Ghaffar Khan Society

Ralph Nader Responds to Obama's State of the Union Address

2012-01-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

"He Says One Thing and Does Another": Ralph Nader Responds to Obama's State of the Union Address

The Logic of History?

2012-01-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

Would that there were a logic to history! Instead, as Schopenhauer taught, there is Wille (brute, wanton, grasping, desire) and, thankfully, Vorstellung (the ability to envision).

Using Vorstellung, we can "discern" distinct patterns in human behavior through time--because human beings appear to have a woefully limited repertoire of action and imagination.

If we pay attention to these patterns (i.e., study history) we discover that there are ways to channel Wille to positive ends--but it takes vision. We know this; we've seen it in action. Great spirits rise up and dream generous, life-affirming dreams. In trying to implement those dreams they provide us a temporary respite--a "Sabbath" as it were. Then the forces of Wille re-group and Dreamland is, once again, laid to waste. The darkness descends; but there are always sparks, here and there, to light our way.

The only thing to do is to stay close to the sparks. And once in a while, if the opportunity presents itself, to leave some obstacle, some debris in the way of Wille.

The best way to do this--as we learn from Etienne de la Boetie's Discourse of Voluntary Servitude--is simply non-cooperation. The problem is that this takes a great deal of self-discipline. And it can be dangerous. Discretion is always the better part of valor.

In the immortal words of Bruce Springsteen:

Badlands/You've gotta live it every day/Let the broken hearts stand/As the price you gotta pay/Keep movin' till its understood/And these Badlands start treatin' us good...

The desire to escape the same dull round, to believe that the cycle has been broken and we are heading into a New Age, can be overwhelming at times; but we must not kid ourselves: if we are fortunate, we will experience from time to time what Schopenhauer termed a "Sabbath of the Willing." In those moments of respite when "these Badlands start treating us good," we should not hesitate to relax and celebrate. But we should also always remember to "keep our powder dry"--for the anti-life forces of reaction are ever present and threatening.

Martin, Malcolm, and Mao

2012-01-17T08:17:00.000-08:00

"Not to have a correct political point of view is like having no soul." Mao Tsetung

When I was in Leiden in 2006, I thought I saw signs of a new "european" youth culture that was ethnically diverse, culturally globalizing, and anxious to shake off the insularity of the past. But then there were reports of the return of fascism and xenophobia redux. The subsequent financial collapse might be just the thing the rising generation needs to convince it that their parents have had their heads up their collective arses and that it is time to strike out in a new direction. Then again, there's nothing like economic hardship to encourage a circling of the wagons...

Here in the land of the free, the self-delusion seems to thicken by the minute. Obama is a fraud--like everyone else in his party--and the Republicans are quite literally insane. And since there is no alternative available in the so-called democratic system, there is nowhere for people to go. The "occupy" movement seems to have lost whatever momentum it might have had. As Herbert Hoover said after using troops to crush a protest of WWI vets looking for promised benefits: "Thank God we still have a government in Washington that knows how to deal with a mob."

Hoover was succeeded by FDR. The invisible Whitmanian republic had a chance to blossom, but then FDR caved to the militarists after Pearl Harbor and the corporatocracy picked up where it left off after WWI. Since then, we've been off to the races. Pockets of disaffection won't stop the juggernaut; collective action probably won't either, but it might slow it down. One problem that we face is that we lack visionaries willing to risk all--like Malcolm X and MLK. But there is another, deeper problem:

"If we tried to go on the offensive when the masses are not yet awakened, that would be adventurism. If we insisted on leading the masses to do anything against their will, we would certainly fail...Commandism is wrong in any type of work, because in overstepping the level of political consciousness of the masses and violating the principle of voluntary mass action it reflects the disease of impetuosity." Mao Tsetung.

Mao was a virtuoso when it came to reading the will of the Chinese people but, in the end, success spoiled him; he contracted the disease of impetuosity and gave in to Commandism. He was a revolutionary Marxist, not a Whitmanian republican or Tolstoyan anarchist.

I suspect that it will be generations before a critical mass of the awakened will be moved to collective action on a scale that will reveal the reactionaries for the paper tigers that they are. But, until then, we live in hope.

MLK Day: A National Day of Atonement

2012-01-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

SPECIAL: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in His Own Words

The Mass Incarceration of Black America

2012-01-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

On Eve of MLK Day, Michelle Alexander & Randall Robinson on the Mass Incarceration of Black America

Some News Just Leaves Me Speechless

2012-01-12T18:07:00.000-08:00

A Path to War? Assassination of Iran Nuclear Scientist, New Sanctions Strain U.S.-Iran Relations

The Die Is Cast

2012-01-05T22:10:00.000-08:00

The scaffolding of an American police state

Happy Nothing New Year!

2012-01-01T16:33:00.000-08:00

Slavoj Zizek: Capitalism with Asian values - Talk to Al Jazeera - Al Jazeera English

Obama’s global Murder, Inc.

2011-12-29T07:31:00.000-08:00

Out-Bushing Bush, one murder at a time...

Obama’s global Murder, Inc.

Just War Theory

2011-12-27T14:45:00.000-08:00

In the 21st century, "Just War Theory" is, in a word, irrelevant. Even if we were to stipulate, for the sake of argument, that, in theory, a war could be "just," the conditions at the present time make such a theory untenable in practice. The problem is now (and, in my view, has always been) the profit motive. Profit achieved by means of fair and equitable trade is one thing; profit achieved by armed robbery is quite another.

War is big business. Arguments about "just war" are nothing but "language on holiday" as Wittgenstein would say.

The Equation of Those Who Get It...

2011-12-26T11:09:00.000-08:00

Poem By William Heyen

2011-12-19T13:49:00.001-08:00

Written about the First Gulf War:

13. (Conventions)

"This might be an oxymoron," says (I swear) a Pentagon spokesman
beginning to whine, "but why can’t we have a civilized war?"
Meaning, I suppose, that when an American airman
bombs your neighborhood, killing maybe a few dozen
& maiming maybe a hundred in body & maybe a thousand in mind,
& he’s one of the few planes hit & he has to eject,
& after you’ve done the best you could to drag
victims out from under debris & you’ve washed the blood
out of your eyes as best you could & you’ve captured the bastard,
you should treat him according to the Geneva Conventions,
as gentleman prisoner of war, a name & rank & service number
who deserves a shower & clean clothes. You must not,
as I would, as you should, I swear, if such a technician
killed your wife & children, you must not drive steel
splinters into his eyes until they reach his civilized brain.

An Accurate Chronology of American History

2011-12-18T08:06:00.000-08:00

Read it and weep:

1. Neolithic period
2. European colonialism and slavery
3. Revolution and the republican interlude
4. Civil War and manifest destiny
5. The Great War: Shine, perishing republic
6. American empire

A Beautiful, though Futile, Gesture...

2011-12-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

Ex-Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, Former Democrat, Launches Third Party Presidential Bid Against Obama, GOP

The Reagan Legacy

2011-12-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

It would be wrong to attribute the present state of our former republic to Ronald Reagan. Reagan did not start the republic's decline into imperial corruption, he just helped to shift it into high gear. But those of us who remember pre-Reagan America--an imperfect place, without question--cannot help but remark how Reagan's two terms in office changed the atmosphere of our civil society. By "changed" I mean poisoned. Our political process was not only flooded with money--there was nothing new about that--but the imperial presidency became the latest outlet for Hollywood's dream factory. Madison Avenue took over. The B-movie actor Reagan was emblematic of the transition. Real participatory democracy--which had already been on the ropes since the debacle of George McGovern's ill-fated Presidential bid in 1972 and Ted Kennedy's ill-fated challenge to Jimmy Carter in 1980--fled the scene. What took its place was collective self-delusion about a "new morning" in America. And the Democratic Party, in its final betrayal of the American people, signed on.

I say its "final betrayal" not because it was the Party's last betrayal, but because it was the Party's ultimate one.

Look no farther than the Presidency of Barack Obama. From what I hear, Obama reads biographies of Reagan and holds him up as his hero.

First time as tragedy, second time as farce.

What Would Carl Sandburg Write Today?

2011-12-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

He published his poem "Chicago" around 1916. Here we are, a century later:

Arms supplier to the world,
Net exporter of violence, debtor to the nations;
Best to bone up now on your Spengler and Gibbon,
This ship of militaristic fools is going down.

Bankrupted by the wholesale conversion of our economy to militarism, we depend on the rest of the world to supply our basic needs. When the precarious bubble of our rapacious capitalism finally bursts, who will pick up the pieces?

Jesus For President

2011-12-07T21:11:00.000-08:00

Dear Dr. Pangloss:

2011-12-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong, I am encouraged by OWS, but it is just the first stirrings of discontent. So far, the militarized corporatocracy has nothing to fear. Remember: money buys time and the criminals we are up against have more money than god. Which is what they are counting on. They can wait out OWS. And winter is coming.

The next time the economy takes a nose-dive and unemployment in the U.S. leaps from 10 to 20 or 30%--that's when the real action is going to begin. But it will be desperate, not enlightened, action, and we'll see tanks in the streets of US cities. In the White House situation room, they are probably watching film footage of Tiananmen Square from '89 and planning their next move.

The late, great Chalmers Johnson's Dismantling the Empire is a bracing read. No, it's not Hegel's Panglossian Phenomenology of the Spirit, but Hegel was wrong. Brilliant, but wrong.

Johnson understood the problem quite clearly. We are in a new imperial age. And empires take centuries to run their course. So the question becomes: How do we conduct ourselves with integrity and plant seeds for the empire's eventual demise (long after you and I have passed from the scene)?

Shelter the flame of Jeffersonian democracy; recall the utopian ideals of lower-case "r" republican government; honor the Prophetic tradition; lead lives of prayerful decency and good will towards all.

And remember:

Friends don't let friends join the military.

Ask yourself:

What Would Whitman Do?

Best of TomDispatch: Chalmers Johnson, Dismantling the Empire | TomDispatch

2011-12-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

Best of TomDispatch: Chalmers Johnson, Dismantling the Empire | TomDispatch

Left Libertarianism In the News

2011-12-03T17:02:00.000-08:00

The American Conservative

Agency of Rogues

2011-12-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

From Chalmers Johnson, Dismantling the Empire (NY: Metropolitan Books, 2010), p. 78:

Nothing has done more to undercut the reputation of the United States than the CIA's "clandestine" (only in terms of the American people) murders of the presidents of South Vietnam and the Congo, its ravishing the governments of Iran, Indonesia (three times), South Korea (twice), all of the Indochinese states, virtually every government in Latin America, and Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The deaths from these armed assaults run into the millions. After 9/11, President Bush asked, "Why do they hate us?" From Iran (1953) to Iraq (2003), the better question would be, "Why would they not?"

Life Under Military Occupation...

2011-11-25T19:26:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not talking about Egypt, Iraq, or Afghanistan or, frankly, most of the planet that is inhabited by human beings. I am talking about the contiguous states of the continental U.S.

We are living under military occupation. A military occupation that maintains a stranglehold upon our economy; a military occupation that functions through civilian surrogates in the so-called "defense" and "security" industries. Call it, in the words of President Eisenhower, the military-industrial-complex. Call it whatever you like: just make sure that you understand that the people of the United States are not free. We are living under military occupation and, consequently, under the constraints imposed by what Seymour Melman once termed "the permanent war economy."

The "Occupation Movement" will not succeed until it becomes a "De-militarization Movement," or, in other words, an "Anti-Military Occupation Movement."

The Worm In The Apple

2011-11-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

On his web-site, Michael Moore shares with us the "vision statement" that he and forty or so other individuals crafted for the OWS "General Assembly." Here it is:

We Envision: [1] a truly free, democratic, and just society; [2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus; [3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making; [4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others; [5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments; [6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few; [7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings; [8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible; [9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.

Let me preface my comments by stating that I am a fan of Michael Moore's. I started out somewhat skeptical of him and his motives back when he made "Roger & Me." I am frequently disappointed by the theatrical grand-standing that his films routinely contain. I find such stuff distracting and largely irrelevant; I suppose he feels that he is injecting some light-heartedness into grim subject matters. I am happy to agree to disagree with him on this point and move on.

What is most important for me about Michael Moore is that he is sincere. I believe that his heart is in the right place. If this country consisted of 300 million Michael Moores, I would have very little to blog about--which would be a relief.

My criticism: I find point # 5 troubling to say the least. The worm at the heart of the apple of the American experiment is the doctrine of manifest destiny. The militarization of the federal government of the United States began with the Civil War and has continued to escalate ever since. After WW2, Americans no longer questioned the notion of a "standing army"--something that the architects of the Constitution understood would be the death of our democracy. They were right: it has been. Over 50 cents on every dollar we pay to the Federal treasury goes to the Pentagon to pay for accumulated war debt from the past and present military adventures. Point # 5 is essentially a blank check for the militarized corporatocracy to continue its present course.

Why? Because it implies that it is "our job" to police the world (and McDonalds-ize it while we're at it). The American mythology of the City on the Hill, the Beacon to the Nations, is invoked whenever the corporatocracy wishes to justify foreign "intervention" (read: "open new markets"). The British East India Company had its own militias. Our multi-national corporate conglomerates beat that: they cut costs by having the U.S. taxpayer foot the bill for their "private" militias (the U.S. military).

I notice that Michael Moore's agenda is "domestic." It is refreshingly old-fashioned liberal. Unfortunately, to dissociate domestic and foreign policies is not only schizophrenic, it is blind to the prevailing structure of U.S. politics and the structure of our economy. It is, therefore, self-deceptive. When I was in Egypt in 2004, just after Bush and Co. stole their second election, I found Egyptians very interested to discuss domestic U.S. politics. One person said to me: "I wish that when Americans went to the polls they realized that they do not vote only for themselves but for the rest of us as well." What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas. No Imperium is an island entire unto itself, etc.

Leo Tolstoy saw the problem quite clearly at the end of the 19th century: militarization. He called upon everyone who considers him or herself a Christian to refuse military service. Today, we are all servicing the military because, on the one hand, we finance it with our tax dollars and, on the other, we turn a blind eye to the fact that it is in the business of realizing our dreams of manifest destiny. The military's strangle-hold upon our economy is the very heart of the problems that we face; the only viable solution to those problems is de-militarization.

If OWS were to recognize that the problem is the militarization of the U.S. economy and all that that entails, and begin to call for the de-militarization of our culture and society, there would be more than pepper spray used on peaceful protesters. There would be slaughter in the streets. And then it would be over. But so long as the OWS General Assembly and Michael Moore and others continue to talk around the problem rather than confront it, i.e., so long as they continue to recommend just another "soft liberal" rearrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic, they can have their "revolution." Some concessions will be made just to mollify the squeaky wheels. But the underlying structure of rule by violence will remain in place. I read point # 5 as euphemistic; translated it means: business as usual.

The revolution will not be televised, youtubed, or tweeted.

Rather than Continue to Piss in the Wind, this Armistice Day, Dismantle the Wall Street-Pentagon Axis of Evil

2011-11-11T05:35:00.000-08:00

An Open Letter to the OWS Movement:

A little guerilla theater never hurt anyone. That said, the 1% have dealt with this sort of thing before, and they have a successful protocol for neutralizing it.

1. Ignore it.
2. Break some heads and see how far they can get with that.
3. Gauge public reaction to the head breaking.
4. Ignore it.
5. If public reaction is too unfavorable, identify some underlings to use as scapegoats.
6. Scapegoat the underlings.
7. Gauge public reaction to the scapegoating.
8. Ignore it.
9. If the public continues to clamor, offer token concessions (e.g., forgive interest on selected college loans or home mortgages).
10. See how many people can be bought off to go home--usually a pretty large percentage.
11. Isolate the remainder that refuses to be bought off and go home.
12. Arrest and/or kill the remainder.
13. Lay low for a few decades.
14. Begin process of slowly dismantling the concessions.
15. Gauge public reaction to the slow dismantling.
16. Ignore it.

Chris Hedges has reported that JP Morgan Chase has donated $ 4.6 million to the NYC Police Foundation. That should keep the OWS stuck behind yellow tape for a good long time.

Even so, the squeaky wheels will be greased.

Just remember: Jesus was sold down the river for 30 pieces of silver.

If the OWS is to become something truly revolutionary, it needs visionaries. An MLK, a Malcolm X, a Bobby Kennedy in his Presidential bid. Of course, that is when the "lone gunman," that recurring figure in American politics, will take the stage.

You're not up against amateurs. They know what they're doing and they have the resources necessary to buy lives, consciences, assassinations and, most importantly, silence and time.

Think how extraordinary a phenomenon was FDR. Born into the 1%, he was comfortably living the life expected of him until one morning he woke up and couldn't move his legs. Crawling across the floor to the bathroom, it suddenly occurred to him that being in the 1% could not protect him from polio. He never forgot this insight; in a sense, he was radicalized. But then radicalism was in the air in the early part of the 20th century. Unlike today.

BHO should have grown up with FDR's insight; he had every reason to. He learned how to talk as if he did. But he's no FDR. He's not even an RFK.

OWS needs friends in high places if it is going to succeed. Otherwise, it will be managed and, eventually, commodified, like everything else in this country.

And one last thing: it's not just Wall Street. It's the Wall Street-Pentagon Axis of Evil. Until OWS makes that connection and focuses its energy against the true enemy of our democratic aspirations--the military junta that runs this country behind the charade of civilian governance--the movement will just be pissing in the wind.

This Is What Patriotism Looks Like...

2011-10-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore & Cornel West on OWS, Iraq & the Progressive Discontent Obama Faces in '12 Vote

The US and Gaddafi: The murderer calls for an investigation of the crime

2011-10-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

The US and Gaddafi: The murderer calls for an investigation of the crime

The fox will now be looking into the mysterious disappearance of chickens from the hen house. What will he find?

If It Was True In 1950...

2011-10-23T20:36:00.001-07:00

"Our world is more and more given over to the power of words, and of words that have been in great measure emptied of their authentic content. Such words as liberty, person, democracy, are being more and more lavishly used, and are becoming slogans, in a world in which they are tending more and more to lose their authentic significance." Gabriel Marcel, 1950.

NATO Criminality

2011-10-21T13:52:00.001-07:00

One ought to question why NATO forces, having taken Ghaddafi alive, did not protect their prisoner. Was it because he has always been a loose cannon and they could not risk his divulging aspects of his long history of associations with the U.S. and other NATO governments? This is how our government does business these days: like common criminals.

Dr. Johnson On Lying and War-Making

2011-10-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

"Among the calamities of War may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages. A Peace will equally leave the Warrior and Relator of Wars destitute of employment; and I know not whether more is to be dreaded from streets filled with Soldiers accustomed to plunder, or from garrets filled with Scribblers accustomed to lie."

I would call this a conflict of interest.

Of Lying and War-Making

2011-10-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

Today there does exist an indissoluble connection between lying and war: today, I emphasize, for we are not asserting that there is some necessary and logical connection between the mere notions of lying and making war. But in the actual world we are living in it is impossible not to recognize that making war is linked to lying, and to lying in a double form: lying to others and lying to oneself; and these two forms themselves, for that matter, are very closely linked and perhaps not even ideally separable from each other. --Gabriel Marcel, 1951.

In the People's Republic of Berkeley...

2011-10-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died

2011-10-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died

Here's a beauty from Michael Moore that I missed last August...

But what do they want?

2011-10-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

But what do they want?

The Story of Civilization

2011-10-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

Since at least the urban revolution of 3,000 BCE, human civilization has been constructed upon violence and other forms of coercion. At some point in 2005, I believe, I decided, finally, to opt out. By that I mean I began to publicly advocate NON-VIOLENT resistance to and, ultimately, a NON-VIOLENT overthrow of the United States government.

The U. S. government ought not to take this personally, however; I advocate the same approach to every government. I am, by political conviction, a Chomskian Left Libertarian. Which is to say, an Anarchist.

I won't go into all of the twists and turns of thought and practice that led me to this political position, but I will offer a few milestones:

1. In Middle School I read a book (recommended by a friend) on the trial and execution of Sacco and Vanzetti; I read the New Testament for the first time then and also Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience and John Hersey's Hiroshima.

2. I went to law school and practiced law for ten years. There are few educations better suited to exposing the difference between the rhetoric of law and government and the reality of law and government than that--if, I hasten to add, you refuse to surrender your intellect and conscience. During this period I also read and wrestled with Leo Tolstoy's interpretation of the Gospel.

3. In late 2001 or early 2002, I emailed Noam Chomsky and asked him what he would suggest someone interested in Anarchism as a political philosophy should read. He quickly replied with his "short list." I got started...

These are but a few of the ingredients that led to my "conversion" to Left Libertarianism. The bottom line for me, I suppose, is that Anarchism and a commitment to non-violent non-cooperation with agencies of coercion are not at all unrelated ideas. In my view, you cannot have one without the other. The story of civilization as it has evolved over the last 5,000 years is one of violence. Consequently, any revolution that resorts to violence is not a revolution at all: it is, in fact, more of the same.

I will not participate in any violent revolution: it is a contradiction in terms.

I will, however, continue to call for the NON-VIOLENT overthrow of existing regimes, the summoning of popular assemblies to construct new constitutions, and a way of life that runs counter to civilization as it presently manifests itself all over the world.

The Silence of the Liberals

2011-10-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

"Bad men could never do the harm they actually accomplish, unless they were able to induce good men to become, first their dupes, and then their more or less willing, more or less conscious accomplices." --Aldous Huxley

It astonishes me how Liberals close their mouths and avert their eyes when the crimes of Barack Obama are mentioned--the same Liberals who claimed to be outraged by the criminality of George W. Bush. Now that Obama has out-Bushed Bush with the extra-judicial killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, the silence of the Liberals grows deafening.

The Extra-Judicial Killing of Anwar al-Awlaki

2011-10-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

By ordering the extra-judicial killing of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, Kcarab Amabo has shown himself, yet again, the Step-n-Fetchit of the ruling class.

His complete disregard of the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the United States in this matter--laws that he publicly swore to uphold at his inauguration as President of the United States, de-legitimizes his presidency.

A warrant should be issued for Amabo's arrest. The charge: homicide.

Politics of terror threats - Riz Khan - Al Jazeera English

2011-10-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

Politics of terror threats - Riz Khan - Al Jazeera English

Naomi Klein: Protesters Are Seeking Change in the Streets Because It Won't Come From the Ballot Box

2011-10-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

Naomi Klein: Protesters Are Seeking Change in the Streets Because It Won't Come From the Ballot Box

It is time to occupy Washington, D.C. and shut it down with general strikes and demand a Constitutional convention.

Code Pink Activist Rae Abileah addresses members of the Network of Spiritual Progressives at Beyt Tikkun High Holiday services Sept. 29, 2011

2011-10-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

Code Pink Activist Rae Abileah addresses members of the Network of Spiritual Progressives at Beyt Tikkun High Holiday services Sept. 29, 2011

Critic Claims Victory After Religion Memo Goes to Air Force Academy Cadets | Truthout

2011-09-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Critic Claims Victory After Religion Memo Goes to Air Force Academy Cadets | Truthout

I have a better idea: close the AFA down.

Occupy Wall Street Protest Enters Second Week; 80 Arrested at Peaceful March

2011-09-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

Occupy Wall Street Protest Enters Second Week; 80 Arrested at Peaceful March

The ballot box is a placebo. If there is to be authentic change in this country, it will take place when masses of people take to the streets. Let us hope this is the beginning. I fear, however, that the forces of reaction have too tight a hold on the sources of information, and the ideological state apparatus is, as yet, too powerful. The American people don't imagine Democracy: they imagine that they have one.

Let's Talk Politics

2011-09-21T21:14:00.000-07:00

The Tea-Partiers have one thing right: we need a new Constitution. I've been advocating a non-violent people's revolution designed to force a Constitutional convention since at least 2005. Thomas Jefferson took the position that EVERY GENERATION of Americans should tear up the Constitution they have inherited and draft a new one.

The problem with the Tea-Partiers is that they want to draft a Constitution that will benefit rich, frightened, white people. But we already have a Constitution that does that. The Tea-Partiers think it doesn't do enough of that. Their idea of democracy is a franchise limited to white, property-owning males and the women who will vote as they do.

If you want to talk politics, don't get caught up in the corrupt political theater that passes for politics in this country. We have government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations. The so-called "two-party" system is completely compromised since both parties are entirely beholden to the militarized corporatocracy. Therefore, if you want to talk politics, start talking about the non-violent people's revolution that will bring about a Constitutional convention. Talk about the potential risks and rewards of this venture versus the risks and rewards of "staying the course." Talk about how we might begin to set in motion the wheels of such a revolution, and how we might accomplish it without playing into the hands of the Tea-Partiers.

We need a plan of action. Politics as usual in this country is just re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Progressives Vow to Challenge Obama in Democratic Primaries | War Is A Crime .org

2011-09-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Progressives Vow to Challenge Obama in Democratic Primaries | War Is A Crime .org

The CIA's Islamist Cover Up

2011-09-13T22:55:00.000-07:00

is the title of a New York Review of Books Blog article by Ian Johnson dated August 30, 2011. Blogger is for some reason unwilling to allow me to link to it. In any event, my guess is that the CIA's involvement with so-called "Islamist" groups is far more extensive and sinister than the author of this article seems to believe and, hence, the efforts taken by the CIA to maintain the cover-up will continue to be strenuous in the extreme. That said, it is interesting to see this subject broached in a major U.S. publication. Not that it will make any difference...

From "Grey Eminence"

2011-09-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

"Bad men could never do the harm they actually accomplish, unless they were able to induce good men to become, first their dupes, and then their more or less willing, more or less conscious accomplices." --Aldous Huxley

Cutting Off the Head of the Snake

2011-09-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

On August 23, 1994, the United States Congress passed a joint-resolution (H.J. Res. 131) declaring December 7th "Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day." President Bill Clinton signed this resolution into law (P.L. 103-308)--a mere half century after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Why did it take the government so long to get around to passing such legislation? Well, for one thing, the number of World War II veterans still living was dwindling. There was no doubt concern that Americans would forget what had happened on that day in history--the Japanese attacks had killed or wounded more than 3,000 Americans.

Decades before the Federal Government acted to create an official reminder (not, however, a national holiday), I learned of the significance of this date in elementary school. My father was a World War II veteran. I knew the date and what had happened.

I would be surprised to learn that my education was unique in that regard. Back in the 1960's, we were taught American history in public school. We also learned that there was some controversy about what happened on December 7, 1941--specifically, that there was speculation concerning the degree of intelligence concerning the attacks in the hands of the Roosevelt White House prior to the event. Hearings were conducted and high ranking military personnel were found "derelict" in their duties and relieved of their command.

I was brought up with both facts and questions. I was aware of Pearl Harbor and remembered it annually--without the prompting of the Federal government. The tragedy was not exploited for political purposes nor was a fetish made out of it.

There is another reason that it took the Congress so long to officially recognize December 7th as an annual "day of remembrance." In the 1940's, there was an actual war going on in Europe, North Africa, and East Asia. There were real armies, navies, and air forces aggressively on the move attacking and terrorizing civilian populations. This is not the case today. To prevent the so-called "War On Terror" from fading from the memories of all but the most paranoid among us, it must be continually manufactured by our Orwellian Federal government in cooperation with its State and local allies and their supine corps of compliant journalists.

This is not to say that there is no real threat. Credible terrorist plots are being hatched every day in the Pentagon and at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. I'm all for "cutting off the head of the snake"--isn't that what the assassination of Osama bin Laden was supposed to do?

I've read Op-Ed pieces lately in which the author opines that OBL's memory is more dangerous than the man himself when he was alive--for now his inspiration to would-be terrorists is the stuff of legend, larger than life. Paradoxically, these same pundits support the continual exploitation and fetishization of 9/11 through "days of remembrance" like the present one. But it's no paradox, really: they are terrified that they might lose the only thing which supports their adrenalin addiction and gives their lives form and meaning.

The American people need to recognize where the true threat of terrorism is coming from and act to prevent it. Barry Glassner's classic work The Culture of Fear is in print, "updated for our post 9/11 world." When this book becomes required reading for every American school child; when American school children are once again raised with both facts and questions; if and when the conditions of democracy ever return to our shores again, the head of the snake will be cut off and the frightened citizens of these Orwellian States of Amnesia will once again experience the euphoria that swept the country in 1991 when the Soviet Union fell and all the Communist cells that were secreted throughout the United States bent upon overthrowing our government and depriving us of our way of life were thwarted...

By the way, what happened to all those Communist cells? They vanished into the thin, paranoid air from which they had been dreamed up in the first place.

Colin Powell Expresses "Regret"

2011-09-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

If Kcarab Amabo had any integrity, he would turn against his benefactors and let Colin Powell be the star witness in the prosecutions of Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Rumsfeld.

Colin Powell talks to Al Jazeera - Americas - Al Jazeera English

The Walrus and Carpenter Syndrome: Weeping For the Oysters As You Devour Them

2011-09-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

In the United States, this is called "compassionate conservatism," an ideology that Kcarab Amabo enacts without explicitly avowing:

... The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,
"Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed--
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."

"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"Do you admire the view?

"It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf--
I've had to ask you twice!"

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

--Lewis Carroll

A Modest Proposal That Americans Finally Abandon The Victimhood Narrative...

2011-09-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

and man-up. If only the majority of the citizens of this nation had the self-esteem to follow this advice.

Al-Qaeda = Pakistani ISI = U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (or Rogue Elements Therein)

2011-09-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

Al-Qaeda is a fiction, i.e., it is a special or black ops project of the Pakistani ISI, which is a special or black ops project of the CIA. OBL was a side-show and a fall-guy.

The Imperial Mentality and 9/11 TomDispatch

2011-09-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Tomgram: Noam Chomsky, The Imperial Mentality and 9/11 | TomDispatch

America's self-inflicted decline

2011-09-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

America's self-inflicted decline - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Happy Labor Day 2011!

2011-09-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

Labor Day 2011: The failure of capitalism and the Obama administration

The Israeli People Must Replace the Roadblocks To Peace

2011-09-04T06:06:00.000-07:00

Mass rallies revive Israel protest movement - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Our Allies...

2011-09-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

What's a little torture among oilmen?

Edward Said: Truth-Teller

2011-09-03T06:30:00.001-07:00

Check out this remarkable project in portraiture.

A Key Distinction

2011-09-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

Since Barack Obama looks so much like his evil Bushian twin Kcarab Amabo, how is one supposed to tell them apart? Easy. Barack Obama was a vertebrate; Kcarab Amabo is not.

"You're Going To Reap Just What You Sow..."

2011-09-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

"I think it is correct to say that depoliticized or aestheticized submission, along with all of the different forms of, in some cases, triumphalism and xenophobia, in others, apathy and defeat, have been principally required since the 1960's to allay whatever residual feelings of desire for democratic participation (also known as 'a danger to stability') still existed ... the argument is that too much democracy is bad for governability, which is that supply of passivity which makes it easier for oligarchies of technical or policy experts to push people into line. So if one is endlessly lectured by certified experts who explain that the freedom we all want demands deregulation and privatization or war and that the new world order is nothing less than the end of history, there is very little inclination to address this order with anything like individual or even collective demands. Chomsky has relentlessly addressed this paralyzing syndrome for several years."--Edward Said

Most Americans today are like Winston Smith at the end of 1984: sitting in the cafe, drinking the watered-down, greasy-textured gin, and waiting for the bullet in the back of the head.Everybody's gearing up for the 9/11/11 orgy of triumphalism and xenophobia, apathy and defeat. We will see Kcarab Amabo arm in arm with W. and other criminals. Now for a little bracing Lou Reed irony:"You're going to reap just what you sow..."

Justice Demands That Dick Cheney Be Put on Trial

2011-08-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

Ex-Bush Official Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: "I am Willing to Testify" If Dick Cheney is Put on Trial

Here We Go!

2011-08-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

UN 'plan for post-Gaddafi Libya' leaked - Americas - Al Jazeera English

Libya: The criminal face of imperialism

2011-08-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

Libya: The criminal face of imperialism

Biden’s visit to China underscores America’s decline

2011-08-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Biden’s visit to China underscores America’s decline

The unseen war: Turkey bombs Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq

2011-08-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

The unseen war: Turkey bombs Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq

Libya's Future

2011-08-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

I assume that the future of Libya that has been on the drawing board in foreign capitals and corporate boardrooms for some time now looks like this:

1. Oil supplies guaranteed to the U.S. and Europe with the majority of oil revenues to be divided up by foreign corporations;

2. Libya's Mediterranean coastline to be "developed" as a playground for wealthy foreign nationals: golf courses, beach resorts, luxury hotels, five-star restaurants, maybe even a casino or two;

3. The people of Libya recruited to work for subsistence wages in the hospitality industry or in the oil fields.

Am I forgetting something?

Oh, yes! How could I forget?

The other opportunity for the people of Libya will be in the military and para-military police forces. After all, how else will the corporate state be able to protect visiting foreign nationals from the depredations of the poor and disenfranchised? Such militias will be important stake-holders in post-Gaddafi Libya and, consequently, will come to be seen by ordinary Libyans themselves as avenues of social and economic advancement.

Eventually, a charismatic figure (like the Colonel of 4 decades ago) will rise up through the ranks and get the idea in his head that the system as it stands is corrupt. If it is vulnerable to revolution, revolution will ensue. Then the cycle will repeat itself.

So much for the blood of the martyrs who dreamed of freedom.

Do I mean to say that I think Gaddafi should remain in power? Of course not. He is a criminal: a murderous buffoon. He should live to see his day in the ICC.

But when I think of the blood that has been shed, is being shed even now, and will continue to be shed for dreams that have already been auctioned off to the highest bidder, I cannot help but think that there has to be an alternative future--not only for Libya, but for the rest of us as well.

Unfortunately, unless and until there is a revolution in consciousness among the peoples of every nation--a consciousness that recognizes that (1) the globalizing corporate state does not have their best interests in mind and (2) they can and must do something to re-configure the present world order--I have little confidence in the outcome of any revolutionary action that is aided and abetted by the police power of established corporate states.

When Gaddafi is overthrown--an event that appears imminent--I am afraid that we will have to add Libya to the list of newly formed failed states: alongside Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ask Yourself:

2011-08-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

Do you honestly believe that NATO's involvement in Libya has been a charitable venture?

Do you honestly believe that nation states act altruistically?

The Libya War argument

2011-08-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

The Libya War argument

Thank you, Glenn. Personally, I can't wait to see who will get the Plutocrats's seal of approval as the next oppressor of the Libyan people. Any country that has oil revenues like Libya will not be allowed to determine its own fate (i.e., democracy).

My Theory

2011-08-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Shortly after the Presidential election of 2008, the victorious candidate, Barack Obama, was kidnapped, bound and gagged, and locked in Dick Cheney's basement, where he has been subjected to daily water-boarding ever since.

The Democan-Republicrats then substituted Obama's evil Bushian twin, Kcarab Amabo, to take his place.

Yes, it is a theory that strains credulity, but no more so than the complete ideological about-face that the winner of the 2008 election has performed since taking office.

If the man who presently occupies the Oval Office is, in fact, Barack Obama and not Kcarab Amabo, one must sadly conclude that Obama is no different than any other successful member of the American political class; he lacks all conviction but one: power is the sole object of politics--obtaining it and retaining it for as long as possible. Say anything you have to, promise what you must, it does not matter.

Amabo's great contribution to the advancement of people of color in the U.S. was not his election so much as his daily demonstration that a black man in high office can be as craven as any white man in high office. Race is therefore irrelevant.

Is this a great country, or what?

Obama’s bloody “endgame” in Afghanistan

2011-08-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

Obama’s bloody “endgame” in Afghanistan

Deep, deep down in your heart, you know that what the author of this article is saying about the Afghan War and the role of the plutocracy in its instigation and perpetuation is true. Deep down, you know this. What is stopping you from admitting the truth to yourself?

The Islamo-Bolivarian threat - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

2011-08-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

The Islamo-Bolivarian threat - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

I wonder what it's like to be in the fear industry. It's lucrative, no doubt about that. Probably accounts for a large percentage of the U.S. GNP. Fear is our number one export and domestic consumption remains strong. I hope everybody is gearing up for the big 9/11/11 orgy of fear, national self-pity, and jingoism. Expect to see W and Kcarab Amabo arm in arm at Ground Zero...

Farid Esack Open Letter to the Palestinian People

2011-08-14T18:45:00.000-07:00

Triumphant Turkey? by Stephen Kinzer | The New York Review of Books

2011-08-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

Triumphant Turkey? by Stephen Kinzer | The New York Review of Books

I have far more optimism about the future of Turkey than I have about the future of the U.S.

No Immunity for Criminals

2011-08-02T20:58:00.000-07:00

US urges 'quick Iraq decision' on troop stay - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

And Now, for Another Thrilling Episode of...

2011-08-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

The debt limit deal and the social counterrevolution in America

Plutocratic Political Theater: Cynicism, Deception, Cravenness, Corruption, and Despair!

"1st September 1939" by W.H. Auden (poetry)

2011-07-31T18:10:00.000-07:00

The strangled impotence of speaking the truth in the face of war; war is but collective criminality; those who prepare for war, who aid and abet others in preparation for war, those who participate in war are all, without exception, criminals.

Glenn Greenwald: Why Do We Harass Muslims But Not White, Nordic Males? | | AlterNet

2011-07-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

Glenn Greenwald: Why Do We Harass Muslims But Not White, Nordic Males? | | AlterNet

Short answer: because our Sadean modernity makes it impossible for us to be honest with ourselves about ourselves (or about anyone else for that matter)...

Does God Love War? Part 3 (of 3)

2011-07-25T04:35:00.000-07:00

Does God Love War? Part 2 (of 3)

2011-07-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Does God Love War? Part 1 (of 3)

2011-07-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

The Sadean Imperative

2011-07-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Norway, Islam and the threat of the West - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Wondering Where the Lions Are...

2011-07-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

Financial markets fear Chinese economic instability

Our Sadean Modernity

2011-07-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Scahill Reveals CIA Facility, Prison in Somalia as U.S. Expands Covert Ops in Stricken Nation

Shooting Victim Attempts to Stop Assailant’s Execution in Texas

2011-07-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

And now for some good news...

Shooting Victim Attempts to Stop Assailant’s Execution in Texas

Secret Iraqi Prison, Torture Facility Uncovered in Green Zone

2011-07-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

I suppose the real reason that we had to overthrow Saddam was that he just wasn't brutal enough.

Secret Iraqi Prison, Torture Facility Uncovered in Green Zone