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Iraq For Sale
To me, the Iraq war is an incomprehensible cluster-fuck. A total cock-up, and I really do not understand why the US puts up with the current state of affairs.
I just don’t get it.
It’s totally beyond my understanding.
And one of the biggest things I fail to see why US citizens put up with it is this. Could anybody please explain this bewildered European?
Modern Crucifixion: American Empire and the War on Terror
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Image © Austin Cline
Original Poster: Wikipedia
It’s disturbing enough to ponder the extent to which the American government has authorized and defended certain practices, such as torture and secret prisons, which are characteristic of fascist, authoritarian, and totalitarian political systems. Even worse, though, is the extent to which self-proclaimed defenders of traditional Christian morality have been willing to either openly support or at least turn a blind eye to these practices. People who spend a lot of time crying out that America is a Christian Nation are spending little if any time proclaiming that torture and secret prisons are incompatible with Christian morality.This is not to say that Christian Nationalists are silent about American politics and culture: on the contrary, they have a long litany of complaints about all manner of things which they insist are contrary to God’s will and America’s status as a Christian nation. Foremost among these are typically abortion, acceptance of homosexuality, gay marriage, and the secularization of public institutions. A great deal of time, effort, and money are invested into combatting these problems on the premise that they are incompatible with Christianity and a Christian nation.
For some strange reason, though, these same ostentatiously devout Christians have not invested similar amounts of time, effort, and money to combat things like poverty, homelessness, or the lack of educational opportunities which plague so many Americans. Other Christians have certainly been involved in those issues and these same Christians have also protested the American government’s recent foray into a world of torture, secret prisons, and domestic spying which is usually only inhabited by brutal dictators.
The Christian Nationalists, though, are nowhere to be seen. It would appear that they think America can be a Christian nation if it tolerates torture and secret prisons, but not if it tolerates abortion and homosexuality. The latter may be abominations to God, but the former are legitimate instruments of national security. If America is a Christian nation, people may be inclined to regard the cross as its symbol, but perhaps the original Latin Cross is the wrong one to choose. Christians treat the cross as an innocuous symbol of Christianity when in fact it is better regarded as a symbol of human brutality and death which Jesus is supposed to help people overcome.
The cross was one of the cruelest and most brutal forms of executions of the ancient world. Christians believe that God was brutalized and executed with one. Christians also believe that humans are created in the image of God, such that whatever we do to each other we are effectively doing to God. Actually putting God incarnate on the cross was a way for God to demonstrate this in an immediate and visceral manner, rather than as an abstract or esoteric idea. Christianity teaches that when the Romans crucified Jesus they crucified God, just as when we harm others in our everyday lives we are harming God.
The Roman or Latin Cross has largely lost this impact, though. People no longer associate it directly with human brutality and cruelty as they once must have. The Nazi Swastika, however, still conveys such things. If America is going to endorse brutality, torture, secret prison, military tribunals, and more, then perhaps swastika is the appropriate cross to use in order to properly communicate that. Liberal Christians might argue, with some justification, that any time people try to use the cross for partisan political purposes it will necessarily become bent and twisted anyway.
This image is based on a Spanish Revolution poster depicting an anonymous man tied to a swastika; Christ’s head is my own addition as is all the text. Knowledgeable observers will notice the similarity to two of John Heartfield’s works: “Christ Suffers Under the Swastika,? 1933, and “As in the Middle Ages…So in the Third Reich,? 1934. The references are deliberate and why I chose the original poster as the basis for my own image.
Mmmmm, snoutlicioussss
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GOP: Tester soft on sex predators
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The Montana Republican Party on Thursday accused Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jon Tester of failing to protect children from sexual predators by opposing a 2001 bill to require library computers to block access to pornography.
The GOP is sending out direct mail fliers saying, “Jon Tester is so extreme he can’t be trusted to vote to protect Montana.?
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In response, Tester spokesman Matt McKenna said the Democrat voted against the bill because the then-state librarian testified against the bill and “made it very clear to the Legislature that these controls were already in place all across the state and that this bill was unnecessary.?
“Jon Tester believes in less government regulation, not more, and he believes in local control,? McKenna said.
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Asked whether Republican senators who voted with Tester also had failed to protect children from sexual predators, Chuck Denowh, executive director of the state Republican Party, said, “From our perspective, this is just about Jon Tester.?
Let me guess… it’s election season?
Expensive Cameras in Checked Luggage
Somebody found a great way to make sure expensive stuff like a camera or laptop does not get damaged or lost as checked luggage. Bring a gun! Unfortunately this only works in the USA.
Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terror Threat
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A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.
The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.
The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by United States intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began, and represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States,’’ it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe.
Aid: Can It Work?
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The conundrum facing the rich countries is that everywhere in the developing world, and particularly in Africa, you see children dying for want of pennies, while it’s equally obvious that aid often doesn’t work very well.
Travel through the third world, and you may see clinics with signs proudly proclaiming that they were built by such-and-such an agency—but no other sign of life. It’s easy to build a clinic, but harder to ensure that doctors and nurses actually report for work in the days that follow—and when the doctor stops showing up, so do patients. Go on to the market, and there you may see the clinic’s stock of medicines for sale (marked “donated by” so-and-so, “not for sale”).
Continue on your way, and you may encounter bridges built with foreign aid over streams—but the construction led to erosion on both banks. So the ends of the bridge are a couple of feet higher than the ground, and vehicles can’t use it. Travelers continue to ford the stream in the dry season, and nobody goes across in the rainy season.
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Those are some of the challenges of making foreign aid effective, and they can stand for many other examples. There are also many examples of foreign aid that are extraordinarily effective, and that can be used to encourage generous donations. But the pitfalls of aid tend not to be discussed among humanitarians, at least in loud voices, for fear of scaring donors. And now along comes William Easterly, in his tremendously important and provocative new book, The White Man’s Burden, which asserts with great force that the aid industry is deeply flawed.
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Businessbibs
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My husband is one of those “I am most happy with my tees and jeans” people. Because he’s in the technology industry, everyone around him dresses more or less in the same fashion. It’s only when he has to meet up with the big bosses or customers, either personally or increasingly via videoconferencing, that his suits get to see the light of the day. In spite of my genuine appreciation of how good he looks in those suits, he is still convinced of their complete uselessness. His strong distaste is reflected in his view that a tie serves no purpose other than as something to wipe one’s face after dinner!
It’s no wonder then that he sent me this link on Businessbibs. It’s basically a half suit that you can put on over virtually anything, to give you that professional appearance during video conferences or web chats. Each Businessbib has a slit back Velcro-sealed design and can be slipped over your T-shirt and shorts to give you to that sophisticated look in a jiffy. Once you’re done with the meeting, you can remove the Businessbib and get back to your casual lifestyle.
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The simple answer is that most don’t know about it. If a story like this appears in the US, there is an army of ‘supporters’ ready to make out that it is just more lies from the radical liberals who’d rather the country converted to Islam and supported the terrorists. And they get far more TV time than the original story.
A more complex answer might look at the demographics of the country now. There are an increasing number of people who are less well educated and are basically told what to think by their religious leaders and the media; both of which are firmly in one camp. That’s a dangerous situation for a democracy since it shifts the power of the vote from the people to the peoples’ leaders. Something that has been very successfully demonstrated in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Combine that with the unbelievable levels of corruption in government and in the large corporations (why is HP’s spying on its employees any different to the US government spying on its citizens?) and you have the beginning of a downfall. History repeats itself.
Given the rather mediocre news coverage it’s hardly suprising. News that hits the headlines in Europe hardly make a ripple in the US. The recent report that the IAEA said a congressional report contained serious distortions of the agency’s own findings on Iran’s nuclear activity was plastered all over the news on the BBC. I couldn’t find it on CNN and that’s supposed to be a more balanced news channel. Then you have FOX pumping out the bullshit to middle america and the result is the same as the brain washing propaganda of Nazi Germany. Couple that with the total ineffectiveness of the liberals to make any impact whatsoever and you have the current US/UK situation. If the liberals had their equivalent of the conservative “attack dogs” like Coulter & Rush et al the situation would be a lot different.
John I do not think demographics is quite on target. The U.S. has been historically a country dominated by religious demigods of various stripes. People are just as educated and in fact, are more educated than before. Yet, how does one define “education? is the real question. Surely, passing college courses and getting a diploma may mean you are educated, but it certainly does not equate with intelligence. The question is indeed intelligence – or how one synthesizes the various bits of information (one gets on a daily basis) into something new. Using that measure, well, indeed, the trend is down.
The real world is not up close and personal to Americans as it is to Europeans and other countries where the geography lends itself to a greater degree of cultural contact. Less than two hours by plane from Amsterdam would put you in Eastern Europe. In the U.S, it would land you in Cleveland or Chicago where the culture and opinions would be about the same.
And that culture lacks any civic responsibility to stay informed. Talking about world events at a social gathering is considered boring or impolite at best. Talking about sports and latest “extreme? reality show is hip and acceptable. That is one of reasons (and there are many more) that U.S. citizens are so susceptible to manipulation by the pundits of propaganda. Dialog is one way: media to consumer – little debate, little sharing of other ideas.
Another observation is that Americans prefer simplicity in issues. This is why single issue politics have swung elections. It is too much work to understand the real complexity interrelations of world events. It is much easier to understand a simply painted picture of red and blue on any given issue (abortion, terrorism, etc) and leave it that.
Americans are mentally and physically lazy. They can afford to be. There thinking is done for them as is their transport. Mandatory civic or military service and bike lanes would do a lot for the U.S. It would decrease the fat on the brain and the body.
Mykolas, you know , you are correct ! President Bush is correct in all he dictates because he is the President. But , that is the only reason he is correct .Do you think there is any correlation when the price of fuel increases and the polls for this administration fall at the same time every time? What I really want to know is how many of you ignorant bastards out there voted this idiot in to get a lower price at the pump? Or thought you would really get a significant tax break if you make under 250 k a year ? All of the education and fanciful words of the world do not make up for a small degree of common sense. I have seen many people who have spent much of their lives becoming educated in some of the finest schools but Many of them have absolutely no common sense as to actually applying their knowledge, or think themselves too highly to accept there is more in life to learn than out of a text manual. The fact is, this country has been run like business these last few years, taking little or no recollection as to the people who in reality are the ones who govern it. Then there are those who follow the carrot with blinders on still thinking the trickle down theory will somehow make all things better . Until they realize the trickle is big business pissing down on them thru Government run Propoganda. And laughing at them the whole time. You think fuel prices are high now? Wait till after this next months elections. And don’t blame the Dems because it is you King and Ruler that is behind it all !
Spot on Rob!