Saturday, July 24, 2010

A country that does not acknowledge it's own shame is a country doomed . . .


Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study. [...]

Dr Chris Busby, a visiting professor at the University of Ulster and one of the authors of the survey of 4,800 individuals in Fallujah, said it is difficult to pin down the exact cause of the cancers and birth defects. He added that “to produce an effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in 2004 when the attacks happened.”

While some of the details of this study remain to be vetted and shored up, the fact remains that prior to the U.S. onslaught of Fallujah, no such anomaly existed.

Once again, I'll be called a communist, an America hater, a muslim lover, etc, ad-nauseum, childish taunting, ad nauseum.

Fact is, and always has been, they don't hate us for our way of life or our democracy -- they hate us because we continue to do what we've been doing for a century and a half -- blowing up small nations, destroying their cultures, and stealing their natural resources.

Like the Roman Empire, it's just a matter of time before that mindset culminates in our own demise.

And with that I leave you with the great American Mark Twain's prayer:

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spreads of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpouring of fervid eloquence which moved every listener.

It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came-next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their faces alight with material dreams-visions of a stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender!-then home from the war, bronzed heros, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation -- "God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest, Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!"

Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was that an ever--merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory -

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there, waiting.

With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal,"Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside -- which the startled minister did -- and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said

"I come from the Throne-bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd and grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import-that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of-except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two- one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of His Who hearth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this-keep it in mind. If you beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer-the uttered part of it. I am commissioned by God to put into words the other part of it-that part which the pastor, and also you in your hearts, fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory-must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle-be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it-for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(After a pause)

"Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits."

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.


It is what it is.



----k

The Southern Tea Bagger Strategy - - xenophobic wolves in sheep's clothing ...

Maddow is dead spot on in this analysis. The right wing cannot openly express their dislike and hatred of brown people because it would derail any remaining credibility they have with wishy-washy independent voters and the frightened rabbit media.

So instead they couch their racism in subtle code language that is designed to appeal to and stimulate their lizard brain supporters which allows them to completely side-step the caustic issue and remain acceptable and relevant participants to the mainstream media in the public discourse.

Those of us who pay attention to this shit though know better, and are not fooled and Maddow shines a very nice, bright light on the deception.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy





----k

Crime pays -- when will the real traitors be held accountable?

When I sit and reflect upon what has occurred in this country in the past 3 decades, and specifically as it relates to the culmination of our present economic crisis, I've truly come to believe that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda must be absolutely beside themselves with glee at the current misery being experienced by the American people. Not glee over their own vile terrorist actions, but glee at seeing America consume itself with it's own unbridled greed, hubris and ignorance.

No doubt my detractors will call me a communist, socialist, America hating traitor for stating this but quite frankly I'm not certain that the Wall Street hoodlums and the banksters have not done more damage to America and it's democratic republic than the assholes who flew the planes into the World Trade Center towers nearly a 8 years ago.

I think the ruling elites have played their poker hand quite brilliantly. They have liberals and conservatives at each other's throats, the mainstream media behaving like fair weather referees in the manufactured conflict, and while that theater is playing itself out, the plunderers are skulking out the back door with the national treasure stuffed in their already overflowing pockets.

This is an important video - share it with others.



Here's a link to the article and video: [CLICK HERE]

You may think it sounds over the top, but we truly are in a war for the survival of American democracy. Only it just may be that the true and most dangerous enemy may be some of our own citizens.



----k

Friday, July 23, 2010

GOP win in November = subpoena orgy


Apparently right wing Republicans are of the belief that the "govern" part of the word governing refers solely to the act of creating fake scandals, then using taxpayer money to fund endless investigations of which 99.9% of the time predictably fizzle into historical oblivion.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has a plan for what the Republicans should do if they win control of the House of Representatives: Spend all their time investigating the Obama administration.

"Oh, I think that's all we should do," Bachmann told the Three Fingers of Politics website. "I think that all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another, and expose all the nonsense that has gone on. And it's very important when we come back that we have constitutional conservative leadership, because the American people's patience is about this big. So we have to make sure that we do what the people want us to do."

If Americans put these incompetent assklowns back in power in November then this country deserves whatever economic pain and misery that is likely to result in the aftermath.


----k