Thursday Q and A (6.30)

Hannah Arendt
"Ms. Arendt, is there anything one can decipher from behind the curtain of our current mis-leaders in America?"

"The trouble with lying and deceiving is that their efficiency depends entirely upon a clear notion of the truth that the liar and deceiver wishes to hide."

Enough is Enough

6/29: Bush on Iraq

"Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it."

Well then George, send your own daughters. And by the way, how many have died in this war since your "mission accomplished" photo-op bullshit on that aircraft carrier? How many...1500 or so? Nevertheless, you really did look fantastic that day in your GI Joe suit.

Just a few of the more shocking LIES from last night's speech:

"We fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and Iraq is where they are making their stand."

More links of 9/11 to Iraq (Please, STOP IT!)

"Sending more Americans would suggest that we intend to stay forever, when we are, in fact, working for the day when Iraq can defend itself."

They can't send more Americans because nobody wants to go. And, in FACT, here are just two reasons why they really don't give a damn about Iraqi civilians: "Shock and Awe" and Fallujah.

"We live in freedom because every generation has produced patriots willing to serve a cause greater than themselves."

Remember this when you hear these liars go on TV to tell the country how great patriotism is: Bush used his family privilege to get out of serving and went AWOL. Dick Cheney never served, nor did Karl Rove, or Donald Rumsfeld, or Paul Wolfowitz, John Ashcroft, Richard Pearle, or Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich, or Condi Rice, John Bolton, Bill Bennett, Tom DeLay, Jeb Bush, Trent Lott, nor any others of this ilk who seem to have no compunction in ordering other's kids to go and die in a war built on LIES about WMD's, 9/11, Nigerian yellow-cake uranium, and all the rest of it.

How long will we the people continue to take this?

O, Hindsight!

Bridget's open letter
to the guy who stole her car stereo

Thursday Q and A (6.23)

Cornel West
"Dr. West, what are your impressions of fundamentalist Christian cultural and political influence - both here in America and now, the entire world?"

"The religious threats to democratic practices abroad are much easier to talk about than those at home. Just as demagogic and anti-democratic fundamentalisms have gained too much prominence in both Israel and the Islamic world, so too has a fundamentalist strain of Christianity gained far too much power in our political system, and in the hearts and minds of citizens. This Christian fundamentalism is exercising an undue influence over our government policies, both in the Middle East crisis and in the domestic sphere, and is violating fundamental principles enshrined in the Constitution: it is also providing support and "cover" for the imperialist aims of empire. The three dogmas that are leading to the imperial devouring of democracy in America--free market fundamentalism, aggressive militarism, and escalating authoritarianism--are often justified by the religious rhetoric of this Christian fundamentalism. And perhaps most ironically, and sadly, this fundamentalism is subverting the most profound, seminal teachings of Christianity."

Cornel West, Democracy Matters, p. 146

Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005)

Carlo Maria Giulini, the 20th-century giant of conducting who considered himself a reverential servant of the great composers, died at age 91 in northern Italy. Bio

Thursday Q and A (6.16)

Alexis de Tocqueville
"Monsieur Tocqueville, since you spent years observing Americans and American penal systems, what would you say your most important observation was?"

"Americans talk very much about individual rights, but real monotony of thought and vigorous independence of mind is rare. Even those who appear to be free-thinkers really look to a constituency and expect one day to be part of a majority. They are creatures of public opinion as much as are conformists - actors of nonconformism in the theater of the conformists who admire and applaud nonconformity of certain kinds, the kinds that radicalize the already dominant opinions."

Tocqueville - Democracy in America (1832)

WRH: The Lie of the Century

Forget the Jackson Smokescreen,

here's the story:
The Lie of the Century

Well, it's finally over. The jury came back on the Michael Jackson case, and as predicted just in time to give the media an excuse to drop all reporting of the Downing Street Memo in advance of the Conyers hearings this Thursday.

I don't even care what the verdict was. Compared to the crime of a President that lied this nation into a war, the Michael Jackson case is a microscopic event. Yet we know the media will attempt to make the verdict the major headline for as long as it takes to trick the American people into forgetting that the President lied us all into a war. They helped sell the lie of Iraq's WMDs to the public, and now they are stuck with the lie and must defend it at all costs. In a way, it is ironic that the same mainstream media that tried to smear the blogs as "journalistically unprofessional" are about to lower themselves collectively to the level of supermarket checkout stand tabloids in their rush to distract the American people from the fact that this war their kids are being killed and crippled in is based on a bunch of deliberate government and media lies.

via What Really Happened:

Thursday Q and A (6.9)

George Orwell

"Mr. Orwell, does the recent American approach of lying its way into conquering Iraq make it a justified, winnable war?"

"It is not a matter of whether the war is not real or if it is. Victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won. It is meant to be continuous. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past. And no different past can ever have existed. In principle, the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects. And its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or Eastasia, but to keep the very structure of society in tact."

PostSecret

Hidden Secrets
posted and blogged

or this one:

Thursday Q and A (6.2)

Buddha
"Your Holiness, in this present moment, how can one rationally come to spiritual discernment of the supposed Christian tradition(s) of tolerance, love and integrity?"

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

What's it Like Outside?

David Lynch's
Daily Weather Report