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Aberdeen Daily World Chinook Observer Montesano Vidette Pacific County Press Willapa Harbor Herald KXRO 1320 AM |
"Here's an observation. If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, Spokane will be among an elite few to have a woman president, a woman governor, two women senators, two women representitives, a woman mayor, and a woman chief of police."
Rain. High 54F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph.
Rainfall may reach one inch.
"The greatest country, the richest country,
is not that which has the most
capitalists, monopolists, immense grabbings,
vast fortunes,with its sad, sad soil of extreme,
degrading, damning poverty,
but the land in which there are
the most homesteads,
freeholds-where wealth does not show
such contrasts high and low,
where all men have enough
-a modest living -
and no man is made possessor
beyond the sane and beautiful necessities.":
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
War is the parent of armies;
from these proceed debts and taxes.
And armies, and debts, and taxesare the known instruments for bringing the manyunder the omination of the few.
"In war, too, the discretionary power
of the Executive is extended.
Its influence in dealing out offices, honors,
and emoluments is multiplied; and all the
means of seducing the minds,are added to those of
subduingthe force of the people.
"The same malignant aspect in republicanism
may be traced in the inequality of fortunes,and the opportunities of fraud,growing out of a state of war...
and in the degeneracy of manners and morals,
engendered by both.
No nation could preserve its freedomin the midst of continual warfare."
: James Madison, April 20, 1795"A Society that is in its higher circles
and middle levels widely believed to be a
network of smart rackets
does not produce men with an inner moral sense;
a society that is merely expedient does not produce
men of conscience.
A society that narrows the meaning of "success"
to the big money and in its terms
condemns failure as the chief vice,
raising money to the plane of absolute value,
will produce the sharp operator and the shady deal.
Blessed are the cynical, for only they have
what it takes to succeed."
--- The Power Elite byC. Wright Mills
"Few are willing to brave the disapproval
of their fellows, the censure of the colleagues,
the wrath of their society.
Moral courage is a rarer commodity
than bravery in battle or great intelligence.
Yet it is the one essential, vital quality
for those who seek to change a world
that yields most painfully to change.
Each time a person stands up for an idea,
or acts to improve the lot of others,
or strikes out against injustice,
(s)he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope,
and crossing each other from a million different centers
of energy and daring,
those ripples build a current
that can sweep down the mightiest walls
of oppression and resistance."
-- Robert F. Kennedy
Note to Reflublicans and their vaunted spin doctors:
As dumbed down as you folks believe the electorate to be, talking like this to secure a base of less than 30 % of American voters is not going to move the numbers up. You are actually undercutting the scaffolding of that less-than-30%.
Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner proclaims that the blood of American troops in Iraq is a “small price” to pay for the long term goals in the Middle East. Thanks to TPM via Crooks & Liars.
BLITZER: How much longer will U.S. taxpayers have to shell out $2 billion a week or $3 billion a week as some now are suggesting the cost is going to endure? The loss in blood, the Americans who are killed every month, how much longer do you think this commitment, this military commitment is going to require?
BOEHNER: I think General Petraeus outlined it pretty clearly. We’re making success. We need to firm up those successes. We need to continue our effort here because, Wolf, long term, the investment that we’re making today will be a small price if we’re able to stop al Qaeda here, if we’re able to stabilize the Middle East, it’s not only going to be a small price for the near future, but think about the future for our kids and their kids.
Even if on a logical "civic-minded" basis one is tempted to agree as a detached observer - particularly if one has no "skin in the game," Boehner's public thinking out-loud is not where Americans are emotionally.
It's amazing how politicans tailor their answers to appeal to the intellectual level of the questioner, i.e. Blitzer, in apparent ignorance that the comment - especially when controversial - will float out of the limited world of cable TV political talk shows and into a public awareness that is addicted to controversy and sensationalism.
Too-little-too-late Mr. Kerry responded with an accurate reminder that Americans have had it with Bush's war.
"What a stunningly cavalier statement about the lives of the young men and women who serve our country.
Whether you support or oppose the Bush escalation, no American should ever for even a moment think the cost of war is small.
A single life is a large price to pay for any endeavor. Sometimes, in our national interest, we choose to pay that awful price, but we must always make sure that the policy is worthy of it."
When I got home from work Thursday night, Lietta had the president and his speech on TV. My suggestion for the title of that speech (that should go into all American history texts and presidential libraries) :
"Why I Must Keep Killing Your Children."
The truth at the heart of this discussion is that Americans have walked away from the spoon feeding hack pack press, which includes Kristol and Fox "News," much to his chagrin. Calling out patriotic progressives working in the pursuit of more liberty in the face of Bush's executive overreach isn't going to scare anyone, especially not our '08 candidates. They realize who the blogs represent. It's the voters,stupidBill.
"...we are not blind . . . and those fecal piles are still there."
America's exit from Iraq will be a geopolitical calamity for the United States in its quest for regional dominance. But it won't have to be a geopolitical calamity for the region itself other than perhaps Israel's expectations, and even that is questionable if a plan for peace is quickly drafted and enacted for the region sans interference from the US.
The greater calamity will be for the US to insist in a continued presence there, including a prolonged military stay -- regardless of stated reasons -- whether in Iraq proper or any nearby Gulf locations, including Kuwait.
Just where was Dr. Kissinger during those six months preceding the invasion of Iraq? For all we know, he was probably advising our light-brained hierarchy at both the White House and Pentagon. And now he is writing an article giving "a political solution for Iraq"? Once again, just like all those other times in the past, he is taking all Americans for first-class chumps.
Iraq's solution for coming out of this quagmire in which it was placed through criminal action of the US government does not reside in any Johnny-come-lately military options, such as General Petraeus' surge; or Senator Biden's ill-conceived idea of partitioning Iraq; or the present course by Bush: "let me just gamble lives and money on this thing until I bust."
Ben Tanosborn, columnist, poet and writer, resides in Vancouver, Washington (USA), where he is principal of a business consulting firm. Contact him at ben@tanosborn.com.
If the Bush administration wants to continue its wars in the Middle East and to entrench the "unitary executive" at home, it will have to conduct some false flag operations that will both frighten and anger the American people and make them accept Bush's declaration of "national emergency" and the return of the draft. Alternatively, the administration could simply allow any real terrorist plot to proceed without hindrance.
However, Roberts emphasized, "the problem with this reasoning is that it assumes that Cheney and Rove and the Republicans are ignorant of these facts, or it assumes that they are content for the Republican Party to be destroyed after Bush has his fling." Roberts believes instead that Cheney and Rove intend to use a renewal of the War on Terror to rally the American people around the Republican Party. "Something's in the works," he said, adding that the Executive Orders need to create a police state are already in place."
'The administration figures themselves and prominent Republican propagandists ... are preparing us for another 9/11 event or series of events," Roberts continued. "Chertoff has predicted them. ... The National Intelligence Estimate is saying that al Qaeda has regrouped. ... You have to count on the fact that if al Qaeda's not going to do it, it's going to be orchestrated. ... The Republicans are praying for another 9/11.'
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com
In his novel 1984, George Orwell portrayed a future time in which the explanations of recent events and earlier history are continually changed to meet Big Brother's latest purpose. Previous explanations disappear down "the memory hole."
... The American and British media work the same way as the Ministry of Truth in Oceania. A day arrives when the "truth" no longer serves the empire or hegemonic power or center of moral purpose in the world, or for short, the regime. When that day arrives, a new explanation appears and is repeated until it, too, is discarded down the memory hole.
In recent weeks Americans have been fed a series of reports from official sources that Iran is arming both Iraqi insurgents and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Experts, both within the government and without, who have been made more attentive by the Bush Regime's false charges of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, have disputed the news reports.
But the reports keep on coming. As I write, the latest story is that the US military "discovered a field of rocket launchers near a US army base south of Baghdad armed with 34 Iranian-made missiles."
Can you imagine?
The insurgents went to the trouble of lugging powerful missiles within striking distance of a US base and just left them there unfired to be discovered by the Americans. To further serve Cheney's plan to attack Iran, the media report states:
"Earlier this month, US commanders stepped up the charges [against Iran], claiming that senior leaders of Iran's special forces and of the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militia have trained Iraqi fighters and provided other support." [US finds Iranian rockets aimed at Iraq base, Agence France Presse, July 14,2007]
Notice that none of the explanations fed to Americans over the years have ever mentioned, even as a faint possibility, that the US invasion and occupation of Iraq might be the cause of the violence in Iraq.
Allegedly, the US is a free and open country with a free press and a government accountable to the people. Yet, the information fed to the American people is as thoroughly false as that fed to the citizens of Oceania by Big Brother through the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's famous novel.
This is good stuff to know
before I found this, whenever someone tossed a latin phrase at me all I could respond with was "You do and you'll clean it up!"
From Neatorama
Ad hoc: Literally meaning "for this," it's generally used to mean improvised.
Ad infinitum (not to be confused with et cetera): "To infinity, without end."
Caveat emptor: "Let the buyer beware."
Citius altius fortius: "Faster, higher, stronger" - the motto of the modern Olympics.
Columbarium: A collective tomb in ancient Rome that was also used as a house for pigeons and doves.
Corpus christi: "The body of Christ."
Cuius est solum eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos: "Whoever owns the land it is theirs up to the sky and down to the depths." The state of Kansas used this law in the 1970s to argue that airlines could not serve liquor when flying over Kansas, a dry state. "Kansas," Attorney General Vern Miller said, "goes all the way up and all the way down." (If that's true, Kansas can lay claim to, and prohibit drinking in, about 82,282 square miles of western China.)
Deus ex machina: "A god from the machine," usually referring to an awkward and contrived resolution to conflict. The phrase got its start from the plays of Euripides, in which a god was lowered down onto the stage via a mechanical crane to sort out intractable conflicts and confused plots.
Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes: "And he sent forth his spirit among the unknown arts." A beautiful quote from Ovid.
Id est: "That is," often abbreviated "i.e."
In medias res: "In the middle of things." Stories like Paradise Lost or The Odyssey or Sweet Valley High #17 begin in the middle.
Ipso facto: "By the very fact," i.e., "absolutely, regardless of circumstances."
Lupus est homo homini: "Man is wolf to man." No one knew this better than the Romans.
Magnum opus: Great work.
Nolo contendere: When you want to enter a plea of No contest" in as fancy a way as possible.
Opus Dei: "The work of God" or "An outsized villain in a bestselling novel."
Quod erat demonstrandum: "That which was to be demonstrated." Abbreviated QED, often the end of a mathematical proof.
Sic semper tyrannis: "Thus always to tyrants," the motto of Virginia and the last first thing John Wilkes Booth said before after shooting Abraham Lincoln.
Sic transit gloria: "Glory fades," popularized by Max Fischer, founder, Rushmore Double-Team Dodgeball Society.
Sub poena: "Under penalty," as in "Do this or you're in trouble."
Tabula rasa: A "blank slate" - John Locke's description of the human mind without knowledge.
Veni, vidi, vici: "I came, I saw, I conquered," and the most oft-mispronounced Latin phrase in the world. It should be pronounced, WAY-nee, WEE-dee, WEE-kee.
Quality stuff like these comes to my inbox from Information Clearing House, the best newsletter subscription I've had since becoming an online participant.
Why Bill Moyers is worth all the Fox Common Taters, Flush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck combined:
Big money and big business, corporations and commerce, are again the undisputed overlords of politics and government. The White House, the Congress and, increasingly, the judiciary, reflect their interests. We appear to have a government run by remote control from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute. To hell with everyone else: Bill Moyers - PBS Commentator
This one made sense I suppose at the time but has done nothing more than prove that human nature is not instinctively altruistic once capitalism commences.
Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down.
Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused. :
Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, 1919
And here comes James Baldwin with a not-so-pious response to that notion.
"The civilized have created the wretched, quite coldly and deliberately, and do not intend to change the status quo; are responsible for their slaughter and enslavement; rain down bombs on defenseless children whenever and wherever they decide that their "vital interests" are menaced, and think nothing of torturing a man to death: these people are not to be taken seriously when they speak of the "sanctity" of human life, or the "conscience" of the civilized world. " James Baldwin - page 489 of COLLECTED ESSAYS (1998), from chapter one of "The Devil Finds Work" (orig. pub. 1976)
And this guy knew more about it a longer time back.
The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important part in determining elections. Later on, this process of corruption spread to the law courts. And then to the army, and finally the Republic was subjected to the rule of emperors. : Plutarch (46 A.D.-127 A.D.) Historian of the Roman Republic
On immigration in an insane reversal of roles, read what the father of Dorothy and the Tin-Man-Without-A-Heart wrote:
The tale of the slaughter at Wounded Knee in South Dakota is [an] example too well known to require detailed repeating here, but what is less well known about that massacre is that, a week and a half before it happened, the editor of the South Dakota's Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer -- a gentle soul named L. Frank Baum, who later became famous as the author of The Wizard of Oz -- urged the wholesale extermination of all America's native peoples:
"The nobility of the Redskin is extinguished, and what few are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them. The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they should die than live the miserable wretches that they are."
Aw gee, those dang founding fathers and presicence.
"The country is headed toward a single and splendid government of an aristocracy founded on banking institutions and monied corporations, and if this tendency continues it will be the end of freedom and democracy, the few will be ruling and riding over the plundered plowman and the beggar.... Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes.
And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.
In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people.
The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. -- James Madison, April 20, 1795
Eisenhower speaks from the past about known war and fear-mongers - you know ... future Reflublican leaders:
In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims?: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Einstein on our Christian President and Vice President and rubber stamp Republicans casual about war and reality.
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt.
He has been given a large brain by mistake, science for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once.
Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance,
how violently I hate all this, how despicable an ignorable war is;
I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action!
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder." : Albert Einstein
Clarence Darrow agreed:
The ability and inclination to use physical strength is no indication of bravery or tenacity to life. The greatest cowards are often the greatest bullies. Nothing is cheaper and more common than physical bravery: Clarence Darrow, Resist Not Evil
And here's one of the most accurate definitions of patriotism:
"Patriotism is the belief your country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." : George Bernard Shaw
And when we fail to elect our best and brightest we get our worst and dumbest:
One of the great things about America, one of the beauties of our country, is that when we see a young, innocent child blown up by an IED, we cry. President G. Bush Washington, D.C., Mar. 29, 2006
We support the election process, we support democracy, but that doesn't mean we have to support governments that get elected as a result of democracy. President G. Bush - Washington, D.C., Mar. 29, 2006
And how are Iranians to be detected/distinguished from everybody else? They wearing jerseys with unique Iranian color schemes, and number and their name?Iraq in talkes with Chevron, Exxon
Now ... it's not now and never was about oil, right? And can I assume that the original naive idea about Iraq paying for our war out of oil profits originally included Exxon and Chevron as middle-man brokers to the rest of the world - taking their % right off the top of each sale?Bush's father complains of news media "hostility" to his son Well Poppy, you raised him. We didn't. Can't blame us if he's spent six years talking to the media and citizens as if he's smart and we ain't. CommonDreams.org: The Myth of McCain
Once the presumptive next US president, the Republican frontrunner's popularity has nose dived by Sidney Blumenthal McCain's political colleagues, however, know another side of the action hero - a volatile man with a hair-trigger temper, who shouted at Senator Ted Kennedy on the Senate floor to "shut up", and called fellow Republican senators "shithead ... fucking jerk ... asshole". A few months ago, McCain suddenly rushed up to a friend of mine, a prominent Washington lawyer, at a social event, and threatened to beat him up because he represented a client McCain happened to dislike. Then, just as suddenly, profusely and tearfully, he apologised. Many Republicans who have had dealings with McCain distrust him (not just conservatives but traditional Republican moderates too). While taking rightwing positions on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage, his simmering resentment of Bush led him virtually to caucus with the Democrats in early 2001 (before September 11). Then, abruptly, he rushed to embrace Bush. McCain's political advisers believe that he would easily be elected president in 2008, but fear that he might not capture the nomination. In 2000 he did not win a primary state where the voting was restricted to Republicans. So McCain decided to let the election take care of itself as he won over the party faithful. He campaigned enthusiastically for Bush in 2004. He sought to reconcile with the religious right, whose leaders he had called "agents of intolerance" in 2000.Wisest quotes: Danny Glover (at 7th World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya):
"We must use all our powers, we must use all we have to make sure that our government respond to atrocities, we must also respond to what the interest, what the global interest or what real interest are in the horn Africa, for the US, for the West and for China . We have to respond to that. It is critical for all us in every sector from grassroots organisation to civil society and for the government to respond to what is happening on the continent."Danny Glover: "We must use all our powers, we must use all we have to make sure that our government respond to atrocities, we must also respond to what the interest, what the global interest or what real interest are in the horn Africa, for the US, for the West and for China . We have to respond to that. It is critical for all us in every sector from grassroots organisation to civil society and for the government to respond to what is happening on the continent."Ralph Nader: Counterpunch: When the Lobbyist Knocks
"Of course, it is always easy to rationalize inactivity by saying: "Oh, it wouldn't have made any difference. They're going to do what they want anyhow." Sorry. That one wore out before 1776. Fortunately, enough of our forebears rejected that surrender mode and left us with much of what we like about our society."Elizabeth Holtzman: CommonDreams.org - Impeachment: The Case in Favor "Failure to impeach Bush would condone his actions. It would allow him to assume he can simply continue to violate the laws on wiretapping and torture and violate other laws as well without fear of punishment. He could keep the Iraq War going or expand it even further than he just has on the basis of more lies, deceptions and exaggerations. Remember, as recently as October 26, Bush said, "Absolutely, we are winning" the war in Iraq--a blatant falsehood. Worse still, if Congress fails to act, Bush might be emboldened to believe he may start another war, perhaps against Iran, again on the basis of lies, deceptions and exaggerations.
There is no remedy short of impeachment to protect us from this President, whose ability to cause damage in the next two years is enormous. If we do not act against Bush, we send a terrible message of impunity to him and to future Presidents and mark a clear path to despotism and tyranny. Succeeding generations of Americans will never forgive us for lacking the nerve to protect our democracy."
MLK's other message: ...I am as deeply concerned about our troops there as anything else. For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. Before long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese, and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy and the secure while we create hell for the poor. Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours. This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. Recently one of them wrote these words: "Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism." [...] The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war.
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