And this is bad because...?

"This is a wake-up call for the World Economic Forum meeting at Davos in January," Adams said. "If we do not regain the trust of people, the world will become ungovernable."

Among the many rich depths to this fascinating statement — which should be read very very carefully — my favorite is the shaking-the-head dejected bewilderment that the world's citizenry is slipping through the cracks of the clenched fist.

Why Does Harold Pinter Hate America?

Harold Pinter's recent Nobel Prize acceptance speech is making the rounds.

I have no comment. I only wish to honor this rare, brave, honest and defiant sermon delivered on the world stage by excerpting a few choice snippets so seldom heard in such a public way.

Political language, as used by politicians, does not venture into any of this territory since the majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.

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The United States supported and in many cases engendered every right wing military dictatorship in the world after the end of the Second World War.

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The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.

⋅ ⋅ ⋅

The United States no longer bothers about low intensity conflict. It no longer sees any point in being reticent or even devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or favour. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant.

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I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory.

If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us the dignity of man.

Incontrovertible truths, simply & straightforwardly stated.

Vital, naked, devastating honesty. So rare... so refreshing.

Jesus's Sturmabteilung in Murka (Ref #37,128)

In the spirit of "turning the other cheek — the better to aim a stone" a couple of Jesus's more ardent disciples have given a Holy Beating to a university professor, presumably the better to "show him the Way" and deter him from sinning — for the sake of his own soul, of course.

Professor beaten; attackers cite KU creationism class

A professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he sent e-mails deriding Christian conservatives was hospitalized Monday after what appeared to be a roadside beating.

University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said that the two men who beat him made references to the class that was to be offered for the first time this spring.

Originally called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies," the course was canceled last week at Mirecki's request.

The class was added after the Kansas State Board of Education decided to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for elementary and secondary students.

"I didn't know them," Mirecki said of his assailants, "but I'm sure they knew me."

One recent e-mail from Mirecki to members of a student organization referred to religious conservatives as "fundies," and said a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face." Mirecki has apologized for those comments.
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...Mirecki reported he was attacked around 6:40 a.m. in rural Douglas County south of Lawrence. Mirecki told the Lawrence Journal-World that he was driving to breakfast when he noticed the men tailgating him in a pickup truck.

"I just pulled over hoping they would pass, and then they pulled up real close behind," he said. "They got out, and I made the mistake of getting out."

He said the men beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object.

Wempe said Mirecki drove himself to the hospital after the attack.
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Be thou comforted in the knowledge that Jesus has such Goodfellas spreading His word of peace, love and compassion.

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"know that it is not through obedience to Law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ and not through obedience to Law. For through obedience to Law no human being shall be declared free from guilt."
     —Galatians 2:16

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Looks like the culture war is hotting up nicely, doesn't it?

[via Mutans]

Put them all together and they spell MURDER

[via Joseph McPatriot & Operative Krav Maga]

Freedom Slashed! Torture Coupons! Murka's Grand Close-out Sale!

Let me spell that out. In pursuit of the global war on terror, the U.S. government, apparently conspiring with foreign intelligence, has snatched a citizen of one country off the streets of another for no credible reason whatsoever, violating the sovereignty of several foreign countries in the process. It has then sent him to still another foreign country for torture for several months. And, having found itself mistaken, it has confiscated/withheld the documents necessary for the victim to substantiate a legal claim against the US government. There was no formal charge, there was no notification of the family, there were no witnesses called, there was no lawyer provided, there was no explanation or restitution offered.

[fingers planted firmly in ears] "LA-LA-LA!!!" [fingers removed] "Hey, did you watch the game last night?!"

Media Allergies and (un)Common Sense on Iraq

Because mainstream media is allergic to simple historical common sense you will never hear anything like this on the networks, the newsweeklies, or the dailies:

We are the OCCUPIERS in Iraq. The OCCUPIERS have created institutions - an army, police, and paramilitary death squads among them - that are permanently tainted by our connection to them. When our troops eventually leave, no number of "Marines over the horizon," or punishing air strikes, or "battle-ready battalions" of Iraqis will keep the OCCUPIER'S institutions in place. Resistance, some of it undoubtedly violent, will continue until those institutions are either removed or destroyed.

And that about sums it up.

Too bad so many more will suffer and die just to make a handful of heinous assholes richer. And so history repeats itself...

(from Beware Iraqization by Mike Ferner)


A blipvert summary of BushCo in Iraq:

before: "WMD"
during: "Bring them on!"
now: "Stay the course" & "Failure is not an option"
[after: "Never again..."]

translation: "Fuck you & Shut up! Y'all just keep Killin' & Dyin' until I say stop 'cause me 'n my buddies are makin' silos 'o cash!"

"...the whole force of the State and the plutocracy is devoted to the fostering of unreason."
     —Bertrand Russell