Surviving Christianity

Homeland Security Coordinated 18-City Police Crackdown on Occupy Protest

2011-11-28T10:44:00.001-06:00

http://alturl.com/hhqzg [Washington Blog]

Posted on November 16, 2011 by WashingtonsBlog

National Coordination Goes Against Protection of Local Accountability

According to Oakland Mayor Jean said that 18 cities coordinated police crack downs on Occupy protests.

Wonkette reports that Homeland Security likely organized the crack downs:

Remember when people were freaking out over the Patriot Act and Homeland Security and all this other conveniently ready-to-go post-9/11 police state stuff, because it would obviously be just a matter of time before the whole apparatus was turned against non-Muslim Americans when they started getting complain-y about the social injustice and economic injustice and income inequality and endless recession and permanent unemployment? That day is now, and has been for some time. But it's also now confirmed that it's now, as some Justice Department official screwed up and admitted that the Department of Homeland Security coordinated the riot-cop raids on a dozen major #Occupy Wall Street demonstration camps nationwide yesterday and today. (Oh, and tonight, too: Seattle is being busted up by the riot cops right now, so be careful out there.)

Rick Ellis of the Minneapolis edition of Examiner.com has this, based on a "background conversation" he had with a Justice Department official on Monday night:

Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict "Occupy" protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night's move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies.

[...]

According to this official, in several recent conference calls and briefings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules. Agencies were also advised to demonstrate a massive show of police force, including large numbers in riot gear. In particular, the FBI reportedly advised on press relations, with one presentation suggesting that any moves to evict protesters be coordinated for a time when the press was the least likely to be present.

***

(And for those who are understandably doubtful about Examiner.com as a news source, here's an AP story from a couple hours ago that verifies everything except the specific mention of DHS coordination.)

Yves Smith notes:

The 18 police action was a national, coordinated effort. This is a more serious development that one might imagine. Reader Richard Kline has pointed out that one of the de facto protections of American freedoms is that policing is local, accountable to elected officials at a level of government where voters matter. National coordination vitiates the notion that policing is responsive to and accountable to the governed.

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The Heretic
Missouri, United States of Amerika
Rural American Progressive
The Heartland Heretic
In Unity is Strength

The State of the U.S. Left and What We Can Do About It

2011-09-14T12:29:00.000-05:00

By Michael Albert and Gregory Wilpert

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Gregory Wilpert: What is the situation of the US left progressive forces, that is, left of the Democratic Party?

Michael Albert: I think the first honest answer is that we have no idea, that is to say, there's never been an accounting that I know of that is particularly revealing of the left, much less of what people are doing or are inclined to do. The problem is that my answer or anybody's answer is going to be a guess. My guess would be that there are a lot of people in the United States who are left of the Democratic Party, they might think the party is the lesser of two evils, but they are way left of any Democratic candidate. I think there are a huge number of people like that but they are completely separated from one another. They don't identify with any activism, they just comment on the day's events at the dinner table and are furious but are not part of an organized left.

Suppose we ask what about people who have a critique of the electoral political system and are seriously left. Now the numbers go down, but I think they are still in the hundreds of thousands of people in the United States. But the numbers of those who then also have any significant ties to one another or do anything beyond perhaps reading and talking about politics around the dinner table is much, much, lower.

So now we get down to a much smaller group, perhaps a few tens of thousands. These are people who are involved in local activities and organizations of many sorts. Peace might be the biggest but also around economic issues, race issues, gender issues. These folks often have ties to other people around the same priority but very few ties to people outside of their priority.

Next, if you're asking about the ideological left, or people who identify around all of these issues and who have at least some working ties to people who identify with all of these issues, then the numbers go dramatically down. Yet that's the part on which any kind of comprehensive change depends. No matter how radical or revolutionary or focused around a single issue many folks may be, they are still focused around that one issue and there is no long-term future transition to a better society imbedded in that.

Now, we ought to ask, I think, what are the obstacles to having a whole lot of people who are a whole lot more committed and a whole lot more informed about the gamut of issues and who are intent upon new kind of social structure or society. I suspect this is mostly asking how do we get people into the first biggest group and from the biggest group into the smaller group and so on… I think the obstacles are many but unlike many other folks, I think the least important is the power of the state, fear of the police, things like that, which many people point to first. I suspect those things are real but relatively small in terms of preventing people from being part of the left. I think much more important are the attributes of the left. That is, the tendency of people who are in the Democratic Party and don't move beyond its goals, so that they are not even in that first biggest group, and then all the way down… the tendency to not to go another step is probably very substantially affected by the feeling that taking another step is taking a step into insanity. It's taking a step into aggravation, frustration, and pain, whether consciously or not. People are afraid of the next step toward greater commitment if they feel taking it gains little and costs a lot in terms of personal well-being and mindset and their ability to go about their daily business. So that's one obstacle. The only solution to that obstacle is to have movements and organizations with features that make people's lives better instead of worse when they take that extra step.

The next obstacle, which is related to the previous one, is a feeling of hopelessness and despair about going any further. So if around the dinner table someone asks you what you think of the attack on Libya or the events in Wisconsin, you have an opinion. But as far as acting on that opinion in any way, you feel it's a waste of time because nothing will be gained and it will take time and it may involve aggravation. That's in part because there's very little understanding of how you win change and of how possible it is to win change and, at the grandest level, of what it would be like to win change, not just on a single issue but toward attaining a whole new social system. There's little vision or strategy, people don't know it, people don't feel like what they are contributing to activism will somehow contribute to the desired outcome. So I think those are some the biggest problems.

Partly fear, partly time-constraints and structural things that have to do with the character of the United States. Some of these things we could help with, we could have movements that are more protective of their member and movements that as one of their demands free up people's time. The second part is people's expectation of alienation and frustration if they participate in another step to the left, the aggravation, etc., with no real gain. That can only be correcting by altering the nature of our movements. Finally there is the more general despair and hopelessness that there is no alternative and therefore even well conceived activism is a waste of time because "I don't want to be part of that, only crazy people do that."

GW: So it sounds like a vicious circle, if on the one hand you're saying people are resistant to getting more involved because of despair and because of their fears, and on the other hand, in order to become involved, some sort of organization is necessary, but then again we cannot have an organization without the people wanting one and contributing to it - so this is a vicious cycle, is that correct?

MA: Yes. And we have to find a way to break the circle. But this shouldn't surprise us. When we look at why the left isn't larger and more effective, after all, we should expect to see a serious and difficult problem because if we don't see that, then why hasn't the left at all those levels we talked about earlier, grown dramatically in the last four decades? There have to be serious obstacles - we would have overcome trivial ones a long time ago. If you look and you don't see serious obstacles, you are not yet seeing well. So I agree with you, yes it's a vicious circle. And yes, that's the problem to overcome.

One thing to wonder is why does the right seem to do so much better?

The tea party is appealing to a considerable degree – not only, since they also appeal to racism and fear-mongering and so on - but to a considerable extent they also say look, your lives are a mess, there is pain and suffering and there are rich powerful people who are benefitting from this and we need to get together and take back our country. It's asking people to "Step outside of the norms," which we ask, too. So why do they do better?

Well, they do better partly because they have a lot of money, because they have a lot of resources, because when you align with them you do not look like you are from Neptune to everyone else – by joining them you only look odd to us. We think it's weird, but for the mainstream joining them you seem just angrier at something that everybody's angry at, because you're not taking the left stance, which is ridiculed. The nice thing about a vicious cycle, however, is that it can work both ways. Once you get going it can have the opposite effect. So once the tea party gets going, now there's some hope, some momentum, and so it grows.

The same thing with Egypt. They went from relatively little, to huge, very quickly. It's because they're overcoming a lack of hope. It isn't as if everybody all of a sudden became fantastically smart or fantastically more knowledgeable. They all knew what they thought of Mubarak ten weeks earlier, too. That isn't what happens. What happens is that hope rises, and the feeling of efficacy rises. People start to feel, if I go out on the streets of Cairo something may happen, we may win.

In contrast people here feel, if I go out on the streets in Washington, then I lose a day I may get hit, I may look like an idiot to my friends. I become more alienated. So why should I do that? It is easier for me to ridicule the people who do it than it is for me to endure the ridicule. So for a while a vicious circle of hopelessness is very hard to overcome.

But consider the Vietnam War era. Back then it was not a question of a lack of vision that bred hopelessness, a lack of generalized hope, it was that to be against the war was so discordant, was so different from the mainstream, so contrary to common sense belief in America, that that alone made you a pariah. So in the beginning there was a Catch-22, since you didn't have a movement, people had to go out and do the hard work of talking to an anti-war audience that was six people, two of whom were hecklers. That was the early days. But some years later, not too many years later, it became a movement that was sweeping the country. What happened was the assumptions, the beliefs were countered and overcome. That was a different task than we face now, because it is different beliefs at work.

GW: That actually gets me to my next question, which asks you to take a historical look back. How would you say has U.S. activism evolved in the last 50 years? If there was a surge of activism in the late 60's and early 70's, why did it collapse since then?

MA: First of all, why did it get going? People are going to say different things. There were certainly many factors, but the one I want to point to is that people got angry. Why did they get angry? They got angry because they discovered that everything was a lie. If you go back and look at the songs and the music, or you interview people who really were there, and are objective about it - that's what happened. People discovered they'd been tricked, hoodwinked. They discovered that it was all a lie, that it was all hypocrisy.

There were revelations about racism, about the war, about poverty, about sexism. In every case people were finding that some injustice that they sort of knew was there, was much worse than thought. So, for example, you might know that you were being abused by your husband, but you didn't know the number of people who were in that same position, and you didn't know that it was so pervasive, that that it wasn't just a bad guy you got stuck with, but something bigger, more systemic. You knew that there was racism, of course, but you didn't quite get the scale of it, and you didn't realize the extent to which it was, again, systemic. The war was another massive revelation that touched the whole society. You thought that the United States was a positive international actor, caring, freedom loving, but then you found out that the United States was a horrible international actor, that the United States was doing this horrendous stuff and you got pissed and that's when the youth movement just exploded in anger. Couple it with a rejection of the lifestyle of the times - and it added up to what is called the Sixties.

Now, the difference between then and now is that it's absolutely impossible to replicate that any longer. The reason it's impossible to do it in the same way is because nothing surprises anyone anymore. We were surprised, indeed shocked, by the revelations of injustice, back then. Now, in contrast, no matter what you reveal, the response is, "OK, uh huh, yeah, sure they do that, I get it." Everybody now knows, at some level, what we had to work incredibly hard in '67, '68, '69, '70, to get people to even notice. And when they realized, "Oh my God, this is horrible," they went berserk. But now, there is no revelation, they know, already.

Nowadays, that is, everybody knows the situation is horrible, at some deep level. You can see it all over popular culture. You can hear it at every dinner table. So movement can't happen the same way. There is nothing dramatic to reveal. What happened in the Sixties was that it got big, got angry, people thought they were going to change the world but it didn't turn out to be that easy. So after a while people started to get worn out, frustrated, started to have doubts about what they were doing, at least about changing society. In fact, much was changed. The war ended, tremendous gains were made in civil rights, around gender, even around poverty… Huge advances, but at the same time, very little structural lasting movement apparatus emerged. Getting back up to that big scale of mobilization and organization proved to be very difficult. The number of people who were involved in the no-nukes movement, about ten years later, or in Nicaragua or El Salvador, in the labor movement, in gender and race movements, these numbers were very high, but the difference was that people didn't have the anger, the spirit, or the inclination to want it all and to want it now, that characterized the Sixties. So it became movements that were trying to win important things, but at the same time as the people in those movements were trying to live their life normally. In the Sixties one was trying to win important things quickly, yes, but at the same time presuming that life was not going to go along in the way it was before. It was going to be fundamentally altered.

To get back to that transformative mentality, which leads to real solidarity and militancy, requires, nowadays, since we are now feeling that everything is hypocritical, that people come to know that everything is not just bad but grotesquely criminal and especially unnecessary because there is an alternative. As long as people think that there is no alternative, why should they get angry? You don't get angry at cancer or at aging – maybe a little bit, but you don't form a social movement about those things. When you don't think there is any alternative to the world as we know it, except perhaps in some small area where you can make some modest gain, mostly at the expense of someone else in some other area, then you don't work incredibly hard to create a type of movement seeking to change the whole society, because you think there is no such thing as changing the whole society. So, it's that absence of vision and associated hope that is a very big part or the difficulty, I think.

But then there are also some important structural things. For example, in the Sixties the campuses blew up and to a considerable extent it was initially at elite campuses. If you look at campus activism more recently, however, the elite campuses were largely quiet. It was working class colleges that were most involved. Why? Well, the system realized that it was a big mistake to give people a whole lot of resources and confidence at elite schools and not to be very careful to be sure that they would be compliant. So a lot was done in terms of raising fees for elite schools and making people indebted, and they did a pretty good job at that, when you see the relative quiescence at elite campuses, it was sought and attained. The downside is that in places where people have more access, more freedom to move, they don't move, so it's harder to get a youth movement going. However, the upside is, once it gets going it will be led by poorer students, by working class students, and so therefore it will be more substantial and more important to the future of the country.

Basically, the difference between now and the Sixties is that back then we could form a militant revolutionary movement that saw itself as being very aggressive, that saw itself as planning a new society, that became the focal point of the lives of its participants, but it really wasn't any of those things, in the end, because it had no lasting structures, it had no coherent ideology or vision for doing those things. Now, we have a situation where we can't even have a really big and militant and angry movement unless it really is a movement that wants to change the whole society and really believes in doing that. If that's true, then it means that the task for the U.S. left now is not to keep crying out about the injustice of particular things – not that we shouldn't do that somewhat – but the reason why that isn't as high a priority as before is because everybody knows the hundreds of specific reasons that things are bad. Speaking and writing about that is trying to convince people of something they already know. at least broadly. Even the right knows! It's just that people think the suffering is inevitable; it's a necessary evil, in their view.

The real task, instead, is to show that there is a different way of operating, and that here are short-term gains we can win now and here is a long-term changed circumstance that illuminates our problems and that is the end point of these endeavors and is worth our time. If we can convey that, vision and strategy, then we are conveying information that can sustain anger, commitment, and passion all in a rich diverse and broad movement that could make people's lives better and that could win gains and move on to change society. But without being able to convincingly and inspriationally communicate vision and strategy - if we only tell people this hurts, that hurts, this is unjust, that is unjust, then I think we won't get far.

GW: What does this mean in terms of concrete organizing? What would be the role of electoral politics, for example? What kind of organizing are you talking about?

MA: Whether one is moved by a revolutionary vision of a new society and a lifelong commitment to attain it, or just by being upset about a particular situation, one still organizes around wars, poverty, ecological calamities, continuing sexism and racism. So the focuses remain. The difference is in what you do.

One thing that is different when you organize around these things strategically in light of a long term vision is that you talk about them and make demands about them in ways that challenge the whole system, in ways that move forward people's commitments and thinking toward a broad attachment. You connect these different short-term aims. You have movements around each contribute to movements around the others. You fight for the short-run gains in ways that would be different than if you fought for them when all you have your eye on is the particular thing you are fighting about. The difference is how you talk about your short term aim, the kinds of ideas that emerge in the discussion and that lead to further demands and to keeping fighting instead of going home. That's how you build an organization that isn't oriented only to achieving one thing and then dissipating, but that is dedicated to bringing about a new society and that in winning something simply becomes stronger and more adept and more able to win more, rather than going home. That is all a little vague and would take a lot of time to give specific examples. It is a different mindset and a different approach.

Some people think that when you're fighting for X you should only talk about X, you should never talk about Y or Z. Their logic is, if you only care about getting X you should talk only about that one issue so you don't upset anybody. But what if you care about sustaining X once you get it, and what if you care about getting Y, W, and Z as well? Then the logic begins to falter and what you need to do is fight for X in a way that talks about X leading beyond that one issue. So you talk about higher wages, say, as the one issue, but while you are fighting for higher wages you talk about it in a way that that leads to an understanding of what a truly just income would be and that would lead to the next demands, to make income more just.

The second thing you do is you tie these things together and develop real solidarity. Let's say we had a national movement around a shorter workweek with no change in income for those at the low end. In other words, those with low incomes now work less but get the same income as before, despite working many fewer hours. And at the high end people work less too, but they get propostionately less income. So it's a redistribution of income from the top. If we are fighting for this campaign, which I think would be a fantastic campaign to fight for, not only because it redistributes income and prevents unemployment, but because it creates a situation in which it is easier to win more gains because people have more time – itself also a very, very important gain. But then I think you fight for it in a way that says what is actually really just is that people should be remunerated for how long they work, for how hard they work, and for the onerousness of their work. Not only should the poor be getting an increase, but they should be getting more than the people who have very cushy jobs. Do you still have strikes? Sure. Do still have rallies? Sure. You do all those things, however, with a criterion that in doing them you should attract more people, not less. With a criterion that you should make life in the movement better not worse for those who are in it. And also with a criterion that you should raise social costs to win the demands you are trying to win.

So then you ask, what is the role of electoral politics? Honestly, I have no idea. I don't think anybody does. The idea that there is a principled reason why it has no place on the left makes no sense to me. The idea that there is a principled reason why it should have a primary place also makes no sense to me. The question is whether electoral politics can be used now or in the future as part of a broad array of approaches that the left employs to win more and more gains, to win more and more power, to win more and more people, while becoming ever more capable of still more victories.

Some might think that we can use electoral politics in a way that will raise consciousness, that will give us access to resources and power strengthening our prospects, and that will lead to great changes in the long-run. Others might think, no, it's a dead end because the dynamics of electoral politics and the implications of seeking to win elections for our agendas and thinking are to diminish our abilities, to diminish our capacity to win changes, to distort our consciousness, to weaken our prospects.

The really big question isn't which view do you believe, but what do you do if two such views exist? I think the answer is, it doesn't make any sense to fight this out. The people who think electoral politics is a bad idea should be ecstatic if someone shows it to instead be a good idea. They should not think it's a bad idea and want to be right that it is a bad idea. They should think it's a bad idea want to be wrong because every good idea for change is beneficial for their agenda.

The people who think it's a good idea should hope that they are right but not feel that they cannot acknowledge being wrong. If they are wrong, they should feel grateful for finding it out, so that they can put their efforts to better means.

The minute we have these mindsets, actually, I think it is a single mindset that places success over ego, where the goal is to win and not to be right about a particular choice, then the idea of exploring more than one choice makes sense. Those who think it is important to use some approach should try it, even as others doubt it will help or even fear it will hurt. We can respect each other. The same thing goes for almost all tactical choices, but not all. Some tactical choices are so detrimental, so harmful, that a political organization would have to say not only that it is a bad idea, but that we cannot be involved in that and that no one involved in our organization should be involved in that. But that's not true for most decisions. I don't think these questions have to be resolved in advance for everyone, they just need to be resolved for some. We do not have to have unanimity, which is impossible and is not a good idea in any case because diversity is vastly better.

Suppose it was the case that we had a big movement in the United States. Suppose we have a 20,000 person revolutionary organization mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people. We aren't about to win tomorrow, but we are getting bigger. Suppose in the organization 80% think electoral politics is stupid and a distraction. Should they annihilate the 20% and have nobody do it? No, that's not the right answer. The 20% will not be good at something else if they really believe in electoral politics. You shouldn't have to duke it out. You discuss and debate, of course. But we are trying to create a new and better society and unless we are Stalinists, we don't think that there should be one approach to every issue in a whole society. So we shouldn't have one approach to every issue inside the movement either.

GW: You talked about the objectives of such an organization, but I would like to get a little bit more specific. For example, you said such an organization would have to be oriented around multiple issues embody a vision for new society. However, I'm wondering if there's any issue that stands out that would serve as a vehicle for elaborating that kind of vision. Is there any issue that is particularly pressing right now?

MA: In a particular moment in time one thing or another will be pressing. Suppose the nuclear power plant outside of New York City melts down tomorrow. That would be pressing and would be on everyone's mind in the country. Everybody would be paying attention to it. So any rational movement would pay very very close attention to it. But that's different than saying the movement should focus around one issue. Also, we don't know what that's going to be.

GW: But what do you think is a pressing issue right now?

MA: I don't think that there is one. There is what is happening in Wisconsin. It wasn't war, and it wasn't climate, it was some economic and political changes that would affect collective bargaining and it was powerful enough to yield one of the most important activist upsurges that we have seen in a long time. So someone could say, well, that is the issue. But others could say the war is the issue. After all, people are dying and we are blowing people up and certainly that motivates lots of people. Or climate change is the issue; after all, the future is at stake.

It is a dumb debate, I think. My feeling is, suppose you want to win on budgets, or on war, or on climate change, what does it mean? It means you want to win some gains now, and eventually you want to win a society that doesn't generate pursuit of profits, or war making, or a use of energy and an allocation of goods and resources that destroy the environment.

Suppose you want to organize around the economy and to change income distribution, or around foreign policy and to end war, or around nuclear power and to win green policies. In any of these things what you are trying to do is big. You are trying to win something major that elites in power care a lot about. So you have to ask, why would they give in? On any issue that galvanizes lots of people over a longer period of time, you're going to be fighting about something that matters to elites, such as in the case of these issues. Otherwise they would give in right away. So why would they give in on something they don't want to give in on?

The answer is because the movement raises costs and creates a specter or threat, due to which they say to themselves, "If we don't give in, then this threat is going to grow and it's going to be more damaging to us than giving in is." That's the calculus that they use. If they give in to a budget movement, or antiwar movement, or global warming movement, it's because they feel that to not give in is going to hurt them more. And what hurts them enough to be more is a threat that the whole system will change.

When you get to the level of wars and the treatment of the whole ecology and income distribution, then elites have to feel that to persist with what we're seeking to end risks too much. What will convey that message to them?

If we turn out 100,000 people against a war in Washington, it's a cost but it's a relatively small cost because all they have to have to clean up the park. Even if we do it month after month, so? The demonstrations are only a real cost if there is the threat that the movement will get bigger and bigger. It is only threatening if it seems likely to change the mindset of the population and even more, if it threatens to address not just the war, but all of foreign-policy and beyond foreign-policy, domestic policy. If it threatens any of these things, in a growing way, it is raising the costs. But if it's just going to stand pat after 100,000 people or even 250,000 people, then it's no cost at all. The minute that it is not growing, the movement is no longer a cost, no longer a threat, because elites can just wait it out. The movement threat resides in growing numbers. The movement threat resides in growing relevance. And the movement threat resides in the growing diversity of demands.

Do the demands move from a particular focus toward changing the system? If they do, that's scary for elites. Same with the movement growing. In the Sixties the reason the antiwar movement was such a big threat was that a) it was growing and b) it included a spectrum from: against the war gently, to against the war moderately, to against the war militantly, to against foreign policy, to against the whole damn system. What you saw at each level was a growth of the broader level leading to growth of the more committed level as well. There was a continuing process, which in time said to the government, "You want to defend the war in Vietnam in order to enlarge your power and wealth and to maintain the system the way it is. What happens when the day comes when you realize the pursuit of this war, while it is in your interest in the sense of holding back change in Indochina, is not in your interest in the sense that it is polarizing and organizing the U.S. population in such a way that pretty soon they will be challenging your wealth and power across the board."

If you go back and look at the point at which elites started changing sides on the war, such as senators and business leaders, you see that they said not that it's immoral and our people are dying. No. They said, "Our streets are in turmoil and we are losing the next generation, society's fabric is being torn asunder." In other words, they were saying, "I got into this war in order to increase my wealth and power, but now it seems that if we continue to pursue the war it will risk my wealth and power even more than giving in to the demands to end it, so now I'm against the war."

So to come back to your point, suppose there is that meltdown or the war on Libya expands and gets much, much, bigger, or states across the country are doing what the governor of Wisconsin did, and it becomes a focal point. Or even there is a big ecological calamity. What I am saying is to win any one of them, it is incredibly advantageous that all of them are being sought. For example, that's why Seattle worried elites a lot. Honestly, it wasn't all that big. But the threat was that it was not just about globalization. It carried the threat of the labor movement, the green movement, the antiwar movement, the women's movement, everyone working together. So many in the elite sectors felt, "Our policies are creating the mess that we are trying to avoid." That was the threat. So sure, if there is a focus that attracts everybody's attention, okay, by all means, addressed sensibly, that can help us, but to get caught up in one focus, to make the mistake of thinking that everything should be geared to that one focus and we should set aside everything else, misses the point of how you win even short-term, much less long-term gains.

This is the first of a series of interviews on the state of the U.S. left. You can find this and more at zcommunications.

Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

Our Main Site is Down...

2011-08-07T10:45:00.001-05:00

Our main site, http://heartlandheretic.com, is down due to technical difficulties and is temporarily pointing to this blog. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may cause. But we are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

the.heretic@heartlandheretic.com

Fundamentalism Kills

2011-07-26T10:27:00.001-05:00

Tuesday 26 July 2011

by: Chris Hedges, Truthdig | Op-Ed

The gravest threat we face from terrorism, as the killings in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik underscore, comes not from the Islamic world but the radical Christian right and the secular fundamentalists who propagate the bigoted, hateful caricatures of observant Muslims and those defined as our internal enemies. The caricature and fear are spread as diligently by the Christian right as they are by atheists such as Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. Our religious and secular fundamentalists all peddle the same racist filth and intolerance that infected Breivik.

This filth has poisoned and degraded our civil discourse. The looming economic and environmental collapse will provide sparks and tinder to transform this coarse language of fundamentalist hatred into, I fear, the murderous rampages experienced by Norway. I worry more about the Anders Breiviks than the Mohammed Attas.

The battle under way in America is not between religion and science. It is not between those who embrace the rational and those who believe in biblical myth. It is not between Western civilization and Islam. The blustering televangelists and the New Atheists, the television pundits and our vaunted Middle East specialists and experts, are all part of our vast, simplistic culture of mindless entertainment. They are in show business. They cannot afford complexity. Religion and science, facts and lies, truth and fiction, are the least of their concerns. They trade insults and clichés like cartoon characters. They don masks. One wears the mask of religion. One wears the mask of science. One wears the mask of journalism. One wears the mask of the terrorism expert. They jab back and forth in predictable sound bites. It is a sterile and useless debate between bizarre subsets of American culture. Some use the scientific theory of evolution to explain the behavior and rules for complex social and political systems, and others insist that the six-day creation story in Genesis is a factual account. The danger we face is not in the quarrel between religion advocates and evolution advocates, but in the widespread mental habit of fundamentalism itself.

We live in a fundamentalist culture. Our utopian visions of inevitable human progress, obsession with endless consumption, and fetish for power and unlimited growth are fed by illusions that are as dangerous as fantasies about the Second Coming. These beliefs are the newest expression of the infatuation with the apocalypse, one first articulated to Western culture by the early church. This apocalyptic vision was as central to the murderous beliefs of the French Jacobins, the Russian Bolsheviks and the German fascists as it was to the early Christians. The historian Arnold Toynbee argues that racism in Anglo-American culture was given a special virulence after the publication of the King James Bible. The concept of "the chosen people" was quickly adopted, he wrote, by British and American imperialists. It fed the disease of white supremacy. It gave them the moral sanction to dominate and destroy other races, from the Native Americans to those on the subcontinent.

Our secular and religious fundamentalists come out of this twisted yearning for the apocalypse and belief in the "chosen people." They advocate, in the language of religion and scientific rationalism, the divine right of our domination, the clash of civilizations. They assure us that we are headed into the broad, uplifting world of universal democracy and a global free market once we sign on for the subjugation and extermination of those who oppose us. They insist—as the fascists and the communists did—that this call for a new world is based on reason, factual evidence and science or divine will. But schemes for universal human advancement, no matter what language is used to justify them, are always mythic. They are designed to satisfy a yearning for meaning and purpose. They give the proponents of these myths the status of soothsayers and prophets. And, when acted upon, they fill the Earth with mass graves, bombed cities, widespread misery and penal colonies. The extent of this fundamentalism is evident in the strident utterances of the Christian right as well as those of the so-called New Atheists.

"What will we do if an Islamist regime, which grows dewy-eyed at the mere mention of paradise, ever acquires long-range nuclear weaponry?" Sam Harris, in his book "The End of Faith," asks in a passage that I suspect Breivik would have enjoyed. "If history is any guide, we will not be sure about where the offending warheads are or what their state of readiness is, and so we will be unable to rely on targeted, conventional weapons to destroy them. In such a situation, the only thing likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own. Needless to say, this would be an unthinkable crime—as it would kill tens of millions of innocent civilians in a single day—but it may be the only course of action available to us, given what Islamists believe."

"We are at war with Islam," Harris goes on. "It may not serve our immediate foreign policy objectives for our political leaders to openly acknowledge this fact, but it is unambiguously so. It is not merely that we are at war with an otherwise peaceful religion that has been 'hijacked' by extremists. We are at war with precisely the vision of life that is prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran, and further elaborated in the literature of the hadith, which recounts the sayings and teachings of the Prophet."

Harris assures us that "the Koran mandates such hatred," that "the problem is with Islam itself." He writes that "Islam, more than any other religion human beings have devised, has all the makings of a thoroughgoing cult of death."

A culture that exalts its own moral certitude and engages in uncritical self-worship at the expense of conscience commits moral and finally physical suicide. Our fundamentalists busy themselves with their pathetic little monuments to Jesus, to reason, to science, to Western civilization and to new imperial glory. They peddle a binary view of the world that divides reality between black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. We are taught in a fundamentalist culture to view other human beings, especially Muslims, not as ends but as means. We abrogate the right to exterminate all who do not conform.

Fundamentalists have no interest in history, culture or social or linguistic differences. They are a remarkably uncurious, self-satisfied group. Anything outside their own narrow bourgeois life, petty concerns and physical comforts bores them. They are provincials. They do not investigate or seek to understand the endemic flaws in human nature. The only thing that matters is the coming salvation of humanity, or at least that segment of humanity they deem worthy of salvation. They peddle a route to assured collective deliverance. And they sanction violence and the physical extermination of other human beings to get there.

All fundamentalists worship the same gods—themselves. They worship the future prospect of their own empowerment. They view this empowerment as a necessity for the advancement and protection of civilization or the Christian state. They sanctify the nation. They hold up the ability the industrial state has handed to them as a group and as individuals to shape the world according to their vision as evidence of their own superiority. Fundamentalists express the frustrations of a myopic and morally stunted middle class. They cling, under their religious or scientific veneer, to the worst values of the petite bourgeois. They are suburban mutations, products of an American landscape that has been perverted by a destruction of community and a long and successful war against complex thought. The self-absorbed worldview of these fundamentalists brings smiles of indulgence from the corporatists who profit, at our expense, from the obliteration of moral and intellectual inquiry.

Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce's "Ulysses" acidly condemned all schemes to purify the world and serve human progress through violence. He said that "history is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake." Dedalus in the same passage responded to the schoolmaster Deasy's claim that "the ways of the Creator are not our ways," and that "all history moves towards one great goal, the manifestation of God." A soccer goal is jubilantly scored by boys in the yard outside the school window as Deasy expounds on divine will. God, Dedalus tells Deasy as the players yell in glee over the goal, is no more than the screams from the schoolyard —"a shout in the street." Joyce, like Samuel Beckett, excoriated the Western belief in historical teleology—the notion that history has a purpose or is moving toward a goal. The absurdity of this belief, they wrote, always feeds fanatics and undermines the possibility of human community. These writers warned us about all those—religious and secular—who call for salvation through history.

There are tens of millions of Americans who in their desperation and insecurity yearn for the assurance and empowerment offered by a clearly defined war against an external evil. They are taught in our fundamentalist culture that this evil is the root of their misery. They embrace a war against this evil as a solution to the drift in their lives, their economic deprivation and the moral and economic morass of the nation. They see in this conflict with these dark forces a way to overcome their own alienation. They find in it certitude, meaning and structure. They believe that once this evil is vanquished, an evil that extends from Muslims to undocumented workers, liberals, intellectuals, homosexuals and feminists, they can transform America into a land of plenty and virtue. But this fundamentalism, which cloaks itself in the jargon of scientific rationality, Christian piety and nativism, is a recipe for fanaticism. All those who embrace other ways of being and believing are viewed, as Breivik apparently viewed his victims, as contaminates that must be eliminated.

This fundamentalist ideology, because it is contradictory and filled with myth, is immune to critiques based on reason, fact and logic. This is part of its appeal. It obliterates doubt, nuance, intellectual and scientific rigor and moral conscience. All has been predicted or decided. Life is reduced to following a simple black-and-white road map. The contradictions in these belief systems—for example the championing of the "rights of the unborn" while calling for wider use of the death penalty or the damning of Muslim terrorists while promoting pre-emptive war, which delivers more death and misery in the Middle East than any jihadist organization—inoculate followers from rational discourse. Life becomes a crusade.

All fundamentalists, religious and secular, are ignoramuses. They follow the lines of least resistance. They already know what is true and what is untrue. They do not need to challenge their own beliefs or investigate the beliefs of others. They do not need to bother with the hard and laborious work of religious, linguistic, historical and cultural understanding. They do not need to engage in self-criticism or self-reflection. It spoils the game. It ruins the entertainment. They see all people, and especially themselves, as clearly and starkly defined. The world is divided into those who embrace or reject their belief systems. Those who support these belief systems are good and forces for human progress. Those who oppose these belief systems are stupid, at best, and usually evil. Fundamentalists have no interest in real debate, real dialogue, real intellectual thought. Fundamentalism, at its core, is about self-worship. It is about feeling holier, smarter and more powerful than everyone else. And this comes directly out of the sickness of our advertising age and its exaltation of the cult of the self. It is a product of our deep and unreflective cultural narcissism.

Our faith in the inevitability of human progress constitutes an inability to grasp the tragic nature of history. Human history is one of constant conflict between the will to power and the will to nurture and protect life. Our greatest achievements are always intertwined with our greatest failures. Our most exalted accomplishments are always coupled with our most egregious barbarities. Science and industry serve as instruments of progress as well as instruments of destruction. The Industrial Age has provided feats of engineering and technology, yet it has also destroyed community, spread the plague of urbanization, uprooted us all, turned human beings into cogs and made possible the total war and wholesale industrial killing that has marked the last century. These technologies, even as we see them as our salvation, are rapidly destroying the ecosystem on which we depend for life.

There is no linear movement in history. Morality and ethics are static. Human nature does not change. Barbarism is part of the human condition and we can all succumb to its basest dimensions. This is the tragedy of history. Human will is morally ambiguous. The freedom to act as often results in the construction of new prisons and systems of repression as it does the safeguarding of universal human rights. The competing forces of love and of power define us, what Sigmund Freud termed Eros and Thanatos. Societies have, throughout history, ignored calls for altruism and mutuality in times of social upheaval and turmoil. They have wasted their freedom in the self-destructive urges that currently envelope us. These urges are very human and very dangerous. They are fired by utopian visions of inevitable human progress. When this progress stalls or is reversed, when the dreams of advancement and financial stability are thwarted, when a people confronts its own inevitable downward spiral, dark forces of vengeance and retribution are unleashed. Fundamentalists serve an evil that is unseen and unexamined. And the longer this evil is ignored the more dangerous and deadly it becomes. Those who seek through violence the Garden of Eden usher in the apocalypse.

Chris Hedges is a weekly Truthdig columnist and a fellow at The Nation Institute. His newest book is "The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress."

FBI rules changes provoke Senate inquiry

2011-06-22T12:29:00.000-05:00

The FBI plans to issue new rules broadening the discretion of its 14,000 field agents over matters of individual privacy, and, while the legality of such a move hasn't been called into question, it has raised questions and concerns on the part of civil libertarians and some lawmakers alike.

The new rules are to be made public when the Bureau releases an update of its Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, which outlines policies on how agents are to conduct investigations. The current version was published in 2008.

The law enforcement agency sees the changes as minor, but the American Civil Liberties Union disagrees. "The FBI claims that this update to the guidelines is a mere tweak," wrote the ACLU's Amanda Simon on the organization's blog. "Somehow that sounds like an incredible understatement."

Simon said that the current guidelines are already bad: "[T]here is a dangerously low threshold for beginning an investigation or conducting surveillance about individuals or groups who are not suspected of any criminal activity," she wrote. "The guidelines in place now also allow the FBI to collect, analyze and map racial and ethnic data about local communities, which also opens up a whole other can of worms - namely, the possibility that the FBI is engaging in unconstitutional racial profiling."

Some are troubled that the rules changes come in the context of a recent Chicago FBI raid of anti-war groups and their supporters that received that condemnation of many, including the local Sun-Times.

Sens. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, respectively chair and ranking member of the Senate's judiciary committee, agreed that the matter was worth more consideration. They sent a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller requesting that "that the FBI provide a briefing to Committee staff to discuss the proposed changes and provide an opportunity to review the final version of [the new FBI rules manual] before it is implemented" and "that once [the manual] is finalized, a public version be released and made available on the FBI's website."

The New York Times, which broke the news, was also extremely critical. "The Obama administration has long been bumbling along in the footsteps of its predecessor when it comes to sacrificing Americans' basic rights and liberties under the false flag of fighting terrorism," the editorial read. "Now the Obama team seems ready to lurch even farther down that dismal road than George W. Bush did."

The proposed new guidelines, as reported by the Times, would contain several changes that give agents greater discretion in investigations.

Included in the changes:

Agents will be able to freely conduct searches of people and organizations in law enforcement and commercial databases. They currently have the right to do this, but now they won't need to make a record.

There are secret rules on the books governing how agents must operate when they infiltrate religious or other organizations, but now they will be able to attend five meetings of such a group before they must follow these rules.

In the lowest level investigations, or assessments, officials will be able to use lie-detector tests on informants as well as suspected perpetrators.

Agents will be able to search the trash of anyone involved in an assessment, which requires no documentation of suspected wrongdoing.

Agents will not need special oversight to investigate some public officials, "low-profile" bloggers and scholars employed by foreign institutions.

On the other hand, the FBI is tightening up regulations of some activities, including policies on who has authority to approve covert participation in religious ceremonies.

Address : http://peoplesworld.org/fbi-rules-changes-provoke-senate-inquiry/

Investigate FCC Commissioner Baker's clear conflict of interest.

2011-05-14T16:11:00.001-05:00

Republican FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker is leaving the FCC to
become a lobbyist for Comcast/NBC Universal -- just four months after
she voted to approve the controversial merger of the two media behemoths.

We need to stop the revolving door of public servants leaving their
government role and cashing in by joining companies they were supposed
to be regulating.

I just signed a petition telling congress to launch an investigation of
the FCC Commissioner's seemingly blatant conflict of interest. You can
too, through the link below:

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/fcc_baker/?r_by=20926-2728311-eyIYEyx&rc=mailto1

--
http://heartlandheretic.com

Evangelical Liberty University received half a billion dollars in federal aid money

2011-04-12T11:44:00.001-05:00

One conservative college got more government cash than NPR last year

By Alex Pareene

Liberty University, Wikipedia

Jerry Falwell

Liberty University, the evangelical private Christian school founded by dead apartheid-supporting bigot Jerry Falwell, received $445 million in federal financial aid last year. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, by the way, received $420 million from the federal government.

That massive sum was thanks to the growth of Liberty's online program, which enrolled 52,000 students last year. The school is the No. 1 recipient of Pell grant money in the state of Virginia. While it may seem like the federal government is basically subsidizing this formerly financially challenged ultra-conservative religious private school, LU's executive director of financial aid sees it differently:

For Ritz — a financial aid veteran who got his start at a small Bible college — Liberty's use of federal financial aid does not run counter to the university's conservative values. Liberty does not receive the federal money directly, Ritz said, but through students, who use it to pay for tuition, room and board and other expenses.

"These funds are authorized by Congress and Congress is elected by voters. . . I've always been in the position where I believe I'm a steward of those federal funds. I'm a steward of tax-payer money."

And I'm sure ACORN, Planned Parenthood and NPR feel the same way.

Liberty University -- where the biology department teaches Young Earth Creationism -- is, astoundingly, an accredited school of higher learning.

The school was broke and in debt until God killed Falwell for the insurance money.

[Via Dispatched From the Culture Wars]

Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon. Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More: Alex Pareene

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/05/liberty_university_federal_money

Playing at children’s games

2011-04-05T09:25:00.001-05:00

"The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up."

— G. K. Chesterton, The Napoleon of Notting Hill

Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

Walker must go! For a general strike in Wisconsin!

2011-03-03T14:18:00.001-06:00

The World Socialist Web Site urges all of its readers and supporters in Wisconsin to download, distribute, and post this article as widely as possible, and to develop a campaign in the working class. A pdf version for printing is available here. The article can be shared on Facebook and Twitter.

3 March 2011

The budget presented by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Tuesday has caused profound shock and outrage among workers throughout the state. It has now become clear to hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin workers and their families that they are confronted with a ruthless attempt to drastically lower their living standards, eviscerate crucial social services and benefits, and strip away their democratic rights.

Walker is demanding cuts of at least $1.5 billion from the state's budget to close a deficit that has been created, to a great extent, by his recent massive reduction of tax rates for large corporations.

These cuts include:

$1.25 billion in cuts to school aid and local government, including a reduction of more than $900 million in education funding statewide, which translates into a cut of approximately $500 per pupil.

$500 million in cuts from Medicaid, which finances critical state health programs for more than one million Wisconsin resid ents. The impact on low-income and uninsured adults and families with children will be devastating.

$250 million will be cut from funding for the University of Wisconsin. Moreover, as part of a scheme that will serve the interests of top corporations, the Madison branch of the University of Wisconsin will be carved off from the state system. This will gut the wages and workplace rights of 17,000 UW workers and lead to a sharp increase in college tuition costs over the next two years.

The Walker budget document is a declaration of war. His inclusion of further demands for the elimination of collective bargaining follows logically from his budget proposals. The cuts that he is calling for make a mockery of "bargaining," because his budget proposals require, by their very nature, the complete surrender by workers to his unilateral demands.

The oft-repeated position of union officials--that they are prepared to accept Walker's budget cuts if only he steps back from his demand for an end to collective bargaining--is not only cowardly, it represents a dangerous evasion of the political reality that exists in Wisconsin.

The term "collective bargaining" means nothing at all if unions are prepared to accept the dictates of state governments, which are acting in the interests of the capitalist bosses of the banks and industry. Collective bargaining did not emerge in the form of a permission slip granted by generous corporations to the workers. It w as wrested from the capitalist class in the course of decades of bitter conflict for social and democratic rights, in which countless thousands of workers' lives were lost. In the final analysis, collective bargaining existed only to the extent that workers were prepared to exercise the weapon of the strike to overcome the intransigence of the capitalist class and its political hirelings in local, state and federal government.

Walker's budget signifies in practice, if not yet in law, the collapse of collective bargaining. His administration is ramming a brutal and socially destructive budget down the throats of Wisconsin working people and their families.

How should the working class in Wisconsin respond to this political reality?

In recent days, there has been a growing realization among working people throughout Wisconsin that protests in the state capital are insufficient and that they must escalate their struggle.

Sentiment is building for a ge neral strike by the working class. Wisconsin workers, in ever greater numbers, are coming to realize that nothing short of a massive mobilization of their collective strength will be sufficient to beat back the attack of the Walker administration.

This sentiment is justified and corresponds to the political reality that exists in Wisconsin and, increasingly, throughout the United States. The collapse of collective bargaining--that is, the attempt of the state to impose, with the implicit threat of force, intolerable and unacceptable demands upon workers--has a profound objective significance. The ruling class is telling working people: "We do not negotiate. We demand. You must accept our terms."

This signifies, in effect, the end of compromise between the classes. The growing recognition of this political reality among workers lies behind the rising sentiment for a general strike.

It is necessary for workers who have come to this conclusion to build the momentum for a general strike. Talk about a general strike must turn toward its actual preparation.

In every work place, meetings should be called to discuss, debate and vote on a resolution for a general strike. Wherever substantial support exists for a general strike, rank-and-file committees, independent of union officials, should be formed to prepare for this action.

This movement should base the call for a general strike on the following demands:

* Total rejection of all economic concessions by the Wisconsin workers. Instead, social spending should be increased to meet the pressing problems created by three years of recession caused by the criminal speculative activities of the banks.

* Unequivocal rejection of any and all restrictions on the legal right of workers to negotiate and, when they so decide, strike to defend and improve their standard of living.

* For a substantial increase in taxes on corporate profits and the very rich to cover the budget deficit and the costs of new and essential social spending.

* For the immediate resignation of Governor Walker and his reactionary administration. Walker has deliberately made himself the political spearhead of the corporate attack on the working class and the use of dictatorial methods. The demand for his removal from office arises from the recognition that the struggle of Wisconsin workers against this budget is, in essence, a political struggle.

The call for Walker's removal does not imply a vote of confidence in the Democratic Party. Beyond the borders of Wisconsin there are Democratic Party governors and mayors who are calling for budget cuts no less draconian than those sought by Walker. The Obama administration is collaborating with the state governors and the Congress in Washington in the implementation of budget cuts that will wreak havoc on the lives of workers throughout the country.

However, inspired by the example set by Wi sconsin workers, the fight against the attacks on workers' rights will expand from state to state and across the country as a whole, in opposition to all the political representatives of the capitalist class.

Thus, the demand for Walker's removal raises the most important issue of all--the necessity for workers to create their own, independent, socialist alternative to the corporate-controlled Republican and Democratic parties.

The Socialist Equality Party supports and encourages the movement for a general strike against the Walker administration and its reactionary budget. The growing sentiment among workers that such action is necessary testifies to the intensity of social conflict in the United States. However, we urge workers to recognize that they are fighting not just one governor, but the capitalist class as a whole and the profit system upon which its rule is based.

David North

For more information on joining the Socialist Equality Party, click here. Attend the SEP/WSWS/ISSE regional conferences, The Fight for Socialism Today: www.fightforsocialism.org.

Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

House Fails to Re-Authorize PATRIOT Act

2011-02-09T18:24:00.000-06:00

The Washington Post reports that the House of Representatives fell seven votes short of "extending provisions of the Patriot Act. The bill, which would have reauthorized "key parts of the counter-terrorism surveillance law" that expire at the end of the month, "required a super-majority to pass under special rules reserved for non-controversial measures." Yet, it fell short under that rule, although a majority of House members voted to reauthorize it after 26 Republicans bucked their leadership, "eight of them freshman lawmakers elected in November's midterm elections." The vote tally, largely along party lines with most Democrats voting against it, "was 277 members in favor of extension, and 148 opposed."

WooHoo!

With rise of Egypt, Glenn Beck's popularity falls

2011-02-07T13:02:00.000-06:00

by: Joe Sims

February 4 2011

In response to the Egyptian uprising, Glenn Beck is getting crazier and more extreme than ever with predictions of a worldwide conflagration and implosion.

Beck's apocalyptic and deeply racist vision sees the rise of an Islamic "caliphate" or republic joined by "Marxists" in Europe and Asia. In his own words "When you take the Marxists and combine it with radicals of Islam ... the whole world starts to implode."

Interestingly, Beck's extremism coincides with a big drop in his January ratings - the largest dip for a cable TV show. Deadline Hollywood writes, "In January, Beck's eponymous talk show posted the steepest ratings declines for any cable news program. Glenn Beck averaged 1.8 million viewers, down 39% vs. January 2010."

For younger viewers, the decline was even deeper. "In 25-54 [category], the drop was even bigger, 48%, to 397,000."

Notwithstanding Beck's August event on the Washington mall, the TV performer and ideologue's popularity seems to have peeked two years ago in 2009 with 2.8 million viewers.

In recent months however, Beck, who called President Obama a racist, has took a huge hit: first from civil rights groups, like colorofchange.org who organized a highly successful campaign to get advertisers to boycott his show - some 200 withdrew ads - and secondly from listeners who may have grown weary of his extremes - a factor that may paradoxically cause him to become even more acerbic.

The reason for this the drive for advertising dollars coupled with a decline in popularity of cable news shows. In this regard already two years ago commentator David Frum wrote "conservative talkers are responding to a collapse in advertising revenues. According to Scott Fybush, the proprietor of North East Radio Watch, talk radio has lost 30-40% of its ad revenues."

Frum continued, "In this environment, radio hosts believe that anger is their only path to survival."

Other cable shows have also shown a decline says, deadline.com . "Also hard hit in January was Fox News' On the Record with Greta (1.5 million, down 36%; 333,000 in 25-54, down 49%). Other cable news channels with big ratings declines include CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 (595,000, down 34%; 174,000 in 25-54, down 43%) and CNN's Parker Spitzer (478,000, down 39% from last year when Campbell Brown was hosting the 8 PM hour; 125,000 in 25-54, down 46%)."

Last week, Jewish leaders took out an ad in Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal sharply criticizing Beck and other Fox News commentators' blasts at George Soros and comparisons of President Obama to Nazis.

Photo: Creative Commons

http://peoplesworld.org/with-rise-of-egypt-glenn-beck-s-popularity-falls/

For what it's worth, this is some of the best news that I have heard in a very long time. And it's not just that ratings for "Blowhard Beck" are in the toilet. There is simply no news outlet that is left to speak for... well, the left. And the fact that CNN programming is suffering right along with the rantings of a bona fide lunatic is evidence, in my mind, that even those who consider themselves "right" are getting fed up with the conservative corporate bile that the corporate owned propaganda machines are pumping out. When the majority of those who have been bred to believe that they are "conservative" are clearly losing interest in the "conservative" (read fascist) message, there is hope that sanity will prevail and isolate and shame those bigotted fear mongers into relative silence that will allow the rest of us to live in relative peace.

~Avelvet

UPDATE!!!! White Supremest Arkansas GOP Member Resigns under preasure

2011-02-05T16:47:00.001-06:00

UPDATE!!!!
LITTLE ROCK, AR (AP) - The Arkansas GOP says a county-level party official who refused to cut his ties to a group that calls itself "pro-white" has resigned.

Arkansas Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb says John Casteel stepped down from his position in Jackson County on Wednesday after he chose not give up his membership to the Council of Conservative Citizens.

Webb told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Casteel said he felt his resignation was in the best interest of the Republican Party.

He added that the GOP appreciates Casteel's service to the party.

Casteel didn't respond to several messages left seeking comment. His e-mail address was listed as the contact for the Arkansas chapter of the council's website until earlier this week.

Arkansas: Jackson County GOP Chair Connected To White Supremacist Organization

2011-02-01T13:30:00.001-06:00

31st January 2011

By ARDem
Blue Arkansas | January 31st, 2011

John Casteel, Chairman of the Jackson Co., Arkansas Republican Party

A special thanks goes out to Blue Arkansas writer La Voix for helping investigate this one. In fact, she's the one who first started digging around when she got wind of this story, immediately after finding a racist ad on Craig's List from the Council of Conservative Citizens:

White people have been notified that by the year 2050, European-Americans will be a minority in this country. For some reason, white people are supposed to be content with this prediction. The question is, why is minority status good for white people? For decades, other minorities have "empowered" themselves at white people's expense.

Other minorities have complained of discrimination from white people, and white people responded with integration, affirmative action, and other social programs designed to foster "equality." Have these programs worked? Are minorities satisfied with "equality"?

Think about it.

Minorities created organizations to promote their respective interests. The NAACP is not in the business of equality. The NAACP exists to advance blacks and empower them. La Raza exists to advance and empower latinos… even the ones here illegally. The ADL promotes the interest of Jews, even though Jews have prospered in this country as no where else. Shouldn't people of European background have an organization to protect OUR interests, and, yes, to secure privileges for OUR people?

The time is not far off when European-Americans will need to take collective, organized action on our own behalf… or we will all be minorities of ONE.

The Council of Conservative Citizens has been protecting and advancing the interests of European-Americans for over 20 years. Don't be a minority of one, visit us at our website. www.cofcc.org

(In case that ad gets deleted, we of course have the screen shot saved, see below.)

Well, while we couldn't determine who had posted the ad, we did get to digging around a bit to see just who was working to support the Council here in Arkansas and turned up something interesting. Now, let's not forget, this is the old White Citizen's Council renamed to seem lest threatening, the group that Haley Barbour got in trouble for speaking well of. Thing is, their agenda hasn't changed that much. Their website currently bemoans the fact that the South wasn't allowed to secede and keep its slaves, their statement of principles includes standing against "race mixing", and hell, they even feel the need to claim that George Washington Carver was a fraud in their section called "Black Invention Myths" where they basically try to dismiss the notion that any black person has ever contributed anything to our society, let alone technological advancement. In other words, it is beyond a doubt a white supremacist, racist, group. (That incidentally seems to like Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan, and Ron Paul judging from the links to the side but that's beside the point …yet telling.) Anyway, while we couldn't determine who exactly posted the above mentioned article on the Little Rock Craig's List, we were able to find out this little bit of information.

The email to contact the Council of Conservatives Citizens in Arkansas is that of Jackson County Republican Chairman John Casteel, the same email address listed on the Arkansas GOP website for the Jackson County Republicans.

See:

(You can click on the above screenshots to make them larger.)

So yeah, sad to say, good old fashion racism is still alive in the USofA, and this is just one more bit of proof that it has a home in the Republican Party of Arkansas.

Original post on Craig's List:

http://bluearkansasblog.com/?p=5267

via: Anti-Fascist Encyclopedia

Who are the real extremists?

2011-01-31T10:21:00.000-06:00

Steve Leigh looks at what's described as "extremism" by the mainstream--and why it turns out that those ideas are often threatening to the status quo.

January 20, 2011

I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Jesus an extremist for love--"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you"...Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist--"This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist--"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice--or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?
-- Martin Luther King, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

IN THE wake of the tragedy in Tucson, Ariz., the media and the politicians have all been calling for a new "civility" in political debate. They have all denounced "extremism," which they connect with violence. But what is "extremism"? Is it really the cause of the problems that plague U.S. politics?

At its simplest, political extremism is just a set of ideas that is extremely different than the status quo. It is any political vision at considerable variance from the way the world is today.

Calling a solution or set of ideas "extremist" is considered the ultimate slam in politics in almost any age. To call something extremist is to take it off the table of rational political debate. As with other forms of name-calling, it replaces rational consideration of ideas with dismissive labeling. But if we look at it logically, calling something "extremist" should not be a value judgment.

Any idea, either extremist or moderate, can be good or bad.

What is extremist or moderate varies from age to age and place to place. Before the Revolutionary War, in 1770, anyone who called for independence from Great Britain, was a raging extremist, rebel and dangerous person. Yet by 1781, anyone wanting to go back under British rule would have been considered a traitor. In 1855, abolitionists were seen as crazy extremists. Yet by 1865, anyone wanting to restore slavery would have been called a hopeless reactionary.

In 1965, demanding immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam was beyond the pale of standard political debate. Yet by 1968, most people were for full withdrawal and, in 1975, the U.S. was out of Vietnam. In 1968, the issue of abortion was laughed at when raised in the presidential campaign. Yet by 1973, abortion rights had been legalized in the U.S.

Even the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.--who every politician now claims to venerate--was called a "trouble maker" and extremist, and was constantly harassed by the FBI. Examples like these could fill volumes.

Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

The Palin-ette is Un-invited to speak at Washinton University

2011-01-30T14:52:00.001-06:00

The most amazing and refreshing thing happened in St. Louis, MO this past week. First, someone at Washington University decided that it would be a wonderful idea to invite Bristol Palin, daughter of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, to speak during Washington University's Sexual Responsibility Week.

But, apparently, the student body, who's student generated funds were to be used to sponsor the event, thought that inviting a person who is the embodiment of the exact opposite of the topic to be discussed–on their dime–was less than ideal.

In fact, they hated it! Within 24 hours of the announcement of the invitation being extended to the Palin-ette, a Facebook page with a petition to prevent The junior Teabagger Princess from speaking had collected hundreds of signatures.

The day after the announcement, Saint Louis Today posted the following update:

Washington University in St. Louis says Bristol Palin won't be speaking there next month after all.

The decision comes after some students expressed outrage over Palin being paid with student-generated funds.

The daughter of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had been invited by the university's Student Health Advisory Committee to be part of a panel discussion on abstinence on Feb. 7. Bristol Palin became pregnant at 17 and is a single mom to a 2-year-old son.

It's not clear exactly how much she was to receive, but student leaders had approved spending $20,000 for the panel.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the university issued a statement Thursday night saying the advisory committee and Palin decided "the message that they intended on sharing would be overshadowed by controversy."

The Associated Press added:

"People are getting so angry because of the opposition to Palin's lack of expertise and the high cost she is charging," especially in light of budget cuts that have adversely affected other student activities, said Philip Thomas, the Washington University student who initiated the petition.

I often lament the fact that much of my home state of Missouri is too conservative for its collective well being. But it is refreshing and promising to note that, at least with the urban youth, they cannot be sold such a blatent lie as that which the Palin's pedal–that somehow, with their "common sense", "momma grizly", "soccer mom" mentality, they qualify as individuals that we should look to for cues on developing our own set of family and community values.

For my part, if I want to know what NOT to think or do, I should look to the Palin's for those cues. But I'll not support paying them for that information. They manage to insert themselves in our public discourse enough on their own for me to glean that information from them.

Generally, I try to ignore them. But I also try to ignore mesquitoes in the Mississippi River Delta summer evenings. That doesn't always work out, either.

Posted by avelvet at 09:46:57 in General, News, U.S., State, Opinion
http://ruralamericanprogressive.org/avelvet/

Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

“God is a Fascist!”

2011-01-29T15:28:00.001-06:00

I am ever amused by the seemingly oblivious! All one need do is read history to see what is happening in the world today. What I don't understand is the apparent predisposition of the "mob mentality" that is nationalism toward fascism. And I suppose that I never will. But it amazes me when people that I know personally who are generally well intentioned and "good" people are inclined toward fascist ideals and social interaction, including their exclusivity in their governmental affairs. In most cases these people espouse fascist ideals without even realizing it. And without exception they tend to accuse anyone who does not agree with their fascist tendencies to be fascists themselves!

The following story, taking history from the mid-19th Century forward, is a virtual blueprint of what is happening today in the U.S. and other parts of the world. The simple fact is, as history shows us, any time that capitalist business concerns have a hand in molding public policy the social structure that you end up with is authoritarian fascism and human rights crimes against the very people who help boost these concerns into power.

Talk about cutting your nose off in spite of your face...

"God is a Fascist!": The Ideology of Romanian Fascism

25th January 2011

Before the Christian Coalition: " … Romanian fascist ideology is, in many ways, similar to Western European fascism. … The [fundamentalist Christian] religious element of Romanian fascism was utilized by the Iron Guard to gain the support of the rural population of Romania where religious beliefs were the strongest. The Iron Guard used religious themes for most of their propaganda. … "

By Corinne Quinones | Claremont McKenna College

Economic, Socio-Political, and Intellectual Roots

Like most European fascist movements, Romanian fascism emerged out of the political, economic, and ideological crisises that followed World War I. However, the development of Romanian fascism is distinct from the development of fascism in Western Europe because of the unique political history of the Romanian state. Although Romania was granted independence in 1877, attempts to denationalize and politically and economically dominate Romania by the Turks, the Greeks, the Russians, and Western Europe contributed to the formation of a fascist ideology that was uniquely Romanian.

Economic Crisis

The economic crisises that followed World War I had a significant impact on the development of Romanian fascist ideology. The gradual transition of the Romanian economy during the 19th and 20th centuries from an agricultural base to a more capitalist structure resulted in high unemployment and the worsening of conditions for the peasantry, the working class, and the petty bourgeoisie. For example, illiteracy and infant mortality for the rural population of Romanian was among the highest in Europe. The centralization of capital in the hands of a few resulted in sharply defined social differentiation between the urban and rural populations. For example, the Romanian countryside, which contained a large proportion of the population, consumed only ten percent of all industrial products between 1936 and 1937, while the urban population consumed ninety percent. These economic conditions contributed to political unrest and dissatisfaction among the petty bourgeoisie (the main political base of the Iron Guard) and among conservative intellectuals, who questioned the efficacy of the capitalist model for Romania. The significant amount of foreign investment by Western European nations, particularly France and Britain, in Romania (foreign investment represented over thirty percent of the Romanian economy) and the tendency of Romanian economics and politics to be governed by foreign investment concerns contributed to a sense of hyper-nationalism and xenophobia in Romania. In addition, the failures of capitalist model were linked to Romanian Jews. The petty bourgeoisie, who were hit hard by the economic difficulties of the interwar period, blamed their predicament on the "capitalist" Jews and nurtured the virulent anti-Semitism that was to later characterize Romanian fascism.

The Crisis of Liberalism: "Government By Rotation"

The ineffective political organization of the Romanian state during the interwar period contributed to the development of fascism in Romania. The failure of Romanian parliamentary democracy was the result of inefficient and ineffective political institutions and fluctuating electoral laws. Romania's poorly structured electoral system and the habitual crushing of oppositional forces by violent and illegal means promoted a "government by rotation," in which no one party ever maintained an extended or strong hold in government. Consequently, Romania never fully experienced authentic parliamentary democracy despite the liberal democratic structure of its political system. The crisis of liberalism in Romanian politics contributed to the development of fascist and dictatorial tendencies. Foreign intervention in Romanian politics by the Western powers further cultivated hyper-nationalism and xenophobia. In particular, the intervention of Britain, Germany, and France in 1878 in order to enforce the abolition of religious discrimination against Romanian Jews linked the sentiments of nationalism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism in Romania.

Romanian Conservative Thought: Eminescu and Cuza

The intellectual roots of Romanian fascist ideology can be traced back to late 19th and early 20th century conservative thinkers such as Mihai Eminescu and A.C. Cuza. Romanian conservative thought developed out of the social, political, and economic tensions in the 19th century. The failures of capitalism and liberal democracy in Romanian contributed to the development of proto fascist ideas that greatly influenced Romanian fascist ideology. The writings of the 19th century Romanian poet Eminescu inspired the development of Romanian fascist hyper-nationalism. Eminescu protested that 19th century Romania was governed by "French institutions, Jewish business, [and] Austrian industry." Eminescu expressed the socio-economic frustrations of the petty bourgeoisie by blaming the Romanian Jewish population for the problems of the Romanian nation. Eminescu asserted the classic fascist "Third Way" reasoning that rejected socialism as a "plaything made of foreign abstraction" and liberalism that had "transformed Romania into a quagmire into which the social sewage of the West and East is discharged." Eminescu expressed a nostalgic longing for the days of Romanian feudalism which, according to him, was a system of "the greatest freedom, of decentralization, of communal autonomy, of the independence of classes. Men were not equal and for that very reason they were free." In the 20th century, the ideas of A.C. Cuza, the intellectual vanguard of the Iron Guard, represented the conservatism that arose from the social tensions of the interwar period. Cuza's ideas inspired much of the anti-communism and anti-Semitism that was an integral part of Romanian fascist ideology. Cuza divided Romanian society into three classes, the rural class, the middle class, and the ruling class. He argued that this hierarchical system unified the nation, "the classes are stages in the development of the same nation . . . consequently, there could never be enmity between the classes." His critique of communism was based on the idea that "when class struggle enters into a society, it is a dangerous disease which leads the nation toward destruction." Cuza was also the intellectual architect of modern Romanian anti-Semitism. Cuza's anti-Semitism was based on the racist theories of Chamberlain and Drumont. To Cuza, Jews were a "foreign body" and the main source of Romania's socio-economic difficulties.

Characteristics of Romanian Fascist Ideology

Romanian fascist ideology is, in many ways, similar to Western European fascism. The essential components of fascist ideology – anti-communism, anti-Semitism, nationalism, mysticism, etc. – are all present in the ideology of the Iron Guard. However, there are many ways in which Romanian fascism is distinct, even unique, from fascist ideology in Europe. Romanian political history and the influence of Orthodox Christianity make Romanian fascist ideology relatively unusual. Here are several of the important and unique characteristics of Romanian fascism.

Anti-Communism and Anti-Semitism

The two central aspects of Romanian fascist ideology are anti-communism and anti-Semitism. Like most other fascist ideologies, the struggle against communism was the primary concern of Romanian fascists. Romanian fascists argued that communism was inherently incompatible with the "psychic structure of the Romanian people" and Romanian national interests. The vehement anti-communist of Romanian fascism can be traced to the persistent interference of Russia in the political affairs of Romania. To a certain extent, anti-communism and anti-Semitism were interrelated in Romanian fascist ideology. Communism was considered by many fascists a Jewish conspiracy. Fascist anti-Semitism in Romania was utilized by the Iron Guard to divert the attention of the petty bourgeoisie away from the social, economic, and political problems of the nation. Anti-Semitism in Romanian fascist ideology was particularly violent, racist, and a uniquely mass phenomenon. Jews were considered an "inferior and degenerate race" and were often blamed for the "alteration" of Romanian culture and the socio-economic problems of the nation. Romanian fascist ideology demanded a "plan for the total elimination of Jews" in Romania.

Nationalism

Nationalism was another important and unique component of Romanian fascist ideology. Romanian nationalism is characterized by its chauvinism, romanticism, and racism. Nationalism in Romanian fascist ideology was similar to the German concept of nation. Romanian fascists conceived the Romanian nation as having a "soul, a consciousness, an existential center." Nationality was embodied by the blood of the Romanian people and the soil of the Romanian nation. The cult of the Dacians, the proclaimed ancestors of the Romanian people, was similar to the Italian fascist cult of the Romans in that it supported the declarations of racial and cultural superiority by Romanian fascists. Imperialism was another component of Romanian nationalism and represented one of the solutions to the social, economic, and political difficulties of the Romanian nation. However, Romanian imperialism mainly constituted the expulsion or rejection of foreigners and foreign influences rather than the acquisition of additional territory.

Religion: "God is fascist!"

One of the unique characteristics of Romanian fascism is the incorporation of Orthodox Christianity into the political doctrine and structure of the Iron Guard. The religious element of Romanian fascism was utilized by the Iron Guard to gain the support of the rural population of Romania where religious beliefs were the strongest. The Iron Guard used religious themes for most of their propaganda. The widespread occurrence of "miracles" in Romania during the rise of the Iron Guard represented the utilization of religious propaganda to appeal to the superstitious rural population. In addition, Romanian fascists made use of collective prayers, religious chants, and processions in order to sway and influence the Romanian people. Orthodox Christianity was an essential component of Romanian fascist ideology because it was considered one of the most important elements of the "historical continuity" of the Romanian people. The Iron Guard was initially called the "Legion of the Archangel Michael" because it characterized the predestined character of the legionnaire movement.

Sources:

Hitchins, Keith. Rumania: 1866-1947. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.

Ioanid, Radu. The Sword and the Archangel: Fascist Ideology in Romania. Translated by Peter Heinegg. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.

Ronnett, Alexander E. Romanian Nationalism: The Legionary Movement. Translated by Vasile C. Barsan. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1995.

Seton-Watson, Hugh. Eastern Europe Between the Wars: 1918-1941. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.

Vago, Bela. The Shadow of the Swastika: The Rise of Fascism and Anti-Semitism in the Danube Basin, 1936-1939. London: Saxon House, 1975.

Volovici, Leon. Nationalist Ideology and Anti-Semitism: The Case of Romanian Intellectuals in the 1930s. Translated by Charles Koromos. New York: Pergamon Press, 1991.

Weber, Eugen. "Romania." The European Right: A Historical Profile, ed. Hans Rogger and Eugen Weber. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1965.

http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/hist/jpetropoulos/ironguard/ideology.htm

via: http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/allposts/god-is-a-fascist-the-ideology-of-romanian-fascism

Murder in Uganda -- Stop U.S. pastors from exporting bigotry

2011-01-28T17:25:00.001-06:00

U.S. pastors are exporting bigotry to Uganda, with brutal results.

This is an issue close to my heart, because I've spent over a decade working for equality as a lay leader in my own church, and now, as acting director of HRC's Religion and Faith program – which helps religious leaders of all stripes speak out for equality and fight back when hatred is promoted in the name of religion.

On Thursday, that perversion of faith cost Ugandan gay rights advocate David Kato his life. He was bludgeoned to death in his home after his name was among those listed in an anti-gay magazine, under the headline "Hang them!"

Since at least 2009, radical U.S. Christian missionaries have added anti-gay conferences and workshops in Uganda to their anti-gay efforts in the U.S. – and now they're beginning to ordain ministers and build churches across East Africa focused almost entirely on preaching against homosexuality.

These American extremists didn't call for David's death. But they created a climate of hate that breeds violence – and they must stop and acknowledge they were wrong.

"Stop Exporting Hate." Sign our petition to Carl Ellis Jenkins, Lou Engle, and Scott Lively.

We'll deliver your signature to three men who have gone out of their way to promote hatred:

Scott Lively of Massachusetts held an anti-gay conference in Uganda with two other U.S. pastors. A few months later, a bill was introduced in Uganda that would make homosexuality punishable by death.
Lou Engle, a Missouri preacher whose rallies draw tens of thousands in the U.S., spoke at a rally in Uganda this year that focused on praying for the bill's passage. (Engle claims not to support some parts of the bill, but internal documents show he came to speak about "the threat of homosexuality," and defend the Ugandan government's efforts to "curb the growth of the vice using the law.")
And Carl Ellis Jenkins of Georgia is presiding over a group that's opening 50 new churches in Uganda to "help clean up bad morals, including homosexuality" according to his staff.

They have been stirring up hostility in a country where homosexuality is already illegal, violent attacks are common, rape is used to 'cure' people of their sexual orientation – and a shocking law has been proposed that would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment or even death.

And they're in lockstep with some of the largest and wealthiest right-wing groups in the U.S. When the U.S. Congress considered a resolution denouncing the grotesque Ugandan death-penalty-for-gays bill, the extreme-right Family Research Council – now classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center – spent $25,000 lobbying to stop the resolution from passing.

Religion should never be used to spread hate. These men do not speak for me or the millions of diverse religious people who support equality not in spite of our faith, but because of it

That's what our Religion and Faith program is all about: helping people of faith from all different traditions speak out so we can reclaim the core religious values we hold dear in America.

At the heart of every religious tradition is love of humanity and love of creator – not hatred for our neighbors. Creating a climate of hate runs contrary to the very idea of faith – but that's exactly what the right wing in America is doing.

Tell missionaries and radical hate groups: "Stop exporting hate."

Whether or not we're people of faith, we cannot stay silent or stand idly by while a radical minority pushes a hateful agenda in God's name. Please stand with us and speak out today.

Sincerely,

Sharon Groves
Religion and Faith Program

Glen Beck inciting violence... again!

2011-01-26T19:41:00.001-06:00

Glenn Beck's latest conspiracy theory target is a 78-year-old professor who, 45 years ago, published an article with her husband which posited that people overwhelming the welfare rolls could put enough stress on the system that it would force the need for certain reforms to help the poor.

The result? City University of New York professor and longtime advocate for the poor and working class, Frances Fox Piven has been receiving repeated death threats on online message boards and has personally received angry and violent emails.1

Beck has chosen to escalate these attacks even after the sad instance of political violence we recently experienced -- and are still recovering from -- in Arizona. Amidst calls to bring an end to incendiary, violence-causing rhetoric, Beck is doubling down, and if his network and advertisers simply sit back and watch, they must be held accountable for any violence this rhetoric may reap.

Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

Chinese police shoot protesting construction workers

2011-01-25T18:20:00.000-06:00

By John Chan
25 January 2011

Hong Kong's Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy reported that last Sunday, riot police in China's Wuzhou City in the southwestern Guangxi province, opened fire on 100 construction workers demonstrating over unpaid wages.

The Information Centre said a local hospital officer had confirmed that about 20 people were sent to hospital, including five who sustained gunshot wounds. No deaths were reported. Chinese web sites circulated photos showing workers confronting the riot police before the shooting.

Workers from a residential construction site in Cangwu County had headed to Wuzhou City and staged a demonstration in front of the municipal government building. According to Japan's Kyodo news agency, the construction contractor owed workers one million yuan or $US151,000 in wages, but had fled to the adjacent Guangdong province after the construction was finished.

--
Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

Hold'em Accountable!

2011-01-14T19:03:00.000-06:00

If people are going to be investigated for merely "following" Wikileaks on Facebook and Twitter, then perhaps there should be some investigations into Right Wing figures who openly support actual terrorists who are on an actual list of terrorist organizations who are actually declared such by our government.

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

You know it's getting bad when...

2011-01-12T18:28:00.000-06:00

The bank in my home town, one of the few (think single digits!) remaining businesses, is closing its doors for good. It is no longer "profitable" for them to operate this branch. The nearest branches that will remain is 15 miles east or 20 miles west. You know the economy is in trouble when banks start closing branches.

Ironically, 30 miles north and 40 miles south, there is literally a bank on every corner (and a church just across the street from it).

--
Alan
Missouri, United States of Amerika

Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

Questioning Authority

2011-01-02T13:04:00.001-06:00

I'd just like to state for the record that while I appear to exhibit glee when I point out instances where I believe "the establishment" (to include military, law enforcement, corrections, judicial, etc.) has crossed the line and has shown the evil side of its collective persona, I actually do so with profound sadness. Let me be clear: while I do not necessarily believe that ALL men and women in uniform and positions of authority are bad, there is no doubt that there are bad people in these positions.

I have seen uniformed personnel strike people with batons for no apparent reason with my own eyes simply because they could on more than one occasion. And let's face it, the "war on drugs", particularly the war on pot, is a drain on precious resources and makes "criminals" out of millions every year. Marijuana arrests and prosecutions clog our legal system and crowd our correctional institutions needlessly. "Forty-one percent of the U.S. population" have tried marijuana. That makes nearly half of the U.S. population criminals! (And I have personal knowledge that some of that 41% were the very people who arrest others for the same thing!) "Forty-six percent of respondents … say they support allowing states to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol."

But enough about pot. That is not the subject of this piece. (Though, in the interest of full disclosure I had two simple possession charges of less than a gram each time when I was a youth, in 1977-78. So, while I feel strongly about this, I use this issue as an example of "law enforcement" gone awry).

I have also had a handful of people with whom I had meaningful friendships who were police officers, deputy sheriffs, and corrections officers. I know there are good people who do these jobs. And, yes these jobs are necessary. But I have seen a lot more "authority figures" abuse their authority than the few with whom I grew to respect and care for. And not coincidentally, my respect for them grew out of their respect for me. (Hint, hint.)

I served in the United States Marine Corps. Though, we jokingly referred to it as "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children" (see: U.S. Marine Major General Smedley Darlington Butler's "War is a Racket" . And KNOW that Smedley Butler was one of Our Nation's foremost war hero's! He was actually invited by Corporate interests to overthrow the Government of the United States! And he said no. That alone makes him a leader to be emulated.) While I served, I observed that not ALL orders were "lawful" orders. And it is each service member's obligation to make the distinction. If you were ordered to shoot and kill unarmed civilians, it fell upon you to determine that this was an unlawful order. The Nuremburg Trials is history's testament that "following orders" is no defense to unlawful actions.

And I feel that a police officer "just enforcing the law" when the law is obviously and clearly flawed is not acting in the interest of the law.

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

Albert Einstein

We, as Americans, should be ready and willing to disregard, condemn, and prosecute those who while in the service of this country in any capacity violate the Constitution and the tenets which made this society a great nation.

"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.
…

"If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth — certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn."

Henry David Thoreau

I am a rare bird indeed: a southern former US Marine, and a former Republican (I voted for Ronald Regan… sorry about that), a product of a fundamentalist Christian upbringing, who has converted to Buddhism and have radical left political leanings. I am NOT a revolutionary, though I believe that revolution is the only thing that will wrest our freedom away from the Corporate NON-entities who now hold our freedom in their iron fists and the richest 2% who hold everything ELSE in their iron fists. Though, AS a Buddhist, I can only observe and hope for the least number of casualties and collateral damage… at the hands of both sides of the conflict to come. "What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn."

"One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist" works the other way around: "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". I'm quite certain that the King of England viewed George Washington and his band of merry men as "terrorists", though I don't believe that connotation had yet been conceived. And there was a time, not that long ago when a U.S. Representative named Charlie Wilson trained and armed "freedom fighters" called The Taliban.

"History is written by the victors."

Winston Churchill

Our American dilemma is simply that we cannot decide which version of history we wish to be recorded. Therefore, we change it when it suits us. The masses are so dumbed down from "Survivor" and "Dancing with the Stars" (Oh, and my personal favorite: "Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader"). So, why not just rewrite recent history? Who'll notice?

In my world, in which I realize that I share with very few people, it is far more expedient to suspect authority, to disbelieve and suspect the rich, to constantly be aware that "they would like to lock me up for life for ANY reason", and to watch for those very few who prove me wrong by proving their humanity than it is to automatically suspect a few "leftists" or "revolutionaries" because those terms are not in vogue and to CHOOSE to give those in the greatest position to infringe upon our basic human rights, and from all appearances the inclination to do so, the benefit of the doubt.

If you want both sides of the story before you decide that "Power" is abusing their power before you decide who is right or wrong you will likely have no opinion on a multitude of injustices. Very few paid any attention to Jews during World War II (and no one else even TALKED about it). Few took up the banner of the Native American or the African American, and "respectable" people just didn't talk about such things.

If you are waiting for Dick Cheney to tell his side of "enhanced interrogations" (otherwise known as torture), you're in for a long wait. Well, actually he already has stated his position: it was "legal, sanctioned, and NOT torture" … regardless of what ANYBODY else thinks!

To request to hear the side of law enforcement before you decide that they went overboard with their "law enforcement" is to close your eyes and follow blindly. You are already a slave. Wear your designation "Slave" proudly. I will always suspect authority of wrong doing unless anyone can prove to me otherwise.

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority."

Lord Acton (1834-1902) English historian

When everyone else is right will I be all that is left?
Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

GOP Senator Kills Whistleblower Protection Bill on Last Day of Congress

2010-12-29T10:15:00.000-06:00

By Rick Piltz
Climate Science Watch | December 24, 2010

A single Republican Senator, using the egregious parliamentary tactic of placing an anonymous 'hold' without having the integrity to offer a public justification, killed a major whistleblower protection bill that reform advocates have worked on for 12 years, and that had overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. This Senator must be exposed and subjected to relentless political opposition for this betrayal of the public interest. The Democrats, if they are fit to govern, must abolish the secret hold on the first day of the incoming Congress.

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act was a package of badly needed reforms that would restore meaningful whistleblower rights to federal government employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, or abuse in the federal government. Among its many contributions to the public interest, the legislation would have created specific protection for scientific freedom, making it an abuse of authority to censor, obstruct dissemination, or misrepresent the results of federal research — a protection for which the need is clear.

U.N. Investigating Bradley Manning’s Detainment

2010-12-29T10:14:00.001-06:00

Posted by Erin on December 27, 2010

The United Nations office for torture issues in Geneva is now investigating a complaint that the U.S.is torturing Bradley Manning. Manning is the detained Army private suspected of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks. He has been held in solitary confinement for seven months despite being an exemplary prisoner. Many experts believe that being held in solitary confinement for an extended period of time does constitute torture. The U.N. said it received a complaint from one of Manning's supporters alleging conditions at the brig amount to torture. According to the U.N., the complaint received alleges that Manning's physical and mental health are deteriorating in the face of continual solitary confinement. The office of Manfred Nowak, special lawyer on torture based in Geneva, confirmed that they are investigating the report. A spokesman for the Marines denied mistreating Manning, telling the AP he is being kept safe, secure and ready for trial.

The New York Times backs the attack on WikiLeaks

2010-12-28T12:20:00.000-06:00

By Alex Lantier
28 December 2010

With a brief Christmas Day editorial, "Banks and WikiLeaks," the New York Times editorial page finally broke its silence on the official campaign targeting WikiLeaks, the news site that has published leaked US diplomatic cables. The Times did so, however, only to give its backhanded support for the campaign, led by the Obama administration, against WikiLeaks.

The Times has maintained a complete silence in the face of the threats of prosecution against the web site, which have escalated in the wake of the leak of hundreds of thousands of State Department documents. It has said nothing about the calls for Julian Assange—the organization's founder—to be arrested, declared an enemy combatant and even assassinated.

Its first editorial on the persecution of WikiLeaks came at the bottom of the editorial page on Saturday. This obscure position itself highlights the newspaper's tacit support for the campaign against WikiLeaks.

Acknowledging that WikiLeaks "has not been convicted of a crime," the Times writes that "the financial industry is trying to shut it down." It cites the decision by Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Bank of America to refuse to process transactions and donations involving WikiLeaks.

The editorial makes clear, however, that the Times has no principled objections to this attack on democratic rights and freedom of the press—which essentially amounts to a threat by US banks to strangle any news organization that falls afoul of Washington. Indeed, the New York Times apparently believes the banks should have such powers.

Drug export banned in the U.K., executions delayed in the U.S.

2010-12-27T12:35:00.000-06:00

Monday, December 27 2010 @ 01:17 PM EST

You can't kill by lethal injection without sodium thiopental, used to put the victims in a coma before two poisons are administered to kill them. So when the sole American provider ran out of its supply, states like Arizona and California turned to a British company that manufactured the same drug. But Change.org members lobbied British Business Minister Vincent Cable via his personal email address, and successfully compelled him to ban the sale under an old law that forbids the export of "execution equipment" like guillotines. Executions across the U.S. continue to be delayed because of the shortage.

by James Clark

Rural American Progressive
In Unity is Strength

I agree with the "Tea Party"...

2010-11-24T12:38:00.000-06:00

Yes. As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Sarah Palin on one thing (and one thing only):

Mainstream Media is definitely lame. And Lamestream Media is a good name for them.

"Why?", you may ask. Well, I'll tell you.

For two decades I have clamored about the need for another political party to emerge and be recognized. And for much longer than that there have been a whole host of other political parties in existence in the United States. There are the Libertarians, the Greens, the Socialists, the Communists, the Anarchists, and many more. When I envisioned a "third party", I actually envisioned one with some common sense--some interest in fairness and their common man. Something more forward thinking than the capitalists who currently run our nation and its economy.

But what did our Lame Stream Media pick up for us as a "viable third party"? You guessed it. The Tea Party: an organization that is so hauntingly similar to the National Socialist Party of Germany from which the Nazi's were spawned. THIS is what they think is a "viable" third party! Not a party interested in equal rights. Not a party interested in health care for all. Not a party that is interested in reinvesting in America. Fascists. Haters. War mongers. That are the values of the organization that the media believes is worthy of their attention, the platform from which to shout their vile filled bilge, the free public megaphone of their 27/7 coverage.

The Tea Party.

That's who the media believes deserves their promotion. Haters.

That is exactly why I not only support the Turn Off Fox Campaign, but also no longer watch HLN, CNN, MSNBC, nor any of the other corporate backed cable news networks. Nor do I lend any credence to the New York Times, Washington Post, nor any other corporate backed news outlets.

If you have not noticed a theme in my discretion here I will point it out to you. Fascism is a government which, if not outright owned by corporations and industry, caters specifically and wholly to corporate and industry interests and needs. The single most important strategy for these special interests to maintain their control over the masses is to keep the masses afraid of each other.

The "divide and conquer" strategy is at least as old as Sun Tzu's "Art of War". And the mindless masses buy off into the illusion of the perceived threat that we each hold for each other. Until we realize who the enemy truly is, fascism, we will be doomed to live in bondage and fear.

I, for one, choose not to live under this delusion.

By all means, tax the poor!

2010-11-18T07:38:00.000-06:00

This article at Huffington Post is a real piece of work. In fact, Senator Dick Lugar (yet another "Dick"), the author of the post, and the vast majority of the commenters on that article are ALL "special people". As in, they will be competing in the Special Olympics for the mentally challenged.

I get so sick and tired of each time the wealthy, corporations, and the politicians screw the pooch and leave our country and economy in shambles, each time they decide that they need desperately to balance the budget to make up for their transgressions, the thought of actually correcting their own behavior never even enters into their mind and certainly not the conversation! But the very FIRST thing that comes up is what they so woefully call "entitlement programs". And along with that terminology comes a perceived misrepresentation of it as "welfare" or some kind of government hand out which was never earned and is somehow coming out of the pockets of the working poor (there is no middle class any more, regardless of what poor people think of themselves. If you don't make 150-200k per year, you are frigging poor).

But if this perception is correct, which in my case it most certainly is not, I'd like to know what these morons think all of that FICA tax that was held out of my paycheck for all of those years that I DID work was all about. I'll tell you: THAT WAS MY SOCIAL SECURITY! That was the money that the government took out of my check to set back for me in case I became unable to work or retired. And that is what happened, I became unable to work. So, as far as I am concerned, that meager check that I receive each month that is a fraction of what working people make each week, IS MY OWN MONEY TO BEGIN WITH! And I would appreciate it very much if the cock suckers running this country would leave it the hell alone!

However, when these idiots in Washington get caught with their hand in the till while spending recklessly, they blame people like me and expect US to suck it up and pay for their mistakes by cutting the benefits that were set back for us out of our own money.

One day YOU TOO will become sick, disabled, or old and you will be forced to rely on Social Security. Hell, even John McCain is on Social Security! So, don't say you won't. If you do, I call you out right now as a liar. So, each time you attack Social Security benefits being paid out as the source of all the nations woes, just remember: Social Security itself is solvent and the only thing that is placing it in any jeopardy at all is the gluttonous morons in Dick City who can't keep their hands out of it. This BROKE ASS country has borrowed from the Social Security reserve for so long that all Social Security HAS any more is PAPER. Worthless Paper with the United States name on the IOU!

I haven't had a cost of living adjustment in TWO YEARS while the average cost of living has risen 8% in the same time frame. And now you want to reduce my benefits over a period of time? You people have a twisted way of trying to explain things so you don't look like the amoral trolls that you are. But I see it clearly and plainly. You talk of reducing my cost of living increases. Well, I have news for you: a reduction from 0 is a cut. And no matter HOW you spin it, you are talking about raising the retirement age.

This shit make me mad. Do you REALLY THINK that we can't see what you are doing? You are protecting your own wealth by making the poorest among us shoulder the cost of your mistakes.

You fucks.

Where do we go from here?

2010-11-05T14:21:00.000-05:00

I believe that many of those who voted Republicans into office did not necessarily do so because they think that they will "save the country". Many did so simply because they are pissed off at those who are currently serving. GW and the Republican Party did whatever they wanted to do for the entire eight years of GW's reign... even when they lost the majorities!

In 2008, when Democrats swept congress and the White House (due in large part to that "pissed off" feeling) they were as inept and impotent as ever! I REALLY don't get that.

My only conclusion is that they are owned by the same nameless, faceless entities that own the Republican Party. We are bamboozled into the myth that our political process can only accommodate two parties. When both parties suck it's a no win situation. We, as a people, left, right, black, brown, white, ALL need to band together to oust these special interests who's best interest lies in keeping us divided and unorganized.

Everyone is tired of capitalism, whether they realize that this is what they are actually tired of or not. We are tired of mounting bills and escallating costs. We are tired of job insecurity, unemployment, lack of health care, vulnerability in our retirement, rising education costs for our kids who can't find a job even after years of college. We are tired of the faceless, nameless entities who get the lions share of our labor and force us to live off their table scraps.

There are alternatives to our present governance. Many have just been mislead about their implimentations and how they would actually affect their lives. But doing the same thing over and over is just plain insanity. It is time to give the government back to the people. I think that we are bright enough to govern ourselves in spite of what "they" tell us.

Idealistic, I know. But that's my two cents.

Guidelines for current and future endeavors

2010-11-05T12:37:00.000-05:00

In order to move toward a more meaningful and just society, we need to have target goals and a strategy to get there. Here is a list of guidelines given by Father Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, a priest who had fought Franco After World War 2 in Spains Basque country, ended up in prison, but managed to get released instead of executed. Father Arizmendi, as he is popularly called, was assigned by the church to the valley in the Basque containing the small town of Arrasete-Mondragon. He set to work trying to solve the massive war-created problems at hand. He began building a small technical school, and then a credit union where the region's peasants and workers pooled meager funds. After a few years, with just five of the best students of the school, he started a small factory making one product: a small paraffin-burning stove so people could cook and heat water. It was a good stove, and sold well.

Most important, he gave the project a set of ten carefully thought-out principles to serve as guidelines for the current and any future endeavors:

Open Admission, meaning no worker is to discriminated against because of nationality, gender, political party or religion and such.
Democratic organization, meaning one worker, one vote.
Sovereignty of labor
Instrumental and subordinate nature of capital
Participatory Management
Wage Solidarity
Cooperation between Coops
Social Transformation
Universality
Education

We could all learn something from these simple guidelines. The goal of all of us remains to create a more just, peaceful, and prosperous society in which we can all live with some security. And it will take all of us to make this happen.

Once again the voters of the United States have proven their confusion

2010-11-04T20:40:00.000-05:00

The truth is that the common worker who identifies as a Republican is not really the enemy. It is the propaganda machine that feeds them lies and half-truths. Until they are informed enough to realize the manipulation that they are experiencing, they are simply lost souls. But the real enemy lies in forces much larger than mere members of the population....

Populist Review: Fascism in America – Roots
of the Current Predicament

3rd November 2010

” … The American Left have proven inept in gauging this fascist menace, much less mounting an effective response. Few are aware of the history that brought us to our current predicament. … “

Andrea Hackett
Populist Review | Sep 18, 2009

In order to fight an enemy you must know that enemy. You must know their strengths and weknesses, history and organizations, links, objectives and capabilities. You must know their operational methods and familiarize yourself with the central players. In short, you must do your homework. In the case of global fascism, you must also respect their fanaticism and willingness to use violence to further their goals.

The American Left have proven inept in gauging this fascist menace, much less mounting an effective response. Few are aware of the history that brought us to our current predicament. Reactionary organizations, right wing militias, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and theocrats are too often seen as loosely-linked idealogues with little ability to destablize the country.

In this series of articles I hope to disspell that notion. If we are ever to mount an effective defense, much less an offense, we must fully fathom this treasonous menace and perpare ourselves for the actions needed to fight their ascent to power.

The Fascist Right in America – Part I

The Fascist American Right is, and has been, an amalgam of Nazi war criminals, fascists, fascist sympathizers, militarists, intelligence operatives, organized crime figures, theocrats, opportunists, foreign nationals, corporate and individual sponsors, compromised government officials and everyday citizens whose fear, greed, ignorance and frustration make them ready targets for political manipulation. On the surface, these groups and individuals seem diverse. But they invariably have one thing in common:

The Republican Party.

Viereck
Nazis were collaborating with the Republican Party as far back as the 1920 election when George Sylvester Viereck, charged with sedition and exposed as the grand puppeteer behind the notorious Nazi publisher Flanders Hall, used his Burgerbund organization to campaign for Harding. In 1928, the Republican State Committee in New York adopted dozens of proposals from pro-Nazi publisher, Edmund Furholzer. Four years later, Furholzer was campaigning tirelessly for Herbert Hoover. He repatriated to his native Germany in 1933 when Hitler seized power.

In 1934, when the Republican Party merged their Senatorial and Congressional Campaign Committees they hired Sidney Brooks, leader of the pro-fascist Order 76, son of Nazi agent Col. Edwin Emerson and top researcher at ITT, one of the corporations who continued trading with the Nazis after we entered the war. Emerson was a major financial backer of Furholzer’s pro-Nazi publications. On March 4th 1934, Brooks met with William Dudley Pelly for the express purpose of merging his Order 76 with Pelly’s pro-fascist Silver Shirt organization.

And Silver Shirt was no insignificant organization.

Many of today’s far right groups can trace their roots directly back to the Silver Shirts, which was Founded by Pelly in Asheville, NC on Jan. 1, 1933, the exact date Hitler seized power. Described, even then, as a “Christian militia,” the Silver Shirts were one of the largest and most violent pro-Nazi groups in America. They believed Jews were the spawn of Satan (Pelly was fired as a Hollywood screenwriter). They had strong ties to the Ku Klux Klan and extremist groups in the Pacific Northwest that formed when the local Klan splintered. Henry Lamont Beach, who founded the reactionary Posse Comitatus
(“power of the country”) was a Silver Shirt leader in Oregon. Richard Butler, who founded the Aryan Nations in Hayden Lake, was a Silver Shirter and Klansman. Gerald L. K. Smith, one of the founders of the Christian Identity movement (which I’ll discuss in depth later) was an influential Silver Shirter.

One of the most influential organizations in America, the American Security Council, was formed from the remnants of three fascist groups from that era: the America First Committee, the American Vigilante Intelligence Federation (a product of the notorious pro-fascist, Harry Jung) and the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies
(closely associated with eugenics and the Pioneer Fund which bankrolled the publication of the best-selling, eugenics-espousing books, The Bell Curve and Losing Ground.

The Bell Curve, by Charles Murray, was incessantly cited by Republicans during the second Bush Administration as scientific proof that African Americans were inferior to whites and therefore hampered by government programs which placed them in jobs and educational settings beyond their capabilities. The controversial welfare “reforms” of GWB’s Secy of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, were based in large part on the eugenic philosophy espoused by Murray. The Pioneer Fund paid Murray’s salary at the CIA-run Manhattan Institute for eight years while he penned the books. Thompson’s protege, Jason Turner, was later brought to NYC to implement Mayor Guiliani’s draconian “welfare elimination program.” While there, Turner gained a notorious reputation for quoting the motto over the gates to Auschwitz, “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Will Make You Free).

If the Military-Industrial Complex had a mailstop, the American Security Council was it. They had direct ties to Nelson Bunker Hunt’s John Birch Society, Daniel Graham’s High Frontiers and the Western Goals Foundation (all of which I’ll describe at some length). The ASC was also the major architect of the Cold War. Through their lobbying arms, the National Security Caucus and the Coalition for Peace Through Strength (Dr. Strangelove, anyone?), the ASC produced innumerable articles and publications including their Guidelines for Cold War Victory and the National Strategy for Peace through Strength. They also had a profound influence on policy decisions during the Reagan Administration. Indeed, Ronald Reagan credited the organization with no less than “winning” the Cold War.

One article, published by the American Security Council on March 16, 1964 (just months after JFK’s assassination), presents a blueprint for political assassination that seems eerily similar to the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK and other American liberals.

“A political murder instigated by an intelligence service will be planned to approximate the ‘perfect crime.’ Every suitable deception and concealment technique will be used. If ‘imperceptible murder’ is not feasible or desirable, one of the following methods is to be used:

a) The assassin is given a cover story or ‘legend’

b) The assassin, unless he can be reliably hidden, will be destroyed, preferrably in such a way that his second murder cannot be traced back to the organizations (for example, he will be slugged by an infuriated cellmate).

c) The assassin will be described as a ‘loner’ and a ‘psychopath’ whose deed was not politically motivated; perhaps he was seeking personal revenge. In many of these undertakings, including the fabrication of ‘legends,’ and the manipulation of operatives, the murdered himself may be unaware that he is being maneuvered.”

One of the ASC’s predescessors, America First Committee, was the brainchild of Charles Lindbergh and Douglas Stuart, Jr., the son of a Quaker Oats vice president. America First’s mission was to unify opposition to the war against Hitler under a single umbrella group. The corporate charter was written by John Foster Dulles and signed by H. Smith Richardson (Smith Richardson Foundation) and William H. Regnery of Regnery Publishing (which published books critical of the Nuremberg Trials and was later subsidized by the CIA). Regnery and Richardson plowed $100,000 apiece into the organization. Two of the more notable members of AFC were William R. Castle, President Hoover’s under-Secretary of State and President Hoover himself, whose membership remained secret. Richardson and Regnery played prominent roles more recently in attempts to derail the Clinton Administration.

America First Committee membership, which grew to 800,000, included pro-Nazi Silver Shirters, members of the Ku Klux Klan, Laura Ingalls (the notorious Nazi agent), Ralph Townsend (a paid Japanese government agent), Garland Alderman (member of the Nazi-inspired, National Workers League, who was indicted for sedition), Dellmore Lessard (who resigned when the public learned he took funds from the Nazi-controlled Kyffhauserbund) and Thomas Dewey (Republican), who was in negotiations to take over the group until he realized it might become a political liability. Dewey also attacked Roosevelt relentlessly for his stance of unconditional surrender during the Battle of the Bulge, a moment we now embrace as emblematic of American heroism. His attempt to take over America First was related to FDR by Walter Winchell, the investigative reporter best remembered for his narrative role in the television series, The Untouchables. America First members were extremely influential. According to Pat Buchanan, who somehow maintains a “conservative” reputation despite his fascist ties, Gerald Ford signed recruting posters for America First Committee while at Yale Law School. He also named Sen. Peter Dominick, Sargent Shriver and Kingman Brewster as America First members. Brewster became president of Yale in 1963 and appointed Tracy Barnes to direct community relations. Barnes was an OSS operations officer during WWII and a high-level CIA operative who organized the overthrow of the Arbenz government in Guatemala, choosing E. Howard Hunt as his political officer.

William H. Regnery was one of the founders of the American Security Council. He was later replaced by his son, Henry. Regnery and Nelson Bunker Hunt, son of the Texas oil tycoon, H.L. Hunt, funded the intelligence-gathering organization, Western Goals Foundation which provided intelligence on liberals and “communist subversives” to the John Birch Society in the ’60′s. The John Birch Society was bankrolled by Nelson Bunker Hunt.

The Republican Party has been employing Nazis and pro-fascist groups since the 1930′s. In their book, The Nazi Hydra in America, Glen Yeadon and John Hawkins recount that on Oct. 22, 1936, the New York Post (now owned by ultra-right media mogul, Rupert Murdoch) broke the following story: Nazi Publicist on GOP Payroll: “To win votes for Landon and Bleakly, the Republican State Committee is employing on its payroll a staff of propagandists identified with local Nazi organizations.” On Oct 30, 1936, the New York World Telegram reported: “U.S. Nazi attack on Jews is Laid to Republicans: “The Republican Party has been sponsoring radio broadcasts by American Nazis to win German votes… One of the recent speakers was Dr. Ignatz T. Griebl, a national Nazi leader and pronounced anti-Semite.”

In the 1938 Minnesota governor’s race, Republican Party officials conducted a vicious anti-Jewish smear campaign to defeat Gov. Elmer Benson of the Farmer-Labor Party. Benson had the audacity to propose union wages for state workers, free busing for rural high school students, a two-year moratorium on farmer’s mortgages, increased benefits for the elderly and people on relief, and new provisions in the state’s unemployment benefits to include striking workers. Promoting such racial hatred and division, of course, played right into the hands of Hitler’s Nazi Party (amounting to no less than treason), but that didn’t stop the Republican Nazi Party. That same year, the Republicans ran Harold Strassen. His campaign was orchestrated by Republican operative, Ray P. Chase whose dirt-gathering apparatus, Ray P. Chase Research Bureau, was funded by Minnesota’s business elite including Col. Robert McCormick of the Chicago Tribune. In true Watergate style, files were stolen from the State Relief Department in an attempt to link Farmer-Labor members to communist activities. University of Minnesota Dean, Edward Nicholson, was even kind enough to provide data on left-leaning students, including Eric Sevareid who went on to become a celebrated journalist at CBS with Edward R. Murrow. During the campaign, Chase launched a vicious anti-Jewish attack on Gov. Benson, equating Judeism with communism.

Corporate complicity with the Nazis and the Republican Party cannot be downplayed. On Nov. 23, 1937, General Motors executives and other corporate leaders met with Baron Manfred von Killinger to confer their total commitment to the Nazi cause. Central to their secret commitment was the agreement to replace Roosevelt with Burton Wheeler, the pro-fascist Senator from Montana. A portion of the agreement, leaked to The Facts newsletter read:

“The substance of the German suggestion amounts to changing the spirit of our nation as expressed in recent elections… The people must become aware of the disastrous economic effects of the policies of the present administration. In the wake of a reorientation (emphasis mine) of public opinion a vigorous drive must start in the press and radio… this drive may center on the Republican National Committee.”

So here we have collusion between top corporate leaders, Nazi Party officials and the Republican Party.

By the 1940 election, Nazi involvement in American politics became extensive as they tried to keep the United States out of the war. A plot was hatched through which the Nazi Party could directly fund the Republican Party. That plot included William Rhodes Davis of Texas Oil. Davis had supplied the Germans with oil since 1936 and owned a huge Germany refinery. But his oil fields in Mexico had been nationalized. In retaliation, he colluded with Standard Oil of New Jersey to affect a boycott of Mexican oil. This huge loss in revenue prompted the Mexicans to become much more amenable to Davis’ proposal that they continue selling oil to the Nazis (thus protecting his investment). With the outbreak of war, Davis travelled to Germany to meet with Herman Goering. Goering agreed that backing the Republican Party was preferable to backing a third party to defeat Roosevelt.

But that would take money. $5 million dollars to be exact.

To obtain that money, Goering persuaded the Italians to release funds used for fascist propaganda and espionage. An Italian courier, Luigi Podesta, delivered the cash to the German consulate in New York and Davis deposited the money in accounts at the Bank of Boston, Irving Trust, Bank of America and the Bank of Germany in Mexico City.

On the night of the Republican National Convention, money from the Nazi slush fund was used for a far-flung isolationist propaganda blitz. One Republican congressman received $3,000 for heading a group of 50 isolationists. By the end of the convention, the party platform plank firmly opposed entering the war with Germany. In fact, the platform plank was copied almost verbatim from a Nazi propaganda ad placed in the New York Times by an obscure committee on June 25th, 1940. Stephen Day, a Republican Representative from Illinois, was paid thousands of dollars by the Nazis to form that committee. Nine other prominent Republicans signed the ad: Rep. Samuel Pettingill, Rep. Harold Knudsen, Rep. John O’Connor, Rep. Hamilton Fish, Sen. Edwin Johnson, Sen. Bennett Clark, Sen. David Walsh and Sen. Burton Wheeler.

It’s no exaggeration to say that a significant portion of the funds used by the Republican Party during the 1940 election came from the Nazi Party. The party’s entire expediture for the campaign was near $15 million and the $5 million funnelled through Davis was certainly not the only funds made available. Nor were Nazi collaborations restricted to these events. Top Republican leaders, including former president, Herbert Hoover, collaborated closely with high-level Nazi officials in Berlin to stop Roosevelt. This was corrobarated by post-war interviews with Hermann Goering and Gen. Ribbentrop.

For a review of George Bush’s grandfather (Prescott Bush’s) role in funneling cash to Hitler’s war machine, please see my article, The Ascent of Fascism in America. Suffice it to say, that Prescott Bush, Averill Harriman and others played a pivotal role in funding Hitler’s rise to power. Indeed, it’s no exaggeration to say the Bush family owes their incredible wealth to the Third Reich.

Our Entry Into the War

With the attack on Pearl Harbor, pro-Nazi organizations lost many of their adherents, including pacifists duped into aligning their beliefs with isolationism, and were forced to wage their propaganda war underground. The Nazi agenda was now hidden under a new, patriotic banner of religion and free enterprise. To accomodate this new strategy, The National Committee for Religious Recovery was founded in 1940, changing its name to the Laymen’s National Committe in 1941 to affect a more populist appeal. But the organization was anything but populist. The first chairman, Lambert Fairchild, described its mission like this: “For God and Country you’re going to see religion and business formed into a solid phalanx. Let no rabble-rousing communist tell you anything else…”

Thus marked the start of a new era that opened the spigot to corporate funding for fascists who masqueraded as Christian patriots.

Fairchild’s ties to fascist organizations were numerous. He had ties to the American Bund (itself allied with the Ku Klux Klan), the Christian Mobilziers and the Christian Front. And though he was replaced by Howard Kiroack when his fascist ties were exposed by Newsweek, Kiroack proved equally fanatic.

The National Committee for Religious Recovery was rooted in the National Bible Association,
whose roster of chairmen were utterly elitist and anything but religious. William Grede (co-founder of the John Birch Society), Charles Hook (CEO, Armaco Steel), Edward Werle (New York Stock Exchange), C. Fred Fetterolf (ALCOA), Richard DeVos (Amway founder) and J. Peter Grace (W.R.Grace Co.).

The W.R. Grace Co. was overtly pro-Nazi. At the end of World War II, the company was accused by the U.S. military of protecting a certain Nazi colonel (Col. Brite) in Bolivia. In 1951, when the CIA smuggled Nazi butcher, Klaus Barbie, out of Germany, he was sent to see this same Col. Brite. The company’s founder, William Grace, was closely associated with George deMohrenschildt who “befriended” Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife, Marina, and introduced them to the Czarist community in Texas. This same George deMohrenschildt was employed by Pantepec Oil (owned by William Buckley’s family) and was a regular at H.L. Hunt’s Petroleum Club in Dallas where he sang the praises of Heinrich Himmler!

John McCloy’s son had close ties to W.R. Grace and invested over $400,000 in partnership with J. Peter Grace. McCloy was the man who secured the release of Frederick Flick, the single greatest power behind the Nazi military muscle, from the hangman’s noose at Nuremberg. The fact that the W.R. Grace Co. was involved at the highest levels of the National Bible Association speaks volumes about its sinister purpose.

Richard DeVos is noteworthy here also. Pegged by Forbes in 2008 as the 73rd richest American with $3.5 billion, DeVos founded the multinational giant, Amway, and is affiliated with dozens of fascist organizations and think tanks including the Council on National Policy (which I’ll discuss at length), the late Paul Weyrich’s Free Congress Foundation, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy and the Progress for America Voter Fund. His son, Dick, married Betsy Prince, sister of the notorious right wing extremist, Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater. DeVos served as Finance Chairman for the Republican National Committee.

Alcoa was a leading corporate sponsor of Nazi Germany and eugenics. During WWII, Alcoa negotiatied a deal with the Nazis and IG Farben to supply aluminum to Hitler instead of the U.S. military! Then-Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, said on June 26, 1941, “If American loses this war, it can thank
Alcoa.” Alcoa also arranged to have flouride, a highly carcinogenic byproduct of aluminum production, added to our nation’s drinking water (It appears Gen. Jack Ripper, the mad general in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, had his facts wrong. If anything, flouridation was a Nazi plot!).During the war, Nazi scientists at IG Farben slave labor camps discovered that adding flouride to the drinking water made prisoners more submissive.

William Grede, another chairman of the National Bible Association, founded the John Birch Society with Richard Welch in 1958. Funding for the project came from fascist oil tycoon, Nelson Bunker Hunt. The John Birch Society was an ultra-right wing, anti-communist organization that used conspiracy theories, patriotic symbolism and free enterprise language to dupe grassroots organizations into supporting the goals of the power elite. Rigidly homophobic, the JBS opposed everything from integration to civil rights, which were decried as the product of a global communist conspiracy. One of their favorite targets was the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an “elitist” organization which they claimed was at the center of a global Jewish conspiracy of bankers and industrialists. In 1972, the

http://andreahackett.typepad.com/andreas_blog/american-fascism/

Who is the most oppressive and unjust?

2009-11-22T11:53:00.000-06:00

A former Iranian vice president has been sentenced to six years in jail after being accused of fomenting unrest to overthrow the government, his lawyer said today.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi is the most senior reformer to face imprisonment following the disputed presidential election in June. Abtahi was vice president for parliamentary and legal affairs during the 1997-2005 presidency of Mohammad Khatami.
Read the story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/22/mohammad-ali-abtahi-iran-protests-jailed

The government cited above is, by American standards of Justice, arguably one of the most oppressive and unjust political systems in the world. And the "guilty" party here is sentenced to "six years in jail after being accused of fomenting unrest to overthrow the government".

Yet, our government here in Amerika routinely passes out sentences that long and longer for the considerably lesser offenses such as DUI and simple pot possession. Aren't you glad that your tax dollars are used so wisely? The "war on drugs", the "war on crime", and the "war on terrorism"... all distractions designed to keep YOU in FEAR and bleeding you dry.

I ask you, who is the most oppressive and unjust?

Rally held, charges of racism against Kennett, MO

2009-11-18T10:09:00.001-06:00

KENNETT, MO (KAIT) – Supporters from across the country converged on the Dunklin County Courthouse Monday to voice public outrage against the Kennett Police Department and Dunklin County Prosecutor’s Office. Heather Ellis, 24, cut in line at the Kennett Wal-Mart on January 6, 2007 and created a disturbance after police were called, court documents said. According to court filings, Ellis assaulted two white police officers who told her to leave the premises. She was arrested on two felony counts of assaulting a police officer and two misdemeanor violations.

Ellis, a black school teacher in Louisiana, was in college at the time of her arrest. She charges customers and police officers as being racially disingenuous.
...

Counter protestors also watched the march as it traveled down First Street. Counter protestors [sic] were holding Confederate flags with swastikas and skulls.

See the whole article here: http://www.kait8.com/global/story.asp?s=11517159

If there was any question about the racist atmosphere in Kennett, MO, the last quoted paragraph should help put things in perspective for you. And if you read the comments to the article, it should remove all doubt. The sad part is that these bigoted rednecks don't even realize that they are racist. The racist, fascist atmosphere permeates the entire region. They are indoctrinated in church, in school and in their homes.

As noted in the above article snippets, at the protest rally prior to the trial counter protesters showed up waving confederate flags and swastikas just to prove that the aren't prejudice. Morons.

I'll add this from personal experience: There is no doubt in my mind that most of the local law enforcement around here is racist. And hand in hand with their racism goes their fascism. However, I don't think that the prosecutor, Steve Sokoloff, is a racist. At least not overtly. He's simply a fascist. He definitely allows his personal feelings and convictions to interfere with the execution of his duties. He pursues personal vendetta's at the bench. He also allow "his buddies" to walk free on identical charges to those he sends away for years.

UPDATE:
Heather Ellis plead guilty to two misdemeanors and received 4 days in county jail, 1 year unsupervised probation, and mandatory anger management classes. The plea was reached after it was disclosed that the officers and witnesses in the case had a private conference together prior to the trial. It is speculated that this time was used to "get their stories straight". In fact, witness testimony included information that was not included in the original police reports suggesting that their stories were embellished for trial. Let's hope that the various anti-discrimination organizations who have been drawn to this case keep a close eye on this town and county. This story is not over. But the story is not about Heather Ellis. It is about a clan of racist bigots and their nepotistic, isolationist, white supremacist, Christian Fascist behavior.

When "Confidential" isn't really that confidential

2009-11-07T22:08:00.000-06:00

Does anyone else see a problem with the following excerpt from Yahoo! News?

Senior Obama administration officials have stepped up consultations with key allies, laying the ground for an announcement on strategy and troop levels.

In his confidential troop request, McChrystal said 40,000 additional troops were needed to help secure Afghan population centers and to give NATO some additional resources to take on Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in outlying areas.

When it is reported on Yahoo! News, it's not all that fucking confidential, now is it?

And I seem to remember something about the cock sucker, McMeth, going public with his demands some time ago, too. So, why the pretense?

Does anyone else find it odd...

2009-11-06T09:45:00.000-06:00

Does anyone else find it odd that:

Our lawmakers will pass an $800b bill that funds mass murder in foreign lands without batting an eye but seems paralyzed and polarized when it comes to spending a fraction ($90b) of that figure to save American lives with health care reform?

When 90 or more people are killed by a robot at a wedding or funeral in a foreign land it is referred to as an unfortunate incident, if it is acknowledged at all, yet when 13 soldiers are killed in their own country by one of their own where they are trained to kill it is referred to as "a massacre"?

I'm just sayin'...

"Cash for Clunkers" just put more clunkers back on the road... ones with bank notes, though!

2009-11-05T06:20:00.000-06:00

WASHINGTON (AP) - The most common deals under the government's $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program, aimed at putting more fuel-efficient cars on the road, replaced old Ford or Chevrolet pickups with new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Associated Press.

The single most common swap - which occurred more than 8,200 times - involved Ford F150 pickup owners who took advantage of a government rebate to trade their old trucks for new Ford F150s. They were 17 times more likely to buy a new F150 than, say, a Toyota Prius. The fuel economy for the new trucks ranged from 15 mpg to 17 mpg based on engine size and other factors, an improvement of just 1 mpg to 3 mpg over the clunkers.

Owners of thousands more large old Chevrolet and Dodge pickups bought new Silverado and Ram trucks, also with only barely improved mileage in the middle teens, according to AP's analysis of sales of $15.2 billion worth of vehicles at nearly 19,000 car dealerships in every state. Those deals helped the Ford F150 and Chevy Silverado - along with Ford's Escape midsize SUV - climb into the Top 10 most-popular vehicles purchased with the government rebates. The most common truck-for-truck and truck-for-SUV deals totaled at least $911 million.

In scores of deals, the government reported spending a total of $562,500 in rebates for new cars and trucks that got worse or the same mileage as the trade-ins - in apparent violation of the program's requirements. The government said it is investigating those reports and said in some cases they were probably entered incorrectly by dealers or based on outdated fuel economy figures.

The new data, obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act, include details of 677,081 clunker trade-ins processed by the government through Oct. 16. More than 95,000 of the new vehicles purchased under the program - or about one in seven - got less than 20 mpg, according to the data.
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20091104/D9BOVMNG0.html

Maybe I missed something. But I thought that the main purpose of the "Cash for Clunkers" program was to put more fuel efficient vehicles back on the road in the "clunkers" place. It appears that we kinda missed the mark on that one.

But, by god, they got fresh auto payments for the banks! They don't seem to miss a beat in scheming to fleece us all at every turn. And stupid pricks just seem to stand in line waiting patiently for the fucking they're about to ask for and get!

What amazes me is that I'm pretty sure that most people SEE the hypocrisy in these public money schemes to continue transferring the wealth to the extremely few. Yet, they smile, open their wallets and sign on the dotted line just the same.

As P.T. Barnum so aptly put it, there is a sucker born every minute.

I might add that if you wish to see one, you need only look in the mirror.

The FOLLY that is Steven E. Streight @vaspersthegrate: oh, it does grate on common sense.

2009-10-26T21:16:00.001-05:00

The FOLLY that is Steven E. Streight @vaspersthegrate: oh, it does grate on common sense.

"The Grate" was railing on people and wishing death upon them and I offered two thoughts on his rantings:

http://twitter.com/vaspersthegrate/statuses/5188102786 You don't hurt or annoy me by UnFollowing me. I demand you do so if you suck military dick. I want all soldiers to die now.

http://twitter.com/iamneverright/statuses/5188474639 @vaspersthegrate and what of Veterans Against War?

http://twitter.com/vaspersthegrate/status/5188516908 I admire Veterans Against War. There is room for repentance for everybody.

http://twitter.com/vaspersthegrate/status/5188701742 America's wars are based on lies or poor strategy, then drag on half-heartedly, causing more problems than they solve.

http://twitter.com/iamneverright/statuses/5188943747 @vaspersthegrate America's wars are based on profits for armament industries.

He then protected his tweets and posted this before his feed locked down:

http://twitter.com/vaspersthegrate/status/5189396362 New Twitter spam technique: agree with you in an RT or @. When you check their profile & website, it's a spammer. Block them.

This is the link on my profile: http://heartlandheretic.bogspot.com/ . I can't see the past "heartlandh..." on my profile page, hence have never checked it. The link is fixed now. But one might think that even a moron could see that the "L" was missing in "blogspot". But he called me spam and blocked me. After ridiculing others for blocking HIM! Hypocrisy. If you wish to see some of my commentary before I became so very tired of morons like this one, you may visit http://heartlandheretic.blogspot.com , the name of the blog is "Surviving Christianity"... you know, the bullshit culture that produces pricks like the one above.

Steven E. Streight is a moronic prick who thinks that his shit doesn't stink. Anyone who finds his bilge any less offensive than that of fux news is a moron as well. And this is a prime example as to why I haven't been blogging and seldom even comment on Twitter: the morons are taking over the world. And since there are so many of them and only one of me, it is just easier to put them out of my misery by retiring myself.

Fuck off, world.

Not OK: Oklahoma Inmates Allegedly Raped at Governors Mansion

2009-10-12T16:04:00.000-05:00

OKLAHOMA CITY — Prosecutors are investigating claims that the former chef and chief groundskeeper at the Oklahoma governor's mansion raped female prison inmates assigned to maintain the mansion grounds.

Neither man has been charged but both have been fired from their jobs.

State Department of Corrections officials say at least three women who were inmates at the Hillside Community Corrections Center in Oklahoma City contend they were sexually assaulted while working at the mansion between March 2008 and January 2009.

Janet Roloff, an attorney for one of the women, said Monday her client was held down by one man while the other raped her.

Roloff says her client did not report the alleged assault until she completed her sentence because she feared retribution.
Address : <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/12/brad-henry-rape-scandal-f_n_317720.html>

That's ok. They're just criminals. They don't count anyway. Hell, they're lucky they get to be house slaves at the Governor's Mansion!

I'd kinda like to know what heinous crimes they were guilty of to deserve this treatment. Probably DUI or failure to pay child support! The no good louses.

Capitalism at it finest. I say "Bring back the plantations!"

It’s Dangerous for Children To Know Atheism Exists

2009-10-10T12:02:00.000-05:00

It’s Dangerous for Children To Know Atheism Exists, Says Illinois State Legislator
Posted by Hemant Mehta in General on April 4th, 2008

Outspoken atheist Rob Sherman, who (with his daughter) filed a lawsuit that eventually put a stop to the Mandatory Moment of Silence, was back in the Illinois General Assembly on Wednesday.

He was there arguing Governor Rod Blagojevich’s $1,000,000 grant to the Pilgrim Baptist Church — which was given to them via the more secular Loop Lab School. (Shadiness all around.)

Anyway, he got into an exchange with Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago).

You won’t believe what she said (emphasis is mine):

    Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy — it’s tragic — when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.

    I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

    I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

    Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

    Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

    Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court—

    Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

According to Davis, atheism is destroying the state.

Corrupt or misguided politicians have nothing to do with it, of course…

As Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune puts it, “consider what the outcry would have been if a lawmaker had launched a similar attack on the beliefs of a religious person.”

If that happened, you might have actually heard about this story by now. It would be playing on news stations everywhere. But since the attack is on atheists, this is likely the first time you’ve read anything about it.

Not enough for you? Listen to the audio of the exchange (MP3).

Infuriating, isn’t it?

(via Change of Subject)

Amazing! These hypocritical jackals know no bounds.

One thing that strikes me about this piece is that this is occurring in the Northern Urban Area of Chicago. I would expect this kind of closed minded bigotry in the South or here in the Mid-South. I can almost understand this kind of ignorance in rural settings.

This appears to be the prevailing mind set for the people who represent us in our government and to the world! Anything that is different from their perception, belief, and world view should be silenced at all cost. Our activities if Af-Pak and elsewhere bear this out.

They insist that these activities are to protect America from those who committed the atrocity of 911 against us. But anyone with more than two active brain cells understands that it is a combination of our greed for oil and... well, they're Muslims. "They're godless heathens. They don't believe as we do." And if they were really trying to get the perpetrators of 911, they would be looking in DC, Texas, and under whatever rock Dick Cheney is currently hiding.

I am growing weary. They are coming to silence me. It is only days away.

And frankly, I'm ready. I'll leave you to the moral morass of mythological superstition that you call civilized society.

I bid you farewell and good luck.

Elliot Madison Accused Of Using Twitter To Tweet Police Actions At G-20 Protests

2009-10-04T11:20:00.002-05:00

NEW YORK — A self-described New York City anarchist has been accused of tweeting the location of police officers to protesters trying to evade them during the Group of 20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.

Pennsylvania State Police arrested Elliot Madison alleging he used Twitter to direct the movement of protesters and inform them about law enforcement actions at last month's summit.

The New York Post reported the arrest in Saturday editions.

Court papers filed by Madison's attorney say FBI agents executed a search warrant at the 41-year-old's Queens home on Thursday. They seized computers, political writings and anarchist literature.

Madison faces charges including hindering prosecution.

His attorney didn't immediately return a call requesting comment Saturday.
Read it here.

Prosecution of what, unlawful suspension of first amendment protections?

Employers Cashing in on Employee Deaths

2009-10-04T10:27:00.002-05:00

Free Market Capitalism, otherwise known as unabashed GREED, in all of its glory.

Creepy? Are you sure that's all it is?

Hate coming back "out of the closet", as if it were ever in the closet

2009-10-02T12:35:00.002-05:00

Now that the fascists (read Christian Fundamentalists) have lost their control of the government of the United States and their leaders are falling like fleas off of a freshly dipped dog to sex scandals, "contribution" scandals, and just saying stupid shit, the Religious Right and their skin head, racist, gun rights, wife beating brethren are going ape shit nuts, to put it mildly.

Throughout the Bush years, homophobia and professions of anti-racism were twinned in a weird way, as if the latter proved that the right wasn't simply still skulking around history's dark side. At a deeply surreal 2006 event at the Greater Exodus Baptist Church, an African American church in downtown Philadelphia, leaders of the religious right invoked Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks on behalf of gay marriage bans and Bush's judicial nominees. At the end of the evening, several dozen clergymen, black and white, joined hands in prayer at the front of the room. "Black Americans, white Americans," said a beaming Tony Perkins, leader of the Family Research Council. "Christians, standing together." The whole premise of compassionate conservatism -- which shoveled taxpayer money towards administration-friendly churches like Greater Exodus Baptist -- was that the right cared as deeply as the left about issues like inner city poverty.

What a difference an election makes. Even if you believed that compassionate conservatism was always a bit of a con, it's amazing to see how quickly it has vanished, and how fast an older style of reaction, one more explicitly rooted in racial grievance, has reasserted itself.

Today's grassroots right is by all appearances as socially conservative as ever, but its tone and its rhetoric are profoundly different than they were even a year ago. For the last 15 years, the right-wing populism has been substantially electrified by sexual anxiety. Now it's charged with racial anxiety. By all accounts, there were more confederate flags than crosses at last weekend's anti-Obama rally in Washington, DC. Glenn Beck has become a far more influential figure on the right than, say, James Dobson, and he's much more interested in race than in sexual deviancy. For the first time in at least a decade, middle class whites have been galvanized by the fear that their taxes are benefiting lazy, shiftless others. The messianic, imperialistic, hubristic side of the right has gone into retreat, and a cramped, mean and paranoid style has come to the fore.

To some extent, a newfound suspicion of government was probably inevitable as soon as Democrats took power. At the same time, with the implosion of the Christian right's leadership and the last year's cornucopia of GOP sex scandals, the party needed to take a break from incessant moralizing, and required a new ideology to take the place of family values cant. The belief system analysts sometimes call "producerism" served nicely. Producerism sees society as divided between productive workers -- laborers, small businessmen and the like -- and the parasites who live off them. Those parasites exist at both the top and the bottom of the social hierarchy -- they are both financiers and welfare bums -- and their larceny is enabled by the government they control.
Read the whole article here.

Their hate is spilling out into the public discourse in a plethora of ways. From "Teabaggers" in the streets, gun toting extremists at town halls, and talking heads on major "News Networks" (that's you CNN and FOX), to members of Congress and Senators saying the most outrageous things in news conferences and even on the House and Senate floors, the radical right has come completely unhinged.

We have everything from radicals in high office calling for the citizens to arm themselves against the government to Senators advising illegitimate rogue governments to resist the US Government exhortations to resolve their issues democratically. We have former White House advisers calling for US Military Generals to stage a coup right here in the US!

And now they are getting back to their roots of open hostility and the advocating of violence against African Americans, Latinos, non-Christians, and the GLBT community, insinuating, if not out right declaring, that these people are not REALLY people at all. Many of these religious fanatics feel that members of these groups are no more than a sick dog and should be "put down" for their own good!

Yeah, whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, this is how these people think.

This all leads me back to their own "god", Jesus of Nazareth and his teachings. You know, they guy who said that the only" commandment" that He professed was "Love", because if you followed that one you would naturally follow all of the other ones. (I'm para-phrasing here, but I think that I got it pretty close).

Of course, this is all academic to rational, thinking people. But it never ceases to amaze me how the more fanatical people of any faith are, the farther they drift from their own teachings.

These people are just sad. They make me sad. I don't know, perhaps that is their subconscious plan: if they make us all feel sorry for their pathetic world view, maybe we'll leave them alone to keep screaming their lies from the mountain tops.

Yeah, I grow weary at the spectacle of these morons expressing their myths as fact and therefore justification for their bigoted, discriminatory, hateful, murderous behavior. But pity is no reason to stop calling them what they are... just as loudly and with just as much passion as they spew their hate.

I agree that this will likely not solve the "Cracker Problem". But we can't allow their voices to be the only ones being heard. Religious Fundamentalist are by their very definition mentally unstable. I mean, hell, they believe in gods and fairies! (Actually, they call them "God", "Jesus", "Holy Spirit", and "Angels". But let's face it, it's the same thing).

So to speak truth to fiction, these people who are trying so hard to convince everyone that their hate is justified are using myth as their basis in fact at the root of their argument. Can anyone actually tell me that these people are even worth reasoning with?

Small plane crashes in eastern Indiana field

2009-10-01T14:37:00.002-05:00

A single-engine plane crashed into an Indiana field on Wednesday after the pilot, who was seen slumped over, lost consciousness and the aircraft started flying out of control, officials said.

Military officials do not believe the crash was terrorism-related but said the pilot may have had a health problem or have been suffering from a lack of oxygen. After air traffic controllers lost contact with the pilot, F-16s from Indiana National Guard intercepted the plane and followed it for about an hour until it crashed.

Full story here.

The following line of questioning may seem passè and a little dated. But how can they explain, logically, that F-16's followed this plane for an hour when not one single fighter could scramble on 911? I have never bought any of the official line. Even the "NORAD drill" excuse falls short. One doesn't even commit ALL of ones resources to any one thing even in a time of WAR! You ALWAYS keep a backup... you know, for emergencies?

A Child is left behind

2009-10-01T13:54:00.003-05:00

The Secret Service has announced that a "child" is behind the Facebook Poll asking if President Obama should be "killed".

Today they announced the results: Turns out a kid was behind the poll. And no criminal charges will be filed against him or his parents, according to the Associated Press, citing a Secret Service spokesman.
...read the whole story here.

Folks would like to say that this is the end of the story. The President is safe and the child never posed a threat to the President. And indeed that may be so. But, you know, that kid got the idea from somewhere.

And where do kids get their religious and political indoctrination more than anywhere else? At their dining room table. Directly from their parents.

So, I would posit that this non-threatening "child" is definitely under the influence of not so un-threatening adults.

I'm not suggesting that the parents be charged in this case for what the child did. But I AM suggesting that we, the rational and thinking "rest of us", should think about it for one moment. Our neighbors are quite possibly indoctrination tomorrows "Timothy McVeigh" or even "Jeffrey Dahmer"!

Can we REALLY say that what we discuss between ourselves behind the closed door of our home does not still find its way into the light of day? Do we really stop and think about the ramifications of each and every utterance that we may make in the privacy of our own homes?

Could YOU be programming a future killer with your own bigoted and prejudiced slurs, even if you think you are saying it in privacy?

Think again. For the first 10 to 15 years, your kid is just a parrot that imitates those around them. And you are likely the biggest influence on that behavior. That "child" merely parroted what he/she heard in their own home, make no mistake about it!

Right-Wing Hatemongering Fueled by Christianity?

2009-09-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

I can only breath a sigh of relief that bigotry bashing has finally gone mainstream and we are finally collectively calling a duck a duck.

Right-Wing Hatemongering Fueled by Christianity?
By Frank Schaeffer, AlterNet
Posted on September 21, 2009, Printed on September 28, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/142755/

Former president Jimmy Carter went on the record to point out that he believes that racism is at the heart of the great deal of the extreme animosity being leveled at President Obama (NBC News September 15). Carter identified himself as a Southerner with an insider's understanding. There's something he didn't mention however: the special culpability of his own religion -- Evangelical Christianity -- for the anti-Obama hyperventilating and furious reaction to our first black president. And that reaction has less to do with race and more to do with the ugliest side of religion.

The fact is that if you're going to blame one group above all others for the willful ignorance and continuing ugliness of the response to President Obama the best candidate would be the evangelical/fundamentalist community. The angry part of the South Carter spoke of is racist because it's dominated by a certain type of "Christian" culture.

Since Carter is also an evangelical Christian (as well as a Southerner) he would have done well to use his evangelical insider status to point to not just racism but to scream bloody murder about a bigger problem today: the hijacking of Christianity as the source of the hate and anger directed against all things "other" by a vocal (and health care lobby-organized and funded) angry minority of voters who are poisoning the American body.

American Christianity Is At The Heart Of Our Worst Problems

Are the New Atheists leading us to enlightenment? The problem with the recent New Atheist attacks on Christianity is that they mirror the hostility of the evangelical/fundamentalist subculture toward the secular society that it so disdains. The real answer to the question; "Can Christianity be saved from the Christians?" is not going to be found coming from people like Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris et al. Instead that answer may be found in the life and work of Christians such as former president Jimmy Carter, President Obama, the late writer John Updike, and other public figures from Desmond Tutu to Nelson Mandela who's faith can be taken seriously because of the moral authority given them by their achievements outside the realm of theology.

The people running around calling Obama is "Hitler", the so-called "birthers" and all the rest can't be understood outside of the context of the hermetically sealed world-hating gated community known as Evangelical Christianity. As a former Evangelical and son of an Evangelical Religious Right leader, let me share a little of the insider perspective that I wish Carter had brought to the subject.

What Defines American Evangelicals These Days?

The key to understanding the Evangelicals is to understand the popularity of the Left Behind series of books about the "return of Christ" (and the whole host of other End Times "ministries" from the ever weirder Jack-the-Rapture-is-coming!-Van-Impe to the smoother but no less bizarre pages of Christianity Today magazine). This isn't some new or sudden interest in prophecy, but evidence of the deepening inferiority complex suffered by the evangelical/fundamentalist community.

Left Behind

The words "left behind" are ironically what the books are about, but not in the way their authors intended. The evangelical/fundamentalists, from their crudest egocentric celebrities to their "intellectuals" touring college campuses trying to make evangelicalism respectable, have indeed been left behind by modernity. They won't change their literalistic anti-science, anti-education, anti-everything superstitions, so now they nurse a deep grievance against "the world."

This has led to a profound fear of the "other." Jenkins and LaHaye (the Left Behind authors) provide the ultimate revenge fantasy for the culturally left behind against the "elite." The Left Behind franchise holds out hope for the self-disenfranchised that at last soon everyone will know "we" were right and "they" were wrong. They'll know because Spaceship Jesus will come back and whisk "us" away, leaving everyone else to ponder just how very lost they are because they refused to say the words, "I accept Jesus as my personal savior" and join our side while there was still time!

The bestselling status of the Left Behind novels proves that, not unlike Islamist terrorists who behead their enemies, many evangelical/ fundamentalist readers relish the prospect of God doing lots of messy killing for them as they watch in comfort from on high. They want revenge on all people not like them--forever.

Generations Of Indoctrination

We are several generations into the progeny of leaders such as James Dobson and his radio show Focus On The Family. These offspring extol the virtues of corporal punishment, patriarchy, applying biblical law to public governance and so forth. Millions of evangelicals have been raised in homes where they've been isolated from the wider culture, home schooled and/or sent to "Christian schools" where they have been indoctrinated to believe that the Federal Government is the enemy of all true believers, that the "End" is near, that secular society is their enemy as is art, learning and culture.

They now form a Fifth Column of the deliberately intellectually disenfranchised. They know they are out of the loop and hate the rest of us for their own self-imposed isolation. I'm afraid they will soon turn to violence.

Here Are The Alternatives To Change the Theologically-Induced Hate Landscape:

A) all sane Americans must become atheists or agnostics,

or...

B) those of us who are Christians must rescue Christianity from the willfully ignorant evangelicals and fundamentalists.

I favor the second alternative. First, having been raised in an evangelical/fundamentalist home I've long since moved beyond my background when it comes to my politics and my theology. That proves something; people can change their minds! I did.

But I believe more strongly than ever that we human beings are spiritual beings with or without the permission of those who take a purely rationalist approach to human existence. The better -- and I think only realistic option -- is to regard religion as an evolving process of human consciousness and work to reform rather than eliminate it

In my soon-to-be published book Patience With God: Faith For People Who Don't Like Religion (Or Atheism) I have very deliberately started a radical conversation through which I hope many of us can carve out a position that embraces religion while absolutely rejecting the type of insanity that has become synonymous with the word "Christian" in contemporary America.

Two "Threads" In Religion

As I argue in my new book the choice between the absolutist secular fundamentalism of the New Atheism and the authoritarianism of James Dobson's-type of "Christianity" is no choice at all. The better alternative is to understand that there are two main threads running all through almost all religions including Christianity:

1) an open, inclusive and questioning thread

and...

2) a closed and exclusionary thread.

The more open thread is not some modern phenomenon developed by "liberal thinking." As I explain in Patience With God this "thread" can be found in the earliest Christianity and Judaism.

If you look around and see good results from Christianity, say from the invention of modern hospitals, which have their roots in religious groups or the music of JS Bach, you're looking at the fruits of the best of the open tradition and thread. When you see a group of scared racist white people like Joe Wilson in Washington DC screaming "liar" or "Obama is a socialist" or "Obama wasn't born in America" you're seeing the madness of the other thread: fundamentalism that wants absolute certainty about everything, and forces its followers to live in a narrower and narrower field of existence.

Conclusion

Christianity is worth saving from the Christians for two reasons. First, because as moral and spiritual beings religion should feed our souls rather then strip out our humanity. Second, because whether we like it or not, religion is here to stay. Better to shape it rather than to simply denounce it.

I may be an idealist but I believe that if others will step forward and add to what I have tried to begin with my new book together we can give good answers to both the extremes of the New Atheists and to the hate of the Evangelical fundamentalists. Join me to build a better vision. We might actually be able to change the conversation in America about religion.

Is that important? Yes, like it or not religion will not go away. It motivates the worst in the American psyche and some of the best too. It is Joe Wilson's religion of hate but it also motivated Martin Luther King Jr.

Perhaps a generation from now the image of a typical Christian won't be a hate-monger like James Dobson but rather a lover of peace such as Bishop Desmond Tutu, or a literary giant like John Updike, and yes, a President Obama.

The only real answer to the hijacking of Christianity by the Religious Right, the longevity of religion-based racism, and the backward and inward looking movement we now call "American Christianity" is not to talk everyone out a having faith but rather to fight for the humane and ancient thread found within the Christian tradition. Blaming everything on race is too easy.

If you get the chance to read Patience With God please let me know what you think of it. I'm asking one big question in the book: Can Christianity be rescued from the Christians? You tell me.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back.
© 2009 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/142755/

What the hell are you women putting on your FACES?!!!!

2009-09-24T16:15:00.000-05:00

What the hell are you women putting on your FACES?!!!!

Terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi plotted for more than a year to detonate homemade bombs in the United States, had recently bought bomb-making supplies from beauty supply stores and was looking for "urgent" help in the past two weeks to make explosives, an indictment charged today.

Address : <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/24/terrorism-usa-najibullah-zazi-denver>
I've gotta say that this is some pretty scary stuff! The guy bought his bomb making supplies at BEAUTY SUPPLY STORES?

Guys, how many times have you seen some bar fly with a ton of make-up on at the end of the bar light up a cig? How many times have YOU lit it for her? And she held it with fingernails painted florescent RED?
I don't know if I'll ever be able to get close enough to a terroristic, makeup wearing woman to kiss her ever again! (Not that anyone wants me to kiss them anyway).

Ya know, I don't mean to belittle this incident. I'm quite sure that there are people out there that are truly planning to attack innocent civilians here in the United States. It's a real problem that deserves real attention.

But those who are charged with the task of ferreting out these threats have cried wolf about "Islamic Fundamentalist" with ties to Iran, Afghanistan, and other Islamic countries too many times for me to be very worried about these people much. I figure that they are for the most part watching with glee as we tear ourselves apart from the inside!

And that being said, I suspect that the real violent threat from within lies in the far right fringe groups. You know, like the ones who kill doctors in their church for doing their job. The ones who walk into museums and shoot everyone in sight. The "TeaBagger" type who simply "want our country back"!

You know, the kind who listen to and support people like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Rielly, and their ilk?

You know... fascists.

The Truth About Two Racists—Beck and Limbaugh

2009-09-24T15:36:00.000-05:00

For the record:

The Truth About Two Racists—Beck and Limbaugh
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090923_the_racist_truth_about_beck_and_limbaugh/
Posted on Sep 24, 2009

By Joe Conason

With admirable calm, President Obama has sought to deflect the supercharged politics of race by expressing his optimism about American attitudes and ignoring the most extreme statements by his critics. For his own sake, as well as the nation’s, he is wise to give a pass to the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. That is not, however, what they deserve.

The behavior of those media provocateurs over the past few months is almost beyond parody. They call the president a racist, even though there is no evidence of prejudice on his part and much evidence to the contrary. They demand that nobody should ever point out racial prejudice, but spend hours on the airwaves making false claims of bias against whites. And they whine constantly about being called racists, even though the president has never made that accusation against them.

“You can’t get your agenda,” protested Beck the other day, speaking of the president, “so you unleash the hounds and point the fingers, and everybody is a racist.” That was around the same time Obama’s spokesman said quite emphatically that the president does not believe his opponents are motivated by racism.

But since Beck and Limbaugh seem to be obsessed with this touchy subject, let’s examine their record. It turns out that both established their keen racial sensitivity on air long ago.

Back when Beck was simply a coked-out zoo-style morning talk jock on a Kentucky station—rather than a national political philosopher—he regularly mimicked African-American speech patterns for fun. “He used to do a funny ‘black guy’ character, really over the top,” recalls one of his former colleagues, quoted by biographer Alexander Zaitchik in a fascinating Salon profile.

Beck also became a devotee of the Mormon crank author and conspiracy theorist W. Cleon Skousen, whose writings he enthusiastically promotes to this day. Among Skousen’s pet theories was that Southern slave owners were actually the victims of the plantation system, which according to him favored the lazy and pampered slaves, whose children he called “pickaninnies.” Like his ultraright friends in the John Birch Society and kindred groups, Skousen was a dedicated foe of civil rights legislation.

Does that mean Beck is a bigot? If Obama had ever endorsed the writings of Louis Farrakhan, replete with vile slurs against whites and especially Jews, that would certainly be enough for Beck—who says he believes that the president has “a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture.” That must be why the Obama White House has so many whites of all ethnic and religious backgrounds advising the president, from the Cabinet down.

As for Limbaugh, perhaps nobody remembers the time that he told a black caller to “take that bone out of your nose”; or the time when he said the nonviolent NAACP “should get a liquor store and practice robberies”; or the many times when he would play the “Movin’ On Up” theme from the old “Jeffersons” TV show to accompany his commentary about Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman in the United States Senate. He used to do mocking bits in black dialect, too. But who needs to remember those sorry episodes when he continues that ugly pattern on air nearly every day?

The Limbaugh show reached a new low recently when he began a campaign around a school-bus incident in Belleville, Ill., in which two black students were videotaped beating up a white kid. Police authorities first said they believed the assailants were motivated by race, but later said it was just a nasty bullying assault (for which the two little thugs are now being prosecuted).

But Limbaugh could not resist the opportunity to turn that nastiness into something much more dangerous. “It’s Obama’s America, is it not? Obama’s America—white kids getting beat up on school buses now. I mean, you put your kids on a school bus, you expect safety, but in Obama’s America, the white kids now get beat up, with the black kids cheering.” In a more reflective mood, he later asked, “Can this nation really have an African-American president?”

Yes, we can—and despite the racial poison spread by Beck and Limbaugh, most Americans are proud that at long last, we do.

Address : <http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20090923_the_racist_truth_about_beck_and_limbaugh/>

Highly religious states have top teen birth rates

2009-09-21T11:29:00.000-05:00

Highly religious states have top teen birth rates

A new study shows that states that skew towards more conservative religious beliefs tend to have higher rates of teenage girls giving birth. (Shocking, I know.)

Researcher Joseph Strayhorn of Drexel University College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh says,"We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself."

Now, obviously studies like these have the whole correlation/causation issue going on - but from the work I did write The Purity Myth, this study makes sense to me.

If you grow up in an area where you're taught that sex is bad and contraception is evil (and that it can kill you), when you do have pre-marital sex - as 95% of Americans will - you're much less likely to protect yourself. Not only because you've been taught that condoms cause cancer and other such ridiculousness, but also because you may think that if sex happens in the heat of the moment - and you didn't plan for it like a bad, slutty girl - you're not as tainted.
Posted by Jessica - September 21, 2009, at 08:31AM

http://www.feministing.com/archives/017841.html

These very same people tend to be the least educated as well. There is something in nearly all religions that suggests that education, open mindedness, and open inquiry are inherently evil. They are taught certain core beliefs from birth upon which to base all other beliefs. And these core beliefs are fallacious myths which are expected to be accepted by faith. Reaching these people with factual information is like trying to strike a match under water.

Former Bush Official Loses It ... Accuses Obama of Having 'Fascist, Socialist Ideals'

2009-09-18T10:34:00.002-05:00

Former Bush Official Loses It ... Accuses Obama of Having 'Fascist, Socialist Ideals'

TPMDC reports that Ellen Sauerbrey, who served as President Bush’s Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, told a local Republican group in Maryland last week that President Obama was following in the footsteps of global dictators:

She said that the Obama administration advanced “fascist, socialist ideals.”

“I’m really afraid for the future of our country,” Sauerbrey told attendees at the annual Lincoln/Reagan Dinner of Sept. 12 in Callaway. “Our Constitution is indeed being dismantled.”

In an interview with TPMDC, Sauerbrey tried to back away from her comments, insisting that she “mentioned Hitler’s name other than when the reporter came up to me afterwards,” she said. “And I said, look, I am not making a direct comparison Obama and Hitler. I’m making a comparison between policies in countries, and that history has a way of repeating itself.” Bush’s appointment of Sauerbrey in 2005 was widely panned because she had “no experience responding to major crises calling for international relief” and was nothing more than a “patronage” appointment. [via Alternet]

Yeah, tolerance for different races and cultures is certainly a Fascist Ideal. Assbag.

...she has relentlessly pressed an antiabortion and anti-family-planning agenda at international conferences meant to focus on urgent problems like sexual trafficking and the spread of AIDS. She also oversaw the admissions of refugees for permanent resettlement in the United States. One who is anti-immigrant?

The only part that I see where she got anything even partially right is where she said the Constitution "is being" dismantled. Indeed, her boss GW did a great job of that. If Mr. Obama even wanted to reinstate Constitutional Rights, he would have to fight an army of bipolar conservatives.

And just so you (and every other moron) know it, Fascism is a tendency of the extreme right. It blows my mind to hear all of these fascists accusing everyone of being fascist.

But it demonstrates that someone (not necessarily the moron doing the screaming) has been doing their homework:

Propaganda Student Handout

Types of Propaganda

There are many different propaganda techniques used during World War II. The following is a list with a short description of each type.

1. APPEAL TO AUTHORITY: Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to supports a position, idea, argument, or course of action.

2. BANDWAGON: The basic idea behind the bandwagon approach is just that, "getting on the bandwagon." Either everyone is doing it or supporting this person or cause, so you should too. The bandwagon approach appeals to the conformist in all of us: No one wants to be left out of what is perceived to be a popular trend.

3. TESTIMONIAL: This is the endorsement of a philosophy, movement or candidate. While celebrities are usually used, it can be people who supposedly "know" about the topic or situation.

4. PLAIN FOLKS: Here the candidate or cause is identified with common people from everyday walks of life. The idea is to make the candidate/cause come off as grassroots, all-American, for the common man.

5. TRANSFER: Transfer employs the use of symbols, quotes or the images of famous people to convey a message not necessarily associated with them. In the use of transfer, the posters attempt to persuade us through the indirect use of something we respect, such as a patriotic or religious image, to promote specific ideas.

6. FEAR: This technique is very popular during wartime. The idea is to present a dreaded circumstance and usually follow it up with the kind of behavior needed to avoid that horrible event.

7. GLITTERING GENERALITIES: This approach is closely related to what is happening in TRANSFER (see above). Here, a generally accepted virtue is usually employed to stir up favorable emotions. The problem is that these words mean different things to different people and are often manipulated for the propagandists' use. The important thing to remember is that in this technique the propagandist uses these words in a positive sense. They often include words like: democracy, family values (when used positively), rights, civilization, even the word "American."

8. NAME-CALLING: This is the opposite of the GLITTERING GENERALITIES approach. Name-calling ties a person or cause to a largely perceived negative image.

"Propaganda Techniques" is based upon "Appendix I: PSYOP Techniques" from "Psychological Operations Field Manual No.33-1" published by Headquarters; Department of the Army, in Washington DC, on 31 August 1979

Source

New Protest Over Government Spending

2009-09-17T21:11:00.001-05:00

Hold on to your heads for this one, folks...

Rep. Kevin Brady [R-TX8] asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services.

Seriously.

The Texas Republican on Wednesday released a letter he sent to Washington’s Metro system complaining that the taxpayer-funded subway system was unable to properly transport protesters to the rally to protest government spending and expansion.
Address : http://blogs.wsj.com

So, he is mad that the government didn't spend enough money to prepare for the Teabaggers to come and protest government spending.

Can anyone spell d-e-m-e-n-t-i-a? I suppose it would be too much to hope that these idiots will one day see how retarded they appear to the rest of us.

Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?

2009-09-17T13:02:00.000-05:00

Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?

The inevitable question is, How much of this industry is sincere? Last year, shortly after the election, Beck spoke with TIME's Kate Pickert, and he didn't sound very scared back then. Of Obama's early personnel decisions, he said, "I think so far he's chosen wisely." Of his feelings about the President: "I am not an Obama fan, but I am a fan of our country ... He is my President, and we must have him succeed. If he fails, we all fail." Of the Democratic Party: "I don't know personally a single Democrat who is a dope-smoking hippie that wants to turn us into Soviet Russia." Of the civic duty to trust: "We've got to pull together, because we are facing dark, dark times. I don't trust a single weasel in Washington. I don't care what party they're from. But unless we trust each other, we're not going to make it."

For the record, as if it needs to be said (and actually, I guess someone needs to say it and keep repeating it), Glenn Beck is not anyone's messiah. He is a snake oil salesman, a street hawking, insincere fake who is only making a buck off of fostering and festering extremist fear.

Don't buy into it. Boycott Beck!

Limbaugh Wants Jim Crow Back: "We Need Segregated Buses"

2009-09-17T12:17:00.000-05:00

Limbaugh Wants Jim Crow Back: "We Need Segregated Buses"

Limbaugh Wants Jim Crow Back: "We Need Segregated Buses"

Posted by Zaid Jilani, Think Progress at 8:22 AM on September 17, 2009.

In "Obama's America," Rush cries, "the white kids now get beat up."

Last week, a video of a school bus beating showing two African American children assaulting a white student began circulating the internet. Despite claims by authorities that the attack was not necessarily racially motivated, hate radio host Rush Limbaugh jumped on the story and claimed that in "Obama's America the white kids now get beat up." Yesterday, Limbaugh proposed a solution to this problem -- a return to segregated busing:

LIMBAUGH: I think the guy's wrong. I think not only it was racism, it was justifiable racism. I mean, that's the lesson we're being taught here today. Kid shouldn't have been on the bus anyway. We need segregated buses -- it was invading space and stuff. This is Obama's America.

This is a dangerous man. He actually carries more weight (no pun intended) with conservatives than Bilbo Beck!

I mean, think about it. I man with millions of "followers" (sheeple, extremists, fundamentalists) in America advocating segregation? What does THIS guy have to do to get canned? He has actually said a lot more offensive stuff than what Beck said, not that what Beck said is out of bounds because it most certainly is.

But if we can pressure advertisers to stop sponsoring hate speech coming from the mouth of Beck, why can't we stop the scurrilous stuff coming from Boss Hogg and his medicated mind? News flash: the meds ain't working! He's an ass on and off of them!

Text Of The Resolution Of Disapproval Of Rep. Joe Wilson

2009-09-16T09:24:00.000-05:00

Text Of The Resolution Of Disapproval Of Rep. Joe Wilson | LiveWire

Whereas on September 9, 2009, during the joint session of Congress convened pursuant to House Concurrent Resolution 179, the President of the United States, speaking at the invitation of the House and Senate, had his remarks interrupted by the Representative from South Carolina, Mr. Wilson; and

Whereas the conduct of the Representative from South Carolina was a breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives disapproves of the behavior of the Representative from South Carolina, Mr. Wilson, during the joint session of Congress held on September 9, 2009.

Gee, if those guys need some help with harsh rebukes I'd be glad to offer my assistance. I hope this "disapproval" means a little more than it sounds like it does. I'm not sure that I would even be satisfied with censure, though.

Uruguay and US fear arms race

2009-09-15T20:18:00.002-05:00

Tabaré Vázquez and Hillary Clinton express concern that recent weapons purchases could lead to an arms race

Uruguay and the United States expressed concern today that recent weapons purchases could lead to an arms race in South America.

In a joint appearance, Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguay's president, and Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, also pledged cooperation on trade.

Clinton singled out Venezuela, urging it to disclose its arms purchases and make clear what they are for. She said: "They should be putting in place procedures to ensure that weapons they buy are not diverted to insurgent groups or illegal organisations like drug trafficking gangs and other cartels."

"We hope that we can see a change in behaviour and attitudes on the part of the Venezuelan government."

Vázquez said he feared that an arms race in the region could divert funds from economic development in the poor countries of the region. "We believe that it is quite inconvenient to the region to devote such significant economic resources for purchasing arms," he said, speaking through an interpreter.

Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's president, said on Sunday that Russia has opened a $2.2bn line of credit with which his country could buy weapons. He said Venezuela needed more arms because it felt threatened by Colombia's decision to give US troops greater access to its military bases.

Address : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/15/uruguay-arms-race-venezuela

How about Ms Clinton and the United States put "in place procedures to ensure that weapons they buy are not diverted to insurgent groups or illegal organisations like drug trafficking gangs and other cartels" regarding their own transactions? (Iran-Contra, Iraq/Iran, Afghanistan/USSR, etc.)

You know, if you want to demand "transparency" from others, you might consider a little transparency of your own. You self-righteous pot calling kettle black a$$h0le.

Polling place church sign questioning Obama’s citizenship

2009-09-15T14:14:00.002-05:00

Polling place tiff erupts over North Richland Hills church sign questioning Obama’s citize...

Polling place tiff erupts over North Richland Hills church sign questioning Obama’s citizenship

By AMAN BATHEJA

abatheja@star-telegram.com

Democrats and Republicans are divided over what to do about Maplewood Baptist Fellowship.

The North Richland Hills church has operated as a polling place for over 15 years but has recently drawn attention for a sign questioning President Barack Obama’s citizenship.

Pastor Gary Hopkins said he put up the message "Where’s the Birth Certificate?" on his church’s sign about two months ago. He changed the message last week.

"I put it up to get people to ask questions, just to provoke thoughts and that’s pretty much it," Hopkins said. "I do know there are a lot of people asking that question, and my understanding is that question has not been answered."

Local Democrats first noticed the sign last month. The Tarrant County Democratic Party posted a photo of the sign on its Web site with the message: "Do you feel comfortable with this being a polling location?"

Tarrant County Elections Administrator Steve Raborn said he was sent the photo of the sign and contacted Hopkins about it. Raborn said the church can remain a polling place as long as it does not post any political messages during elections.

"We have other polling places at nonelection times that have political activities," Raborn said.

I have long objected to churches being used as political elections polling locations. To begin with, at face value it is a clear violation of the separation of church and state. I would think that this alone would be clear to all. But then their behavior, as described in this piece and countless others, should serve to demonstrate exactly why these places should be excluded. Besides posting their clearly partisan beliefs, they can also intimidate others in making their personal choices in the elections. Intimidation techniques that they employ are passive/aggressive in nature.

You know, the "you'll go to hell" kind of crap.

"May the good Lord takes a liking to you and blow you up real good."

2009-09-13T10:29:00.001-05:00

These are the people we should all fear:

Not these guys:

Statement from ACORN regarding recent news reports

2009-09-12T15:05:00.002-05:00

Author: Bertha Lewis
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 09/12/09 15:45

The following is a statement from ACORN Chief Organizer Bertha Lewis, September 12, 2009, Regarding Recent News Reports

The relentless attacks on ACORN’s members, its staff and the policies and positions we promote are unprecedented. An international entertainment conglomerate, disguising itself as a “news” agency (Fox), has expended millions, if not tens of millions of dollars, in their attempt to destroy the largest community organization of Black, Latino, poor and working class people in the country. It is not coincidence that the most recent attacks have been launched just when health care reform is gaining traction. It is clear they’ve had these tapes for months.

We are their Willy Horton for 2009. We are the boogeyman for the right-wing and its echo chambers. If ACORN did not exist, the right-wing would have needed to create us in order to achieve their agenda, their missions, their ideal, retrograde America. This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen. I am appalled and angry; I cannot and I will not defend the actions of the workers depicted in the video, who have since been terminated. But it is clear that the videos are doctored, edited, and in no way the result of the fabricated story being portrayed by conservative activist “filmmaker” O’Keefe and his partner in crime. And, in fact, a crime it was - our lawyers believe a felony - and we will be taking legal action against Fox and their co-conspirators.

We will not be intimidated by this international conglomerate, which has made as its mission the destruction of our organization. ACORN members are committed to the empowerment of their communities - Black, Latino, poor, and working class – at the deepest level. We are an organization committed to halting the foreclosure crisis and keeping people in their homes. We are an organization committed to ensuring quality, affordable health care for every American. We are an organization that will not be stopped in our commitment to our members and our communities which has included:

Helping hundreds of thousands of African-American and Latino voters register to vote and get to the polls in recent years;

Preparing, since 2004, approximately 150,000 free tax returns totaling $190 million in refunds and increased earned income tax credit participation;

Providing effective foreclosure prevention advocacy saving thousands of American families from losing their homes to foreclosure.

ACORN's website: www.acorn.org
Address : http://pww.org

Capitol Briefing - Lobbying Firm Says It Only Forged 13 Letters, Not 14

2009-09-11T17:29:00.001-05:00

Capitol Briefing - Lobbying Firm Says It Only Forged 13 Letters, Not 14

Lobbying Firm Says It Only Forged 13 Letters, Not 14

By David A. Fahrenthold
A day after Congressional investigators said they'd found a 14th forged letter written to Congress by a lobbying firm working for the coal industry, the firm on Friday said that was not the case.

Bonner & Associates, the firm at which a now-fired employee wrote the faked letters, said there were 13 and no more. The 14th letter, which appeared to come from an American Legion post in Rocky Mount, Va., was legitimate, the firm said.

Or at least, legitimate by the rules of Washington lobbying.

Here's the firm's account of what happened, from Bonner's attorneys at the firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld:

An employee at Bonner & Associates, which was working for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, talked to someone at the American Legion post. Then they FedExed a pre-written letter to the post, asking U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) to protect American energy independence and keep electricity costs low as the House debated a climate-change bill.

Then the letter was FedExed back, with the signature of post Adjutant Charles Santrock.

"We have no indication that it isn't legitimate," said John Sopko, a partner at Akin Gump.

But, on Capitol Hill today, a spokesman for the committee investigating the letters say they still believe the letter is faked. Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesman for the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said investigators have talked to Santrock, and he told them it's not his signature.

"The story hasn't changed," Burnham-Snyder said.

Santrock, of course, is the one person who might clear this up. But, when the Washington Post called this afternoon, a woman who answered the phone said he was out playing golf.

By all means, don't bother the guy during his game of golf!

I'm glad we have this pesky little matter taken care of. I certainly wouldn't want to accuse them of 14 counts of fraud when they only committed 13!

Liberty University chaplain faces drug and burglary charges

2009-09-11T15:24:00.001-05:00

WLNI FM

Liberty University chaplain faces drug and burglary charges
A Liberty University chaplain is facing drug and burglary charges. Last week, a homeowner caught Scott Ray on surveillance video breaking into a home to steal painkillers. Ray, who is the chaplain for the men's basketball team and the Director of Convocation, is also suspected in other Campbell County break-ins. In 2005 he was arrested and charged with the same thing. Ray has been suspended by the school and it's believed he's checked into a rehab program. Investigators also say Ray has not yet been arrested but additional indictments are pending.

Awe.

Help Stop Glenn Beck's EXTREMIST Hate

2009-09-11T13:53:00.001-05:00

ColorOfChange.org

As you may know, right-wing talk show hosts have been bringing race-based fear mongering into the mainstream, but FOX's Glenn Beck has taken it to another level.

I signed ColorOfChange.org's petition to stop Glenn Beck's lies and distortions, and so far, 62 major companies have stopped their ads from running on his show. These companies have decided they don't want to be associated with Beck's race-baiting.

But Beck is only stepping up his fear-mongering, so we can't stop now. We have to make sure advertisers keep leaving, and stay away from his show.

Will you take a stand and be counted, and invite your friends and family to do the same? It takes just a moment:

http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=1901-1103857

This summer, Beck said:

This president has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people... this guy is, I believe, a racist.

That statement fits into a pattern of rhetoric from Beck designed to stoke racial paranoia and fear. He has claimed that President Obama has a "reparation appetite" and a desire to use his policies to settle old racial scores. Beck's overall plan is to create an atmosphere in which the White House can accomplish nothing, and he's carrying it out by preying on race-based fears and mobilizing hate. Beck relies on dishonesty, distortion and exaggeration, and he is embarking on character assassinations of Obama administration officials with whom he disagrees.

FOX has a horrible track record on pushing racist propaganda, but Glenn Beck appears to be taking the network to an even lower standard. He's trying to divide and distract America when we should be coming together and talking about issues that really matter--like health care and the economy.

The good news is that we have the power to stop this. Over 175,000 people have joined this campaign, and 62 advertisers have already stopped their ads from being run during Beck's show. Please help keep the momentum building.

http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=1901-1103857

Thanks.

Here are some links to more info:

"Beck: Obama has 'exposed himself as a guy' with 'a deep seated hatred for white people'"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907280008

"Glenn Beck: Obama agenda driven by 'reparations' and desire to 'settle old racial scores'"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907230040

Don't be a Dick!

2009-09-10T20:54:00.002-05:00

Fanatic hijacked Mexican plane after 'revelation'

2009-09-09T21:51:00.000-05:00

Boy, ya really gotta love those crazy Christians. Always good for a laugh!

Fanatic hijacked Mexican plane after 'revelation'

MEXICO CITY (AP) - A Bolivian religious fanatic briefly hijacked a jetliner from the beach resort of Cancun as it landed in Mexico City on Wednesday, police said. All passengers and the crew were released unharmed.

The Bible-carrying hijacker used a juice can he said was a bomb to hold the 103 passengers and crew on the tarmac for more than an hour. Masked police stormed the aircraft with their guns drawn and escorted several handcuffed men away without firing a shot. Police later said there was only one hijacker.

Jose Flores, 44, told investigators he hijacked Aeromexico Flight 576 after a divine revelation, according to Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna. Flores said Wednesday's date - 9-9-09 - is the satanic number 666 turned upside down.

Flores, speaking to reporters after he was detained, said he took control of the aircraft with "a juice can with some little lights I attached."

"Christ is coming soon," he added, smiling.

As the plane was landing, Flores stood up and showed his contraption to a flight attendant, saying he and three others were hijacking the plane, Garcia Luna said. Flores later told police his three companions were "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."

He ordered the pilot to circle over Mexico City seven times and asked to speak with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, saying he wanted to warn him of an impending earthquake, Garcia Luna said.

Garcia Luna said Flores is a drug addict who was convicted of armed robbery in Bolivia, and has lived in Mexico for 17 years. Flores described himself as a pastor in southern Oaxaca state who had gone to Cancun to preach.

He is also a Christian music singer who in videos posted on YouTube sings of leaving drugs and finding God.

I wonder if this is the same revelation where health care equals death to all. Oh wait, I'm mixing my headlines here. That's not Christians, it's Republicans. Oh wait again, that's the same thing!

Judge: Homeland Security can’t require dependence on God

2009-09-07T18:58:00.001-05:00

Judge: Homeland Security can’t require dependence on God : Bluegrass Politics

By John Cheves - jcheves@herald-leader.com

A judge on Wednesday struck down a 2006 state law that required the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to stress “dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the commonwealth.”

Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate ruled that the law violated the First Amendment’s protection against the establishment of a state religion. Homeland Security officials have been required for three years to credit “Almighty God” in their official reports and post a plaque with similar language at the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Frankfort.

“Even assuming that most of this nation’s citizens have historically depended upon God by choice for their protection, this does not give the General Assembly the right to force citizens to do so now,” Wingate wrote.

“This is the very reason the Establishment Clause was created: to protect the minority from the oppression of the majority,” he wrote. “The commonwealth’s history does not exclude God from the statutes, but it had never permitted the General Assembly to demand that its citizens depend on Almighty God.”

State Rep. Tom Riner, D-Louisville, a Southern Baptist minister, placed the “Almighty God” language into a homeland security bill without much notice.

“I think we can all feel a little safer now,” Kagin said. “The real threats to our society come from within, not without, and that includes building a theocracy here in Kentucky.”

Attorney General Jack Conway defended the law in court, arguing that striking down such laws risked creating a secular society that is wholly separated from religion. A Conway spokeswoman said the attorney general’s office is reviewing the ruling and will decide whether to appeal.

Free Thinkers really dodged the bullet on this one. Thank GOD! ...oh, wait a minute... Thank our Founding Fathers! (but they're dead, too). Oh, screw it! I'll just be an ungrateful, godless heathen, being that I am "wholly separated from religion" and all.

The End of The Road Runner

2009-09-07T13:24:00.003-05:00

Be forewarned: This is not recommended for viewing with children present. But it IS hilarious.

Is the Republican "Brand" irreparably damaged?

2009-09-07T10:16:00.001-05:00

Just remember, boys and girls: this is not the first time in history that self-absorption, paranoia, and self-righteousness have exemplified conservatives. It is nice to hear all of the bubbly talk about the Party being done for. But it is not realistic to expect it to fade into the annals of history.

Tom Ridge Shows Why the Republican Party Is Intellectually Bankrupt | PEEK | AlterNet

We now have a wealth of other material clearly showing that Ridge's implied meaning is simply and utterly false. However, if you simply take his literal meaning, it's arguably defensible--but utterly damning. Sure the decision may have been based on "keep[ing] America safe"--a decision made by a bunch of pee-in-their-pants chickenhawks with guilty consciences for having allowed the most spectacular terrorist attack in world history to happen on their watch.

Such men were so mentally and morally compromised that actual evidence simply did not play any role in what "keep[ing] America safe" meant to them. They "trusted their gut", not after looking at all the facts, but instead of looking at them. That men of stupendously bad judgment--so bad, in fact, that it can't really be called judgment at all--might be trying to "keep America safe" does not even begin to be a legitimate defense of their perfidy in deceiving the public.

But for Ridge, that's exactly what it does. Bush and Cheney were America's leaders. This alone is enough to exempt them from any sort of critical scrutiny.

Maddow's framework typifies the essence of liberalism and Enlightenment reason: we base our actions on reality, we reason from reality, and when we find out we have been mistaken, we go back and learn why were mistaken, so that we do not make the same mistakes again.

Ridge, on the other hand, typifies the conservative mind. He does not learn. He cannot learn. Because he cannot question mistakes made by leaders. He can question mistakes made by underlings, but since the big decisions are not made by underlings, he can never question the big decisions. And thus he is incapable of learning the big lessons.

No wonder conservatism is utterly doomed to failure, after failure, after failure, after failure. What else could such a belief system possibly produce?

It is not unusual to see and hear this kind of false logic, patriotic blindness from conservatives in America. Remember, these folk believe that they are going to be swept up from this earthly plane to live forever at the "right hand of God" on "Judgment Day" while at the same time condemning the Islamic belief that they will be greeted in heaven by rivers of flowing honey and 72 virgins.

But it is ABSOLUTELY fun to think about a day when they ARE all swept up and away by something! Then the rest of us might actually be able to live in peace and prosperity.

Amen.

The making of a scapegoat - Lockerbie Uncovered

2009-09-04T23:34:00.001-05:00

It is no secret to a student of the American Dark Side that they have no problem at all with killing their own, sometimes by the thousands, to further their deep dark agenda of world domination. These animals have no conscience and their only god is power. Again we see the combination of elements that makes up their G-O-D in this story: Gold, Oil, and Drugs. That is the only god of power that they pay obeisance to.

The making of a scapegoat | SocialistWorker.org

According to a Washington Post report, Bush personally contacted Margaret Thatcher and urged that the Lockerbie investigation be made "low key," in his words, according to leaked accounts of the conversation. Thatcher apparently complied--there were no arrests or charges.

Why would the U.S. want to downplay allegations against Palestinian terrorists paid by Iran--then still public enemy number one in the Middle East, at least publicly?

Some of the shadowy events surrounding Lockerbie provided possible reasons.

For one thing, U.S. intelligence agents knew about the arrests in Germany, but apparently didn't move aggressively. Other revelations in Britain pointed in a different direction--that an embarrassing security breach at Heathrow Airport may have allowed the bombers to put the explosives on board there.

Investigators for Pan Am turned up a more startling possibility. They concluded that U.S. intelligence officials, seeking to free American hostages held in Lebanon, had struck a deal with Syrian drug dealers connected to the hostage takers.

In exchange for information about the hostages, the investigators claimed, CIA agents would route drugs from Lebanon into the U.S. in luggage that was exempt from normal airport security procedures. Interfor, the security firm hired by Pan Am, speculated that the drug dealers may have switched a suitcase containing a bomb with one filled with drugs.

Interfor further suggested that Charles McKeen, the head of a U.S. intelligence team traveling on Pan Am Flight 103, was coming back to Washington to blow the whistle on the drug operation--and that his colleagues may have looked the other way as the bomb plot developed.

If that seems far-fetched, it should be remembered that the White House was now inhabited by Bush, a former head of the CIA, and staffed by the men who came up with the Iran-contra arms-for-hostages operation under Reagan--selling military supplies to a country they publicly denounced as an enemy of peace in exchange for freeing American hostages in Lebanon, with the proceeds from the arms sales going to the right-wing contras fighting to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government.

When everything is said and done, the ones who are truly responsible, truly guilty, will still be protected against any harm by our own tax money, law enforcement, and oblivion.

The Insurance Industry IS the "Death Panels"

2009-09-04T19:14:00.001-05:00

‘Death panels’ and the health insurance industry

Puffing on his cigar, grinning from ear to ear, he takes a few extra moments to savor the beautiful irony of the death panel issue. It has tickled him no end because he knows that if any death panels actually exist in the US, they have been created by the insurance industry itself.

Of course, the health insurance industry doesn’t call them death panels. No, they call them “HMOs” and “managed care,” and their purpose is to deny benefits to the sick and the elderly whenever possible, even if the patient’s claim is valid, even if it means the patient will die.

The executive has overseen the health insurance industry “death panel” guidelines. He knows how much money they have saved his company, and he feels the sublime contentment of a plan executed to perfection.

Now, the very people that his policies are designed to exploit are blindly trying to destroy a plan that would provide them with better health care. Perfect, he thinks, just perfect.

And that is the really sad part about it, people who the industry have set in their sights as "expendable in the name of profit" think that by protecting the status quo and the profits of the true elite, they are somehow protecting themselves from the evil communists. And some of the morons who are screaming the loudest are on Medicare! I have even heard veterans trashing "health care for all" as a communist plot in the halls of the VA Hospital.

I just don't get it. Are Amerikans really that dense?

Rep. Jenkins caught lying again, Ms. Smith speaks out

2009-09-03T11:36:00.003-05:00

VIDEO: Rep. Jenkins caught lying again, Ms. Smith speaks out
by Mike Nellis

Thu Sep 03, 2009 at 09:04:13 AM PDT

Rep. Lynn Jenkins' terrible awful no good very bad August is definitely extending into September.

Yesterday, her parade of failure marched on. Elizabeth Smith, the uninsured single mother Jenkins laughed at, is now telling her story. Last night on the Ed Show, she made it clear that she was "frustrated" with her Congresswoman and that she "wasn't looking for a handout" in insurance reform.

After this week, I bet Lynn Jenkins can't wait to get back home to Washington.

Here's the video of Ed Schultz's interview with Ottawa's Elizabeth Smith. I'd post it but there seems to be some trouble getting it to embed here.

Elizabeth Smith wasn't just speaking out on the Ed Show. She took her story to the streets last night speaking at a health care rally in Ottawa. We haven't been able to get our hands on the video but reports from the event says it was well very attended and organized.

Now, you might be asking yourself, how can Lynn Jenkins dig a deeper hole for herself? Apparently, by more lying. Jenkins released this statment via Scott Rothschild from the Lawrence Journal World:

Instead of playing gotcha politics on blogs and zipping off press releases to MSNBC, and using the young woman’s situation as a fundraising appeal for her political party, Congresswoman Jenkins’s office is looking into current resources available to the mother in existing programs.

There are two problems with this statement. First, in what is an obvious attempt to marginalize her, that statement implies that Elizabeth Smith is a Democrat. She is not -- she is a registered independent. Second, the LJ World spoke with Ms. Smith and she hasn't heard from Jenkins or any member of her staff. How can they help her, if they aren't talking to her?

What we've done is found Lynn Jenkins failing to do her job again. Kansans are starting to have buyers remorse. Lynn Jenkins has failed to read legislation she's voted on, she failed again by saying she won't read the health bills she opposes, she failed on a compassion level when she laughed at Ms. Smith last week, and now's she failing to do her job and help her constituents.

It's a pattern, and it's a disturbing one. Failure is the name of the game with Lynn Jenkins.

But like I wrote yesterday, it won't mean a thing if we don't have resources to build an infrastructure for our eventual candidate in the district. So many of you dug deep and helped us yesterday, but we still need your help.

Here's what I wrote yesterday for reference:

Can you help us build our party by making a small donation of $10? The stronger we are, and the more resources we have, the better chance we have of being successful in 2010. Every penny will go toward building a grassroots infrastructure -- both online and offline -- that we will utilize to ensure victory in November. Any support you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for your continued support and friendship.

I just love it when a politician openly displays how ignorant or selfish they are. I love it even more when it is a conservative that does it. I am reminded of the movie "Oh Brother, Where art thou?". The deep south was without a doubt deeply conservative in their values. But when their KKK Member Politician showed them just how bigoted he was, they literally ran him out of town on a rail. In my dream world, I can see that happening to many of our politicians today. But then, it IS a DREAM world in which it happens... and the movies.

Missouri state capital rallies for health care reform

2009-09-03T10:53:00.001-05:00

Missouri state capital rallies for health care reform

Author: Tony Pecinovsky
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 09/03/09 04:59

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – “I was too expensive, so they got rid of me,” Robert Green told hundreds of rural Missourians who rallied for health care reform here on the Capital steps September 2.

Green lost his job in 2006 due to a disability. “They got rid of me because my health care cost too much,” he said.

Additionally, he had to wait five months for disability relief and another two years before he became eligible for Medicare. “People shouldn’t have to wait to get health care,” Green added.

“Missouri’s ruling party has turned their backs on us,” Green said. The Missouri house and
senate are dominated by Republicans who doggedly refuse health care reform. In fact, under the former Republican Governor Matt Blunt 100,000 Missourians were taken off the Medicare roles, including 25,000 children.

“They’re letting the lobbyists pad their pockets. This is about people, not profits. Get the lobbyists out of Washington,” he continued.

The theme of the rally was to urge Congress to get back to work passing health care reform. Congress reconvenes on September 8.

Judy Baker, a former state representative from Columbia, MO, told participants, “health care isn’t just another item on the political agenda. It has real life consequences. Every day one person in Missouri dies because they don’t have health care.”

Baker added, “Health care reform cannot wait. For financial reasons, for the deficit, for our families and for moral reasons, health care reform cannot wait.”

Baker also chided the right-wing Republican fear mongering. “Enough is enough is enough of the fear,” she said. “There are no death panels. No one is going to pull the plug on grandma.” She said there is nothing wrong with honest debate around complex issues that sincere Americans are concerned about. However, she added, “enough of the imaginary enemies.”

House Minority Leader Paul LeVota couldn’t agree more. He said, “we know they are lying. But we have to have the courage and conviction to remember the thousands who have been denied coverage. This is about them.”

Disabled activist Richard Blakley said he was tired of the Missouri Republicans blocking state-level reform. “We need to bi-pass the state,” he said. “We need to support the federal government in its reform efforts and make the state comply. Then we’ll be one out of 50 states with real health care reform.”

Blakley also discussed the death panel issue. He said, “You want to see real death panels? HMO’s are death panels. If you’ve ever been rejected service by a health care provider, you know there are death panels. It ain't right. They know it and we know it.”

“The big insurance and big pharmaceutical companies have billions of dollars. Confusion reigns because of their big money,” Blakley added.

Melanie Edwards found out nine months ago that she has breast cancer. She has health care. However, “my health care provider hasn’t paid one penny. My bills are now over $100,000. The insurance company says they are investigating. They say it was a pre-existing condition,” Edwards added.

Edwards said she had to track down all of her old medical records and mail them to the insurance company. “What kind of country puts its citizens through something like this when they’re sick,” she asked?

She added, “The insurance companies are only chasing the dollars. They are giving me the intentional run-around. How is this helping people get healthier,” she asked?

John Bowman, a retired United Auto Workers’ Union member and former state representative, connected the struggle for stronger unions to living conditions for non-union workers. He said, “my union used to set the standard for health care coverage in this country. As my union’s health care plan was dismantled, everybody’s health care plan has suffered.”

He said, “We live in a vicious, vicious environment where Wall-Street greed has given way to health industry greed. I don’t know about you,” Bowman added, “but I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

According to Robin Acree, from GRO-Grassroots Organizing, a Mexico, MO based organization, “all nine congressional districts are represented here."

Fascism?

2009-09-02T19:48:00.003-05:00

Does any of the following sound even remotely familiar?

In Hitler’s Germany, political and economic fascism was welcomed by the big money corporate interests that were afraid of the power of the trade union movement. German fascism (Nazism) spawned thuggery, street fighting (the infamous Brownshirts and SA) and routinely disrupted, by intimidating and shouting down their anti-fascist opponents, any attempt at open-minded public discourse. Election fraud was rampant and there was an obsession with national security issues.
Two good places to start learning the forgotten history of fascism are with Dr. Laurence Britt’s 14 points of fascism found at here and with more at Wikipedia.

If anyone can read the above and not recognize all of the Emphasized words as events that have actually happened right here in Amerika over the past 8 years (or even 8 days!) and that it was Republicans or Republican operatives that were committing these acts, then you either don't want to admit it to yourself or are one of the fascists of which it describes!

So, if anyone wants to criticize me for bantering about the 'F' word, I refer you to Wikipedia... and your favorite news outlet.

Earthbound Pets, for your piece of mind after The Rapture!

2009-09-02T16:32:00.003-05:00

What will happen to your family pet when you answer Jesus' calling at The Rapture? Never fear! Atheists are ready, willing, and able to step up to the plate during your absence.

Announcing Earthbound Pets. Your one stop shop for caring for Fido and Boots.

We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.

We are currently active in 20 states and growing. Our representatives have been screened to ensure that they are atheists, animal lovers, are moral / ethical with no criminal background, have the ability and desire to rescue your pet and the means to retrieve them and ensure their care for your pet's natural life. ...

Our service is plain and simple; our fee structure is reasonable. For $110.00 we will guarantee that should the Rapture occur within ten (10) years of receipt of payment, one pet per residence will be saved. Each additional pet at your residence will be saved for an additional $15.00 fee. A small price to pay for your peace of mind and the health and safety of your four legged friends.

The good news — people infected with AIDS virus do not seem to be at special risk from H1N1

2009-09-02T08:32:00.004-05:00

I'm more than a little confused here:

WHO warns of severe form of swine flu

An assistant teacher checks a student’s temperature before a class begins to prevent possible contagion of the H1N1 flu virus at Sangmyung University in Seoul August 28, 2009. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won

Reuters | Aug 28, 2009

By Maggie Fox

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Doctors are reporting a severe form of swine flu that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Some countries are reporting that as many as 15 percent of patients infected with the new H1N1 pandemic virus need hospital care, further straining already overburdened healthcare systems, WHO said in an update on the pandemic.

“During the winter season in the southern hemisphere, several countries have viewed the need for intensive care as the greatest burden on health services,” it said.

“Preparedness measures need to anticipate this increased demand on intensive care units, which could be overwhelmed by a sudden surge in the number of severe cases.”

Earlier, WHO reported that H1N1 had reached epidemic levels in Japan, signaling an early start to what may be a long influenza season this year, and that it was also worsening in tropical regions.

“Perhaps most significantly, clinicians from around the world are reporting a very severe form of disease, also in young and otherwise healthy people, which is rarely seen during seasonal influenza infections,” WHO said.

“In these patients, the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure [emphasis mine]. Saving these lives depends on highly specialized and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays.”

MINORITIES AT RISK

Minority groups and indigenous populations may also have a higher risk of being severely ill with H1N1 [emphasis mine].

“In some studies, the risk in these groups is four to five times higher than in the general population,” WHO said.

“Although the reasons are not fully understood, possible explanations include lower standards of living and poor overall health status, including a high prevalence of conditions such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension. [emphasis mine]”

WHO said it was advising countries in the Northern Hemisphere to prepare for a second wave of pandemic spread. “Countries with tropical climates, where the pandemic virus arrived later than elsewhere, also need to prepare for an increasing number of cases,” it said.

Every year, seasonal flu infects between 5 percent and 20 percent of a given population and kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people globally. Because hardly anyone has immunity to the new H1N1 virus, experts believe it will infect far more people than usual, as much as a third of the population.

It also disproportionately affects younger people, unlike seasonal flu which mainly burdens the elderly, and thus may cause more severe illness and deaths among young adults and children than seasonal flu does.

“Data continue to show that certain medical conditions increase the risk of severe and fatal illness. These include respiratory disease, notably asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and immunosuppression, [emphasis mine]” WHO said.

“When anticipating the impact of the pandemic as more people become infected, health officials need to be aware that many of these predisposing conditions have become much more widespread in recent decades, thus increasing the pool of vulnerable people.”

WHO estimates that more than 230 million people globally have asthma, and more than 220 million have diabetes. Obesity may also worsen the risk of severe infection, WHO said.

The good news — people infected with AIDS virus do not seem to be at special risk from H1N1, WHO said [emphasis mine].

As the very creation of the H1N1 virus is alleged to be the result of the actions of the very agencies involved in the effort to "contain" the outbreak there are many more questions than there are answers surrounding all aspects of the alleged pandemic. Indeed, there is a law suit currently filed with the FBI against WHO and a laundry list of other agencies over the "outbreak" and subsequent efforts to contain it.

But this new article absolutely baffles me. It is generally known (but not realized) among the general population that the symptoms of H1N1 are virtually indistinguishable from those of the regular flu and even the common cold. It lists a plethora of pre-existing conditions which would likely complicate an exposure or make one more susceptible.

The problem, as I see it, is that many of these conditions are ones that people with AIDS already deal with regularly. Yet, WHO is claiming that PLWH/A (People Living With HIV/AIDS) "do not seem to be at special risk from H1N1". For those of us who are PLWH/A, this is indeed good news, if not just a bit baffling.

I personally have been worried that the health police would be knocking on my door at any moment with a flu jab in one hand and a gun in the other, thus sealing my fate as a casualty of "pandemic control". Does this new information mean that I will not have to submit to another injection of toxic poisons? Or that I will just be at the back of the line? My preference is to avoid the "lines" altogether. But I can't help wondering what their motivation is for excluding PLWH/A, which is by definition "immunosuppression" which is described as a "condition(s) [that] increase(s) the risk of severe and fatal illness", from their 'short list' of those doomed to die from the latest edition of "Fear Inc., the Series".

Could it be that they have already infected us with one weaponized virus and due to the economy they don't want to 'waste' another bullet on us? Time will tell.

Watchdog questions security at U.S. Embassy in Kabul?

2009-09-01T17:42:00.006-05:00

There is just soooo very much wrong with this story! I'd like to think that most people would recognize right off the top the most grievous of the wrongs. But as I am wont to do, I fear that some might be overlooked. So, I'll list some of them, but certainly not all! I don't have the mental fortitude.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Overwork, language barriers and obscene, drunken behavior among guards at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan is causing a breakdown in discipline that is jeopardizing security, a watchdog group said on Tuesday.

The nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight sent U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a letter documenting complaints about guards working for ArmorGroup, North America, and photos of nearly naked men behaving lewdly at their camp.

"These are very serious allegations and we are treating them that way," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said at a briefing, adding the issue had been turned over to the department's inspector general.

Kelly was unable to say if the State Department was satisfied with ArmorGroup's performance or when the documents were sent to the inspector general. He said the State Department had "zero tolerance for the type of conduct that is alleged in these documents."

Pictures obtained by POGO showed guards, barely dressed in G-string style outfits, dancing around a bonfire and urinating while others snapped photographs. Video showed them pouring alcohol down the bare backside of a new recruit and trying to drink it as it spilled from the recruit's buttocks.

ArmorGroup, North America, a subsidiary of Wackenhut Services Inc., had no immediate comment on the letter or the allegations. The firm employs 450 guards to provide security at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul under a five-year, $189 million contract with the U.S. State Department.

O.K. Take a deep breath.

First, the staff is so thin that maintaining security with the personnel on hand is causing sleep deprivation? At a U.S. Embassy?

And what few, sleep deprived personnel they DO HAVE can't even communicate with each other due to language barriers?

And to blow off steam and have some fun, these protectors, these soldiers, these man's men run around in G-strings drinking liquor off of their buddies ASSES?!!!!

And the company running the show is called WACKENHUT, for Pete's sake? Who the hell couldn't have seen a problem with this coming a mile away? Sounds like the wacko's are certainly whacking each other off... I mean since they can't understand what each other are saying, why not? The universal language of man love.

Don't get me wrong, I don't personally care who you love or how you do it. But there is a time and a place for everything. A fucking war zone just doesn't strike me as the place to be holding man orgies! Of course, I could just be a prude. But I kind of doubt it in this circumstance.

But do you know what the most disturbing thing about this whole story is? THAT WE EVEN HAVE AN EMBASSY IN KABUL OF THIS MAGNITUDE! If the damned thing wasn't there, we wouldn't have the conditions that make this kind of embarrassing behavior even possible!

The reason that they have a "Lord of the Flies" mentality there is because that is the mentality of their bosses HERE!

I'm officially disgusted.

Missouri school district bans t-shirts for acknowledging evolution.

2009-08-31T18:10:00.001-05:00

Missouri school district bans t-shirts for acknowledging evolution.

T-shirts worn by members of the Smith-Cotton High School band have been recalled by the school district because they contained images of evolution. The t-shirts featured an image of a monkey holding a brass instrument and progressing through various stages of evolution until eventually becoming a human. “I was disappointed with the image on the shirt,” said Sherry Melby, a band parent who teaches in the district. “I don’t think evolution should be associated with our school.” Assistant superintendent Brad Pollitt explained that the t-shirts were banned because they were imposing on religious views:

Though the shirts don’t violate the school’s dress code, Pollitt noted that the district is required by law to remain neutral on religion.

“If the shirts had said ‘Brass Resurrections’ and had a picture of Jesus on the cross, we would have done the same thing,” Pollitt said.

Law professor Jonathan Turley notes, “Evolution is not a religious issue. Extremists want to make evolution into a religious question, but it is not.”

This is the ignorance, prejudice, and denial that we live with every day! Amazing!

Taking a Bigger Cut of YOUR Tax Dollars. For what?

2009-08-31T16:16:00.004-05:00

Just so you know how much it costs you for the state to keep you "safe" from all those pot smokers, drunks, dead beat dads, and other assorted threats upon the very fabric of society, we present you with...
THE CHART

(this is a state by state chart that shows how much percentage of your taxes goes to the Prison Industry)

And if you think that they are not getting rich off of your collective paranoia, well,... I've got some beach front property in New Mexico that I'll sell ya REAL CHEAP!

Imprisonment

2009-08-31T13:05:00.002-05:00

If you need proof that the U.S. is becoming a prison based society, look no further than http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence/imprisonment

Imprisonment

The proportion of the population imprisoned in a society is influenced by four things: crime rates, conviction rates, the tendency to give prison sentences rather than fines or community service, and the lengths of prison sentences. Some societies use imprisonment far less, and when they do imprison people, they put more emphasis on training and rehabilitation so that re-offending rates are also lower.

In the UK, despite falling crime rates, imprisonment rates have been climbing steadily for decades leading to a crisis of prison overcrowding. In the USA only about 12% of the growth in prison populations is due to an increase in crime. In both countries the rise in prison populations over recent decades seems to be primarily the result of more punitive sentencing.

The USA imprisons people at 14 times the rate of Japan, and even within the USA there are big differences, Louisiana imprisons people at a rate six times higher than Minnesota. In a study published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, we have found strong links between imprisonment and income inequality - both internationally and among the 50 US states. We also found that the more equal US states, with lower homicide rates, are less likely to retain the death penalty. The graph below shows the international data.

Click Image to enlarge

For more information:

Wilkinson RG, Pickett KE. The problems of relative deprivation: why some societies do better than others. Social Science and Medicine 2007; 65: 1965-78 .

The Sentencing Project

The Crime and Society Foundation

The Long Strange Posthumous Life of Leon Trotsky

2009-08-31T10:44:00.003-05:00

(EdgeLeft is an occasional column by David McReynolds, it can be circulated without further permission)

The Long Strange Posthumous Life of Leon Trotsky

Historically the Socialist Party USA had two major splits. The first was after the Russian Revolution, when there was an international split in all socialist parties between those who accepted the leadership of Lenin's Third International and those who didn't. In the US, Debs, who had proclaimed himself "a Bolshevik from the tip of my head to the tips of my toes" -- reflecting the overwhelming international support for the Russian Revolution -- then led the Socialist Party in rejecting Lenin's "21 demands".

There followed the split which led to the formation of the Communist Party. The second major split - (actually two in almost one year) - was the right wing split in 1936 by the Social Democratic Federation which wanted to support Roosevelt, breaking with Norman Thomas, and the split by the Socialist Workers Party which, under James Cannon, had entered the Socialist Party and then in 1937 split, taking much of the youth of the Socialist Party with it.

By the 1960's (in fact even by 1951, when I joined the Socialist Party) both the Socialist and Communist Parties were shadows of the past, battered by various currents. The Communist Party was never able to build a mass base here after the Cold War began - Communism was seen not simply as "radical" but as "treasonous". The Socialist Party, in no small part because, fearful it might be accused of being communist, spent too little time on what it favored, and too much time making sure its skirts were clean. (There is nothing simple about this - the Communist Party always had internal dissent, and there was a serious left wing in the Socialist Party, which I joined when I came into the SP).

Thus when we leap forward to the "final split" in the SP in 1972 we are talking about midgets. Max Shachtman took out his people to form the Social Democrats USA (actually, he had the majority at the 1972 convention, so for a brief moment he was the SP - it is ironic that it is Shachtman's group which has since totally vanished). Michael Harrington finally broke with Shachtman and split to form the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee which morphed into today's Democratic Socialists of America. The remnants of the old Socialist Party, some on the left, some on the right, regrouped under Frank Zeidler in 1973 to form what is today the Socialist Party USA, and which is, pretty much, the legitimate heir to the party of Debs and Thomas. (It is under the banner of this group that I ran for President in 1980 and 2000).

In the real world nothing is static. The Socialist Party, which has about 1,000 members, has attracted newer members who are not aware of the history, and whose radicalism includes an admiration to Lenin and Trotsky. The SP is not anywhere near another split - only genuine Trotskyist groups can split when they have less than a 1,000 members. But I've been fascinated by this odd posthumous life of Trotsky, and want to reflect on it here.

There really aren't any Leninists running around - there are lots of people who belong to "Marxist/Leninist" groups, such as the Communist Party, but there are simply not a dozen different Marxist/Leninist groups in this country. There are large numbers of socialists who are not even aware that there was a Marxist tradition before Lenin, and independent of Lenin. There must be a few Stalinist groups, I am sure I could find them on google, but not even the Communist Party today counts as Stalinist. Stalin has almost no heirs. In fact, the interesting thing about Stalin is that almost no one wanted to duplicate his politics. The Japanese and Italian Communist Parties broke with Moscow very early, not long after Tito had taken Yugoslavia out of the "Communist Bloc". Mao (a man Stalin once thought might best be "eliminated") defied Stalin almost from the beginning. The Vietnamese were careful, in taking aid from both China and the Soviet Union, not to duplicate the Soviets in their own political patterns (there were never any purge trials in Vietnam to equal those in the Soviet Union). And Cuba stands almost in its own tradition, bending to Russia when it depended of Moscow's aid, but building on Cuba's own traditions.

It was as if everyone looked at Stalin and thought "there is a lot there we don't want to repeat". Even the Soviets, to the astonishment of the West, broke with their own "tradition" when Stalin died, and, after the murder of Beria, allowed a peaceful transfer of power to Khrushchev.

But Trotsky while dead, is still very much alive. Sometimes as a ghost on the far right - Max Shactman became the first true neo-conservative, embracing the system. His followers took key positions in the Reagan Administration and in the right wing of the Democratic Party. Younger readers may find it hard to believe (I admit that even I do) that Shachtman, who went into the Communist Party in its early years, traveled to the Soviet Union, was a significant leader of the American Communist Party, ended his life supporting the US invasion of Cuba (the Bay of Pigs), the US invasion of Indochina, shifted from a position critical of Israel to one of fervent support of Israel. I knew Shachtman well, and while I didn't like the man, or trust him, I would never have thought he would have ended in the camp of the enemy.

The original Trotskyist movement in this country formed in the late 1920's, headed by James Cannon and Max Shachtman. It was authentically revolutionary, had an honorable tradition of work in the trade union movement. It reflected the international split, following Lenin's death, between Stalin, the General Secretary of the Soviet Party, and Trotsky, the brilliant, courageous military leader of the Red Armies. Stalin insisted that a world revolution was not in the cards history had dealt, that the only hope was to build "socialism in one country". Trotsky, by far the more revolutionary, and internationalist, argued that "socialism in one country" would become bureaucratic, militarized, and fatally "deformed". Both men were right. There was to be no world revolution. Germany, which had a powerful socialist movement, did not have a revolution and could not rescue the young Soviet Union. Trotsky was right, the Soviet Union became a police state. There was one crucial shift, however, which caused Trotsky to the end of his life to argue that the Soviet Union had to be defended in any conflict with the West - private property had been collectivized, and the old class had been destroyed. Shachtman split over the matter of the Soviet invasion of Finland, setting up what would beome the Independent Socialist League, which lasted until it merged into the Socialist Party in 1958.

Some contempoary Trotskyist groups, such as the ISO (International Socialist Organization) represent what might be called Shachtman's radical positions of the 1950's. The official Trotskyist group, the Socialist Workers Party, long since became a cult, focused on support of Cuba largely ignoring its own Trotskyist past. There are other groups which owe a debt to Trotsky - Solidarity, while hardly an orthodox Trotskyist group, comes out of that background. New Politics, founded by Julius and Phyllis Jacobson (and a journal on which I was once a member of the editorial board) had its origins in a kind of "left Shachtmanite" position. I felt I served as the "shabbas goy" on the editorial board, since I was primarily a pacifist, and had never been a Trotskyist. At one point - and perhaps the last intellectually significant split in the Trotskyist movement - Bert Cochran formed a new publication, the American Socialist, which had a brief useful life but could not be sustained.These groups have made real contributions to the American Left.

They made, for the most part, a very serious effort to uphold the best of the Russian Revolution, while being frank about the disaster of Stalin. Some of the Trotskyists did finally face the problems inherent in Leninism, the vanguard theory of change, the concept of democratic centralism, and the fact Trotsky himself was not really any nicer than Lenin. There are always apologies made for the violent suppression of the workers uprising at Kronstadt - and I wish the Trotskyists, and Leninists, some of whom are now in the Socialist Party, would realize that if one can justify mass murder because the situation demanded it, they should be much more hesitant in writing off the Socialist Parties in the West because they, too, made compromises. I guess my question to the Leninists is why are crimes and mistakes acceptable if committed by the followers of Lenin, but not if committed by the non-Communist left. (Thus far the best answer I've heard is that in the name of the revolution, murder, while regrettable, is defensible).

The Workers World Party, formed in 1956, when the Socialist Workers Party had a split over the Hungarian Revolution, (WWP supported the Soviet invasion of Hungary) became a thorn in the side of many of us, with its range of front groups - the International Action Center, ANSWER, etc. In due time WWP had a split of its own, the Party of Socialism and Liberation, which took ANSWER with it. WWP still exists.

If one had time and the inclination, the list of those who were in the Trotskyist movement, or touched by it, is truly remarkable. Dwight Macdonald's Politics, Dissent Magazine, and literally dozens of small Trotskyist groups. My own primary mentor, A. J. Muste, was briefly - very briefly - in the Trotskyist movement. The Trotskyist movement has had one great advantage over the Communists - with very few exceptions they never actually had power. And thus they could be pure. All those who hold state power will find that it forces compromises.

So much for this very too brief run down. I have read Trotsky, and Lenin, and Stalin, and a number of others from that period. I liked Lenin and still do - I just don't agree with him. My own path led me to Gandhi. I liked Trotsky a bit less, though I concede he was brilliant. Issac Deutscher, in one of his three volumes on Trotsky, cites the case where, in one of the inner-party fights, Trotsky felt he had to make a temporary peace with Stalin. The price which Stalin exacted was that Trotsky withdraw his support from two of his own key allies. Which Trotsky did. Not surprisingly, his allies, once abandoned, sided with Stalin in the next round of in-fighting and helped seal Trotsky's fate.

All of which brings me to a deeply flawed film I rented from Netflix - Exile in Buyukada.Deeply flawed because while showing Trotsky's arrival in Turkey, where he spent the first period of his exile, the sound track, featuring a narration by the wonderful actor, Vanessa Redgrave, is "buried" under the music. There are occasional sub-titles, but essentially the film is only worth watching for the sense of that period. And it is to that sense that I now want to turn my attention, (while, by pure chance, listening to a new recording of a Shostakovitch work, featuring the Internationale).

Let's leave aside the manipulations of Shachtman, the betrayals of the Neocons, the chaos created by Workers World . . . and turn back to the events in the Soviet Union. That Trotsky would be expelled from the Communist Party and sent into exile was unthinkable. He had been essential to the revolution. He did not leave the young Soviet Union as a dissident - he left it as a believer in the revolution. He and his wife knew they faced death wherever they went, from Stalin's agents (who did finally murder him when he was in Mexico).

Trotsky had no allies within the socialist movement. He despised the socialist parties of the West. The problem was that he had no allies at all except for the opposition to Stalin which, in the Soviet Union, could not be expressed without risking certain death. In the West the Trotskyist movement was a small splinter in the side of the Communist movement, under steady ideological attack as "agents of the State". To support Trotsky was genuinely heroic - no one was going to pay you! You had no chance at career advancement. You had no allies in power anywhere in the world. The Communists would check out books by Trotsky from public libraries in order to destroy them (and I knew one Shachtmanite who checked out those same books from public libraries in order to save them from destruction - theft in the name of love).

The Communists held power in the Soviet Union. Their parties in Western Europe were strong. And strong even as far away as Indochina, and China, and Japan.

So those of us who have basic disagreements with Trotsky - essentially the same disagreements we have with Lenin - should pay the history of Trotsky some respect. He was no a democrat. It has been said, by one of those in post-Soviet Russia, that if Trotsky had won the fight against Stalin the outcome would have been just as many executions - but with a far more literary flavor. The sadness of Trotsky's life is that once the internal fight in the Soviet Union had been decided, Trotsky was an heroic but lost figure. His followers in the US ended on the subversive list, were hounded from their jobs by the FBI.

But always and always, those who took Trotsky's side cannot help but look back and think what the Soviet Union might have been if only Stalin had lost that fight. I'm very much among those who feel that American socialists need to look to American history - not Russian or Chinese or Cuban history - to chart our course. But no one who has looked back at the early part of the 20th century can fail to be thrilled by that moment when it seemed as if the workers were actually in control of history. It was this painful memory Trotsky carried with him as he began the first of his exiles in Turkey.

May I suggest - though my Trotskyist and Leninist friends will not hear me - that the greatest honor one could pay to Leon Trotsky would be to let him rest with the honor he earned. And, as he broke with Stalin, so let us break with all undemocratic efforts at revolution, which would make human beings merely "means to the end". Humanity - each life - is an end in itself. As A.J. Muste said, "there is no way to peace - peace is the way". So too, revolution begins now, as we empower ourselves to think for our own time.

(David McReynolds worked for the War Resistes League for 39 years, retired in 1999, and lives with his two cats on the Lower East Side. He is a former Chair of the War Resisters International. He can be contacted at: dmcreynolds@nyc.rr.com).

Red Flag Books?

2009-04-15T22:51:00.003-05:00

Really?
Ever watch (or read) Fahrenheit451?
What the fuck is a "red flag" book?
One that the Nazi's don't want you to read?
Then why are they studied on college campuses?

You NEED to read The Communist Handbook on Psychopolitics.
You can get a .pdf copy by clicking the link above.

US religious Right concedes defeat

2009-04-12T18:51:00.002-05:00

Just a jibe that a friend sent me (thanx xan). My only reservation is that we shouldn't get to comfortable with this. There are literally millions of these freaks, and that's not counting the Mujahadeen. The largest threat we have in Amerika is the Nazi walking the street beside you!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5136050/US-religious-Right-concedes-defeat.html

The Battle is Lost

2009-04-12T15:16:00.003-05:00

I will likely cease to post to this blog. The idea that common sense could ever defeat or even coincide with Christianity is more of a fantasy than Christianity itself. Everyone that I come into contact with (and over the past two weeks, that has been more than the past two years) are so brainwashed/brain dead that they can't even think about it when they are confronted with their own double standards and opposing points of view.

In short, I bow to the masters. Mission accomplished. Your masses are indeed brain dead.

If you still give half a damn about the future and wish to understand what is already here so that you may develop strategies for resistance, YOU MUST KNOW THIS INFORMATION.

Otherwise, fuck it. Bend over. When they get done with your ass, it will be more convenient to lop off your head.

Until I decide where I will write in the future, you may be interested in Reeling in the Sneers. I even offer some tunes to tap your foot to as you contemplate the end of the world as we know it.

Oh, and Twin Rivers, I don't intend to single you out in this post. But I would love to thank you for adding to my conviction that they give authority to any moron who appears to think as 'the masters' want us to think. I have seen better run prison infirmaries. But you will get your own post in my time.

A note to international readers, http://heartlandheretic.blogspot.com/2009/03/child-molester-free-because-his-dad-is.html was made possible by Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett, MO and their ignoring every state and federal law. Just know that they protect child molesters and create drones.

But more on them later.

There is no Surviving Christianity. They have started every war since 300ad. They don't realize it because, well, their Christian. They're covered in the "blood of the lamb" and anything else that gets in their way. The wars are almost over.

Let the GENOCIDE BEGIN!

If there were some magical, mystical hand that move things for the advancement of a certain race or nationality, I would be tempted to say, "God, save us all!" But that would be like asking Santa to stop the insanity.

Veteran Health Care

2009-04-06T05:24:00.002-05:00

In '96 I decided that I didn't want to take my HIV meds any more. When the VA called to remind me that it was time to refill, I asked them to keep them and give them to someone who could use them. I was not depressed, suicidal, nor talking of death. Only of life... for others.

In 30 minutes there was an ambulance and a couple of cops insisting that I go to the VA for "treatment". After all, I must be suicidal. They took my 200 miles straight through to St. Louis.

I have been absolutely suicidal for the past three days. The only thing that keeps me here is my disabled (blind) cat. And, of course, my goats and chickens. When I spoke with the hospital about it all, they sent a trigger happy cop who could not take his hand off of his gun and a couple of paramedics who seemed to understand.

My point? Veteran care is a myth. It is a lie designed to make you feel better about send young men off to war.

Veterans deserve care, regardless of distance. And they certainly don't need a gun shoved in their faces. And the only way to prevent this is to cease all war and to take weapons away from children who got their 'badge' out of a cracker jack box.

Cops kill. They are just itching to do so.

So, stop war and the police state.... immediately!

People from and around Cardwell/Arbyrd

2009-04-02T20:42:00.002-05:00

Beware! Your Family is a shit wad. just read: http://www.topix.com/search/article?q=63821&x=0&y=0

What? afraid to see how you talk about each other?

And if you think the Corps didn'y kill me, join up yourself, pussy!

There is not one square inch of SEMO I would waste my time on. That's especially the people! At least you can farm the ground, the people are useless!

Jack, Fuck you.

Just a note to any who care

2009-04-02T15:43:00.003-05:00

I am half way through the last line of defense against c.diff. It is my understanding that if it doesn't kill me, it will make me wish I were dead. A little late for that!

I believe that I have already posted when and where I contracted this disease. I have spoken with many attorneys who will not even consider representing me... nor I suppose my family.

I have also informed my readers that should anything happen to me that a message will be posted here with details. And, no, not from the grave. I do have a couple of friends.

I just want.... no, NEED everyone to know that it is capitalist Christianity that killed me and refused to take responsibility. And more importantly, YOU ARE NEXT.

Good luck to all of you. For I will be in a FAR, FAR better place. I only hope that I don't have to return to this plane for more of this same work. I'd just as soon, sleep.

Child Molester Free Because His Dad is a Cop

2009-03-29T10:05:00.003-05:00

If you would like to see a Missouri Official State Document about a child molester that they let go because his "daddy" is a cop, Click on the Pic. Incidentally, the child that he molested and got away with was his daughter.

From Surviving Christianity

This shit happens all of the time. Cops can do what they want to do, and the privilege extends to their families.

Trust your local law enforcement at your own peril!

Oh, I almost forgot: his name is Barry Reece and he lives in Leachville, AR (Fitting name for the home of such a cretin). Of Course, you can get this info off the the document itself with the magnifying glass at the top right of your screen (after you link to the pic).

Surviving Christianity

Homeland Security Coordinated 18-City Police Crackdown on Occupy Protest

The State of the U.S. Left and What We Can Do About It

Our Main Site is Down...

Fundamentalism Kills

FBI rules changes provoke Senate inquiry

Investigate FCC Commissioner Baker's clear conflict of interest.

Evangelical Liberty University received half a billion dollars in federal aid money

One conservative college got more government cash than NPR last year

Playing at children’s games

Walker must go! For a general strike in Wisconsin!

3 March 2011

House Fails to Re-Authorize PATRIOT Act

With rise of Egypt, Glenn Beck's popularity falls

UPDATE!!!! White Supremest Arkansas GOP Member Resigns under preasure

Arkansas: Jackson County GOP Chair Connected To White Supremacist Organization

Who are the real extremists?

The Palin-ette is Un-invited to speak at Washinton University

“God is a Fascist!”

"God is a Fascist!": The Ideology of Romanian Fascism

Murder in Uganda -- Stop U.S. pastors from exporting bigotry

Glen Beck inciting violence... again!

Chinese police shoot protesting construction workers

Hold'em Accountable!

You know it's getting bad when...

Questioning Authority

GOP Senator Kills Whistleblower Protection Bill on Last Day of Congress

U.N. Investigating Bradley Manning’s Detainment

The New York Times backs the attack on WikiLeaks

Drug export banned in the U.K., executions delayed in the U.S.

I agree with the "Tea Party"...

By all means, tax the poor!

Where do we go from here?

Guidelines for current and future endeavors

Once again the voters of the United States have proven their confusion

Populist Review: Fascism in America – Rootsof the Current Predicament

” … The American Left have proven inept in gauging this fascist menace, much less mounting an effective response. Few are aware of the history that brought us to our current predicament. … “

Who is the most oppressive and unjust?

Rally held, charges of racism against Kennett, MO

When "Confidential" isn't really that confidential

Does anyone else find it odd...

"Cash for Clunkers" just put more clunkers back on the road... ones with bank notes, though!

The FOLLY that is Steven E. Streight @vaspersthegrate: oh, it does grate on common sense.

Not OK: Oklahoma Inmates Allegedly Raped at Governors Mansion

It’s Dangerous for Children To Know Atheism Exists

Elliot Madison Accused Of Using Twitter To Tweet Police Actions At G-20 Protests

Employers Cashing in on Employee Deaths

Hate coming back "out of the closet", as if it were ever in the closet

Small plane crashes in eastern Indiana field

A Child is left behind

Right-Wing Hatemongering Fueled by Christianity?

What the hell are you women putting on your FACES?!!!!

The Truth About Two Racists—Beck and Limbaugh

Highly religious states have top teen birth rates

Former Bush Official Loses It ... Accuses Obama of Having 'Fascist, Socialist Ideals'

New Protest Over Government Spending

Hold on to your heads for this one, folks...

Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?

Limbaugh Wants Jim Crow Back: "We Need Segregated Buses"

Text Of The Resolution Of Disapproval Of Rep. Joe Wilson

Uruguay and US fear arms race

Polling place church sign questioning Obama’s citizenship

"May the good Lord takes a liking to you and blow you up real good."

Statement from ACORN regarding recent news reports

Capitol Briefing - Lobbying Firm Says It Only Forged 13 Letters, Not 14

Liberty University chaplain faces drug and burglary charges

Help Stop Glenn Beck's EXTREMIST Hate

Don't be a Dick!

Fanatic hijacked Mexican plane after 'revelation'

Judge: Homeland Security can’t require dependence on God

The End of The Road Runner

Is the Republican "Brand" irreparably damaged?

The making of a scapegoat - Lockerbie Uncovered

The Insurance Industry IS the "Death Panels"

Rep. Jenkins caught lying again, Ms. Smith speaks out

VIDEO: Rep. Jenkins caught lying again, Ms. Smith speaks out

by Mike Nellis

Thu Sep 03, 2009 at 09:04:13 AM PDT

Missouri state capital rallies for health care reform

Missouri state capital rallies for health care reform

Populist Review: Fascism in America – Roots
of the Current Predicament