. The basic neo-conservative idea is that both America and Israel must exist in a state of permanent war, an idea that neo-cons first expressed in their public letter to Netayahu in 1996 pleading against a peace deal with the Palestinians. But what country can remain in a state of permanent war? Why is that better than peace? Permanent war is an abomination, and people who believe in it are insane.

The apocalyptic, victimology-driven Jewish neo-cons who want permanent war do not flinch for a moment at the potential loss of Jewish lives; indeed, they have lived for years in a moral and emotional universe in which it is assumed as self-evident that the world hates the Jews, everybody is against them, and a new Holocaust is on the way. In fact it is so self-evident and so necessary to their weltanschauung that the neo-cons that believe in it will do almost anything to make it happen.

The more Jews that die: the more children murdered: the more the neo-cons can trumpet to the world that everybody really does hate them. Their solution is an apocalyptic one, borrowed from the most hysterical and blood-obsessed form of Christianity, but going the Christians one step better—to the neo-cons the objective is not to win the Final Battle, but to lose it, thereby acting out to ecstatic completion the total authenticity of their victim status. The apocalyptic solution is, at bottom, a dangerous, narcissistic form of public suicide that seeks the destruction of the world as its answer to the paradoxes of the human dilemma."

Bill

Saturday, October 16, 2010

The War On Terror

The War On Terror by Paul Craig Roberts

"Are Americans aware that the same neoconservatives who made these fantastic mistakes, or told these fabulous lies, are still in control of the government in Washington?

...

The US government creates terrorists by invading Muslim countries, wrecking infrastructure and killing vast numbers of civilians. The US also creates terrorists by installing puppet governments to rule over Muslims and by using the puppet governments to murder and persecute citizens as is occurring on a vast scale in Pakistan today.

Neoconservatives used 9/11 to launch their plan for US world hegemony. Their plan fit with the interests of America’s ruling oligarchies. Wars are good for the profits of the military/security complex, about which President Eisenhower warned us in vain a half century ago. American hegemony is good for the oil industry’s control over resources and resource flows. The transformation of the Middle East into a vast American puppet state serves well the Israel Lobby’s Zionist aspirations for Israeli territorial expansion."


Alert -- The Same Neocons Who Peddled the Al Qaeda-Iraq Connection Are Setting Their Sights on Iran By Ali Gharib

"They lied us into one war, and now they're trying to get the U.S. into another. "

Bill

Friday, October 15, 2010

Publish or Perish

Publish or Perish Getting a Read on American War By Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt

"Quick — name the five most important, influential, and best known books on the Afghan War. Okay, name three. Okay, I’ll settle for two. How about one?"

Recently, I've wondered about something very similar: the fact that there isn't a single anti-war song being played anywhere. I'm not seeing any anti-war movies either, but it seems to me the missing songs are the more important. You do remember John Lennon, right? Remember "Age of Destruction", which could have been written today.

Is it possible there is no passion out there? Am I, and the writers at the anti-war sites I visit regularly, the only ones that feel a sense of passion over what's happened to America? Are film and song writers not among us - at all?

Or is there a deeper, darker, more insidious truth? Is it possible that the channels of distribution for songs and movies are controlled by the same people who control the mainstream media's editorial content?

On the subject of poignant anti-war writing, a reader comment to this article submitted by Jeff Davis quotes from "Johnny got his gun"

""Of course a lot of guys were ashamed. Somebody said let's go out and fight for liberty and so they went out and got killed without ever once thinking of liberty. And what kind of liberty were they fighting for anyway? How much liberty and whose kind of liberty? Were they fighting for the liberty of eating free ice cream cones all their lives or for the liberty of robbing anybody they pleased whenever they wanted to or what? You tell a man he can't rob and you take away some of his liberty. You've got to. What the hell does liberty mean anyhow? It's a word like house or table or any other word. Only it's a special kind of word. A guy says house and he can point to a house to prove it. But a guy says come on let's fight for liberty and he can't show you liberty. He can't prove the thing he's talking about so how in the hell can he be telling you to fight for it? No sir anybody who went out and got into the front line trenches to fight for liberty was a goddamn fool and the guy who got him there was a liar."

"Was it freedom from another country? Freedom from work or disease or death? Freedom from your mother-in-law? Please mister give us a bill of sale on this freedom before we go out and get killed. Give us a bill of sale drawn up plainly in advance what we're getting killed for... so we can be sure after we've won your war that we've got the same kind of freedom we bargained for."

— Dalton Trumbo (Johnny Got His Gun) "


Bill

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Why Germany Has It So Good -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain

Why Germany Has It So Good -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain By Terrence McNally

"... Germany has somehow managed to create a high-wage, unionized economy without shipping all its jobs abroad or creating a massive trade deficit, or any trade deficit at all. And even as the Germans outsell the United States, they manage to take six weeks of vacation every year. They're beating us with one hand tied behind their back."

"My second proposal is simply the most effective way to move ultimately to a single payer healthcare system, which I think we have to do. I would say that even if I didn't think single payer were a better system. You have to have one consistent system of payment to get control of healthcare costs. All the European countries do. It doesn't have to be single payer, but it has to be a consistent system. You can't have a mix of private market and single payer."
You may recall the health care "debate" and how it was framed by the media as a comparison between the American and the Canadian and British health care systems, but not a single word about the German system. While this article touches on this subject, it's far more then that.

"You point out that as globalization grew, the US chose to compete on the basis of cheap labor by outsourcing. We kept the marketing and executives here and moved the manufacturing elsewhere. We've been playing that game for 20-30 years now. Germany chose to play the opposite game."

The article ends with:

"McNally: Let me finish with a quote of yours that really struck me: Without an industrial base a democracy dies.

Geoghegan: My own favorite ending line would be: Countries like Germany do both capitalism and socialism better than we do."


Bill

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Our Country Is Lost Believing in What It Sees on Screens, and We Are Going to Pay a Nasty Price for It

Our Country Is Lost Believing in What It Sees on Screens, and We Are Going to Pay a Nasty Price for It By Chris Hedges

"We do not shake ourselves awake quickly from our electronic hallucinations and defy the elites who are ruining the country and trashing the planet."

Chris Hedges has a remarkable way with words. Every time I read his writing, I relate completely to what he's saying and only wish I could express myself as well. Right on, Chris, as usual.

Helen Thomas Cries, Denies Anti-Semitism, Calls President Obama 'Reprehensible'

See excellent reader comments.


Bill

Monday, October 11, 2010

Why defense spending won't go down much

Why defense spending won't go down much Posted By Stephen M. Walt

"Although it is mind-boggling to realize that five percent of the world's population (the United States) now spends more on defense than the other 95 percent put together, this situation is hard to avoid when you see threats emerging virtually everywhere and when you think all of them are best met by an ambitious and highly interventionst foreign policy."

Cutting the Fuse The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It by Robert A. Pape and James K. Feldman

"Since 2004, the number of suicide attacks—whether within a country or transnational—has grown with shocking speed. Through a close analysis of suicide campaigns by Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Israel, Chechnya, and Sri Lanka, the authors provide powerful new evidence that, contrary to popular and dangerously mistaken belief, only a tiny minority of these attacks are motivated solely by religion. Instead, the root cause is foreign military occupation, which triggers secular and religious people alike to carry out suicide attacks."

Surprise -- The Very Dark Side of U.S. History By Peter Dale Scott and Robert Parry

"What is clear from these experiences in Indonesia, Vietnam, Central America and elsewhere is that the United States, for generations, has sustained two parallel but opposed states of mind about military atrocities and human rights: one of U.S. benevolence, generally held by the public, and the other of ends-justify-the-means brutality embraced by counterinsurgency specialists."

Israel Invokes a Loyalty Oath for Non-Jews

Reader comments say it all.


Bill

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Israel and US Media

Israel and US Media

This brief video, on a sparsely viewed website, goes right to the core of America's greatest problem: the manipulation of our information supply.

Sure, it's ostensibly about Israel, but in fact it goes much deeper, right into the heart of America's core values. This is because not only is the image of Israel distorted by the "filters" described, but there is a wholesale distortion of other values as well. Consider that not a single person has been put on trial for war crimes in Iraq, and the massive taxpayer robbery called the "bailout".

How is that possible? This country routinely and regularly jails people for a huge assortment of petty offenses, yet can't find it in it's spine to put people on trial for serious crimes?

This speaks of manipulation of our information supply, the so-called mass media. Just how deeply affected is this system by these 'filters'? Do most people spend hours on the Internet learning, of do they watch the "news" on TV and read the newspapers? While there is shift underway, it's obviously too slight and unorganized to make any difference at all.

Here's hoping the TV merges into the computer, and this happens before filters are applied to the Internet. Nothing less then our future is at stake.


Bill

Monday, October 4, 2010

Overcoming AIPAC is Not Enough

Overcoming AIPAC is Not Enough By LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

"So you see that as we move ahead we must meld the liberation of the United States from AIPAC's wholly negative influence with the revival of U.S. national interests in the broader Middle East and Muslim world, and that in turn with the viable future of Palestine. All three must be promoted as an interlinked package. If they are not, Washington will certainly some day be free of AIPAC, but Palestine will left under the pernicious shadow of Israel. For this we will always be blamed and our interests will always suffer."


Peace Process to Nowhere By FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY

"Now we are again faced with the depressing spectacle of humiliation. President Obama, like his predecessors (Ike excepted), is allowing Israel to play him and the United States for the fool. But this time, the humiliation ought to be particularly galling to those of us who think of themselves as being proud to be Americans.

Why? Because the President of the United States is prostrating himself before the Israeli altar for nothing, I repeat, nothing -- except, perhaps, an ephemeral advantage in his own domestic politics. "


Bill

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Today's picks

These articles caught my attention today:

Who Really Thinks We’ll Win in Afghanistan? By Eugene Robinson

The Real Democratic Whiners By David Sirota

'Born Illegal' -- Exploring the Powerful Advanced Psychedelics Invented by the Father of Ecstasy By Charles Shaw


Bob Woodward's Dark Side -- Famed Reporter Carries Water for the Pentagon
By Russ Baker

Congress Has Plans for an Internet Blacklist in the Works -- Let's Stop This Now By David Segal and Aaron Swarz


Observation:

When you consider Carl Jung's description of human nature, essentially based on the "opposites", and you look back at historical accounts of the wars and conflicts that support this truth, and then you look at today's - and tomorrows - incredibly powerful weapons of destruction, you can't help but get the sense that either we learn to tame ourselves or we're destined to make war on a scale never seen before - and then we'll do it. Why not now?



Bill

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Peace Process to Nowhere

Peace Process to Nowhere By FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY

"If, as is likely, this report is true, Israel has humiliated the United States once again -- a fact that will no doubt be deemed irrelevant by Israel’s shills on both sides of the aisle in Congress, not to mention the mainstream media.

...

In fact, Israel learned it could get away with murder and could treat the United States with utter contempt when (1) its air and naval forces not only attacked the USS Liberty -- a high priority US Navy signals intelligence ship -- on 8 June 1967 during the Six-Day War, killing 34 and wounding 171 US sailors, but (2) was able to secure a cover up of its perfidy by the highest levels of the US government, including President Johnson, Secretary of Defense McNamara, and most of the senior military officers in the Pentagon, despite the misgivings of Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State and Admiral Thomas Moorer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (neither of whom chose to resign in protest, however)."

(I've added the link to the book on the attack of the USS Liberty to the quote above)


20 Signs that the Economic Collapse Is Already Upon Us By Michael Snyder

"Not that there is anything wrong with a safety net. But the "safety net" was never meant to hold 50 million people on Medicaid and 40 million people on food stamps. The number of Americans on food stamps has more than doubled since 2007. So do we just double it again as things get even worse?

...

Both political parties need a big wakeup call. There is a tsunami of poverty sweeping the United States, and somebody better wake up and do something about it. More handouts will help people get by in the short-term, but there is no way that the federal government can financially support tens of millions more poor Americans.

How long is it going to be before the "safety net" simply collapses under the weight of all this poverty?

...

How anyone can look at those numbers and think that things are about to "get better" absolutely boggles the mind.

It is time to wake up.

Things are not going to get better.

Things are only going to get worse.

The United States is rapidly becoming a nation where poverty is absolutely rampant.

As poverty continues to spread, crime will not be far behind.

Meanwhile, the international community wants to impose a global tax on us so that they can "redistribute" even more of our wealth around the world."


There are 2 related points to consider:

1. Israel's control over our information supply and BOTH parties in Congress produced not only produced the requisite support for the invasion of the Middle East, but also the drubbing of our middle class. A warmongering attitude and a contemptuous disregard for anyone who gets in the way of the mission are related.

There is a direct linkage between money and war. Among so many other things, it appears that our information supply has duped Americans into not seeing this otherwise totally obvious connection.

2. It's been clear from the beginning that Israel "firsters" (I call them "Soldiers of Israel" because Israeli or Jew or Zionist is debateable, which dilutes the attempt to assign a label for the entity we're dealing with, so something is needed) have bet our farm on their crusade for authority in the Middle East. It's been a long, slow burn, and now the chickens are starting to come home to roost.

Any serious student of what's happening in the Middle East knows that we're not winning, and that winning hasn't even been defined (who do we expect to sit down and negotiate a surrender with? Bin Laden?). No, it's a never-ending war, picked on with a religion with over a billion followers, something like 1/4 of the world's population.

3. Raise your hand if you see the connection between what happened behind the scenes of the greatest rip-off of all time, the "bailout" and the Soldiers of Israel who manipulated changes in laws that allowed banks to start gambling with taxpayer backed money? And gamble they did, and lose we did.

Now, add the cost of the "bailout" together with the cost of the invasion of the Middle East. What do you think about this kind of money?


Bill

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Iraq's cost

Iraq’s Cost by Hendrik Hertzberg

"But it was also a reminder, gentle but pointed, that the war was a war of Bush’s choice—a choice that has left Obama with no good choices, only the responsibility of withdrawing in a way that mitigates, or at least does not needlessly extend, the harm this war has done to Iraq and its people and to American interests, American honor, and American power."

Here's the rub: The invasion of Iraq was an unmitigated disaster for America from the time the pump-up for war started, through the invasion, and now it's haunting us today - and it will continue to haunt us into the future - until some God-awful event happens that shakes people awake and into the reality of what happened.

Who to blame? There's lots of blame to spread around, but let's start with the Neocon-infested propaganda machine that stretches from Hollywood through the TV and into the newspapers - the machine that marched in lockstep to drum up support for the invasion and force-fed Americans daily appetite with the evils of Saddam and the urgent need to invade Iraq.

What to do? Let's start with putting Bush on trial for murder - and let the trial go where it must.

What if we do nothing? Suppose we stay the course and do nothing? What will happen in Iraq?

Well, nobody can predict the future, especially particular events, but one can see trends, and there's a "megatrend" at work with Iraq. The vast majority of Iraqi's want the occupier out, and those who have suffered at our hand hate us and no doubt many want revenge. Translated: I see Iraqi's working together to oust their common enemy, the occupier, before they get on with the business or re-organizing Iraq their way, probably with the separation of a Kurdish state and then the break-up of the rest between the Sunni's and Shite's, with the Shite south aligning with Iran.

Now think about that Green Zone, that cost more then a stack of bills reaching from here to the moon, and it's fate. How many rockets have to be fired at it from how many different directions before they realize that air power can't protect it - and trying is eating up and destroying the city around it.

Will Americans be pulled out of the Green Zone on helicopters? It's easy to see it coming to that.

Regardless, the cost to us for the invasion of Iraq is headed our way. It's time we woke up and realized that we have been massively duped - and do something about it.

Once again, I say support Mr Bugliosi's effort to put Bush on trial for murder. That's one that we can all agree on - now anyway.

Neocons in Retreat by Jack Hunter

Please read this article and especially the very informative reader comments.


Bill

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Obama and Iraq: ‘Through a Glass, Darkly’

Obama and Iraq: ‘Through a Glass, Darkly’ By Scott Ritter

As you may be aware, Scott Ritter is the target of a smear campaign, similar to what's happening to Julian Assange (and anyone else taking a public stand against the Neocons). In both cases, all they had to do was raise the specter of some sex-related scandal in the "news", and walla, the target's reputation is dirtied and now everything they say is suspect. Works every time.

In this article, Scott summarizes the Iraq debacle, and notes that "The president and the American people will all too soon come to recognize that the quagmire in Iraq is far from over. In fact, one might say it has only just begun"

He's right, of course. We can't just wish away the criminal invasion and destruction of Iraq.

There are many bad things yet to happen in and around Iraq, culminating perhaps (I think likely) with our billion-dollar embassy becoming a modern incarnation of the Alamo.

And that's not all.

Surely you've noticed that it's been almost 10 years since any significant attacks have occurred here at home. I, for one, find this fact incredible. How is it possible, I ask, that we have millions of enemies out there, and none of them have been able to strike back? Is it because our many-billion dollar security apparatus actually works? Is it a matter of luck? Both? Or are our enemies just taking their time, putting together some sort of modern-day Tet offensive? I don't know, of course, like everyone else, but I have a very strong sense of foreboding for the future of America if we don't set ourselves straight, if we can at all.

I believe Vincent Bugliosi is right to call for putting Bush on trial for murder. I think this is the best action we can take, because such a trial will invariably expose the Neocons behind it all for their many criminal acts, most notably the invasion of Iraq, but also the corruption of our information supply.

The neocons own the narrative.

Where are the calls for putting Bush and his cronies on trial? Why isn't this a debate at the national level?

It's because the Neocons have effective editorial control over our information supply, and they exercise this control for certain issues, such as the culpability of people responsible for the criminal invasion of Iraq, the financial crimes committed by the barons of banking, and the sacrosanct treatment of Israel.



Bill

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Iraq - the end game

Just two of today's articles on the subject of our military and Iraq:

Iraqi forces struggling, forcing U.S. troops to fight By Shashank Bengali and Mohammed al Dulaimy

As Iraq winds down, U.S. Army confronts a broken force By Nancy A. Youssef

Where is it all headed?

It's so obvious, isn't it? If not, why?

- could it be that the mainstream media perpetuates it's illusions, already proven to be manipulative and flat out wrong, but because it's in print and on the TV screen, people buy it and they continue to get away with it.

- people have either forgotten Vietnam and other historical accounts, are really apathetic. Maybe they don't have time to study, or maybe they feel so helpless that they just can't deal with it.

We're entering a new phase in Iraq, that much is certain. How long will this new phase last, and what will it lead to?

My analysis, based on experience and study, is that the Neocons have bet our farm on their mission to establish military authority in the ME for Israel's benefit. They will not let us pull our troops out of the ME in a wind-down because that will be perceived by all as defeat and leave Israel surrounded by enemies.

So they are waiting for another opportunity, any attack on us anywhere will do. Like 9/11 they will pump it to sound like the end of the world, and then they'll re-ignite their crusade with a grander attack on their enemies. For them, it's a race between America's desire to bring our troops home, and the event they can use to keep them fighting.

What will qualify for such a major event? Well, given their proven ability to manipulate news, they don't need very much to work with. Any attack here will do. It is amazing that there haven't been attacks. This defies logic and common sense. There's another story there, I'm sure. But for the purpose of what happens with our invasion of the ME, only 1 attack will do. They will make it look like 9/11 all over again. The "news" will blast it before our eyes a hundred million times, and we'll be pumping up the military to save us again.

Will they use the Big Guns next time? Given their druthers, I have no doubt the Neocon gang will pull any trigger they believe will advance their cause. There is no morality, there is only winning (the 'ends justify the means' mentality, this time by grand example). After victory, they get to write the history books.

For the Neocons, there can be no losing. It's massively important that we understand this. They cannot and will not lose. They will kill everyone on Earth if they have to, but they will not lose their precious Israel and it's power over it's neighbors. This is not a bargaining chip, it's an absolute.

Maybe you have someone you care about in the Military, or maybe you are just curious and able to read. Whichever, once you connect these dots and you realize the seriousness of this, hopefully you'll be compelled to do something, no matter how small, if hundreds of millions of people just do something, we have a chance to stop them.

My suggestion is an Internet based, open source election process that removes the influence of money from the political equation. We have no shortage of education, wise and intelligent people that we can vote into office, given the chance.

We also must put Bush on trial for murder, which will invariably lead to prosecuting the Neocons for war crimes as well.

Do these things and we can save ourselves, our spirit, our country, and our world.

Don't do these things at our peril. What do you think will happen when the Green Zone comes under frequent attack for the purpose of finally ousting the occupier - a confrontation backed by the majority of Iraqi's?


Bill

The Transparent Cabal

The Transparent Cabal by Ed Warner

"History is full of examples of a determined minority prevailing over a more passive majority. A case in point is the neoconservative effort to bring the United States into war with Iraq largely for the protection of Israel. Despite the dubious reasons the neoconservatives advanced — Iraq has WMDs, ties to al-Qaeda — they managed to overcome the resistance of the military, the State Department and CIA partly by infiltrating them for their own ends. As the book title suggests, much of this was done in the open, a transparent cabal."

This book review starts out with the statement above, as other books and articles on this subject have done, but this particular book, this time, the accusations and the depth and breadth of supporting materials are reaching epic proportions. That is, there is now so much information available supporting this analysis that it can't be ignored.

The book being reviewed is on amazon, click here. Be sure to read the editorial and customer reviews at the bottom of the page, to see what I mean by saying the amount of supporting information has grown large enough to be astonishing to the uninformed.

There's another web site, click here, devoted to a press/tv interview with Dr. Stephen Sniegoski, the author of the book.


Bill

Friday, September 17, 2010

This Country Just Can't Deal with Reality Any More

This Country Just Can't Deal with Reality Any More By Robert Parry

Robert Parry's analysis is accurate and well worth the time to read. He is one of only a handful of people with the ability to stand back, see, and write about the big picture as it really is.

But how many people will actually read this and think about it? How many people actually care? I look around and see apathy among too many people. A sense of hopelessness, that we can't do anything about it. I'm reminded of the couple I had met in my travels who were children in Dresden during WWII, and how they pleaded with me to understand how helpless they were at the time.

I think what we're seeing is the results of years of propaganda duping by the "mass media" (I hate that term and would prefer to say "our information supply", but doubt most people would realize they are one and the same). People vote and behave a certain way - and it's connected to what they read in the papers and see on TV. It's this relationship that we live with, but like the elephant in the room, never talk about.

The Internet has the potential to change this, to be used as an "organizing force" by people who want to oust the control freaks from power. If this sounds libertarian and progressive, I'll take the labels. ANYTHING but the right wing and Zionist warmongers!

The question will boil down to whether the Internet belongs to the people or the Government and Corporations (today almost one and the same). If it belongs to the people, then we will be able to protect information we consider private, while also sharing that which we wish to make public, and nobody else has the right to violate our privacy in this regard.

Today the forces are at work against this, the notion of our having private information. They, I believe are already "harvesting" the Internet, saving it's contents in a mountain somewhere, for their future use against anyone who stands up to them. Take a close look at the contrived charges against Julian Assange for an example of how anyone can be brought down.


Bill

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

'The Great American Stickup': It Was The Economy, Stupid

'The Great American Stickup': It Was The Economy, Stupid by Robert Scheer

"If we as a people learn anything from this crash, however, it should be that there are no adults watching the store, only a tiny elite of self-interested multimillionaires and billionaires making decisions for the rest of us. As long as we cede that power to them, we can expect to continue getting bilked."

Afghan War Myths by Ted Rall

Read the appalling truth about the Afghanistan invasion.

My theory continues to be that Afghanistan is nothing more or less then a parking lot for troops dispatched as part of the Neocon plan to establish military authority in the Middle East. Who knows what action/event will occur that re-starts the bigger campaign. Could be Iran or any of the other players in the region, but one thing we can count on: our troops aren't leaving the ME anytime soon - because that would not be good for Israel, and what Israel wants, Israel gets.

Bill

Monday, September 13, 2010

Los Angeles Launches Nation’s First Israel Divestment Campaign

Los Angeles Launches Nation’s First Israel Divestment Campaign by Linda Milazzo

The subject matter and the content of this article is relatively innocuous compared to the reader comments. Highly recommended reading.



Bill

Friday, September 10, 2010

The ‘Meaning’ of 9/11

The ‘Meaning’ of 9/11 by Justin Raimondo

"... Cameron’s noting that "more than sixty" Israelis had been arrested immediately after 9/11, along with and under the same legal rubric as thousands of Arabs, had also been noted here in this space, before the Fox News broadcasts. Why, I asked in a column, was the US government rounding up Israelis, of all people – unless there was some kind of Israeli connection to the attacks? The answer came in Cameron’s reporting, and subsequent stories in the "mainstream" media: the Israelis, whose intelligence services had been very active on our soil in the months leading up to 9/11, had been following the hijackers, shadowing their every move, without telling us – almost as if they were protecting them rather than trying to stop them."


Why Robert Rubin and Citibank Execs Should Be in Deep Trouble by Zach Carter

"Rubin’s involvement with Citi has always reeked of impropriety. Back when Rubin was still running the Treasury Department, he convinced Congress and President Clinton to sign-off on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed decades of Wall Street regulation. The bill allowed ordinary, boring banks to get into high-flying Wall Street securities trading, and was directly lobbied for by Citibank, which needed the legislation in order to go through with a key merger. Once the bill was passed, Ruin left Treasury for Citi, where he made $120 million before departing in disgrace after the crash."

Bill

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Pointless war

Implications of a Pointless War by Robert Koehler

"What does it mean that the New York Times, upon the occasion of President Obama’s announced drawdown of forces in Iraq last week, called our seven and a half years of invasion and occupation of the country "a pointless war"?

...

But this was $3 trillion worth of pointless war, which left in its wake a wrecked and polluted country with millions of displaced people, soaring cancer and birth defect rates, "at least" 100,000 dead Iraqis and by some measures more than a million. If we’re actually at the point of acknowledging that the war was a "mistake," that all this carnage, all this wasted blood and treasure, were "pointless," isn’t an accounting of some sort required — a pause in governmental operations, a national soul-searching, an inquiry? How in God’s name does the largest military machine in human history get mobilized into a pointless war?"

...

But perhaps a door is opening. I repeat the question I asked at the beginning of this column. What does it mean that the New York Times is calling the Iraq disaster a pointless war? I know what it should mean: that such an awareness triggers an outbreak of responsible journalism throughout the corporate media, beginning with a curbing of military and disgraced neocon influence over what is proclaimed news.

For whatever reason, Robert Koehler elected not to suggest (although it's written between the lines) that Bush (and his cronies) be put on trial for murder and crimes against humanity.

US Leaving Iraq in Worse Shape Than Saddam by Michael O'Brien

"The excerpt above refers to projects done outside the oversight of MNSTC-I, but the problem with all the infrastructure in Iraq is the same, whether it’s for the two security ministries, or anything else built by the US there. As I say in my book: we broke it, so therefore we own it. We came in and bombed the place back to the stone age, then we hired US construction firms who hauled in money by the truck load and were then sent packing, and then had inexperienced US military officers or other bureaucrats running the whole thing who wouldn’t give a guy who wasn’t wearing a uniform the time of day. But that guy had been doing this type of work for over 20 years. And my position was originally thought of by two officers on the J-7 staff. But they were long gone by the time I got there."


Do Americans Know What Happened in Iraq? by Michael O'Brien

The above 2 articles are by Michael O'Brien, who very obviously cares about America. His questions are provocative and telling. Please read both articles.


How to Kill Goyim and Influence People: Israeli Rabbis Defend Book's Shocking Religious Defense of Killing Non-Jews (with Video)
By Max Blumenthal

Get a load of this.


Bill

Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Fake Military Withdrawal

The Fakest Military Withdrawal Imaginable in Iraq By Ramzy Baroud

"So what if the US army downgrades its military presence in Iraq and re-labels over 50,000 remaining soldiers? Will the US military now stop chasing after perceived terrorist threats? Will it concede an inch of its unchallenged control over Iraqi skies? Will it relinquish power over the country's self-serving political elite? Will it give up its influence over every relevant aspect of life in the country, from the now autonomous Kurdish region in the north all the way to the border with Kuwait in the south, which the jubilant soldiers crossed while hollering the shrieks of victory?"

Does it really take a genius to know that this isn't going to end well for our troops (and our nation)? Hostility towards the occupier has existed since the start of the invasion, not to mention what we did to them before the invasion with the embargo. I've seen Pew reports showing the vast majority clearly demand occupier leave. Why is this so hard for us to understand? Can't we imagine foreign troops on our streets? If not, maybe now is a good time to think about it.

The way it's really going to go down, as I see it, wouldn't be a Vietnam style rout, nor will it resemble the Alamo. It will be unique, and very bad, because we have so many big guns and so many people willing to use them.

Eventually our troops will leave, that much is clear. We know it and the Iraqi's know it. Question is whether they will take this opportunity to show off their tribal zeal and affinity by hurting and embarrassing the occupier in the last stages of the occupation, when on the ground troop strength is so low. I think they will.

Imagine it gets down to the embassy, and it's under siege, taking fire daily. What would the Neocons do? Send troops back in? No. Pull out? Maybe, but maybe the warmongers will decide to have a field day with the Big Guns?

The important understanding here is that the Neocons bet our farm on their crusade to establish military authority in the Middle East. They have no plans on withdrawing our military until they complete this mission. If our troops were to be pulled out of the Middle East, Israel would be left surrounded by enemies. The Neocons and their friends in our information supply, the media, aren't going to let that happen. They'll come up with all kinds of stories, excuses, great things to say, etc., but that war is far from over.


Bill








Bill

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Mass Assassinations - and what it means

Mass Assassinations Lie at the Heart of America's Military Strategy in the Muslim World By Fred Branfman

"The truth that many Americans find hard to take is that that mass U.S. assassination on a scale unequaled in world history lies at the heart of America's military strategy in the Muslim world, a policy both illegal and never seriously debated by Congress or the American people. Conducting assassination operations throughout the 1.3 billon-strong Muslim world will inevitably increase the murder of civilians and thus create exponentially more "enemies," as Gen. McChrystal suggests -- posing a major long-term threat to U.S. national security. This mass assassination program, sold as defending Americans, is actually endangering us all. Those responsible for it, primarily General Petraeus, are recklessly seeking short-term tactical advantage while making an enormous long-term strategic error that could lead to countless American deaths in the years and decades to come. General Petraeus must be replaced, and the U.S. military's policy of direct and mass assassination of Muslims ended.

...

The U.S. has conducted assassination programs in the Third World for decades, but the actual killing -- though directed and financed by the C.I.A. -- has been largely left to local paramilitary and police forces. This has now has changed dramatically.

...

The notion that a handful of U.S. military and CIA officials have the right to unilaterally and secretly murder anyone they choose in any nation on earth, without even outside knowledge let alone oversight, is deeply troubling to anyone with a conscience, belief in democracy, or respect for international law. It was precisely such behavior that made the Gestapo and Soviet secret police symbols of evil.

...

Both the "Underwear" and the "Times Square" bombers attributed their attempts to blow up Americans to their anger at the drone strikes. While Americans were saved by their incompetence, the U.S. may not be so lucky the next time, and the time after that. One thing is crystal clear: inflaming anti-American hatred throughout the Muslim world can only exponentially increase the numbers of those committed to killing Americans."


Quoted more then usual from this article, but this is a powerful line of thinking which has been on my mind for some time, so I'm pleased to see it so well articulated. Please read the entire article - and think about it!



Bill

Monday, August 23, 2010

Look at what we're done

U.S. Occupation of Iraq More Than Doubles Poverty, Sickness -- Leaves Country a Total Disaster By Adil E. Shamoo

"Iraq has between 25 and 50 percent unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life. What a havoc the United States has wreaked in Iraq."

"This is What Success Looks Like" By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

"The only reliable definition of “success” in any of the United States’ martial enterprises is the effective destruction in economic, social and environmental terms of the target country. That certainly happened in Iraq and is a process far advanced in Afghanistan."

The Iraq Legacy: Tell It Like It Is by Medea Benjamin

"With the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, the administration, the military and the media are trying to put a positive spin on this grim chapter of U.S. history. It would certainly give some comfort to the grieving families of the over 4,400 soldiers killed in Iraq if their sacrifices had left Iraq a better place or made America safer. But the bitter truth is that the U.S. intervention has been an utter disaster for both Iraq and the United States."

Bill

Friday, August 20, 2010

The Iraq Debacle: The Legacy of Seven Years of War

The Iraq Debacle: The Legacy of Seven Years of War by Iraq Debacle Coalition

Please read this brief and concise evaluation of the Iraq invasion and recommendations.

I sincerely - 100% - believe that the best course of action is to prosecute Bush for murder. This trial will peel open the layers of the scheme and the cast of perpetrators

Presidents flying blind By Andrew J. Bacevich

"We've been conditioned to trust presidents, but as recent history shows, they're often clueless too. Can Obama admit error and stop trying to tell us, and Afghans, what's best for Afghanistan?"

An excellent thought-provoking article

The War in Iraq Has Entered a New Stage of Public Relations by Dennis Kucinich

"This is not the end of the war; this is simply a new stage in the campaign to lull the American people into accepting an open-ended presence in Iraq. This is not an honest accounting to the American people and it diminishes the role of the troops who will put their lives on the line. This is not fair to the troops, their families or the American people."

Bill

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Exposing the propaganda machine

How propagandists function: Exhibit A By Glenn Greenwald

The Israel Lobby Swims The Atlantic by Grant Smith

Deceptive Economic Statistics By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

"If the government will lie to you about Iraqi weapons of mass production, Iranian nukes, why won’t they lie to you about the economy?

...

Wherever one looks--food stamps, home foreclosures, bankrupted states, mounting joblessness, the message to long-suffering Americans from “their government” is the same: go eat cake, while we fight wars for Israel that enrich the military/security complex and while we bail out banksters whose annual incomes are in the tens of millions of dollars and up."

These are a few current articles on the propaganda and deceit that defines and shapes the world around us. If google a bit, you can find more. Of course you wouldn't find them in the mainstream media, which is the whole point.

The effect of this propaganda is absolutely stunning. With millions of people believing the lies manufactured by this gang, we continue to waste precious lives and staggering sums of money on their lost cause crusade for military authority in the Middle East.

Ask yourself this question: how can so many people be so duped for so long?


Bill

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Noam Chomsky: The Real Reasons the U.S. Enables Israeli Crimes and Atrocities

Noam Chomsky: The Real Reasons the U.S. Enables Israeli Crimes and Atrocities By Kathleen Wells

I wouldn't selectively quote from this interview because it needs to be read in it's entirety (it's not that long) to get a feel for what's being said.


PTSD

I'm sitting here with a huge pain in my ribs, having fallen - no jumped - out of bed in the middle of the night after another nightmare. This time it was a grenade that fell on the grass next to me. I had to move quickly, and I did - out of the bed and onto the floor, with a crash the woke me right up - and in pain.

I wouldn't say this happens all the time, but I've noticed a pattern. It seems whenever I'm "riled" about something, the odds are greatest that night I'll have one of these nightmares. What riles me? America's behavior, at home and abroad. I simply can't believe what I'm seeing. It makes me feel terrible, and my psyche reacts with these nightmares.

When I returned from Vietnam and was discharged from the Marine Corps in 1970, I had no way of knowing at the time that so many years later I'd be in this position. I guess it either took that long for the whole thing to sink in, or current events added to it with the results I'm seeing and feeling today.

In any case, it's terrible.


Lock 'Em Up By MICHAEL YATES

Justice, no INjustice, is what this article is all about.

And I wonder why my psyche is so revolted.


Bill











Bill

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Rubin Con Goes On

The Rubin Con Goes On By Robert Scheer

"The corruptions of journalism were on full display when CNN’s Fareed Zakaria turned to Robert Rubin this past Sunday for advice on how to fix the financial crisis that he, as much as anyone, caused. I was trapped on a treadmill in front of an overhead television and unable to turn the thing off in time to avoid this assault on my mental and physical health.

...

There is much more, and I haven’t even touched on Rubin’s shameful role in Enron’s shenanigans. Enough said, though, to question not only Zakaria’s journalism but, far more important, Barack Obama’s leadership in first turning to Rubin as a key campaign adviser and then putting his disciples in charge of the U.S. economy.
"


Wolf Blitzer’s Panic Room


" “The Situation Room” is a familiar venue for the kind of hysteria and nonsense that has become the hallmark of television news, so it comes as no surprise that host Wolf Blitzer and a cohort of CNN’s loudest Chicken Littles have declared Social Security at “the final tipping point” and “broke” despite $2.5 trillion in reserves and a bright future."


Groundhog Day: The Neocon Version by Ron Forthofer

"Evidently the neocons' contempt for the U.S. public knows no bounds. They seem to think that we have already forgotten the role they played in building support for the attack on Iraq."

Bill

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Solving 9/11 - The Deception That Changed The World

Solving 9/11 - The Deception That Changed The World by Christopher Bollyn

Public opinion is such a powerful force that even when confronted with undeniable truth, the resistance is like a concrete wall. A good example occurred recently when I pointed out (again) to a programming community that the word "virus" is absolutely incorrect, and the truth is these are attacks by organized criminals. But these words, this truth, fell on deaf ears, to underscore that perception, not truth, rules.

It's highly frustrating to be right and ignored.

But this matter is small potatoes compared to the biggest, grandest and most powerful perception in the world today: the role of Zionists in American foreign policy.

Please take the time to read this online book. Maybe it will convince you that more investigation needs to be done, or not, but unless you've already been following this "back story", this will definitely be an eye-opener.


Bill

Monday, August 9, 2010

Leading to war

Leading to war - see where the truth lies

If you care about America, you really should watch this 72 minute compilation of video clips that clearly document Bush and his Neocon handlers as they lied at every step of the way leading to the invasion of Iraq, and ask yourself why Bush isn't on trial for murder yet.

Please pay particular attention to the extremely clever wordsmithing provided by the Neocon gang to twist and distort the truth at every turn. It was all so masterfully manipulated that only with the benefit of hindsight and these videos of the perpetrators themselves doing what they did, can we see the manipulation for what it was.


Bill

Friday, August 6, 2010

The Next War

The Next War by Robert Koehler


"A little-discussed adjunct to the military-industrial complex is the entertainment industry, which, in the 50 years since Eisenhower issued his plea for awareness, has burrowed deep into the American and global psyche, turning violence into an ever more exhilarating abstraction. Thus the announcement of each virgin war generates a wave not of horror but excitement.

"A culture of killing and violence has become embedded in human consciousness," writes Michel Chossudovsky. This means that World War III, perhaps set off by a U.S. invasion of Iran, is possible."

Bombing Iran By WILLIAM BLUM

"Would it have mattered if the Bush administration had fully believed Iraq when it said it had no WMD? Probably not. There is ample evidence that Bush knew this to be the case, as did Tony Blair. Saddam Hussein did not sufficiently appreciate just how psychopathic his two adversaries were. Bush was determined to vanquish Iraq, for the sake of Israel, for control of oil, and for expanding the empire, though it hasn't all worked out as the empire expected; for some odd reason, it seems that the Iraqi people resented being bombed, invaded, occupied, and tortured."

... Now Israel presses Washington relentlessly to do the same to Iran — not that the US necessarily needs much prodding — primarily because Israel is determined to remain the only nuclear power in the Middle East; this despite Iran telling the United States and the world many times that it is not building nuclear weapons. But if Iran is in fact building nuclear weapons, we have to ask: Is there some international law that says that the US, the UK, Russia, China, Israel, France, Pakistan, and India are entitled to nuclear weapons, but Iran is not?

Massive Censorship Of Digg Uncovered

This article uncovers a conspiracy to manipulate Digg. I don't follow Digg, but I get the idea. Reading this story doesn't come as a surprise since our information supply has been so manipulated for so long, but it is evidence of one such effort.

Here's a missive quoted at the end of the article, by one of the ringleaders to the gang:

"To all of our new group members: We are really happy you have joined us at DiggPatriots! Please remember this is a group that we are trying to keep below the radar. Please do not disclose this group’s existence to anyone outside the group on Digg or elsewhere. The longer we can keep this group on the down low, the better. I know you probably aready knew that, but I wanted to make sure we are all on the same page as far as the keeping this group from being exposed to the public.
-Ron AKA ChronicColonic"


An observation: our information supply is so thoroughly compromised and so dripping wet with warmonger propaganda that when intelligent people do stand up and speak the truth, their writing comes across very powerfully. Take this article as an example.


Why the U.S. Won't Cut Ties with Israel, No Matter How Extreme Its Government Gets By Phyllis Bennis


This article is followed by many user comments that deserve reading.


Let Them Eat Cake By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

" ... Today in the American Superpower, one of every six Americans is living on food stamps.

The Great American Superpower, which is wasting trillions of dollars in pursuit of world hegemony, has 22% of its population unemployed and almost 17% of its population dependent on welfare in order to stay alive.

The world has not witnessed such total failure of government since the final days of the Roman Empire. A handful of American oligarchs are becoming mega-billionaires while the rest of the country goes down the drain.

And the American sheeple remain acquiescent."


Bill