tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post1633197677334191351..comments2024-03-25T16:03:36.810-07:00Comments on The Existentialist Cowboy: The Origins of Big Brother in the Military/Industrial ComplexAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-67332360724409889042007-10-10T10:31:00.000-07:002007-10-10T10:31:00.000-07:00Dante Lee said...Mikhail Gorbatchev had the temeri...Dante Lee said...<BR/><BR/><EM>Mikhail Gorbatchev had the temerity of preaching openness to the world and tore down a wall</EM><BR/><BR/>Gorbachev tore it down but, in keeping with your thesis, Ronald Reagan got the credit, at least in GOPAmerica where the Swastika got draped with a US flag. Under Bush, they have all but dropped the pretense.<BR/><BR/><EM>Today, we are painstakingly trying to finish this International Space Station that most Republicans in the Capitol despise because – horror! - it is being build to do science.</EM> <BR/><BR/>Goppers hate science because pure science is non-ideological and they haven't figured out how to "buy" it yet. <BR/><BR/><EM>The space shuttle, a technology as old as a Cadillac deVille 1975, is still controlled by a computer, which you would not want to browse Internet with, and the crew gets panic attack before re-entry because of missing tiles, boyfriend problems or too much booze.</EM><BR/><BR/>I am reminded of an old TV series that starred Andy Griffith, called <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/9782/salvage1.html" REL="nofollow">"Salvage I"</A>. Griffith played a junk yard owner who built a space ship -- <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/9782/vulturemodelbig.jpg" REL="nofollow">the Vulture</A>. He had a dream: to salvage the junk left on the moon by the Apollo moon expeditions. It was brilliant. Earlier, in the comic strips, a descendant of Ratchet Gearloose, <A HREF="http://duckman.pettho.com/characters/gyro.jpg" REL="nofollow">Gyro Gearloose</A>, invented a topless hat, a twenty years ahead machine, and a gloom light to darken places. <BR/><BR/><EM>Meanwhile, the Chinese are going to space with old Soviet space suits purchased on E.Bay, and the Russians are taxiing American astronauts back from the space station with a 30 years old technology driven capsule.</EM><BR/><BR/>America's old space suits used to be on display at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Or --they were last time I was there. Even then they were looking a big threabare and shabby. They were literally disintegrating. <BR/><BR/><EM>Please God hurry up in depleting these darn oil fields, so I can hope that my children will dream again of reaching new frontiers soon.</EM><BR/><BR/>When we've run out of "new frontiers", even GOPPERS may be forced to take Mother Earth's environment more seriously. Glad to see you back, Dante. Don't be a stranger.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-2496721431956902982007-10-10T08:52:00.000-07:002007-10-10T08:52:00.000-07:00Fifty years ago, the first artificial satellite wa...Fifty years ago, the first artificial satellite was launched into space by the<BR/>Soviet Union, and an epic space race between the United States and its red foe took off. Twelve short years later, two Americans baby-stepped on the graying dust of the selenium sphere, concluding this race into a loud nationalistic orgy. Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut who climbed down the ladder of The Eagle, solemnly announced to the world after a few steps, "We came in peace for all mankind". But it is indeed the "Stars and Stripes" which the American astronauts left standing on the moon's surface on their way back to Earth, not the United Nation's flag… <BR/><BR/>It could have been indeed the UN flag: the rocket science that put Sputnik in orbit, Yuri Gagarin above the atmosphere, and these first Americans on the moon was at the time still a creation of the Nazi: In less than seven years, starting from1937, because of the ingenuity of a staunch Nazi rocket scientist, Wernher Von Braun, Rockets went from a few hundreds feet in altitudes to a couple of an hundred miles, with a payload that went from a meager 6 pounds to 350 pounds in 1944; enough weigh of TNT to scare the bee-Jesus out of Londoners. <BR/><BR/>So good was this wonderful gentleman at his job that he was gracefully excused from sitting inside the box of accused during the Nuremberg trail, and was instead rewarded with American tax-payers' money to work on the United States ballistic missile program, and form then on, directed and mainly engineered the four main rockets of the most glorious American space program: the Atlas, which propelled the Mercury program; the Titan, used on the Gemini program; the Saturn 1B, which carried the first Apollo missions, and the mighty three stages Saturn V which took Americans on the Moon, and later Skylab, our first space station. Simply put, the United States won the race to the moon because Wernher Von Braun visited American military jails instead of a soviet gulag. <BR/><BR/>However, this purely military endeavor which was the space race would have never been able to be carried out without a lot of tax-money, a near total drafting of the American engineering power and brains, and a lot of budgetary sacrifices. In order to accomplish these goals, the military/industrial complex, much feared by Dwight D. Eisenhower, needed not only to wrap Americans folks in strong nationalism and fear – the atomic Armageddon from the Soviets -, but also into a dream that, if not most of us, all of our children will very soon have a chance to go and explore this new frontier. <BR/><BR/>Arts of all kind went science-fictional. Houses morphed into futuristic shapes, while cars grew wings. Folks really saw water canals and human faces sculpted within Mars's topography; while some others sworn they were scooped off the surface of Maine or Oregon into flying saucers. Kids lured extra-terrestrials with M&Ms. Then Mikhail Gorbatchev had the temerity of preaching openness to the world and tore down a wall... And the race was all over. And no, the Challenger accident had nothing to do with it. <BR/> <BR/>Today, we are painstakingly trying to finish this International Space Station that most Republican in the Capitol despise because – horror! - it is being build to do science. Even worse… Earth science: last year NASA removed from its old motto, the line "To Understand and Protect Our Home Planet…" in hoping to continue getting funded by the Bush administration that knows that NASA will never be able to reach Mars with the kind of money allowed by a Republican (or lately by Democratic) Congress – but this way, it sure will give more time to oilmen to cash some more profits before the world's Earth scientists get solid data about global warming that would infuriate the populace.<BR/><BR/>The space shuttle, a technology as old as a Cadillac deVille 1975, is still controlled by a computer, which you would not want to browse Internet with, and the crew gets panic attack before re-entry because of missing tiles, boyfriend problems or too much booze. NASA wants to bring us back to the Moon, but it will do so with a program that resembles so much the Apollo program that many of the components of the next spacecraft have had to be reverse-engineered from an old capsule saved – thank God - by the Smithsonian! Meanwhile, the Chinese are going to space with old Soviet space suits purchased on E.Bay, and the Russians are taxiing American astronauts back from the space station with a 30 years old technology driven capsule. So much for an Odyssey; where the hell is my hotel room on Titan? When I am going to get my jet backpack? <BR/><BR/>Please God hurry up in depleting these darn oil fields, so I can hope that my children will dream again of reaching new frontiers soon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-87496244971387876722007-10-08T20:26:00.000-07:002007-10-08T20:26:00.000-07:00All hail Moloch!What did David Gergen call the Gro...All hail Moloch!<BR/><BR/>What did David Gergen call the Grove again? A gentleman's club?Nelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01168659716980028654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-63996721931064119162007-10-07T13:43:00.000-07:002007-10-07T13:43:00.000-07:00Len and Damien,Thank you for another wonderful pos...Len and Damien,<BR/><BR/>Thank you for another wonderful post, Len, and I agree we can change things or at least try!<BR/><BR/>Damien, your link was a real education, many thanks.Diane Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04709680778603784433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-2356449646231528182007-10-07T07:35:00.000-07:002007-10-07T07:35:00.000-07:00"THAT Manure Storm at Leroy's Corral"www.ilovepoet..."THAT Manure Storm at Leroy's Corral"<BR/>www.ilovepoetry.com/viewpoem.asp?id=93508<BR/>Was it really George W we saw in the crowd THAT night holding hands with Larry Craig?TSUMRAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11460229054485460588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-65413537094417314492007-10-07T00:20:00.000-07:002007-10-07T00:20:00.000-07:00Damien, thanks for the links. I highly recommend t...Damien, thanks for the links. I highly recommend them. <BR/><BR/>My position with regard to the powers conceded to Bush by Congress is simply this: Congress does <B>NOT</B> have the authority to pass any such act. The powers of Congress, President and the courts are prescribed by the Constitution which alone has the power to write "job descriptions" for the three branches. The "job descriptions" of the executive, legislative and judicial branches are rather finely drawn in our national charter and cannot be changed by a mere statute, resolution or any other vote of Congress. <BR/><BR/>The War on Terrorism, therefore, is not merely unlawful under international treaties and conventions --it's unconstitutional! <BR/><BR/>I would also make the case that any law passed by Congress based upon deliberate fraud is suspect, though that case is a bit harder to make. After all, everyone who wants a law passed "lies" to Congress. The lobbies may be crooked, but, alas, they are not YET unconstitutional. <BR/><BR/>Congress, however, is remiss in its failure to challenge Bush on his interpretation of the Constitutiuon and points of law. Congress rolled over and took it but it was the people who got fucked! <BR/><BR/>Nothing will change, however, as long as the people sheepishly put up with Bush and his tyranny. Things may change when the dollar collapses. But the odds are always against a "people's revolution". Millions of impoverished people --angry, hungry, and ill-equipped --makes a poor revolution. Tiananmen Square is an object lesson. <BR/><BR/>Techniques espoused by Alinsky, Ghandi, Thoreau are the people's only hope at present. We are, however, at a point described by Che Guevarra in <EM><A HREF="http://www.che-lives.com/home/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=4" REL="nofollow">General Principles of Guerrilla Warfare</A></EM>: "People must see clearly the futility of maintaining the fight for social goals within the framework of civil debate. When the forces of oppression come to maintain themselves in power against established law, peace is considered already broken."<BR/><BR/>Thomas Jefferson said as much in our Declaration of Independence: "That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. <B>That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,</B> and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."<BR/><BR/>Indeed, the "official conspiracy theory" is utter nonsense and the list of the "usual suspects" has grown uncomfortably short for Bush who has proven his criminal nature time and again. Therefore, the "peace is considered already broken". Bush is at war with the people of the United States. What Bush must surely know but will not recognize is that the "people" are sovereign, they are his "boss". The war he wages against them and their Constitution is high treason, aggravating the deaths that have resulted. High treason of this magnitude has always been dealt with historically with the block, noose or firing squad.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-71133562875447949202007-10-06T17:44:00.000-07:002007-10-06T17:44:00.000-07:00Len, I thought I'd just pass on some links to you ...Len, I thought I'd just pass on some links to you that you might find interesting. I don't know if you've come across Arthur Silber, but Chris Floyd rates him highly (a great endorsement). Silber discusses how our culture instills an acceptance of <A HREF="http://thesacredmoment.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">violence</A> and he provides a very thoughtful account of <A HREF="http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/08/worsening-nightmare.html" REL="nofollow">US-Iran politics</A> at his blog <A HREF="http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">powerofnarrative</A>. <BR/><BR/>You are certainly right Len, to highlight the failure of social mechanisms and the media in bringing the Bush regime to power. Propaganda techniques were well known to the Nazis but modern mass communication and media skills have taken them much further. The hard Right have lied so often and so ably over the last few decades that the populace have surrendered their critical faculties and acceded political control to any defense industry/army general/right wing loudmouth who steps up to the mike. An entertainment fixated public, deprived of a decent education, workplace security and social identity have succumbed to Stanley Millgram's experiments on a national level and now accept the legitimacy of torture and killing of State-designated enemies. Maher Arar and Jose Padilla pass us by without a second thought. I'm reminded of Solzhenitsyn's account of the 6am train that would leave Moscow station every week for years, sealed carriages headed for the Gulags with their precious load of former citizens, now nameless Zeks whose very existence has become the prerogative of the State. Soviet citizens would pass these loaded carriages every day without a word or a thought, never moving to question the events before their eyes. So it is that our societies must deny the fact that Iraqis are dying in large numbers or that innocent people are being destroyed by criminals holding public office. The public would reject with revulsion the idea that a US President could rape any women he wanted, yet they accept with equanimity that he may murder any person he wishes. They have become disoriented children waiting on their daddy figure hoping, as always, that he won't be too violent or find fault in their behavior. Reason and sanity may have left the building for most people, but not for me. Bush is a vicious, criminal shit and Blair and Howard are straight out war criminals. There should be no comfortable old age for these bastards. Hopefully your words are reaching more people, Len.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-41189994613843414262007-10-06T11:29:00.000-07:002007-10-06T11:29:00.000-07:00You are correct, Diane. But one of the most pernic...You are correct, Diane. But one of the most pernicious effects of "Big Brother" is the feeling of "helplessness" that is actually encouraged by the state. We all have the power to change things. The state is an artificial construct of man props, the most pernicious of which is the idea that we are helpless. As Simon Schama so dramatically wrote in his "History of Britain", the people ALWAYS had the the power to change the state, the people ARE sovereign. <BR/><BR/>Our own Constitution does not "grant" us sovereignty. It merely recognizes it. As Schama pointed out with regard to Charles I ...the people had always been "the" sovereign.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-8530109312639767252007-10-06T09:43:00.000-07:002007-10-06T09:43:00.000-07:00Our Country has suffered greatly under Bush, it ma...Our Country has suffered greatly under Bush, it may take some time before we have our freedoms completely back as a Nation, as a People, but we will.Diane Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04709680778603784433noreply@blogger.com