tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post9007550561117673732..comments2024-03-25T16:03:36.810-07:00Comments on The Existentialist Cowboy: Lessons Bush Learned from HitlerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-67496800880519191242011-01-20T16:38:20.251-08:002011-01-20T16:38:20.251-08:00Bob Dylan Retains Same Law Firm as George W. Bush ...Bob Dylan Retains Same Law Firm as George W. Bush in Fifteen Year Plagiarism Law Suit. Also suppresses Plaintiff’s First Amendment Rights acquiring a protective order designating all video taped depositions that are incriminating to Dylan confidential<br /><br />Bob Dylan & his law firm acquired a confidentiality order in a fifteen year plagiarism law suit designating all discovery materials including fifty hours of incriminating video taped depositions as confidential suppressing Plaintiff James Damiano’s first amendment rights to warn the public of Judicial favoritism and corruption.<br /><br /><a href="http://jamesdamiano.yolasite.com/" rel="nofollow">The Stealing of James Damiano's Songs by Bob Dylan</a>Virtue Filmshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01050431144878966938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-56052848467906190102007-07-11T04:24:00.000-07:002007-07-11T04:24:00.000-07:00NewsHacker said...However, everyone participating ...NewsHacker said...<BR/><BR/><I>However, everyone participating in these conversations, wherever they occur in the blogosphere, is involved in making a difference in the selection of news stories the big media companies cover. The more blogging occurs on these topics, the closer attention they pay. When you provide the kind of well-researched links I've seen in this thread, it increases the likelihood some big media outlet will report the story.</I><BR/><BR/>Thanks, newshacker...and welcome to "The Cowboy". Some have likened us to a "front porch". We all just drag up a chair and shoot our mouths off. One day the people will be heard and this horrible war crime will end. Then comes a duty to make it harder for a future "Bush" to try to pull of the same series of crimes and outrages.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-22445521043904191162007-07-11T04:19:00.000-07:002007-07-11T04:19:00.000-07:00Anonymous said...(Quoting William Shirer) "Everybo...Anonymous said...<BR/><BR/>(Quoting William Shirer)<I> "Everybody against the war. People talking openly. How can a country go into a major war with a population so dead against it?" noted William Shirer, a war correspondent in Berlin, in his diary on the eve of World War II"</I><BR/><BR/>I remember reading that. I had already read "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" when I found a well-thumbed copy of Shirer's "Berlin Diary". Well, it's even more well-thumbed now. <BR/><BR/>In 1989, <A HREF="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096665/" REL="nofollow">Sam Waterson</A> starred in an excellent mini series which I believe was based more on "Berlin Diary" than "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-57118787197493421762007-07-10T15:27:00.000-07:002007-07-10T15:27:00.000-07:00Hi Len and crew,I'm glad to have discovered this t...Hi Len and crew,<BR/><BR/>I'm glad to have discovered this thread. Lots of reasoned discourse from across the political spectrum, and no flame wars. <BR/><BR/>I just posted a link to this thread on my blog, NewsHacker.net, which is focused on the need for media reform and big media's negative impact on investigative journalism. Any commentary will be welcome. <BR/><BR/>I took special note of the number of times the posters mentioned the failures of big media news organizations and their journalists to report these issues to the broader public. This certainly is no accident. <BR/><BR/>However, everyone participating in these conversations, wherever they occur in the blogosphere, is involved in making a difference in the selection of news stories the big media companies cover. The more blogging occurs on these topics, the closer attention they pay. When you provide the kind of well-researched links I've seen in this thread, it increases the likelihood some big media outlet will report the story.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for all you do.<BR/><BR/>/DickRichard R. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04070988556832724117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-48617171988493245752007-07-09T14:31:00.000-07:002007-07-09T14:31:00.000-07:00I don't believe in panaceas save reason. Alas, the...I don't believe in panaceas save reason. Alas, there are not enough reasonable people to constitute a quorum. <BR/><BR/>The "free market" as a panacea is a myth and "governments" are almost never "of the people". I agree with whomever posted that Paul was mistaken if he believed a "free market" would be self-correcting. That's Adam Smith's "invisible hand". <BR/><BR/>Behind these "libertarian" ideas is an assumed value judgement. If there is such a hand, it is an unreliable one unless one is a Social Darwinist who fallaciously cites Darwin to justify horrific injustices in an unmoderated economic scheme. <BR/><BR/>If there is an "invisible hand", it does not moderate the rich and powerful. Markets left to their own devices trend toward oligopoly in which oligarchs effect political plutocracy through the exercise of sheer political muscle, intimidation, fraud, and outright bribery. I find it hard to believe that this is what Smith had in mind. If a ruling cabal is to be moderated it must be done by political action. <BR/><BR/>Ronald Reagan was considered a "free market" Republican, yet espoused an ideology: supply-side economics. He was most certainly elected because it was believed he would reduce the size of government. In fact, he tripled the deficit and doubled the size of the bureaucracy. It was also believed that he was pro-business. More properly, he was pro-big corporations. <BR/><BR/>The picture is complicated, however by Immanuel Kant who assailed the pursuit of self interest in favor of "good in and of itself" --a "categorical imperative". It is a moral standard that no one, of course, can live up to. Kant, nevertheless, became the other great influence upon American conservative thought --though I cannot give most contemporary conservatives credit for having actually read Kant or, for that matter, understanding him. Yet --Kant may be found lurking beneath the ideological surface of the extreme right-wing and the religious right which seeks to impose upon us a "transcendental" reality and morality whether we like it or not. <BR/><BR/>And, Bertrand Russell once proved that he was, in fact, the pope. I have his proof of it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-63576846836388578512007-07-09T12:39:00.000-07:002007-07-09T12:39:00.000-07:00It's not so much that Paul believes that the free ...It's not so much that Paul believes that the free market is a panacea. It's just that everybody else seems to think that government action is a panacea, when in actuality, government action has caused far worse results than the free market is even capable of.GumboFiléhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16063142040036453846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-81916525249419160642007-07-09T09:34:00.000-07:002007-07-09T09:34:00.000-07:00Len,Definitely agree on Ron Paul. I believe quite...Len,<BR/><BR/>Definitely agree on Ron Paul. I believe quite firmly that he is a good, kind man. I think he has his heart in the right place. But he's got some HUGE blind spots in his view of America. Examples:<BR/><BR/>* He thinks that Michael Scheuer's "Imperial Hubris" tells the truth about the Middle East, when it's actually just a book-long thesis on why we need to be militarily aggressive in the Middle East, and not really a very factual account.<BR/><BR/>* He thinks that libertarianism actually can counter human flaws like greed, envy, powerlust, misanthropy.<BR/><BR/>* He is too cautious.<BR/><BR/>* He believes that "the free market" is a panacea.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-46122985014314832992007-07-09T06:26:00.000-07:002007-07-09T06:26:00.000-07:00Sean O'Neil, Bush is definitely a tool. I think th...Sean O'Neil, <BR/><BR/>Bush is definitely a tool. <BR/><BR/><EM>I think that Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich ought to stop talking about being in favor of working to repeal the Patriot Act and the John Warner Defense Budget Reauthorization Act, and actually start legislating and making speeches from the floor.</EM><BR/><BR/>Of the two, Kucinich is the more inspiring. That doesn't say much. <BR/><BR/>Paul is probably a good person. But I cannot buy his politics. It is symptomatic of how this nation has devolved that in a population of several hundred millions, only two have courage. Opposing the Patriot Act OUGHT TO BE A NO BRAINER. The reverse should be true i.e. there ought only be TWO politciians still supporting it. <BR/><BR/>We are sorely fucked! <BR/><BR/>At last, Paul's position vis a vis Social Security is that of the GOP conspirators. In other words, they will STEAL the moneys that, by law and right, should be inviolable and use it to reward the corporatist fascists.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-81920575906093910472007-07-09T05:50:00.000-07:002007-07-09T05:50:00.000-07:00Anonymous said......if the denizens of other natio...Anonymous said...<BR/><BR/><EM>...if the denizens of other nations were to point out to the American public that given so many similarities with the Third Reich, that whether the American nation too, with the emerging police state atmosphere inside America, was in the process of becoming the Fourth Reich, the American public would seethe with indignation at the mere thought of being equated with the Nazis!</EM><BR/><BR/>The citizens of Germany were lied to and defrauded just as Americans have been. A distinction must be made in both cases. Millions supported Hitler; millions still support Bush. This is that portion of any population that Carl Jung classified as incipient psychotics. <BR/><BR/><EM>Based on my personal experience of living in America for almost a quarter century, and the reality of what has transpired since 9-11, it may be convincingly argued that Plato's analogy of mass ignorance is quite apropos when applied to the American public.</EM><BR/><BR/>The allegory of the cave is apt. Having never seen the light, "they" cannot imagine it nor can they imagine the shadows as products of it. <BR/><BR/><EM>Hitler served in the military, Bush did not. During Hitler's time, the jews were victims, now they are the aggressors.</EM> <BR/><BR/>Respectfully, the name of the article is "Lessons Bush Learned From Hitler". It does not say that Bush IS hitler. Another big difference is Bush's lack of intelligence. Hitler was wily and articulate and, by all accounts, charming company. He enjoyed Zweiback immensely, but I cannot imagine that recommending him. Bush must certainly be lousy company for anyone with an IQ higher than that of a moron. What counts, however, are the substantive analogies. Both men exploited real or phony "terrorist attacks"; both men sought to curtail civil liberties for dictatorial rule; both men lied to wage aggressive war. Not covered in my short article is grist for a complete book: the frauds Hitler pulled off in order to attack and invade Poland.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-44852428285860627042007-07-09T03:44:00.000-07:002007-07-09T03:44:00.000-07:00A few more differences:Hitler served in the milita...A few more differences:<BR/>Hitler served in the military, Bush did not.<BR/>During Hitler's time, the jews were victims, now they are the aggressors. Only Israel benefits from these endless Middle East wars. Iraq is the beginning. As we commit war-crimes in Baghdad, the US gov't commits treason at home by opening mail, eliminating habeas corpus, using the judiciary to steal private lands, banning books like "America Deceived" from Amazon and Wikipedia, conducting warrantless wiretaps and engaging in illegal wars on behalf of AIPAC's 'money-men'. Soon, another US false-flag operation will occur (sinking of an Aircraft Carrier by Mossad) and the US will invade Iran.. Then we'll invade Syria, then Saudi Arabia, then Lebanon (again) then ....<BR/>Final link (before Stark County District Library bends to gov't demands and censors the title):<BR/><A HREF="http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0" REL="nofollow">America Deceived (book)</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-4697432791143355022007-07-08T23:47:00.000-07:002007-07-08T23:47:00.000-07:00http://humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2007/03/respo...http://humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2007/03/responsibilities-of-people.html<BR/> <BR/> <BR/>War on Iran and Responsibilities of a People<BR/><BR/><BR/>From the still unpublished book “Prisoners of the Cave”<BR/> <BR/> <BR/> <BR/>[ March 30, 2007: I wrote this as the Introduction chapter to my book in 2003 - almost exactly 4 years ago as the bombing of Iraq was underway and the American peoples were mesmerized by the "shock and awe" of a defenseless civilization on their television screens. Is another one about to commence on another defenseless nation - Iran? How relevant is this introduction today after all that has been disclosed over the past 4 years? Are the voices that are actually heard in the American mainstream only to be of those wearing the distinguished garb of "scholarship" lining the streets of Washington DC and the well walked hallways of the Ivys? When will the voices of the ordinary peoples themselves be allowed to inform the ordinary peoples? After all, it is us who are the ultimate enablers of "shock and awe", and also us who pay the heavy price. It is indeed only our profound complicity through our uncourageous silence and inaction that bestows the unspeakable power on the minority of opinion makers and the handful of hectoring hegemons which in turn enables them to send America's sons and daughters to new heights of barbarism while visiting the munificence of their high-tech "shock and awe" upon defenseless human beings. How can a civilization claiming to be a "populist democracy" permit such "imperial mobilizations"? Did "Good Germans" only live in Germany?]<BR/><BR/><BR/>What is the collective and individual responsibility of a people who live in a Democracy for the crimes of their government? Can the people morally claim the “I didn't know defense” and absolve themselves of culpability, the same defense claimed by the German citizenry for the Holocaust? Hitler had indeed come to power “legally”. He had motivated his reluctant people based on his well publicized doctrines in Mein Kampf, into the conquest of Europe. Now that he is vanquished, what does the civilized world think of him and his Nazi war machine? Or is it only the vanquished foe that we can see the faults with? Will our own faults also only come to light when we too have been vanquished? Or is there a less painful way to recognize that what we might be doing to the world has been done before, time and again? That the lessons of history might already be there as the low hanging fruits of wisdom ripe for the plucking?<BR/><BR/>In America too, the doctrines for world conquest have been outlined publicly:<BR/><BR/>I.1: Zbigniew Brzezinski's “Grand Chessboard”;<BR/><BR/>I.2: Documentation of “Project New American Century” signed by Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, among others, especially the report on “Rebuilding America's Defenses” - all of these are summarized in Exhibit A;<BR/><BR/>I.3: “Nuclear Posture Review” circulated to Congress by the White House and its details revealed in the Los Angeles Times wherein preemption and nuclear first strikes are the new superpower doctrine;<BR/><BR/>I.4: National Security Council strategy documents released by the White House on its web site;<BR/><BR/>I.5: Patriot Acts hurriedly rushed into law after 9-11 by the Congress;<BR/><BR/>I.6: And the fanatically held fundamentalist Evangelical Christian beliefs of her President that allows him to easily wage an endless “crusade” of “Infinite Justice” against the “evil-doers”;<BR/><BR/>all of which clearly point to where America is heading. All of this knowledge is just as publicly available today, as Mein Kampf was in the 1920s and 1930s, when Hitler's invasion of Eastern Europe came as a surprise to Western Europe and America. The concomitant policies of appeasement, in the futile hope of placating the new ambitious Alexander of the twentieth century, and the initial acquiescence of the world to Hitler's boldness, only emboldened him further. The following remark by the Chief American prosecuting judge at Nuremberg Military Tribunal is incredibly telling as he proceeded to hang those who dared to “goosestep the Herrenvolk across international frontiers”:<BR/><BR/> “The plans of Adolf Hitler for aggression were just as secret as Mein Kampf, of which over six million copies were published in Germany.”<BR/><BR/> “But justice in this case has nothing to do with some of the arguments put forth by the defendants or their counsel. We have not previously and we need not now discuss the merits of all their obscure and tortuous philosophy. We are not trying them for the possession of obnoxious ideas. It is their right, if they choose, to renounce the Hebraic heritage in the civilization of which Germany was once a part. Nor is it our affair that they repudiated the Hellenic influence as well. The intellectual bankruptcy and moral perversion of the Nazi regime might have been no concern of international law had it not been utilized to goosestep the Herrenvolk across international frontiers. It is not their thoughts, it is their overt acts which we charge to be crimes. Their creed and teachings are important only as evidence of motive, purpose, knowledge, and intent.” <BR/><BR/><BR/>Furthermore, the history of how Hitler took power through back door deals and legal maneuverings, the Reichstag fire, and how he convinced his generally war averse German public to successively occupy the Eastern European nations with new chicaneries each time, are well known. “Everybody against the war. People talking openly. How can a country go into a major war with a population so dead against it?” noted William Shirer, a war correspondent in Berlin, in his diary on the eve of World War II. “Hitler knew the answer well. Had he not the week before on his Bavarian mountaintop promised the generals that he would 'give a propagandist reason for starting the war' and admonished them not to 'mind whether it was plausible or not'? 'The victor', he had told them, 'will not be asked afterward whether he told the truth or not. In starting and waging a war it is not the right that matters, but victory.'”<BR/><BR/>The bold highlights are Hitler's own words as noted by William Shirer, as they were disclosed in the Nuremberg trials. These ideas are well known as the Art of War making by an Aggressor around the world, and certainly are no secret to the journalism profession. Hitler was not the first to invent them, although he used them masterfully. In this instance, Hitler created the false pretext to attack Poland by synthesizing fake attacks on Germany by a handful of German soldiers disguised as Poles, the main operation being called “Canned Goods”. The personal motivations of Hitler, his belief in the “superiority” of the German race allowing him the “higher” prerogative to bomb and annihilate the “lesser” people for “protecting and perpetuating German lives”, is also known to everyone. Indeed, the role of deluded beliefs that bring suffering to other “lesser” humanity, as is “following orders” to execute heinous crimes against humanity, have been studied to “death” in America. The holocaust memories are kept constantly alive – an entire museum is dedicated to “never again” in Washington DC, directed by Holocaust survivor, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel.<BR/><BR/>And yet the American nation salutes “United We Stand”. How is that even possible?<BR/><BR/>The similarities with recent history of only 60 – 70 years ago are just too uncanny to escape notice, even for an isolated nation like America:<BR/><BR/>One: The coming to power of the Zionist Neo-Cons, fronted by the rather naïve and straightforward George Bush Jr., through legal maneuverings in the US supreme court and in Florida, with the active connivance of the Florida Secretary of State Kathleen Harris, the Florida Governor Jeb Bush (George Bush's real brother), the news media calling early election results that were false, and purposely not reporting the centralized voter list fraud that illegally black listed 57,700 voters in Florida who were unable to vote, almost all of them black, and majority of them Democrats, despite the fact that Greg Palast shared his investigative report of the fraud with them. All of these legal maneuverings that mesmerized and paralyzed the American nation into impotence while they waited with baited breadth for the powers to be to make the decision for them – a mouse democracy; eerily reminiscent of Hitler's own back room deals and “legal” maneuverings to come to power “legally” after his failed Putsch; demonstrate no popular mandate.<BR/><BR/>Two: America's subsequent barbaric “Shock and Awe” invasion of Iraq under the pretext of “preemptive self defense” to “save American lives” from “evil doers”, similar to Hitler's lies to attack Eastern Europe; General Colin Powell telling monumental lies in the UN with fake evidence and a straight face, following it seems, the advice of Mein Fuehrer: “The victor will not be asked afterward whether he told the truth or not. In starting and waging a war it is not the right that matters, but victory”, for victory was assured as the general knew they were going against a disarmed and non-existent threat; the “coalition of the willing” only as necessary as operation “canned goods” for domestic consumption only; the very gullible American public had to be shown that the entire world was united against the “evil doers”, it didn't matter that the world public knew this pretext to be fictitious; since the American public, unlike the German public, had already been deftly primed by the new Pearl Harbor of 9-11, it took even less convincing to attack Iraq than the German public to attack Poland; Colin Powell did not even choose to lie very cleverly - the desired impact of the hand waving with plagiarized fake evidence in the UN, in a dazzling corporate board room style slideshow prepared in Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Presentation, had already accomplished its purpose better than Goebbels could have foreseen.<BR/><BR/>Three: Both having pre-advertised their intentions publicly for several years.<BR/><BR/>Four: Both military war machine leaders sharing the delusions of a “higher” moral prerogative – Hitler his “god given superiority of the fatherland and the Germanic race”, and George Bush Jr. his Evangelical Christian “crusade” of “Infinite Justice” to “save American lives” and bring on Jesus sooner. It is uncanny how often both have invoked divine mission in their speeches. What is the difference between them as perceived by many of their own delusional peoples during their leader's momentous rise to power?<BR/><BR/>Five: Both spinning propaganda and disinformation formally - Hitler through his Reichsminister for propaganda Dr. Joseph Goebbels, and George Bush through his coterie of seasoned mentors Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell, artfully generating disinformation and lies from the Pentagon and the State Department, with the corporate mainstream media faithfully reporting it ad nauseum as if these public airwaves were the exclusive propaganda arm of the Bush Administration.<BR/><BR/>Six: Both coerced the world into acquiescence – Hitler through August 31, 1939; and George Bush still as of today, as he murderously bombs Iraq while the world watches on television; While Hitler remained short sighted about September 1 and the Ides of March, the seasoned warriors advising Bush have done a remarkable job in eliminating that threat from the world scene by "either you are with us or with the terrorists", and the realities of post Cold War lone superpower eminence denied Hitler. But are the Ides of March ever inescapable?<BR/><BR/>Seven: It was the Jews blood being spilled by Christian Hitler, the "scourge of the Earth" [various anti-Semitic stereotypes purposely elided to not hurt feelings of the already victimized], so it was all right; now it is the Muslim blood being spilled by Christian George Bush Jr., the "new scourge of the Earth" belonging to the "very wicked and evil religion” according to their eminent Evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson, so it is still all right; how did our oil get underneath their sand anyway – it must have seeped through from Alaska! In both cases, only the victims clamored for succor, with the rest of the world busy with their lives. The only difference being that after the Jewish Holocaust, the world had also vociferously vowed “never again” - and that is within living memory of many an American grandparent today.<BR/><BR/>And the major similarities don't just end there. Both also introduced similar measures to curb internal dissent. Hitler consolidated all police functions for the first time in German history, in 1936, as a prelude to the Nazi police state. George Bush Jr. pushed Congress to pass the oppressive Patriot Act 1 without debate, under the shock effect of 9-11, within a month of it, arguing that it was needed to find the “terrorists”. Another Patriot Act 2 awaits in the wings for an opportune moment, having already been circulated in Congress but not yet introduced. And then Bush proceeded to found the department of “Homeland Security”, also attempting to consolidate all the police functions of the American state, led by Tom Ridge, and elevated to the post of his Cabinet team.<BR/><BR/>Indeed, if the denizens of other nations were to point out to the American public that given so many similarities with the Third Reich, that whether the American nation too, with the emerging police state atmosphere inside America, was in the process of becoming the Fourth Reich, the American public would seethe with indignation at the mere thought of being equated with the Nazis!<BR/><BR/>They would rush to offer protestations that they are not out to conquer the world. That they are only bringing “democracy”, “good will”, and a “superior Christian civilization and love of Jesus” to the “lesser” unfortunate humanity, by getting rid of the ruthless tyrants that these unfortunate people could not rid themselves. The denizens of other nations would point out that the American public's inability to see the hypocrisy of their rather disingenuous affectations, how while they rose to fight Hitler for a similar offense of a “sense of superiority”, and the privilege of a “higher purpose”, now they don't see even their own descriptions of their actions in the same vein, is unequivocal evidence of either their diabolical complicity in the crimes against humanity, or their complete indoctrination, similar to the German public in the Third Reich!<BR/><BR/>In Plato's allegory of chained prisoners dwelling in an underground cave, who are kept in perpetual ignorance through sophisticated image manipulation, the prisoners have little choice in their course of actions. They are chained by their necks at birth until they die, forced to look only straight ahead, and forced to live underground by the fascist dictatorship of their unelected and imposed controllers. If these controllers committed crimes on another people somewhere outside the cave, the chained prisoners would be powerless to stop them even if they were to become aware of those crimes by seeing them on the screens in front of them. Hence the prisoners could not be held accountable for those crimes even when they knew about them.<BR/><BR/>Based on my personal experience of living in America for almost a quarter century, and the reality of what has transpired since 9-11, it may be convincingly argued that Plato's analogy of mass ignorance is quite apropos when applied to the American public. Indeed, I would not be entirely remiss if I were to abstract the following assertions:<BR/><BR/>The vast majority of mainstream peace loving people in the United States of America are systematically deceived by their rulers. All they see and experience is the reality synthesized for them by the image makers on their television screens, much like the chained dwellers in Plato's mythical underground cave. They are kept ignorant and self absorbed to willingly submit to their rulers without the need for the cage of ruthless totalitarianism. Invisibly chained, prisoners of the cave, a perfect fraud committed to keep them happily towing their leader's line, as the State embarks on an imperial war of global conquest disguised as “war on terrorism”, and the American public oblige with “United We Stand”<BR/><BR/>But unlike Plato's chained prisoners in the underground cave, the American public lives in a democracy aboveground, and not in a cave! They enjoy considerable power over their elected government, and substantial personal freedoms and constitutionally guaranteed civil rights. If they are ignorant of the crimes of their government, either through their own inadvertence - too busy chasing their “American Dreams” - or through the Machiavellian machinations of their institutional ruling elite that indoctrinated them with false patriotism and "false flag operations", can they still morally claim the “I didn't know defense”?<BR/><BR/>If they were to discover that there might be even the slightest possibility that they are being deliberately kept ignorant of reality, then what should their responsibility be?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-74048256847992881042007-07-08T22:52:00.000-07:002007-07-08T22:52:00.000-07:00Also, I think that Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich ou...Also, I think that Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich ought to stop talking about being in favor of working to repeal the Patriot Act and the John Warner Defense Budget Reauthorization Act, and actually start legislating and making speeches from the floor.<BR/><BR/>Personally, I think that Kucinich and Paul are inferior candidates, from the perspective of what would fix America. <BR/><BR/>Only Mike Gravel offers that perspective.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-36721162230533578752007-07-08T22:48:00.000-07:002007-07-08T22:48:00.000-07:00dante lee @ 10:03 am... Bush is indeed a chickenha...dante lee @ 10:03 am... Bush is indeed a chickenhawk but that doesn't mean he cannot be compared to Adolf Hitler. Dubya Bush is NOT the brains, he is essentially a tool of his parents, and more precisely a tool of his mothers, using Bush41 as front man for Babs Pierce Bush's seriously disturbed misanthropy. Ideologically and philosophically and practically, Dubya is momma's boy. He's only daddy's boy in the business and cheerleader/frat boy sense.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-12193570386752617402007-07-08T12:42:00.000-07:002007-07-08T12:42:00.000-07:00One more thing: remeber in 2006 when there WAS a r...One more thing: remeber in 2006 when there WAS a resolution introduced in Congress to postpone the 2006 Congressional elections due to the Iraq War?<BR/><BR/>Jog that ol' memory, folks - the reality is, they HAVE tried it already.<BR/><BR/>It didn't work that time because it would have had to pass through Congress and that wasn't going to happen. Politicians are too fond of their elections (read: the money they get from campaign contributors).<BR/><BR/>But if the country was already under martial law, the regular government had already been suspended, and the President could issue it as a DIRECTIVE, it would be much more difficult to beat back, especially if all major TV networks and newpapers propagandized in favor of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-31141722003690353622007-07-08T12:09:00.000-07:002007-07-08T12:09:00.000-07:00In the scenarios, don't forget the Halliburton/FEM...In the scenarios, don't forget the Halliburton/FEMA Detention Camps being built with 385 million of our tax dollars!!!<BR/><BR/>Haven't heard much about them lately, excepting some bad video on UTube.<BR/><BR/>Bet they're all build and ready! Write Cheney to hold a place in line for you and your loved ones who don't agree with the Neu "christian" Reich.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-55563948816135740302007-07-08T11:34:00.000-07:002007-07-08T11:34:00.000-07:00Great comments, all. I stand corrected with regard...Great comments, all. I stand corrected with regard to Paul and Kucinich. I was not aware that Paul had also favored repeal of the Act for the Protectio...uh...the Patriot Act. <BR/><BR/>Also Diane...I would not be surprised if they try to cancel the elections. It would save them the trouble of having to STEAL elecctions on a regular basis. Efficiency in government and all that. I hope I am wrong. <BR/><BR/>Will get back to this board when I am less pressed for time. <BR/><BR/>thanks all...keep up the great work!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-11208027509738798212007-07-08T10:39:00.000-07:002007-07-08T10:39:00.000-07:00Len, I'll get back to you on the Crooks and Liars....Len, I'll get back to you on the Crooks and Liars. I have to wait until a relevant discussion comes up and I'll try again, because I am not one of the posters over there, just a commenter like here.<BR/><BR/>Diane, the NSPD 51 was not given much fanfare at all. I have copied it to my hard drive. It seemed only to be covered by a couple of watchdog mags like the Progressive. I also saw it mentioned on the front page of Digg.com when it first came out in May because there's a couple of politically aware folks there who post up relevant new political news.<BR/><BR/>The ACLU guy may not have wanted to discuss it because in all likelihood the simple act of issuing a National Security Directive does not in and of itself violate any Constitutional Law or infringe on any Constitutional Rights. Instead the problem with NSPD 51 comes in how Bush and Cheney will interpret and apply the Directive, which, based on how they have interpreted and applied the Constitution, doesn't look good for America.<BR/><BR/>However, the NSPD DOES state that the President has an obligation to ensure that all three branches of government continue to function according to Constitutional Law.<BR/><BR/>However, we have seen how seriously they have taken their oath to protect and defend the Constitution so far.<BR/><BR/>So it's the interpretation of NSPD 51 that's cause for alarm. Although David Addington, Cheney's Counsel, probably worked hard to make sure the document could not be easily challenged on Constitutional grounds, there's way too much leeway for an outright seizure of power written into the document if it is interpreted in a certain way.<BR/><BR/>Notable here is article 22 of the Directive, which states:<BR/><BR/>(22) Revocation. Presidential Decision Directive 67 of October 21, 1998 ("Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operations"), including all Annexes thereto, is hereby revoked.<BR/><BR/>Why didn't they want to keep the one from 1998? I haven't done a personal investigation of that yet (I don't even know if that document is publicly posted anymore?)<BR/><BR/>My hunch is that the 1998 Directive, which would have been drawn up under Clinton/Gore, has stronger protections against abuse written into it. I'd have to compare the two to know for sure, however.<BR/><BR/>Nevertheless, no actual case has been made that the Directive itself is a violation of the Constitution, and that's probably why the ACLU hasn't taken it up. They probably would take up cases to defend people who get rounded up illegally after the Directive is invoked and martial law takes effect.<BR/><BR/>Only a big public outcry could force the directive to be withdrawn, and since the MSM is colluding with the Bushies by NOT reporting on it, that likely won't happen.<BR/><BR/>Your Congressman may have ties to people in the Defense Industry or other industries that profit through defense contracting, so he's being really careful about whose toes he steps on.<BR/><BR/>For a Congressperson to come out with this would be to directly take a swing at the Big Boys. There would have to be a coordinated effort, and someone with real clout like Ted Kennedy or John Edwards would have to get behind it.<BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, we are seeing nowadays what Nancy Pelosi is made of, and it's increasingly looking like more of the same "GOP-Lite" fabric that Hillary is cut from.<BR/><BR/>Neither Hillary or Nancy will challenge a document like a National Security Presidential Directive. It's also too hot a tomato for Presidential hopefuls like Obama.<BR/><BR/>And so here we stand.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-23152447017728812752007-07-08T10:38:00.000-07:002007-07-08T10:38:00.000-07:00That is an incredible comparative analogy. The onl...That is an incredible comparative analogy. The only part that gives me hope in all of this is that America is a much larger and diverse country than Germany at that time. Much much harder to control and universally propagandize, although they are desperatley trying. The part about the Saudis going down is frightening. Just one caveat, you said Kucinich was the only one to repeal the Patriot act. Ron Paul of your home state is also on record stating he would quickly work to repeal it. I hope I didnt misunderstand that part of the article.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-14818298781182861402007-07-08T09:50:00.000-07:002007-07-08T09:50:00.000-07:00(UNPI) June 17, 2007by John GaltPlans are now unde...(UNPI) June 17, 2007<BR/>by John Galt<BR/><BR/><B>Plans are now underway to stage a remake of the beloved 1939 movie, "The Wizard of Oz." The plans call for a slight updating to reflect the current times, says the producer, Solomon Grundy.<BR/><BR/>"We plan on using real life characters to spice up the remake", states Grundy. "We want to grab the people who are usually sitting in front of their TV, spellbound by the various, idiot fueled so-called 'news' and give them a good dose of reality."<BR/><BR/>Grundy says the following have already agreed to sign on for this new version.<BR/><BR/>The Tin Man, who is looking for a heart, will be savagely played by US Vice-President Dick Cheney. When asked for a comment, Cheney told the interviewer to perform an impossible physical act.<BR/><BR/>The Lion, who is looking for courage, will be played by any one of a number of "chicken hawks" currently ensconced in the White House.<BR/><BR/>The Scarecrow, looking for a brain, will be more than aptly played by US President GW Bush. Bush had no comment on his character looking for a brain, but sources close to the WH said GW is a perfect fit for this role.<BR/><BR/>The Wicked Witch of the West will be played by Secretary of State Condi Rice, fresh back from helping midwife a new Middle East. Condi stated that all the violence going on in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and soon, Iran, was making it way too dangerous for someone of her sensibilities.<BR/><BR/>The Wicked Witch of the East, who has a house dropped on her early in the show, will be played by Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute. Pletka has a solid background in war and fear mongering and the producers thought this part would suit her well.<BR/><BR/>The Good Witch of the North, will be played in absentia, by Mother Teresa.<BR/><BR/>The role of the sinister henchmen of the Wicked Witch of the West, the Flying Monkeys, will be played by the vast army of NeoCons and their lackeys, led by Talk Show Gasbag, Glenn Beck.<BR/><BR/>As for the role of the sweet, innocent and kind Dorothy, Grundy says that role is turning out to be the toughest to fill. "We never realized that Dorothy's role would be this difficult to fill" Grundy said. "But we should have known that trying to recruit the sweet and innocent Dorothy from the cast of characters in Washington, DC would be tough."<BR/><BR/>NOTE: Grundy says this production could be completely eclipsed by another one already in the works, called the "End Times."<BR/>Grundy says if the producers of the "End Times" get their way, the "Wizard" remake will be scrapped, due to a lack of audience and no radioactive free filming sites.</B>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-8877044339994527542007-07-08T09:31:00.000-07:002007-07-08T09:31:00.000-07:00OK, I'm not really anonymous around here, but I ju...OK, I'm not really anonymous around here, but I just feel I don't want my picture showing up next to these posts. Anyway, I want to post up the rest of the scenario in which the NSPD 51 is invoked after another attack. If you think it's unrealistic, please critique. Whether I'm accurate or not, I'd really like to see this topic blown out into open public discussion so that people will not be caught off-guard as they were in 2001. I apologize for it being a lengthy comment. Here it is:<BR/><BR/>Rest of scenario:<BR/><BR/>1. Dirty bomb goes of in Port City (Seattle, SF or LA). The Port shuts down, causing a major disruption of commerce nationwide<BR/>2. President declares “catastrophic emergency” and invokes NSPD 51<BR/>3. Dick Cheney and Natl Security Coordinator (NSC) set a task force to find out who is responsible for the attack<BR/>4. President, VP, and NSC declare that due to catastrophic emergency elections will have to be postponed. They further declare that only essential functions of government will operate, temporarily ceasing all investigations by Congress into Bush Administration’s past activities<BR/>5. NSC task force announces that Iran, colluding with Al-Qaeda is responsible for the dirty bomb attack. FOX News, CNN, NPR, CPB, ABC, NBC, and CBS are building the case for invading Iran on a 24/7 basis. All major newspapers such as NYT, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times and others co-operate in running anti-Iranian propaganda and print editorials building the case to invade Iran.<BR/>6. President announces plans to bomb and invade Iran. Nuclear force will be used in the form of nuclear “bunker busters”. President invokes 2002 resolution authorizing him the use of force. Congress, unwilling to appear unpatriotic, consents. Kucinich, Robert Byrd, and Ted Kennedy dissent. Nancy Pelosi, who has been briefed in secret by Cheney, urges Americans to get behind the president. Hillary Clinton and even Barack Obama calculate that it is best for their career goals to go along, so they do.<BR/>7. America invades Iran, sacks Tehran and replaces the Iranian government with a provisional government made up of pro-Bush Iranian exiles. American hire contractors and bring in Filipino laborers to work under near-slavery conditions to build a brand new agency and start construction of large permanent military bases with air-strike capabilities and housing for invasion-force levels of troops.<BR/>8. American troops secure a corridor stretching across Iran from Iraq to the Caspian Sea oil fields. It is guarded with overwhelming force and any civilians getting too close are immediately annihilated, no questions asked. No vehicle is allowed within mortar firing range. This is strictly enforced from the air as well as the ground. <BR/>9. The press is locked out except for carefully embedded propagandists from FOX and CNN. All independent journalists risk being shot or bombed in “unfortunate accidents” that the Military refuses to take responsibility for.<BR/>10. The President , VP, and NSC determine that because of the “ongoing nature” of the “catastrophic emergency” it is not safe to resume normal functioning of government. This keeps them in office for an indefinite period of time. Democrats complain, but they are unable to come up with any meaningful opposition to this new directive.<BR/>11. As time progresses, the following developments unfold:<BR/><BR/>The Neocons, AIPAC, right-wing Christians, and huge corporations such as Halliburton, Blackwater, General Electric, Raytheon, Boeing and the host of war infrastructure contractors are very happy.<BR/><BR/>FOX News, CNN, all major TV networks, and all major newspapers begin printing opinion pieces that say that the new American government is preferable to the one we had before, and that we should not go back to the pre-attack government, because Democrats and liberals would destroy the nation if we did.<BR/><BR/>The Wall Street Journal, now owned by Rupert Murdoch, in particular lobbies very hard to not return to normal government because they believe the new government invoked under NPSD 51 is better for businesses.<BR/><BR/>The President, the Vice president, and the NSC determine that due to the nature of the ongoing state of emergency, when the President and VP finally must step down, it cannot be trusted to popular elections to form the next Administration due to National Security Concerns. Instead, the next President, VP, and NSC will have to be appointed by the current President.<BR/><BR/>The only meaningful opposition at that time to the US will be coming from China, which is becoming increasingly hungry for oil to feed their growing economy.<BR/><BR/>But, no worries, secret meetings are being held in the VP’s office to discuss the Chinese threat.<BR/><BR/>So there you have it. Bush and Cheney are permanently in office, and the invasion of Iran proceeds as planned. The Project for a New American Century, insured by a government functioning under martial law, moves forward.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-64480752984803752172007-07-08T01:12:00.000-07:002007-07-08T01:12:00.000-07:00Fuzz, you mentioned the Hispanic population in Tex...Fuzz, you mentioned the Hispanic population in Texas. They are among the best people I have ever known. So much of Texas that is colorful is "Hispanic" --San Antonio, the food, and the terrific influence they've had on the music. If you get a chance, check out the music video I posted at the end of <A HREF="http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-bush-sold-out-america.html" REL="nofollow">How Bush Sold Out America</A>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-57564695668139979982007-07-08T01:06:00.000-07:002007-07-08T01:06:00.000-07:00Anonymous said...Read the directive What bothers m...Anonymous said...<BR/><BR/><EM>Read the <A HREF="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html" REL="nofollow">directive</A></EM> <BR/><BR/>What bothers me ...having gone this far, the gang of crooks will not leave if they should lose an election that they tried to rig. They will not leave if ordered to do so by the Supreme Court. <BR/><BR/>They will have left the people no other choice but ....well, you get the picture. First I mourned the loss of Texas even as I still lived there. Now, I mourn the loss of an America I will never see again.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-37563292057421139122007-07-08T00:50:00.000-07:002007-07-08T00:50:00.000-07:00By the way, Fuzz, that part of West Texas I descri...By the way, Fuzz, that part of West Texas I describe was Commanche country, a proud warrior tribe, among the world's great horsemen. My Grandfather's horse was shot from under him by raiding Commanches. That he survived and I am alive is evidence that the Commanches were only trying to make a point. <BR/><BR/>I am myself of Scots-Irish and Cherokee/Choctaw descent but my "Native American" ancestors hail from the Southeast. My ancestors rebelled against Andy Jackson's theft of their lands, their expulsion to Oklahoma. Truly, an American genocide.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-40185756724751524422007-07-08T00:31:00.000-07:002007-07-08T00:31:00.000-07:00Fuzz, I believe your Wolfe quote is from his essay...Fuzz, I believe your Wolfe quote is from his essay, "The Story of a Novel", in which he chronicled the writing of "Of Time and the River". He describes sitting in the Place de l'Opera almost overcome by a wave of flooding memories and impressions --the smell of watermelon on the fourth of july, the iron railing on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. <BR/><BR/>Texas is but a symptom. "They" have been stealing our country for some time now.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-20025863633924596432007-07-07T23:32:00.000-07:002007-07-07T23:32:00.000-07:00Fuzzflash sez...Len: "Have you seen "Giant" with R...Fuzzflash sez...<BR/><BR/><BR/>Len: "Have you seen "Giant" with Rock Hudson, James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. Not far from the truth. The novelist Edna Ferber dealt with a period in which Texas developed from a farm and ranch economy to an oil boom economy. A beautiful state turned ugly." <BR/><BR/>Si, amigo. Lotta good people been fried, filletted, fritatad and generally gaucomoled in the great state of Texas in modern times. First were the indiginous North American people. Then the Hispanic folk. Next the dust bowlers, farmers and ranchers. Not to mention blacks, poor people, frail folk, the sick and infirm. What Buck the "Midnight Cowboy" saw on the avenue of NYC: a river of the race known as homo sapiens flowing around past a human body lying on the sidewalk, and not a Samaritan amongst them, is now pretty much DeLay-de-rigeur in Texas nowadays it seems.<BR/><BR/>Does a State have to bury each of its Melquiades Estradas thrice, to figure out what a human being is in 2007 ? <BR/><BR/>Len Hart. "As a "kid", I recall climbing the unspoiled mesas in West Texas hoping to find petrified remains and succeeding, hoping to find Maximillian's lost gold and failing! I dodged rattlers and dust devils."<BR/><BR/>Thomas Wolfe: "All that lay around him, near but unexplored, filled him with desire and longing." 1929.<BR/><BR/>Maybe you didn't find Maximillian's, Len, but you sure found gold. <BR/><BR/>Great stats, Damien, Lancet's credentials and sources are impeccable.<BR/><BR/>anonymous of the long and interesting post; <BR/>good day, sir/ma'am, you are amongst "fellow travellers" without the commie connotaions. Quite a few of us here are in accord with many of your thoughts, which a glance at the archives will confirm. <BR/><BR/>HuffPo, I understand. Are you suggesting that Crooks&Liars are deliberately censoring your comments? Or, that they are disapperaring somewhere else along the "inter-tubes"? Have you tried to send your material by registered mail or phoned their editors to enquire about their policies. Seriously, I'd like to know, please.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com