Nituktetanhan he?

Now this is the substantive problem described once again in obfuscating ways.
The sales report was worrying because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity and has been the main driver of the rebound from the 2001 recession. The concern is that, pinched by pump prices, people are reining in spending on other things. On top of that, the bulging trade deficit shows that consumers' money is going less to U.S. companies and more to firms overseas. Finally, job growth remains anemic, possibly making shoppers even more reluctant to buy. A slowing economy could mean that today's unusually slack job market and stagnant wages may be the best that can be expected this business cycle. It also could deep-six the booming housing market and further depress stock prices.

These paragraphs followed one that started with the phrase "most economists believe." Think about that for a moment. They don't know, they don't factually present, they don't manifest any greater degree of reliability than belief. An entire system of machinations that do nothing so much more than increase human suffering and all based on faith and a desperate absolute need to increase consumer spending as a means to maintain the system. People spend less and that ruins the economy; this basic principle is so flawed, so vile in its manifestations. If we have a system that is foundationally dependent on convincing the population that it must purchase goods and services it doesn't need at an evergrowing 2% rate just to maintain itself, we have a system deeply detrimental to the health and welfare of the planet. But do they care?? No of course not. As the New Yorker magazine pointed out last week, if you aren't one of the wealthiest people in the world then you just dont understand how good they are for the rest of us. Well a simple reading of basic economic theory renders that argument moot.

ESEA 2 or no crappy liberty bestowed

No Dentist Left Behind

My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth.
>>
When I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great.
>>
"Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said.
>>
"No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"

"It's quite simple," I said.

"They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating.
>>
Dentists will be rated as excellent, good, average, below average, and unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. The plan will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice."
>>
"That's terrible," he said.
>>
"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try to improve children's dental health in this state?"
>>
"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry."
>>
"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."
>>
"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all work with the same clientele, and that much depends on things we can't control?
>>
For example, I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper middle-class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem, and I don't get to do much preventive work. Also many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all off, so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference early use of fluoride can make?"
>>
"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. "I can't believe that you, my dentist, would be so defensive. After all, you do a great job, and you needn't fear a little accountability."
>>
"I am not being defensive!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I am needed most."
>>
"Don't' get touchy," I said.
>>
"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red, and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth.
>>
"Try furious! In a system like this, I will end up being rated average, below average, or worse. The few educated patients I have who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating is an actual measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me, and I'll be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse. On top of that, how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is labeled below average?"
>>
"I think you are overreacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse-making and stonewalling won't improve dental health'...I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted.
>>
"What's the DOC?" he asked.
>>
"It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of mostly lay persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."
>>
"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy it," he said hopefully.
>>
The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would you measure good dentistry?"
>>
"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes." "That's too complicated, expensive and time- consuming," I said.

"Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line. It's an absolute measure."
>>
"That's what I'm afraid my parents and prospective patients will think. This can't be happening," he said despairingly.
>>
"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some."

"How?" he asked.
>>
"If you receive a poor rating, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent to help straighten you out," I said brightly.
>>
"You mean," he said, "they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I have probably had much more experience? BIG HELP!"
>>
"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionally at all."
>>
"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools and teachers on an average score made on a test of children's progress with no regard to influences outside the school, the home, the community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."
>>
I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened. "I'm going to write my representatives and senators," he said. "I'll use the school analogy. Surely they will see the point."
>>
He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed anger that I, a teacher, see in the mirror so often lately.
>>
If you don't understand why educators resent the recent federal NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT, this may help. If you do understand, you'll enjoy this analogy, which was forwarded by John S. Taylor, Superintendent of Schools for the Lancaster County, PA, School District. Be a friend to a teacher and pass this on.
>

Raptus regaliter

Rumsfeld warns against cronyism 13apr05
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Iraq's new leaders against political purges and cronyism that could create "lack of confidence or corruption in government".

This has to be one of the single most egregious examples of just how evil this administration can be, yet seen during this war. A man who is every bit the role model for cronyism, for horrendous corruption within the military/industrial complex, for failure of generating any respect among his own subordinates--telling Iraq to do as i say, not as i do????? While his own friends are undergoing intense scrutiny for their regular purges of political foes, indeed calling for violence against a judiciary that although they helped create does not serve their own personal interests. Promotions abound for those that are friends, no matter the previous convictions and extreme lapses of ethical judgement. Wives and daughters run campaigns and receive massive cash infusions from PAC's and Halliburton and friends. Trips are paid for by lobbyists who prove their worth when bills are passed that represent their personal views. And Rummy suggests that Iraq shouldn't act like that??? Why?? Doesn't it work??

Le Christeyi tokeske eyapi he?

"This is not a Democrat- Republican issue; it is a liberal-conservative issue," Rick Scarborough, a former Congressman, a Baptist minister, and chair of the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, sponsor of the gathering, said in an interview. "It's about a temporal versus eternal value system. We are not going away." While conservatives have long accused liberal judges of making, rather than interpreting, laws, Massachusetts' adoption of gay marriage last year and Schiavo's death last week have magnified their fury. Whereas before they complained about "judicial arrogance," speakers this week accused courts of "gang violence" and waging "unholy war" -- and drew applause when they called for the removal of judges who believe that interpretations of the US Constitution should change with the times. Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas and a member of the House Judiciary Committee, called the situation "a crisis."

It is imperative that we visualize, we construct, we manifest a picture of this nation if these people were to have their way. We need to get this vision out into the general media, the MSM, so that the citizens of this nation have an accurate way to measure just what these people want to do with the US. Picture a country controlled by extreme fascist evangelical christians. Who would be left alive. Death squads for jesus would roam the streets killing any and all persons who do not fit the prototypical evangelical fundamentalist impassioned zealot. These people are already turning on their own conservative brethren, what would keep them from cannibalizing it all. Waging holy wars to end all wars against the barbarians and heathens across the planet. There is no logic in their mindset that would stop them from using nuclear weapons against all of the islamic and non-christian nations. They would be forced to destroy Israel, as part of their destined faith. They would be forced to take on China as a means to create a christian planet. But they would start here.

First they would fill the prisons with all of those that exhibit non-CCRR behaviors and tendencies. This would be determined first by profiling based on generalized stereotyping. Long haired males, short haired females, fashion conscious men, tomboy looking women, people seen smoking something other than US commercially made tobacco products, people not contributing tithes as ordered by government, anyone charged with any small petty crimes that victimized the CCRR people---all of these would be locked away, until the prisons were overflowing. Then they would start the killing. Claiming pestilence and disease as the hands of the judgemental apocalyptic lords they would fumigate the vermin, literally toxifying the prisons with pesticides and herbicides. Then they will turn that effort on the hungry mouths of the children of non-CCRR families and others. Without proper baptisms there will be no food deliveries. Simple effective strategy to enforce a future generation to adhere. Whenever protests and riots spark, full scale invasions will be launched, again through the wisdom of revelations, slaughtering and destroying the non-believers.

I wish this were fantasy, it were science fiction, it were something from long ago. But it is not. These people, with money and authority and military means, are serious about taking control of this country and destroying it to save it. Believe me when i tell you, we cannot continue to laugh at them. They are not just a simple joke of lunacy, they are a craven hideous evil that must be destroyed before they destroy this Earth.

Nikhuja he?

From Worldwatch Institute today, this summary of problems that a new pope needs to address. I wonder why we continue to not ask our own national and regional leadership about their handling of these matters. Is it possible that we are so unwilling to change our own way of life, that we hope that faith based solutions will become manifest across the planet, helping those that suffer immeasureably by our actions, to overcome their suffering, just so we don't have to suffer? Yes it is..

• We live in an era of mass extinction—the first in 65 million years, and the first ever caused by human activities. This is essentially the unraveling, in just a few decades, of billions of years of a creative, evolutionary process that made life as we know it possible.
  
  
• We are changing the planet’s climate and raising the level of the seven seas; unchecked, this will eventually eliminate whole low-lying island nations and permanently flood coastal ones, change patterns of rainfall and drought, further reduce some species populations and spread disease.
  
  
• We are apathetic in the face of mass poverty. Billions of people lack clean water and sanitation, for example, and one in eight are chronically hungry, despite ongoing food surpluses. This in a world of unprecedented wealth: the United Nations reported in 1998 that three individual persons—persons!—held as much wealth as the combined GDP of the world’s 48 poorest countries. Meanwhile, a generation of middle-age children in wealthy countries is on the cusp of the greatest transfer of wealth in history, as they inherit trillions of dollars from their parents. What is their responsibility in a world of mass deprivation?
  
  
• We increasingly seek salvation through consumption. Citizens of wealthy countries appear to have insatiable appetites: new houses in the United States are 38 percent larger than in 1975, the United States now has more cars than drivers, and two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese. Our search for meaning seems increasingly to take place at the mall.

In another late story today, health scientists warn that staph bacteria are spreading in communities, particularly strains that are resistant to treatment. It is almost reassuring that nature will exact her revenges in the homes of those who continue to dismiss her as something to be dominated.

stats and evaluations

By 55%-40%, respondents say Republicans, traditionally the party of limited government, are "trying to use the federal government to interfere with the private lives of most Americans" on moral values.

By 53%-40%, they say Democrats, who sharply expanded government since the Depression, aren't trying to interfere on moral issues.

So, a small percentage change in the population is seen as a movement towards rejection of the CCRR fascism. I don't think this will matter one tiny bit when the sheit hits the proverbial fan. The fascism will always win out leading to the final battles for control of the basic and essential resources. We have more and more chances to fall into a state of chaos and destructiveness whilst the have nots begin to die from increasing diseases, famines, lack of sufficient shelter, etc. Too tired, sick, and famished to fight over resources the plan of the CCRR's is to swamp the nation with military experienced private security apparatchiks who will easily take control of transportation routes and resource streams. The public be damned...

Tanyan yaun he?

No not really! I was just thinking about five to ten years down the road when the following policies have had their full effect and the nature of the disparity of haves and have nots in this country is at its greatest.
But even so, today's story highlights the wild-eyed ferocity with which he has persecuted the labor movement. For instance, right-wing appointees to the National Labor Relations Board announced that they're taking aim at card-check recognition: the fairest and fastest process for workers to demonstrate they want a union. He dissolved the labor-management partnership councils – a key measure to give workers more input in federal contracting. He repealed workplace ergonomic standards that were designed to prevent worker on-the-job injuries. And the administration actually intervened to block a California law that said employers couldn't use taxpayer money to run anti-union campaigns in the workplace.

This, of course, says nothing about Bush's refusal to support a serious increase in the minimum wage, his unending support for corporate-written free trade deals that sell out American jobs, his hearty endorsement of outsourcing, and his desire to allow companies to unilaterally change their pension system to screw workers. Nor does it say anything about how his administration has given secret sweetheart deals to Wal-Mart, essentially giving the most anti-union company on the globe a free hand to continue its abusive union busting practices.

labor in no longer organized in any way with the exception of the various slaveries imposed by depression, economic bankruptcies, few jobs at next to nothing pay, millions upon millions homeless and with out food willing to work just to eat on environmental clean up farms and hazardous wastes sites and such. WalMarts will only be selling to the upper classes who still can afford the cheap shit from China. There will be few if any manufacturing jobs and the service sectors will be composed of what was formerly public governmental functions now taken over by private groups who support the infrastructure of the haves. Whole regions will become have not zones, fenced with electric barbed razor wires to keep them in where they literally and figuratively cannibalize one another. yeah we really need to get rid of labor unions alright.

Dulce bellum inexpertis.

The metaphoric representation of politics as a scaled pendulum swinging freely between this or that position, may be valid, only so long as the pendulum swings. When it stops, there would be the supposition of balance and the presentation of equilibrium, that, by virtue of all known human relations, would not be possible. The swing can be rhythmic and non-precessive, as well as delicately focussed between two clearly opposed views and so forth. This would happen when the mass of societies are understanding of the implications of holding those views and the presentation of authorities in voicing them in non-threatening manners. None of this applies to now.

We live in a time, that if the metaphor holds, the pendulum is swinging highly erratically, highly chaotically. Forces of great complexity are expressing enormous energies along vectors that are neither aligned, nor harmonious to well being and balance. I think all of this stems from one common causality. There are no leadership type entities who have a clue on what is going on. NONE, zippo, nada. They would like others to think they know, or even would like the comfort of thinking that they know, but none do. Noone knows when the next act of freaking earth inspired terror will come. None know when the delicate propping up of currencies and energy based economies will come to a screetching halt. Not a soul understands the totality of implications of policies mandated. So we get thousands upon thousands of short term actions, all eliciting energies that are counter to anything that can be remotely considered good. If we take any single one of these policy threads we discover that very quickly the manifestations of these all lead to a destructive affect. In toto, the one single point at which the pendulum of political ideas will achieve stasis is when it is all destroyed. Unfortunately, none of those believers will attain rapture, none of the victims will be acknowledged for suffering in vain, none of those responsible will be held accountable. It is simply all becoming dead.

isn't fascism lovely...

Are Milton Mayer's conversations with Germany's 'ordinary' Nazis, Frank Zappa's warning of a theocratic America, and the Christian right's 'Christian Nation' mantra signs of a nation drifting towards theocracy?

By Bill Berkowitz, Dissident Voice

"No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will. ... When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American. And nobody will ever say 'Heil' to him, nor will they call him 'Fuhrer' or 'Duce.' But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of 'O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh Kaaaay!'"
-- Dorothy Thompson, 1935

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security...".
-- They Thought They Were Free, Milton Mayer, 1955

"Whoooo could imagine, that they would freak out, in Kansas, Kansas, badoobie-doobie-do, Kansas, Kansas..."
-- Help I'm A Rock, The Mothers of Invention, 1966

"... STOP groups like the ACLU from removing all mentions of Christmas from the public square!" -- Christian Response e-Alert, December 2004

On November 7, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew, assassinated Ernst von Rath, a low-ranking German official, at his embassy in Paris. Two days later, Kristallnacht ("Night of Crystal"), a pogrom that destroyed synagogues, Jewish-owned homes, stores and community centers, commenced.

Kristalnacht was incited by a well-organized "intense campaign against Jews [which] began on German National Radio," Milton Mayer wrote in his 1955 book They Thought They Were Free. Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi regime's Propaganda Minister, directed the campaign that appeared to move ordinary Germans to action against Jews: Are the German people going to be "sitting ducks all over the world for Jew murderers?" the radio voice challenged. "Are the German people to stand helpless while the Fuhrer's representatives are shot down by the Jew swine? Are the Schweinehunde to get off scott free? Is the wrath of the German People against the Israelite scum to be restrained any longer?"

Ten years after World War II, Milton Mayer went to Germany, where he spent a year searching to find out how ordinary Germans -- not Nazi Party leaders -- seamlessly and somewhat comfortably accepted and embraced fascism.

In a television interview in 1986 -- nearly fifty years after Kristalnacht -- Frank Zappa, a rock musician and free speech advocate, warned that America itself was headed "toward a fascist theocracy."

Only a few months ago, right wing Christian fundamentalists were claiming that Christmas -- and therefore Christians -- was under attack. They vowed that they were not going to take it any more.

Milton Mayer's year-long pilgrimage to Germany and his conversation with "ordinary Germans, Frank Zappa's warning on CNN's Crossfire and the Christian right's campaign against church/state separationists makes for an unusual trifecta. Yet these disparate threads of the past and present represent clear trends in America's political landscape as George W. Bush settles in to his second term.

Frank Zappa's Warning

The late Frank Zappa, best known for fronting The Mothers of Invention -- a difficult-to-categorize late sixties/early seventies group of disparate musicians -- was a dynamic figure; a composer, singer-guitarist, bandleader, graphic artist, filmmaker, satirist, political commentator and author of The REAL Frank Zappa Book.

He was also a passionate defender of the First Amendment and testified before Congress on censorship-related issues. His most publicized appearance was on September 19, 1985, before the US Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, where he spoke out against the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music censorship organization founded by then-Senator Al Gore's wife Tipper Gore, and several other political wives, including those of five members of the committee.

During his 1986 appearance on CNN's Crossfire, Zappa made it clear that the hullabaloo surrounding the censorship of rock lyrics was an attempt to suppress free speech. In the tradition of the late Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, Zappa said that he didn't "believe there are any words that need to be suppressed."

After getting steadily bashed by his counterpart, the conservative Washington Times columnist John Lofton, he turned toward him and told him to "kiss my ass." The program, which hadn't started out with any references to smooching, devolved to that point after an exasperated and infuriated Lofton kept accusing Zappa of refusing to condemn rock lyrics that encouraged incest.

During those early days of "Crossfire" -- and some might argue it has remained that way until only the past few years -- the left was barely distinguishable from the right. "From the left" was Tom Braden, who ran the C.I.A.'s covert cultural division in the early 1950's and 30 years later could barely muster up a coherent progressive thought, and "from the right" was a younger and surprisingly less irascible Robert Novak. (To view the entire interview, see ifilm.com.)

Later, when Lofton claimed that America's families were under attack and threatened by out-of-control musicians, Zappa stated clearly that the "the biggest threat to America is not communism, it's moving America toward a fascist theocracy, and everything that's happened during the Reagan Administration is steering us right down that path." (For more on Zappa's life see Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

ladies and gentleman, here's fascism!

"No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will. ... When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American. And nobody will ever say 'Heil' to him, nor will they call him 'Fuhrer' or 'Duce.' But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of 'O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh Kaaaay!'"
-- Dorothy Thompson, 1935

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security...".
-- They Thought They Were Free, Milton Mayer, 1955

"Whoooo could imagine, that they would freak out, in Kansas, Kansas, badoobie-doobie-do, Kansas, Kansas..."
-- Help I'm A Rock, The Mothers of Invention, 1966

"... STOP groups like the ACLU from removing all mentions of Christmas from the public square!" -- Christian Response e-Alert, December 2004

On November 7, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew, assassinated Ernst von Rath, a low-ranking German official, at his embassy in Paris. Two days later, Kristallnacht ("Night of Crystal"), a pogrom that destroyed synagogues, Jewish-owned homes, stores and community centers, commenced.

Kristalnacht was incited by a well-organized "intense campaign against Jews [which] began on German National Radio," Milton Mayer wrote in his 1955 book They Thought They Were Free. Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi regime's Propaganda Minister, directed the campaign that appeared to move ordinary Germans to action against Jews: Are the German people going to be "sitting ducks all over the world for Jew murderers?" the radio voice challenged. "Are the German people to stand helpless while the Fuhrer's representatives are shot down by the Jew swine? Are the Schweinehunde to get off scott free? Is the wrath of the German People against the Israelite scum to be restrained any longer?"

Ten years after World War II, Milton Mayer went to Germany, where he spent a year searching to find out how ordinary Germans -- not Nazi Party leaders -- seamlessly and somewhat comfortably accepted and embraced fascism.

In a television interview in 1986 -- nearly fifty years after Kristalnacht -- Frank Zappa, a rock musician and free speech advocate, warned that America itself was headed "toward a fascist theocracy."

Only a few months ago, right wing Christian fundamentalists were claiming that Christmas -- and therefore Christians -- was under attack. They vowed that they were not going to take it any more.

Milton Mayer's year-long pilgrimage to Germany and his conversation with "ordinary Germans, Frank Zappa's warning on CNN's Crossfire and the Christian right's campaign against church/state separationists makes for an unusual trifecta. Yet these disparate threads of the past and present represent clear trends in America's political landscape as George W. Bush settles in to his second term.

Frank Zappa's Warning

The late Frank Zappa, best known for fronting The Mothers of Invention -- a difficult-to-categorize late sixties/early seventies group of disparate musicians -- was a dynamic figure; a composer, singer-guitarist, bandleader, graphic artist, filmmaker, satirist, political commentator and author of The REAL Frank Zappa Book.

He was also a passionate defender of the First Amendment and testified before Congress on censorship-related issues. His most publicized appearance was on September 19, 1985, before the US Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, where he spoke out against the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music censorship organization founded by then-Senator Al Gore's wife Tipper Gore, and several other political wives, including those of five members of the committee.

During his 1986 appearance on CNN's Crossfire, Zappa made it clear that the hullabaloo surrounding the censorship of rock lyrics was an attempt to suppress free speech. In the tradition of the late Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, Zappa said that he didn't "believe there are any words that need to be suppressed."

After getting steadily bashed by his counterpart, the conservative Washington Times columnist John Lofton, he turned toward him and told him to "kiss my ass." The program, which hadn't started out with any references to smooching, devolved to that point after an exasperated and infuriated Lofton kept accusing Zappa of refusing to condemn rock lyrics that encouraged incest.

During those early days of "Crossfire" -- and some might argue it has remained that way until only the past few years -- the left was barely distinguishable from the right. "From the left" was Tom Braden, who ran the C.I.A.'s covert cultural division in the early 1950's and 30 years later could barely muster up a coherent progressive thought, and "from the right" was a younger and surprisingly less irascible Robert Novak. (To view the entire interview, see ifilm.com.)

Later, when Lofton claimed that America's families were under attack and threatened by out-of-control musicians, Zappa stated clearly that the "the biggest threat to America is not communism, it's moving America toward a fascist theocracy, and everything that's happened during the Reagan Administration is steering us right down that path." (For more on Zappa's life see Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange column Conservative Watch documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American Right.

Reprinted from Dissident Voice:

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Apr05/Berkowitz0401.htm

Tókheshkhe óchiciya owakihi he?

"I urge all those who honour Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others," Bush said. "The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak. In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in the favour of life."

Yet another documentable blatant lie. This one is so insidiously easy to discredit that it is a wonder that that bimbo now speaking for him in Texas can even keep a straight face when responding to questions. Those who live at the mercy of others must include: iraqis, afghanis, immigrants in the US, people on social security and other welfare supports, et al. Hell people who live on the mercy of others include US military personnel and all of those sitting in US Veteran's hospitals who are about to be put out on the streets with, you got it, no support, no protection, no value. But why would BushCo every stop lying to us. It will never be in his best interest to have to ever tell the truth about anything he thinks or does. Why? Because he doesn't know..

Cum homine de arachne debeo congredi

Oil Jumps, Fuel Prices Reach Records on U.S. Refining Concern March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose, heading for its third-biggest quarterly gain this decade, and gasoline and heating oil futures reached records on concern that U.S. refineries can't make enough fuels from surging crude supplies. OPEC is pumping almost as much oil as it can, and the U.S. last week imported the most crude this year, sending inventories to their highest since July 2002. Maintenance at refineries is curbing U.S. gasoline output, with stockpiles falling for a fourth straight week in the week ended March 25 and demand set to peak for three months starting in late May. ``We know there's plenty of crude around, but there's just not enough refining capacity to process it,'' said Rob Laughlin, a broker at Man Financial in London. ``Prices of oil-derived products will remain strong.''

I love the notion of 'remain strong'. By this i am sure they mean affordable and accessible. NO?? They really mean so high and profitable that they are good investments?? This is the future. A few folks making ugly vile profits from energy sales that will become more and more expensive. Last week ExxonMobil reported fourth quarter profits of over $8 billion. The largest quarterly profit ever for any corporation. That is obscene. That much profit is emblematic of the whole problem. Make profit but don't invest in refining capacity here because the future of oil refining is in India and China and they have more reliable currencies and will be better more stable markets and well, fuck the US. So we as citizens help our corporations access every shred of our remaining economic and material resources and then we bend over and let them screw us by taking them all over seas. Meanwhile we will be left with an imposed fascist christian state further marginalizing the population between the might haves and the definitely will never haves.

We are destroying the planet--maka toks'a sni

Living Beyond Our Means: Natural Assets and Human Well-being

This statement was developed by the Board governing the MA process, whose membership includes representatives from U.N. organizations, governments through a number of international conventions, nongovernmental organizations, academia, business, and indigenous peoples.

The statement from the Board identifies 10 key messages and conclusions that can be drawn from the assessment:

• Everyone in the world depends on nature and ecosystem services to provide the conditions for a decent, healthy, and secure life.
• Humans have made unprecedented changes to ecosystems in recent decades to meet growing demands for food, fresh water, fiber, and energy.
• These changes have helped to improve the lives of billions, but at the same time they weakened nature’s ability to deliver other key services such as purification of air and water, protection from disasters, and the provision of medicines.
• Among the outstanding problems identified by this assessment are the dire state of many of the world’s fish stocks; the intense vulnerability of the 2 billion people living in dry regions to the loss of ecosystem services, including water supply; and the growing threat to ecosystems from climate change and nutrient pollution.
• Human activities have taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of species extinctions, further threatening our own well-being.
• The loss of services derived from ecosystems is a significant barrier to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, hunger, and disease.
• The pressures on ecosystems will increase globally in coming decades unless human attitudes and actions change.
• Measures to conserve natural resources are more likely to succeed if local communities are given ownership of them, share the benefits, and are involved in decisions.
• Even today’s technology and knowledge can reduce considerably the human impact on ecosystems. They are unlikely to be deployed fully, however, until ecosystem services cease to be perceived as free and limitless, and their full value is taken into account.
• Better protection of natural assets will require coordinated efforts across all sections of governments, businesses, and international institutions. The productivity of ecosystems depends on policy choices on investment, trade, subsidy, taxation, and regulation, among others.

Grokster schmuckster...

Why are unions anti-P2P??? That is a good question to ask yourself today, after their friend of the court brief in the MGM v Grokster case. Unions are taking the position that Bit -torrent P2P code is a threat to their welfare, while of course ignoring that it is this very type of code that helps them integrate seemless CGI, sound and other application programs into green screen blue screen segments. Unless of course that is their ultimate goal. Fight the very codesources that are taking away their jobs, by fighting to restrict access to every one.. pondering..

http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2160&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Blogger is in some sort of hell

i haven't been able to post for a couple of days now.. and all i have here is a messed up window in which to post.. i don't know what is happening to their system.. maybe just way too many people.. aaarrrrr... well read the post below for now.. more comments later is this system gets back up running.. otherwise meet me over at guerilla news network...

http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=533

i sta' hok'shila

Despite recommendations by Army investigators, commanders have decided not to prosecute 17 American soldiers implicated in the deaths of three prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, according to a new accounting released Friday by the Army. Investigators had recommended that all 17 soldiers be charged in the cases, according to the accounting by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. The charges included murder, conspiracy and negligent homicide. While none of the 17 will face any prosecution, one received a letter of reprimand and another was discharged after the investigations. To date, the military has taken steps toward prosecuting some three dozen soldiers in connection with a total of 28 confirmed or suspected homicides of detainees. The total number of such deaths is believed to be between 28 and 31.In one of the three cases in which no charges are to be filed, the commanders determined the death to be "a result of a series of lawful applications of force." In the second, the commanders decided not to prosecute because of a lack of evidence. In the third, they determined the soldier involved had not been well informed of the rules of engagement.

The best example of this case is the one where soldiers hung a guy by the neck with a baton causing fatal injuries to his trachea. This was determined to have been lawful application of force because the prisoner had been resistance and not compliant to their requests. REally!! That is how they put it. Since it takes at least two guys to do this, plus a couple of others who have to help with the interrogation, four on one was not sufficient to control or restrain the subject. Must be the Rodney King verdict, the twinkies defense. One iraqi military officer was so huge and overpowering that his resistance during questioning required him to be lawfully executed by breaking his trachea. Sounds perfectly reasonable.. if you are living in latin america w/ death squads or in asia under the indonesian military or in africa in darfur. But does it really sound reasonable in the behavior of US citizens. I think not.

wóunspe omnaye wi'c´asa wakan

Editorial today on Bobby Fischer...
They don't seem to mind that Fischer, whom some say was the greatest chess player ever until Garry Kasparov came along, is probably nuts. There were reports he had all the fillings removed from his teeth because he was afraid the Russians were transmitting radio signals to his brain. Born of a Jewish mother, Fischer is virulently anti-Semitic, uttering such silliness as, "America is totally under the control of the Jews" in an interview five years ago. Fleeing Japan Thursday, he called President Bush a war criminal who "should be hung." His bizarre outbursts and hatred of America, the country that made all his success possible, are fairly inexplicable in someone with a normal mind.

A quick analysis of just these comments reveals the underlying campaign to attack Fischer. "There were reports" is clearly providing a cover for rumors to discredit and slander him. Why? Because when you say he is "probably nuts," you need a little backup. Virulently anti-Semetic for say something so silly as how the "jews" control the US government. Well let's look at a short list. Of the 25 leading makers of policy of the Bush administration and the next 25 major players in think tank/lobbying/political contributions groups, how many are jewish? 34/50. That's right 34 of 50, mostly neo-cons under the Cheney/Rove brand of zionist expansion designed by Kissinger minions. Is Fischer silly about this?? Probably not, given the US overt policy towards Israel, the failure of any efforts to stop Mossad agents from collecting whatever state/nuclear/strategic secrets from US NSA/CIA/DoD. Gosh outbursts and hatred towards a country that made it all possible??? Say what?? what the fuck is this shit. Until Fischer garnered some attention in this country for his inate ability to comprehend a game and game theory on level with Soviet-sphere nations masses, no one cared. This nation made money off him as a kid, plying him as a product. So he owes this nation for making something. The world's best chess has always been played in middle andeastern europe; more people play chess in iceland per capita than anywhere else in the world. Yeah the US made a chess champion, just about as well as it made a african music.

Nowhere in the article did it mention Fischers work on Big Blue programming, on US missle defense game theory problems, on graphic interface landscapes for multi-user gaming used by DoD to train and facilitate the use of robots. But they can't admit that, otherwise they would have to admit he knew what he was talking about. damn catch-22

lot kunk' `sni---wrong bitch

Some proto-fascist beatch created this drivel as an attack on basic services and needs for the population.
"The Terri case has no comparison to other people in this country who expect things to be handed to them. This country affords you the freedom to education and jobs of your choice to then feed your family and and attain medical attention. They are not 'entitled' to handouts! If there wasn't such criminal abuse of the social services, there would be enough out there for the truly needy! Terri's husband needs her dead! If anyone would investigate, I would be curious as to the reason why. It disgusts me that this whole event is happening! It embarrasses me that the whole world is watching! This woman has done nothing wrong, and yet we have prisons on top of prisons with people proven to be guilty, who will never be put to death—never mind starved to death! I have always been proud to be an American. I am not proud of this!"

My oh my, how dare people expect things to be handed to them. Oh wait, she is talking about poor people, not rich people right? It is still okay for the rich to expect things to be handed to them, to be entitled: to their handouts, to their tax breaks, to their freedom from laws, to their acquisition and destruction of the environment, to their enslavement of others!!! Obviously this bitch pays zero attention to anything except Rush Limbaugh or O'Reality who told her to write this drivelling shit. To claim as she does that this country "affords you the freedom to.. JOBS" is beyond the comprehension of someone who actually has an acquaintence w/ reality. To further destroy her own credibility she suggest that people can afford medical attention no matter what their financial condition ridicules the millions upon millions of US citizens who have zero access, simply because they have been priced out of it by greed sustained by idiots such as this.

But then she does propose we start killing people in prison of course not realizing we already do, but just not on the news, as that might draw too much attention to our gulag. aaaarrrrggggg.. she is a fucking stupid bitch

héchun shni ye!

Ponder this sentence!
Students who believe their professor is singling them out for “public ridicule” – for instance, when professors use the Socratic method to force students to explain their theories in class – would also be given the right to sue.
the right to sue??? in other words, if a professor uses one of the most valuable of all teaching strategies to facilitate an important learning experience in a classroom, then the called upon student should have the right to sue that professor because the student feels ridiculed?? yes this is the dawning of the fascist state in the US. GET it in your heads people.. FASCSIM is growing and rampant and expanding!!! and now for the rest of the story---which is even stranger

Capitol bill aims to control ‘leftist’ profs
THE LAW COULD LET STUDENTS SUE FOR UNTOLERATED BELIEFS.

By JAMES VANLANDINGHAM
Alligator Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE — Republicans on the House Choice and Innovation Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to pass a bill that aims to stamp out “leftist totalitarianism” by “dictator professors” in the classrooms of Florida’s universities.

The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, passed 8-to-2 despite strenuous objections from the only two Democrats on the committee.

The bill has two more committees to pass before it can be considered by the full House.

While promoting the bill Tuesday, Baxley said a university education should be more than “one biased view by the professor, who as a dictator controls the classroom,” as part of “a misuse of their platform to indoctrinate the next generation with their own views.”

The bill sets a statewide standard that students cannot be punished for professing beliefs with which their professors disagree. Professors would also be advised to teach alternative “serious academic theories” that may disagree with their personal views.

According to a legislative staff analysis of the bill, the law would give students who think their beliefs are not being respected legal standing to sue professors and universities.

Students who believe their professor is singling them out for “public ridicule” – for instance, when professors use the Socratic method to force students to explain their theories in class – would also be given the right to sue.

“Some professors say, ‘Evolution is a fact. I don’t want to hear about Intelligent Design (a creationist theory), and if you don’t like it, there’s the door,’” Baxley said, citing one example when he thought a student should sue.

Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, warned of lawsuits from students enrolled in Holocaust history courses who believe the Holocaust never happened.

Similar suits could be filed by students who don’t believe astronauts landed on the moon, who believe teaching birth control is a sin or even by Shands medical students who refuse to perform blood transfusions and believe prayer is the only way to heal the body, Gelber added.

“This is a horrible step,” he said. “Universities will have to hire lawyers so our curricula can be decided by judges in courtrooms. Professors might have to pay court costs — even if they win — from their own pockets. This is not an innocent piece of legislation.”

The staff analysis also warned the bill may shift responsibility for determining whether a student’s freedom has been infringed from the faculty to the courts.

But Baxley brushed off Gelber’s concerns. “Freedom is a dangerous thing, and you might be exposed to things you don’t want to hear,” he said. “Being a businessman, I found out you can be sued for anything. Besides, if students are being persecuted and ridiculed for their beliefs, I think they should be given standing to sue.”

During the committee hearing, Baxley cast opposition to his bill as “leftists” struggling against “mainstream society.”

“The critics ridicule me for daring to stand up for students and faculty,” he said, adding that he was called a McCarthyist.

Baxley later said he had a list of students who were discriminated against by professors, but refused to reveal names because he felt they would be persecuted.

Rep. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, argued universities and the state Board of Governors already have policies in place to protect academic freedom. Moreover, a state law outlining how professors are supposed to teach would encroach on the board’s authority to manage state schools.

“The big hand of state government is going into the universities telling them how to teach,” she said. “This bill is the antithesis of academic freedom.”

But Baxley compared the state’s universities to children, saying the legislature should not give them money without providing “guidance” to their behavior.

“Professors are accountable for what they say or do,” he said. “They’re accountable to the rest of us in society … All of a sudden the faculty think they can do what they want and shut us out. Why is it so unheard of to say the professor shouldn’t be a dictator and control that room as their totalitarian niche?”

In an interview before the meeting, Baxley said “arrogant, elitist academics are swarming” to oppose the bill, and media reports misrepresented his intentions.

“I expect to be out there on my own pretty far,” he said. “I don’t expect to be part of a team.”

lead in to previous post--scared yet???

Unaware of it as they are, theirs is part of a global revival of fundamentalism, which emerged when triumphant materialism arrived in the wake of the enlightenment. Poor dear enlightenment! So brief! Then smashed by two world wars, Verdun, Dresden, Auschwitz, the gulags, nuclear weapons, impending ecological disaster... Not that anyone in this church ever heard of the enlightenment. Two generations of them were raised in Christian schools amid the unyielding hostility and fear of the Cold War and declining real wages and education. Is it any wonder they are so attracted to the Apocalypse both materially and literally? From home as they know it on this planet, you look out the window what you see is the approaching end of the fucking world.

In response, they long ago collected themselves in what amount to mental and theological compounds, built thousands of Christian institutions and schools and trained two generations for a theocratic state. Fundamentalist thinker Gary North announced decades ago, "We will train up a generation of people who know that there is no religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education, and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God."

Well, they've done it.

from Joe Bageant...