I AM A DIASPORAL JEW OF THE ASHKENAZ TRIBE AND I HEREBY DECLARE BUELAHMAN AND LYNDA OF BUELAHMAN'S REDSTATE REVOLT TO BE ABSOLUTELY FREE OF ANTI-SEMITISM OF ANY KIND. THEIR VIEWS ON AMERICA'S ISRAEL POLICY IS THE SAME AS MINE. IT IS THE SAME AS WELL OVER 30% OF THE ISRAELI PEOPLE AND OVER 70% OF THE DIASPORAL ASHKENAZ COMMUNITY IN THE WORLD OUTSIDE BOTH THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL.
I don’t pretend to understand Afghanistan, but I do know it’s a big, poor, backward Islamic country in Central Asia with all sorts of warring factions that have been at it for decades, or even centuries. I know that American soldiers have been fighting there for eight years and that the situation is still a huge mess.
And now President Barack Obama, after sending 21,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan in March, is set to announce next week that he’s going to send over another 30,000 or so, which will bring the total number of US troops in that big, poor, backward, bewildering, violent Islamic country to about 100,000.
I don’t know much about Afghanistan, but I’m pretty familiar with America, familiar enough to know that America is not up for this. I don’t know if it’s possible to pacify Afghanistan – or Pakistan, Iraq, Iran or anyplace else in the region. I don’t know if this can be done even with millions of American troops fighting for 100 years.
But I do know, as I think everyone knows or should know, that America is not ready to fight Islamism like it fought Nazism and Communism, which means that in its wars in the Middle East, America is destined to lose. The only question is how long these futile adventures will last.
Actually, America fought one war in the Middle East that was not seemingly futile, not at all – the one in 1991 against Iraq. That was a “necessary war,” to use Obama’s term for the mess in Afghanistan. Back then, Saddam Hussein invaded an American-allied country, he electrified the entire Middle East, he was bidding for control, direct or indirect, over two-thirds of the world’s oil – he had to be stopped and turned back.
So president George H.W. Bush set a very clear, reasonable goal – forcing Saddam out of Kuwait – then sent half a million soldiers to do the job, accomplished it in six weeks with minimal allied casualties, then brought the troops home, leaving Saddam and Saddamism in ruins. That was a so called “good war.” But Afghanistan? After 9/11, the Americans should have retaliated by carpet bombing select areas of that country, killing tens of thousands of people, terrorists and civilians both, to let al-Qaida, the Taliban and everyone in the Islamic world know that there is a terrible price to pay for attacking America and killing 3,000 innocents.
Instead, America decided to “transform” the region. The result is that another 5,000 Americans have been killed, soldiers this time, bombs are still going off every which way in Iraq, and now a new president, this one a liberal Democrat, not a Republican neocon, is driving deeper and deeper into Afghanistan.
And what about Pakistan? And Iran? Are they next? “All options are on the table,” says Obama.
AMERICA’S PROBLEM is that it still wants to be a military superpower but is no longer willing to pay the price in blood and money, so it tries to do it on the cheap and as painlessly as possible, and winds up fighting endless wars with impossible goals in distant, hellish places.
If the US were serious about taking on a military challenge of this scope, it would reinstate the draft. This isn’t Grenada they’re dealing with, this is an enemy with outposts across the Middle East, and parts of Africa too. And the US means to go to war against this enemy with a volunteer army that’s drawn from less than 1 percent of American families!
“The problem in this country with this issue [of Afghanistan],” said Democratic Congressman David Obey, “is that the only people who have to sacrifice are military families, and they’ve had to go to the well again and again and again and again, and everybody else is blithely unaffected by the war.”
The American people won’t stand for a military draft; it’s a taboo subject . They won’t even stand for a war tax; that’s another taboo. But neither will they stand for the idea that America is not a military superpower anymore. And nobody in that country, not even the messiah of change, has the guts to tell them that they can’t have it both ways.
So the US pretends it can fight World War III like Grenada, its army is so far beyond overextended that there isn’t a word for it, the country spends more and more billions of dollars that it doesn’t have, and this has been going on now for almost a decade.
At this point, is anybody confident that if and when the US gets out of Iraq, after all these years of horror and devastation, it will leave behind a stable, decent, more or less pro-American country?
Is anybody confident of such a happy end to the war in Afghanistan?
I don’t think so. I think if America knew right after 9/11 what it knows now, there is no way on earth it would have started these wars.
But now Obama wants more – not because he believes he can salvage the situation in Afghanistan, but because he’s afraid of what will happen if he abandons it to the likes of al-Qaida and the Taliban. Which is a very legitimate worry. I worry about that too.
But the only way the US can salvage Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Pakistan, or Iran, or any country in the Muslim world, is to fight like it fought every other major war in its history – with a draft, with war taxes, with a clear, reasonable goal and the readiness to pursue it to the end.
Is America up for that today? No, it’s not, I’m happy to say, because, like I said, even millions of American soldiers fighting for 100 years might not be enough to neutralize the threat of Islamism.
It’s fight or flight, which means the only choice left is flight. The US is not a military superpower anymore, and it’s just hurting itself and a lot of other people by pretending.
The time has come for America to wrap up these endless, failed third world wars.
It’s not going to be easy. And the worst part is that after Obama deepens America’s commitment with 30,000 new soldiers, getting out is going to be even harder.
Think what you will of Mr Bugliosi (and I can’t see how one cannot respect his win percentage, at the very least), but this is simple logical deduction. Anyone in their right mind can see something amiss… worthy of real investigations and prosecutions. It is only the very most gullibly ignorant or ideologically entrenched in protection of the criminals that deny it.
I have an enormous amount of friends who call themselves Christians. Being that I was raised and have lived most of my life in the south, I have been around the Bible Belt Christianity and have even been immersed in leadership positions within churches, so I have a first hand understanding of how Christianity works down south, by and large. A very good friend recently told me that no matter where in the world he goes, he can have amazing conversations and learn new things, but the moment he goes back home, it is almost as if entering in some medieval world of superstition and myths. I must concur that my home county/state is full of these religious fanatics (as opposed to “Christians). For there is a differentiation.
Let me say that most people are raving, yet unaware, hypocrites, by and large. Sure, they mean well coming from the understanding they have been taught by the fear mongers that control their lives (and sadly, the preacher man in the south has far more control than most people will admit). These preachers don’t get that superiority BS from their imaginations. They feed from those that lavish them with praise and undue respect (and money, homes, retirement accounts, etc). These “men of God” use every possible tactic to take money and control lives. This is just simple fact. Maybe not 100%, but to deny it happens on a large scale is ludicrous.
And in many cases one cannot even blame the preacher. If you had people stumbling all over you to praise you in your “position” of authority, it easily goes to one’s head (like in any human circumstance). Lavish praise and unadulterated sheople-like following would tend to make a person big headed.
So, recently I have had a few discussion regarding faith, especially when it comes to healthcare for all people.
I can’t help but think about the “Good Samaritan” story and how most (yes, MOST) Christians I have spoken with seem to believe that everybody should NOT be healed from their sicknesses, UNLESS they have the money to pay for it (none come right out and say this, except one, but the insinuation is inescapable).
“A Jewish man was travelling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.‘ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
Does anyone else sense an unreconciled dichotomy here? Can anyone fully explain to me how one can follow Christ and NOT believe that sick people should be healed, even free of charge? Maybe ESPECIALLY free of charge, for if Christ had been asking for money, how many would consider Him a miracle worker?
How is it that Christianity has basically become the antithesis of the Good Samaritan? How did the followers of Christ become the priest and/or the “Temple assistant”? How is it that we pat ourselves on the back about how we help people in the world, yet we have no qualms about denying healthcare to the sickest of us.
Can you truly call yourself Christ-like, if you don’t do the shit He did?
REALLY?
The logic goes like this: giving free healthcare is immoral because God obviously is showing favor to rich people by giving to them the means to take care of themselves. For us to give to the poor (who are obviously NOT favored by God) is to do something immoral and against God. We simply cannot allow someone to get something for free. As if every human being that doesn’t have health insurance is a dead beat.
You see, these “Christians” have worked too damned hard to be giving away their heathcare that God favored them with. The others can just eat shit and die (or get a better relationship with God thru Creflo Dollar). Whatever!
I don’t know about you, but I am beginning to think that the people that most claim to be Christ’s are the ones that He will not know at the nut cuttin’ time.
Facts
Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States.
By the fall of 1621 only half of the pilgrims, who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived. The survivors, thankful to be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast.
Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October in Canada.
The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to celebrate the Thanksgiving.
The pilgrims arrived in North America in December 1620.
The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to reach North America.
The pilgrims sailed on the ship, which was known by the name of ‘Mayflower’.
They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621.
They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The drink that the Puritans brought with them in the Mayflower was the beer.
The Wampanoag Indians were the people who taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate the land.
The Pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in the year 1621 and invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians also to the feast.
The first Thanksgiving feast was held in the presence of around ninety Wampanoag Indians and the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, was also invited there.
The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.
President George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in the year 1789 and again in 1795.
The state of New York officially made Thanksgiving Day an annual custom in 1817.
Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor with a magazine, started a Thanksgiving campaign in 1827 and it was result of her efforts that in 1863 Thanksgiving was observed as a day for national thanksgiving and prayer.
Abraham Lincoln issued a ‘Thanksgiving Proclamation’ on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving. Whereas earlier the presidents used to make an annual proclamation to specify the day when Thanksgiving was to be held.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored Thursday before last of November as Thanksgiving Day in the year 1939. He did so to make the Christmas shopping season longer and hus stimulate the economy of the state.
Congress passed an official proclamation in 1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving will be observed as a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
Over 30 years ago– I had read a small leather-bound book about the Shroud. I enjoyed the starting point that the researcher used . Art. It was amazing and thought provoking. Anyway– since then I have always found the research facinating. Of course I am lost when it comes to why no DNA research– but thats just me. lol
Sun, Nov. 22, 2009
Researcher says faint text proves shroud’s authenticity
By Ariel David
Associated Press
ROME – A Vatican researcher asserts that nearly invisible text on the Shroud of Turin proves that the artifact revered as Jesus’ burial cloth is authentic.
The assertion made by Barbara Frale in a book drew immediate skepticism from some scientists, who maintain the shroud is a medieval forgery.
Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, said Friday that she used computers to enhance images of faintly written words in Greek, Latin, and Aramaic scattered across the shroud.
She asserted that the words include the name “Jesus Nazarene” in Greek, proving that the text could not be of medieval origin because no Christian at the time, even a forger, would have labeled Jesus a Nazarene without referring to his divinity.
The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ’s image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.
The fragile artifact, owned by the Vatican, is kept locked in a special protective chamber in Turin’s cathedral and is rarely shown.
Skeptics point out that radiocarbon dating conducted in 1988 determined it was made in the 13th or 14th century.
While faint letters scattered around the face on the shroud were seen decades ago, serious researchers dismissed them because of the test’s results, Frale said in an interview.
But when she cut out the words from photos of the shroud and showed them to experts, they concurred the writing style was typical of the Middle East in the first century A.D. – Jesus’ time.
She believes the text was written on a document by a clerk and glued to the shroud over the face so the body could be identified by relatives and buried properly. Metals in the ink used at the time may have allowed the writing to transfer to the linen, Frale said.
“I tried to be objective and leave religious issues aside,” Frale said. “What I studied was an ancient document that certifies the execution of a man, in a specific time and place.”
Frale is noted in Italy for her research on the medieval order of the Knights Templar and her discovery of unpublished documents on the group in the Vatican’s archives.
Earlier this year she published a study contending the Templars at one time had the shroud in their possession. That raised eyebrows because the order was abolished in the early 14th century and the shroud is first recorded in history about 1360 in the hands of a French knight.
But her latest book, The Shroud of Jesus Nazarene, in Italian, raised doubts even among experts.
“People work on grainy photos and think they see things,” said Antonio Lombatti, a church historian who has written books about the shroud. “It’s all the result of imagination and computer software.”
Lombatti also rejected the idea that authorities in the time of Jesus would officially return the body of a crucified man to relatives after filling out some paperwork. Victims of the most cruel punishment used by the Romans would usually be left on the cross or were disposed of in a dump to add to the execution’s deterring effect.
As I have done before, I receive regular articles from Manufacturing & Technology News and wanted to post the article with my observations. To me, this simply points out that Corporatism rules this country and that those who are in control of corporations don’t give a single rat’s ass about the American workers or their well being (at least from their job perspective).
Corporations are anti-worker. Corporations are entities set up with one goal in mind: making the most profit for their share holders as possible. Period. They do this off of the backs of labor and always have.
So, when I read such stuff as Mr Farr writes (and Richard notes) like blaming government for the current fiasco, I have lived the last 30+ years watching corporations take off towards those “best cost countries” (aka cheapest labor and overhead possible). His blame is hollow when he and his ilk are just as responsible for this mess as any government official ever alive. And both parties are complicit.
I have been calling on Emerson Electric companies for 20+ years. I have actually sold Emerson Electric owned product and know first hand how cheap they are and how they run in to the ground any entity they buy up. So, Mr Farr, excuse me as I call your Bullshit for what it is… Bullshit.
By Richard McCormack
richard@manufacturingnews.com
One of the country’s most important industrial companies says the United States is not a good place to manufacture and it will continue moving its assets offshore.
The federal government is “doing everything in [its] manpower [and] capability to destroy U.S. manufacturing,” says David Farr, chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric Co., in a presentation at the Baird 2009 Industrial Conference in Chicago Ill., on Nov. 11. In comments reported by Bloomberg, Farr added that companies will continue adding jobs in China and India because they are “places where people want the products and where the governments welcome you to actually do something. I am not going to hire anybody in the United States. I’m moving. They are doing everything possible to destroy jobs.”
In his Powerpoint presentation available on the Emerson Electric Web site, Farr notes that the federal government is damaging prospects for U.S. economic growth with a $1.41 trillion federal deficit (10 percent of GDP); $12 trillion in government debt that will grow to $20 trillion in 10 years; a policy of printing money; a “non-targeted $800-billion stimulus”; bailouts for Wall Street and the automobile companies; the prospect for cap and trade legislation; a “government takeover” of health care to the tune of more than $1 trillion; increasing taxes and regulations; and a “lack of U.S. $ support” for manufacturing. The global stimulus “soon will fade,” says Farr.
What does it mean for a company like Emerson? “We continue to increase our international and emerging market presence,” says Farr. The company has increased its emerging market sales by 19 percentage points over the past 10 years, from 13 percent of total sales in 1999 to 32 percent in 2009. It is now generating 55 percent of its sales from overseas operations, a figure that will grow to 60 percent by 2014, with 40 percent of total sales coming from emerging markets.
“Emerson’s investment in emerging markets is continuing to pay off with sales growth,” say Farr. In 1999, the company generated $12.4 billion in annual sales from mature markets and $1.9 billion from emerging markets. By 2009, sales from mature markets grew to $14.2 billion, while sales from emerging markets more than tripled to $6.7 billion.
The company projects sales from mature markets in 2014 of between $16 billion and $17 billion, while emerging market sales will reach almost $12 billion.
Between 1999 and 2009 “73 percent of growth is from emerging markets!” Farr exclaims. “More than 60 percent of our growth is expected to come from emerging markets over the next five years so Emerson will continue to invest in these key markets.”
In 2001, the company had 21 percent of its 360 manufacturing facilities located in “best cost countries.” Today, Emerson has 250 manufacturing locations and 36 percent of them are in “best cost countries.” That percentage is going to increase to more than 40 percent.
Emerson is following the money. Infrastructure investment in the United States now accounts for 21 percent of the global total of $12 trillion, down from 27 percent in 2004. Asia Pacific’s share of global infrastructure investment has increased from 18 percent of the global total in 2004 to 27 percent in 2009. That number is expected to continue going up — to 31 percent of global investment in 2014 and 37 percent in 2019.
The current recession has been destructive and the United States will have a hard time recovering, says Farr. U.S. job losses of 7.3 million to date are only slightly less than the total of the last four recessions combined (8 million). The current downturn is having a big impact on Emerson and its employees. The company has reduced its headcount by 15 percent. It has closed 55 facilities and has incurred $540 million in restructure expenses.
The 2001 recession was also tough on the company. It reduced its headcount by 14 percent, closed 75 facilities and incurred $437 million in restructuring expenses. “But the world did not change much,” says the Emerson CEO. With the current recession, “there will be some fundamental changes going forward.”
The company reported sales for its 2009 fiscal year ending in September of $21 billion, down from $25 billion in 2008 and $22 billion in 2007. It had an operating profit of $3.2 billion in 2009 (15 percent of sales).
I will say this. At least now we will see the true spirit of the Corporate Controllers of this country. What you, as a poor redneck just trying to make ends meet needs to know, these jobs will NEVER come back. The vast majority of jobs that have folded up (either for good or to move overseas to those “best cost countries”) are NEVER going to come back to the USA. If you had a decent paying job making parts for an American automotive company… sorry, your job is gone FOREVER. If you were lucky enough to move to an Asian automotive company, get ready to see your wages decrease (or NEVER increase to accommodate inflation). And when it gets bad enough, watch as these jobs disappear, as well.
We used to think that China was the “best cost country”, but I read recently that Mexico is now.
You think that is going to help your chances keeping a good job as these corporations (who ONLY care about the profits) move out even more over the next two years?
It is a snow ball rolling down hill and I see it growing and growing.
BTW: My comment on the article:
Comment: Mr Farr’s comments have a ring of BS to them. I have called on Emerson Plants for almost 20 years and have watched as they took every advantage of “best cost countries”, with NEVER a thought of the American worker in mind. This moving away was happening long ago and the fact is that government and Corporations are BOTH instrumental in this fiasco. Corporations control our government. This is so evident that surely there is no argument. So, Mr Farr, I see this as just another way for you to fulfill your obligations to make as much profit for your shareholders as you can. But do not think for a second that you can start this crap and think that everyone will believe it. Emerson Corp is set to make money… with or without Americans. I say you take your entire shebang elsewhere, then.
People are people everywhere we go aren’t they. I had prior looked into a company called ‘PLUG’ and it actually has stock– it is wave energy. Now listening to this I kept answering outloud… ” Hell we can’t get people to stop killing people and you want to change people into tree planters. Well and good but in a world gone mad… well, really… what are we doing??? and for heavens sake… Carbon Credits exchanged globally– and Carbon swopping??? Geeeeeeeeece
WASHINGTON—In an effort to combat what organizers are calling “our current epidemic of complete and utter obliviousness,” the American Foundation for Paying Attention to Things has declared December “National Awareness Month.”
“All across the country, millions of men and women are dangerously unaware,” AFPAT spokesperson Karen Teeling said during a press conference Monday. “What’s worse, the vast majority of those suffering from this debilitating state of mind don’t even know it.”
“That’s why this December we’re asking that all Americans stop whatever it is they’re doing, and take a moment to open their eyes for once—just once—in their lives,” Teeling added. “It’ll make all the difference in the world.”
According to AFPAT, planned events for National Awareness Month include a 10K charity walk, during which participants will be forced to actually interact and engage with the outside world for a change, as well as several advertising campaigns, which will help get the word out about things other than what currently happens to be playing on television.
Awareness-month organizers will also hand out large reflective ribbons, in hopes that, by wearing a 9-inch yellow reminder on their chests, citizens across the country might actually remember that something is going on.
“Obliviousness doesn’t discriminate,” said volunteer Robert Fargo, who added that his own father might still be alive today had he been more aware of his surroundings. “Adults, children, the elderly, those staring slack-jawed as their very existence rushes by—obliviousness can strike them all.”
Defined as the ability to realize what one is doing, to whom one is doing it, and what the consequences of doing it or not doing it may be, awareness is considered to be a major factor in a number of modern human endeavors, among them: decision-making, prioritizing, and just basically walking around without always bumping into things.
While lack of awareness—or “unawareness,” as the foundation calls it—has reached dangerously high levels across the nation, organizers said there are still steps that can be taken by everyone to address the issue.
“A simple self-exam once a month can greatly reduce the chances of becoming unaware,” AFPAT founder Michael Poe said. “First, position yourself in front of your bathroom mirror. Second, make eye contact with the reflection in the mirror. Now, while still maintaining eye contact, take three to five minutes to think about the fact that you exist as a human being.”
Added Poe, “As long as you can remember to do that and not just completely tune out for an entire year or so, you should be all right.”
In addition to distributing literature about raising awareness of awareness itself, and launching a series of bus ads featuring such slogans as “Hey, you! Come on, snap out of it,” organizers listed a number of symptoms Americans can look for when attempting to deduce whether or not they’re aware.
“Lack of coherent thought is usually a sign of being unaware, as is a fleeting attention span, and forgetting what this particular sentence pertains to midway through reading it,” said Dr. Howard Sturges, who has treated several hundred cases of acute obliviousness. “If you suspect you have such a disorder, please contact a health professional immediately, or, as you likely know him, the man in the white lab coat with the shiny thing around his neck who has that office with all the chairs and patients inside of it.”
Though they remain confident about the success of the upcoming monthlong event, members of the American Foundation for Paying Attention to Things maintained that the cure for the national unawareness epidemic ultimately lies with the individual.
“We’ll do what we can to help, but at some point it’s really up to all Americans to make sure they can leave the house in the morning without setting the place on fire, show up to work without looking like a complete moron, or carry on an intelligent conversation without getting distracted by different tile patterns on the floor,” AFPAT chairwoman Sheila Winters said. “Hello? Hello?”
The MIC (Military Industrial Complex or Big Military) is in full tilt. They are growing in terms of money spent and control they have in the world.
But even worse is the fact that as normal industrial output is stifled and jobs are forever lost, we have the military to take their place, right? Just like the other night at the Veterans Day Parade and the young father whose son just joined the Air Force simply because he could not find work or afford college: we are being forced into service (one way or the other) of the military, instead of items we can use and consume for peaceful purposes.
But, if you ever took time to study history, you would find that previous Empires died the same death while the citizens were being told the same lies. The Roman Empire was over-extended and became too militaristic and could not support the behemoth it grew in to (much of its purpose, too, was to control the earth’s resources).
I have always questioned the replacement jobs that military produces for the manufacturing sector and whether or not it is sustainable. It, of course, is not, but it is a seeming light at the end of the tunnel for poor, young, rednecks and minorities. Nothing could be further from the truth, as is displayed by the fact that we have privatized much of our military and it costs us far more to do what we could do by necessity, if we were truly attacked (and we have not been attacked by any of the people we now occupy).
The table first shows in column 1 the data on the total number of jobs created by $1 billion in spending for alternative end uses. As we see, defense spending creates 8,555 total jobs with $1 billion in spending. This is the fewest number of jobs of any of the alternative uses that we present. Thus, personal consumption generates 10,779 jobs, 26.2 percent more than defense, health care generates 12,883 jobs, education generates 17,687, mass transit is at 19,795, and construction for weatherization/infrastructure is 12,804. From this list we see that with two of the categories, education and mass transit, the total number of jobs created with $1 billion in spending is more than twice as many as with defense.
So how do you like the idea that your country has strong-armed us into being its military slaves while, at the same time, indiscriminately killing and occupying innocent others?
Accidentally last night, I watched a PBS documentary titled “How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin”. I cried so hard. I had no idea about this little known, to me, huge part of history. I Immediately flashed back to the time of my daughters and my reunion. It was filmed live-time in 1998 for The Learning Channel– and as a heart felt thank you, I will never ever forget or regret giving Boris [ the TLC Reunion cameraman-- from Moscow] my ‘Meet the Beatles’ album! I never fully understood his weeping when I gave it to him… not until now. I sincerely hope that you can watch this program . It is just Awesome, and above all just plain humbling. I never knew– I just never knew. Below are 6 links to the documentary that someone was awesome enough to post on youtube!!!
Brief::
Mon, November 9 | 9PM How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin
This is the extraordinary and untold story of how the Beatles punctured the Iron Curtain. In August 1962, award-winning director Leslie Woodhead made a two-minute film, in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, with a raw and unrecorded group of unknown rockers — the Beatles. Twenty-five years later, while making a series of films in Russia, Woodhead learned just how powerful Beatlemania was in the Soviet Union. Even though the Beatles never performed there, their music and rebellious style had soaked into the lives of a generation of Russian kids. This film features personal stories from members of Russia’s Beatles generation, who talk about how the Fab Four changed their lives, gave them hope and helped to undermine the foundations of the Soviet system. The music was the number one enemy of the State, and teens learned English, revolution and gained strength to over throw the Communist system by listening to underground recordings made using old x-ray film negatives called ‘bones’. To this day, the Beatles remain engrained in the life changed hearts of a once hostage entire youth of a nation .
@ JEFF: You went to a PROPER USA UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONAL LEARNING FACILITY SO YOU GET IT. Chavez and Correa AND Lula and Bachelet have a LITTLE power, not a lot. That power is concentrated in the natural resources sector and for Chavez and Lula in the tech sector. When the sweep of 1998 cleared out the dictators, the new breed learned how to leverage what power they did have into more freedom from AMERIKKKA.
Chavez can bark and if he wants he can probably end the world if Russia gets cheated out of what its owed from its JVs but he cannot assemble enough men to rout AMERIKKKA in a ground war. Less still Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay or Chile.
Bachelet, probably the closest person this regiion has to Nelson Mandela, does it with moral right on her side. Chavez by gathering the peoples´ pride and bluffing. Testing choke points. Bill Clinton knew this and went with a half-assed PLAN COLOMBIA in his usual triangulating style. Bush tried to overthrow Chavez twice, failed, and folded his tent. Obama, nowhere near as smart as Clinton or Chavez, and not as tough as Bush, is searching and not finding. I expect he knows that a united Latin America is bad for him. I expect he knows that Chavez can outthink hiim but is less-coldblooded. So, Obama uses the imperial approach via Colombia for now and with lots of US troops later.
Obama,unlike the Big Dog or Bush, is chickenshit with very little life expeience and has no patience. He is also saddledwitha monster ego so ifthe counterparty doesn´t being by kissing his ass for whatever reason: black presidennt, handsome,smart perfect….he´s lost.
@ JEFF CONTINUED: My experience in gambling and finance gives me a good read on these things. Intially,my problems with Obama were financial. It didn´t like how he was stealing from the American people and using his color as a sword and shield at the same time, when with a decent tan, I hae the same color, but with Levantine not African features. I assumed he´d continue USA middle-east policy and use some form of ANTI-DRUG thing to get the FED into Latin America.
That´s when I sought Cindy Sheehan´s help and experience as multi-faceted intelligent movement. She has been down here a lot and knows the scene. I expected a bank raid and as she is as much anti-FED as ani this skirmish or that one, I knew she and her crew would sharpen-up my viewpoint.
I did not expect that Obama would risk the popularity he built up by being the most aggressive imperialist in my lifetime. If this were a game like chess or poker, I´d say that once he or someone in his inner ciircle realized THAT HE COULD GET WEAK SUBURBAN WHITE LIBERALS AND PREACHY OLD BLACK PEOPLE to buy into a fascism worse than anyone´s since McCarthy´s and love it, he´d have free domestic reigh which might give him an international edge. That´s what he´s testing here. He´s going to get a lot of people down here killled before he realizes that AMERIKKKAN VALUES don´t play here…. Read More
These cultures are too traditional and too finely balanced for bullshit. The history is too bloody for anyone to be seeking out more blood, so TOLERANCE and UNDESTANDING are the urban watchwords. I dont know enoughoranythng really about rural culture to offer an opinion. What´s happening in Colombia is totally fucked and I believe at some point the AUC is going to have the same realization the FARC has come to (SORT OF). Why kill your brother when the enemy is AMERIKKKA.
I probably defend Uribe more than most Wesstern peace movement peiople because I´ve seen his peaceable side and I know his family history and how that makes him a puppet and I would be no more courageous. I also praise Cesar Gaviria and Ernesto Samper more than most Western peace movement types because they were not or ever NWO types and they were not given a chance to lead despite Gaviria´s having taken down Escobar and Samper´s economic ideas which everyone else started adopting after Samper was gone.
We wait. We watch. We keep ouselves and famiilies safe. I dont have the AMERKKKAN option anymore. I can´t run to the embassy like a chicken. AG Eric Holder made that clear with his confirmation hearings: he was goiing to be a religious hardass, anti black to some degree and XEROTOLERANCE. In short, WORSE THAN ASHCROFT, even though as a prosecutor he was known for fairness.
Fort Hood: Trauma is contagious– and effects those around the traumatized.
The stress of war damages beyond belief–years and years after serving in the military, troops can still be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. But one thing we may not have sufficiently appreciated is that the trauma of war is contagious. Witnesses to violence, those who work with people who have experienced war directly, also can become severely traumatized.
Is this the case for Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the military psychiatrist accused of the horrific Fort Hood rampage? Early days yet, and all ‘reasons’ are being investigated. But some reports indicate that his job as a psychiatrist was to counsel many returning soldiers for their symptoms of PTSD. Fort Hood is the gate way for thousands and thousdands of soldiers going into war and coming back from war zones. Part of that therapy is for the soldiers to tell what happened to them in great detail–the ‘talking cure’ as it is referred to in counseling literature. But what happens to those who listen, day to day, as the traumatized solders tell of their horrific experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Judith Herman, in her groundbreaking work Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror, actually describes how contagious trauma can be. Those who witness trauma, who work with victims of rape, battering, torture and with those who have experienced war, are vulnerable to the repeated stress of being present to those who have gone through these traumas. You can’t be an effective counselor unless you understand and to some extent even feel the pain of those whom you are counseling.
I spent several years as a part-time domestic violence counselor and I finally had to quit. I started dreaming of being beaten, I stopped eating well and I was jumpy and startled easily. I had caught a mild case of PTSD from counseling these women. My supervisor told me that I needed to take a break. I came back to this work by doing workshops on spiritual resources for those who work with women who have been battered. I knew what I was talking about.
Major Hasan also told relatives that he had been hassled for being a Muslim, even though his military records list “no religious preference.” He was a Virginian, born to immigrant parents from a small town near Jerusalem. Did this harassment add to his sense of emotional and physical threat and make him even more vulnerable to catching PTSD?
These kinds of insights may come out as this case is examined.
And the families of the killed and wounded, and the whole community of Fort Hood! How much more stress can these people take? Some reports indicate troops were looking at a third and fourth deployment.
The trauma of war is like a huge stone thrown into a pool; the ripples go out in wider and wider circles, catching those who serve, hitting their families, flowing into the lives of those who are supposed to care for them and help them, and finally into our whole nation. The effect of two wars both going on now for the better part of a decade has harmed this country, made it more brittle and divided. The stress of economic downturn only piles on, hurting us all spiritually and physically and certainly communally.
As our thoughts go out to Fort Hood today, let us really see war in its ever widening effects and really count the cost.
Barack Obama was elected on 4 November 2008 after a campaign that promised change.
One year on, BBC’s Newsbeat traveled across the country to find out how people feel in Obama’s America.
In the first of five reports, Jonathan Blake travels to Tennessee where unemployment is highest among young people to see how he’s trying to fix the economy.
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