Preparing the BattlefieldAnnals of National Security in the New Yorker Magazine
The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.
by Seymour M. Hersh
and on Democracy Now
Are these congressional leaders patriots or traitors?
Read about this country’s latest venture into war. Reuter’s reports: U.S. escalating covert operations against Iran: report.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
On Saturday, June 21 No Shame - Just War was posted on the sister-site Joe Blow’s Report on Blogspot detailing some of the behind the scenes moves and support for more war. Few speak of the consequences, though. There is this latest to think about: Iran says Gulf oil route at risk if attacked. By then it will be way too late.
Joe watched the MSNBC June 22, 2008, Meet The Press TV program with Senator’s Joe Biden (Democrat) and Lindsey Graham (Republican). Of note was the open disdain, ridicule and literal contempt Graham expressed both facially and verbally towards Joe Biden, what he said and the Democrats in particular. One wonders if this is a prelude to what’s going on in Zimbabwe? Think there is a difference?
You can read about this here: “Leader of Zimbabwe Opposition Seeks Refuge” in the New York Times.
Difference? Maybe suits and ties or uniforms, tasers and mace? Oh, yea! Almost forgot, billy clubs. No iron bars, yet . . .
Joe says, “It’s all in your perspective.”
Joe’s use of “perspective” is defined in a couple of instances as:
( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perspective ) . . .
5. the state of one’s ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship: You have to live here a few years to see local conditions in perspective.
6. the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship: Your data is admirably detailed but it lacks perspective.
7. a mental view or prospect: the dismal perspective of terminally ill patients.
With that in mind, consider please the following commentaries by Ernie Branscomb- “Who Would We Vote For?” and “Minnesota DFL Endorse Franken.” Thoughtful commentary on the complicity of fancy words and trust. He concludes “Who Would We Vote For” with this admonition: “We need to join in the cause of America. ‘that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’ Abraham Lincoln”
Perspective? Fancy words used to obscure the truth. Never mind his butchery of the Constitution and human life he caused, all in the name of “FREEDOM.” Today there is absolutely no doubt what his “new birth of freedom” really meant for America and the World. It is manifest to all in glaring reality. We certainly don’t want to forget one of the main benefits of Abraham Lincoln’s vision, “the cause of America,” the emancipation of The Second Half.
Why my goodness, just look at all the unintended consequences of all this freedom listed in Tracy Barnes Priestly’s article in the Tuesday, June 10, 2008, Times Standard “The role of ‘dad’ has evolved with the boomers.” She notes:
* Seventy-five percent of the fathers sampled reported hugging their children or showing them affection every day.
* Thirty-three percent said they tell their children that they love them on a daily basis.
* Sixty percent say they joke and play with their children each day.
* Nearly 90 percent reported that being a father is the most fulfilling job a man can have.
* Eighty percent of the dads said they were involved in choosing their children’s activities, while 67 percent helped select their children’s day care and schools.
Isn’t that just great! Father’s love their children - today! THEY GET HUGS!
She continues: “These are encouraging results, as they signal good stuff for those children fortunate enough to be living with both of their parents. But this study also left me thinking about how all of the children in single-parent households are fairing.”
“I have a personal interest in this because, believe me, when I was growing up Ward Cleaver wasn’t pulling into our driveway every night. Nope, in the 50s my brother and I were a bit of an anomaly — a couple of kids being raised by a single working mother and a single working grandmother — right there, smack dab in the middle of southern California suburbia.”
“But what do I know from my own experience? I’m happy to report that children from single-parent households can, and do, grow up to be healthy, happy adults. Truly, some of the best fathers I know were raised by single parents — like my big brother.”
GOOD STUFF? What does she really know from her own experience? Without any male energy in the form of a man in her brother’s and her life, did they really grow up to be “healthy, happy adults”? She says, “some of the best fathers I know were raised by single parents.” No doubt!
To get some perspective to this question, Joe asked his cat, Tinker, if she wouldn’t be a much better cat, a healthier, happier cat if she was a mother and had a tail? Do you know what? She never said a word. She looked at him as if he was absolutely stupid. Then she disdainfully turned her back on him and walked away swinging her black backside at him as if to say, “What do I know about Tom Cats and Tails?
These are the immortal words of the venerable HYPOCRITE!
Unfortunately, our children pay little attention to what we say, but hang on our every movement. They see the truth and disregard our lies; what we say. When we don’t like the truth they see, we impose upon and force them to accept our lies. We make them hypocrites to justify ourselves and ease our consciences. We teach and practice corruption. In a Biblical sense, we propagate sin.
To honor life and our children we must give them the ability to think and reason. You tell them the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts and is hard to take, but that’s life. Self-respect, personal integrity and good character are taught, learned and earned by the truth. To teach truth, one must do truth. Make what you say and what you do the same.
Joe sees the constant implication, if not outright accusations that the Times Standard is a liberal newspaper; as if liberal were some sort of disease. Yet, look at who owns the paper and what Rich Somerville has to say in some of his editorials.
This one caught Joe’s attention: Dirty tricks take a Humboldt holiday posted June 2.
“Whew! The day before a big election is a time to take a deep breath — not only for candidates who have been frantically campaigning, but those of us in the media helping voters make an informed decision.”
Note the words, “informed decision.” Really? Did he and his staff “do the work” of producing credible information about these people?
Read what he goes on to say: “The Times-Standard Editorial Board was impressed with the quality of the candidates, and the tone of the campaign was on a generally high level — focusing on issues rather than personalities or “dirty tricks.”
An anonymous caller tried to bait the Times-Standard into digging into the personal life of one of the candidates. I said it wasn’t any of our business, being unrelated to the job of supervisor, and that I didn’t think it was the caller’s business either.”
He says the “personal life” of these “candidates” is none of our business. According to him the “personal life” is “being unrelated to the job of supervisor.” He, mind you, “didn’t think it was the caller’s (or our) business either.” What he seems to forget is that these people are the “ISSUE” when citizens are asked to enable their right to represent the whole community. What the “Deferential Complicit Enablers” would like everyone to overlook, if not forget completely, is the fact that every registered voter, whether they vote or not, is responsible for the government that is. That government, regardless whether it’s city, county, state or federal exists, legitimate or not because the people voted it in or failed to enforce the law when the election was corrupt. There are NO innocent civilians in a Democracy. Yeah! We know that’s a bitter truth.
The next time your jerked about some law rammed down your throat, just remember, those people you voted for, the ones that told you one thing and did something else, maybe you should have found out if your representative had any integrity, whether they kept their word and could be trusted BEFORE voting for them.
The personal lives of people asking for your vote does matter. The last two Presidents of the United States should make that fact a glaring reality. Their presidency and America’s destiny is defined by their obscene morals and wanton personal character. We are all indicted by their crimes.
I make the effort to share this information because it gives me, at last, a plausible answer to a long-unanswered question: Why, no matter how much intelligent goodwill exists in the world, is there so much war, suffering and injustice? It doesn’t seem to matter what creative plan, ideology, religion, or philosophy great minds come up with, nothing seems to improve our lot. Since the dawn of civilization, this pattern repeats itself over and over again.
The answer is that civilization, as we know it, is largely the creation of psychopaths. . . .
Christianity in Eclipse
by Laurence M. Vance
The Christian’s attitude toward the state, its leaders, its military, its wars, its imperialism, and its interventionism should be a no-brainer: contempt, disdain, disgust, revulsion, abhorrence, repugnance, loathing – take your pick. Yet, among Christians one continues to find some of the greatest apologists for the state, its leaders, its institutions, and its evil doings.
Biblical Christianity is becoming eclipsed by state worship. . . .
To read the rest of the article, go here . . .
Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statolatry
Statolatry, which combines idolatry with the state, first appeared in Giovanni Gentile’s Doctrine of Fascism, published in 1931 under Mussolini’s name. The same year, an encyclical by Pope Pius XI criticized Fascist Italy as developing “a pagan worship of the state” which it called “statolatry.
Ludwig von Mises’ Omnipotent Government (1944)
The term was also popularized and explained by Ludwig von Mises in his 1944 work Omnipotent Government. Statolatry is literally worship of the State analogous to idolatry as worship of idols. It asserts that the glorification and aggrandizement of ‘State’ or ‘Nation’ is the object of all legitimate human aspiration at the expense of all else, including personal welfare and independent thought. Expansion of the power and influence of one’s State is to be achieved, if necessary, through aggressive war and colonial adventures (i.e. imperialism). It far exceeds the patriotism of those who recognize the rights of people other than themselves to self-determination, and might best be described as super-patriotism or nationalistic chauvinism.
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Statolatry
The Medieval Inquisitor of Dark Age Hate-Mongering speaks trash again.
Lets start to set some records straight. First, Joe Blow is not some sort of “educated elite” like Mr. Franco-Simmons, Managing Editor of The Eureka Reporter. He had the presence of mind to NOT waste his time getting his thinking ”educated” by any so-called philosophy professor, either Christian conservative or Pagan liberal. From his short bio it should be glaring clear that he did get educated on what biggotry, discrimination, hate-mongering, religious and political prejudices are. It was common knowledge during the last four years of his High School education that they (the teachers and officials) were not going to waste his good grades on him, so his grades went to those that needed them so they could go on to become “educated elite” and avoid going to Vietnam.
This so-called “opinion” printed under the Editor’s Notebook, in the Eureka Reporter Sunday, April 27, 2008, titled: “Professor’s Attack On Student’s Religion Is Outrageous” manages to find something going on in the state of New York to dump his trash all over Humboldt County again. Joe’s wordprocessor of this worthless opinion produces 578 words or 3111 letters that include, by his estimation, the following examples trash-talk in bold print:
Mr. Franco-Simmons’ hypocrisy is best expressed in his own words, modified slightly by Joe for effect: “Public and some private newspapers of higher learning have become havens for dogmatic conservative agendas promulgated by a radical elite that have no shame and no tolerance for the views of others.” “These conservative owners, editors, columnist and reporters should be ashamed of their undignified behavior. It defeats the objective of what any newspaper should foster: the independent search for truth.”
These kinds of people and everyone that enables them, not too long ago burned innocent so-called “educated elite” woman at the stake for simply using a few herbs to help with health issues or trying to help their fellow sisters deliver babies without dying at the hands of their Christian religious superiors. The atrocities, including this so-called “opinion” committed by the beliefs of this kind of “Christianity” to stop all kinds of thinking has brought this earth to its knees. Oh! you say, he’s just exercising his Constitutional rights to speak his mind. Okay. So, what’s next Mr. Franco-Simmons, Christian death squads in Humboldt County dealing with the “bigoted, close-minded and discriminatory educational elite”?
Joe says, ”Mr. Franco-Simmons would be a far better person and citizen if he put and kept his so-called Christian beliefs where they belong, in his garbage can.” Or is he?
– Joe
When Joe first moved back to Eureka he began noticing these newspapers showing up in his front yard. Upon examination he found out they were a free daily newspaper, The Eureka Reporter. In time he became aware that the name, “Arkley” was associated with the paper and that the Managing Editor was Glen Franco-Simmons, which meant nothing to him. At first he enjoyed the fact that it was “free” and appreciated the large print. It didn’t take him long to realize that Mr. Franco-Simmons educated political point of view permeated the paper. He also noted how the paper, under the irresponsible rights of free “political” expression, allowed people to denigrate, degrade and otherwise assault one an other on a regular basis. The “paper” made its perverse point without having to say a word.
Now remember, the paper and Joe uses the word loosely, because what Joe read was printed on paper, was free, available and Joe did read it of his own free will. Too, he needed to start a fire once in awhile and the paper worked relatively well, so he allowed that blue pile to continue to daily adorn his property. Occasionally, like today, he asked himself why when he reads the Editor’s Notebook by Glen Franco-Simmons. The hypocrisy, ignorance and filthy bile that spews from that commentary does everyone that supports that paper justice. No one, and Joe means NO ONE, gave Mr. Franco-Simmons the god-given right to force others that do not think or believe as he does at the point of a gun or threat of nuclear holocaust or any other individual or country to submit to what he constitutes as “human rights” or his kind of “peace” including those he judges as believers “in one God, one Creator, who is omnipresent over all.” Mr. Franco-Simon memory of history is “atypical” of his type, spawned right out of the Dark Ages. Personally, Joe wants no part of your kind of peace for he knows full well that in this Universe what goes around, comes around.
What does that mean, “what goes around, comes around”? Mr. Franco-Simmons ends by saying: “In my heart, I only hope that the three religions can somehow find unity in their diversity and pave the way for peace, but my intellect tells me that won’t happen until there is a massive spilling of blood — perhaps on a scale not seen before; perhaps, in the future, it will involve nuclear war. Let us hope not. The path to religious tolerance is much easier and preferable than the path to oblivion.”
“The path to religious tolerance”? Talk about a hypocrite! There is not one word of tolerance, religious or otherwise, in what this guy just spewed out. In fact, Joe observes, if Americans are facing “unrelenting hostility” around the World or are on “the path to oblivion,” they need look no further than this kind of person and his diatribe for the cause. What you freely give out Mr. Franco Simmons, you shall surely get back in spades! That may serve justice for your children, but Joe wants no part of it for his.
Mr. Leo Sears writes in the Friday, April 11, 2008, Times-Standard under the heading “Legislators, please take note,” located on the Internet http://www.times-standard.com/leosears/ci_8887956. Here you will find what he actually said. Below is Joe Blows re-write observation:
DISCLAIMER! Please note, I changed some of his words. I changed the words “pit bull” to “child,” “pit bulls” and “pit bull’s” to “children(’s).” Further, I changed the word “animal” and “dog” to “human.” Any other modifications are also noted.
Leo Sears/for the Times-Standard as modified by Joe Blow:
As Dr. Joseph Humble (at the Cutten Animal Health Center) told of all the “humans”, including two of his “children,” he’s treated a result of attacks by “children,” rottweilers and similar breeds, his support of a breeding ban wasn’t surprising.
I already knew that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of “Humans”) endorses a ban on breeding these types of “children.” But PETA’s support for the policy “at many ‘human’ shelters across the country [where] any ‘child’ that comes through the front door doesn’t go out the back door alive” made me take a second look.
PETA president Ingrid Newkir describes the “children’s” ancestor, the Staffordshire terrier, as a human concoction, bred as a weapon. “These ‘children’ were designed specifically to fight other ‘humans’ and kill them, for sport. Hence the barrel chest, the thick hammer-like head, the strong jaws, the perseverance and the stamina. Pits can take down a bull weighing in at over a thousand pounds, so a human being a tenth of that weight can easily be seriously hurt or killed.”
Those defending the “children” say they are no more inherently dangerous than any other breed of “human” — claiming that there are no bad “children”, just bad owners.
Not so, according to Lt. Abe Gomez of Contra Costa Animal Services. “The ‘child’ is bred for fighting. These ‘children’ can just go off. And when they do, they cause tremendous damage. They don’t growl,” he said. “[They] usually just come right after you.”
Even in mixed breeds, there are characteristics we can recognize, and they have certain tendencies that are dangerous.
It isn’t just poor training or bad owners mistreating them, although that makes an attack more likely. It is the breed — and the damage they can do is greatly out of proportion to what another breed can do.
”They were bred for intolerance and the prey drive,” says Trish King, director of behavior and training at the Marin Humane Society. “Those two things, in combination, can cause tragedies. The prey drive is an instinct. A reflex. It can be sparked by movement. If something causes the ‘child’ to become overexcited, it might become angry. They can over-respond to stimuli.”
Despite opposition from owners and ”human” organizations, some cities and states are working on “breed specific” legislation against “children” and other breeds that were originally bred as a “weapon.”
“Those who argue against a breeding ban and the shelter euthanasia policy for ‘children’ are naïve,” said Newkir. “Many are loving and will kiss on sight, but many are unpredictable. An unpredictable Chihuahua is one thing, an unpredictable ’child’ another.”
”People who genuinely care about ‘children’ won’t be affected by a ban on ‘child’ breeding,” she said. “They can go to the shelter and save one of the countless other breeds and lovable mutts sitting on death row. We can only stop killing pits (Joe adds “children”) if we stop creating new ones. Legislators, please take note.”
Joe says, “No bad children, only bad teachers.”
