Image by mollyjolly via Flickr"The American citizen's first importance to his country is no longer that of citizen but that of consumer. Consumption is a new necessity."
You might think this quote is from a recent critique of stimulus package spending. But this is from a 1920s Muncie, Indiana newspaper. Notice that this is before the Great Depression, which kicked this notion into an even more prominent place on the political landscape.
This doll has always given me the creeps. I used to work for Richmond (Ky) Tourism, and it's located in an old house that also serves as a museum. This little gem is upstairs.
It is interesting to note that this doll, which was probably a high-end item when it was purchased, has lasted all these years.
But perhaps it's not so noteworthy - it comes from the Victorian era, when things represented a person's identity and social position, and things were made to last. The people of this era looked at the stuff they purchased as investments, to be treasured for a lifetime.
From Maria Johnson's notes on Flickr
O What a Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice to Deceive
Sir Walter Scott's ( 1771 - 1832 ) comment on the Web of Lies fed the publick
Harvard students protest New Republic editor
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/09/25/harvard_peretz_protest
At an event on Saturday in Cambridge, Harvard University accepted a new research fund in honor of New Republic editor-in-chief and former Harvard teacher Marty Peretz (full back story here).
A sizable group of students upset by Peretz's writings over the years -- most recently his assertion that Muslim life is cheap and that followers of Islam should not be protected by the First Amendment, for which he later partially apologized -- was on hand to protest Peretz and the university.
Usefully, the protesters carried signs quoting Peretz's own words as they followed him and his entourage through Harvard Yard.
"It's Marty's party and he can cry if he wants to," said Maryam Monalisa Gharavi, a graduate student in comparative literature. "But the rest of us are here to remind him that we're not going to stand by while the Harvard administration overlooks his 25-year career in spewing hatred and bigotry. He has a right to free speech, not a right to be honored."
UK guidance on torture challenged by watchdog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11414770
In his letter, Mr Wadham, who also wrote to other government ministers, argues the guidance incorrectly suggests the principles are consistent with domestic and international law obligations, including the UN Convention Against Torture.
( And that will be about the extent of official notice, unless an offering is mandated to appease the pundits correctly lambasting institutional hypocrisy. )
The National Anthem
http://fafblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/national-anthem_11.html
It took seven years, three trillion dollars and a million corpses, but America has finally transformed Iraq from a cruel dictatorship ruled by torture and ethnic cleansing into a cruel dictatorship ruled by torture and ethnic cleansing where select survivors are free to vote for the torturer of their choice. And Jesus said "It is accomplished!"
U.S. Imposed “Democracy” in Afghanistan
http://inteltrends.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/u-s-imposed-democracy-in-afghanistan
There are many reasons why a liberal democratic political system has not been established since the U.S. invasion and overthrow of the Taliban regime in October 2001.
First, it is clear that the majority of the Afghan people wanted the return of the 1964 Constitution, which was established in a very open and democratic manner. But the U.S. government, backed by its allies, said no. Afghanistan had a constitutional parliamentary form of government; the new constitution, imposed on the people by the U.S. government and its allies, established a very strong, centralized presidential system of government.
For example, the president appoints provincial governors and mayors of cities. Would this be acceptable in Canada? In the United States?
Second, the U.S. government imposed Hamid Karzai on the Afghan people. They carefully chose the delegates to the original Bonn meeting in 2001. The five major democratic coalitions asked for representation, but the U.S. government said no. But the delegates chosen actually voted for Abdul Satar Sirat for interim president. He represented those who wanted a return to the constitutional monarchy. The U.S. government said no. The new interim president had to be Karzai, who had been a key agent for the U.S. government in transferring funds to the mujahideen during the civil war against the leftist government and their Soviet allies. No funds would go to Afghanistan unless Karzai was president.
Third, the dominant political parties in Afghanistan today are the current versions of the radical Islamist organizations which were supported by the U.S. and Saudi Arabian governments during the civil war. But there are a good number of progressive democratic parties, alliances and coalitions which are trying to build links across ethnic, religious and regional lines. They strongly oppose the warlords and drug lords who have so much power in the present Afghanistan. The U.S. and Canadian governments have blocked their development and participation in the political system.
Fourth, the Afghan people wanted all the warlords, drug lords and those responsible for human rights abuses over the past 20 years to be excluded from holding office and participating in politics. Instead they are in key positions in the Karzai government and dominate the parliament. They passed a law giving themselves immunity from prosecution for crimes which occurred over this period.
Obama, Bush, and the Judicious Use of Hellfire Missiles
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/anwar-al-awlaki-and-dead-americans-pakistan?
One major revelation to come out of Bob Woodward's new book, "The Obama Wars," is the news that "many Westerners, including some U.S. passport holders," were killed by a CIA-operated drone strike in Pakistan in November 2008. It remains unclear whether the victims were specifically targeted or collateral damage. (See the Washington Post's Jeff Stein for more.)
If Bush was having Americans killed in Pakistan in 2008, then it's not surprising that President Barack Obama is ordering the CIA to kill American cleric and accused terrorist Anwar Al-Awlaki in Yemen in 2010, right? Not really—the cases are pretty different. From Woodward's account, it seems clear that the Bush administration was sincerely worried about the potential legal ramifications of killing Americans abroad—"the CIA would not reveal the particulars [of the attack] due to the implications under American law."
Much has changed since the Bush administration left office. Two years ago, the CIA was worrying about legal issues surrounding the killing of Americans at an alleged terrorist training camp in Pakistan. Now the Obama administration has apparently put American citizens on a "targeted killing" list.
Comments
oferdababoon
I don't read Woodward.
But it is amusing that Obama would publically call it HATEFUL and OFFENSIVE for the Iranian
president to ask an Inquiry into 911.
MR PRESIDENT,
What is hateful and offensive is not yours to decide. It is hateful and offensive what you have directed.
The Iranian people have their back against the wall, the U.S. government has them surrounded with
military armament. They are supplying Saudia with $60billion more of weapons to be at the U.S.
disposal. They are scared and do not know when or what day a U.S. led attack may come.
The Iranian people watched the Million dead happen in Iraq, they watched the shock and awe that we
Americans didn't have to see. They saw the blood, the guts, the thousands of bodies thrown int the
Euphrates River. They saw the U.S. use their CIA to create a Civil War. They saw the ancient treasures
disappear from Iraq. They saw the ancient temples turned to rubble. They saw a lot Barack Obabummer
THEY ARE SCARED. And you jerk president have the nerve to call their president hateful and offensive?
For the last ten years our media has purposely mis translated this man.
I am still embarrassed the way our GREAT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, with their rudeness and their
haughtyness, and their hypocracy, treated the president of Iran.
MR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.....BARRACK OBAMA....
YOU ARE HATEFUL AND OFFENSIVE........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Doc of the Day: Feds’ Guide To Snitching on Your Terrorist Neighbor
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/doc-of-the-day-feds-guide-to-snitching-on-your-terrorist-neighbor/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Netvibes
These crack-sleuthing tips are geared toward ferreting out the terrorist community’s most blithering, Clouseau-esque idiots.
Of course, this all comes with a big caveat: “There may be a legitimate reason why some of the indicators described in this document are present,” the pamphlet warns. “It is up to you to determine when that is not the case.” Because you and your neighbors are trained counterterrorism professionals. Maybe hold off before calling the FBI on your neighbor.
Fatima Bhutto on the Floods in Pakistan, the Government Response and Her Memoir, Songs of Blood and Sword
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/24/fatima_bhutto_on_the_floods_in
Pakistan is struggling to recover from one of the worst natural disasters in its history. The devastating floods that hit the country last month submerged as much as one-fifth of the nation underwater. Some 20 million people are now struggling to survive the aftermath, and the battle has now turned to aid and a global appeal for fund to help spur recovery.
Millions of homes have been destroyed. The agricultural food belt of the country has been submerged. And we have six million children at risk of fatal diseases like cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, and many millions more in desperate need of food aid. We also know that this is a crisis that ought to have been contained. It could have been contained. According to Transparency International, 70 percent of World Bank funds given to Pakistan for dam maintenance was siphoned off.
..................
We know that in 2009 some 700 Pakistanis were killed in drone attacks. We know that so far in 2010 around 300 people have been killed. These are all nameless, faceless Pakistanis. The media will say they are largely civilians, but I wonder if they are not all civilians. They are unindicted. They are unconvicted. We know that at the height of the floods, America launched two drone attacks. We know that last week, within twenty-four hours, they launched three drone attacks. There were double drone attacks just days ago. President Obama has been enthusiastic in his use of employing Predator drone attacks, and President Zardari has been very pliable in allowing them to come and kill Pakistani citizens. ...
Every single one of Pakistan’s military dictatorships has been funded and supported militarily, financially and politically by the White House in America. America has always been a great friend to Pakistan’s military regimes. They have always been great friends to Pakistan’s autocratic and oppressive governments. The Zardari government has launched several censorship initiatives since being in power for the last two years, including the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, which makes it a crime to spoof or satirize the person of the president. It makes having an email address not registered in your full name an offense worth six months in jail. And yet we see Secretary of State Hillary Clinton come to Pakistan and praise the freedom of the Pakistani media.
Pakistan has a history of political assassinations, a history of assassinations of public figures, but not just of public figures, of journalists, of activists, of lawyers, that carries on every day. And the Bhutto family has been at the center of that violence. It has suffered it, and it has perpetuated it. And Songs of Blood and Sword is about that trajectory and about a country that seems to include violence as part of its political ethic.
: At the time that my father was killed, his sister Benazir was the prime minister for the second time in Pakistan, and she had empowered the police forces in the city of Karachi—the police forces and the security agencies, under the aegis of Operation Cleanup—to, quote, "clean up" Karachi. And it was in that period, that year-and-a-half period that Operation Cleanup was in effect, that some 3,000 men were murdered in the city of Karachi. They were political activists, they were journalists, they were opponents of the government. And they were all killed in extrajudicial murders. My father was one of those men. He was a very strong critic of the government. He was a member, an elected member of Parliament. And he spoke very vocally and very sharply about his sister Benazir’s corruption, about the human rights abuses. And really, fourteen years ago, almost to the week, he was assassinated along with six other people outside our home.
...I think we see that America is very comfortable with the idea of dynasty, whether it’s a military dynasty that follows through the ranks, without any say from the Pakistani people, or whether it is through a government such as this one, that follows orders, that doesn’t care, as you mentioned earlier, about collateral damage. If it weren’t for American money and political support, this government would not be in power.
Boat Carrying Jewish Activists Leaves Cyprus for Gaza
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Boat-Carrying-Jewish-Activists-Leaves-Cyprus-for-Gaza-103833554.html
Pentagon destroys thousands of copies of Army officer's memoir
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/25/books.destroyed/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
The Bronze Star medal recipient told CNN he believes the Bush administraton's biggest mistake during that time was misunderstanding the culture there.
( Afghanistan.
Believing Bu$hCo was making 'mistakes' was considered 'reporting' during the 8 years Bu$h/Cheney were responsible for murdering foreigners. But destroying the books is protecting the army....not the War Criminals giving them orders. We should all be clear on that point.....which means they are War Criminals, too....right ? Just like Obama.)
Downblending Uranium From Russian Nuclear Warheads
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10861272/downblending-uranium-from-russian-nuclear-warheads.html?puc=outbrain&cm_ven=outbrain&obref=obnetwork
Last week, USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) announced that a government and industry partnership to downblend Russian weapons-grade uranium to low enriched uranium for supply to USEC`s customers as commercial reactor fuel has presently eliminated the equivalent of 16,000 nuclear warheads by recycling 400 tonnes of uranium. The Megatons to Megawatts program has been in operation since 1995 and is on track to complete the downblending of the equivalent of 20,000 nuclear warheads into commercial nuclear fuel by the end of 2013.
Threat of levee failure prompts evacuations along Wisconsin River
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/26/wisconsin.flooding/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
The Truth About Plastic Bags Decomposing
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/plastic-bag-decompose
Researchers fear that such ubiquitous bags may never fully decompose; instead they gradually just turn into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. The most common type of plastic shopping bag is made of polyethylene, a petroleum-derived polymer that microorganisms don't recognize as food and as such cannot technically "biodegrade."
An Overhead View of China’s Pollution
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/09/27/an-overhead-view-of-chinas-pollution/
Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11414483
Facebook tries to head privacy critics off at the pass
http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article1726683.html
Places – Facebook's answer to increasingly popular geotagging sites such as Foursquare – is heavily influenced by the company's realization that privacy officials have the website under the microscope.
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