Saturday, November 29, 2008

11/29/08

Interview with Expert on Dangers of Cell Phones Video: Interview with Expert on Dangers of Cell Phones
A professor of neuroscience is interviewed about the influence of cell phones on your health.

Why Large Amounts of Fruit May Not Be Healthy
For many people fruit may not be as healthy as you think.

You Need to Know This If You Eat Tyson Chicken
Beware as Tyson is using deceptive advertising to create a false impression of healthy, natural food.

Organic Consumers and Companies Harassed by Drug Agents and Police
Important information you need to know if you are traveling with organic products.

The Truthdig Book Review Edited by Steve Wasserman
"Richard Ellis on ‘Diagnosis: Mercury’" -- Thinking of eating tuna? You may change your mind after reading this convincing expose by Jane M. Hightower, a San Francisco doctor.

Marie Cocco on the Economy
"Bush’s Hoover Impression Flirts With Depression" -- At the earliest, it is likely to be at least February or March before the first dollar of an Obama recovery plan is felt. This is a national disgrace.

Joe Conason on Obama’s New Appointees
"Obama’s Shrewd Choices" -- Barack Obama’s appointees will implement the Obama program, not only because that is what he tells them to do but because that is what they have come to believe is best for the country.

E.J. Dionne on Obama and Foreign Policy
"Obama the Realist" -- In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush.

Eugene Robinson on the New Era in Politics
"The Peril and Promise of Interesting Times" -- If things get much more “interesting,” we might have a collective nervous breakdown. But along with the anxiety, there’s also a sense of rare opportunity—a chance to emerge better than we were economically, politically and socially.

David Sirota on Obama Anxiety
"Our Dear Leader" -- Judging by the proliferation of capital letters in the e-mail correspondence I receive, many seem worried that Barack Obama may not deliver the promised “change we can believe in.”

The History of Thanksgiving Video: The History of Thanksgiving
Don't miss this interesting and insightful take on the history of Thanksgiving that will make you think twice about all you have to be thankful for this year.

Who are Smarter -- Men or Women? Video: Who are Smarter -- Men or Women?
Fascinating insights into this age old question.

Just How Secure is Your Password?
This handy calculator can give an idea of how well you've secured your online accounts and lower your risk of online theft.

Statin Drugs: Another Industry-Sponsored Study, Another Deceptive Result
Is it true that statin drugs can lower your risk of heart attacks by over 50 percent, or is this simply another deceptive marketing ploy?

Robert Scheer on Obama's Pro-Greed Cabinet
"Obama Chooses Wall Street Over Main Street" -- Maybe Ralph Nader was right in predicting that the same Wall Street hustlers would have a lock on our government no matter which major party won the election. I hate to admit it, since it wasn’t that long ago that I heatedly challenged Nader in a debate on this very point.

Chris Hedges on Poverty in America
"Starving for Change" -- The swelling numbers waiting outside homeless shelters and food pantries around the country have grown by at least 30 percent since the summer. If Barack Obama continues to turn to the elites who created the mess, if he does not radically redirect the nation’s resources to assist the working class and the poor, we will become a third-world country.

Milk

Larry Gross on "Milk" and Hollywood's Treatment of Homosexuality
"Hollywood’s Closet Still Closed for Business" -- Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” is the first major Hollywood “gay themed” film since “Brokeback Mountain,” and moreover (unlike “Brokeback”), this one is about openly gay activists, not tortured closet cases. Yet, once again, the lead gay roles couldn’t be filled by openly gay actors. What’s going on here?

Sheerly Avni Reviews the New Film and a Classic Documentary
"Get Milk" -- Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” is a movie to be thankful for. Go see it, tonight if you can, and in a crowded theater. Then open up some merlot and watch the documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk,” by Robert Epstein—because these two films belong together.

Marie Cocco on Tobacco Control
"The Smoke Is Clearing" -- This week marks a decade since a consortium of state attorneys general negotiated the landmark settlement of lawsuits against tobacco companies. The results are in: Cigarette consumption has declined by 28 percent in the past 10 years.

E.J. Dionne on Obama and the Economy
"Obama’s E-Team" -- Obama’s selection of a team of highly skilled pragmatists has already been described as a move to the political center, but Obama advisers and longtime acquaintances say that this is a misreading of the incoming president and his approach.

Amy Goodman on Obama and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
"Tutu, Obama and the Middle East" -- As President-elect Barack Obama focuses on the meltdown of the U.S. economy, another fire is burning: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

William Pfaff on Obama and Bush’s Wars
"Bush’s Follies Will Destroy Obama If He Lets Them" -- Barack Obama has no choice but to accept responsibility for America’s foreign policy crises. But why should he accept them on the distorted and even hysterical terms by which the Bush administration has defined world affairs since 2001?

Eugene Robinson on the Pre-Inauguration Phase
"No One In Charge" -- Having two presidents is starting to feel like having no president, and that’s the situation we’ll face until Inauguration Day. Heaven help us.

>> ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:
Andy Borowitz on Obama’s Language Skills
"Obama’s Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy" -- In the first two weeks after the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the last eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

with all the financial activity it seems like review time
I remember some saying fed profits go to the gov't

buy at printing cost, sell at face plus interest;
do I have a deal for you!
http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/BIGGESTSCAMINHISTORY.HTML

same thing - more detail/background
http://www.doublestandards.org/emry1.html

Hotter than Black Friday... FREE Shipping Anywhere in the World! Video: For A Brighter Black Friday... A Full Week of Giving-Thanks!
See what Dr. Mercola’s cooking up to show you his Thanksgiving spirit...

Economic Impact on U.S. With Obama's Victory Video: Economic Impact on U.S. With Obama's Victory
Why Obama's future economic plan will not herald the change so desperately needed.

In Uncertain Times, Prepare Yourself for New Opportunities
What simple strategies can you use to improve your chances of succeeding in a down economy?

Sneaky Trick Now Used by Food Manufacturers
Food makers have creative ways of giving you less than what you think you're paying for.

Does the Flu Shot Even Work? Video: Does the Flu Shot Even Work?
Are you throwing your money away on a flu shot that does not prevent the flu?

Why Sunlight is Your Best Source of Vitamin D
New evidence reveals why cod liver oil may not be your best choice for vitamin D.
Paulson's Cascade of Lies
http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson11212008.html
an explanation of structured finance simple enough even for me
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21280.htm

an example of how the fda works coupled with how the gov't and
courts have been suborned plus info about Al Adask still kicking

The American History You're Not Supposed To Know

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread409712/pg1

This is what is called, in the history biz, a revisionist history. American history, at least as far as the general public knows it, is in desperate need of revision, bringing what is taught and what is said about America's past more in line with the truth.


Making the World Safe For Hypocrisy is a chronology of the largely suppressed history of the United States. It is the history that good upstanding Americans are not supposed to know.

Almost everything you read here is based on publicly available information and most historians know all about it. And yet they remain strangely silent, allowing the fantasyland, propagandized version of American history and the fatuous pseudo-patriotic nonsense spewed by politicians and the mass media to stand unchallenged.

  1. 1620: Lie Number One, The Pilgrims
  2. 1763-1783: Lie Number Two, The American Revolution
  3. 1783-1799: Lie Number Three, The Miracle of Democracy
  4. 1800-1849: Thirty Five Invasions And A Genocide
  5. 1850-1859: Invasions, Racism, Slavery and Ethnic Cleansing
  6. 1860-1864: The Civil War, But First, Let's Kill Some Indians And Get Rid of the Jews
  7. 1865-1869: The Final Solution To The Indian Problem And The Invasions Keep On Coming
  8. 1870-1884: More Invasions, More Racism, More Ethnic Cleansing. Happy 100th Birthday America.
  9. 1885-1894: The U.S. Steals Hawaii, Four Thousand Lynchings, Shooting Workers in the Streets and Planning For a Splendid Little War
  10. 1895-1899: The Spanish-American War, A Sordid Little War
  11. 1900-1904: The Philippines, A Full Dress Rehearsal For Iraq
  12. 1905-1909: Treacherous Muslims and Ze Quest For Ze Master Race
  13. 1910-1912: Invasions, Apartheid, Lynchings, Censorship And The Quest For The Master Race But No Conspiracies
  14. 1913-1914: Destroying Democracy in Mexico and the Federal Reserve Scam
  15. 1915-1916: Dangerous Singers, Lynching Jews and Blacks Speaking French!
  16. 1917-1918: The Great War's A Wrap And Now We Set The Stage For Old Adolf Plus The Miracle Of Free Speech
  17. 1919-1920: A Summer Of Blood, Lynching Will Brown And J. Edna Hoover Takes The Stage
  18. 1921-1922: Setting Up The Hitler Project, Giving Away The Nation's Oil, Mass Murdering Black Americans And Poisoning All Americans
  19. 1923-1924: Destroying Rosewood, Racial Purity In Virginia And Prescott Bush And The Boys Get Old Adolf Started
  20. 1925-1926: Legislated Ignorance, Dupont's Supermen, Hoover In Drag And Murdering Nicaraguans
  21. 1927-1928: Sterilizing Americans, Slaughtering Miners, Making Your Boyfriend FBI Assistant Director, Invading China And Dive Bombing Nicaraguans
  22. 1929-1930: The Crash of '29--A Federal Reserve Production, Racist Pseudoscience, Murdering Workers (Again) And The Dulles Brothers Help Old Adolf
  23. 1931-1932: Admiring Mussolini, The Depression Ain't So Bad For Some, Murdering U.S. Veterans And Killing Puerto Ricans And Black People For Science
  24. 1933-1934: The Dust Bowl, Gangsters In Pinstripe Suits, Pimping For Hitler, The Merchants of Death And An All-American Coup
  25. 1935-ongoing: Arming The Nazis, Gangsters For Capitalism, Hanging Out With Hitler, Blackmailing Hoover And Truth, Justice Or The American Way
who would disbelieve our media
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/CRASH/JFK_JR/jj.html

soma is coming, but in the meantime...
http://www.naturalnews.com/024783.html

coming to the US?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_pesek&sid=am..8hAE3mPI

by way of deception
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/fakealqaeda.html?q=fakealqaeda.html

half the "Gulf War I" vets on permanent disability by Nov 06
http://www.naturalnews.com/020978.html
and a follow-up
http://sph.bu.edu/insider/index.php?option=com_content&&task=view&id=1608

how many voted for Zbig brother?
http://www.newswithviews.com/Stang/alan170.htm

bigger is always better, eh?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10812

view from outside
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JK05Aa01.html

2nd source
http://www.newsregister.com/article/22932-evergreen-makes-offer-post-polling-sentries

Plus ca change...
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/iran-n06.shtml

A Futile Bailout as Darkness Falls on America
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts10062008.html

army combat unit, designed to confront an enemy within a war theater, redeployed within the USA one month before the presidential elections...hmmm
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10473

why not; it's easy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/

best jihadi recruiters
http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt357.html

Derschitz and aipac will be in full screech
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081006/FOREIGN/279853798


ass, with a GREAT quote from Martin Luther BY A JUDGE

Part 1: http://www.naturalnews.com/024878.html
Part 2: http://www.naturalnews.com/024877.html
Part 3: http://www.naturalnews.com/024876.html

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Poor Economy Leads To Run On Cardboard Turkeys

MOONACHIE, NJ (CAP) - The recent economic downturn has resulted in skyrocketing sales for cardboard turkeys this Thanksgiving, according to the latest sales figures.

"We've seen a significant upswing in sales over last year," confirmed Karl Plotz, CEO of the New Jersey-based Cardboard Creations LLC. "I'm just glad we're here to offer this valuable service in these t

Sarah Palin Unveils 2008 Christmas Card

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CAP) - In an extreme version of turning lemons into lemonade, Alaska Gov.Sarah Palin is taking a photo "oops" and turning it into a defining moment that may very well signal the first shot to be fired in the 2012 election.

The "oops" in question occurred when the former running mate to John McCain was giving a lengthy interview after officially pardoning a turkey for Thanksgiving. Little did she know at the time, but turkeys were being slaughtered behind her throughout the interview, the video of which has since created an Internet firestorm.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

11/22/08

Deceptive "Protein" Toxin is Becoming More Widely Spread in Your Food
You won't believe what's being added to your food to boost corporate profits.

"Not a Scratch on That Glass Ceiling" -- It is time to stop kidding ourselves. This wasn’t a breakthrough year for American women in politics. It was a brutal one.

"A View From the South" -- Evo Morales knows about “change you can believe in.” He also knows what happens when a powerful elite is forced to make changes it doesn’t want.

10 People with Unbelievable Medical Conditions
From just plain bizarre to the highly debilitating, these folks suffer from medical conditions few will ever understand.

"America’s Wars of Self-Destruction" -- War is a poison. It is a poison that nations and groups must at times ingest to ensure their survival. But, like any poison, it can kill you just as surely as the disease it is meant to eradicate

"Conservative Identity Crisis" -- There is a second transition under way over which President-elect Barack Obama has no control—the transition of conservatives to minority status. How they do this will have a powerful impact on the new presidency.

"No More Torture" -- We will look back on the Bush years and find it incredible, and disgraceful, that individuals were “purchased” from tribal warlords, tortured at Abu Ghraib, abducted to secret CIA prisons, whisked to Guantanamo and held for years without charges.

"The Ghost in Obama’s White House" -- Republicans will try to tie memories of Jimmy Carter to the new Democratic president by conjuring up disturbing visions of policy failure and “malaise

"Neocons Plot to Co-Opt Obama" -- The newly elected president is a foreign policy novice and will find himself under great pressure to follow Middle Eastern and China and Russia policies inherited from George Bush, even though these are what Barack Obama was elected to change or terminate.

Bag Wars -- Paper vs Plastic: The Real Truth Video: Bag Wars -- Paper vs Plastic: The Real Truth
Do you know which type of bag can REALLY help save the environment and your health?

"Only Nader Is Right on the Issues" -- Tomorrow I will go to a polling station in Princeton, N.J., and vote for Ralph Nader. I know the tired arguments against a Nader vote. But there is little disagreement among liberals and progressives about the Nader and Obama campaign issues. Nader would win among us in a landslide if this was based on issues.

"Keeping the Supreme Court in Check" -- Neither McCain nor Obama would alter the prevailing jurisprudence in the Supreme Court or in subordinate tribunals. The unfortunate result will be a judiciary that is deferential to presidential powers and law enforcement in the name of fighting international terrorism.

"Closing Guantanamo" -- The U.S. government’s failure to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center for alleged terrorists continues to haunt and color our standing in the world.

"Third-Party Blues" -- Ralph Nader is right: The two-party system is failing America. There isn’t time between now and Election Day to create a viable third-party candidate, and so the sad reality is one of two deeply flawed men, the byproduct of a deeply flawed political system, will serve as president for the next four or eight years.

World's Most Evil Company Debates Michael Pollan at Google Video: World's Most Evil Company Debates Michael Pollan at Google
What is said when two polar opposites of the food world battle it out on stage?

the old lecture chestnut: start with a joke
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?id=1826

The conglomerate financial firms are permitted at this point to use private individual brokerage account funds to relieve their own liquidity pressures.
http://www.kitco.com/ind/willie/sep182008.html

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of our currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations that will grow up will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” -Thomas Jefferson-
He's just a dead white guy; what did he know, eh?

I bet ODOR approves
http://fcd.freecapitalist.com/2008/09/08/rogue-agency-arrests-stay-at-home-utah-mom/354

"Helping ‘people at home’ may become a permanent part of the active Army" maybe in full battle rattle
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/


multiple investment opportunities: make, assemble and run
http://cafr1.com/Legos.html


Saturday, November 15, 2008

11/15/08

Free For All
This film features Ennis in "one dude's quest for democracy" with BBC investigative journalist and best-selling author Greg Palast. "The Election has been stolen. What you have to do is swipe it back," says Palast who is also known as "the most important investigative reporter of our time."

Click here to watch this video


Prescription Drugs More Likely to Kill You than Recreational Drugs
Shocking statistics expose two dangerous drugs you and your family need to be aware of.


good backgrounder--agrees with numerous other sources
http://brushfireofliberty.blogspot.com/2008/10/had-this-for-yearsoutstanding-unknown.html

emanuel made sure only prowar dems were funded...change, eh?
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13728

dual citizenship, too
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/474.html

always trust those DTCC/gov't numbers
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/11/riskiest-40-of-credit-default-swaps.html

let's hear it for change
http://vdare.com/roberts/081109_conned.htm

Friday, November 14, 2008

11/14/08

"This Is What He’s Sorry About?" -- It was nothing Bush did—no decision he made, no policy he pursued, no faith that he placed in ideological dogma—that he finds regrettable. Bush told a cable network, “I regret saying some things I shouldn’t have said” over the course of eight tumultuous years.

"Who’s Afraid of a Filibuster?" -- Is there enough muscle behind the GOP filibuster threat to block Obama’s mandate? The short answer is no—and the new president’s own political arsenal should enable him to call the Republican bluff.

"Abortion Is the Right Issue for Starting the Healing" -- Obama’s most urgent task is to repair an ailing economy. But one of his most important promises was to end the cultural and religious wars that have disfigured politics for four decades.

"From Barracuda to Scapegoat" -- Have you ever seen a transformation this fast? Think of it as evolution on steroids. But don’t think Sarah Palin will go quietly into that good Arctic night.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

11/12/98

and while we were watching the right hand...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27635885/

military literacy test results: '42-'44,96%; '51,81%; '73,73%http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3b.htm

thought provoking; particularly in regard to research funding and marketing
http://www.naturalnews.com/024754.html

who woulda thunk it
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/IAEA_suspects_fraud_in_evidence_for_1109.html

change, eh?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10860


"Financial Meltdown 101" -- Getting a grip on the economic catastrophe that rocked the country during the fall of 2008 is no easy feat, what with so many players, back-room deals, bills, upswings and meltdowns to consider. To that end, Truthdig has put together a comprehensive multimedia timeline that explains how we got into this mess and how we might avoid repeating history in the near future.

Robert Scheer on Obama's Hawks"Cold War Hawks Nesting With Obama" -- So, Vladimir Putin was right: It was Georgia that started the war with Russia, and once again it was President Bush who got caught in a lie. No surprise, but it is a reminder of just how eager some are for a new Cold War and how indifferent they are to the truth of the matter.

"America the Illiterate" -- The change from a print-based to an image-based society has transformed our nation. All the traditional tools of democracies, including dispassionate scientific and historical truth, facts, news and rational debate, are useless instruments in a world that lacks the capacity to use them.

Stanley Kutler on Obama and LBJ's Legacy"From LBJ to BHO" -- The 36th president of the United States seems strangely absent in the current celebrations. Perhaps Lyndon B. Johnson is not fondly remembered, but his triumphs paved the long road to Barack Obama’s historic presidency.

Robert Fisk on Obama Inheriting Bush’s Mess"Paying for Eight Years of Bush’s Delusions" -- How is Barack Obama going to repair the titanic damage which his vicious, lying predecessor has perpetrated around the globe and within the U.S. itself?

William Pfaff on Accountability and the Financial Crisis"
Some Blame Must Follow the Financial Collapse" -- “We all made mistakes,” say the bankers. “Now we must look to the future.” But the profiteers who turned up the heat on the global economic meltdown must be held accountable.


Eugene Robinson on the Ailing Republican Party"The GOP’s Long, Rough Road" -- I could make the argument that all is not lost for the Republican Party—that last Tuesday’s across-the-board defeat wasn’t an unmitigated disaster. But it would be a pretty dumb argument, and I doubt many readers would take it seriously.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

11/8/08

http://news.aol.com/article/election-triggers-surge-in-gun-sales/241414


Is the U.S. Headed for Hyperinflation? Video: Is the U.S. Headed for Hyperinflation?
A look at historical precedents may offer a clearer picture.

How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?
Is eight hours a night the optimal amount of sleep for you?


Tuesday, November 4, 2008

11/4/08

snopes again
http://tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php/911-facts/48-911-commentary/5365-snopescom-lies-continues-the-911-cover-up.html

they make a desert and call it peace
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK01Ak04.html

would the sockpuppet attack Iran? Does a bear...
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK01Ak02.html

McCain - Giving Aid and Comfort to the Enemy
http://www.counterpunch.org/valentine10312008.html

a voice in the wilderness
http://www.lewrockwell.com/reed/reed148.html

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/3815392.Bus_firms_want_to_make_streets_safer/


Oregon-based CIA-linked private military contractor offers to detain "troublemakers" at polling places in Oregon.
Evergreen makes odd offer in state that votes by mail.

This came from:
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
anyone seen corroboration?

The Amazing Power of Music Revealed
Nearly everyone enjoys music, but did you know it could have these astounding health benefits?


The Surprising Sponsor of the U.S. Elections Video: The Surprising Sponsor of the U.S. Elections
Have you noticed which industry has funded most programs covering the U.S. election campaign?


Why You Can't Trust Most Studies on Health
What are the key points you need to be aware of when reviewing health news?

Joe Conason on McCain’s “Socialist” Ranting
"McCain’s Socialist Delusion" -- Wherever John McCain appears on the stump in these waning days of the presidential campaign, he is always accompanied by his imaginary friend “Joe the Plumber,” but it is the specter of Karl Marx that lurks just offstage

David Sirota on McCain's Big Con
"McCain Banking on a Confederacy of Dunces" -- Is John McCain stupid, or does he believe we are? That’s the question as he criticizes Barack Obama for allegedly trying to “redistribute the wealth” with a plan to lower taxes on the middle class and raise them on the super-rich.

http://products.mercola.com/tulsi-tea/?source=nl

The Importance of Scheduling Downtime
Do you feel like relaxing is a waste of time?

Robert Scheer on McCain's Economic Revelation
"The Hoover-Palin Ticket" -- And the winner is ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Remember him—the great Democratic president who saved capitalism from the capitalists by reining in their exorbitant greed? Forget the Reagan Revolution heralding a new era of small government, which turned out to be nothing more than a fig leaf for legalized corporate crime. The hero of the hour is FDR.

Chris Hedges on American Politics in the Wake of the Economic Crisis
"America’s Political Cannibalism" -- It is no longer our economy but our democracy that is in peril. Financial collapses lead to political extremism. The rage bubbling up from our impoverished and disenfranchised working class, glimpsed at John McCain rallies, presages a looming and dangerous right-wing backlash.

"Keep This ‘First Dude’ Out of the White House" -- Todd Palin seated behind a White House desk and shaping national policy could be one of the most dangerous aspects of a potential Sarah Palin presidency.

Robert Fisk on the Slaughter of Civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan
"‘Collateral Damage’ Not Much Different From Targeted Killing" -- When U.S. troops massacre Iraqi civilians in Haditha because their buddy has been murdered, what is the difference between their revenge and that of Saddam?

Marie Cocco on the 401(k) Fallacy
"Retirees Wake Up to a Swindle" -- The essential fallacy of the 401(k) has been exposed. It took a historic market collapse—one that threatens to impoverish workers already in retirement and those who are nearing it.

E.J. Dionne on McCain and the Far Right
"McCain’s Mob" -- Are we witnessing the re-emergence of the far right as a power in American politics? Has John McCain, inadvertently perhaps, become the midwife of a new movement built around fear, xenophobia, racism and anger?

Sunday, November 2, 2008

NAOMI WOLF

WAR IS A RACKET

THE MILITARY MEDICAL COMPLEX

REAGAN VS FDR

Mandate ’08: Reagan vs. FDR

UNLEARNED LESSONS

The Unlearned Lessons of Vietnam Continue to Haunt The U.S.

WHEN AMERICANS NO LONGER OWN AMERICA

http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/articles.php?boardId=455943&articleId=694871&func=6&channel=News&filterRead=false&filterHidden=true&filterUnhidden=false

IT KEEPS GETTING WORSE

The secret behind Sarah Palin's fancy debate hair - StyleList Blog what downhome hockey mom travels with her own hair stylest??? she thinks she is a star already
Palin Defends Her 'Terrorist' Remark it is my understanding that when"that terrorist" was active Obama was 8 years old

KEATING ECONOMICS

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/keatingvideo

911 ORAL HISTORIES

911truth.org ::::: Explosive Testimony: Revelations about the Twin Towers in the 9/11 Oral Histories

911 DUST VIDEO

Red Chips Thermite Explosives found in 911 Dust Video

CAPATALISM SAVED BY SOCIALISM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVDPxVy7h38&NR=1

ALASKANS SPEAK

Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is “Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean.” | The LA Progressive

MCCAINS MISERABLE RECORD

VetVoice:: McCain's Miserable Record of Not Supporting America's Troops and Veterans

THE FLEECING OF AMERICA

The Fleecing of America By Stephen Lendman

THE PEOPLES VOICES

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/videos.php

MCCAIN SONGBIRD

YouTube - John McCain (SongBird McCain) Traitor!

JOHN MCCAIN TRAITOR

YouTube - Is John McCain a traitor?

AND IT BEGINS AGAIN

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6528

10 SIGNS THE COUNTRY IS GOING FASCIST

STEALING AMERICA

http://stealingamerica.com/

DAHR JAMAIL


Monday 27 October 2008

by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Long before I discovered the mysterious mix of pain and relief that writing from the heart brings, I was pursuing a Masters in English Literature at Central Washington University in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington.

I was broke, like most grad students, and supported myself by working for two individuals confined to assisted living situations. One of them, Larry, was completely paralyzed. He was unable to speak, and could only blink his eyes. He had been in prison when the ill effects of an operation he undertook there had gone wrong, and were then compounded by an error by the anesthesiologist. His sustenance came from gulping small spoonfuls of food blended with milk. Never in his life would he ever again “enjoy” a meal. He would never be experiencing the simple actions of walking, singing, dancing, swimming, driving, fishing, wandering …

He may have been unable to speak, but Larry had a lot to say. He communicated by blinking his eyes. I would sit beside his prone body on the gurney and slowly recite the alphabet until he blinked on a letter. “C?” I would ask. Another blink. C. Recite again,”A?” Another blink. A. Recite to N, another blink. I would ask, “Can?” Another blink, “Yes.” “Can” would eventually become, “Can I have a drink?” I would get him some juice, or water, depending on what he would spell next.

It was laborious to communicate with him and it took patience and stamina. He lacked neither, for he had a book to write. We would spend three hours to produce half a page of text.

Everything was against him, but that was not going to deter him from trying to write his book, to tell his story. He had already arrived at the secret of writing that I, as a slow learner, did not learn until long after I dropped out of graduate school from lack of funds. It took me long to understand that I cannot keep quiet about what I know, and must write.

I had to have my heart ripped open, witnessing the occupation of Iraq before I knew that I must write. And I have written hundreds of articles, some papers, and now, two books. Forgive me if this sounds self-laudatory. but I oftentimes feel it is not enough … that I should do more. So, here I am writing, yet again. And as far as I know, so is Larry, because we both have a lot that we want people to know about.

Or, perhaps, we want only for people to acknowledge what they know already.

Less than a month from the American presidential election of 2008, the day after the so-called final debate, I sat writing some of this article in Oakland airport, awaiting a flight to Portland, as part of a team of journalists, authors, activists and military veterans from the occupation of Iraq. The team is embarking on a countrywide tour to talk about the occupation of Iraq and the American Empire, in the hope that the American public might consider resisting both.

“… for seven years, France has been a mad dog dragging a saucepan tied to its tail, every day unaware that we have ruined, starved and massacred a nation of poor people to bring them to their knees. They remained standing. But at what a price! While the delegations were putting an end to the business, 2,400,000 Algerians remained in the slow death camps; we have killed more than a million of them ….”
-Jean-Paul Sartre, “The Sleepwalkers,” Les Temps Modernes, April 1962

The economy is in shambles. Yet, in the heated exchanges between Obama and McCain about the economy, there appears to be no connection whatsoever between the occupation, now costing a cool $3 billion per week, and the financial dire straights the country is in.

Here, in the East Bay Area of California, famed for its moderate temperatures, lots of sunshine and fresh ocean air, I peer across the Bay through the pollution to catch the silhouette of San Francisco. My eyes smart from the effort. We’re in a drought, the reservoirs are drying up. Water scarcity is a reality, even here. The Poles are melting. Within my lifetime, this airport may be completely submerged, along with the streets of several major US cities, one of a string of countless results of climate change.

I watched a plane unload and people rushing past, trying to remain abreast of the inhuman pace thrust upon us by the industrial growth society, a pace inherently unsustainable. I marvel continually, awed and uncomprehending that life here goes on as it does, while so much is burning.

Despite a collapsing economy and complicity in a system that is devouring the embers of a burning planet, the privileged carry on with their lives, “unaware.” But everyone knows. Even the most ardent supporter of the powers that be is aware of what the government of the United States has done and is doing to Iraq, to the world, to the planet.

I believe that, like me, most people, deep inside, know that many things have gone terribly wrong, that we must find a better way to exist.

Now, as I write, on October 25, 21 Iraqis and another US soldier are killed in Iraq, along with an additional 17 wounded Iraqis. These facts hardly garner mention in the American corporate media, because the “surge” has been a “success.” You and I are the intended beneficiaries of this “success,” as our lives grind on in this twisted Disneyland, while half a world away an occupation grinds on, carrying out industrial scale slaughter, with the unfailing support of our tax dollars.

History repeats itself, for we choose not to learn from it. I amend the above Sartre quote:

“… for over five years, the United States has been a mad dog dragging a saucepan tied to its tail, every day unaware that we have ruined, starved and massacred a nation of poor people to bring them to their knees. They remained standing. But at what a price! While the delegations were putting an end to the business, 4,700,000 Iraqis remained in the slow death camps as refugees; we have killed more than 1.2 million of them …”

“For 18 months, our country has been the victim of what the legal code has called a ‘demoralization offensive.’ And it is not by sabotaging its ‘morale’ that you demoralize a nation, it is by degrading its morality; as for the procedure, everyone knows it: by precipitating us into a despicable adventure, they have instilled in us, from without, a sense of social guilt. But we vote, we give mandates and, in a way, we can revoke them; the stirring of public opinion can bring down governments. We personally must be accomplices to the crimes that are committed in our name, since it is within our power to stop them. We have to take responsibility for this guilt which was dormant in us, inert, foreign, and demean ourselves in order to be able to bear it.”
-Sartre, Les Temps Modernes, May 1957

Fifty-one years later, two generations away, in another time and another world, are we willing to recognize that we are accomplices to the crimes that are committed in our name, since it is in our power to stop them? Are we willing to take responsibility for this guilt, which was dormant in us, inert, foreign, and to demean ourselves in order to be able to bear it?

It would hardly seem so, considering how even much of the “antiwar” contingent believe corporate media drivel about the “surge” being successful. Would Americans call it a success if it translated into a thousand American citizens being killed or disappearing every month, as they do, on average, in Iraq? Thanks to the “success” of the “surge,” today approximately one-quarter of the total population of Iraq are either refugees or dead.

This latest manifestation of bread and circus has the American public enthralled. Our slavish faith in the media renders us unwilling to demean ourselves to the point of hearing the truth within. Millions in the country are transfixed by a politically inexperienced, religious fundamentalist hate-monger from a small Alaskan town known for its meth labs, marijuana growers, four-wheelers, snow-machines and a Wal-Mart Supercenter with the distinction of selling more duct tape than any other in the country.

This is the low-point at which “politics” in the United States has arrived. How can this charade even be taken seriously?

“It is not a good thing, my fellow Frenchmen, you who are aware of all the crimes committed in our name, it is really not a good thing that you do not breathe a word of it to anyone, not even your own soul, for fear of having to be judged. At the start you did not know, I can believe that; then you suspected; now you know, but you continue to remain silent. Eight years of silence have a degrading effect. And all to no avail: today, the blinding sun of torture is at its zenith and illuminates the whole country; in this light, there is no laughter that does not sound false, no face that is not made up to conceal anger or fear, no act that does not betray our disgust and complicity. Whenever two French people meet now, there is a dead body between them. In fact, did I say one? … In the past, France was the name of a country; let us take care that it is not, in 1961, the name of a neurosis.”
-Sartre, from the preface to “The Wretched of the Earth”

What of my fellow Americans? What is their continual denial doing to them? Are we experiencing a mass psychosis? How long will this sleepwalking continue?

Resistance in Baghdad, meanwhile, continues with over one thousand attacks on occupation and collaborating forces every month. Conservatively, that’s over one attack per hour. That, too, is part of the “success” of the “surge.” Most Iraq war veterans know this. Adam Kokesh, a former marine, was ejected from the Republican National Convention during McCain’s “acceptance speech” for holding up a sign that read, “You Can’t Win an Occupation.”

“… the circle is closing, because we are going to be caught in a dreadful trap and, unfortunately for us, in a posture that we ourselves have condemned. False naivete, flight, bad faith, solitude, silence, a complicity at once rejected and accepted, that is what we called, in 1945, collective responsibility. There was no way the German people, at the time, could feign ignorance of the camps. ‘Come off it!’ we said. ‘They knew everything.’ We were right, they did know everything, and it is only today that we can understand: because we too know everything. Most of them had never seen Dachau or Buchenwald, but they knew people who knew other people who had caught a glimpse of the barbed wire or consulted confidential files in a ministry. They, like us, thought that this information was unsound, they kept quiet, were mistrustful of one another. Do we still dare to condemn them? Do we still dare to absolve ourselves?”
-Sartre, Les Temps Modernes, May 1957

In early September, a cholera outbreak spread across southern Iraq and into Baghdad. It continues today, as scores are dead, hundreds sick, and it is still not completely contained. I received an email from Iraq recently, describing the condition of children in the al-Ghaziliya area of Baghdad. They sound to me like children in Somalia, suffering from the same chronic malnourishment, thin limbs, distended bellies, pencil necks, disease and starvation.

Around the same time, on September 10 to be precise, Iraqi Defense Minister Abdel Qader Mohammed Jassim confirmed that Baghdad planned to purchase F-16 fighter jets from the United States. “This plane is to improve the future ability of the Iraqi army to protect the entire country, including Kurdistan, from any foreign aggression,” Jassim told reporters in Baghdad’s Green Zone. The plan states that Baghdad “wants” to buy 36 advanced F-16 fighters from the United States.

The distended bellies are part of the entire country, but I doubt that the Iraqi army will be able to protect them with 36 F-16 fighter jets.

The question I ask myself is what will protect our country from collapsing under the burden of this enormous guilt of having systemically wrecked and destroyed another nation with such impunity? What will protect us from the awareness of being complicit in such unlawful and willful destruction? As the truth becomes impossible to ignore, are we to be transformed from a nation of sleepwalkers into a nation of insomniacs?

If Larry is willing to go to the lengths he is in order to write his book about his life and how he suffered within the prison industrial complex, it seems a good time to ask ourselves, What am I willing to do to effect positive change? Will casting a vote for a particular candidate stop the North Pole from melting in five years, as the latest scientific report shows us? Will walking away from the voting booth bring an immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all occupation forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan?

We must each ask ourselves, during this week before the election, what, precisely, we will be willing to do to bring about the change necessary to end all the illegalities being carried out in our name. For this question shall, of course, persist long after November 4.