Are we entering a new 'Dark Ages'

The Dark Ages were a period prior to the Renaissance when the European world imploded into brutish ignorance, losing any knowledge of the cultures and technological accomplishments of the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Egyptians, and many other civilizations of the ancient world. 'Might makes right' was the operating mode of the time and not much else other than this head-banging feudalism happened for centuries.

Consider this article by Justin Raimondo, and ask yourself whether our culture is headed down the same path to warrior-based stupidity:

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2011/10/23/the-return-of-barbarism/

Another Ho-Hum moment in Pax Americana ...

American citizenship is beginning to appear a little less desirable, if you thought it would afford you the "protections' mentioned in the American justice system. Consider this recent incident in the ongoing effort to protect " 'mericuns":

http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/2176-family-values-the-roman-rigor-of-obamas-death-squad.html

For those of you with an interest in technology, drones of this sort are being developed all around the world, even by people who don't like the US and its activities.

Makes you wonder if the golden rule is going to followed by those foreign developers when they are ready to do test flights.

Glenn Greenwald also writes about this process and incident with startling clarity:

http://www.salon.com/2011/10/20/the_killing_of_awlakis_16_year_old_son/singleton/

Some basic constitutional concepts

This article frames the basic notion of the relation of the state versus its citizens quite well:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-gregory/obama-al-awlaki_b_998546.html

Note that in a traditional western democracy the state is constrained by its creators, the citizens. In dictatorships, the state constrains citizens. Which idea do you fall in line with?

Perhaps you might wish to re-think the situation surrounding the Awlaki murder to see where it fits in these paradigms.

Speaking of Death Panels, check this out!

How low can we go? The US seems to be going for a new record:

http://news.antiwar.com/2011/10/05/white-house-secret-panel-can-order-americans-assassinated/

Anyone still think that Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Clifford Olson et al are the only bad guys out there?

Be very afraid. Given recent history, how long before Canada decides it also has to have a similar 'panel' to advise the PM?

A Lesson on Morality

There is a difference between 'legal' and 'moral'.

If you don't understand the jist of this article:

http://original.antiwar.com/charles-davis/2011/10/03/when-it-comes-to-state-sanctioned-murder-morality-matters-most/

you cannot claim to understand the difference between right and wrong.

Speaking of crimes, how about murder?

The Awlaki death needs discussing.

Here's what Chris Floyd has to say about things, as a starting point:

http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/2169-absence-of-evidence-the-progressive-policy-of-imperial-murder.html

I find this event very troubling because the defenders of the American killing of these men have manipulated the legal and moral discussion in so perverse a manner that it is now impossible to describe a situation in which anybody could not be subjected to a similar death sentence from America.

Basically, if the Americans think they are worried about you, you are dead. No trial, no notice, no charges, no evidence, no nothing! I cannot imagine the mafia allowing this sort of 'killing on a whim' to exist within their organizations. Why do we, the so-called free western democratic countries, allow this to happen?

As Floyd says at the end of his article:

" ... this is not just moral blindness: it is active, open, undeniable complicity with evil. "

Priorities on crime - Harper Style

Here's an interesting overview of what our esteemed Prime Minister is pulling with his 'crime' bill that is now being forced onto Canadians, sans meaningful debate (as is his style):

http://www.care2.com/causes/potheads-fare-worse-than-child-rapists-in-canadian-crime-bill.html

Why don't the Conservatives just change their name to the Frightened Little Boys Club?

Hubris at work

Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com, had this interesting thought regarding the situation unfolding in Libya:

"The “responsibility to protect” doctrine, the banner unfolded as we went into the Libyan battle, represents the complete descent of the ruling elites of the West into madness. If insanity requires a certain unselfconsciousness, an inability as well as an unwillingness to see one’s actions objectively, then surely this describes the Western mindset as we hail Libya’s chaotic “liberation.” To look at what is happening in that country and declare it a “success” – or, indeed, anything other than a catastrophe – is clear evidence of mental disability. The blinding madness of our ruling elites has them lurching from one disaster to the next, and proclaiming it a great success – without any awareness of how close the whole imperialist project is to collapse."

Canadian politician and self-proclaimed foreign policy guru Lloyd Axworthy was very much involved with the development of the 'responsibility to protect' doctrine. It's interesting to see how well that concept is working when applied in the real non-western world.

Maybe we should demand that our governments stay home and just let those who feel the need to intervene in other people's business to do so with all their own resources, rather than allowing them to usurp taxpayer's moneys to pursue their dreams of glory in foreign lands.

Cynical old me, however, thinks that all of these disasters are driven by the corporate kleptocracy that is looking to steal the resources of places such as Iraq, Libya etc. These guys always manage to hide behind patriotic, religious or do-gooding pretences to get governments to do their dirty work.

Further to the '"9/11 Roundup of Results" post

For those interested, here is what Osama bin Laden said about what he wanted to happen as a result of the 9/11 event:

As Osama bin Laden put it in a videotaped message broadcast by al-Jazeera on November 1, 2004:

“All that we have to do is to send two Mujahedin to the farthest point East to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qa’ida in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human economic and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note.… So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.”

The late terrorist leader went on to point out that

“Al-Qa’ida spent $500,000 on the [9/11 attacks], while America in the incident and its aftermath lost – according to the lowest estimates – more than 500 billion dollars, meaning that every dollar of al-Qa’ida defeated a million dollars by the permission of Allah besides the loss of a huge number of jobs. As for the size of the economic deficit, it has reached record, astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars. And even more dangerous and bitter for America is that the Mujahedin recently forced Bush to resort to emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq which is evidence of the success of the bleed-until-bankruptcy plan with Allah’s permission.”

and

“So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah is willing and nothing is too great for Allah. That being said, those who say that al-Qa’ida has won against the administration in the White House or that the administration has lost in this war have not been precise because when one scrutinizes the results, one cannot say that Al-Qa’ida is the sole factor in achieving these spectacular gains. Rather, the policy of the White House that demands the opening of war fronts to keep busy their various corporations – whether they be working in the field of arms or oil or reconstruction – has helped al-Qa’ida to achieve those enormous results.”

So, I guess the smart government just keeps dancing to Osama's tune, eh? That approach has been so effective in achieving Osama's goals so far, why stop now?

Things could have been so different ...

Here is an interesting scenario for the post 9/11 world if our governments had not bought into the blood lust exploited so effectively by the military/industrial complex:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/09/2011910115157366771.html

Imagine, using our laws to solve our disputes! Quel concept!

... ... but then we wouldn't have had all that neat torturing, groping, spying, assassinating, bombing of civilians, and religious nuttiness to entertain us, would we?

... and who needs habeus corpus anyway? All government/police types are just cuddly good time folks out there to protect us from ... .... ... what?

9/11 roundup of results

Glenn Greenwald again has it correct:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/09/06/war/index.html

bin Laden will be seen as one of the effective purveyors of violence of all time. For his modest financial and human investment, he essentially has destroyed the United States and much of the western world as examples of liberal democracies flourishing under the rule of constitutional law and human rights.

In case you missed it, we are now living in a fascist, corporate-controlled thugocracy with no interest in the well being if its citizens except as sources of cannon fodder, slave labour and tax revenue to support the armies and police.

... but we are "secure" ...

Rah rah rah!

What is a Bilderberger?... , and why it matters

Taylor Caldwell wrote a novel called Captains and The Kings back in the 70s that dealt with history as made by a cabal of the rich and powerful. Its a good read.

Here is an article describing exactly how this theme is operating in today's world and the effects it has had and will have on our lives:

http://www.truth-out.org/standard-poors-and-bilderbergers-all-part-plan/1313765245

Note that the Canada meeting mentioned in the article happened at the newly opened Brookside Hotel in Kanata. Gee, doesn't that make one proud!

More on surveilance/ privacy issues

Here's Glenn Greenwald summing up the state of the art in government snooping on and persecution of its citizens:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/08/19/surveillance/index.html

Big Brother is watching and arresting transgressors.

Subservience ueber alles!!

Where have all the Dollars Gone

Study this chart:



This comes from The Grey Matter Blog.

Q: How can our politicians allow this to exist?
A: Those who donate money to politicians call the agenda, not voters. If fact, attempts to redistribute wealth, (ie change things from the actual current situation) are not even allowed to be discussed openly by our politicians, unless the goal is to provide more wealth for the richest in our society, such as has occurred during the last 30 years.

Where the money is being held

This article points out the extent to which corporations are holding onto the cash that governments wanted spent on job creation, mortgage relief, small business loans, etc., etc.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/07/18/271513/29-companies-more-cash-than-treasury/

It's amazing that this situation isn't more widely talked about. People don't seem to realize that the cash has been vacuumed out of the economy straight into corporate bank accounts and it is not being spent on things of benefit to the economy which continues to be sucked dry of cash.

On another note, the price of gold reached a new record yesterday of over $1600 per ounce. Maybe people are starting to realize that government money is not as valuable as it once was.

Time to feature the dudes!

D'Arcy just looks too worried about things sometimes -


Can you believe that Keegan was considered 'unhomeable' by the first vet who saw him after Anna rescued him from his feral colony? Look at this wild guy -

PaiKwa is very attentive to certain generous people at the dinner table -

Wylie, constantly on the alert for something to investigate -

Ka-Bloom!!

Anna's garden responded to the sun and rain and is now officially struttin' its stuff!


The walkgarden is pushing its way up around the flagstones.


And here's the butterfly bait in full bloom ...


Now we wait for butterflies.

Banks & Governments & Wars linked

Here's a very interesting theory put forward by Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com that seems to be vindicated by the behaviour of our world in the last ten years:

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2011/07/14/the-banksters-and-american-foreign-policy/

I find the thesis compelling because it rang true as I read through the article. It certainly means I have to re-evaluate some of the long-standing credos that have been drummed into our little heads since childhood.

Just who are the good guys nowadays?

I wonder what the price of gold is today ...

Just as I was descending into chronic cynicism ...

... along comes this article in the Guardian (UK) to reaffirm the existence of people who give a damn about civilization and basic morality. It deals with the behaviour of the American government and its lapdogs (read Canada) over the last ten years, and actually recommends trials for some political leaders, for a change. Read the details:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/12/george-w-bush-torture

We can only hope.

Too bad Spain is in such deep financial doo-doo that it has to curry favour with US banks and the IMF. They were the one country to go after and secure a conviction against Pinochet for torture etc., after all.

A soldier to admire

In this article in Glenn Greenwald's blog, we get a welcome glimpse into the mindset of one of the soldiers who participated in the infamous "Collateral Murder" video that was released by Wikileaks. It is instructive to compare the soldier's comments with the 'official' reactions to this video's release.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/07/11/manning/index.html

Once again, governments and established media are revealed as propaganda sources, whose prime efforts are devoted to keeping the public ignorant of the actions of those with the power to disperse taxpayers' dollars.