Breaking news is that Norway is undergoing multiple terrorist attacks, of unknown origin.
The US announces that Norway doesn't have strong enough "security", and that is why they were attacked.
On September 11, 2001, I turned on ABC News to watch the coverage of the terrorist attacks.
I watched for one hour, and then a talking head (whom I did not recognize, and I don't remember his name) announced that the reason that the US was attacked was that we were "too free" and that that was going to change.
I turned off the TV in disgust. The US too free? What a crock!
The loonies were coming out.
But now I see that the man was prescient. Of course he was. That was the plan all along.
Now I know that the 9-11 attacks were carried out by US operatives, with the intention of scaring the American people into accepting homeland repression and military aggression.
I am willing to bet that the Norway attacks are being carried out by US operatives, with the intention of scaring the Norwegians into accepting homeland repression and buying US tools of oppression, such as the Michael Chertoff pornoscanners, and police weapons.
Update : Glenn Greenwald points out that Norway resisted and refused to go along with calls (including from the New York Times) for greater repression in Norway.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Two Americas
Observers have pointed out that there are two Americas. One - an educated, latte-drinking, Prius-driving, NPR listening kind and gentle people. The other - an ignorant, Bud-light drinking, pick-up truck driving, Rush Limbaugh-listening rough and violent people.
My new neighbors moved in a few months ago. My husband was at the fence introducing himself to the male, and I came up to be friendly.
My husband kept asking the man if he was attending the local college, and the man kept ignoring the question, while salivating over our billy goat's well-hung testicles and powerful build, asking unseemly questions about his potency and violent behavior. I felt like interrupting my husband by saying "Of course he doesn't go to college, you unobservant, NPR-listening man! Quit asking!"
Today, my neighbor has been blowing up fireworks for a solid two hours, freaking out my animals, and getting on my last nerve. Where the hell does an unemployed person get the money to buy so many fireworks?
Oh. Wait. I'm an American. My country is broke, but still manages to terrorize people all over the world by dropping explosives onto them. No expense spared, even if we have no money. My neighbor is simply aping his rulers.
When the US first invaded Iraq, they dropped bombs on Baghdad day and night, 24 hours/7days/week. The expressed plan was to break the Iraqis will by psychologically terrorizing them.
It had the desired affect on one family with two teenaged girls. The mother told of the girls shaking, covering their ears and screaming, unable to take the stress anymore.
So the father, mother and the two girls got into their car and headed out of Baghdad, looking for a quieter safer place.
They came up to a checkpoint. The father was an engineer, and had gone to college in America, so he knew English. He got out of the car to explain to the soldier about his terrified teenagers.
The soldier blew him away, and then turned and shot up the car, killing both girls and wounding the mother.
When I heard this story, I realized that the Iraqi had only met nice Americans in his college years. He thought that he could reasonably explain his situation, and the American would listen and respond in a rational manner.
Unfortunately, he met one of the other Americans. Some low-life rough kid, who decided that joining the Army was a morally acceptable way to make money, since his morals were lacking.
I heard the story from the mother's viewpoint.
I wonder about the soldier's. Did he take pictures of his kill and post them online? Or did he realize the horror of what he had done and kill himself when he got home, as so many soldiers have done?
We live in an insane society, where murder is glorified and kindness is ridiculed. It's a tribute to stubborn human values that a small portion of the country resists the constant mantra of death worship we are subjected to, and holds onto decency.
I salute Decent America.
My new neighbors moved in a few months ago. My husband was at the fence introducing himself to the male, and I came up to be friendly.
My husband kept asking the man if he was attending the local college, and the man kept ignoring the question, while salivating over our billy goat's well-hung testicles and powerful build, asking unseemly questions about his potency and violent behavior. I felt like interrupting my husband by saying "Of course he doesn't go to college, you unobservant, NPR-listening man! Quit asking!"
Today, my neighbor has been blowing up fireworks for a solid two hours, freaking out my animals, and getting on my last nerve. Where the hell does an unemployed person get the money to buy so many fireworks?
Oh. Wait. I'm an American. My country is broke, but still manages to terrorize people all over the world by dropping explosives onto them. No expense spared, even if we have no money. My neighbor is simply aping his rulers.
When the US first invaded Iraq, they dropped bombs on Baghdad day and night, 24 hours/7days/week. The expressed plan was to break the Iraqis will by psychologically terrorizing them.
It had the desired affect on one family with two teenaged girls. The mother told of the girls shaking, covering their ears and screaming, unable to take the stress anymore.
So the father, mother and the two girls got into their car and headed out of Baghdad, looking for a quieter safer place.
They came up to a checkpoint. The father was an engineer, and had gone to college in America, so he knew English. He got out of the car to explain to the soldier about his terrified teenagers.
The soldier blew him away, and then turned and shot up the car, killing both girls and wounding the mother.
When I heard this story, I realized that the Iraqi had only met nice Americans in his college years. He thought that he could reasonably explain his situation, and the American would listen and respond in a rational manner.
Unfortunately, he met one of the other Americans. Some low-life rough kid, who decided that joining the Army was a morally acceptable way to make money, since his morals were lacking.
I heard the story from the mother's viewpoint.
I wonder about the soldier's. Did he take pictures of his kill and post them online? Or did he realize the horror of what he had done and kill himself when he got home, as so many soldiers have done?
We live in an insane society, where murder is glorified and kindness is ridiculed. It's a tribute to stubborn human values that a small portion of the country resists the constant mantra of death worship we are subjected to, and holds onto decency.
I salute Decent America.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Too Late
I quoted Martin Luther King, Jr. in a previous post, in which I talked about the American police state and its perpetual wars.
"We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The "tide in the affairs of men" does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: "Too late"."
Liberals are fond of predicting the future "end of our democracy". This seems absurd to me. Our ruling overlords clearly have no interest in what we think, or the way we want them to vote. Elections have been a farce for years, with two corporate selected candidates duking it out on TV, with the outcome of no more significance to our real lives than the outcome of the Super Bowl. Now that votes are "counted" by computerized machines, the announced vote totals need have no relation at all to what buttons the voters actually pushed.
But we are exhorted to get out there and push so many buttons that they can't steal the election! Seriously? Do these people not know how computers work?
But the structure of our society is a subset of our environment. The only thing that truly matters to our lives is that we have enough food and water to stay alive. All the rest is superfluous.
Scientists tell us that if we don't stop dumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere "soon" we will be past the point of no return.
Soon? 3 weeks ago, we had almost 2 feet of rain in 10 days, leading to widespread flooding. Last week, we had tornadoes. Today it is 90 degrees outside. Meanwhile, the South is suffering through a drought.
Last year, Australia flooded and Russia burned. Polar bears have been drowning for years.
What do they mean- soon it will be too late?
The reason we are here is because Cyanobacteria changed our atmosphere. Before them, there was only 1% oxygen in our atmosphere. They took the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and turned it into 21% oxygen, through photosynthesis. The effect of trillions of bacteria upon our planet was immense, leading to life as we know it.
Of course, it killed off most of the anaerobic bacteria. We still have some around, but they have it rough, needing to stay away from oxygen. Tetanus, botulism and gangrene are all caused by anaerobic bacteria, which flourish when provided with an oxygen deprived environment.
So when people tell you that we puny humans can't possibly affect our vast planet, they are very wrong.
And I think that it might be too late.
"We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The "tide in the affairs of men" does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: "Too late"."
Liberals are fond of predicting the future "end of our democracy". This seems absurd to me. Our ruling overlords clearly have no interest in what we think, or the way we want them to vote. Elections have been a farce for years, with two corporate selected candidates duking it out on TV, with the outcome of no more significance to our real lives than the outcome of the Super Bowl. Now that votes are "counted" by computerized machines, the announced vote totals need have no relation at all to what buttons the voters actually pushed.
But we are exhorted to get out there and push so many buttons that they can't steal the election! Seriously? Do these people not know how computers work?
But the structure of our society is a subset of our environment. The only thing that truly matters to our lives is that we have enough food and water to stay alive. All the rest is superfluous.
Scientists tell us that if we don't stop dumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere "soon" we will be past the point of no return.
Soon? 3 weeks ago, we had almost 2 feet of rain in 10 days, leading to widespread flooding. Last week, we had tornadoes. Today it is 90 degrees outside. Meanwhile, the South is suffering through a drought.
Last year, Australia flooded and Russia burned. Polar bears have been drowning for years.
What do they mean- soon it will be too late?
The reason we are here is because Cyanobacteria changed our atmosphere. Before them, there was only 1% oxygen in our atmosphere. They took the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and turned it into 21% oxygen, through photosynthesis. The effect of trillions of bacteria upon our planet was immense, leading to life as we know it.
Of course, it killed off most of the anaerobic bacteria. We still have some around, but they have it rough, needing to stay away from oxygen. Tetanus, botulism and gangrene are all caused by anaerobic bacteria, which flourish when provided with an oxygen deprived environment.
So when people tell you that we puny humans can't possibly affect our vast planet, they are very wrong.
And I think that it might be too late.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
That Is Not Who We Are
Obama refuses to release evidence that Osama is dead, saying "That's not who we are".
Damn straight!
When Bush announced that a man in a cave in Afghanistan orchestrated an attack on the United States of America, the most powerful country in the world, shutting down any military response, exploding 3 skyscrapers into concrete dust and literally striking the heart of the military-industrial complex, the Pentagon, the head of Afghanistan offered to turn the man over for justice.
He meant a trial. Bush, the arrogant swaggering cowboy, refused. We don't need no stinking evidence for no stinking trial!
Our trillion dollar military may not be capable of defending the United States, but, by God, we can blow up goat-herders, brides and children gathering firewood! We can make the abode bounce when we destroy families' houses in tribal societies. And, just for good measure, we can invade an industrialized society, pulverize not just three, but hundreds of buildings, destroy water, sewer and hospital facilities, and kill a million people, and drive millions more from their homes.
Americans were so disgusted by Bush that we elected a professor of Constitutional law as President.
Surely a law professor would know that bringing an accused man to justice would mean arrest, an open trial with evidence presented and scrutinized, deliberation by a jury and a verdict. Surely a law professor would know that in America, a man is innocent until proven guilty.
Nope. The smooth-talking lawyer, like his stammering predecessor, prefers murder to trials. "Justice" means assassination.
We've come full circle, as the media tells us. The unbelievable story of a man in a cave shutting down the biggest military on the planet and imploding skyscrapers, ends with the unbelievable story that, after searching for ten years, the US found him and chose to go shoot him in the face and dump his body in the ocean.
And when skeptics ask for proof, the President, after doing a victory lap (but not a football spike), at Ground Zero, tells us that we don't need no stinking proof.
That's not who we are.
Damn straight!
When Bush announced that a man in a cave in Afghanistan orchestrated an attack on the United States of America, the most powerful country in the world, shutting down any military response, exploding 3 skyscrapers into concrete dust and literally striking the heart of the military-industrial complex, the Pentagon, the head of Afghanistan offered to turn the man over for justice.
He meant a trial. Bush, the arrogant swaggering cowboy, refused. We don't need no stinking evidence for no stinking trial!
Our trillion dollar military may not be capable of defending the United States, but, by God, we can blow up goat-herders, brides and children gathering firewood! We can make the abode bounce when we destroy families' houses in tribal societies. And, just for good measure, we can invade an industrialized society, pulverize not just three, but hundreds of buildings, destroy water, sewer and hospital facilities, and kill a million people, and drive millions more from their homes.
Americans were so disgusted by Bush that we elected a professor of Constitutional law as President.
Surely a law professor would know that bringing an accused man to justice would mean arrest, an open trial with evidence presented and scrutinized, deliberation by a jury and a verdict. Surely a law professor would know that in America, a man is innocent until proven guilty.
Nope. The smooth-talking lawyer, like his stammering predecessor, prefers murder to trials. "Justice" means assassination.
We've come full circle, as the media tells us. The unbelievable story of a man in a cave shutting down the biggest military on the planet and imploding skyscrapers, ends with the unbelievable story that, after searching for ten years, the US found him and chose to go shoot him in the face and dump his body in the ocean.
And when skeptics ask for proof, the President, after doing a victory lap (but not a football spike), at Ground Zero, tells us that we don't need no stinking proof.
That's not who we are.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Big Daddy Fails Us
Although the President takes an oath to support the Constitution, after 9-11, "everything changed".
The Constitution, a goddamned piece of paper, was overthrown by the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and countless Presidential decrees.
But, as Americans were wiretapped, strip-searched, finger-printed and treated generally as potential "terrorists", we were assured that it was all done to "keep us safe".
George W. Bush presented himself as our protector, as some sort of Father figure, bizarre as that may seem to anyone who actually had a decent father. He continually announced that his role as President was to keep Americans safe.
And Obama came in, took his oath of office, and also promptly disregarded it, the new boss being much like the old boss.
But now, the media is warning us that the hit on Osama has made us less safe, that we must increase our internal repression, accept torture without reservation, and kill even more people in other countries, because the "terrorists" will strike us again, in reprisal.
So what happened to keeping us safe? What happened to the "I spend every minute thinking about ways to protect Americans?"
If they knew that announcing an assassination would put us at risk, then why do it?
I question their sincerity.
The Constitution, a goddamned piece of paper, was overthrown by the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and countless Presidential decrees.
But, as Americans were wiretapped, strip-searched, finger-printed and treated generally as potential "terrorists", we were assured that it was all done to "keep us safe".
George W. Bush presented himself as our protector, as some sort of Father figure, bizarre as that may seem to anyone who actually had a decent father. He continually announced that his role as President was to keep Americans safe.
And Obama came in, took his oath of office, and also promptly disregarded it, the new boss being much like the old boss.
But now, the media is warning us that the hit on Osama has made us less safe, that we must increase our internal repression, accept torture without reservation, and kill even more people in other countries, because the "terrorists" will strike us again, in reprisal.
So what happened to keeping us safe? What happened to the "I spend every minute thinking about ways to protect Americans?"
If they knew that announcing an assassination would put us at risk, then why do it?
I question their sincerity.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Mafia State
Major General Smedly Butler pointed out years ago that the role of the US military was that of a hitman for capitalism.
Even the Mafia didn't brag about their murders. They had the decency to pretend that they were not involved.
Obama "takes out" (more Mafia language) Ghadaffi's son and three grandchildren on Saturday, and then claims to "take out" Osama Bin Laden on Sunday. Quite a weekend for Murder, Inc.
The media plays their role of swallowing the story whole, and then regurgitating their appropriate talking points. Democracy Now focused on the "blowback" theory, in which "terrorist" attacks are payback for US imperialist deaths abroad.
Fox News openly cheers. Vengeance is ours, saith the bimboes.
But. My right-wing Christian co-worker made a point of telling me yesterday that she didn't believe the story Obama and the media were spinning. My liberal Obama-supporting friend didn't believe it either. And a African-American family that were in the ER told me that they didn't believe it either.
Well. That's a pretty wide-spread sampling of opinion, albeit in one small town.
Is it possible that the Obama puppet and his handlers have jumped the shark? Gone too far?
Unfortunately, Harper's Index points out that there were 164 episodes of Happy Days after the one in which their credibility legendarily was blown.
US imperialism has a few episodes left in it, I'm guessing.
What is the point of this announcement, at this time? It certainly can't be an election stunt. That would be an October 2012 assassination.
No. This is something else. I no longer feel qualified to predict with any certainty what the ruling class has in store for us, since I've guessed wrong in the past.
But, since all media is spouting variations on the line of "al queda is going to get us" in revenge, I'm going to guess another "terrorist" attack on US soil. That part isn't too wildly speculative, since you can tell what they want you to believe when all media spouts the same line.
But then what? Here's my wild speculation. The US has used war to get out of economic depression in the past.
The US is in deep economic trouble, and its creditors are starting to bail. There is a due date coming up in June.
The conclusion I draw is that the US will start a massive war rather than default. But I could be wrong.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Things Up With Which We Will Not Put
Let's get this straight. Wall Street speculators gambled with home mortgages, running up trillions of dollars of collateralized debt obligations. Millions of people lost their houses.
Americans were unmoved. They shouldn't have bought houses that they couldn't afford when the mortgages went up.
Wall Street speculators gambled with wheat and rice commodities, leading to widespread hunger and food riots in 2008. Americans paid no attention, even to reports that Haitians were eating mud. Serves them right for living in poor countries.
But Wall Street speculates on oil and the price of gas goes up? Outrage! Even President Obama is moved to make stern noises!
Never mind global warming. Never mind peak oil. Never mind the 50,000+ dead in car crashes a year, the dead bodies along all our roads, the air pollution, the urban sprawl.
Americans have a right to cheap oil!
It's blood for oil, right? That's the bargain? And we've spilled plenty of blood, so where's the cheap oil?
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