Saturday, February 28, 2009

R-I-G-H-T...

Ahh...  Reality...  Ain’t It A Bitch?
Because It’s Beginning To Smack Us Around.

Patriot 
Iraq Troop Withdrawal or Occupation-Lite?
How Do We Know What’s Safe To Eat?
Nation’s Food System Nearly Broke.
Making Us More Mad, Than Sad?
The Banks’ War On Workers.
Not Retired. . .  Just Tired.
The Sludge Of Hate.
- Blowback -

“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 Article...

Fresh Evidence - Paralysis of Global Economy

Amid fears that the downturn triggered by the credit crunch has turned into the worst slump in output since the 1930s, data from Washington showed that the havoc wreaked by the problems on Wall Street last Autumn was far worse than originally believed.

American gross domestic product in the final three months of 2008 declined at an annual rate of 6.2%, much weaker than the earlier estimate of a 3.8% fall and the worst performance by the world’s biggest economy since early 1982.

A breakdown of the data revealed that consumer spending, exports and investment in commercial property were all even lower than originally believed, although the main reason for the downward revision to growth was that the build up of inventories by companies was far less pronounced than originally believed.

Analysts said there had been no let-up in the bad news since the turn of the year and the markets are now braced for payroll figures next Friday to show that around 750,000 jobs were lost in the US during February, with worse to come in future months.


[ Click title above, or here, for full article. ]


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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Had To Be Said. . .

I Don’t Normally Do A 2nd Posting, But Insanity Is Out Of hand...
by The Old Hippie Because I Thought Seeing Truth Would Change Your Perspective.


They, (the right’s insane,) have descended into a dangerous spin zone of pathological denial and outright lies, and there’s no rational way to explain it.  Its danger is that it is being supported by huge segments of the American “mainstream media,” (whenever you read, or hear “mainstream media” today, it is referring to opportunistic corporatistly agenda-driven propaganda,) and I don’t just mean Murdoch’s media empire.  One has to keep in mind that, today, only five corporations control all of America’s “mainstream media.”

There is real reasoning in their support of the right wing’s insane, and the purposeful reconstruction of the American media into the dumbdowned “infotainment” it has become - control and profit - and nothing else.

 Hacker
{-The Way Many Picture Me-}
Profit in this case is secondary to control, or pacification, or numbness...  If you do not understand this simple fact, you have ignored history, and you allowing yourself to ignore current reality.

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It, the insanity, is getting worse, much worse.

Go look at all of the MSM’s headlines, at their websites, then compare what you see there with the reality as rationally reported by reality based independent news sites.

If that simple comparison doesn’t open ones closed eyes of denial, nothing will.

To help you remain sane, and not too deeply depressed, you should end your “session of reality” by stopping in at some of the better editorial humorists’ websites - It couldn’t hurt.

That is my personal main method of doing research for this blog - Check in with the right and the right’s insane, then study as much of the reality-based news sites as possible, then check in with the humorists.  I then sleep on it, do it again, and then post what I have learned, observed, or was stunned by, to first, share it, and second, to get it off my chest so that I can remain sane myself.  All the while, trying my best to keep a reality-based perspective in these historically insane times.


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The Obvious Observed...

Activists’ Yelled, “Wake Up!” - But Obviously Not Loud Enough.
by This Old Hippie Because It’s Already Too Late - For Way Too Much Now.


The Whole World Is Rioting as the Economic Crisis Worsens -- Why Aren't We?

That question, posed by Joshua Holland via AlterNet, is, I think, our ‘answer’ also.
Read 

The above linked article is reprised for those that might have missed it the first time around.  I still think it strikes home concerning one of America’s largest problems...  The insane, and continuing apathetic “allowing” in the face of obvious economic, environmental, and foreign policy destructive political agendas, being shoved down our collective throats by greed driven corporatists of several different ilks.  Obama’s administration, so far, is doing a great job of calming the masses with his domestic programs, while continuing the insane Bush/Cheney foreign policies.  That’s the insane “allowing” to which I refer.

Something is just not right, and I admit it frightens me greatly.  Not to be redundant,
but...  I still have to wonder...  Will this ‘blatant ignoring’ be “allowed” to continue?


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Nothing else at this time - The above linked article asking “Why aren’t we?” - is not trivial.
Like many of today’s articles, the Comments.. are as enlightening as the article itself.


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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Your Reality. . .

Some Have The Ability To See The Actual Reality - Here Are But A Few...
by The Old Hippie Because It Can Get A Lot Worse...  In Fact...  It Is.

  -  “How Far Down the Economic Hole Are We Headed?”
      Best article of the week, along with the best reader’s comments.
      Many people continue to clutch to their denial of economic reality.

  -  “Apocalypse Now” (the planet’s ecology, not the movie.)
      Not long ago, most climate scientists stuck to the future tense when
      they talked about the impacts of global warming.  Now, they are
      using the present tense --

  -  “Past the Point of No Return”
      ...told America - if subtly - that the toughest terrain is yet to come.
 Your Right

“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 Article -


“Tough Times in Troubled Towns:  America’s Municipal Meltdowns”


“Stories about the economic woes facing individual cities and towns are already a staple of national newspapers, even as the bad news, experts believe, is only beginning to flow in.  Spikes in unemployment already reaching double-digit levels in some cases, municipal governments deep in the red, essential cutbacks in local services, increasing lines at food pantries, towns facing bankruptcy or even contemplating municipal suicide are increasingly common nationwide.

Towns like Elkhart, Lehigh Acres, and Mendota may now be media poster-towns for tough times nationwide, but most distressed small towns are still suffering in silence and, as a group, they may only be the proverbial canaries in the coal mine.  It isn’t surprising that towns which relied heavily on the collapsing auto industry and the building trades are going belly-up first, but what about the rest of America’s towns and even big cities?  The same economic forces are battering them, and while they may have been able to withstand immediate collapse, there’s no guarantee that town after town won’t be deep in the red, drowning in joblessness, and facing catastrophe as the American depression drags on.”


The above title is a direct link to the full article...


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Sunday, February 22, 2009

If. . .

If This Is True, Then There Just May Be Hope After All...
by The Old Hippie Because I Need Some Hope, Like All The Rest Of You.

[The following quote is from The Huffington Post internet newspaper]


Obama’s First Budget - Seeks To Cut Deficit In Half By End Of Term... Big Reductions For Iraq, Afghanistan Wars... Tax Hikes For The Wealthy... Budget Details Programs To Eliminate... Outline Will Be Released Thursday... Abandoning Bush “Gimmicks” That Make Deficit Look Smaller... Obama To Hold Fiscal Summit Monday

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A “Below The Fold” Bonus Article From AlterNet.org. . .


“5 Great Progressive Moves by Obama That You Might Have Missed”


$10 Billion for High-Speed Rail
Broadband Initiative
Commission to Review Faith-Based Initiatives
A Reform-Minded Drug Czar
Swift Action on Arms Control

As is usual with most of AlterNet’s articles, the readers’
Comments are just as “enlightening” as the article itself.




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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Speaking Of Reality. . .

Here’s Change For Ya - Obama Backs Bush On Afghanistan Detainees...
by The Old Hippie Because I Thought Seeing Truth Would Change Your Perspective.


They [Obama Administration] have now embraced the
Bush policy that you can create prisons outside the law.


Hacker
{-The Way Many Picture Me-}
 

How’s that for “change” you can believe in?  They’re also currently in the process of raising troop levels by 17,000 to Afghanistan.  And it’s not a temporary build up.  They’ll be there for no less than five years.

Between this new “Vietnamization” of Afghanistan, and the bailout to the bankers without any oversight what-so-ever...  A “bailout” that is being proven to be spent, (where they do have records,) on private corporate jets, and on outrageous “bonuses” for the extremely-very-few, not on the areas it was needed, nor for the millions of home owners abuse by the-very-fews’ “rip-em-off-as-much-as-possible, then dump them” methods of theft that caused the crisis in the first place.  Where’s “hope & change we can believe in” now?


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It is getting worse, much worse, and not just here, but planetwide...

It is getting worse faster, much faster than predicted, particularly environmentally...

Are you really ready for what is obviously coming...  Are you truly sure about that?

Have you been watching the rest of the planet’s reactions...? ... to this mess we caused...

A mess, a worldwide economic and environmental crisis, that you “allowed” to happen.


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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

More Reality Links...

Some Have The Ability To See The Actual Reality - Here Are But A Few...
by The Old Hippie Because So Many Are Still, Insanely, “Allowing”...

  -  U.S. Intel Chief's Warning:  Wall Street's Our Greatest Threat
      The Director of National Intelligence argued that Wall Street, rather than
      Islamic jihad, has produced our most dangerous terrorists.  It could trigger,
      he said, a return to the “violent extremism” of the 1920s and 1930s.

  -  “Obama and the Media Dilemma”
      U.S. news media offered up one-sided coverage of the Bush administration,
      relying on Republicans, right-wingers and pro-war military experts to shape
      what Americans got to see and read.  They still are, at a 2:1 ratio.
 Read

The Tyranny of the Centrists
“...the people we should really worry about are the “centrists,” that merry band of legislators
who determined the fate of the legislation.  It was the centrists -- a group ... who got what
they wanted, and what they wanted was for the entire nation to beseech them for their favor.  Every time they were photographed, they seemed barely able to contain their glee...”

“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 Article -


America's Law-Free Zone


“David Rivkin and Lee Casey are right-wing lawyers and former Reagan DOJ officials who, over the last eight years, have been extremely prolific in jointly defending Bush/Cheney theories of executive power.  Today, they have one of their standard Op-Eds, this time in The Washington Post, demanding that there be no investigations or prosecutions of Bush officials.  Most of the arguments they advance are the standard platitudes now composing Beltway conventional wisdom on this matter.  But there is one aspect of their advocacy that is somewhat remarkable and worth noting.”

Rifkin and Casey have long been vigorous opponents of the legitimacy of international tribunals to adjudicate crimes committed by American officials.  In February, 2007, they wrote an Op-Ed in the Post bitterly criticizing Italian officials for indicting 25 CIA agents who had literally kidnapped a Muslim cleric from Italy and "rendered" him from Milan to Egypt.  In that Op-Ed, the Bush-defending duo argued that Italy had no right to prosecute these agents.


[ Above title is the direct link to the full article. ]



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Monday, February 16, 2009

Reality?

Ahh...  Reality...  Ain’t It A Bitch?
Because It’s Beginning To Smack Us Around.

Patriot 
Global Warming, Much Worse, And Much Faster.
A Battle Is Won, But The War Continues.
It Couldn't Happen Here.  Could It?
World Press’s #1 Photo Of 2008?
The FundamentaList (No. 67)
A Bit Of Wiggle Room
On The Rocks
Mr. Inside

“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 Article...

No Tough Love for Wall Street

What an insipid anticlimax!  Rising to “a challenge more complex than our financial system has ever faced,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner promised on Tuesday to give trillions more to the very folks who profited from that malignant complexity.  For all the brave talk about transparency and accountability in the banking bailout, he gave the swindlers who got us into this mess yet another blank check to buy up the “toxic assets” they gleefully created.


[ Click title above, or here, for full article. ]


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Sunday, February 15, 2009

Best Article Of The Week...

“The Oligarchy’s Bailout Ball”
by Michael Winship, via CommonDreams.org, 2/14/09

Well worth any American’s reading, enjoy.


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Nothing else at this time.


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Saturday, February 14, 2009

Some Nail Reality...

If You’ve Not Seen It Yet - Welcome To Your Reality...
by William Greider via YouTube, Now With The Nation Magazine.


[ A typical YouTube video - You know what to do. ]



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Obama will have to choose, so far he has chosen wrong.  So far he has chosen to protect Wall Street executives, even as he publicly speaks “strong words of criticism” toward them.

Will he continue to do that?  Will you allow him to?

It is up to you, not Obama.  You do know that - Right?


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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Belief...

Atheists Do Believe, Just, (Obviously,) Not What “Believers” Believe.
by An American Atheist Because The Ideology Of The Believers Is Destroying My Nation.


Being an atheist does not mean one does not believe in anything, nor does it mean that one is above, and/or better than, and/or that there isn’t the possibility of a higher intelligence within, or without, the universe.  It simply means one does not believe in a “God” or “Gods” as defined by almost all human religious “faiths.”

Atheists do believe in good and evil, particularly concerning human endeavors and intent.  But most definitely not in a good or evil directed by an outside entity or entities with seemingly mysterious magical powers that respond to “prayers,” intra-personal thoughts, etc.

Even though it is possible that life on earth may have been created, started, or initiated by a being, maybe or maybe not, more advanced than ourselves, not unlike humans going to another planet and terraforming it for our future use, (pretty much a given in our future,) or to stimulate the growth/creation of “intelligence” as displayed in Arthur C. Clarke’s “2001 A Space Odyssey” series of stories concerning aliens that did just that.  Atheists do not “believe” any such entity, if one did start our evolution, is invisibly hanging around and magically responding to billions of “prayers” from earth’s multitudes, much less directing any cause and effect situations whatsoever here on the planet, much less doing so for the entire incomprehensible universe, or even much less that an entity created the universe.

Atheists do believe in the reality of reality, i.e. most all atheists are realists, more to the point, that to believe something true without any known possible reason for believing such to be true, or “faith” which is defined as; belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence, is simply a form of insanity, particularly in regards to religious faith.

The big problem with human religious faith is that if reality conflicts with faith belief, then reality is rejected.  Rejected even to the point of allowing that murder of those not rejecting the reality, in “God’s” name, as demanded by most religious faith. And if one believes in the same “God,” but in an even slightly different way, as most of the monotheistic beliefs do today, (i.e. Islam, Christianity, Judaism to name the big three, ) then the “faithful” are assured that they should die, and that it’s okay with their “God.”

The “certainty” of unrealistic religious faith belief, and its justifications for destroying any who disagree, is certainly destroying us. But as history has proven, (many times over,) it can not be suppressed without almost just as disastrous results.

I take it on “faith” that until this dilemma is solved, civilization will never be able to become civilized.  The only real answer is education.  Because nothing else will ever work as a solution.  Until all don’t, or do, believe the same way, (which will never happen,) there will continue to be those that kill and destroy, in the name of unrealistic faith in unprovable ideology, and “Gods.”

The founders of this nation understood this well, having come from state religion controlled societies.  It is why they created the demand for Separation of Church and State within the Construction - That law does not suppress religion, but it did create a wall of protection from this nation becoming a theocracy, controlled by one religion, that would not be able to stop itself from eventually becoming more fundamentalistic, and eventually attempting to suppress all other religions, and finally to the point that murder of non-believers, or believers in the same God, but just not in the same proscribed way... will be justified.

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I just had to get it off my chest.  I know it has been said many times, and in many different ways, but it makes my feel better to simply express my frustration with the insanity of human religious faith belief.

One must keep in mind that well over half of this planet’s population, (approximately 6.7 billion and counting,) have “below average” IQs.  That is a mathematical fact, and it will never change, even with optimal education planetwide.  It is that fact, along with the fact that “evil” people will always take advantage of that fact for sociopathic personal profit, whether that profit be money, power, fame, or a combination of all the possibilities of “profit.”

Sorry for the downer posting - But I just felt a need to spew it out.


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Monday, February 09, 2009

It’s True, You Know...

Most Are Coming To The Same Conclusion Concerning These People...
by The Old Hippie Because The Evidence Is Too Strong.


Those who say; “God told me...,” or “God wants me to...,” are the most cynical of all the atheists, for they consider all those that believe them to be the most manipulative of chumps,
because... obviously, they know, for a fact, that “God” did not speak to them.

When you realize why you reject all other gods and religions,
you will, (hopefully,) realize why I reject yours.
Here is a link that may help you...?

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So - When the destruction reaches you - And it will reach you, if not already - Do you think they will allow you into their protected enclaves?  Do you really believe they will let you interfere with "their freedoms."

Don't you get it yet?!?

It was never about your freedoms.  Your protection/security. . .

It was/is - from the start, to even as I type this - about their protection from you.

About taking your wealth from you, your freedoms from you, and transferring it to themselves.

And still you do nothing - Still you continue to “allow.”


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Thursday, February 05, 2009

A Gentle Push. . .

Just Want To Clue You In To Some Of The Better News Sites...
by The Old Hippie Because I Thought Seeing Truth Would Change Your Minds.


Hacker
{-The Way Many Picture Me-}
 

If you aren’t aware of them, there are several very good non-corporatist media sites on the web.  All of which I use to do my “news research” every day, and are listed in the “Truth” section of my maim web site.

Without further ado, the sites I use most. . .

AlterNet.org - CrooksAndLiars.com - CommonDreams.org - DemocracyNow.org - FreePress.org - Huffingtonpost.com - [even infamous] MichaelMoore.com - MotherJones.com - [P.O.A.C.] OldAmericanCentury.org - TheRealNews.com - TruthDig.com - TruthOut.org - WorldPublicOpinion.org


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Nothing else - Just go to those sites listed above, and enjoy quality news.


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Wednesday, February 04, 2009

The Obvious Observed...

Activists’ Yelled, “Wake Up!” - But Obviously Not Loud Enough.
by This Old Hippie Because It’s Already Too Late - For Way Too Much Now.


The Whole World Is Rioting as the Economic Crisis Worsens -- Why Aren't We?

That question, posed by Joshua Holland via AlterNet, is, I think, our ‘answer’ also.
Read 

It has become very obvious, at least for those of us that are still paying attention to reality-based analysis, that ‘something is just not right’ with this nation’s evolving non-response to the opportunity that this past historic election has given us all.  Particularly in the face of the huge yawn of “apathy and allowing” that continues in this nation, as the rest of the planet is basically pulling its hair out in frustration with our citizens’ non-action on obviously needed investigation, and punishment where necessary, and the frustratingly insane continued “allowing.”

Something is just not right, and I admit it frightens me greatly.  Not to be redundant,
but...  I still have to wonder...  Will this ‘blatant ignoring’ be “allowed” to continue?


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Nothing else at this time - The above linked article asking “Why aren’t we?” - is not trivial.
Like many of today’s articles, the Comments.. are as enlightening as the article itself.


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Sunday, February 01, 2009

Your Reality. . .

Some Have The Ability To See The Actual Reality - Here Are But A Few...
by The Old Hippie Because It Can Get A Lot Worse...

  -  “Why Do People Believe in God?”
      Best article of the week, along with the best reader’s comments.
      Many people continue to clutch to their belief in God, even though
      there's no evidence of a higher power.  Why?

  -  “It's Theirs and They're Not Apologizing”
      Getting between a broker and his bonus is like... getting between
      a schnauzer and his lunch bowl.  (sort of...)

  -  Obama Lets CIA Keep Controversial Renditions Tool
      Gone: CIA's secret prisons, torture, Gitmo. . .  But renditions???
 Your Right

“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 Article -


“From Prison to Award for Iraq War Whistleblower”


“On Jan. 26 in Copenhagen, I had the privilege to present to former Danish intelligence officer, Frank Grevil, the annual Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence.

The late Sam Adams was a CIA analyst colleague who challenged the "fixing" of intel- ligence during the Vietnam War.

Thirty-five years later, as we again watched the corruption of intelligence amid the drumbeat for war on Iraq, a small group of Sam's former colleagues formed Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence.  Our purpose was not only to honor Sam's memory; it was also to show future generations of intelligence officers that it is possible—actually, it is morally required—to expose the lies that facilitate war.”


The above title is a direct link to the full article...


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