Friday, August 29, 2008

Uh-Oh...

If My Posting Is Erratic For The Next Week, This Is Why...
by The Old Hippie Because I'm Trapped Between Them Both, Gustav and Hanna.


Uh-Oh


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Nothing else for the time being.  Carry on.


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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

But... But...

Mythical Reality In What Remains Of Our Constitutional Democracy.
by The Old Hippie Because the Ongoing Allowed Destruction is Not a Myth.


Hacker
{-The Way Many Picture Me-}
 

“But He’s A Muslim!”  - No, he is not -  “Okay-Okay, but he was raised as a Muslim!”  - No, he was not -  “Okay-Okay, but he attended a madrasa, an Islamic school!”
- No, he did not -  Is, was, and did not... all well proven.

Mr. Kaplan spoke for many of us when he said, “I'm not shocked by Americans’ ability to think untrue things.  After all, under the relentless tutelage of the Bush administration and its media enablers, nearly 70 percent of the country thought that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in planning the Sept. 11 attack.”

As FOX & Rove have proven over, and over again.  And are still proving... Only the myth matters...  Not the truth.


“Can't Say We Weren’t Warned”
“FDIC Warns of More Bank Troubles”
“Denied! Bates Refuses to Stay Order in Miers/Bolten Suit”


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A “Below The Fold” Bonus - An “Inside USA” interview with Noam Chomsky. 
[Jun 20]

PART I 
[8:33]


PART II 
[13:14]



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Monday, August 25, 2008

Best Article Of The Week?

The Best “Big-Picture” Article Of The Past Week?
by The Old Hippie Because If You Didn't Read It, How Can You Say... “I Know.”


- Food, Fuel and Water Crises Converging -

“STOCKHOLM, Aug 22 (IPS) - A spectre is haunting the cities and villages of most developing nations, warns a senior official of a World Bank-affiliated organisation.  “It’s the spectre of a food, fuel and water crisis,” says Lars Thunell, executive vice president of the Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group.

“I believe we are at a tipping point,” he said, because the scarcity of water poses a threat to the food supply just when the agricultural sector is stepping up production in response to riots over food prices, growing hunger, and rising malnutrition.

Speaking at the conclusion of the weeklong Stockholm International Water Conference Friday, Thunell said the growing demand for water is outpacing supply.

Patti Lynn, campaigns director of Corporate Accountability International, on the role of the private sector. . .

The crisis stems from a confluence of problems, but perhaps no contributing factor is more insidious and correctable than the privatisation of the resource,” she told IPS.  “When people’s access to clean drinking water is reliant on the profit interests of a handful of transnationals, all of us pay a premium and because of this many of the world’s poor go thirsty.”

Asked if the international community will meet the MDGs relating to water and sanitation by 2015, she said: “Not if we don’t change immediate course.”

For one, she said, the World Bank needs to stop making water privatisation a condition for their loans.


“As long as the greatest crime of the 21st century remains unprosecuted,
we all...  can only blame ourselves, and deserve our collective fates.”


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A “Below The Fold” bonus -related- link - Food Energy Water crisis -

[using Google’s “Blackle” version of their search engine.]


A “Below The Fold” bonus -The Most IMPORTANT Video You'll Ever See- (part 1 of 8)
“And probably the most boring.  But then again, when I told that to my students
and had them give me feedback, most said that if you followed along with what
the presenter, (a professor emeritus of Physics at Univ. of Colorado-Boulder,)
is saying, it's quite easy to pay attention, because it is so compelling.”
- Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8

[Each ‘Part’ is approximately 10 minutes, and well worth the time.  Enjoy an excellent lecture...]




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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Again, Enjoy. . .

Know That This Gold Star Dad/West Point Graduate Is Correct.
One of the most amazing programs in the history of Bill Moyers Journal.  Enjoy...

[This clip, (6:16,) is just ‘a taste’ - I strongly urge you to watch the entire program.]


His guest for the show, (Aug.15, 2008,) was Andrew J. Bacevich, a West Point graduate, and a retired colonel with 23 years in the Army, and author of several books, including...
The Limits Of Power: The End Of American Exceptionalism, just released this week.

[ →  Link to the Entire Original Program, (video & transcript,) is Here  ← ]





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The following is a “Below The Fold” Bonus video...
A presentation of Sara Thomsen’s beautiful, sad and haunting, yet inspiring song.  A song she created as a question... before Bush was “selected” after the 2000 national election.

Is It For Freedom?...




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Saturday, August 23, 2008

Your Reality. . .

Some Have The Ability To See Your Reality - Here Are But A Few...
by The Old Hippie Because One Needs To “Know” What It Is Behind All The Spin And Lies.

  -  “We” Export 1.8 Million Barrels Of Oil A Day.  → Export
      The oil corporatists are selling our oil to others... → not to us
      You do understand this profits their-very-few... → and not us. ←
      Why do we continue to ‘allow’ their blatant crimes, and sneers?!?

  -  “The Long Emergency”
      What's going to happen as we start running out of ... gas to guzzle? 

  -  “Senate Republicans Block Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Bill”
      Since 2001, $½+ trillion in profits, to them - Prices doubled, to us.
 Your Right

“As long as the greatest crime of the 21st century remains unprosecuted,
we all...  can only blame ourselves, and admit that Ben Franklin was right.”


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A“Below The Fold” bonus article...


“The Fix is In – Again!”


Ernest Partridge, Co-Editor
The Crisis Papers
August 12, 2008

Better get used to the idea:  John McCain will probably be the next President of the United States.

The fix is in, as it has been in every election since 2000.


This follows from two overarching facts that the corporate media will not report, and the Democrats choose to ignore:

         1. The ruling oligarchy can not allow a reformist Democrat to occupy the White House.

         2. They have the means to prevent it, as they did in 2000, in 2004, and as they might do again in 2008.

All other aspects of this “election” – issues, personalities, media blitzes – are secondary and perhaps even irrelevant.


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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Let’s See. . .

Just Your Current Situation via Reality-Based Information...
by The Old Hippie Because You Keep “Allowing,” And Nothing else.

Read   -  I Spent Years as a POW with John McCain, and His Finger Should
      Not Be Near the Red Button.
  -- By Phillip Butler, Military.com
      The original piece was published five months ago in the Military Times and
      was totally ignored by everyone in the media until yesterday (8/20/06).

  -  China’s “Charm Offensive” -and- “Out of Mao’s Shadow”
      The Olympics have gone to China, exposing the many contradictions within
      Chinese society...  What’s really going on?  What kind of country is China
      becoming?  Two new books help provide answers.

And You Thought It Couldn’t Happen In Your Lifetime - Right?

“North Pole Will Be Ice Free for First Time This Summer”

“We’re actually projecting this year that the North Pole may be free of ice for the first time [in history],” David Barber, of the University of Manitoba, told National Geographic News aboard the C.C.G.S. Amundsen, a Canadian research icebreaker.

And a new updated (ABC News, BBC News, et al,) video - Linked Here.


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A“Below The Fold” bonus - Just 3 Videos to Help You Understand Your Reality...

[Naomi Kline on Fox (!) doing her usual great job of informing.]



[U.S. banks are failing?!?  But didn't Bush tell us that the economy is fine?]
[Didn't the GOP just recently say “Stop whining, and suck it up.”  (They did.)]



[Excellent and informative video from SendRoveToJail.com]



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Monday, August 18, 2008

Best Article Of The Week?

The Best “Sum-It-Up” Article Of The Past Week?
by The Old Hippie Because If You Didn't Read It, How Can You Say... “I Know.”


- Mainstreaming Crazy -

“The Obama Nation” was written and printed because major American publishing houses have decided that there’s money to be made in funding right-wing boutique imprints modeled after the Washington-based Regnery, which has made a small fortune stoking the hard-right furnace with combustible prose.  Corsi’s book is published by Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster, which hired right-wing political operative Mary Matalin to edit the imprint.  Random House has a similar imprint in Crown Forum, and Penguin Group USA has Sentinel.  Their business model -- and this is all about business -- is predicated on the existence of an echo chamber of right-wing radio and television shows willing to promote these publishers' products -- however noxious.  Beyond that is a network of conservative book clubs and organizations willing to place the sort of advance bulk orders for controversial books that will guarantee them a place on the bestseller lists.

It’s just that sort of order that made “The Obama Nation” No. 1 on Sunday’s New York Times bestseller list, and essentially “laundered” Corsi onto the respectable broadcast media’s guest list.


“As long as the greatest crime of the 21st century remains unprosecuted,
we all...  can only blame ourselves, and admit that Ben Franklin was right.”


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A “Below The Fold” bonus -Says It All- video of Vincent Bugliosi’s testimony at
the July 25, 2008 House Judiciary Committee [non-impeachment] hearing...



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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Two Quotes. . .

“The Times, They Are A-Changing.”  Really?  Two Quotes For You...
by Thucydides and Krugman, approximately 2,400 years apart.


“The meaning of words had no longer the same relation to things, but was changed by them as they thought proper.  Reckless daring was held to be loyal courage; prudent delay was the excuse of a coward; moderation was the disguise of unmanly weakness; to know everything was to do nothing.  Frantic energy was the true quality of a man.”

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, c. 431-404 BC
   

“I don't mean that GOP politicians are, on average, any dumber than their Democratic counterparts.  What I mean, instead, is that know-nothingism — the insistence that there are simple, brute-force, instant-gratification answers to every problem, and that there's something effeminate and weak about anyone who suggests otherwise — has become the core of Republican policy and political strategy.  The party's de facto slogan has become: Real men don't think things through.”

Krugman, History of the 2nd Iraq War, c. 2003-2008
   

Not a lot has changed in the last 2,400 years, has it?  To quote a much less known person...

“Those inside of history, see it the least.”

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A “Below The Fold” bonus video of Stephen Spoonamore, republican, computer expert and former McCain aide, blows the whistle on Diebold's election fraud.  [Found at The Crisis Papers]

In eight parts. Here are the others: Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Eight.



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Sunday, August 10, 2008

Says It All. . .

Sunday’s “Says It All” Of The “Truth” Behind The Spin And Lies...
by The Old Hippie Because Those Within History, See It The Least.

Corporatist Support
[From Crooks and Liars, Click for full article and context link]

The Best “Says It All” Out There?


Start by reading the headlines at all of the corporate mainstream media web sites, like Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and print corporate media like Washington Times, New York Post, Newsweek, U.S. Today, Wall Street Journal, any Clear Channel radio station, et al...

Now - take in the headlines at the non-corporatist independent media web sites, like AlterNet, CommonDreams, Crooks and Liars, Cursor, Democracy Now!, F.A.I.R., The Free Press, Independent Media Centers, Mother Jones, OhMy News, One World, Pacific News Service, Real News!, TruthDig, TruthOut, WorldWatch, The Daily Show and Colbert Report, et al...


[Links to most of both sets of headlines can be found here, and here.]

And finally - Compare them.  See what I mean - Kind of “Says It All” - Right?

“As long as the greatest crime of the 21st century remains unprosecuted,
we all have a duty to keep the truth alive.”


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A “Below The Fold” bonus -Says It All- video of Vincent Bugliosi’s testimony at
the July 25, 2008 House Judiciary Committee [non-impeachment] hearing...



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Saturday, August 09, 2008

Your Reality. . .

Some Have The Ability To See Your Reality - Here Are But A Few...
by The Old Hippie Because One Needs To “Know” What Is “Our” Corporatist Imperative.

  -  “This is the Olympics the West Wanted”
      “games where the grandest prize is not a gold medal but a glittering
      entree to China’s seemingly endless army of potential consumers.
      This is the reason that George W. Bush will attend the opening...

  -  “Who's Really Running Iraq?”
      “The demographic balance in the capital has shifted. . .”

  -  “This Week In "Insurance Company Rules"”
      Tracking the latest in insurance corporations’ tricks and tactics.
 Your Right

“As long as the greatest crime of the 21st century remains unprosecuted,
we all have a duty to keep the truth alive.”


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A“Below The Fold” bonus Video [3:21] Kucinich’s announced meeting with Pelosi, censored by the “Mainstream” media... As noted by Dave Lindorff at the Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel...

The dramatic hearing on presidential crimes and abuses of power held on Friday by the House Judiciary Committee was both a staged farce, and at the same time, a powerful demonstration of the power of a grassroots movement in defense of the Constitution.  It was at once both testimony to the cowardice and self-inflicted impotence of Congress and of the Democratic Party that technically controls that body, and to the enormity of the damage that has been wrought to the nation’s democracy by two aspiring tyrants in the White House.

[Most mainstream media outlets] have blacked out news of impeachment.  Incredibly, the New York Times, for example, has not even reported on Friday’s hearing, even as a news “brief.”  Those news organizations, like the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer, that did report on the hearings did so only in short, inside articles.  Though the hearing was aired in full on C-Span, many Americans don’t even know it happened.





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Friday, August 08, 2008

This Is Also Your Truth...

Just Your Current Situation via Reality-Based Information...
by The Old Hippie Because You Keep “Allowing,” And Nothing else.

Read   -  “If We Drill in the U.S., We Don't Get the Oil
      Oil from offshore drilling will belong to multinational corporations - not us.

  -  “The Scorpion, the Frog, and the Corporation”
      Two Cheers for Capitalism.  Thank God for Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and
      Bill Gates, and the millions of others who have immeasurably improved our lives.

      But I withhold that third cheer as I view with foreboding, the dangers of
      capitalism and corporatism unconstrained and running wild.


“It’s Like These Guys Take Pride in Being Ignorant”

For nearly a week now, Republicans, including John McCain, his surrogates, and his aides, have been mocking the notion that routine auto maintenance can contribute to fuel efficiency.  Yesterday, at an event in Ohio, Barack Obama struck back.


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A“Below The Fold” bonus Article - by Joshua Holland at AlterNet.org.


“Corporate America Prepares for Battle Against Worker
Campaign to Roll Back Assault on the Middle Class”

“There is nothing more terrifying to corporate America than the prospect of dealing with its workforce on an even playing field, and, along with allies on the Right, it’s pulling out all the stops to keep that from happening.  At stake is much more than the usual tax breaks, trade deals and relentless deregulation; corporations are gearing up for a fight to preserve a status quo in which the largest share of America’s national income goes to profits and the smallest share to wages since the Great Depression -- in fact, since the government started tracking those figures.”




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Thursday, August 07, 2008

You Want The Truth?

Are You Even Sure You Can Handle It?
by The Old Hippie Because This Is Your Truth.


Hacker
{-The Way Many Picture Me-}
 

“Follow This Dime” is an excerpt from a book by Thomas Frank concerning ‘a how-to history of the conservative era -- specifically how to destroy a government, leave Americans in the lurch, and enrich yourselves all at the same time...’

“Washington is the city where the scandals happen.  Every American knows this, but we also believe, if only vaguely, that the really monumental scandals are a thing of the past, that the golden age of misgovernment-for-profit ended with the cavalry charge and the robber barons, at about the same time presidents stopped wearing beards.”

     [ Following three links are a good start in “knowing.” ]


“Washington's Lords of Creation”  [original “Follow This Dime” source article.]
“Constitution in Crisis”  [a AfterDowningStreet.org’s feature article.]
“Going Bankrupt”  [a Chalmers Johnson book excerpt, also at TomDispatch.com.]


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A “Below The Fold” Bonus - An informative and -related- interview with Chalmers Johnson
in the film, “Chalmers Johnson on American Hegemony.” [6:37]




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Sunday, August 03, 2008

To Sum Up Another Week...

Another Week Gone...  And Guess What. . . ?
by The Old Hippie Because It Has Gone Past The Surreal And The Ridiculous.
     Patriot 

They all are still in power.  Still sneering at our lack of will to stop them, punish them, for the multiple crimes, that have now been more than obviously proven, beyond anyone’s doubt... to be purposeful, sociopathic, and criminally profitable to only their very-very-few.

But yet, not to kick a dead horse, again...  Where’s the outrage?  Where are the protests?  Where’s the stopping-of-the-allowing?  Where’s the impeachment?  Why are my fellow American “citizens” not making any effort to stop, and punish these openly sneering criminals that are destroying our Constitutional Democracy from within... for nothing more than profits to only themselves?


Maybe this video will help to put your “allowing” of their crimes into perspective?


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Two “Below The Fold” Bonus Ancient Articles links...

(1) Last year's censored “Board to Death” article.  From the research team at
Project Censored ← at Sonoma State University.

Bonus Ancient Article Link


AND  -

(2) Part I -and- Part II of the “George Bush Meets The Environment”

Both of which are well worth anyone’s time - Enjoy.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

That’s it for this week - Wonder if there will be reason to post any non-cynical, or non-redundant, or non-repetitive rants in the coming days?  Also, one final thought for this week...

They sociopathically, (and arrogantly,) killed Robert, John, and Martin, et al, and “hope” before, (and btw, they did get away with the murders,)...  Do you think they’ll let Obama survive, -if- he does become a real threat to the corporatists’ power, or to the profits to their-very-very-few?


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Quote of the Week. . .

Found At TomDispatch.com’s Web Site.
by Tom Engelhardt, Editor, TomDispatch.com


“To offer a bit of context for Chalmers Johnson’s latest post on the privatization of U.S. intelligence, it’s important to know just how lucrative that intelligence “business” has become.  According to the latest estimate, the cumulative 2009 intelligence budget for the 16 agencies in the U.S. Intelligence Community will be more than $55 billion.  However, it’s possible that the real figure in the deeply classified budget may soar over $66 billion, which would mean that the U.S. budget for spooks has more than doubled in less than a decade.  And as Robert Dreyfuss points out at his invaluable blog at the Nation, even more spectacularly (and wastefully), much of that money will end up in the hands of the “private contractors” who, by now, make up a mini intelligence-industrial complex of their own.”

Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com in the preamble of the following,
“Tomgram: Chalmers Johnson, Warning: Mercenaries at Work”
[The full article this preamble references, is a true “must read.”]

   

“As long as the greatest crime of the 21st century remains unprosecuted,
we all have a duty to keep the truth alive.”


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A “Below The Fold” bonus -related- video of Vincent Bugliosi’s testimony at
the July 25, 2008 House Judiciary Committee [non-impeachment] hearing...



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