Liars like to claim "America Hasn't Been Attacked Since 911".

Do you know when the Amerithrax Attacks occurred? Why AFTER 911!

A sad chapter in those terrorist attacks just ended with the US Justice Department announcing a payout to the FBIs official scapegoat for the Amerithrax Attacks, Dr. Steven Hatfill. Perhaps ending the hope of ever finding the real perpetrators. The news release "just happened" to occur on Friday June 27th with no plan to have the news fall down The Memory Hole. From the New York Times Article:

The U.S. Government (that means you) will pay $4.6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Steven Hatfill, a former U.S. Army biodefense researcher who was intensively investigated as a "person of interest" in the deadly anthrax letters of 2001, the Justice Department announced Friday.

A Justice Department spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse, said in a statement that the government admitted no liability but decided settlement was "in the best interest of the United States."

Now, the interesting thing is the two Senators Daschle and Leahy who were directly targeted by anthrax-laden letters were both Democrats opposed to the Patriot Act.

I don't put much stock in conspiracy theories. They tend to break down when explored to determine goals and control. For instance, if the Anthrax attacks were a conspiracy; Who ordered them? Who crafted the letters? Who is privy to the conspiracy? Because I do believe the FBI is working on solving the attacks and unless you think those directing the investigative effort are involved or are supressing information or hampering the effort, it's possible the investigation could succeed.

However, if this were a conspiracy the targeting of Daschle and Leahy would rank among the least subtle or the most sublime efforts every undertaken to dupe and induce fear in a populace. I do know one positive outcome of the Anthrax Attacks it ensured every Marine serving in 2001-2002 was forced to receive Anthrax "vaccinations" on threat of imprisionment and explusion under dishonorable conditions. See my earlier Anthrax post.

When One Stood Against Many

I've liked the film The Naked Prey (1966) for a while. It tells the story of one man given a chance to run for his life after the Great White Hunter he is guiding insults a warrior from an African tribe. The Warrior get his revenge by attacking the Hunter camp and capturing the Ivory Poachers. The African baggage carriers are given quick deaths, but the white Ivory Hunters are put to death in inventive and gruesome ways. However, the guide who is never named is given a chance for his life and by a combination of luck and skill he survives. Much of the movie watches like an extended Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom episode.

What always struck me about The Naked Prey was the non-stereotypical treatment of the Africans and The Ivory Poachers. The African tribe doesn't inflict these deaths due to their inherit savagery but after being insulted. And the Poachers aren't shown as bringing the light of European Civilization to the savage Africans but as loud, boorish, uncultured thieves.

I figured this might be based on an actual story from the European control of Africa or out of the fevered pen of Joseph Conrad but it turns out this is based on the exploit of John Colter, a member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, in an escape from Blackfeet Indians. Colter told British Naturalist John Bradbury of his escape, According to Bradbury's accounting;

They now seized Colter, stripped him entirely naked, and began to consult on the manner in which he should be put to death. They were first inclined to set him up as a mark to shoot at; but the chief interfered, and seizing him by the shoulder, asked him if he could run fast?

The chief now commanded the party to remain stationary, and led Colter out on the prairie three or four hundred yards, and released him, bidding him to save himself if he could. At that instant the horrid war whoop sounded in the ears of poor Colter, who, urged with the hope of preserving life, ran with a speed at which he was himself surprised.

I wonder where Richard Connell, the writer of "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924), got the idea for his short story. Since Hollywood is bereft of ideas most writers and actors owe their comfortable existence to "The Most Dangerous Game". Something about the one against many and the desperate hunted man resonates in the minds of man. I can think of several blockbusters which utilize this motif.

Predator (1987)
Die Hard (1988)
Under Siege (1992)
Hard Target (1993)
Surviving the Game (1994)
Apocalypto (2006)

One a Day Ain't Bad

The callousness of the Warmongers is really striking. The constant pressure being exerted on the American populace to believe the Occupation of Iraq is going well is laughable. You see We Are Winning since the violence is down from outright street fighting and daily car bombs killing 50 Iraqis (with notable exceptions) and we are only losing an American a Day!

In the Battle of Iraq America and it's allies have prevailed... Again...

But then, the eviiil DemoRat Congress and Marxist Pinko Cowardly MSM aided by the jihadist loving antiwar traitors worked to subvert the Sunshine, and Lollipops and Rainbows (NO NOT Rainbows!) news from Iraq. Even the Marines AO, Anbar Province which was declared lost is going to be turned over to the Iraqis. Errr, scratch that last line.

It recalls the Twilight Zone episode were a couple is given an empty box with a button and told they'll become rich if the button is pushed. The only downside being a random person they don't know will die.

Who are these cowards who are willing to sacrifice another American's life simply because they don't know them and don't see their broken and destroyed bodies on TV? Because these keyboard commandos are quite willing to push that button and cause an American to die.

The Use of Force (also Lara Logan)

I'm going to expand on the decision to Use Deadly Force. In Illinois, (Chicago is in Illinois!) a Peace Officer's Use of Force is based on the defense of life and can not be justified by Information gained subsequent to the incident. What you knew prior to implementing force is what proof you had. Let's apply that to Iraq.

Bush and his Chicken Hawk Warmongers spent 18 months lying to the American People (day in and day out) to convince them Saddam=Al Qaeda=911 and raising the Imminent Attack Mushroom Cloud Scenario because as they now admit the Invasion of Iraq was about Oil and the Petrol dollar. The majority of Americans would not have backed an invasion without the self defense rational. President Mumbles McSlurswords did such a good job lying us into war you can find Americans still convinced Saddam was giving WMDs to Al Qaeda.

Bush's lies about the rationals for war taint the entire effort. Everything the callous Keep Americans in Iraq Crowd uses to justify the continued Iraq War is really meaningless, except as Lara Logan points out it convinces the soldiers they are forgotten.

But, then Iraq is a money maker,546 million to DynCorp for Iraq Police Training.

This is why Bush has to be Impeached. As was pointed out in the comment section on an earlier post Police Officers should have oversight. Impeachment is oversight of the President. There are documented abuses, possible war crimes and accusations of more. Of course, by pointing this out Bush can rightly accuse me of Slandering America since Bush=America and declare me an Enemy Combatant.

Update:
It appears the Warmongers (FreeRepublic) are only too happy to smear Lara Logan for her critical reporting on Iraq.

The IYP

I just discovered 2008 is the International Year of the Potato(e)! The bold mission of which: will raise awareness of the importance of the potato. I like potatos!

I am the Law

And You Won't Fuck Around No More - I AM THE LAW
~ Anthrax, I am the Law, based on the Judge Dredd Series.

This NY Times blogpost by Sudhir Venkatesh is a very interesting read of how some senior (crusty) police officers view the legal system and the ways in which they would like to dispense justice.

From the interviews: You laugh, but the good cops never let problems get to judges. They are judge on-site, I like to say. And, I don’t mean just for stupid things like kids shoplifting... I mean for serious things.

What strikes me is the sense real justice is not to be found in the courtroom. I don't know if this is an unconscious feeling gained from watching too many Charles Bronson flicks. The comment section has insightful views from people.

If you agree we should have Police, which is a valid question, what do you want the Police to do? Well, that's a huge question, for which I'm unprepared to diverge into right now, I will state Police Officers usually do not like having to respond to inane calls from people about the wind breaking their tree branches.

But, in concert with the Venkatesh piece, there have been several recent high profile stories involving police forces and the Use of Force.

The dumping of a paraplegic man out of his wheelchair by a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy in February 2008.

The April 2008 acquittal of three New York PD Detectives for shooting and killing Sean Bell.

An May 30, 2008 Chicago Police raid on a Hispanic club on 2514 W. Fullerton is now the basis for a $10 million dollar Federal Civil Rights Violation lawsuit. Here is the NBC 5's venerable Carol Marin covering of the story of the raid.

I mention these examples because they are perhaps** the most egregious recent instances. Additionally, with the ubiquitous nature of video cameras today (watch this example) police officers need to actually behave properly.

From Chicago Public Radio Eight Forty-Eight, here is an interview with Daniel P. Smith about his book, On the Job: Behind the Stars of the Chicago Police Department. (Greetings & Salutations to Queen of the Harpies for the link.)

Smith discusses one of the key points of distrust between Police Officers and the American populace the predilection to apply perfect hindsight to stressful split-second decision making situations.

However, this is not only a problem with American law enforcement but with the American Iraq War as well. The Hadithah incident, the shooting in Fallujah of a wounded enemy in a mosque and everyone one of the checkpoint shooting Americans don't ever hear about or just plain ignore are others. Young men (and women hurray equality!) are placed in high stress situations which they judge to be kill or be killed.

The oft quoted and perhaps trite maxim is summed up as, Better to be judged by Twelve, than carried by Six. Of course, what the Chicken Hawk, Warmongering Cowards who champion war at home while ensuring their pasty, flabby, blubbery white asses do not get besmircthed by a grain of sand never understand is those choices injure even when the soldier making them is never physically wounded.

And that's the difference. As Smith said in his Chicago Public Radio interview (at 04:17) he "will never criticize a Cop, myself, for instinctual reaction" so too will I not criticize my fellow warriors for their immediate reactions on the battlefield. But Vulgar pre-mediated displays of power (Shock & Awe) can not be defended.

And this is one of the chief evils of the Iraq War. But maybe it's just another system of control, perhaps understood by those in power or perhaps not understood but simply exploited by the Architects of War. A by-product of our evolutionary past and tribal beginnings in which our brains can focus and contemplate the deaths of a few of our fellow humans and can not grasp the horror of the hundreds of thousands dead as a result of our Invasion of Iraq.

**- There have been, thus far, 21 Chicago Police shootings (6 fatal) in 2008.

EOS

My alarm awoke me at Zero Dark and I realized the Corpse no longer has a hold on me. 8 long years over. Now if I can just figure out how to get my on-the-job training monies...

In better news we have a 2008 World Series Preview today as the Cubs and White Sox play.

Angst Rock

This post began as a discussion of the new album Viva La Vida by Colplay and of the band itself. I saw an online photo of the famous painting used as the backdrop and (without googling) my internal monologue told me the painting was Liberty Leading the Way by Eugene DelaCroix (1832) in praise of the 1830 Paris riots. The image having been implanted in my middlebrow brain when I visited the Louvre in 2000. Anyway I was ready to slam Coldplay for the cheesy use of such an iconic painting because their graffiti style title name covered the exposed bare bosom of Liberty. Whether the it does or not is now irrelavant to this post.

Of course, Gwyneth Paltrow, wife of Coldplay's lead singer, describes the album as "brillant".

Anyway...

In Jan 2003, I deployed to England, JAC Molesworth. Besides the fact England has some town names, which to an American ear, just have an odd ring to them (Catworth, Stow Longa, Thrapston, Alconbury, GODMANCHESTER) Coldplay was entering the bigtime with their second album release. I heard it and I liked it and I bought it. Due to a confluence of personal events, the intellectually stultifying and mentally depressing atmosphere of the Corpse itself I was not very happy during 2003 so I found myself listening to "Sad Rock" quite often.

As an aside I still wonder if mankind listens to sad and emotionally depressing music because they are already unhappy or if the music itself pushes one into a depressed mood. I think it's a combination and it varies from individual to individual. However, I think one can create and nourish "negative" brain pathways forming a happy or sad personality through repeated exposure.

Back to Coldplay. I liked the album but while I was in Danelaw I realized I've heard this music before back in the 90's! Radiohead. The Bends and OK Computer capitalized on the Angst ridden music scene of the 90's. Of course, it wasn't that Radiohead capitalized on the 90's genre by being cliche but due to their complex and impressive musical talents.

So, the question is why is Coldplay such a huge group today? I think it has something to due with Susan Jacoby's thesis from The Age of American Unreason. People have allowed themselves to become intellectually lazy and Coldplay resonates because they have the patina of a highly impressive band which the musically elite and those with a cultured ear would listen to.

When Johnny NEVER Comes Marching Home Again, Hurrah! Hurrah!

From the Ebullient Rachel Maddow.



"Do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?" Matt Lauer.

"No, but that's not too important," John McCain said. "What's important is casualties in Iraq. Americans are in South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in Germany. That's all fine."

But, no the government isn't into the Imperial Empire Business. Because we don't keep territory. Nope! Never have! Never ever!

The lie that America isn't an Empire is one that continues to be sold to every generation. Read the disgusting comments by Marine General John Kelly,

"We as Americans can be proud of the kind of people we are as we have never retained a square foot of any country we have defeated. We possess no empire. No man or woman call us master, as we have never subjugated any society."

Yeah, tell it to the Marines.

Update:
HOT DAMN! I figured out why McCain doesn't want to leave Iraq ever! It comes from the Johnny Comes Marching Home lyrics:

And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home

As we all know teh gay scares warmongering republicans more than Islamfascism.

The Scientific Legacy of Faith

I often speak with my smarter friends. Usually they just invite me over to move heavy things, then pat me on the head when I flex my pre-hominid brain and make observations on the world. During one recent conversation on Evolution my friend asked me if I recalled being taught anything about it during High School. I could only recall it being briefly mentioned in freshman biology. Today of course, we have the open assault on reason by the Library burning fanatics of religion but it seems my school quietly self-censored the teaching of science 20 years ago to head off the descent of wackos.

Of course, the enemies of reason never stand pat. Those hateful of science will never stop the stunting of man's mind and use every means at their disposal to tell other men what to think and what to shun. So, we stand at a divide in which we can proceed with rationality or we can fall back to lightning worship and the conclusions reached by bronze age desert nomads..

Anyway L. Sprague de Camp observed the Christian and Islamic worlds faced this choice over 800 years ago. As he wrote,

The pious and learned Saint Thomas (1225-74) spent much of his life arguing, at enormous length and in tiny illegible handwriting, that there was no conflict between science and religion; that all truth was one, and that therefore Aristotle's logic must fit the Christian faith. In fact, Saint Thomas promoted Aristotle to a kind of pre-Christian saint.

The pious and learned Ghazzali (1058-1111) also studied science and philosophy of the Greeks but came to different conclusions. After mature and searching consideration, he decided that these studies were harmful, because they shook men's faith in God and undermined religion; "they lead to loss of belief in the origin of the world and in the creator."

Europe followed Saint Thomas, while Islam followed Ghazzali. For example, in 1150 the Khalifah of the moment proved his piety by burning the books of the philosophical library of Baghdad. As a result of the diverging rends, science and technology flowered in Europe so richly and advaced so swiftly that the rest of the world is still breathlessly trying to catch up. On the other hand, science in Islam withered away.

The real irony is Ghazzali was right and Saint Thomas wrong. Science does shake men's faith in God and undermine religion. It has been doing so for many years and shows every sign of continuing to do so.

~ The Ancient Engineers, p.g. 309-310.

Lobbyist of the People, the People being one Dennis Hastert

I wonder how Dennis Hastert's first week as a lobbyist for Dickstein Shapiro went?

Hastert, the infamous former Speaker of the House, who shielded Republican Pedophile Mark Foley, made millions when the federally funded Prairie Parkway 'happened' to pass through his real estate holdings near Plano, Illinois and was caught abandoning his Hydrogen powered photo op car for a 6MPG fully armored Chevy Suburbuan, is the latest to pass through the revolving door of Congress/Corporate Lobbyist...

Who could have known politicians use their positions and influence to enrich themselves?

But here again when children inherited this position of authority from their fathers, having no experience of misfortune and none at all of civil equality and liberty of speech, and having been brought up from the cradle amid the evidences of the power and high position of their fathers, they abandoned themselves some to greed of gain and unscrupulous money-making, others to indulgence in wine and the convivial excess which accompanies it, and others again to the violation of women and the rape of boys

Never Talk to the Police

- Professor James Duane of Regent Law School in Virginia Beach, Virginia.



- Officer George Bruch of the Virginia Beach Police

Flex Your Rights...

Update:
To be clear on my perspective. I agree with Professor Duane that if you are under investigation by the Police EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS.

But, let's not kid ourselves. The proponents of the Stop Snitchin' Movement are not Peaceful, Freedom Loving Anarcho-Libertarians seeking the end of the coercive abuse of power by Agents of the Nation-State. No they are criminals, (Thieves, Dug Dealers, Murderers) who manipulate their victims into believing both their interests are aligned or outright threaten people into silence.

Smooth and Soothing

A Day to Imbibe the unfiltered goodness.

The End of Wine & Roses (The Final Countdown)

I guess there is no one to blame
We're leaving ground
Will things ever be the same again?

It's the final countdown... ~ The Final Countdown, Europe

WBBM is reporting United Airlines is grounding 100 planes, while also eliminating an additional 1000 salaried positions after having previously planned to fire 500.

What's not mentioned in this story is United has made several failed merger attempts this year with Continental, Delta and US Airways in a move to provide some financial solvency.

Additionally, General Motors announced it is closing 4 North American car plants (including one in Mexico!) and may sell the Hummer line (to whom I do not know...)

Now, of course the Government is going to have to step in and protect the Corporate interests. Oh no not Socialism! Never fret, the thousands who are going to lose their jobs will get no help (They are Just A Number) except perhaps as the bailout monies trickle down to the few who save their untenable jobs making fuel inefficient cars.

Banks and Businesses believe in the "Free Market" as long as they are doing well, but when the vagaries of economics turn against them they run to the protective skirts of the government. Of course, Bush and his Merry Band of Miscreants will have to do something because while it's perfectly acceptable to let people lose their homes and jobs and make tough choices with food and fuel the US Government can not allow large corporations to suffer such ignominious demises.

Update 06/06/08:
The US Airline Industry is about to go under.

Unemployment rates in the US reach a 20 year high.

Indoctrinated

Is it the man come to take me away?
Why do they follow me?
It's not the future that I can see,
It's just my fantasy ~ Who Can It Be Now? Men At Work

Keith Olbermann's special comments and Gore Vidals' constant ridicule of the Insane Man of DC are fantastic. Vidal, of course, thinks the Republic is finished and I agree with him. But, it's great to hear Keith shout Shut! The Hell! Up! to Bush.

But, unfortunately there's an underlying problem. While emotionally unstable bloggers, rabid Warmongers and Freeper supporters of Bush will attack Keith, those high level persons controlling the Apparatus of Government don't really care.

Why? Because the Federal Government controls you utterly.

In Jan 2007 the former AG Alberto Gonzales stated the Constitution doesn't guarantee Habeus Corpus.

The Government dictates where and when you can march**, and what you can say at the March. And if your protest becomes a little too boisterous for the Rulers, they can always deploy the HMMWV mounted ADS Microwave Ray Gun to exert control.

The ADS Microwave Ray Gun as shown on the CBS 60 Minutes story was demonstrated on persons carrying Peace Signs. The story doesn't tell me it's going to be used in Iraq for dispersing snipers but in the US for Crowd Control.

And it doesn't matter what you or a Keith Olbermann say because the Government continues to get it's steady flow of money from the people. Taxes (or Protection Money), taken from you under threat of force keep the Empire solvent. As long as the government gets it's blood money it can do as it pleases. But, money represents only one of the pillars holding up the edifice of control. The other pillar is manpower.

The Government does nothing to stem the rising fuel prices, offers trifling aid to the poor or those who've suffered natural disasters, works to subvert help for those facing home foreclosures, treats drug users as criminals instead of sick persons, constantly imports the foreign poor to undercut the poor citizens of this nation, and has produced and nourished an education system which inculcates fervent Nationalism and a lack of critical thinking. What this accomplishes is a pool of Manpower ready to be exploited by the controllers of the Imperial Empire.

And even when a group rises up and gains some influence they are quickly co-opted and assimilated into the system. Becoming merely another special interest group attempting to gain control over the apparatus of Government and utilize it's awesome power. In reality as Gore Vidal correctly observes we have One Party in America the Party of Property.

And some of the saddest evidence involves those who have allowed themselves to believe Bush and His Merry Band of Miscreants represent or care about the interests of the American people, for example this post at Think Progress Watch is particularly depressing:

It’s obvious, Think Progress wants the US to lose and for troops to die. They have expressed support in the past for Iranian interests, the Mahdi Army and Al-Qaeda in Iraq. I’m calling them out on this. They support our enemies and their silence over our recent success speaks volumes.

This is a standard refrain. Peppered with the false dichotomies of "US" and "Them" which indoctrinated Americans have accepted because it's easier than thinking. They are Evil, We are Good. America is our Country... And they Love and Worship the Nation-State. And that Worship can be used to get Americans to do almost anything...

**- I was at the Chicago October 27 March and saw the Government's answer to peaceable assembly. Row after Row of state Troopers, equipped in Riot Gear with 3 Foot Long Riot Sticks prominently displayed along the route.