Twelfth Bough

One huge reason why people in this country remain perpetually confused can be found in the utter depravity passed off as normal discourse in the corporate media. This LA Times story, titled Strike on Iran still possible, US tells Israel , describes how US officials must gingerly talk Ehud Barak down off a high limb over the possibility that the US is softening its stance on Iran, horror of horrors!! WASHINGTON -- Bush administration officials reassured Israel's defense minister this week that the United States has not abandoned all possibility of a military attack on Iran, despite widespread Israeli concern that Washington has begun softening its position toward Tehran. In meetings Monday and Tuesday, administration officials told Defense Minister Ehud Barak that the option of attacking Iran over its nuclear program remains on the table, though U.S. officials are primarily seeking a diplomatic solution. Is it me, or does that have the same ring of search parties reluctantly givin...

What does it mean to have an open mind? I wrestled with this idea yesterday but couldn't quite pin it down in words. As luck would have it, I stumbled across this. The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous information in the first place. Not surprisingly, this type of teaching didn't sit well with the ruling elite of Greece. Many political leaders throughout history have always sought to mislead the thinking of the masses. Socrates was tried for "subversion" and for "corrupting the youth". He was then forced to take his own life by drinking poison. It's never easy being an independent thinker...

Allrighty, then. We have pretty much made it through July, 2008. That's good. Very, very good. August approaches, with the Summer Olympics. Meanwhile, the pressure on Israel builds inexorably . They really, really, really want us to handle the Iranian problem. And by that, I am referring to the 'real' problem: Iran's challenge to Israel's hegemony over the Middle East, which isn't a problem at all except for a very small circle of people, for whom it poses an insufferable affront to their self-esteem by wrecking their plans for world domination. Whaaa!! For as everyone paying attention knows, there's no legitimate reason for the US or Israel to attack Iran. So that necessitates fabricating some illegitimate reason, or false flag. Cutting short his trip in Europe the first week of July, recently-appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen flew to Tel Aviv along with an entourage of high-ranking US military personnel and, upon his arrival, rushed ...

I am just getting back into the swing of things after having spent most of the last couple of weeks finishing a deep edit for a book on Egyptian politics. The very charming gentleman who wrote it tells me he'll probably have to move to Canada soon, because his writing will eventually drop him into "troubles he cannot carry." Imagine that. Sadly, I can totally imagine that. All during this project, reading about the Mubarak regime, and Sadat and Nasser, and how wily and clever they are at staying in power, I kept thinking Rove has studied this stuff, and so has Cheney, and so have all the other scumbags who scurry around in Washington think tanks figuring out ways to get power and keep power. And Bush learned everything he knows while walking around holding hands with Saudi Princes. Our current group of corrupt psychopathic 'leaders' has learned from the masters, the Arab dictators, the people who have perfected Regime Management over decades of authoritarian rule...

Did you know that US troops are being electrocuted regularly and shower and drink totally contaminated water in Iraq? Not to mention, of course, the Depleted Uranium. That is not to mention, of course, the untold destruction and suffering of the Iraqi, Afghanistani, and Palestinian people. Only God knows all the sorrows, the suffering and tears of every human being, each one created in his image, who have paid the price of our military adventures and our support of Israel. Most of us cannot even begin to imagine it, and worse, we don't want to be able to imagine it. But our cowardice does not really make the suffering disappear. God still knows about each life on earth, and how it lives, and how it dies, and who is responsible for its joys and miseries. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10

Today our contestant is Scott Ritter. Unlike the frightening Lord Stirling, who predicted all-out nuclear war and horrific bio-weapons attacks throughout the world, Scott is going to keep it to things we can all easily imagine. Let's just say this is the 'best-case scenario.' Nothing too scary for the kids watching at home. Scott, what will happen if the US tries to secure the Strait of Hormuz? The moment the United States makes a move to secure the Strait of Hormuz, Iran will unleash a massive bombardment of the military and industrial facilities of the United States and its allies, including the oil fields in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. American military bases in Iraq and Kuwait, large—fixed and well known— would be smothered by rockets and missiles carrying deadly cluster bombs. The damage done would run into the hundreds of millions, if not into billions, of dollars, and hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. military personnel would b...

In a Guardian UK article titled President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran , this statement: "Yet US officials acknowledge that no American president can afford to remain idle if Israel is threatened." No American president can afford to remain idle if Israel is threatened . Just let that sink in one word at a time. I have tried on this blog to highlight the unthinkable consequences of an attack on Iran. First of all, it would be morally wrong to attack Iran and cause the death of innocent civilians, but apparently that sort of argument doesn't hold much water anymore. As it turns out, there are many other 'self-interested' reasons why Americans should be vehemently against such an attack, namely American deaths and economic catastrophe that would make today's problems look like the good old days. The fact remains that we have no idea what sort of hell might be unleashed, but the chances of horrible things happening are exceedingly high. So ...

Events are moving very, very rapidly in the world, and these scenarios pre-date the current level of insanity with Israel and Iran. I can't really sort it out except to say there's always the possibility that they (meaning whoever the hell these people are who control events) want to scare the crap out of everyone with these horrible Iran scenarios and then pull back at the last second to "only" have an economic collapse. In other words, it's possible that the whole scare with Iran outlined yesterday is yet another giant manipulation to make the slightly less evil Plan B, mere global economic collapse, seem more palatable. When you're dealing with psychopaths, anything is possible. So I don't know the answer, but here is another piece of the puzzle. Click through to read the whole analysis. In May, 1990, Strong was interviewed by WEST magazine of Alberta, Canada. Strong finishes the interview with a very bizarre and apocalyptic narrative about a novel he...

If you haven't seen this yet, I'm sorry but it's gonna ruin your day. Perhaps if enough Americans see things like this and begin to comprehend that people like me are not, and I quote, "paranoid delusionists," then just maybe enough of us will find a spine and prevent the ruin of the world. Aren't we smug? We think we can launch wars at will against "shitty little countries." We think we can "crush them like ants" and nothing will ever happen to us except for losing a few of our army guys, and that is tragedy enough. It never ceases to amaze me how blithely Americans talk about killing other people. But then again, Americans and Israelis are apparently the most racist people on earth. If a bunch of other people get killed, well that's one thing. But when we start dying, well oh ho HO... that's another thing entirely. That's different . Except it's not different. Other people in other places don't consider themselves les...

There's an excellent piece here about the way leaders make decisions, decisions which equate their own personal power and influence with the lives and well-being of other people. These decisions often result in many deaths, and they are then promptly covered up leaving the impression that the whole thing was a great shock to everyone concerned. As Condi Rice once lamely said, lying through her teeth, "I don't think anybody could have predicted....." To make a long story short, what's needed is for ordinary people to have enough moral courage to blow the whistle on these situations before they get to the decision stage. One lesson of this book is that you will not reduce those risks adequately by action within the firm or government agency. The organization has to be monitored by other organizations that are not under the same management, that don’t respond to the same boss. You can set up processes within the organization that make truth-telling, realistic asses...

Only in Israel -- a supposed democracy -- will things like this happen with impunity, and only in America will everyone pretend that nothing whatsoever is amiss. First, an incident with the IDF. A 10-year-old boy was subjected to physical abuse amounting to torture for 2.5 hours by Israeli soldiers who stormed his family’s shop on 11 June, seeking information on the location of a handgun. The boy was repeatedly beaten, slapped and punched in the head and stomach, forced to hold a stress position for half and hour, and threatened. He was deeply shocked and lost two molar teeth as a result of the assault. These soldiers terrorized this ten year old boy and his family and smashed the house up with hammers. But Israel is even worse than that. Israel has the settlers. Look how they tortured and killed this little Palestinian boy. He looks to be about eight years old. I'm sorry to shock you. Perhaps I should have warned you about the horrible picture. I notice that people on the web of...

Go here and see the others. What I like best is the snark. I personally think it's really important at this point to pile on about the RIDICULOUS quality of the official narrative. Americans like to be cool, but you can't be cool when you're a sap. So work on the premise that you have to hit people where it hurts. And since we're a shallow culture, I think pointing out how believing the government story makes one an idiot is as good a place as any to start. What are they going to do about it? Fight back with facts? Try and prove us wrong? Go for it.