Monday, July 30, 2007

AL QAEDA'S PROPAGANDA MACHINE

Al Qaeda's Propaganda Machine



One of dozens of As Sahab videos available on YouTube.

"Al Qaeda propaganda outlets have been working at a high rate over the past year, with frequent and timely broadcasts from the group's No. 2, the Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri," report Dan Murphy and Jill Carroll. Evan Kohlmann, an author who tracks the propaganda efforts of Al Qaeda and other jihadi groups, says the increased media output reflects better technology, a more secure position, and competition from other jihadi groups. "When the Al Qaeda media wing, known as As Sahab, became active at the end of 2005, it might have been worried that producing too many videos would lead to capture," write Murphy and Carroll. When that didn't happen, "they were encouraged to produce more of them, in addition to outsourcing the distribution and improving their technological savvy. Sahab has released at least 63 audio and video messages so far this year, compared with 58 in 2006, according to the Associated Press. In many of those, Mr. Zawahiri has been able to respond to the news events within days, getting his group's perspective on radical Islamic websites."

Source: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6279

MARTIAL LAW ONE STEP AWAY


July 28, 2007


MARTIAL LAW IS ONE STEP AWAY FROM REALITY


by Allen L Roland

http://www.opednews.com/


If Pat Tillman was likely executed, on orders from above, because he was about to go public with his negative views on the Iraq war ~ and in the event of another 9/11 event, all Americans who exercise their consitutional right to dissent could well be subject to martial law: Allen L Roland


To understand Bush you must remember that, as a child, he used to blow up frogs for sport .


What does that tell you ? As a psychotherapist, It tells me that there is a seriously emotionally deprived, sad and angry child within Bush who retreated into himself at an early age ~ and is oblivious to the consequences of his actions on others. Except this time it is not frogs he is blowing up ~ it is human beings who are being sacrificed by the thousands and they are all secondary to his driven unconscious desire to maintain power and control, and thus avoid the inner demons of his deep emotional deprivation and fear of failure.


Remember, As Governor of texas ~ George Bush was known as the Texas Death machine and was, in essence, still killing frogs.


No state has executed as many people as Texas, and no American governor has put more people to death than the George W. Bush ~ who signed off on 135 executions since he took office in 1995, about one death every two weeks. In his first term of four years, seventy-nine people died.


Now as President , Bush is the American death machine, with over 655,000 civilian deaths in Iraq to his credit as well as close to 4000 American military ( reported ) deaths ~ he is still killing frogs.


Now put this in the context of Pat Tillman's suspicious death.


As Paul Watson, Prison Planet, points out ~ " there was no evidence whatsoever of friendly fire, but the ballistics data clearly indicated that the three head shots had been fired from just 10 yards away and then the Army tried to concoct a hoax friendly fire story and sent gloating back-slapping e mails congratulating each other on their success while preventing the doctors from exploring the possibility of murder ~ The evidence points directly to it and the motivation is clear - Tillman abandoned a lucrative career in pro-football immediately after 9/11 because he felt a rampaging patriotic urge to defend his country, and became a poster child for the war on terror as a result. But when he discovered that the invasion of Iraq was based on a mountain of lies and deceit and had nothing to do with defending America, he became infuriated and was ready to return home to become an anti-war hero."


Do you really think that George ( Killing machine ) Bush or Dick ( the natural state of man is war ) Cheney would have any reservations whatsoever about silencing Tillman ~ who would have been a serious threat to their reelection campaign and fraudulent war ?


Keep in mind Richard Falk's brilliant definition of Fascism " the convergence of military and economic power on behalf of an ultranationalist ideology that views its enemies - internally and externally - as evil and subject to extermination or extreme punishment. "
Tillman was just another frog to be blown up.


Now, how about us frogs.


Dave Lindorff , Common Dreams, writes yesterday ~ From the looks of things, the Bush/Cheney regime has been working assiduously to pave the way for a declaration of military rule, such that at this point it really lacks only the pretext to trigger a suspension of Constitutional government. They have done this with the active support of Democrats in Congress, though most of the heavy lifting was done by the last, Republican-led Congress. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/27/2813/

The Cheney/Bush Administration has shown itself to be ruthless, without moral or ethical constraints, and more than capable to resort to Martial Law inorder to protect themselves from investigation and maintain their power and neocon global agenda.



Remember, to Bush and Cheney ~ Iraq represents the leading edge of the War On Terror and America is part of the battlefield.



All the parts are in place and as my friend Steve Paley reminds me;



1) Bush has already stated that the war on Islamic terrorism gives him the right to declare marshall (MARTIAL) law at home any time he deems it necessary to "protect" the nation.
(2) Bush has refused to permit Representative DeFazio from reviewing his plans to govern, if and when marshal law is declared.

(3) Even without marshall (MARTIAL) law being declared Bush claims the right to unilaterally detain any American citizen at Guantanamo without having to show cause and without legal recourse; or else to destroy them economically -- for vaguely stated offenses -- for interfering with his so-called policies in Iraq.

(4) There may be prison camps already set up to receive thousands of American citizens who have been labeled enemies of the state.

(5) If justification for imposing marshall law is required this Administration is not above staging one ~ it's the Reichstag fire all over again.



Of course, there is one constraint which is not yet in place but could well prevent this looming scenario ~


IMPEACHMENT !



Allen L Roland




Freelance columnist Allen L Roland is available for comments , interviews and speaking engagements ( allen@allenroland.com )







Authors Website: www.allenroland.com

Authors Bio: Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on Conscious talk radio http://www.conscioustalk.net/


P.S. ADDED FOR CLARIFICATION. BLOGMASTER

TSA 'DRY RUN' TERROR ALERTS WERE BOGUS

CNN: TSA knew 'dry run' terror alerts were bogus

David Edwards and Nick Juliano
Published: Friday July 27, 2007




The Transportation Security Agency's national security bulletin issued was based on bogus examples that were combined to give the impression of ominous terrorist plotting, CNN reports.

"That bulletin for law enforcement eyes only told of suspicious items recently found in passenger's bags at airport checkpoints, warned that they may signify dry runs for terrorist attacks," CNN's Brian Todd reported Friday afternoon. "Well it turns out none of that is true."

Todd highlights the case of Sara Weiss, who was detained in San Diego after two ice packs covered in tape were found in her baggage. Weiss, who works for a faith-based organization, also was carrying a survey about Muslim Americans, which CNN says also raised law enforcement provisions.

"The FBI now says there were valid explanations for all four incidents in that bulletin, and a US government official says no charges will be brought in any of these cases," Todd reported.

Weiss says she was held for three hours and questioned by San Diego Harbor Police and two other men who did not identify themselves. She told CNN one of the men asked her if she knew Osama bin Laden, which she described as "a ridiculous question."

The FBI maintained "they were right" putting the bogus reports on the TSA bulletin, which is distributed to law enforcement agencies nationwide, Todd reported. Airport security officers must be trained in identifying suspicious packages, even when those packages turn out to be innocuous.

The following video is from CNN's Newsroom, broadcast on July 28.

Source: http://www.rawstory.com

THE POPE'S SENIOR MOMENT

July 29, 2007

The Pope's Senior Moment

By Michael Roberts

“A great multitude of Indians one day came to meet the Spaniards with a great deal of humility and simplicity (as their manner is) to offer 'em their service, supposing themselves safe; but while they were sleeping without any apprehension of danger, being faint and weary, a Spanish Captain commanded his men to massacre 'em all, which was accordingly executed.

“Accordingly this Tyrant's Executioners laid hold of the King, stretch'd him out at length upon the ground naked, and pour'd boiling Rosin upon his Belly; besides this, they put his feet into a Fire, having fasten'd his Neck to a Stake fix'd in the ground with two of these Hangmen held him by the Arms.” – Bartholomew De Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa.

So much for the Christian benevolence of the early Conquistadors who arrived in the so-called New World seeking gold and riches. So much for those who believed that this bunch of European murders and terrorists (by any of today’s standards) brought to the region some new civilization based on the superiority of their God.

As usual white Europeans continue in the most arrogant and insensitive ways to insult and humiliate the citizens of their former colonies. Perhaps this unconscious and addictive penchant for foot-in-the-mouth disease is written in the DNA of European Caucasians who just can’t seem to understand the immeasurable suffering that their contact with the peoples of the developing nations of the world has caused.

The most recent injudicious blabbering came from none other than the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict the whatever. The head of an institution infamous for its sexist, male-only exclusionary archaic practices; that has been a willing accomplice to the enslavement and brutalization of millions of the world’s people on the basis of skin color and the Church’s pronouncements that they were inferior and needed to be “civilized” decided to re-write history on a visit to Brazil.

In a speech to Latin American and Caribbean bishops the Pope claimed that the Roman Catholic Church did not impose itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas – that includes the Caribbean. In a highly intellectually suspect moment, perhaps brought about by his advancing age, the “Pontiff of Rome” said that the indigenous peoples welcomed the European explorers at the time of the conquest because “they were silently longing for Christianity.”

Now I know that some folks in this day and age still subscribe to the ridiculous notion that the Pope cannot lie and that he’s got the cell phone number to God in Heaven. I’m definitely not one of these folks – I don’t buy that crap – period. But such blatant misrepresentation of historical facts cannot be left to go unchallenged. Yes, the peace-loving peoples of the Caribbean and Latin America welcomed these visitors but they knew absolutely nothing about Christianity far less to have been “waiting” for white Europeans with a history of bloodshed in their own countries to bring it to them.

Moreover, the Pope appeared to forget that this contact was devastating to the Indians because these Europeans quickly by force of superior arms, brutality and natural viciousness appropriated lands that were not theirs and untruthfully declared to have “discovered them” for some king, queen or Pope. He forgot that in less that 50 years Columbus and his henchmen, a whole generation of cutthroats, mercenaries, jail-birds, pirates and murderers all but wiped out millions of the indigenous populations though disease, enslavement, mass murders and senseless slaughters.

The Columbus legacy of 2007 is that these indigenous peoples in all of the Americas are the poorest, most powerless, disenfranchised and alienated from and in society. They have been stripped of their traditional ways of life, are excluded from society, ridiculed and discriminated against, and wage a daily battle for survival. This is the end result of Columbus’ “discovery” and the civilizing consequences of that encounter that the Roman Catholic Church blessed and enthusiastically embraced.

And the Pope’s statement belittles the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas by suggesting that “they were waiting for” some Eurocentric notion of religion that was superior to their own. That is blatantly racist and obliquely embraces the continued genocide of the indigenous peoples that started since the European colonizers arrived at the time of Christopher Columbus. Popes, priests and friars actively engaged in partnership with this rapacious rabble in a collaborative venture that saw the Roman Catholic Church grow rich in the rivers of Indian blood shed in the name of God and King. The Roman Catholic Church cannot today divorce itself from the numerous amounts of genocide that it not only sanctioned, but aided and actively abetted.

It is an undisputed fact that the Roman Catholic Church joined with local governments who used their armies to kill indigenous peoples struggling for freedom, fairness and equality. The Church used the state to carry out its nefarious and greedy plots to amass more and more riches and property while using a religion of pacifism to keep “the natives in their place.” The Church preached a doctrine of “rewards in heaven” while stealing Indian lands, gold, wealth and possessions.

But by far the most serious implication of the Pope’s comments is the fact that he would have sane and lucid people believe that the deliberate decimation of native peoples by the actions of Columbus and other bands of brigands and the Church’s role in all this amounted to some warped pre-ordained purification ritual that made the indigenous peoples better off, blessed Christians, and therefore nearer to God and white people. That, in my view, is not only racist but patently offensive.

Maybe it’s the DNA thing.

Source: http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/print_friendly.php?p=opedne_michael__070729_the_pope_s_senior_mo.htm

Saturday, July 28, 2007

PSALM 115

Psalm 115

1Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

2Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?

3But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

4Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

5They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

6They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

7They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

8They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

9O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

10O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

11Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

12The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.

13He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.

14The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

15Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.

16The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

17The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.

18But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.

ALL NATIONS FOLLOWS AMERICA'S LEAD

All Nations Follow America's Lead

When all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Dan. 3:7.



History will be repeated. False religion will be exalted. The first day of the week, a common working day, possessing no sanctity whatever, will be set up as was the image at Babylon. All nations and tongues and peoples will be commanded to worship this spurious sabbath. This is Satan's plan to make of no account the day instituted by God, and given to the world as a memorial of creation. {Mar 214.1}

The decree enforcing the worship of this day is to go forth to all the world. {Mar 214.2}

As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example. {Mar 214.3}

Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world. {Mar 214.4}

Nations will be stirred to their very center. Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God's only standard of righteousness, the only sure test of character. And all who will not bow to the decree of the national councils and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin, to the disregard of God's holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast. {Mar 214.5}

The season of distress before God's people will call for a faith that will not falter. His children must make it manifest that He is the only object of their worship, and that no consideration, not even that of life itself, can induce them to make the least concession to false worship. To the loyal heart the commands of sinful, finite men will sink into insignificance beside the word of the eternal God. Truth will be obeyed though the result be imprisonment or exile or death. {Mar 214.6}

Maranatha, Ellen G. White, Page 214.

LIVE EARTH AND EVANGELICALS

WHAT WOULD JESUS DRIVE?

EVANGELICALS SPEAK WITH MANY VOICES ON THE ENVIRONMENT

By Philipp Harper

Click here to view the greenest religious leaders photo gallery

Click here to vote in our poll: What should religion do about global warming?

So, just what would history's most famous Nazarene drive if he were alive today?

For the sake of argument, it helps to narrow the choice to one of those new hybrid cars versus an old International Harvester school bus of the sort that countless hippies once called home.

The hybrid's obvious appeal is the minimal carbon "footprint" it and its driver would leave on God's creation. The ecological shortcomings of the school bus are just as obvious -- think guzzled gas and a stinking cloud of burned oil.

But what the bus lacks in fuel efficiency it makes up for in passenger capacity, and that's of utmost importance to anyone seeking to convey the greatest number of needy souls to the nearest soup kitchen.

So, again, what would Jesus drive: the hybrid or the bus?

The question is hardly frivolous.

Environmental evangelism emerges

In fact, a few years ago in its broad formulation the question became the centerpiece of a public relations campaign begun by a group of evangelical Christians to raise public awareness of climate change and its moral dimensions. For purposes of the sponsoring coalition, the correct answer was and is any vehicle that by dint of its fuel efficiency contributes as little as possible to pollution-related health problems, global warming and dependence on foreign oil.

Given those criteria, a hybrid of some sort would seem to win the day.

But not so fast. As often happens where religion is concerned, schisms developed.

At this point, a quick note: While adherents of the various world religions have weighed in on global warming -- Protestants and Catholics, members of the Greek Orthodox faith, Jews and Moslems, Buddhists and others -- it's America's Christian evangelicals who seem best able to mine the subject for controversy, political as well as religious and scientific. So far, most of the debate has taken place at the national level.

Next

Source: http://liveearth.msn.com/green/wwjd?

Friday, July 27, 2007

ISAIAH 26

Isaiah 26

1In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

2Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

3Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

4Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

5For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.

6The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.

7The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

8Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

9With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

11LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

12LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

13O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

14They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

15Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.

16LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

17Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.

18We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

20Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

21For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.


RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION:


Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. PROVERBS 14: 34

Thursday, July 26, 2007

TALES OF ANGST, ALIENATION & MARTIAL LAW


Tales of Angst, Alienation and Martial Law
Published on Thursday, July 26, 2007.



By Phil Rockstroh - BLN Contributing Writer
In this summer of angst and grim foreboding about what further assaults against common sense and common decency the Bush Administration might inflict upon the people of the world, how many times during the day do those of us -- still possessed of mind, heart and conscience -- take pause, hoping we've seen the worst of it, then, fearing we haven't yet, attempt to push down the dread rising within us, so that we might simply make it through the day and be able to rest at night? Accordingly, those who have been paying attention are aware that the outward mechanisms of martial law are in place. We shudder knowing that Bush has issued an executive decree that grants him dictatorial power in the event of some nebulously defined national emergency. In addition, the knowledge nettles us that a vast network of internment camps bristle across the length of the U.S., standing at wait for those who might raise objections to the fascistic fury unloosed by the American empire's version of the Reichstag fire.

Moreover, a closer look would reveal that the inner processes by which an individual begins the act of acceptance of authoritarian excess -- the mixture of chronic passivity, boredom, low grade anxiety and unfocused rage inherent in the citizens/consumers of the corporate state that primes an individual for fascism -- have been in place for quite some time within the psyches of the American populace, both elites and hoi polloi alike. Although, don't look for torch-lit processions thronging the nation's streets and boulevards; rather, look for a Nuremberg Rally of couch-bound brownshirts. Instead of ogling the serried ranks of jut-jawed, SS soldiers, a contemporary Leni Riefenstahl would be forced to film chubby clusters of double-chinned consumers, saluting the new order with their TV remotes. In the contemporary United States, the elation induced by the immersion of one's individual will to the mindless intoxication of the mob might only be possible, if Bush seized dictatorial control of the state while simultaneously sending out to all citizens gift certificates to Ikea.

After the catastrophes spawned by the rise of European fascism in the 1930s, a number of brilliant, original thinkers (including Hannah Arendt, Roberto Freire, Wilhelm Reich, and R. D. Laing) set out to study the phenomenon in order to learn how future calamities might be prevented. Although the methodologies and conclusions of these thinkers varied, each noted that alienation and dehumanization festered at the core of the death urge of fascism.

Nowadays, in contrast, the elites of the corporate media have proven themselves useless in this regard, believing, as they do, they constitute the thin line between the rabble at large (me and you) and the chaos begot by freedom. At present, mega-churches attract alienated suburbanites. Right wing talk show hosts misdirect their listeners alienation towards so-called illegal "aliens" and exploit their audience's sense of powerlessness (created by the rigged system of corporate capitalism) against elitist liberals (who themselves, ironically, benefit from the present system and who only want to change it to the degree that their own privilege will not be affected. In other words, not at all).

Combine the above with the American character trait of being hostile towards introspection and it becomes evident that the present disaster has been building for quite a while now. And it can (and most likely will) get worse -- far worse.

Most Americans alive today have been trained since birth to adapt to and serve the corrupt corporate structure by means of the shunning of critical thinking and have been conditioned to be in constant (empty) motion or in the thrall of mass media distraction. We have been taught that passivity is for losers, yet we find ourselves nearly powerless before the corporate/consumer/military/police/entertainment state. In this way, we serve our corporate masters; it serves the corpocracy that the lower orders refuse meaningful self-awareness. If one were to glimpse one's own illusions, then it follows one might begin to question collective delusions -- and this would upset the social order.

Those who have studied the dangers of authoritarian rule have advised us to be wary of people who carry an inner emptiness. Of course, these unfortunates yearn for the void to be filled. But with their hearts and minds mortared closed -- what makes it through the self-constructed prison is loud, stupid, and fascistic. At present, what penetrates is: Fundamentalist Sermons on Armageddon; violent video games; the empty spectacle of steroid-induced professional sports hype; the lethal fantasies of American exceptionalism; the exercise in Rock and Roll imperialism that U.S. foreign policy has become. In short, all the banal Sturm and Drang necessary to pierce those protective walls and penetrate the pervasive inner emptiness.

When the people of a culture have been conditioned to worship power -- but feel powerless -- there's trouble ahead. The elites must displace the public's rage by a demagogic sleight-of-hand such as the demonization of marginalized groups. In the US, we've been inundated by years of state and commercial propaganda that has degraded and demonized the country's permanent underclass by the labeling of them as welfare parasites and career criminals.

It has been noted that the mindset, methods, and procedures of America's punitive, profit-driven prison-industrial complex was a prototype for the systemic cruelty of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib; furthermore, it is a given that those institutional affronts to human decency will have served as prototypes for the methods and procedures that will be practiced upon those who are swept-up in the purges and detainment mania following the declaration of martial law in the United States.

We push this knowledge away from us, fearing we will be paralyzed by its crushing implications. Worse, what is nearly impossible to admit is, most likely, the system crushed us long ago. Apropos, R. D. Laing averred that being able to adapt and function within an insane, authoritarian system renders one for all practical purposes insane -- only insane in a manner acceptable to a power mad ruling elite.

This is the knowledge we push down, every hour of everyday. Otherwise, we would be driven to admit outright that the system has crushed our individual hopes, aspirations and yearnings. We must, at all costs, keep these feelings concealed; otherwise, we might be compelled to contemplate what we have forsaken, what passions and truths we have traded away for the false sense of security that the corporate order offered us when we tacitly agreed to surrender what was most sacred, vital and alive within us. One psychological manifestation of this phenomenon is the incessant chanting of that mantra of the American corporate workforce: "I'm not my job. I'm not what I do all day long."

For a moment, meditate on the calamity implicit in such a sentiment. Because If we cannot locate and engage our true selves during our waking hours -- then who the hell are we anyway? This is a profoundly troubling circumstance. Moreover, if we've condemned our daylight selves to a void of non-being, what then remains of us?

We experience this dislocation of the life force as a sense of nebulous dread. Everything, these days, the architecture and accouterment of our lives seems so fragile and unreal; it feels as if everything could just fly apart, at any given moment. The world and our place in it seems so flimsy: an empire built of eggshells; it could all shatter in an instant.

Living on credit, the house of cards of the real estate market, jobs evaporating, most of us languishing only a couple of paychecks away from ruin: The empire is coming undone. As it is, it seems the nation is only being held together with hydrogenated fat, wheat gluten, over-extended credit and particle board. Ergo, there is one law the lawless Bush administration and their keepers from the plundering class cannot flout: the second law of thermodynamics. They won't be able to claim executive privilege to avoid the consequences of negative entropy.

In a similar vein, we, the underlings of empire, stand helpless before the prevailing madness. Individual reason rarely acts as a countervailing force to stem a drowning tide of cultural cognitive dissonance. Because the more epic and all-compassing the mistake, the more epic and all-encompassing come the rationalizations, the scapegoating and the compulsion for do-overs. If the surge isn't working as fantasized, then we'll double-dog surge you and then bomb Iran. If police state tactics fail to alleviate a sense of anxiety, then we must construct more detainment camps, more maximum security prisons, enact more federal death penalty statutes. "Bring back the electric chair; being put to sleep, like stray pets, is too good for the traitors," the mob will rage. That's the solution, but (cognitive dissonance being what it is) we need to go bigger -- we need an electric sofa -- yet, bigger still -- an electric dining room set! "Aahh ... the smell of deep-fried dissidents in the morning."

And over the smoking corpses, let us pray. We need to pray for ... what? ... more prayer. These prayers would work, the homicidally faithful will insist -- if every single doubter was induced to drop to their knees and pray. Hence, we need prayer in the public schools. We need prayer on public transportation. We need prayer in public restrooms!

Animus, ignorance, and magical thinking are a tragic mix -- and I'm afraid that vintage of mind is the hideous wine of our times. The social criteria that gives rise to fascism is in place in the U.S. and those in positions of power have a strong interest in seeing things remain that way. All we can do is what folks (a minority) have always done ... exile or resistance.

In my opinion, both are honorable. The other options are varying degrees of "little Eichmann[ism]" -- Ward Churchill's much scorned, career purge-inducing -- but never-the-less accurate phrase. If one does the "soul work," to appropriate archetypal psychologist James Hillman's term, it is still possible to resist complicity. Training yourself to avoid lying for provisional gain is a time honored means of prevented alliances with exploitive XXXXXXXX. They will avoid you, fire you, curse your name from the darkness of their inner abyss -- but this will solve the problem of dependance on them -- and you'll be forced to live by other means. Generally, one is more adaptable than one believes.

Keep yourself as healthy and as sane as possible: we're going to need you around after the inevitable collapse of the present system. Also, beware of those reductionist demons of the mind who diminish the soul-making possibilities of "mere" words. The acts of writing and reading are seen as passive; to crackpot realists, these activities seem useless, unproductive -- the feckless indulgences of a class of the thin-wristed effete.

Accordingly, Americans have all but ceased reading. Worse, they displace their feelings of self-loathing borne of their own corporately induced passivity upon writers and thinkers. If the tenets of democratic discourse are to survive, it is imperative that writers and thinkers begin to engage in a passionate defense of themselves against the kvetching armies of crackpot realists that have encircled and laid siege to our collective hearts and minds.

But don't expect to be lauded with praise for the effort. It's doubtful our adversaries will be moved by our entreaties: There cannot be a rapprochement with reality for those who have never had a relationship with it in the first place. Yet verbal imagery and depth-inducing insights are the DNA of compassionate engagement. It is not a coincidence that George W. Bush is an inarticulate oaf. Conversely, there are many things in this world that require being touched by words, for there are occasions when words alone can suffice to take us deep and lift us up and serve to ameliorate our alienation.

It is in this spirit that I offer the words above to you; I'm traveling light; they're all I'm carrying with me, at this late hour, in these dark and dangerous times.

Phil Rockstroh, a self-described, auto-didactic, gasbag monologist, is a poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living in New York City. He may be contacted at: philangie2000@yahoo.com

Source: http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=3860

X: VULGARITY (OMITTED) EXCLUDED

HOME BUILDER POSTS $823 MILLION LOSS

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Leading Home Builder Posts $823 Million Loss

D.R. Horton hit by $823 million loss

No. 2 homebuilder reports its first quarterly loss as a public company; revenues suffer from lower values of land and other assets.

July 26 2007: 8:03 AM EDT


NEW YORK (Reuters) -- D.R. Horton Inc., the No. 2 homebuilder by revenues, reported its first quarterly loss as a public company Thursday after taking more than a billion dollars of charges, chiefly related to the lower value of land and other assets.

For the fiscal third quarter ended June 30, D.R. Horton (Charts, Fortune 500) posted a loss of $823.8 million, or $2.62 per share, versus a profit of $292.8 million, or 93 cents, in the year-earlier quarter.


The results included charges totaling nearly $1.28 billion, including $835.8 million for inventory impairments and an impairment charge of $425.6 million.

Homebuilding revenue fell to $2.5 billion from $3.6 billion in the year-earlier quarter, as the number of homes fell to 9,643, compared to 13,377.

Earlier this month, the company said net sales orders in the quarter fell 40 percent to 8,559 homes. The dollar value of the orders dropped 47 percent to $2 billion.

"We believe that market conditions will continue to be challenging, and our quarter-end impairment evaluations incorporated our more cautious outlook for the industry," Chairman Donald Horton said in a statement.

The company's traditional customer is a first- or second-time home buyer. It builds homes in 27 states, with sale prices ranging from $90,000 to more than $900,000.

The downturn in housing is battering results of leading homebuilders. After the close Wednesday, No. 3 builder Pulte Homes (Charts, Fortune 500) and No. 9 Ryland Group (Charts, Fortune 500) also reported losses, although both losses were slightly less than forecasts.

COMPROMISED AT THE TOP

Compromised at the Top

- by Paul & Phillip D. Collins ©, July 9th, 2007

How do you conduct an imperialist campaign abroad and erect a police state domestically? You launch a phony war on terrorism to act as the pretext. How do you prevent the phony war on terrorism from becoming a genuine war on terrorism? You make sure you have a thoroughly compromised individual acting as your Commander in chief. On June 20, 2007, the Bush administration made moves demonstrating that the President is just such a compromised individual. The Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the State Department hosted a meeting with other intelligence community representatives to discuss the opening of "more formal channels" to the Muslim Brotherhood (Lake, no pagination). This is just the latest in a series of moves made by the administration to reach out to the Muslim Brotherhood (known in Arabic as Ikhwan) (no pagination). One of the Brotherhood supporters at the June 20 meeting was Robert Leiken (no pagination). Robert Leiken, a scholar at the Nixon Center, was commissioned by the National Intelligence Council to put together a paper on the history of the Muslim Brotherhood earlier in 2007 (no pagination). According to administration officials, Leiken's paper to the National Intelligence Council drew the attention of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and senior members of the National Security Council (no pagination).

Other acts of bridge building between the administration and the Brotherhood are worth mentioning. On April 7, 2007, Congressional leaders went to a reception where Muslim Brotherhood representatives were present (no pagination). The National Security Council and the State Department had an indirect meeting with the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2006 through discussions with the National Salvation Front, a new Syrian opposition group (no pagination). Even Iraq's Vice President, Tariq al-Hashemi, is the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's Iraq branch (no pagination). Hashemi was encouraged by George W. Bush to form an alliance that would replace Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government (Slavin, no pagination). This move was supposedly to counter the influence of Muqtada al-Sadr (no pagination).

By courting the idea of official diplomacy with the Muslim Brotherhood, the President is overtly jumping into bed with the very enemy he claims to be fighting. The Muslim Brotherhood has several close ties to Al-Qaeda. Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the architect of the September 11 attacks, joined the Muslim Brotherhood at the age of sixteen and attended the Brotherhood's desert youth camps (Mintz and Farah, no pagination). Ayman Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Egyptian branch (no pagination). According to Seymour Hersh, the Brotherhood may have even been involved in the September 11 attacks. Hersh states: "Many of the September 11th hijackers had operated out of cells in Aachen and Hamburg, where Al Qaeda was working with the Brotherhood" (no pagination). Given the connections between the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda, one would think that the United States government would be interested in cracking down on the Brotherhood. However, that has not been the case. After September 11, Syria's leader, Bashar Assad:

initiated the delivery of Syrian intelligence to the United States. The Syrians had compiled hundreds of files on Al Qaeda, including dossiers on the men who participated - and others who wanted to participate - in the September 11th attacks. Syria also penetrated Al Qaeda cells throughout the Middle East and in Arab exile communities throughout Europe. That data began flowing to C.I.A. and F.B.I. operatives. (Hersh, no pagination)

Syria was willing to seek a security relationship with America because of Al Qaeda's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood's Syrian branch (no pagination). Syria felt that it shared a common enemy with the United States in the Muslim Brotherhood. Syria's rivalry with the Muslim Brotherhood began with Bashar's father, Hafez Assad. Seymour Hersh elaborates:

In 1982, after years of increasingly violent terrorist attacks throughout Syria, Hafez Assad ordered a massive military assault on the Muslim Brotherhood in the northern city of Hama. He saw the group as a threat to his control of Syria, and his forces, showing little mercy, killed at least five thousand people, many of them civilians, in a month long battle that left the city in ruins. (No pagination)

According to former CIA operative Robert Baer: "The Syrians know that the Saudis were involved in the financing of the Muslim Brotherhood and they for sure know the names" (no pagination). The Syrians were willing to share the names of the Muslim Brotherhood's members with the United States on the condition that an invasion of Iraq would be avoided (no pagination). America declined the offer and the security relationship with Syria broke down (no pagination).

Instead of confronting the Muslim Brotherhood, the United States government seems to have actually collaborated with them. Former CIA official Graham E. Fuller's words seem to sum up the government's position:

"It is the preeminent movement in the Muslim world," said Graham E. Fuller, a former CIA official specializing in the Middle East. "It's something we can work with." Demonizing the Brotherhood "would be foolhardy in the extreme," he warned. (Mintz and Farah, no pagination)

John Mintz and Douglas Farah elaborate on the relationship between the United States government and the Muslim Brotherhood:

For years, State Department and CIA officials have met with Brotherhood activists in Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and elsewhere to track currents within Islamic politics.

"We want to know where they're coming from, to influence them," said Edward P. Djerejian, a former top State Department official who now runs Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy.

At the same time, host governments in Cairo, Tunis and elsewhere warn that the Brotherhood is dangerous. So do many in U.S. law enforcement. "There were debates all the time about meeting with them," Djerejian said.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, pockets in the government -- including officials in State's Near East bureau and diplomats posted overseas -- have quietly advocated that the government reach out to the Brotherhood and its allies. These officials and some in U.S. think tanks hope the Brotherhood can temper its anti-U.S. stance and become a barrier against jihadists worldwide. (No pagination)

Does the government really believe the Brotherhood will abandon its anti-American sentiments and act as a bulwark against jihadists? So far, neither has happened and the United States government still seems to be in a cozy relationship with the Brotherhood. If the Bush administration fully embraces the Brotherhood, that relationship will become formal and official. The unholy alliance between the Bush administration and the very terrorist threat it is supposed to be fighting will be out of the closet and in our faces. And, of course, it will be impossible for Bush to fight with someone who is his ally.

Sources Cited

FBI PROPOSES COVERT INFORMANTS

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

FBI to recruit thousands of covert informants

FBI Proposes Building Network of U.S. Informants

July 25, 2007 1:01 PM

Justin Rood Reports:

Fbiproposesbu_mn_2 The FBI is taking cues from the CIA to recruit thousands of covert informants in the United States as part of a sprawling effort to boost its intelligence capabilities.

According to a recent unclassified report to Congress, the FBI expects its informants to provide secrets about possible terrorists and foreign spies, although some may also be expected to aid with criminal investigations, in the tradition of law enforcement confidential informants. The FBI did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

The FBI said the push was driven by a 2004 directive from President Bush ordering the bureau to improve its counterterrorism efforts by boosting its human intelligence capabilities.

The aggressive push for more secret informants appears to be part of a new effort to grow its intelligence and counterterrorism efforts. Other recent proposals include expanding its collection and analysis of data on U.S. persons, retaining years' worth of Americans' phone records and even increasing so-called "black bag" secret entry operations.

To handle the increase in so-called human sources, the FBI also plans to overhaul its database system, so it can manage records and verify the accuracy of information from "more than 15,000" informants, according to the document. While many of the recruited informants will apparently be U.S. residents, some informants may be overseas, recruited by FBI agents in foreign offices, the report indicates.

The total cost of the effort tops $22 million, according to the document.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

The bureau has arranged to use elements of CIA training to teach FBI agents about "Source Targeting and Development," the report states. The courses will train FBI special agents on the "comprehensive tradecraft" needed to identify, recruit and manage these "confidential human sources." According to January testimony by FBI Deputy Director John S. Pistole, the CIA has been working with the bureau on the course.

The bureau apparently mulled whether to adopt entire training courses from the CIA or from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which like the CIA recruits spies overseas. But the FBI ultimately determined "the courses offered by those agencies would not meet the needs of the FBI's unique law enforcement." The FBI report said it would also give agents "legal and policy" training, noting that its domestic intelligence efforts are "constitutionally sensitive."

"It's probably a good sign they are not adopting CIA recruitment techniques wholesale," said Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, an expert on classified programs. U.S. intelligence officers abroad can use bribery, extortion, and other patently illegal acts to corral sources into working for them, Aftergood noted. "You're not supposed to do that in the United States," he said.

Source: http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/07/fbi-to-recruit-thousands-of-covert.html

STACKING THE COURT

Op-Ed Contributor

Stacking the Court

Published: July 26, 2007

Huntington, W.Va.

Oliver Munday

WHEN a majority of Supreme Court justices adopt a manifestly ideological agenda, it plunges the court into the vortex of American politics. If the Roberts court has entered voluntarily what Justice Felix Frankfurter once called the “political thicket,” it may require a political solution to set it straight.

The framers of the Constitution did not envisage the Supreme Court as arbiter of all national issues. As Chief Justice John Marshall made clear in Marbury v. Madison, the court’s authority extends only to legal issues.

When the court overreaches, the Constitution provides checks and balances. In 1805, after persistent political activity by Justice Samuel Chase, Congress responded with its power of impeachment. Chase was acquitted, but never again did he step across the line to mingle law and politics. After the Civil War, when a Republican Congress feared the court might tamper with Reconstruction in the South, it removed those questions from the court’s appellate jurisdiction.

But the method most frequently employed to bring the court to heel has been increasing or decreasing its membership. The size of the Supreme Court is not fixed by the Constitution. It is determined by Congress.

The original Judiciary Act of 1789 set the number of justices at six. When the Federalists were defeated in 1800, the lame-duck Congress reduced the size of the court to five — hoping to deprive President Jefferson of an appointment. The incoming Democratic Congress repealed the Federalist measure (leaving the number at six), and then in 1807 increased the size of the court to seven, giving Jefferson an additional appointment.

In 1837, the number was increased to nine, affording the Democrat Andrew Jackson two additional appointments. During the Civil War, to insure an anti-slavery, pro-Union majority on the bench, the court was increased to 10. When a Democrat, Andrew Johnson, became president upon Lincoln’s death, a Republican Congress voted to reduce the size to seven (achieved by attrition) to guarantee Johnson would have no appointments.

After Ulysses S. Grant was elected in 1868, Congress restored the court to nine. That gave Grant two new appointments. The court had just declared unconstitutional the government’s authority to issue paper currency (greenbacks). Grant took the opportunity to appoint two justices sympathetic to the administration. When the reconstituted court convened, it reheard the legal tender cases and reversed its decision (5-4).

The most recent attempt to alter the size of the court was by Franklin Roosevelt in 1937. But instead of simply requesting that Congress add an additional justice or two, Roosevelt’s convoluted scheme fooled no one and ultimately sank under its own weight.

Roosevelt claimed the justices were too old to keep up with the workload, and urged that for every justice who reached the age of 70 and did not retire within six months, the president should be able to appoint a younger justice to help out. Six of the Supreme Court justices in 1937 were older than 70. But the court was not behind in its docket, and Roosevelt’s subterfuge was exposed. In the Senate, the president could muster only 20 supporters.

Still, there is nothing sacrosanct about having nine justices on the Supreme Court. Roosevelt’s 1937 chicanery has given court-packing a bad name, but it is a hallowed American political tradition participated in by Republicans and Democrats alike.

If the current five-man majority persists in thumbing its nose at popular values, the election of a Democratic president and Congress could provide a corrective. It requires only a majority vote in both houses to add a justice or two. Chief Justice John Roberts and his conservative colleagues might do well to bear in mind that the roll call of presidents who have used this option includes not just Roosevelt but also Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and Grant.

Jean Edward Smith is the author, most recently, of “F.D.R.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/opinion/26smith.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

F.Y.I. 5 OUT OF THE 9 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES ARE ROMAN CATHOLICS:

KENNEDY, THOMAS, SCALIA, ROBERTS, AND ALITO...

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

NEW HAVEN OFFERS ILLEGALS ID CARDS

US city issues immigrant ID card
US border police make an arrest
Opponents say the ID cards will open the floodgates to immigrants
A city in Connecticut has become the first in the United States to issue identity cards to illegal immigrants.

New Haven - best known as the home of Yale University - is offering the cards to all its residents, including to some 12,000 undocumented immigrants.

City leaders say the plan will enable immigrants to open bank accounts and make them less vulnerable to crime.

But the ID card scheme, which comes as some other cities get tough on illegal immigrants, has also prompted protests.

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano said the cards, which were approved last month, would make immigrants more willing to report crime.

"The simple straightforward purpose here is to build a stronger community," he said.

"You can't police a community of people who won't talk to our cops."

'Welcome mat'

But opponents said the move would encourage illegal immigration.

Bill Farrel, of Southern Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Reform, said: "It's going to be a welcome mat for illegal aliens to come to the region, flood the labour market and dry up working-class and middle-class jobs."

BBC Americas editor Will Grant says the controversial move stands in stark contrast to the approach towards illegal immigrants adopted in other parts of the US.

New laws and proposals in more than 90 cities or counties across the country include prohibiting landlords from renting to illegal immigrants and penalising firms that employ them.

Last month, US President George W Bush's plans for immigration reform collapsed in the Senate amid strong opposition.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6913493.stm

EVANGELICALS RENEWED DOMESTIC DRIVE

Religion News

U.S. evangelicals eye renewed domestic drive



By Ed Stoddard Feb 7, 2007, 18:20 GMT



DALLAS - The number of southern U.S. evangelical Christians is not growing as fast as the wider population, leading to a renewed effort to win converts on the domestic front from key groups like the Hispanic community.

That was one message that came through at a three-day 'Empower Evangelism' conference hosted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, or SBTC, which wrapped up on Wednesday.

'There has been a slowdown of the growth of our churches and our converts ... We have not been keeping pace with the population growth,' said Frank Page, president of the national Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor from South Carolina.

Growth is important for the evangelical movement with its heavy emphasis on the 'conversion experience.'

According to the convention's North American Mission Board, in 1990 the population to church ratio for every Southern Baptist church nationwide was 6,549 to one.

In 2005 the ratio had widened to 6,783 to one, reversing earlier trends. The Southern Baptists did not provide numbers on the broader evangelical movement but it is a telling trend given their zeal.

America still has 60 million evangelicals out of a population of 300 million and about 16 million call themselves Southern Baptists.

They are an influential group in the United States. Politically they are often associated with conservative causes and are a key base of support for the Republican Party.

'In states such as Texas there has been massive population growth especially among ethnic groups and we have not kept pace,' Page told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.

Much of that growth has been among the Hispanic population which is traditionally Catholic and is viewed as a key target for Protestant evangelical activity.

At this week's conference, Spanish translations were pointedly available for the talks and sermons.

'We are looking to the Hispanic population for growth,' said Mike Gonzales, the Hispanic Initiative and Ethnic Ministries Director of the SBTC.

He said there was now 127 Hispanic Baptist churches affiliated with the SBTC compared to 77 just over two years ago -- fast growth but it is very recent and off a low base.

CHANGING OIL FOR CHRIST

Besides reaching out to fast growing ethnic communities the conference also focused broadly on the domestic front with 'coffee house' and other forms of evangelism promoted.

'This conference is encouragement for people to redouble their efforts to develop nontraditional and innovative methods in sharing the good news of Christ,' Page said.

'My church for example four times a year does a massive 'single mother oil change' where we help fix their cars. We say we just want to show you the love of Christ in a practical way,' he said.

Ryan Heller, a 35-year-old pastor in a community just north of Dallas, said he began his evangelical activities with neighborhood festivities that included clowns and parades.

Door-to-door marketing tactics were also employed.

'We started knocking on doors and asking people if they were going to go to a new church in town what they would like to see that church look like and do,' he said.

'Our church is conservative theologically but in our church what we practice is very contemporary ... we have very contemporary music and a band which is pretty much a rock band,' he said.

In just over three years he said his church had grown from scratch to regular attendance rates of between 300 and 350 -- growth that the movement would like to see elsewhere.

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Source: http://lifestyle.monstersandcritics.com/religion/news/article_1260305.php/U.S._evangelicals_eye_renewed_domestic_drive