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"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it."
- Noam Chomsky
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And, yes, I DO take it personally

Thursday, March 03, 2011

A call for a direct focus on our super-rich elites, the ones who are calling the shots

one of the real benefits of the "global awakening," particularly as it's being played out currently in the u.s. (in places like madison, wisconsin), is that it's drawing back the curtain on those behind those they have installed as their puppets... case in point: it's not scott walker, the wisconsin governor, we should be focusing on, it's charles and david koch, the super-rich elite money-men who finance and enable people like walker...

george goehl writing in the nation...

We need to get to the root of the issue of budgets—we’re facing a revenue crisis. There is simply not enough money in our cities and states to support the investments needed to rebuild the American middle class. The good news is this: we know where the money is. And though politicians might tell you differently, it’s not in Grandma’s pension. It’s not in the homes of families fighting off foreclosure. And it’s not in the pockets of American schoolchildren or schoolteachers. It’s on Wall Street.

Jacob Lew, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told the New York Times that the “easy cuts” are behind us. “Easy cuts” are those that impact the poor and less powerful. The hard cuts—the ones that are so hard that few in statehouses or Washington are talking about them—would mean ending tax breaks and free rides for Wall Street and the corporations they finance. These cuts are hard not because they hurt everyday people but because they would force elected officials to go toe-to-toe with the economic elites who finance their campaigns. And because too few politicians have the stomach for this fight, it’s clear we’ll have to lead it ourselves.

To do this, we need to hold elected officials accountable and directly challenge the moral abuses of major corporate powers. We get in trouble when we're doing only one or the other and missing half the fight. Right now the mix is uneven. That’s why we need to move from directing most of our energy toward the pawns of the corporate class to going directly to those calling the shots. Imagine if every time we organized a protest at a statehouse or on Capitol Hill we also marched on a bank or the headquarters of a corporation that is impeding an economic recovery for American families. It’s critical that we make this shift, because if this battle simply pits people against politicians, it allows those with the most power to be absent from the story and therefore absent from any real accountability. [emphases added]

david korten describes the unholy alliances that have been manipulated by those elites to bring us to the ugliness of today...
In the 1970s, an alliance of elite interests began preparing to roll back the measures that created the American middle class and launched a full-scale class war during the 1980s under the banner of the Reagan revolution.Corporate interests provided the money and controlled the real agenda. Religious fundamentalists provided votes in return for lip service to a conservative social agenda opposing abortion, family planning, and gay marriage. Libertarians provided an ideological framework removing constraints to the unlimited concentration of wealth in the name of market freedom. Neo-conservatives provided justification for wars and outsized military expenditures to swell the profits of the defense industry and secure corporate access to the world’s resources and markets.

you've gotta admit, those wealthy elites have done one hell of a job...

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Saturday, October 30, 2010

C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy

a tea party and fundamentalist conservative victory in next week's election will give more impetus to this kind of crap...
For decades in Washington, D.C., a secretive group known as The Family has been working behind the scenes to empower a few select politicians, and to influence the decisions that shape our country. Not only has this group operated in almost complete secrecy, but they've also skewed Christianity to the point where they believe that God wants us to take care of the rich and powerful more than the poor and hungry. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. talks about this secret Family in Washington with Jeff Sharlet, author of the new book "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy."

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Saturday, December 05, 2009

The Family - NPR's Terry Gross on Fresh Air

a disturbing interview with jeff sharlet...
A secretive fellowship of powerful Christian politicians includes some names that have recently been prominent in the headlines: Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Bart Stupak and Rep. Joe Pitts. Writer Jeff Sharlet describes the men's involvement with the Family, and discusses recent developments within the group.

listen here...

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist? Lipstick.

given the recent unfortunate increase in the public profile of sarah palin, juan cole feels moved to revive his salon article from september 2008...
Sarah Palin, more resemble those of Muslim fundamentalists than they do those of the Founding Fathers. On censorship, the teaching of creationism in schools, reproductive rights, attributing government policy to God's will and climate change, Palin agrees with Hamas and Saudi Arabia rather than supporting tolerance and democratic precepts. What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist? Lipstick.

i've been of this same opinion for quite some time... there is very little daylight between fundamentalist religious extremists of any stripe... all of them are obsessed with control over the lives of others and use their supposed direct "pipeline" to "god's truth" to justify it, and it's all nothing but pure, unadulterated shit...

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Friday, July 17, 2009

Marital infidelity is a big no-no for everybody but us

in one of my rare forays into the - for me - barely tolerable world of television news, i watched this on rachel maddow last night...



while i'm far from a voyeur that feeds on gossip about illicit affairs, i do find it extremely fascinating that those who attempt to set and enforce so-called standards of "morality" for the rest of us somehow can't be bothered to walk their talk... also fascinating is the group that calls itself "the fellowship" or "the family" that seems to be at ground zero of more and more of the emerging hypocrisy...

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Saturday, August 09, 2008

John Hagee, Christians United for Israel, John McCain and Joe Lieberman



(thanks to john at americablog...)

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Monday, June 02, 2008

U.S. reinstates Fulbright scholarships for Gaza students but will Israel let them leave?

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on friday i posted my outrage over israel refusing exit visas to fulbright scholarship winners in gaza and the u.s. state department summarily canceling the offers... thankfully, a sufficient outcry went up to force a re-thinking of such idiocy...
The American State Department has reinstated seven Fulbright grants offered to Palestinians in Gaza for advanced study in the United States, reversing a decision to withdraw the scholarships because of Israel’s ban on Palestinians’ leaving Gaza for study abroad.

The American Consulate in Jerusalem sent e-mail messages on Sunday night to all seven telling them it was “working closely” with Israeli officials to secure them exit permits. Maj. Peter Lerner, spokesman for the Israeli Defense Ministry’s office of civilian affairs, said the Gazans would be granted permits after individual security checks.

israel had better not pull any bullshit over those "individual security checks"...

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Friday, May 30, 2008

Israel is simply vicious to not allow Gaza students to pursue their Fulbright awards

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a fulbright scholarship is one of the best vehicles available for building positive person-to-person relationships between the people of the u.s. and those of other countries, but israel, in its crazed obsession with power, control, and, yes, i will say it, genocide, can't find it in its cold heart to allow gaza students to take advantage of them...
Hadeel Abu Kawik was supposed to spend next year in the United States on the prestigious Fulbright scholarship program, but now it appears she will remain trapped in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli blockade.

Word that the U.S. State Department was canceling her scholarship came after Abu Kawik, 23 and a computer engineering student, went through a lengthy process for the scholarship that included interviews, exams and an English test.

"I was building my hope on this scholarship," she said Friday.

Seven other Gaza students also lost their grants. The decision was made because they would not be able to get exit visas from Israel, according to State Department spokesman Tom Casey.

this is outrageous...

here's what a young afghan i am helping apply to a u.s. mba program had to say about his fulbright experience... read it and then tell me why israel's action is defensible...

In the middle of my academic career at Kabul University in 2005, I earned a Fulbright scholarship for my academic excellence, English proficiency and leadership talent. Under the Fulbright program, I traveled to the U.S. and began to study intensive English at University of California in Davis. After one quarter term of English studies, I enrolled in a college in New York where I successfully completed my allocated one year towards a BA in economics.

The U.S. experience was enriching and eye opening. I not only improved my English skills, but benefited from the rigorous academic standards. It was also an excellent opportunity to socialize and learn in non-academic environments. Through our friendly chats over dinner or lunch or outside in a café, I made many friends from various backgrounds. I was an ambassador for my country and culture, and helped my new friends to learn the realities of life in Afghanistan and to overcome the many misconceptions they had about my country, religion and culture. In return, I also learned significantly about western values, norms and lifestyle, which helped me to realize that regardless of where we are from, what we believe, what our history is, and how different our values are, we are all human beings and that is what matters.

the state of israel and the neo-con zionists are not representative of the jewish religion and the jewish people any more than the angry, bigoted christian fundamentalists and neo-cons in the u.s. are representative of my country or of christianity...

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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Cliff has 10 + 2 questions for Saint McCain

it's a "steal from americablog" morning... (see previous post...)

cliff schecter has a few questions
he'd like to ask you, senator...

1. Do you agree with Pastor John Hagee that war with Iran is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy?

2. Doesn't your legendary temper make you too dangerous to be trusted with the presidency of the United States?

3. Doesn't your confusion regarding basic facts about the war in Iraq, including repeatedly citing a nonexistent Al Qaeda-Iran alliance, make you unfit for command?

4. Given your past adultery, should Americans consider you a moral exemplar of family values?

5. Doesn't your flip-flop on Jerry Falwell being an "agent of intolerance" show your opportunistic pandering to the religious right?

6. Given your wealth and privileged upbringing, aren't you - and not Barack Obama - the elitist?

7. What is your religion, really? And has the answer in the past changed as the South Carolina primary approached?

8. Didn't President Bush betray you with his signing statement on the Detainee Treatment Act? You claim to be against torture, but aren't you a hypocrite for voting "no" on the Senate waterboarding ban?

9. Why did you flip-flop on the Bush tax cuts you twice opposed? Why do you now support making them permanent for the wealthiest Americans who need them least?

10. With the economy tanking, shouldn't Americans be concerned over your past statements that "the issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should?"

bonus questions...
11) How can you call yourself a straight-talker in light of the fact that you have changed your positions or rhetorically flip-flopped on the following issues:

Abortion, Creationism in science class, immigration, intervention abroad, tax cuts for the wealthy, civil unions, a Martin Luther King holiday, the Confederate Flag, the Christian Right, Bob Jones University, whether Rumsfeld did a good job, whether Dick Cheney is doing a good job, whether President Bush is an honest man, a Patient's Bill of Rights, global warming, campaign finance reform in general, public financing of campaigns specifically, lobbying reform, whether the War in Iraq would be "easy," whether Sunni and Shiite are working together, whether "Iraqi blood should be traded for American blood," military readiness, how many troops are necessary for the surge to succeed in Iraq, ethanol subsidies, the continuing existence of a minimum wage, closing the gun-show loophole, healthcare for children...and I could go on, but how about we start with those?

12) Finally, if Barack Obama must account for everyone he has ever passed within a 100 square mile radius of, then here are some associations [with the indicted, the white supremacists and the downright corrupt] you might want to explain:

Rick Renzi (indicted), Terry Nelson (racist ads against Harold Ford in 2006), Trent Lott (pining for a Strom presidency), The Wyly Brothers (corrupt), Bob Perry (Chief Swift Boater), Richard Quinn (white supremacist), Rev. Richard Land (homosexual hate), Ken Blackwell (Ohio election suppression), Charlie Black (lobbyist and according to John Gorenfeld's new book, Bad Moon Rising, Reverend Moon lover). That would be a start.

Cliff Schecter is the author of The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him And Why Independents Shouldn't.

gosh... i just can't WAIT to hear the answers...

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Christian dominionism, American fascism

chris hedges, in this video from canadian broadcasting, talks about the u.s. christian right, their fascist tendencies, his book, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America, and the recent article in the toronto star...


Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer prize winning writer and author of "American Fascists." In his latest release, the former New York Times correspondent compares the U.S. Christian right to 20th Century fascism.

As a son of a preacher, Hedges has a deep knowledge of the Bible which he uses to openly blast the role of Christianity in politics.

Hedges believes the far right Christian believers have been manipulated by the high power, allowing for bigotry and intolerance.

again, nothing we don't already know...

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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Radical Christian activist terrorism

this is what happens when you have fundamentalist christian ideologues attempting to impose their religious beliefs on an entire nation, beliefs fueled by rigid dogmatism, bigotry, homophobia, and intolerance of other religious beliefs, all implicitly sanctioned by the presidential administration and the republican party... even though it's been overused and abused, the correct term here is indeed the "american taliban..."
Three Burleson men who belong to a "radical Christian activist group" were in the Johnson County Jail on Friday night after a church deacon caught two of them attempting to ignite an explosive device on Independence Day at a church under construction in north Burleson [Texas], authorities said Friday.

[...]

Cmdr. Chris Havens, the Police Department spokesman, said the suspects boasted about belonging to a leaderless group of 10 or 15 who share a belief that society has become too focused on self-improvement and self-gratification and has lost focus on the glorification of God.

"They admit to being Christian and being brought up Christian, but they believe there should be one denomination and one church, not multiple denominations," Havens said.

at least they're putting these twisted young men into the proper category...
"We put them in the category of a domestic terrorist group," Havens said. "We hope to discover the names of other individuals involved and if other devices have been prepared along with any plans they may be talking about to further their cause."

needless to say, had these been muslim young men, there would have been 24/7 national news coverage for at least the next three days...

(thanks to atrios...)

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Monday, June 18, 2007

Clemency for Libby: "the hedonistic pleasure of political expediency"

from the politico...
A well-connected Republican whose views have reached Bush’s inner circle said that if Libby goes to prison, “It would be seen by the religious and policy conservatives as the president abandoning his loyalty virtue for the hedonistic pleasure of political expediency.”

have you ever in your life read such an odoriferous pile of steaming multi-syllabic horseshit...? "the hedonistic pleasure of political expediency...?" unbelievable that those words could actually be uttered by a living, breathing human being... whoever the "well-connected republican" was who mouthed those words could only have been orgasmic at the time... nothing else could explain it...

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Another nut that is in need of cracking

Media Matters has the full story.
From the June 12 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club:

ROBERTSON: The question would be, ladies and gentlemen, if a million Christians want to go to Saudi Arabia and say, "We want to pray," you can't pray in Saudi Arabia. You can't have religious literature in Saudi Arabia. You can't get together in Bible study groups in Saudi Arabia. As far as having special places for foot-washing and all that, no way. You will abide by Sharia law because they're in control.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have to recognize that Islam is not a religion. It is a worldwide political movement meant on domination of the world. And it is meant to subjugate all people under Islamic law.

Islam is not a religion??????? Will someone please pass me the nut-crackers?

Actually, Pat, we have to recognize that the 700 Club is not a religion. It is a Neo-con political movement meant on domination of the world.

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The christian fundamentalist extremist domestic terrorist

max blumenthal offers an in-depth analysis...
[Mark David] Uhl was an a devout evangelical Christian who advocated religious violence in the name of American nationalism. Uhl's blog, featured on his Myspace page, offers a window into the political underpinnings of his bomb plot. In one post, Uhl implores Christians to die on the battlefield for "Uncle Sam." He justifies his call to arms by quoting several Biblical passages and reminding his readers that the "gift of God" is eternal life.

"Christians, we have been given life after death and we should help others receive it and not sit here in our big buildings and sing to ourselves so we can go home and feel good about ourselves," Uhl writes. "Christians, fear of death, fear of death. The fear of death shows you don't believe."

Uhl concludes, "God needs soldiers to fight so his children may live free. Are you afraid??? I'm not. SEND ME!!! "

Uhl's imploration sounds eerily like the battle-cries of another, more notorious religious radical: Osama bin-Laden. Consider what bin-Laden told the Independent in 1993. "`I was never afraid of death... As Muslims, we believe that when we die, we go to heaven. Before a battle, God sends us... tranquility."

Christian right leaders from the late Falwell to James Dobson have turned Muslim-bashing into a cottage industry, using the words of bin-Laden and his acolytes to allege that Islam is an inherently violent religion that "breeds" terrorism.

THIS is a clear case study of domestic terrorism... had uhl been a muslim, all the resources of the media nationwide would have been dedicated to covering it non-stop for at least three days... but since it's a christian fundamentalist extremist, no-o-o-o-o-oooo...

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Saturday, May 19, 2007

Saturday philosophizin'

an interesting article in today's alternet, written by chris hedges at truthdig...
Chris Hedges is the former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times and the author of "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning."

The relentless drive against abortion by the Christian right ... has nothing to do with the protection of life. It is, rather, a cover for a wider and more pernicious assault against the ability of women to control their own bodies, the use of contraception and sexual pleasure.

[...]

The leaders of this movement understand that the only emotion that cannot be subsumed into communal life, which they seek to dominate and control, is love. They fear the power of love, especially when magnified and expressed through tender, sexual relationships, which remove couples from their control. Sex, when not a utilitarian form of procreation, is dangerous.

They seek to fashion a world where good and evil are clearly defined and upheld by the nation's judicial system. The battle against abortion is a battle to build a society where pleasure and freedom, where the capacity of the individual and especially women to make choices, and indeed even love itself, are banished. And this is why pro-life groups oppose contraception -- even for those who are married. The fight against abortion is the facade for a wider fight against the right of an individual in a democracy.

you probably figured i picked this because i have a few thoughts of my own... why, whatever gave you THAT idea...?

first of all, i do not agree with this statement...

"The leaders of this movement understand that the only emotion that cannot be subsumed into communal life, which they seek to dominate and control, is love."

while i agree that love, "expressed through tender, sexual relationships" is a good thing, to be promoted, cherished and celebrated, not excoriated, love, in all its forms, directly or indirectly, is also most definitely part of communal life... in fact, rather than being something that "cannot be subsumed" in communal life, love subsumes EVERYTHING as the one principle that lies above all else, and, even though the sexual component of love is commonly conducted in private (at least in our current society), love can and should add immeasurably to the richness and quality of that communal life...

now, of course, i understand that when hedges refers to "communal life," he is referring to it as defined by the leaders of the extremist versions of fundamentalist christianity, a definition no different from that subscribed to by leaders of other extreme versions of religious fundamentalism... these leaders seek absolute authority and control over the lives of others, whether or not they subscribe to the tenets of their creed... in fact, one of the main tenets of organized religion in general requires that followers abdicate their personal authority to that of an external authority, usually an appointed or anointed individual, who either serves as the interpreter of absolute truth via the bible or other source, or, in more extreme cases, as the source him- or herself... (david koresh comes to mind...)

hedges again...

[T]heir own experiences ... have led them to build a movement that creates an external rigidity to cope with the chaos of human existence, a chaos that overwhelmed them. They do not trust their own urges, their capacity for self-restraint or judgment.

authentic communal life based on love, imho, recognizes that individuals must look within for truth, encourages that exploration, has expectations that it will occur, and provides the guidance and support necessary for it to proceed naturally in the course of an individual's process of growing and maturing... the "vision quest" of the native americans is a perfect example of how honoring an individual's truth can be built in to the fabric of a community... it's even evident in the bible with the story of john the baptist's sojourn in the desert and christ's journeys into the depths of his own soul...

especially interesting to me is that the expressed purpose of those journeys is to seek truth, and that truth, as so clearly stated by christ himself in the gospels, leads to nothing more or less than love... by contrast, what organized religions have so diligently pursued is to convince their followers that inner truth is not to be trusted, that only an external, "sanctioned" authority can be relied on as the source of truth... most organized religions are, in fact, primarily instruments of control, with the power of that control resting in the hands of a few who guard it jealously and insure that only those who share the same beliefs are admitted to the inner circle...

the inner journey, on the other hand, if conducted with the seriousness and the sense of the sacred that it deserves, will lead to the truth, and the truth will lead, inevitably, to love... with the insights gained by that inner journey as a basis, the individual can then partake in communal life as a full contributor, bringing the wisdom and love uniquely expressed out of having encountered his or her own truth... the purpose of REAL religious leaders is to help guide us on that journey and to recognize that such a journey is an essential part of an individual's life, which, if subjected to external control, loses its value entirely...

on a final note, i think it's abundantly clear that social control based on the requirement that individuals abdicate their personal truth in favor of an external, sanctioned authority is hardly unique to religions... repressive, authoritarian governments of every stripe follow precisely the same path, and even the high priests of our scientific community, who worship at the altar of scientific method, observation, measurement, and objectivity, often demand total obeisance from their followers...

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