my favourite scary song...
Friday
I know I said I only had two more posts...
IS CANADA CREATING AN “ABORIGINAL ARMY” BECAUSE IT WANTS US TO COLONIZE OURSELVES??
from Mohawk Nation News
Expand the post +/-
from Mohawk Nation News
I know the election is only days away but...
While the powers that be continue to define your priorities and corral your attention, has anyone been paying attention to what laws they're sneaking through while the whole country's attention is elsewhere? Has anyone been paying attention to what the government is doing? Is anyone minding the store?
Not to be a big party pooper or anything...
And I'm sure Obama looked really photogenic in that commercial that cost money that could have been spent feeding school children breakfast or paying a few citizens' health care bills or saving some people's homes...
I know, I know, when he beats the two bigots he'll spend less money on public relations and more on the people...
Still...
I'm just wondering what the mass inattention of the amerikkkan voting public has spawned?
Not to be a big party pooper or anything...
And I'm sure Obama looked really photogenic in that commercial that cost money that could have been spent feeding school children breakfast or paying a few citizens' health care bills or saving some people's homes...
I know, I know, when he beats the two bigots he'll spend less money on public relations and more on the people...
Still...
I'm just wondering what the mass inattention of the amerikkkan voting public has spawned?
They really do like to push your buttons and overstimulate you...it's like they're giving out free drugs...
I posted this over at my blog this week. No one commented over there. :) Gosh darn. I really don't know why. ;)
____________________
I can't waste a lot of time on this. I have actual real issues that I have control over that aren't orchestrated by the ruling families to deal with.
I'll just offer this.
Kennedy
X
King
Expand the post +/-
When the people who believed in each of these figure heads, who mourned the assassinations of each of these leaders, who see something of these men in the physical look, speeches, stern approach, strategically coiffed and dressed wife (oh didn't she just look like a Black Jackie O in that purple dress? d'yuh think she's on valium and a host of other prescription meds, too?)...
For those who applauded the endorsement of the rich white robber baron family of the oft remembered dead president and thought of it as an intelligent and meaningful alliance between an obviously lefty clan and the man I like to call the Blackchurian candidate...
When all the people touched, triggered, traumatized by the actual assassinations of these (human, no better or more important than the rest of us) men have their buttons purposefully pushed at the exact same moment, they will function with focus, with purpose and without a fucking clue in tandem, like a well oiled (yet completely blind as in not at all sentient and therefore highly manipulable) electoral machine.
For someone like me, who lives, sees and stands outside this spectacle of ignorance, it's clear that the election has already been decided and won by the man some call Wall Street's boy.
The amerikkkan voting public has been driven, corralled if you will, like a herd of slow minded wooly mammoths, into a narrow pass. Behind them are the two caricaturish cross burning bigots, easily recognized by their willingly verbalized ignorance.
Only the most extreme right wingers would vote for those two crazies.
At the other end of the pass lies "change"...that is, if anyone believes the crock of shite they're being sold.
This won't come as news to those who aren't buying the crap filled experience also known as the amerikkkan election that that has been unfolding over the past how many (?) months.
If anyone cares to actually take a look at what's going on, they will see that this is just a dance, just a ritual set into place to quell mass uprising and keep every day people in line and out of the loop as far as the actual workings of a government...oops, not a government, but a group of powerful families who run the government...from behind the scenes, who just see the population as a natural resource to be mined and exploited...
Then you'll realize that the "assassination plot" is a sham designed to get even people who understand themselves as left of center to side with their own demise. If you feel strongly about a candidate who stands for "change" and that candidate "wins" and you celebrate ecstatically in the streets, partying like it's 1999, and praise GAWD that finally things are going to be "different"...
if you emotionally invest to tha max, when that candidate begins the nasty work of governing the people according to the oppressive standards of his fore bearers, you will either have a stroke and drop dead on the spot due to the awful realization that everything you've ever valued about your country was an indoctrination based disgusting lie or (my personal favourite) you will go into even deeper denial and tell yourself that "change" demands concessions and compromise and that the president you elected, the people's president, the man who said repeatedly, his brows drawn fiercely as he spoke with such presence and conviction, that he was really about doing the "right" thing...
then you will have no choice but to look away as he so clearly does the exact opposite of what he promised.
Why because belief in the voting charade means belief in voting as an act of uncoerced, unmanipulated, educated free will. So if you vote you can't possibly have been duped and if you haven't been duped then when your candidate gets voted into the white house and from that moment on royally fucks you and yours painfully, slowly, mercilessly without lube, you will have to comfort yourselves with the knowledge that the violation was actually your carefully thought out choice.
In short, you will shut tha fuck up and let the agenda that predates him continue to unfold with such elegant malevolence all around you while you pretend that things really are "different" now.
So, please register to vote and turn out on election day because the "choice" really is yours.
____________________
I can't waste a lot of time on this. I have actual real issues that I have control over that aren't orchestrated by the ruling families to deal with.
I'll just offer this.
Kennedy
X
King
When the people who believed in each of these figure heads, who mourned the assassinations of each of these leaders, who see something of these men in the physical look, speeches, stern approach, strategically coiffed and dressed wife (oh didn't she just look like a Black Jackie O in that purple dress? d'yuh think she's on valium and a host of other prescription meds, too?)...
For those who applauded the endorsement of the rich white robber baron family of the oft remembered dead president and thought of it as an intelligent and meaningful alliance between an obviously lefty clan and the man I like to call the Blackchurian candidate...
When all the people touched, triggered, traumatized by the actual assassinations of these (human, no better or more important than the rest of us) men have their buttons purposefully pushed at the exact same moment, they will function with focus, with purpose and without a fucking clue in tandem, like a well oiled (yet completely blind as in not at all sentient and therefore highly manipulable) electoral machine.
For someone like me, who lives, sees and stands outside this spectacle of ignorance, it's clear that the election has already been decided and won by the man some call Wall Street's boy.
The amerikkkan voting public has been driven, corralled if you will, like a herd of slow minded wooly mammoths, into a narrow pass. Behind them are the two caricaturish cross burning bigots, easily recognized by their willingly verbalized ignorance.
Only the most extreme right wingers would vote for those two crazies.
At the other end of the pass lies "change"...that is, if anyone believes the crock of shite they're being sold.
This won't come as news to those who aren't buying the crap filled experience also known as the amerikkkan election that that has been unfolding over the past how many (?) months.
If anyone cares to actually take a look at what's going on, they will see that this is just a dance, just a ritual set into place to quell mass uprising and keep every day people in line and out of the loop as far as the actual workings of a government...oops, not a government, but a group of powerful families who run the government...from behind the scenes, who just see the population as a natural resource to be mined and exploited...
Then you'll realize that the "assassination plot" is a sham designed to get even people who understand themselves as left of center to side with their own demise. If you feel strongly about a candidate who stands for "change" and that candidate "wins" and you celebrate ecstatically in the streets, partying like it's 1999, and praise GAWD that finally things are going to be "different"...
if you emotionally invest to tha max, when that candidate begins the nasty work of governing the people according to the oppressive standards of his fore bearers, you will either have a stroke and drop dead on the spot due to the awful realization that everything you've ever valued about your country was an indoctrination based disgusting lie or (my personal favourite) you will go into even deeper denial and tell yourself that "change" demands concessions and compromise and that the president you elected, the people's president, the man who said repeatedly, his brows drawn fiercely as he spoke with such presence and conviction, that he was really about doing the "right" thing...
then you will have no choice but to look away as he so clearly does the exact opposite of what he promised.
Why because belief in the voting charade means belief in voting as an act of uncoerced, unmanipulated, educated free will. So if you vote you can't possibly have been duped and if you haven't been duped then when your candidate gets voted into the white house and from that moment on royally fucks you and yours painfully, slowly, mercilessly without lube, you will have to comfort yourselves with the knowledge that the violation was actually your carefully thought out choice.
In short, you will shut tha fuck up and let the agenda that predates him continue to unfold with such elegant malevolence all around you while you pretend that things really are "different" now.
So, please register to vote and turn out on election day because the "choice" really is yours.
Yes...my allies...they usually get the best, the best, the best of me...
hi...this will have to be really brief today...and to the point. i've got two more posts for my amerikkkan comrades. i hope, as always, that you will take them in the spirit they're offered - as the absolute best of me...
SENEX INCUBUS (Boo!)
An incubus (plural incubi) is a demon in male form supposed to lie upon sleepers, especially women, in order to have sexual intercourse with them, according to a number of mythological and legendary traditions. Its female counterpart is the succubus. An incubus may pursue sexual relations with a woman in order to father a child, as in the legend of Merlin, and some sources indicate that it may be identified by its unnaturally cold penis. Religious tradition holds that repeated intercourse with an incubus or succubus may result in the deterioration of health, or even death.
Etymology
The word is derived from the Latin preposition in, which in this case means on top of, and cubo, which is Latin for "I lie". The word incubo translates into "I lie on top".
Origins
A number of rational explanations have been offered for the origin of the incubus legends. They involve the medieval preoccupation with sin, especially sexual sins of women. Victims may have been experiencing waking dreams or sleep paralysis. Also, nocturnal arousal, orgasm or nocturnal emission could be explained by the idea of creatures causing an otherwise guilt-producing and self-conscious behavior.
Purported victims of incubi could have been the victims of sexual assault by a real person. Rapists may have attributed the rapes of sleeping women to demons in order to escape punishment. A friend or relative may have assaulted the victim in her sleep. The victims and, in some cases the clergy, may have found it easier to explain the attack as supernatural rather than confront the idea that the attack came from someone in a position of trust.
Ancient and religious descriptions
One of the earliest mentions of an incubus comes from Mesopotamia on the Sumerian kings' list, ca. 2400, where the hero Gilgamesh's father is listed as Lilu (Lila). It is said that Lilu disturbs and seduces women in their sleep, while Lilitu, a female demon, appears to men in their erotic dreams. Two other corresponding demons appear as well: Ardat lili, who visits men by night and begets ghostly children from them, and Irdu lili, who is known as a male counterpart to Ardat lili and visits women by night and begets from them. These demons were originally storm demons, but they eventually became regarded as night demons due to mistaken etymology. Incubi and succubi were said by some not to be different sexes, but the same demons able to change their sex. A succubus would be able to sleep with a man and collect his sperm, and then transform into an incubus and use that seed on women. Their offspring were thought to be supernatural in many cases, even if the actual genetic material originally came from humans. Though many tales claim that the incubus is bisexual, others indicate that it is strictly heterosexual and finds attacking a male victim either unpleasant or detrimental.
There are also numerous stories involving the attempted exorcism of incubi or succubi who have taken refuge in, respectively, the bodies of men or women. Incubi are sometimes said to be able to conceive children. The half-human offspring of such a union is sometimes referred to as a cambion. The most famous legend of such a case includes that of Merlin, the famous wizard from Arthurian legend. According to the Malleus Maleficarum, exorcism is one of the five ways to overcome the attacks of Incubi, the others being Sacramental Confession, the Sign of the Cross (or recital of the Angelic Salutation), moving the afflicted to another location, and by excommunication of the attacking entity, "which is perhaps the same as exorcism."
On the other hand, the Franciscan friar Ludovico Maria Sinistrari stated that incubi "do not obey exorcists, have no dread of exorcisms, show no reverence for holy things, at the approach of which they are not in the least overawed."
(Senex is Latin for old man. In Ancient Rome, the title of Senex was only awarded to elderly men with families who had good standing in their village. In Jungian analytical psychology, examples of the senex archetype in a positive form include the wise old man or wizard. The senex may also appear in a negative form as a devouring father or a doddering fool.)
Etymology
The word is derived from the Latin preposition in, which in this case means on top of, and cubo, which is Latin for "I lie". The word incubo translates into "I lie on top".
Origins
A number of rational explanations have been offered for the origin of the incubus legends. They involve the medieval preoccupation with sin, especially sexual sins of women. Victims may have been experiencing waking dreams or sleep paralysis. Also, nocturnal arousal, orgasm or nocturnal emission could be explained by the idea of creatures causing an otherwise guilt-producing and self-conscious behavior.
Purported victims of incubi could have been the victims of sexual assault by a real person. Rapists may have attributed the rapes of sleeping women to demons in order to escape punishment. A friend or relative may have assaulted the victim in her sleep. The victims and, in some cases the clergy, may have found it easier to explain the attack as supernatural rather than confront the idea that the attack came from someone in a position of trust.
Ancient and religious descriptions
One of the earliest mentions of an incubus comes from Mesopotamia on the Sumerian kings' list, ca. 2400, where the hero Gilgamesh's father is listed as Lilu (Lila). It is said that Lilu disturbs and seduces women in their sleep, while Lilitu, a female demon, appears to men in their erotic dreams. Two other corresponding demons appear as well: Ardat lili, who visits men by night and begets ghostly children from them, and Irdu lili, who is known as a male counterpart to Ardat lili and visits women by night and begets from them. These demons were originally storm demons, but they eventually became regarded as night demons due to mistaken etymology. Incubi and succubi were said by some not to be different sexes, but the same demons able to change their sex. A succubus would be able to sleep with a man and collect his sperm, and then transform into an incubus and use that seed on women. Their offspring were thought to be supernatural in many cases, even if the actual genetic material originally came from humans. Though many tales claim that the incubus is bisexual, others indicate that it is strictly heterosexual and finds attacking a male victim either unpleasant or detrimental.
There are also numerous stories involving the attempted exorcism of incubi or succubi who have taken refuge in, respectively, the bodies of men or women. Incubi are sometimes said to be able to conceive children. The half-human offspring of such a union is sometimes referred to as a cambion. The most famous legend of such a case includes that of Merlin, the famous wizard from Arthurian legend. According to the Malleus Maleficarum, exorcism is one of the five ways to overcome the attacks of Incubi, the others being Sacramental Confession, the Sign of the Cross (or recital of the Angelic Salutation), moving the afflicted to another location, and by excommunication of the attacking entity, "which is perhaps the same as exorcism."
On the other hand, the Franciscan friar Ludovico Maria Sinistrari stated that incubi "do not obey exorcists, have no dread of exorcisms, show no reverence for holy things, at the approach of which they are not in the least overawed."
(Senex is Latin for old man. In Ancient Rome, the title of Senex was only awarded to elderly men with families who had good standing in their village. In Jungian analytical psychology, examples of the senex archetype in a positive form include the wise old man or wizard. The senex may also appear in a negative form as a devouring father or a doddering fool.)
Thursday
Wednesday
The Primitive Mind-Thinking Syndrome
Here is the primitive mind of Sarah Stillson Palin the parochial theocon at work:
So instead, I'll let Dr. P.Z. Myers speak my mind:I am appalled.
This idiot woman, this blind, shortsighted ignoramus, this pretentious clod, mocks basic research and the international research community. You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work? — and countries like France and Germany and England and Canada and China and India and others are all respected participants in these efforts.
Yes, scientists work on fruit flies. Some of the most powerful tools in genetics and molecular biology are available in fruit flies, and these are animals that are particularly amenable to experimentation. Molecular genetics has revealed that humans share key molecules, the basic developmental toolkit, with all other animals, thanks to our shared evolutionary heritage (something else the wackaloon from Wasilla denies), and that we can use these other organisms to probe the fundamental mechanisms that underlie core processes in the formation of the nervous system — precisely the phenomena Palin claims are so important. To be frank, I am far from surprised - because that is how intellectual sloth-afflicted primitive minds think - of which Sarah Stillson Palin constitutes a "fine" example:It never ceases to amaze me to what levels of utter irrationality the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters are willing to descend into.
They lie, they misrepresent, they use decoy arguments and make ad hominem attacks. For them, the use of duplicity, of secrecy, of arguments of (non-existent) conspiracy, of fact (and non-fact) selectivity/cherry-picking, of quacks/fake experts, as well as putting forth logical fallacies, are simply means to an end.
And this "end" is the following: to promulgate, support and defend their beliefs or their ideologies.
Truth be told: these are the only things that truly matter to them.
Why else would they try to censor science, attempt to control it, seek to falsify it or rewrite it, quietly hide it, brazenly deny funding for it, attempt to change its mission/purpose, actually lie about it, use spin games to deny it, go to great lenghts to confuse people about it, attempt to dismiss it as a matter of differing beliefs or philosophies, or go as far as to demonize it?
Why else would they use the politics of fear, ignorance and lies? Now, here's why they do so:(...) the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters are very much alike the people from the allegory of the cave, and somehow made flesh and blood.
They are indeed living in a cave, their backs to the entrance while facing the sunlit cave wall, seeing only shadows of reality. And it is from watching these two-dimensional shadows that they construct myths and stories to comfort themselves - because they not only fear the shadows that they see, but they also fear even more what these shadows represent.
Thus, they find themselves frightened to the deepest levels of their fragile souls by the glorious truth of the multi-dimensional reality in which we live, whenever they get out of their cave. Their intellectual sloth-driven, ignorant and fearful minds simply can not, or flatly refuse, to comprehend it.
That is why their beliefs and ideologies are not only parochial, but adamantly intractable.
Consequently, at the end of each day, the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters return to the safety and comfort of their cave, vowing to say and do everything in order to transform our multi-dimensional reality into the simpler, two-dimensional one made of shadows that they are accustomed to.
Hence, my conclusion is that the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters are the same ignorant, fearful and surperstitious primitives that our ancestors were, thousands upon thousands of years ago - except that they now use newspapers, magazines, television, radio, politics, and the internet, to spread their intellectual sloth-driven non-understanding of the world and, consequently, working hard at bringing us down to their level of ignorance. To which I add: that, coupled to their pathetic inhability to accept - or deal with - reality, along with their typical shameless hypocrisy in trying to justify any and all duplicity on their part in the face of whatever self-deluded moral ground du jour that they claim, make them not only nothing more than primitive minds, but utter incompetent modern human beings as well.
The result is the fierce undercurrent of anti-intellectualism, anti-science and tribalist-racism that bubbles up increasingly to the surface (especially thanks to the recent strategy of the McCain-Palin campaign), despite these modern, scientific and technological times of ours. It's what I've come to call our "Semi-Dark Ages". A few cases in point:Congressman Rohrabacher's Floor Speech on Global Warming: "(Are we to believe) buffalo farts have more socially redeeming value than the same flatulence emitted by cattle?"
Bachmann Calls For McCarthyite Investigation Into Anti-American Activities Of Liberals;
Sarah Palin Says She Open To Teaching Creationism In Public Schools;
Palin Claimed Dinosaurs And People Coexisted;
Palin Explains What Parts Of Country Not "Pro-America";
Bachmann: ‘Not all cultures are equal’;
Palin: Iraq is a task "from God";
Conservatives Call Obama’s Correct Pronounciation Of Pakistan ‘Exotic’ And ‘Annoying’;
Palin Sees America As Wealthy And White: New Hampshire And Alaska Are ‘Microcosms’ Of The Country;
Another McCarthyite Republican: Rep. Robin Hayes says “liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God";
Bachmann tells Pelosi to give up on global warming because Jesus already saved the planet;
McCain: Washington D.C. and NYC = Fake America;
Racism, hate bubble up yet again at Palin's rally in Vegas. Thus I give you primitive mind-thinking at work - and I could go on and on and on with further examples, just for this year alone.
Oh - and the fruit fly thing? Here's but one example of how useful the knowledge of its cellular and molecular biology as a scientific, experimental animal model has lead to a better understanding of human diseases:
New Treatment Strategy Possible For Muscular Dystrophy, Mouse Studies Show. In case you would want to know more, instead of being a primitive mind like Sarah Stillson Palin, you might want to begin here, here, here and here - and from there, you may go as deep as you want.
(And be most welcome to my world, as well as that of all cellular and molecular biologists, geneticists, biochemists, etc.)
Feed your mind, eh?
(Cross-posted from APOV)
This morning, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) gave her first policy speech urging the federal government to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), “a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation.” In the speech, Palin cited the need to do more for children with disabilities such as autism:
For many parents of children with disabilities, the most valuable thing of all is information. Early identification of a cognitive or other disorder, especially autism, can make a life-changing difference.
Palin claimed that the amount that Congress spends on earmarks “is more than the shortfall to fully fund IDEA.” She then ridiculed some of the projects — such as “fruit fly research” — saying they have little or no value:
Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? […] You’ve heard about some of these pet projects they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.
Watch it:
So instead, I'll let Dr. P.Z. Myers speak my mind:I am appalled.
This idiot woman, this blind, shortsighted ignoramus, this pretentious clod, mocks basic research and the international research community. You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work? — and countries like France and Germany and England and Canada and China and India and others are all respected participants in these efforts.
Yes, scientists work on fruit flies. Some of the most powerful tools in genetics and molecular biology are available in fruit flies, and these are animals that are particularly amenable to experimentation. Molecular genetics has revealed that humans share key molecules, the basic developmental toolkit, with all other animals, thanks to our shared evolutionary heritage (something else the wackaloon from Wasilla denies), and that we can use these other organisms to probe the fundamental mechanisms that underlie core processes in the formation of the nervous system — precisely the phenomena Palin claims are so important. To be frank, I am far from surprised - because that is how intellectual sloth-afflicted primitive minds think - of which Sarah Stillson Palin constitutes a "fine" example:It never ceases to amaze me to what levels of utter irrationality the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters are willing to descend into.
They lie, they misrepresent, they use decoy arguments and make ad hominem attacks. For them, the use of duplicity, of secrecy, of arguments of (non-existent) conspiracy, of fact (and non-fact) selectivity/cherry-picking, of quacks/fake experts, as well as putting forth logical fallacies, are simply means to an end.
And this "end" is the following: to promulgate, support and defend their beliefs or their ideologies.
Truth be told: these are the only things that truly matter to them.
Why else would they try to censor science, attempt to control it, seek to falsify it or rewrite it, quietly hide it, brazenly deny funding for it, attempt to change its mission/purpose, actually lie about it, use spin games to deny it, go to great lenghts to confuse people about it, attempt to dismiss it as a matter of differing beliefs or philosophies, or go as far as to demonize it?
Why else would they use the politics of fear, ignorance and lies? Now, here's why they do so:(...) the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters are very much alike the people from the allegory of the cave, and somehow made flesh and blood.
They are indeed living in a cave, their backs to the entrance while facing the sunlit cave wall, seeing only shadows of reality. And it is from watching these two-dimensional shadows that they construct myths and stories to comfort themselves - because they not only fear the shadows that they see, but they also fear even more what these shadows represent.
Thus, they find themselves frightened to the deepest levels of their fragile souls by the glorious truth of the multi-dimensional reality in which we live, whenever they get out of their cave. Their intellectual sloth-driven, ignorant and fearful minds simply can not, or flatly refuse, to comprehend it.
That is why their beliefs and ideologies are not only parochial, but adamantly intractable.
Consequently, at the end of each day, the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters return to the safety and comfort of their cave, vowing to say and do everything in order to transform our multi-dimensional reality into the simpler, two-dimensional one made of shadows that they are accustomed to.
Hence, my conclusion is that the fundamentalists, neocons and other right-wing madhaters are the same ignorant, fearful and surperstitious primitives that our ancestors were, thousands upon thousands of years ago - except that they now use newspapers, magazines, television, radio, politics, and the internet, to spread their intellectual sloth-driven non-understanding of the world and, consequently, working hard at bringing us down to their level of ignorance. To which I add: that, coupled to their pathetic inhability to accept - or deal with - reality, along with their typical shameless hypocrisy in trying to justify any and all duplicity on their part in the face of whatever self-deluded moral ground du jour that they claim, make them not only nothing more than primitive minds, but utter incompetent modern human beings as well.
The result is the fierce undercurrent of anti-intellectualism, anti-science and tribalist-racism that bubbles up increasingly to the surface (especially thanks to the recent strategy of the McCain-Palin campaign), despite these modern, scientific and technological times of ours. It's what I've come to call our "Semi-Dark Ages". A few cases in point:Congressman Rohrabacher's Floor Speech on Global Warming: "(Are we to believe) buffalo farts have more socially redeeming value than the same flatulence emitted by cattle?"
Bachmann Calls For McCarthyite Investigation Into Anti-American Activities Of Liberals;
Sarah Palin Says She Open To Teaching Creationism In Public Schools;
Palin Claimed Dinosaurs And People Coexisted;
Palin Explains What Parts Of Country Not "Pro-America";
Bachmann: ‘Not all cultures are equal’;
Palin: Iraq is a task "from God";
Conservatives Call Obama’s Correct Pronounciation Of Pakistan ‘Exotic’ And ‘Annoying’;
Palin Sees America As Wealthy And White: New Hampshire And Alaska Are ‘Microcosms’ Of The Country;
Another McCarthyite Republican: Rep. Robin Hayes says “liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God";
Bachmann tells Pelosi to give up on global warming because Jesus already saved the planet;
McCain: Washington D.C. and NYC = Fake America;
Racism, hate bubble up yet again at Palin's rally in Vegas. Thus I give you primitive mind-thinking at work - and I could go on and on and on with further examples, just for this year alone.
Oh - and the fruit fly thing? Here's but one example of how useful the knowledge of its cellular and molecular biology as a scientific, experimental animal model has lead to a better understanding of human diseases:
Palin did not specify what fruit fly research earmark she was referring to (presumably a grant for olive fruit fly research), but she is apparently unaware that scientific research with fruit flies has led to valuable discoveries that have boosted autism research, as a study at the University of North Carolina demonstrated last year:
[S]cientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that a protein called neurexin is required for ... nerve cell connections to form and function correctly.
The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism.
The study of fruit flies has also been used for other autism research and “revolutionize[d]” the study of birth defects.
Other animal models, such as laboratory mice, are likewise extremely useful in understanding our own genetics, physiology and diseases. Just two cases in point among countless others:First-ever Genetic Animal Model Of Autism;New Treatment Strategy Possible For Muscular Dystrophy, Mouse Studies Show. In case you would want to know more, instead of being a primitive mind like Sarah Stillson Palin, you might want to begin here, here, here and here - and from there, you may go as deep as you want.
(And be most welcome to my world, as well as that of all cellular and molecular biologists, geneticists, biochemists, etc.)
Feed your mind, eh?
(Cross-posted from APOV)
Tuesday
SATRAP SUCCUBUS (Boo!)
A succubus (plural succubi) is a demon who takes the form of a beautiful woman to seduce men, especially monks, in dreams to have sexual intercourse, according to the medieval European legend. Their male counterpart is the incubus. They draw energy from the men to sustain themselves, often until the point of exhaustion or death of the victim.
One such story relates to a man in the town of Coblenz, who has been bewitched by a succubus, with whom he is forced to repeatedly fornicate, whilst in the presence of his wife. The story goes on to say that "after an incredible number of such bouts, the poor man at last sinks to the floor utterly exhausted."
From mythology and fantasy, Lilith and the Lilin (Jewish) and Lilitu (Sumerian) are in redactive Christian fables (folktales not part of official Christian theology), considered succubi.
According to the Malleus Maleficarum, or "Witches' Hammer", written by Heinrich Kramer (Insitoris) in 1486, Succubi would collect semen from the men they slept with, which incubi would then use to impregnate women, thus explaining how demons could apparently sire children in spite of the traditional belief that demons were incapable of reproduction through generative or gestative means. Children so begotten were supposed to be those that were born deformed, or more susceptible to supernatural influences.
In Sri Lanka and other Buddhist cultures the Succubus is named as "Mohini" , where she would wait on the road with a white dress with a baby and ask for men's help.
Etymology
The word is derived from the Latin preposition sub (under), and cubo, which is Latin for "I lie". The word succubo translates as "I lie below".
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage) 
Satrap (Persian: ساتراپ) was the name given to the governors of the provinces of ancient Median and Persian empires, including the Achaemenid Empire and in several of their heirs, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
Satrap is derived from the Old Persian xšaθrapāvā ("protector of the province"), from xšaθra ("realm" or "province") and pāvā ("protector"). In Biblical Hebrew, the word is spelled אֲחַשְׁדַּרְפָּן ahashdarpān (only in the plural אֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנִים ahashdarpenim). In Greek, the word was rendered as σατράπης, satrápēs, and was romanized as satrapes, from the Old Persian xšaθrapā(van)). In modern Persian this would have naturally evolved to شهربان (shahrban). "Sharban", translated from modern Persian, literally means "town keeper";(ﺷﻬﺮ "shar", meaning "town", ﺑﺍﻦ "ban" meaning "keeper"). There is a link, via Sanskrit, to the warrior class of India, the kshatriya.
The word satrap is also often used in modern literature to refer to world leaders or governors who are heavily influenced by larger world superpowers or hegemonies and act as their surrogates.
One such story relates to a man in the town of Coblenz, who has been bewitched by a succubus, with whom he is forced to repeatedly fornicate, whilst in the presence of his wife. The story goes on to say that "after an incredible number of such bouts, the poor man at last sinks to the floor utterly exhausted."
From mythology and fantasy, Lilith and the Lilin (Jewish) and Lilitu (Sumerian) are in redactive Christian fables (folktales not part of official Christian theology), considered succubi.
According to the Malleus Maleficarum, or "Witches' Hammer", written by Heinrich Kramer (Insitoris) in 1486, Succubi would collect semen from the men they slept with, which incubi would then use to impregnate women, thus explaining how demons could apparently sire children in spite of the traditional belief that demons were incapable of reproduction through generative or gestative means. Children so begotten were supposed to be those that were born deformed, or more susceptible to supernatural influences.
In Sri Lanka and other Buddhist cultures the Succubus is named as "Mohini" , where she would wait on the road with a white dress with a baby and ask for men's help.
Etymology
The word is derived from the Latin preposition sub (under), and cubo, which is Latin for "I lie". The word succubo translates as "I lie below".
Satrap (Persian: ساتراپ) was the name given to the governors of the provinces of ancient Median and Persian empires, including the Achaemenid Empire and in several of their heirs, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
Satrap is derived from the Old Persian xšaθrapāvā ("protector of the province"), from xšaθra ("realm" or "province") and pāvā ("protector"). In Biblical Hebrew, the word is spelled אֲחַשְׁדַּרְפָּן ahashdarpān (only in the plural אֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנִים ahashdarpenim). In Greek, the word was rendered as σατράπης, satrápēs, and was romanized as satrapes, from the Old Persian xšaθrapā(van)). In modern Persian this would have naturally evolved to شهربان (shahrban). "Sharban", translated from modern Persian, literally means "town keeper";(ﺷﻬﺮ "shar", meaning "town", ﺑﺍﻦ "ban" meaning "keeper"). There is a link, via Sanskrit, to the warrior class of India, the kshatriya.
The word satrap is also often used in modern literature to refer to world leaders or governors who are heavily influenced by larger world superpowers or hegemonies and act as their surrogates.
Monday
Palin/McCain rally and the "N" word...
This kind of ignorance truly disgusts me.
We had all best hang on tight, the ride's about to get very, very, very bumpy...
We had all best hang on tight, the ride's about to get very, very, very bumpy...
COCO TEA "Barack Obama"
COCO TEA is one of Reggae's most talented and versatile artistes. His smooth, easy-going vocal presentation (pre-recorded or live) have become his trademark, earning him wide international acclaim; with songs like "Lost MY Sonia," "Tune In" and "Rocking Dolly," becoming world anthems in Reggae land.
Admired and respected for his fine conscious recordings, COCO TEA is also known for his unwavering generosity and kindness for the less fortunate.
Born Calvin George Scott on September, 3, 1959, in Rocky Point, Clarendon, he was later schooled at the Savannah Primary school in Rocky Point and the Bustamante Junior Secondary School in Lionel Town Clarendon.
From the exposure gained by singing on church and school choirs, COCO TEA recorded his first song, "Searching In The Hills," in 1974. Only Fourteen years old and having other interests, Calvin had no plans of making music his career. "Searching In The Hills," was far from a financial success. The disappointment was keenly felt by Calvin, and so he took the music business off his mind for a while. (More...)
BARACK OBAMA lyrics...
Why why why why why why oyyy why whyyyy not
Well, this is not about class,
nor color, race, nor creed.
Make no mistake it’s the changes
well all the people dem need
Then I’m a shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Now you can hear it in the morning (Obama!),
And you can hear it in the evening (Obama!),
Black man and white man shouting (Obama!),
Dem hear the groove and them is moving (Obama!).
And you can hear them saying…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
The man let down his hat
And noone can’t stop that
Well some of dem are just smart
And some ah take back dem chant
And some of dem who was racist
jumping and dancing in the street
in a shout of…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
It is not Hillary Clinton (Obama!)
and it is not John McCain (Obama!)
It is not Chuck Norris (Obama!),
And I know it’s not John Wayne (Obama!),
It is not the one Rambo (Obama!),
And it is not the Terminator (Obama!),
But a new trendsetter (Obama!),
The mountain of the whole America
and dem shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
African-American rise…
and keep your eyes on the prize (Obama!),
Cause now none of them realize,
the black man is in their eyes. (Obama!)
Well it’s no joke it’s a fact,
we’re gonna paint the white house black (Obama!),
And I can’t believe it’s true
black gonna run the red, white and blue…
Dem a shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Me callin’ all of the Indians (Obama!),
who live up on the reservation (Obama!),
the Japanese and all the China-men (Obama!),
the Hindu and all the Mexicans (Obama!),
Arabs and Jews and Palestinians (Obama!),
a time ’till we chime up as one,
and shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Shout
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
‘Cause this is not about class (Obama!),
nor color, race, nor creed (Obama!),
but it’s about the changes (Obama!),
what the Americans need (Obama!).
So, whether you come from California (Obama!),
Or you live in Nort’ Dakota (Obama!)
You could have come from Texas (Obama!),
Or you’re living ina Florida
how all ya join this alliance (Obama!)
Now let me hear you stand and shout,
Just shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Shout
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy...
Admired and respected for his fine conscious recordings, COCO TEA is also known for his unwavering generosity and kindness for the less fortunate.
Born Calvin George Scott on September, 3, 1959, in Rocky Point, Clarendon, he was later schooled at the Savannah Primary school in Rocky Point and the Bustamante Junior Secondary School in Lionel Town Clarendon.
From the exposure gained by singing on church and school choirs, COCO TEA recorded his first song, "Searching In The Hills," in 1974. Only Fourteen years old and having other interests, Calvin had no plans of making music his career. "Searching In The Hills," was far from a financial success. The disappointment was keenly felt by Calvin, and so he took the music business off his mind for a while. (More...)
BARACK OBAMA lyrics...
Why why why why why why oyyy why whyyyy not
Well, this is not about class,
nor color, race, nor creed.
Make no mistake it’s the changes
well all the people dem need
Then I’m a shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Now you can hear it in the morning (Obama!),
And you can hear it in the evening (Obama!),
Black man and white man shouting (Obama!),
Dem hear the groove and them is moving (Obama!).
And you can hear them saying…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
The man let down his hat
And noone can’t stop that
Well some of dem are just smart
And some ah take back dem chant
And some of dem who was racist
jumping and dancing in the street
in a shout of…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
It is not Hillary Clinton (Obama!)
and it is not John McCain (Obama!)
It is not Chuck Norris (Obama!),
And I know it’s not John Wayne (Obama!),
It is not the one Rambo (Obama!),
And it is not the Terminator (Obama!),
But a new trendsetter (Obama!),
The mountain of the whole America
and dem shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
African-American rise…
and keep your eyes on the prize (Obama!),
Cause now none of them realize,
the black man is in their eyes. (Obama!)
Well it’s no joke it’s a fact,
we’re gonna paint the white house black (Obama!),
And I can’t believe it’s true
black gonna run the red, white and blue…
Dem a shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Dem said
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Me callin’ all of the Indians (Obama!),
who live up on the reservation (Obama!),
the Japanese and all the China-men (Obama!),
the Hindu and all the Mexicans (Obama!),
Arabs and Jews and Palestinians (Obama!),
a time ’till we chime up as one,
and shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Shout
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
‘Cause this is not about class (Obama!),
nor color, race, nor creed (Obama!),
but it’s about the changes (Obama!),
what the Americans need (Obama!).
So, whether you come from California (Obama!),
Or you live in Nort’ Dakota (Obama!)
You could have come from Texas (Obama!),
Or you’re living ina Florida
how all ya join this alliance (Obama!)
Now let me hear you stand and shout,
Just shout out…
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy
Shout
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Ooyy ooyy...
Sunday
Is A Day Of Reckoning For the Bush/GOP Crime Syndicate Coming
The topic below was originally posted on October 22nd, in the Intrepid Liberal Journal.
A provocative blogger named Gottlieb recently posted a diary entitled "The Reckoning" over at The Wild Wild Left. Among the questions he asks are:
Personally, I'm inclined to demand both and believe it's a matter of will and leverage. Actvists and truth tellers such as the progressive blogosphere must insist on accountability should Obama prevail in November. However, as I wrote on Gottlieb's thread, I don't believe a true reckoning will take place just as Bush and Cheney were never impeached while in office.
Instead, we will be given a choice between promoting progressive policy such as health care reform and infrastructure development or justice. If forced to choose then I pick the economy over frog marching Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. But damn it we shouldn't have to choose. Our country needs accountability for redemption.
A provocative blogger named Gottlieb recently posted a diary entitled "The Reckoning" over at The Wild Wild Left. Among the questions he asks are:
"Will Bush/Cheney get a pass so 'we can all move forward together' or will Obama demand his predecessors face a reckoning for the horror they've perpetrated?
Will Barack Obama prove to be the man he claims or in the tank for the money power?
Does he have the character worthy of the trust of a nation or will he prove just another in a long line of disappointments?"
There were numerous thoughtful responses to Gottlieb's thread. I posted the following comment:
"I don't believe there will be any reckoning. I hope I'm wrong. Rather, I believe upon taking office the system that inhabits the body politic will advise Obama: you can promote your progressive agenda or you can hold people accountable for the past but you won't be able to do both. And since the so-called new order doesn't have clean hands either, most of the Bush-Cheney cabal that have been looting right to the end (Halliburton, the bailout and so on) won't pay a harsh price in proportion to their crimes.
I know both Obama and Biden have suggested otherwise in their public comments. And I very much hope that a reckoning of justice takes place with convictions and jail time. But it won't. The law catches up to OJ but it won't really catch up to Bush, Cheney, or most of their cabal. Some collateral damage perhaps such as Abramoff or Scooter Libby but a wholesale reckoning won't happen.
Remember Ollie North? He ultimately got rich over Iran-Contra."
So what do readers here think about a so-called day of reckoning for the Bush crime syndicate? Are you expecting one? Do you believe the body politic can support the pursuit of justice against the criminal perpertrators of the Bush years as well as health care?Personally, I'm inclined to demand both and believe it's a matter of will and leverage. Actvists and truth tellers such as the progressive blogosphere must insist on accountability should Obama prevail in November. However, as I wrote on Gottlieb's thread, I don't believe a true reckoning will take place just as Bush and Cheney were never impeached while in office.
Instead, we will be given a choice between promoting progressive policy such as health care reform and infrastructure development or justice. If forced to choose then I pick the economy over frog marching Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. But damn it we shouldn't have to choose. Our country needs accountability for redemption.
Are you "IN"? Blog Blast for Peace is November 6
Twice a year in June and November all over the blogosphere and around the world, we bloggers try to nudge the world just a little with a few words. The words are "Dona Nobis Pacem" - Grant Us Peace. These words have no party, no political stance, no sides taken, just one ardent wish for the whole of humanity: Dona Nobis Pacem.
The Peace Globe project began in the fall of 2006 with a simple post from one blog, Mimi Writes. The post ignited a flame in the blogosphere. The flame became a passion. The passion became a movement. It amazingly traveled from blog to blog to blog across the globe. Bloggers wrote passionate articles on what peace means to them, along with the promise of three Latin words scribbled on a globe - Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace) - branded with the integrity of their names or blog names. It was positively inspiring to watch. And it began to happen all over the world - from Singapore to China to Afghanistan to Brooklyn.
It was simple. And powerful.
In less than three weeks bloggers from all across the globe will blog for peace. We will speak with one voice. One subject. One day.
Won't you join us? November 6, 2008
Register your participation. Click below for the directions.
1. Right CLICK and SAVE the peace globe at the top of this post or choose from other designs here.
2. Sign the globe using Paint, Photoshop or a similar graphics tool. Decorate the globe anyway you wish. You can even include the name of your blog. Click here for hundreds of inspiring examples from previous BlogBlasts.
3. Return the peace globe to Mimi via email to mimiwrites2005@yahoo.com - Register your blog's name and url by leaving a comment and signing the Mr. Linky. Your submission will be numbered and dated in the official gallery . Your globe and post will be listed on the Official BlogBlast For Peace website and The Peace Globe Posts page.
Here's the most important part.
4. On November 6, 2008 DISPLAY YOUR GLOBE IN A POST on your blog. Title your post "Dona Nobis Pacem". This is important. The goal is for all blog post titles to say the same thing on the same day. Write about peace or simply fly your globe.
Take this step for peace.
Saturday
Saturday Sonata XVI: Going to Sonora
Hey y'all, LT here with Saturday Sonata number 16. I'm off to the airport shortly, heading to Los Angeles, then driving to Sonora and the Sea of Cortez. Woo hoo! Here's a video I found of a and called Pi Zeyne playing live outside in Hermosillo. Pretty trippy stuff.
Expand the post +/-
And a bonus, from Cake:
And a bonus, from Cake:
Les Barack
Do not miss this video!
Les Misérables (pronounced: /le miːzeʁabl(ə); translated variously from French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims) (1862) is a novel by French author Victor Hugo, and among the best-known novels of the 19th century. It follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a twenty year period in the early 19th century that starts in the year of Napoleon's final defeat. Principally focusing on the struggles of the protagonist—ex-convict Jean Valjean—who seeks to redeem himself, the novel also examines the impact of Valjean's actions for the sake of social commentary. It examines the nature of good, evil, and the law, in a sweeping story that expounds upon the history of France, architecture of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, law, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables is known to many through its numerous stage and screen adaptations, of which the most famous is the stage musical of the same name, sometimes abbreviated "Les Mis" or "Les Miz" (pronounced /leɪ ˈmɪz/). (Wikipedia- Les Miserables)I must thank NonnyMouse over at Crooks and Liars for the find.
Friday
In the midst of all the traumatic transformations happening on a global scale...
As the ruling families continue to pursue their agendas to the detriment of us all, I ground and remember...
I remain a humaaan beast who runs on passion, heart and soul as much as I function on an intellectual and critical level.
The combination has saved my life time and time again. It drives me and fuels my passion for justice and for change.
Bear with me...
My daughter's school has a professional development day today. So she's off. We're having a lunch and movie gathering for her and some of her friends. I'll be posting later than usual today. But I'll be back to drop some stuff after the six year old generated smoke clears. :)
The Claret Dress
The shifting woman,
posh high heeled shoes,
a lavish claret dress,
femme chameleon
speaking to the peasants
who gaze upon her visage
only wanting to hear truth
and witness the light of liberty.
She speaks in her common voice,
her maternal voice,
trying to conjure their hope.
The shifting woman winks,
Alters her sweetened words,
Moves and pivots
her familiar stance.
“Tell me I am beautiful”
she pleads. The peasants
have turned away.
“Look upon me as you did!”
she shrieks to the fading horde
as if her voice were an instrument
of divine certainty.
posh high heeled shoes,
a lavish claret dress,
femme chameleon
speaking to the peasants
who gaze upon her visage
only wanting to hear truth
and witness the light of liberty.
She speaks in her common voice,
her maternal voice,
trying to conjure their hope.
The shifting woman winks,
Alters her sweetened words,
Moves and pivots
her familiar stance.
“Tell me I am beautiful”
she pleads. The peasants
have turned away.
“Look upon me as you did!”
she shrieks to the fading horde
as if her voice were an instrument
of divine certainty.
Thursday
ROVE, "THE ARCHITECT TO NOWHERE"
I saw this video on Crooks and Liars and just had to share it for those who may have missed it...
Rove, after a citizen attempts to arrest him by cuffing his hands and after several other protesters are tossed out, gets owned by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.
Rove, after a citizen attempts to arrest him by cuffing his hands and after several other protesters are tossed out, gets owned by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.
(2:15)
Wednesday
Marching Straight Towards Authoritarianism
Whenever a civilian government either outsources its responsibilities in matters domestic and/or foreign affairs, whether to corporations, security agencies and/or the military, then it is safe to say that it is the beginning of the end of democratic governance - ultimately leading to authoritarian corporatocracy, security state and/or military junta ... or all of the above, also known as fascism.
In addition to the overwhelming assaults on the U.S. constitution, civil rights and human rights (i.e. military commissions, indiscriminate domestic spying, security sweep pre-emptive arrests, renditions, indefinite detentions, torture, etc.), including outsourcing of security and war efforts (Blackwater, anyone?), the U.S. government is now letting go of some of its people-empowered roles in diplomacy and foreign affairs. To whit:
However, I would amend this truism to include security agencies alongside the military.
For indeed, remember this, as but one example? (emphasis added)
Same thing with regards to human rights overall - whereby too many folks out there actually approve of the use of torture.
What we are now witnessing is the gradual deferment of responsibilities of our governments towards security agencies and the military - with the same mind set of needing to feel secure, which in turn has elevated security and military entities as preeminent Saviors in which We Trust implicitly.
Even for law and order enforcement (meaning: martial law by any other way).
All aided, abetted and amplified by the all-too-eager, gung ho, subservient, approving, supportive, enthusiastic, complicit, propagandist, media.
Indeed, a sickening worship of all things authoritarian and/or military was gleefully on display at the RNC last September (for instance, whether it was about McCain, his wife or Palin, it was inevitably emphasised that either they have served, have as son currently serving and/or had a parent/grandparent who served during WWI, WWII or some othe conflict - the message being that they are from a "strong" bloodline of military service).
The DNC likewise delved into this theme, albeit to a much lesser extent - nevertheless, that a past parent of Obama served and Biden's son being deployed to Iraq were emphasised as well.
That is creeping and already well entrenched militarism for you - case in point:
Once again - it all goes back to the fact that Americans and Canadians are sill gripped by the all-encompassing fear of terrorism - which is used whenever convenient to further push more authoritarian security measures, increased militarization/military interventionism, or simply to win elections.
History has clearly shown that fear-driven radical interpretations of the separation of powers within a republic, or any democracy, along with the slow erosion of the rule of constitutional law and the clamor for a single strong and powerful leader in times of crises, have lead to the downfall and de facto end of said republics/democracies - the fall of the Roman republic constituting an obvious, ancient example.
In other words:
As the saying goes - one must remember and understand history in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
It remains to be established whether we, Americans and Canadians alike, will stand up for our constitutions, our democracy-based societies, or let fear and paranoia sweep them away in lieu of authoritarianism - as we keep allowing our elected representatives to defer their entrusted powers and responsibilities to security agencies and the military.
We better wake up before it is too little, too late ...
(Cross-posted from APOV)
"It's about separation of power and having the military subordinate to civilian policymakers rather than the other way around" - Cernig is spot on with this reminder.(...) when did a four star general get handed the authority to act as if he were Secretary of State?
The WaPo reports that:
Gen. David H. Petraeus has launched a major reassessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the surrounding region, while warning that the lack of development and the spiraling violence in Afghanistan will probably make it "the longest campaign of the long war."
The 100-day assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, a region in which Petraeus will oversee the operations of more than 200,000 American troops as the new head of U.S. Central Command, beginning Oct. 31.
The review will formally begin next month, but experts and military officials involved said Petraeus is already focused on at least two major themes: government-led reconciliation of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the leveraging of diplomatic and economic initiatives with nearby countries that are influential in the war.
All of this seems like a good idea to me. But, crucially, neither of those themes are military ones and the military shouldn't be leading the way on them. It's about separation of power and having the military subordinate to civilian policymakers rather than the other way around.
So where are the US ambassador, State Dept. and Condi Rice, who should be leading the way on them while the military man concentrates on military matters? For that matter, won't the leaders of other nations involved in the region wonder why America has appointed a de facto proconsul (again) and want their say?
Perhaps most worrying of all, Petraus' mini foreign policy is being described as "a policy bridge from one administration to the next" by one of his team members, Clare Lockhart, co-founder of the New York-based Institute for State Effectiveness along with former Afghan finance minister Ashraf Ghani."When you look at a lot of these problems, you see considerable regional connections," Petraeus said yesterday. The effort would embrace all of Afghanistan's neighbors and possibly extend to India, which has had a long-standing rivalry with Pakistan. "There may be opportunities with respect to India," he said.
An overview of the review team's mission obtained by The Post says that including other government agencies and other nations in the planning will "mitigate the risk of over-militarization of efforts and the development of short-term solutions to long-term problems."
Nevertheless, some experts questioned whether Petraeus will have the authority to carry out such a sweeping strategy.
"General Petraeus is not in charge of our diplomacy. He can't decide whether we try to form an international contacts group on Pakistan," said Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University.
Moreover, in dealing with Afghanistan at Central Command, Petraeus will face limitations that he did not encounter as the top commander in Iraq, such as the lack of a unified military command and serious resource shortages.
"We don't own it. It's been a NATO effort since 2006. He won't have the same sway with Karzai and the ambassadors and a bunch of other people that he had in Iraq," said a former senior military official with experience in Afghanistan.
However, I would amend this truism to include security agencies alongside the military.
For indeed, remember this, as but one example? (emphasis added)
Canada's spy agency has the green light to meet with Canadians detained abroad (as apart of a national security or terrorism case) before (Foreign Affairs) consular officials do when there are "urgent national security or terrorism-related considerations," says a newly disclosed federal agreement.Which made me conclude the following (emphasis added):
In effect, Foreign Affairs will leave it up entirely to CSIS to make its own call - and defer to it.After 9/11, we have witnessed a gradual encroachment of security measures which have been eroding our rights of freedom and privacy - all the while either applauding such measures, or remaining indifferent to them, because They. Make. Us. Feel. Safe.
Without any outside oversight whatsoever.
Plain and simple.
(...) This is how your Security State fully awakens, folks: when a country's secret security agency is given the power of life and death, of freedom and detention, over its citizens and whose judgement prevails over constitutional, civilian institutions supposedly mandated to deal in such matters.
Same thing with regards to human rights overall - whereby too many folks out there actually approve of the use of torture.
What we are now witnessing is the gradual deferment of responsibilities of our governments towards security agencies and the military - with the same mind set of needing to feel secure, which in turn has elevated security and military entities as preeminent Saviors in which We Trust implicitly.
Even for law and order enforcement (meaning: martial law by any other way).
All aided, abetted and amplified by the all-too-eager, gung ho, subservient, approving, supportive, enthusiastic, complicit, propagandist, media.
Indeed, a sickening worship of all things authoritarian and/or military was gleefully on display at the RNC last September (for instance, whether it was about McCain, his wife or Palin, it was inevitably emphasised that either they have served, have as son currently serving and/or had a parent/grandparent who served during WWI, WWII or some othe conflict - the message being that they are from a "strong" bloodline of military service).
The DNC likewise delved into this theme, albeit to a much lesser extent - nevertheless, that a past parent of Obama served and Biden's son being deployed to Iraq were emphasised as well.
That is creeping and already well entrenched militarism for you - case in point:
Punditman likewise expressed herein his concerns last year over the same phenomenon apparently slowly sinking into Canada's own consciousness:If I could be granted one small wish about our political discourse, it would be that reporters and pundits would accept -- as disappointing and unglorious as it is -- that, under our Constitution and basic government design, people who aren't in the military don't have a "Commander-in-Chief." The President isn't your "commander," and the "Commander-in-Chief" power, now synonymous in our political culture with "President," is actually extremely limited (Art. II, Sec. 2: "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States").
This endless festishization of "President as Our Commander-in-Chief" is one of those small but pernicious reflections of how militarized we've become, of how we are a society in a state of perpetual and endless war.
Wearing camouflage used to signify one of two things: the person was either in the armed forces or was setting out on a different sort of mission that involved drinking tons of beer and killing furry creatures in a forest somewhere. But nowadays, the whole idea of hunting (humans or animals, that is), has been demoted by those who dress like G.I. Joe just because they are out hunting for a latte or an Ipod.And that is without considering Harper's own drive to militarize Canada further. Peacekeeping? We Canadians apparently don't do that anymore:
Grow a brain, people. This is all about the militarization of our culture.
(...) Along with camouflage, Canada is now beset by an overabundance of “Support Our Troops” ribbons, t-shirts, bracelets and mugs. You can’t go anywhere without seeing the telltale yellow ribbon on cars. Come to think of it, some are camouflaged. It is high time that the elephant in the room is asked the obvious question that polite Canadians would rather avoid: What does “Support Our Troops” really mean?
Those who decorate their vehicles thusly would have us believe that the decals are politically neutral symbols of support for soldiers overseas. This is nonsense and they know it. The intended audience are those of us who forego yellow ribbons. If you think about it, the phrase “Support Our Troops” is sort of bossy, like a drill sargent’s snarl. This is known in grammatical circles as the “imperative mood.” Therefore the directive to “Support Our Troops” comes off like an order, but with a somewhat fuzzy meaning: What exactly am I supposed to do? Buy a ribbon, I guess.
Yet the context is obvious. This is all about the Afghan War and nothing else. The yellow ribbon campaign has succeeded in convincing at least eighteen Canadian municipal and local governments to affix the decals to police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, buses and other municipal vehicles. Since this is all public property, this is a divisive move, not an inclusive one. Why this cause, but no others? Why not “Support Our Cancer Patients” or “Support Our Single Moms”? Are they less worthy?
(...) One may well ask: where should Canada’s foreign policy priorities be right now? Tied down in Afghanistan, begging NATO allies for more help in what looks more and more like an intractable military stalemate? Or, working through diplomatic channels to try to prevent a global conflagration between the US and Iran that could even go nuclear?
It’s time to ditch the camouflage and put on your thinking caps.
(...) Rwanda was there, desperately needing help to prevent a genocide. Dallaire even knew what to do. But the rest of the world, Canada's government included, opted to do nothing. They let "traditional peacekeeping" fail in a grand and horrible way, with 800 000 dead, so they could pretend that "traditional peacekeeping" was itself dead.Indeed - for only through military might may one country be taken seriously.
And now the Canadian Press is helping them with this pretence. And at the end of article they're going to lament how little we trust journalists.
Referring to failed Bosnia-Serbia intervention, the article continues:That frustrating experience shaped the attitude of a generation of soldiers, who were eager to shed the United Nations blue beret, which they saw as a symbol of weakness and indecision.
Really? The soldiers saw it as a sign of weakness? Who is writing this article? Where is the survey that demonstrates this? Is this the infantry or the military brass? Besides which, it doesn't matter what the soldiers think. It is the civilian population that selects the missions. If those enrolled don't like peacekeeping, they don't have to stay enrolled.Yet the public clings to the romanticized notion of brave soldiers standing between belligerents.
Yeah. We stupid, ignorant Canadians have these stupid, romantic morals and values. God, we're so fricking naive, aren't we?
(...) The fact is that Canadians should be in charge of what their military is doing. At this time, we are not. The Liberals failed to steer the military in to the post Cold War peacekeeping force that we wanted. The Conservatives are taking that military force and using it aggressively.
Once again - it all goes back to the fact that Americans and Canadians are sill gripped by the all-encompassing fear of terrorism - which is used whenever convenient to further push more authoritarian security measures, increased militarization/military interventionism, or simply to win elections.
History has clearly shown that fear-driven radical interpretations of the separation of powers within a republic, or any democracy, along with the slow erosion of the rule of constitutional law and the clamor for a single strong and powerful leader in times of crises, have lead to the downfall and de facto end of said republics/democracies - the fall of the Roman republic constituting an obvious, ancient example.
In other words:
Fear + Need for security + Erosion of the rule of Law + Religious fundamentalism + Militarism + Intolerance for opposing/dissenting opinions and beliefs + Calls for a strong and powerful leader = A democracy facing possible overthrow in favor of despotism.And this little reminder of the 10 steps towards fascism:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy;All the necessary tools are already on hand.
2. Create a gulag;
3. Develop a thug caste;
4. Set up an internal surveillance system;
5. Harass citizens' groups;
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release;
7. Target key individuals;
8. Control the press;
9. Dissent equals treason;
and 10. Suspend the rule of law.
As the saying goes - one must remember and understand history in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
It remains to be established whether we, Americans and Canadians alike, will stand up for our constitutions, our democracy-based societies, or let fear and paranoia sweep them away in lieu of authoritarianism - as we keep allowing our elected representatives to defer their entrusted powers and responsibilities to security agencies and the military.
We better wake up before it is too little, too late ...
(Cross-posted from APOV)
ANOTHER AMERCIAN GOTHIC
'American Gothic': A Man, a Woman and a Pitchfork
By JEANINE BASINGER
Published: July 10, 2005
When Steven Biel followed Route 16 (the ''American Gothic Parkway'') out of Eldon, Iowa, onto American Gothic Street to visit the source of his subject -- Grant Wood's painting -- it ''didn't occur'' to him at first to look at the house ''anywhere but straight on.'' Experiencing the power of the three-dimensional, however, made him suddenly realize ''there is a backside to the house.'' He ran around behind for a naughty peek and made the anticlimactic cultural discovery of a clothesline, a screened porch, some patio furniture and an air-conditioning compressor. Biel later understood he had discovered more than the clothesline. He had found the inspiration to obtain a full perspective on how Wood's ''American Gothic'' evolved from iconoclasm to icon to parody. Biel documents the process and speculates about how it happened, ultimately claiming that ''American Gothic'' ranks in importance as a recognizable national emblem alongside the flag, the eagle and the Statue of Liberty. He writes with wit and broad knowledge; reading his extended essay is like hearing a good friend hold forth in pleasant conversation on a lazy summer afternoon.
''American Gothic'' was born in August 1930, as Biel recounts, when Wood, a native Iowan, spotted the house he would make famous and decided to use it in a pencil sketch for a painting he planned to enter in the Art Institute of Chicago's 43rd annual exhibition. The small structure was a perfect example of Midwestern steamboat Gothic architecture, and Wood thought it would be a suitable background for a portrait of two people, a woman and a man holding a rake. He recruited his sister to be the woman and the local dentist to play the man. (He painted them separately. They never posed side by side.) He sent to Chicago for the man's overalls and woman's apron, decided a pitchfork would look better than a rake, added his mother's cameo to the woman's outfit and finished his painting.
After he sent it to Chicago, history was almost not made. Narrowly escaping preliminary elimination, Wood's painting was eventually awarded third prize and $300. At that point, ''American Gothic,'' with its bronze medal, could logically have been expected to disappear. Instead it began the journey Biel chronicles, from potential cliché to national symbol. (More...)
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MNN. Oct. 30, 2008. Nathan Wright of the Assembly of First Nations AFN is the liaison with the Ontario Provincial Police OPP. He was told about the unarmed peaceful opposition to this jail being built in Tyendinaga. The OPP were waiting nearby to be called in. “That’s news to me”, he said. He didn’t know the OPP had ”made themselves visible”. What did he mean by this? Who called in the invading “aboriginal” police from Moraviantown, Walpole Island, Akwesasne and elsewhere?
Tyendinaga Band Council Chief, R. Don Maracle, was at the demonstration until noon and then left for lunch, leaving the truckers behind. The multi-million dollar portable modular mega-prison was still on the trucks. Who needs a prison when many Mohawks have been waiting years for decent housing and clean water? They built a huge fire at the entrance to the site, cooked and served everybody some food, including the truckers. Then the truckers left.
Canada sent in what looked like a colonial invading army? If you blinked your eyes, you would have thought you were in the Middle East. The U.S. set up governments in Iraq similar to the “band” and “tribal” councils on Turtle Island whose goal is to “municipalize” and assimilate us. In Iraq they created local armies to protect these U.S. puppets. People were recruited and trained to terrorize their own communities. This is common totalitarian practice.
The RCMP and OPP have both indicated they do not have jurisdiction in at least two Mohawk communities, Akwesasne and Kahnawake. They operate behind a “smoke screen”. They use “aboriginal police” to do their dirty work. The aboriginal police have managed to sow seeds of suspicion and conflict in Ongwehonwe communities.
On October 23 2008 Prothonotary Mireille Tabib of the Federal Court of Canada ordered that Mohawk women, Kahentinetha and Katenies, who live in Kahnawake and Akwesasne, are not “Canadian residents”! Therefore, they must pay the crown’s expenses to defend itself from charges of assaulting and attempting to murder them at the Cornwall border check point on June 14, 2008.
We know that we Ongwehonwe are not Canadians or part of that foreign colony. They swear allegiance to THE QUEEN and came here to squat on our land. They have no jurisdiction over us, our possessions or our territories. They have no right to attack us, beat us up and try to kill us, not under our law which is the law of the land [Kaianereh’ko:wa], or under the international accords they have signed, or even under Canadian law.
If we are not careful Canada could try to turn Tabib’s Order calling us “non-residents” as a pretext to imprison us in our communities or expel us from our land to who knows where. They may want to illegally limit our country to our communities, rather than recognizing our title to the whole of Onowaregeh, Turtle Island, which we never and cannot gave up.
Canada and the establishment are always trying to create situations to attack us for resisting their colonial incursions. They have a whole bag of dirty tricks. One is to lay fake charges so they can impose conditions on us for years. When they have to prove their case, they drop the charges. Demonizing us in the media is part of it, calling us terrorists, smugglers and deviates. It’s meant to lull the public so they won’t object to the brutal, obscene and illegal attacks on us.
Where does the mid-community jail fit in? The risk is that Canada and the U.S. are setting up a Gitmo “no man’s land” jail system where Indigenous people will be taken to be jailed or tortured under no one’s scrutiny. The indigenous incarceration rate can be camouflaged by excluding the figures on those of us who are jailed on “reserves”. Is Canada going to pass martial law in Indian country? The scheme isn’t original. It’s already being done in Australia where some Aborigine communities are being run by the army.
Is there discussion going on right now about setting up “death squads”??? Don’t kid yourself. These armed groups kill civilians, mostly in secret, conduct extra judicial assassinations, killings and disappearances. They are associated with political repression, dictatorships and totalitarianism supported by colonial states. They could be “official” government units like the aboriginal police. Who are these non-natives in the aboriginal police forces? Squads may also be those organized vigilantes who are being sent into our communities.
On a “WATCH LIST” are youth, employment, social and community organizations which are infiltrated. Retired military officers, off duty police, strangers, “distant cousins” or imposters are sent in to exert influence.
The “SPOTTERS” are sent in as “subversives” who are fighting against drugs as a pretext, for example. They penetrate communities and assess the security needed to keep it under control. They collect names of those to be watched, imprisoned, tortured and executed such as traditionalists, political leaders, journalists or community workers. Traditionalists are called “extremists”.
Canada may be trying to set up these units within indigenous communities. Of course, the suckers who fall for this won’t be told what they’re doing. They’ll be manipulated into believing they are defending “law and order” and “protecting democracy”. Their extravagant pay is not guilt money .. they think they’re worth it! It’s a real trap for young, confused and weak-minded people.
As Secretary Rumsfeld said about U.S. trained Iraqi death squads, “The U.S. doesn’t have a responsibility to do anything about the crimes of the police forces it established and trained. Only to report it.”
Chief R. Don Maracle said that the prison is for “outsiders with criminal records”. This smacks of death squad mentality.
The state’s targets are predominantly young males, women and children. In Canada over 3000 young Ongwehonwe women have been “disappeared”.
We did not have police or jails. Social control is needed in all communities. When we were dependant on each other, elders and group opinions kept our communities in balance.
The settlers stole our hunting grounds, crowding us into small patches. Now they want this.
Settler societies need police to control the many deranged personalities without family and social ties that their society produces. The state has become the major instrument for assault, theft and murder of our people. Lest we forget, RCMP carried out the genocide, took our children to residential schools, protected the land grabbers and jailed our young men who tried to defend us. If they attack us, try to kill us and steal our children, they have a responsibility to investigate, charge, deter and protect us from them. They aren’t doing this. So what’s their purpose?
We are told the colonial ideal is that the police protect society. Some of the worst hoodlums we Ongwehonwe have to deal with are the cops themselves. It’s becoming harder to tell the difference between the cops and the thugs they are supposed to protect us from who are coming at us from every direction. Is this Berlin 1940?
It’s heavy. It’s no coincidence that the murder attempt on kahentinetha and katenies was by uniformed officers of the colonial state. It’s no coincidence that this story was not in the mainstream media. It’s no coincidence they want to build prisons in our communities.
Iako’ha:kowa & MNN Staff - Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com Eagle Watch, Sharbot Lake kittoh@storm.ca; katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
Something’s going on. The actions of the bureaucrats/agents need to be measured in public against the standards of legality that Canada has signed onto at the UN. Some of the players who need to be investigated and unmasked seem to be:
- High up – Chantal “Who-Has-a-Dirty-Hand-in-Everything” Bernier chantal.bernier@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca;
- Margaret “Trying-to-Suck-Every-Last-Drop-of-Indian-Blood-Now-Wants-Her-Fangs-in-Tyendinaga-Mohawks” Bloodworth, “National Security Advisor” to Prime Minister, Margaret.bloodworth@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca, 613-957-5466;
Indian Affairs sewer rats
- Walter “Whose-Billy-Club-Has-Been-Taken-Away” Walling, wallingw@ainc-inac.gc.ca; Christian “Anti-Christ” Rouleau, rouleau.c@ainc-inac.gc.ca;
- Andre “Turn” Cote, cote.a@ainc-inac.gc.ca;
- Stuart “Swan-Song” Swanson, swanson.s@ainc-inac.gc.ca;
- Paul ”The-White-Man” Leblanc, leblanc.p@ainc-inac.gc.ca;
- Zuwena “Squeal” Robidas, Indian Affairs mouthpiece, zuwena.robidas@pspec-sppcc.gc.ca 613-993-2596;
- Helene “Parrot” Philippe, another Indian Affairs mouthpiece, philippe.h@ainc-inac.gc.ca;
- David “Economic-Hit-Man” Hillman, DG Econ. Dev. david.hallman@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca 819-953-0517;
More Emergency Preparedness creeps
- Jean “Lapse-of-Selected-Memory” Chartrand, jean.chartrand@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca 613-990-8470;
- Denise “Who-was-in-there-like-a-dirty-shirt” Charron, denise.charron@spepc-sppcc.gc.ca 613-991-1694;
Other excreta of the crown
- Yvan “Who-Maintains-Toilet-Supplies” Dery, for the Privy Council Office ydery@pco-bcp.gc.ca;
- Gilles “Pig-Shop-Keeper” Rochon, Aboriginal Policing, gilles.rochon@psepc.gc.ca 613-990-2666;
- Emanuel “Little-Lamb” Chabot, emmanuel.chabot@psept-sppcc.gc.ca 613-990-4353;
- “Slippery” Jim Beaver jim.beaver@pspec-sppcc.gc.ca;
- Peter “Flat-Foot” Fisher, Police Services PSEPC fax 613-991-0961;
- Louise “Who-Doesn’t-Know-the-Half-of-It” Savage louise.savage@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca;
- Sylvia “Ambulance Chaser” McKenzie, Justice Canada sylvia.mackenzie@sppcc-psept.gc.ca 613-998-3952;
- Annik “The-Squeak” Pelletier, Justice Canada apelleti@justice.gc.ca;
- Louis-Alexandre “Who-Sits-on-a-Very-High-Chair” Guay, Justice, lguay@justice.gc.ca;
- Phil Fontaine AFN reception@afn.ca;
- Brad Duguid, Ontario Minister Aboriginal Affairs bduguid.mpp@liberal.ola.org;
- Angus Toulouse AFN Ontario Region 807-626-9339 Fax 807-626-9404 kathleen@coo.org
Give a piece of your mind to: GG Michaelle jean info@gg.ca; Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, Fax 613-941-6900 pm@pm.gc.ca; Chuckie “Baby” Strahl, Indian Affairs Minister, 819-997-0002, Fax 819-953-4941 strahl.c@parl.gc.ca; Prothonotary Mireille Tabib, Federal Court of Canada 613-992-4238 Fax 613-952-3653; Chief R. Don “Warden-Wanna-Be” Maracle Mohawks of Bay of Quinte 613-396-3424 extension 106, Email: reception@mbq-tmt-org Fax 613-396-3627, 613-396-3089, Cell 613-391-9249 RDONM@MBQ-TMT.ORG info@mbq-tmt.org ; Superintendent & Commander, Smiths Falls, OPP Eastern Regional Headquarters 613-284-4500 fax 613-284-4597, L.G. “Who-Wants-to-Help-Set-Up-a-Feeder-of-Young-Offenders-into-the-Big-Pens-for-the-Old-Long-Termers” Beechey;
To help, please contact the Rotiskenekete: 613-391-4055, 613-813-4053,
Friends, allies and supporters: Call 613-813-1017, email wasoonde3232@aol.com
Go to MNN “Tyendinaga” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois
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