TomGram.

Here's a very trenchant essay on war by Tom Engelhardt. Worth a full read.

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Tora Bora, The Story of How Bin Laden Was Allowed to Get Away.

Here's a six page account by a well respected writer on terrorism, Peter Bergen, of how Bin Laden was allowed to escape capture at Tora Bora.

If you wonder how it all went down, this report is likely the most authentic you will find.

I'm cynical about this. I actually believe that the Bush/Cheney administration did not want Bin Laden captured. He represented the head of the terrorist hydra that was needed to keep the public in fear. So long as Bin Laden was free he was the symbol of the enemy the administration needed for propaganda purposes to justify the war on terrorism, and to justify invading Iraq.

I hesitate to call this a conspiracy because the word brings on great ridicule. But it was at least a hidden agenda. Semantics? I suppose so.

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Dust And Ashes

Here's a column by Russ Douthat of the Times which I didn't expect to enjoy, but did.

As one who is agnostic about God, I found this piece to be thought provoking and rather well written.

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Spin City

Here's Frank Rich's Sunday Times column. It needs no comments from me except that I hope you read it.

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Speaking Truth to Those Who Pretend To Have Power

Here's a link to my email response to Senator John Kerry who, in an email, tried to hit me up yet again for a donation to finance Dem ads to combat GOP propaganda.

Let me know what you think.

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Update: Postmaster said my email is undeliverable. So, once again we have a one way communication, precluding a dialogue. They can solicite money and shield themselves from disagreement. Don't you just love technology?

Perhaps I'll go to the trouble of finding Kerry's web site and look for a link to send this where a staffer might even read it.

"The Unspeakable" A Must Read

To call something a conspiracy is to invite ridicule. So just try talking about hidden agendas. We see these every day in politics.

But "conspiracy" is a much more trenchant and proper name for what has been called "The Unspeakable", what the permanent war military/industrial/intelligence complex has done and is still doing, through subterfuge and even assassinations.

Here is a link to an article on Truthout, comparing what JFK faced and what Obama is now facing.

JFK refused to escalate the Vietnam war. He was assassinated. LBJ who did escalate that war died of natural causes.

Of course this is a much too simplistic statement of cause and effect. The article however fleshes out details and facts which might make the reader more open to the possibility of there being an endless, permanent war cabal; that which Ike warned us about, what he labeled the military/industrial establishment.

With his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan, Obama has been rolled by those who practice "The Unspeakable". If he continues the willingness to be rolled perhaps he will get to die a natural death.

This article, which is a critique of an important book, is a must read, not just for it's claims and warnings, but for its citing of specific details and historical facts, lending credible support to the reality of the ongoing conspiracy it exposes.

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The Sleazing of America

It's often said that money is the root of all evil.

Au contraire; I like money, and as a retired and financially challenged man, I'd like to have a lot more of it. I would welcome an influx of big money from winning the lottery, or inheriting big from a wealthy relative I didn't know I had. I'll happily take the chance, assume the risk, that having significantly more money might make me evil.

But there is real truth to the acknowledgement that money is the root of all evil, as long as the shibolith is modified to say, "Money used to corrupt is the root of all evil.

It's also often said, that if you don't understand something, follow the money.

I don't know about you, and I'm sure others have wailed against the decline in decency over all of recorded history, but I seem to be inundated with sleaze whenever I watch TV, surf the Web, check out the newstand or take in a movie.

I'm no prude. My real concern is that the sleazing of America, perhaps more accurately called the sleazing of civilization, leads to the decline and fall of decency, which knows no country.

Censorship leads to even more corruption, like what happened during Prohibition. That's not the solution.

It's often also said that in all organizations, small to large, the tone of the culture usually reflects the values of its leaders.

In the US, at least for the previous eight years, our leaders essentially told us that they were above the law. If the law is what keeps regular folks decent, and if our leaders say they don't have to follow it, it's not a stretch to conclude that, consciously or unconsciously those who follow the leaders will take on the same attitude.

What do you think? Use the comments option to chime in.

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"The Modern Denial of Human Nature"

The title of this post is actually the sub title of the book, "The Blank Slate", by Stephen Pinker. who was a professor of psychology at MIT when his book was published in 20o2.

This commentary on my part likely qualifies as an expression of a voice crying in the wilderness.
Like the age old philosophical question about a tree falling in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound.

I write this as if it is a virtual tree falling in the cyber forest. You don't have to be around during the actual event, my writing this. If you find it interesting you will have confirmed the event.

Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and theoretical thinker of the first half of the twentieth century
postulated that we don't come into life a blank slate, but that we come into life with predispositions about how we see our world and how we prefer to make decisions about what we see.

Steven Pinker, the an MIT professor, wrote a book a few years ago called,The Blank Slate, The Modern Denial of Human Nature, which espoused, in an up to date way, the same idea.

Our leaders, politicians, business executives, and in some cases, our teachers, and in most cases our parents, operate as if we all come into life a blank slate, and the Nurture, by itself is what shapes us, makes who we are.

WRONG!!! Any one who has parented more than one child knows this. Kids, siblings, raised in the same environment, the family and home, subjected to the same Nurture, rarely behave alike,
but display their own unique personality. Some have postulated the birth order is at play.

I'll leave that to others who are more knowledgeable than I to flesh that out, but birth order and/or at birth inherent preferences both tell us that to assume we all should be considered blank slates and equally easily influenced by our authorities, parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, bosses, politicians, is more than naive, it's destructive.

What do you think? Use the comments option to chime in.

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"Commanded- In- Chief"

Here's Tom Engelhardt's detailed summary of how the Commander-In-Chief surrendered to his own Generals.

One of the most important, revered and essential elements in the foundation of our Constitutional Republic has been that a civilian, the President, is in charge of the military. Clearly, that's been compromised. And this is different from a Latin American military coup how? It's actually bloodless politically in the strict sense of the word, but it will be bloody enough militarily.

More Neocon war, somewhere, all the time. That's apparently our future. Tragic.

Who will be the Edward Gibbon of our time? Who will write The Decline and Fall of the American Empire?

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"The Generals Won _ Everything"

Retired Colonel Patrick Lang's piece on Obama's decision is on his blog, Sic Semper Tyrannis, which can be found here.

Lang says the generals "rolled" Obama. So sad, so sickening and so true.

So $30 billion more per year will be poured down the rat hole which is Afghanistan. Just think what that could pay for in nation building right here, ours. Bridges, schools, environment, medical research, job creating work-----you get the picture.

The only word for this situation is 'obscene'.

Be sure to read William Rivers Pitt's, The Angst of a Liberal, dated 12/1/09. Here's a link to it, if you haven't used the link I provided in an earlier post.


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He Speaks For Me

William Rivers Pitt speaks for me.

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