Tom Englehardt State of the Union essay

This pretty well sums up Osama's victory:

http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2011/05/30/welcome-to-post-legal-america/

The America we thought we knew has been destroyed, and it is also happening to Canada, thanks to the efforts of our recent governments.

Some old Randolph Bourne thoughts ...

I ran across these ideas at Justin Raimondo's Antiwar site. A feast for thought one might say:

“War is the health of the State,” Randolph Bourne wrote in that discarded essay, which he probably died believing would never see print, “and it is during war that one best understands the nature of that institution.” For

it cannot be too firmly realized that war is … the chief function of States. … War cannot exist without a military establishment, and a military establishment cannot exist without a State organization. War has an immemorial tradition and heredity only because the State has a long tradition and heredity. But they are inseparably and functionally joined.

Moreover, Bourne argued,

it is not too much to say that the normal relation of States is war. Diplomacy is a disguised war, in which States seek to gain by barter and intrigue, by the cleverness of wits, the objectives which they would have to gain more clumsily by means of war. Diplomacy is used while the States are recuperating from conflicts in which they have exhausted themselves. It is the wheedling and the bargaining of the worn-out bullies as they rise from the ground and slowly restore their strength to begin fighting again.

Randolph Bourne believed that informed citizens needed to realize the implications of what he was saying. For

if the State’s chief function is war, then the State must suck out of the nation a large part of its energy for its purely sterile purposes of defense and aggression. It devotes to waste or to actual destruction as much as it can of the vitality of the nation. No one will deny that war is a vast complex of life-destroying and life-crippling forces. If the State’s chief function is war, then it is chiefly concerned with coordinating and developing the powers and techniques which make for destruction. And this means not only the actual and potential destruction of the enemy, but of the nation at home as well. For the … calling away of energy into military pursuits means a crippling of the productive and life-enhancing processes of the national life.

Randolph Bourne believed that “we cannot crusade against war without crusading implicitly against the State. And we cannot expect … to end war, unless at the same time we take measures to end the State in its traditional form.” Bourne had reason to be wary when writing sentences like those in 1918. People were being imprisoned and, in some cases, deported for writing things like that. There was a particular prejudice against anarchists and against people who sounded as though they might be anarchists. Perhaps this is why Bourne added the following caveat to his call for ending the State: “The State is not the nation, and the State can be modified and even abolished in its present form, without harming the nation. On the contrary, with the passing of the dominance of the State, the genuine life-enhancing forces of the nation will be liberated.”

More on your government's contempt for your privacy

This is worth a read:

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12715

Just make sure nobody's watching you.

Now, this is interesting: Gold as cash!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/23/utah-gold-standard-silver-currency/

There has been a lot of talk about buying gold bullion as a hedge against inflation. That a state government would alter its laws to permit this is astounding.

What this does is repudiate the current practice of governments paying off their debts by printing more paper money backed by nothing tangible. This effectively forces those at the bottom of the economic chain (that's you & me) to pay for government excess by accepting the new lower value dollars as our wages.

Keep an eye on this to see if Utah is allowed to get away with it.

Remember when your daughter getting groped by some goon at a high school dance...

... was something you worried about ? Now the school board hires the groper!

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2122102.shtml

Something about a society that tolerates this is profoundly obscene! Not just the groping, but the official sanctioning of the groping as a valid function of government.

Remember, the government is only doing this for your own good.

... and then they came for me ...

Here's an article describing the latest freedom to be destroyed in America:

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/kentucky-v-king/

I just think that you should all know these things, as you curl up in a safe, secure little ball in the corner of your now-public living room.

Where have all the dollars gone ....

If you like crime stories, here's a great one for you:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-people-vs-goldman-sachs-20110511

Al Capone was small change compared to these guys.

Of course, the much-vaunted rule of law will soon be applied to the perpetrators by the very government that they have bought and for which they have paid, n'est-çe pas?

Don't hold your breath waiting for justice.

Privacy discussion

Why you need to be able to hide your "nothing to hide" stuff from all the nosy government geeks busy collecting your life's activities:

http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Privacy-Matters-Even-if/127461/

The current surveillance situation

Here's a bit of sustenance for your paranoia addiction:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all

Remember, the government is your friend. ... really ... it is ... really ...

Only those who value privacy have anything to worry about.

The shape of things to come

Here's an interesting approach to funding government: take all the money going into pension funds and spend it!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/16/u-s-hits-debt-limit-starts-dipping-into-pensions/

I predict that our new improved Harper government will copy this idea with great enthusiasm, just as it has done with so many of the brilliant ideas that America has tried in the last decade.

Almost reminds one of an empire in decline.

Emulating Justin Beiber's road to stardom ...

... I thought to post a couple of YouTube videos of Standing Room Only from a recent gig:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-88qVxNbFU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-gEt_BAMG4 (... "formadible trombone player??!!!)

The technology available to us peasants these days is phenomenal!

After reading Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" ...

... this little analysis starts to make a lot of sense:

http://original.antiwar.com/kevin-carson/2011/05/09/libya-hifter-bankers/

How dare the Libyans attempt to repudiate the American Dollar as the medium of exchange!

Bass-playin' Bob sent this along

THIS IS A NONPARTISAN JOKE THAT CAN BE ENJOYED BY All PARTIES!
NOT ONLY THAT-- it is POLITICALLY CORRECT!!

While walking down the street one day a "Member of Parliament" is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter. 'Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.'

'No problem, just let me in,' says the man.

'Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.'

'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,' says the MP.

'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.'

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly & nice guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises....

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

'Now it's time to visit heaven.'

So, 24 hours pass with the MP joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

'Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.'

The MP reflects for a minute, then he answers: 'Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.'

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. 'I don't understand,' stammers the MP. 'Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.

What happened?'

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, 'Yesterday we were campaigning.. ...

It's fun to see how Canada appears to outsiders

Check out this analysis of recent Canadian political issues leading up to the election.

http://truthout.org/canadian-parliamentary-election-know-your-abcs-anyone-conservatives/1304113375

You have to wonder why these issues are rarely discussed within Canada.

Do you suppose it might have something to do with all the news media being controlled by for-profit corporations?