The News We Lose While Americans Snooze

Your military industrial complex is hard at work, while your main stream media is acting like jerks to ignore it. They are setting the stage for the next 9/11, while some celebrity gets all the headlines. A brief blip. A quick explanation. A mistake is claimed (an unacknowledged first!) A revision of the facts. First there were six and now there are five. And...someone in the USAF has stolen a nuclear weapon.

Six nuclear weapons are locked and loaded on a jet in Minot, ND. 13.5 hours later (after a 3.5 hour trip,) five nuclear weapons are discovered locked and loaded on a jet in Barksdale, LA.

To write this off as a mistake is to overlook the frothing at the mouth for a war with Iran by the Resident and his puppet master. The domino's are in place for martial law on the homefront. I used to be paranoid. Lately, I'm just sad.

Now...into the circle file.

Politics as it should be talked about.

One step forward, two steps back. When Bob Shieffer derided the scramble to interview Paris Hilton, I applauded the man. There is so little to applaud on Sunday AM talk shows. The next Sunday he’s back in the style of all the bubble heads. Everyone’s talking about the London car incidents as cars filled with explosives. Gasoline is NOT an explosive! To create an explosive using gasoline as a part, the air/fuel ratio is critical and must be controlled. In essence, those three cars weren’t even good Molotov cocktails. Of course that label, "Three badly made Molotov Cocktails," is not as titillating or fear inducing as propaganda necessitates, which explains the terminology. Excited fear is the need Du’ Jour in order to mold public backing for bombing Iran. Funny that the same tired, talking point spouting, chicken-hawks that fed us the lies that led to the debacle that exists in Iraq, now have carte blanque credibility on their prognosis of the threat Iran poses.

I’m watching Ralf Nader, thank you Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, and I’m reminded, once again, why I voted for him every time he’s been on the ballot. Twice when he wasn’t. Did he cost Al Gore the election? No, Gore won. It was only the media and the Supreme court that thought $hrub should win and worked to give the office to him. Even the Repugs know he stole it. “Washington, DC, is Corporate occupied territory,” is a quote that is missing from all current Presidential candidates. You can’t fix anything till you know the root cause of the problem. Which leads to the next paragraph.

Two items for your consideration. Over half the budget is for the military. What, no waste or unneeded programs? How about the F-22 which has rizen in cost from $40 million to $400 million each. The US government pays more than half of all medical payments. By paying all, it would immediately reduce costs by at least 30%. A practical, radical solution towards resolving the world’s health care and the US's fiscal crisis': Stop using war to resolve political and economic problems. Not only does it not work, it is in fact, counter productive.

Now, into the circle file...

Cheney Flip Flops and other's News on Freedom

Funny how us ordinary people could see the writing on the wall when the SCOTUS nominees were up for confirmation. Now, with freedoms and rights being slapped down from on high, the dumb Demos are beginning to catch on (Thank you ICH):

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) echoed that sentiment in a statement: "When they were nominated, John Roberts and Samuel Alito insisted they would be neutral umpires. Now that they are on the Supreme Court, every big call seems to go in favor of corporate and government power, and against ordinary citizens."

Freedom of Corporate speech? Schools ability to limit student speech?

Speaking of freedom of speech, Eva Liddell has a good piece on ICH

From the first grade on and up through the university system citizens are systemically taught not to judge for themselves. We are taught we have freedom of speech but we are trained not to think. We think we have academic freedom because we are trained to believe we are free. The ultimate goal of our educational system, the dogmatic smothering of minds is overseen by the Department of Education, state boards of regents and the university education departments.

Real free speech at work, concerns untested vaccines given to troops headed to Iraq. What Washington's version of supporting our troops really looks like.

"They asked us our name. We stood on these yellow footprints, and they gave us this shot, and we got the rest of the day off," he recalled. "After that shot, I started swelling up. I gained 30 pounds of water. My eyes swelled up where I couldn't see. I started snoring. I developed a rash on my hand."

Now, into the circle file...

Bye Bye Democracy

Once again Paul Craig Roberts not only hits the nail on the head as to where our country is heading if we don't wake up the sheeple and do a 180* fishtail, but drives it home with clear, simple language that not only connects the dots, he does so in an irrefutable manner. In this age of empty talking heads and propaganda puppet pundits, it is easy to see why he cannot be found in the arena of the Military-Industrial-Corporate-Congressional-Media. Even Joe Six-Pack would understand and respond to his message. His commentary deserves a full read, so no quotes here.

On a note more complicated, yet still vital, Columbia, the media giant not the Country, is on the verge of eliminating our electronic privacy. They have a court order (pending appeal) that is requiring an ISP to begin keeping records of all data passing through RAM to be used in the future as evidence of past transgressions. Everything you type, say, see, and hear with your computer passes through its RAM which makes this a prosecutors wet dream, but in reality points out the ignorance that inundates our society. Sorry, but that's as simple as I can explain it. The upshoot goes as follows:

For example, if you have a VOIP-based phone system (where conversations appear momentarily in RAM in your data center), are you responsible for recording every phone call for potential disclosure in litigation?

The article ends simply:

If you're worried about government-issued wiretap orders, maybe it's time to start worrying about Hollywood-issued ones too.

An other Alternet article concludes this rant. Statistical analysis (.pdf) of talk radio proves the lie of a "Liberal" bias. Not that any Neo-Con-Repug bothers with facts.

Now, into the circle file...

The Drums Are Growing Louder.

The talking heads are at it again. Blatantly repeating the Neo-con lies in order to start a new war. With nary a shred of evidence, no, even when the evidence proves the lie, all facts are ignored and all blame for the failure of the Iraqi adventure (what a sweet word for the bloody, grimy, horrible injustice that is the occupation of Iraq ) is being put on Iran. All options being on the table, according to the Resident, they are trying to get us ready, even rabidly pro a nuclear world war 3.

On a separate yet related note. I hear the demand that Iraq pass "The Oil Law," (this from nearly everyone that gets a chance to speak in public, Democrat/Republican/pro war/anti war/whatever) but when any further mention of said law is made, only half is actually addressed. Revenue sharing, a good thing, is demanded as a non-negotiable benchmark, but this only applies to existing oil wells. All new wells will be prey to so called PSAs which give 70% of the profits to the drillers for periods of up to 30 years (or all the oil is gone.) The Iraqi congress is warned that if they don't pass this, then rebuilding funds (and their personal security) will be at risk. However, if they do pass this law, then their own people will kill them. No wonder they want a two month vacation. That will give them 60 days to cash out their assets and get a head start into hiding!

Now, into the circle file...

There are still a few journalists around.

First, watched Bill Moyer's "Journal" last night and while he's covering the weakness of the Ethics bill roll-over by the Demo-wimps, giving time to ex-Senator Bob Kerry's apologetic applause to the Demo-wimps follow the leader giving, $95 Billion plus supplementary spending bill with the excuse that it is for the troops is merely one more example of the propaganda that shapes the conversation away from the truth. The money is not in support of the troops, it's purpose is to fatten the bottom line of the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Media (MIMC) complex (which explains the weakness of the ethics bill, also.)

Murray Waas is one of a very few journalists that are reporting on the true impacts of the attorney scandal brewing in congress. That's who the above link goes to. Peggy Harris of the AP shows how the Main Stream Corporate Media (MSCM) reports these events sans context. If you want some context about the current state of the states you need to read chris-floyd.com/ . I would add Wayne Madsen, but his site has gone to a for pay model and while the knowledge he shares is worth the $7 a month, I can't endorse your having to spend money for info (although I can privately inform you it's more than worth the outlay.)

Now, into the circle file...

Tiptoeing around the edges of Resistance.

Deciding to relax of an evening, I tuned to the History Channel. A favorite subject, Star Wars, is being covered. Seeing in it an allegory for our times, I hear all these references to Greek and Roman mythology and even comparisons to Roman, Napoleonic, and even Nazi attempts at Empire. They even threw in Saddam Hussein as if he had actually attempted an Empire of his own. Only in the last fifteen minutes and then only lightly and fleetingly, did they dare make mention that "Star Wars" might have a possible aspiration to apply to modern times. To our own government's attempt at Empire.

The "Iliad" was not written to critique ancient history. Homer was critiquing his contemporaries. "1984" did not reference a future, it was published in 1948 and the title played on same concept that "war is peace" served in the body of the story. Only fools and illiterates were not aware that Huxley was critiquing his contemporaries. The first critiques of Nero burning Rome were written while Rome was burning. Nor did play writers wait till Germany surrendered before critiquing that attempt at Empire. Likewise, Lucas saw the truth of Nixon and his ilk, who continue now in the guise of neo-liberal neo-cons, and with his art brought forth an epic that loudly condemned the direction he saw our country was heading towards.

Sadly, the audience did as Americans have become prone to doing. Cheer the movie action, then rush out and buy a bunch of things. As a rule we have not been taught self examination. We've been taught to buy things. The History Channel had a chance to help us examine the current failing of our government in its quest for Empire and punted. Personally, I believe they did it on purpose. The History Channel serves to buttress the current attempt at Empire and thus fails to serve the public interest. Of course, being a business venture, they are in it for the money and there is more money to be made backing our current corrupted government than in questioning the status quo.

Fortunately, it did end on an encouraging note. Even an Empire of seemingly universal strength can be overcome by the actions of a few, dedicated people convincing the people in general that true power, as has actually always been, is in the hands of the people themselves. The power of the story itself overcame the efforts to minimize its current relevance.

Now, into the circle file...