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the trough so deep

September 2011, 09/11, 9/11/11, the month of doom...? Doom for whom? We shall see.

Things deteriorate all around. Who can stop it? Who can even keep up documenting the rapid decay? It is beyond human hands, beyond the human mind to comprehend the deceptions in play as they cancel each other out or compound like the rogue wave that sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald.


"These rogue waves, which appeared without warning, were described as nearly vertical walls of water, up to 100 feet high. These twelve story waves were often preceded by a trough so deep that sailors called it a "hole in the sea." The ship Raffaello hit this 20 meter rogue wave which did major damage."

Perhaps we are in the 'hole in the sea' right now. It feels that way. 

We see a particular date on the calendar that must be stopped from arriving somehow.

UN again faces choice between capitulation and credibility  -- must read.


On September 20, 2011, the 66th session of the UN General Assembly will meet in NY to vote on Palestinian statehood. The Israeli response to this development is all over the place. One might be tempted to call it panic.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - Threats, warnings, slashing of funds, late payments and even the banning Shimon Peres from attending the UN: these are the means by which the State of Israel is trying to block the Palestinian Authority (PA) request for a seat in the UN as a full member or at least non-member State.
...Yesterday in Haaretz published excerpts of a message (secret) from Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the UN, to the Foreign Ministry. In it, Prosor fears that only a few nations "will vote against the Palestinian initiative."

...Youval Steinitz, the Israeli Minister of Finance, said today that "this initiative of the Palestinians is a more serious threat than that of Hamas in Gaza."... In retaliation, Steinitz has refused to anticipate the payment of monthly funds to the PA, with which it was to have paid the salaries of its employees before the festival of Eid.

...Uzi Landau, minister of infrastructure, threatened that faced with the Palestinian attempt, "... our agreements will be null and void." The minister, a member of an extremist nationalist party of Avigdor Lieberman, said that "we will impose our sovereignty over areas of the territories [occupied] ... and that is the Jordan Valley and major settlement blocs." 
...As if to threaten even more serous action, U.S. Republican lawmaker Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said on Tuesday she would propose a decree (already supported by 57 representatives) to cut UN funds to any organization that supports the PA request. 

 http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2010/11/ileana_ros-lehtinen_cuba_policy.html

Special mention for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Roman Catholic Hispanic of Cuban descent who somehow NEVER EVER EVER misses an opportunity to pimp the narrative.

The IOF prepares the settlers by giving them tear gas and stun grenades, while the IOF figures out the "red lines" for each settlement in the West Bank, so the soldiers know when to "shoot at the FEET of the Palestinian protestors" when the cross the "red lines," and the settlers know when and how to engage the moment they feel "threatened." This is called Operation Summer Seeds. Many preparations. Of course it is all in the name of Self Defense, just like after Operation Cast Lead, when our US congresspeople so vigorously supported the IOF's actions because Israel always has the right to Self Defense.



http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-training-israeli-settlers-ahead-of-mass-disorder-expected-in-september-1.381421

The main working assumption is that the Palestinian declaration will cause mass disorder. It will all be the fault of the Palestinians, you see? Everything that follows. The settlers will be "forced" to retaliate. The IOF will be "forced" to shoot at the feet of the Palestinians, and perhaps even higher, when they cross the arbitrary IOF red lines. It will all be very regrettable, we are sure, because it always is.

Nonetheless, the Palestinians have been campaigning for a long time and they have the support of 120 countries including CHINA, which is a big powerful country. However, great legal minds have already sussed out the ramifications and in the end it will be No Big Deal because the US will veto everything once it gets to the Security Council.

http://www.momentmag.com/moment/issues/2011/10/opinion_breger.html

Independent Journalism from a Jewish Perspective...
Marshall Breger is a professor of law at Catholic University.



Points made:
  • "States can be admitted into the U.N. only by Security Council vote, where the United States has veto power."
  • "Americans have worked 24/7 to develop a last-minute negotiating structure that could cause the Palestinians to pull back." 
  • "No one expects Israel to return to the borders it had before June 1967."
  • "There is not enough easily disposable Israeli land that the Likud is prepared to trade." (emphasis added)
  • "[Likud] would be just as happy with the alternative—“managing” the “disputed territories” until world attention turns elsewhere."
  • "All this assumes that the Palestinian problem [meaning the Palestinians - ed.] will eventually go away."
Concluding:

For such believers, the views of the rest of the world do not matter—we are, as the Bible tells us, a “people who dwell alone.” But most Jews realize...
OK let's stop right there before we go on to read what "most Jews realize." He has just laid out the geopolitical REALITY that the Palestinians can go to the UN General Session and get 120 countries including China to support their bid for statehood, and it won't matter in the end because the US will certainly veto the motion in the Security Council. Thus, in the end we guess the "views of the rest of the world do not matter."

Furthermore noting that AMERICANS have been working round the clock to derail the Palestinian bid for statehood. Why would AMERICANS do such a thing? Which AMERICANS are these who don't want the Palestinians to have a state? Might they work at the US State Department? Why do they take a position in opposition to the rest of the world?

 http://www.gregfelton.com/int_politics/2011_07_22.htm

He also notes that Israel does not want to make any actually uncomfortable sacrifices of land. If land is not "easily disposable" then it is not disposable. No one actually expects Israel to make an actual sacrifice of land, and in fact Likud would be very happy to MANAGE THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES UNTIL WORLD ATTENTION TURNS ELSEWHERE, somehow, and all these expectations and realities hinge on making the Palestinians disappear or accept the status of second class citizens.

According to Mr. Breger, the unreasonable position of "such believers" is distinguished from the realization of "most Jews." And yet he has also described the political reality, since the US government position reflects the unreasonable position. The US will veto the motion in the Security Council. So it won't matter that the Palestinians have broad worldwide support for statehood except in the most nebulous "moral authority" sort of way that evidently means nothing in actual geopolitical calculations, because it can be cancelled out by the US. This is how the world has been running for a long time. Notice what a fucking mess it is.

OK so what is it that "most Jews realize?"

But most Jews realize that international isolation weakens Israel and marginalizes Jews worldwide and that the demographic problems, if unattended, will doom Israel’s democratic character. 

International isolation is bad. Marginalization is bad. Behaving badly leads to isolation and marginalization. Behaving badly does not help preserve Israel's "democratic character." What character is that? The one that creates a society of separate roads, checkpoints, and walls necessary to preserve the "democratic character" of the Jewish State?

http://northshorewoman.blogspot.com/2009/02/enchantment-of-canary.html


http://tamerhalaseh.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/the-checkpoint-game/

http://www.ccmep.org/delegations/maps/palestine.html

They can call it whatever the hell they want, but the REALITY is that Israel is an apartheid state built on institutionalized oppression, and it is unsustainable as anything else. You can't spin 60+ years of behaving badly. You either continue behaving badly or you're done. There is no way to defend the indefensible except through non-stop violence. What else would anyone expect from a state founded on violence?

The moment Israel stops being Israel it becomes Palestine.

Everyone paying attention knows this. Just because you don't hear it on teevee or the prestigious newspapers and magazines does not make it any less real. And PRESUMABLY Jews around the world know this too, because they of all people pay attention to the "democratic character" of the Jewish State, so they can't very well claim ignorance too. Whether they agree with it or not, let us PRESUME that they are aware of the situation, that they know about the walls and the checkpoints and the demographic problems in Israel. The walls and checkpoints can only be made defensible by making the Palestinians out to be perniciously, irredeemably dangerous, which of course is exactly the narrative we are fed constantly.

So "most Jews" or "not all Jews" or however you want to define the people who are not running US foreign policy, recognize that people like Avigdor Lieberman and Benjamin Netanyahu can not prolong the unsustainable "democratic character" of Israel by being unmitigated assholes all the time. Which to us seems like a complaint over TACTICS, not STRATEGY. But there's no such thing as an Israeli leader who can preserve the "democratic character" of Israel by some approach other than violence. There is no such solution.



Thus, we're just having a little trouble finding the actual gap between what the crazy people want and what "most Jews" want. We think the main disagreement is over how to achieve the impossible, how to keep the zombie state alive and looking good. It's a real problem. And it's about to get worse on September 20th. And there may be required some sort of distraction for the rest of the world.

Unless the mythic gap is real.

But let's remember how after Operation Cast Lead, we saw all that congressional support. And in addition, the ADL conducted a survey and reported that American Jews were overwhelmingly supportive of the operation. Where was the gap then?


We will believe in the gap when we see it.


Israelis watching IOF bomb Gaza during Operation Cast Lead...
literally watching people being murdered.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2010/01/meaning-of-gaza.html


Take a good look.

Comments

james said…
An incisive and hard hitting post, AP.

This is a long quote from your post but every word is worth repeating-

They can call it whatever the hell they want, but the REALITY is that Israel is an apartheid state built on institutionalized oppression, and it is unsustainable as anything else. You can't spin 60+ years of behaving badly. You either continue behaving badly or you're done. There is no way to defend the indefensible except through non-stop violence. What else would anyone expect from a state founded on violence?

The moment Israel stops being Israel it becomes Palestine.


Everyone paying attention knows this. Just because you don't hear it on teevee or the prestigious newspapers and magazines does not make it any less real. And PRESUMABLY Jews around the world know this too, because they of all people pay attention to the "democratic character" of the Jewish State, so they can't very well claim ignorance too

So the State that was founded on violence (and holds Jews together both in israel and elsewhere) can only continue through more violence.
A. Peasant said…
indeed James, it is the cycle of violence you have written about many times. it's a trap. there's no way out of it. they can only add *more* violence. if too much violence doesn't work, add more. pure insanity.
nobody said…
Hey AP, how are you? LTNS.

And yeah, do you mind if I paraphrase you?

Fuck the gap. It's bullshit.

I'm sick to death of people who take elaborate pains to differentiate Israelis from Jews as if israel wasn't Jewish or something. If Israel wasn't Jewish it wouldn't be there. To pretend that Israel is no reflection on Jews is the daftest thing imaginable.

But fuck Israel. It's not a starting point, and I always like to start at the beginning. I think the talmud is far better suited to this purpose. Once you've read that, it's all over. Of course everything that follows is fucked. It has to be. The talmud doesn't say Every goy who studies the talmud and every Jew who helps him in it, ought to die for no reason.

Like Israel, the talmud is a precise expression of Jewish will.

And I got no time for Jews declaring themselves unfamiliar with it. Given that it says A Jew should and must make a false oath when the goyim asks if our books contain anything against them wouldn't it make sense simply to say, 'Oh, I never read it'?

Fact is, they know what the talmud's about. There was never a people more fascinated with themselves than the Jews. And the talmud, that kernel of Jewish character, is not any kind of mystery-wrapped-in-an-enigma for them.

Fuck it, I'll cut to the chase - if soft Jews aren't prepared to condemn the talmud and those who follow it, under the rubric of silence equals complicity, they're as guilty as those who do.

And... I never heard of a Jew who condemned the Talmud. (And those Naturei Karta good guys? Ha ha ha ha. A pack of Talmud scholars!)

Anyway I have that as my line in the sand - condemn the Talmud or be condemned.
A. Peasant said…
nobs! just the other day i was wondering if you would pop up somewhere soon. hot damn.

totally agreed the talmud is pure vile racism and a great big murderous permission slip to do whatever. it is undeniably so.

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/talmud1.htm
JJane said…
hey, AP, I haven't commented in a while, but as usual, astounding, incisive blast -
I have this deep deep disgust for Jews and I know hate is wrong, but it feels soooo bloody right ha ha Bang a Gong. I've come to terms with hating what is unspeakable evil is a duty. Jesus what is everyone thinking that its gotten this far. As if voting could reform anything at this point. Ladeeda.
Incredible posts that I wish could be blazed across the skies.
live, from the jungle :)
Blammo said…
Statehood, no statehood, sounds like a win-win.

Then there's this:

Palestinian Americans “unequivocally reject” PA’s UN statehood bid
"...Palestinian rights, not “statehood” remain the core of Palestinian efforts... a consensus has emerged among Palestinian experts and organizations that the UN statehood bid is useless at best, and highly damaging to Palestinian rights at worst"

Those uppity Palestinians have real Choot-spa.
Hei Hu Quan said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hei Hu Quan said…
Resonant and vital post AP. Between the dates 9/11 and 9/20 we are talking about some seriously panicked desperation and need for a massive, calculated distraction. The last time Israel was in the hot seat, was over Zionism being officially labelled racism at a UN authorised World Conference against Racism (WCAR 2001) from 31, August to 8, September 2001. I naively thought then that this was going to be a historic precedent and Israel's PR mask would be ripped off. Then 3 days later the whole affair was scrubbed clean off the media radar due to a coordinated Israeli/US/UK false flag act of naked terrorism. I couldn't help but think that somehow the revelations imparted at WCAR 2001 conference were a factor in addition to PNAC and AIPAC's blueprints.

Since a synthetic terror massacre and distraction had successfully transpired previously, I can't help but think that these bastards would make a similar play this time. I absolutely hope I'm wrong, because they will go big this time and considering our shocking lack of power, we are just angry hostages waiting for the shoe to drop. Big ups to Nobo's well articulated points -- If you aren't calling out evil, you are tacitly and covertly supporting it. Absolute fact that is.

Nice shot of the grinning, bloodthirsty jackals at the bottom of the post. I hope the same vomitous spectacle or worse they are staring gleefully at, is visited upon their soul-vacated forms one day. Karmic justice is without mercy or compromise.
A. Peasant said…
hi Jane (waving!). good to see you and yes, i think too that opening one's mouth and opposing evil is a duty. give your horse a special hug for me please.

hey Blammo, haha on the chootz-pa. snort. i bet that had a few people wincing UR DOING IT WRONG! time for some coaching.

as for the Palestinians and their imaginary rights... hmm. nice try huh? the comment is good though, and his link too, is excellent. in fact i am going to include it in the post:

http://www.gregfelton.com/int_politics/2011_07_22.htm

thanks for the great tip Blammo.
james said…
Alethonews and Electronic Intifada are shill sites. Or 'gatekeepers', if you prefer.

"...Palestinian rights, not “statehood” remain the core of Palestinian efforts... a consensus has emerged among Palestinian experts and organizations that the UN statehood bid is useless at best, and highly damaging to Palestinian rights at worst"

Yeah, right. Israel will own its own experts and will make sure they are the ones that get the media coverage. It's what they do. It couldn't be any other way.
Anonymous said…
The Israelis are in a powerful position. They have just managed to wreck North Africa.

- Aangirfan
Blammo said…
You think so James? I admit if Aletho is gatekeeping I never picked up on it.

Felton does have some good articles. This one I think was written at the time of the WCAR that HHQ mentioned. It includes United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 which "determine[d] that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination" and "In the history of the UN, this is the only resolution that has ever been revoked..." Felton's article is laden with excellent quotes.

Thanks Peasant. I trust you made it through the storm intact?
james said…
hi Blammo,
yeah Atheo (or Aletho as he previously called himself and his blog) sounds good. I even had him linked in the blogroll at Winter Patriot Community at one stage.

And then i came across him in the comments section of Damian Lataan's blog attempting to deny the fact that the Iraq invasion was about controlling their oil and controlling the currency it was sold in. This is crucial for the advent of the One World Currency which, in turn, is crucial for the New World Order.

You can read the exchange i had with him in the comments section here.

If you read through them you will see it takes a few responses back and forth before his attitudes and tactics become obvious. But by the end i think you will see what i mean.

Gatekeepers only show their true colours when it is a crucial or critical issue for the PTB. This Palestinian Statehood vote is obviously one of these issues. So you can use these gatekeeping sites to check if an issue is crucial to the PTB's final plan.

The organ stealing and the murder that goes along with it is another crucial issue and that is when Electronic Intifada (along with Desert Peace) showed themselves for who they are by trashing the very strong evidence for it and the journalist involved by indulging in ad hominem attacks and just plain nonsense. Classic hasbara tactics, in other words. I haven't saved those links unfortunately. Jonathan Cook was another one.

These occasions don't happen very often but they are well worth remembering.

So, in the meantime, sites like those i've mentioned have great 'news and views' and look like the real deal. it's necessary for their role that they do, of course.
james said…
Blammo,
I should have mentioned that the Greg Felton article you linked to does indeed have some great quotes and some very good historical information. (I've bookmarked it!)

He rightly goes after zionists but it should be remembered that all israelis and supporters (active and passive) of israel elsewhere are de facto zionists. So that includes "Most Jews" these days.

It wasn't always that way of course. As Felton points out 'most Jews' in Germany and Hungary were quite happy where they were in Europe and emigrating to Palestine was the last thing they wanted to do.

So the zionist leaders were quite happy to "sacrifice" them in order to gain the prize of "Israel" through UN command and through world opinion by marketing and hyping the aptly named 'holocaust' - a burnt offering or sacrifice. We are dealing with serious evil here.

The German and Hungarian Jews were caught between the collaboration of the Nazi's and the zionists on the one hand and the larger German population and their dislike of Jews on the other.

We are asked to believe this dislike was because they were simply Jews and no other reason. But disliking Jews simply because they are Jewish is nonsensical. It has to mean something. Being a Jew has to have represented something to them.

What is not generally acknowledged is that the Jewish population had achieved near total dominance of retail and wholesale trading in Hungary and Germany in particular and had exploited this situation to the detriment of the wider population and this was widely known. So there wasn't much sympathy for them as a group in their hour of need.

This same situation is happening on a global scale now. History could very well repeat itself. But this time the Jewish population could be 'sacrificed' for the zionist leaders and their goal of ownership of the world and not just Palestine aka israel. They've done it once and it worked for them, so why not do it again?
A. Peasant said…
Aan, yes they have managed to wreck north africa. the one note mainstream coverage of libya is sickening.

Blammo, i'm glad James jumped in about the gatekeeping aspect. it's a huge problem and one of the reasons that many organizations are ultimately ineffective. they are subtly steered away from progress by reasonable sounding people.

Gatekeepers only show their true colours when it is a crucial or critical issue for the PTB. This Palestinian Statehood vote is obviously one of these issues. So you can use these gatekeeping sites to check if an issue is crucial to the PTB's final plan.

there are these litmus tests like 911 for instance, and all the people who sound so smart but then all of a sudden they are dumb as stumps when it comes to 911. gatekeepers. and once you see a gatekeeper writing for some nice organization you can write the whole fucking thing off imo. there are NO funded organizations that i trust. none.

yes we made it through the storm. we were out of power for 36 hours the day before school started, groan. lost one big tree but otherwise we're all set. thanks for asking.
A. Peasant said…
finding a gatekeeper is like finding someone's hair in your food at a restaurant. you can just push that whole plate away.
james said…
finding a gatekeeper is like finding someone's hair in your food at a restaurant. you can just push that whole plate away.

hahaha, that's off!
Blammo said…
James, That was an enlightening exchange, thanks for putting up the link. My what a tangled web! I must pay closer attention to his posts, which should be easy since some %80 seem to be about settler attacks. To your second point, I'm already on board, brother. Felton is also a Holocaustian, I noticed. I'm also aware of how the Misrahim were utilized, which always comes in handy when someone starts talking about Arab "persecution" of Jews. I don't like to ponder the potential "sacrifice", but perhaps it explains the recent about-face of Turkey? Weren't Turkey and Israel turning out to be best-buds?

Peasant, throwing the bathwater out with the baby! I can spot obvious bullshit peppered through an aggregated news source, such as the Syrian headlines at Uruknet, and many articles at Information Clearinghouse. Peter Chamberlin is quirky on the subject of Jews. Aangirfan has been subjected to witch-hunty accusations as of late, and I notice you're not afraid to quote Wayne Madsen. Now tell me, where is this %100 reliable, agenda-free news source again?
A. Peasant said…
point taken Blammo, though i stopped quoting madsen some time back, probably after you or someone gave me a ration of shit about him being dodgy, and i agree so i stopped citing him. there is no 100% reliable news source, absolutely agreed. hacks like me are doing it as a hobby for free, and so you will have to put up with mistakes and the learning curve. i mean i have written some things in my earlier years that make me cringe today, but it's all there if nothing else to prove that i learn as i go. it is a learning process and these are my notes, mistakes and everything. i have tried to improve the quality over time, but obviously there are constraints and a lot of things fall well short of proof because it is not possible to prove certain things without inside information that is guarded with layers and layers of secrecy and disinfo.

now no doubt some of the larger, funded organizations -- emphasis on larger and funded -- have access to information that a lone citizen would not have. there may be insiders on the payroll in key editorial positions. some people may be spooks posing as writers. some people work for the military. these are the madsen types etc. they have some of the info that might be proof but how can you trust any of them as it's all mixed up with disinfo. there are all sorts of things going on we may presume because the internet lends itself perfectly to cointelpro. i doubt that *any* organization of any size would be allowed to exist for long before someone offered funding or "help" of some sort to bring it under at least partial editorial control. at the same time we have to get our news someplace so it's part of the reader's job to sniff out the BS as you go. i've used a lot of different methods in the past but the best methods involved hours of reading every day and i don't have the time anymore now that i'm a working stiff. so i don't have an answer because the thing you seek, the 100% reliable source, is your own self on the job sorting and sussing as you go, and hopefully sharing what you find.

the beauty of individual people blogging as a hobby is the way the informal networks develop, different people and readers working different lines of research and having synergies. because it is too much for any one person to do alone, and any sort of formal collaboration is risky, so these informal associations work best to get closest to the truth, imo. so long answer but thank you for reading here and commenting Blammo. you leave good comments and i appreciate it.
Blammo said…
I absolutely agree with you Peasant, and I appreciate your work immensely, which is why I've read all the way back to your first post and moved on to Editor's Eye. The unpaid blogger who does it for the sake of truth and conscience is where the vast majority of quality analyses is put forth.

The idea of pushing the whole plate away I found a little haughty, so I couldn't resist a wee bit of snark ;)

At the risk of sounding like I'm trying to ingratiate myself with you, I think your work is brilliantly humorous and insightful, I've linked to you many times, and I hope you never do what Suraci and others have done and pull your blog.
A. Peasant said…
you read all that??!!?? OMG i'm speechless Blammo. why would you do that to yourself? and do you have a blog? if so i would like to know which one?

seriously i don't know what to say. you must have found some real groaners in there. i know sometimes i go back looking for something and i have to give myself a forehead slap. but hey, it is what it is. i'm very honored that you appreciate my bloggings. i throw flowers your way Blammo. and you can call me out on anything at any time, as you should. and no i don't plan to blow the body of work away because mostly i've really enjoyed it and have had a lot of fun learning these horrible things and trying to see the absurdity of it all.
Penny said…
It is odd AP, when you reflect on the blog, it's history and all the information you have been exposed to, you realize it has truly been a learning experience. For yourself.
And the persons who read along.

That's the way I look at it anyway, as if we are all learning together.
I know that comments and links left by others lead to doors that I may never have opened.

It is a wonderful human experience.

That said regarding Israel, I do wonder if all their seeming over reactions to the Palestinian Statehood is not over reactions, but, smokescreen.

I don't know, haven't had the time to pay attention to it all
(the time crunch shows no sign of letting up, with some renovation projects on the table)
Trying to focus on Syria and Libya takes all my spare time up.

I will be back to read some of the links you have left.
A. Peasant said…
absolutely Pen. it's been an amazing time to be part of all these people working toward the truth. it gets messy from time to time but as long as people really are committed to the truth and love the truth, it keeps going. the community keeps going because the truth is ultimately sustainable.

and it takes all these people to keep up with all the different things going on. thanks for your great work on Libya and Syria btw. i know i won't even touch it because i was off doing something else at the crucial beginnings and it is really hard to catch up if you don't get a good hold at the start. i'm not sure about the smokescreen element with israel. could be. but i do think so much of their narrative is bs that they must really worry when they have a PR battle they know they will lose. however they will no doubt try to make it a win win by starting some shit.
Blammo said…
I didn't see any groaners, Peasant. As Penny points out, it's an evolution, and it's interesting to watch it unfold, because we all have experienced one which flows along the same lines and can identify with it. At any rate, props to you for leaving it all up.

Citizen blogging could be described as open-source journalism because it's often both an individual and collaborative effort. It is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. I've already pimped the Green Book elsewhere, but it describes the use of popular conferences and peoples committees, making government a direct and popular participatory process, the most representative and impervious to corruption. That the handling of information and analyses would benefit from a similar process is a no-brainer. Incidentally, after the economic meltdown, Iceland used a citizen assembly to draft a new constitution, based on input from 1000 randomly chosen citizens. Evidently the latest draft is a product of online crowdsourcing. They seem to be doing ok considering the circumstances.

I don't have a blog. I set up a blogger account once and added a blogroll for my own use, but almost immediately blogger locked me out of it and demanded my telephone number to reinstate it. I've considered one for reposting other peoples posts. It'll be tough to match you guys for original content.

Anyway, here's to an uneventful September!
Penny said…
AP "the truth is ultimately sustainable"

Or

from my blog

"Truth exists; only lies are invented."

Which is why as you say it is sustainable.

Blammo: excellent commentary
A. Peasant said…
indeed Pen.

following your links Blammo, look how El Baradai got help from Stanford to do something similar for Egyptians, except of course they ran into problems that required gatekeepers. doing it wrong because Iceland didn't have this problem, but that is the difference between the real thing and imitations. when people want to control other people, they start in with the gatekeeping, and that is the same on the web.

http://spot.us/pitches/986-the-cloud-in-egypt-help-or-hype/updates/1072-constitutional-crowdsourcing-site-launched

too bad about booger but you do leave great comments, and the fact is that reading and writing are both very time consuming. the citizen journalism community works because not everyone is doing the same thing.

may we all survive september stronger than before, no matter what happens.
Blammo said…
Dang Peasant, this is what I mean, you have the gift. I was once kindly described as being "oblivious to the obvious" ;)
A. Peasant said…
well i don't know about that Blammo. sounds like the sort of thing women say to men on a wide variety of routine matters. it was an old girlfriend wasn't it, who said that to you? that's my guess.

these other things like taking really good ideas like crowdsourcing a constitution, and twisting them (subtly), are usually not really obvious anyway until one becomes *extremely* cynical (cough). but any really good and powerful idea they will try to wreck / twist / co-opt. they have to. they have no creativity so they can only steal from creative people. and they have to do it carefully in such a way that it sounds so reasonable, and for a good cause blah blah blah, until they turn the good thing into shit. that is my extremely cynical opinion.
james said…
Cynics are realists viewed by people who don't believe in evil.
freethinker said…
That last pic is nauseating.

Unfortunately such tribal behaviour is not unique to the jews (although its probably most pronounced with them). I'm disgusted with the glee that many 'decent' folk I meet have with the pounding that the 'evil Qaddafi empire' is getting from our 'heroes'.
A. Peasant said…
that's very true freethinker. we have plenty of ignorant racists here, and as you point out, they don't even realize that they are racists because they are the so-called 'decent' folk who think it's ok to turn various arab deserts into sheets of glass etc., and i would bet these are the same sorts of people who love israel and support everything israel does and believe "god's chosen people" stories etc. and if you point out they are racists they would deny it, such is the disease of the mind. i know lots of them myself. this is a big problem in this country because these people feed into the scumbag congresspeople who keep sending our money to that shitty little country full of racists so they can kill their neighbors for fun and profit. and they think they're so righteous about it all. it's sickening is right.