Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Maliciousness
Men die, but ideas live forever. It sounds nice, anyway and even provides a good storyline for movies like “V for Vendetta”, but centuries ago, pharos histories were removed from stone by vindictive or insecure proprietors of power. An ancient “Freedom of Information Act” would have preserved a much richer understanding of history then we now have.
It’s no mistake that the present administration attacked FOIA as one of it’s first acts of office. Putting the burden of proof and other roadblocks in the way of information seekers prevents all but the largest of organizations from having the money or means to succeed quickly or at all, allowing important battles to die in the court of public opinion or, ah… court for that matter.
Only a group so insecure in it’s ideas, so unable to prevail in it’s arguments or so hell-bent to win would consider preventing their own countrymen the ability to participate in the discussions and actions that construct the institutions and traditions of it’s society.
Enter todays “conservatives.” Only under the rule of todays conservatives could you turn on your radio and hear the following news report:
Military Considers Recruiting & Hiring Bloggers
In media news, new questions are being raised over the relationship between the Pentagon and bloggers. Wired.com has uncovered a 2006 study written for the US Special Operations Command that suggests the military should clandestinely recruit or hire prominent bloggers. The report stated, Hiring a block of bloggers to verbally attack a specific person or promote a specific message may be worth considering. The report also suggested the Pentagon hack blogs that promote messages that are antithetical to US interests. The report went on to say, Hacking the site and subtly changing the messages and data, merely a few words or phrases, may be sufficient to begin destroying the blogger’s credibility with the audience.
If it’s only a few words or phrases in play here, maybe things are going to be OK. If the meaning of a blog post or thread can be switched, or a tirade turned into a felony, maybe that’s necessary to keep the American people safe. If you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about.
On the other hand… WORRY!
April 9th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
It is about winning Larry. The competitive exchange of ideas has been dead for a long time.
Focus on how to win, and maintain a free bearing. It can be done, the honest straight forward debate is of no use. Those who wish to promote a progressive agenda will have to become more cunning. Most logical arguments are not well understood by the masses, appealing to their weaknesses and manipulating is how the right is winning.
Can’t win, if you don’t play.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Republican lawmakers in Utah are starting to eat their young after the voucher issue beaned them on the noggin. Their leaders in Washington are increasingly confined to the US because they could be arrested as war criminals in other nations.
You’re right, the winning is what they’re interested in. They can have the blue ribbon for deceit and and display it on the wall of their cell. I don’t need it. Neither do the soldiers who are targeted by this insidious program.
People who value freedom don’t like to have their votes or words changed. It tends to piss them off. The rule of law and honest debate is on the horizon and these bottom feeders don’t have a chance. I have to believe that!
April 10th, 2008 at 3:49 am
I’m jus gonna tell ya’s where I’m at. The migraine post reminded me of a story some long time ago (not all that long) about a weapon that beamed through walls interuptin thought processes of some unwanted politically incorrect presumably liberal keyboard militant ranting on about some embarassing GOP slime from the privacy of their own home.
Ridiculous? Tinfoilhattery? so bizarre I don’t fur shur remember if I actually read the whole story or just noted the headline in the linked to article and the commenters rant about it.
In any case suffering a migraine myself at a very unfavorable time coincidentally on the same day… yeah I know what a coincidence lol none the less I don’t remember suffering such a thing in the intensity that it had ever before. So I went searching for the story with no luck but I sure found alot to ‘worry’ about in the process.
Navy Researching Vomit Beam (Updated)
Just one of the things I ran across.
As an aside, DemocracyNow has an interesting story up about Torture and Psychologists.
I believe the story on Wired.com had alot to do with my finding my way here from my old haunts and beginning to comment, I hope y’all will put up with me. I can also totally relate to the… “I have to believe that!” & everything that stood before it.
Peace
April 10th, 2008 at 5:17 am
Larry, they aren’t going anywhere. Jail is for losers.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:20 am
FAIR TRIALS FOR ALLEGED WAR CRIMINALS IS OFF THE TABLE! THEY ARE NOT LOSERS.
Thursday, April 7pm @ Westminister Col’s Gore School of Business auditorium, Michael O’Hanlon Phd, will lecture on, and attempt to make the case for staying in Iraq.
Free, and the public is welcome.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:24 am
He doesn’t have to make a case. We’re staying. We have built the largest embassy in the world that we possess, we will have built 11-13 multi billion dollar bases.
We are not going anywhere, and mccain is the hundred year man. The elite made this decision as it serves their purposes, damn anyone else. As long as the people carry around signs and mutter around with grumpy faces as their cause to action, the mouthpieces for the elites really need not explain anything.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:10 am
I don’t know why anybody would need to spend the money it takes to produce a vomit or migraine machine when we already have Cokie Roberts and myriad other putrid pundits (learned persons) willing to sell their bodies, but if they do have such a machine, I’m sure they’ll use it after they change the laws so it’s legal for them.
I’m sure I heard Cokie saying that Americans trust the new voting machines, but then so do the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News. I had a much different experience while asking people on the street about them when I told them they were secretly programmed and would not have a printout, (that was what our election officials were working for at the time, but since it’s against the law to look at the printouts, (bones thrown to activists) anyway, it doesn’t matter.)
April 10th, 2008 at 10:55 am
caveat:
I saw a debate about Iraq at the Gore auditorium before the war and Craig Axford, of course taking the side of NOT attacting, kicked his opponent’s butts all over the place. I literally don’t know if I can handle some chickenhawk standing there giving an unopposed lecture at this point in time. Axford said the Democrats were going to set up exit polling as a check on the machines, and didn’t, but, it’s not like the Democrats have any funding or activism here, so it’s not his fault.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Larry, I was hoping he wouldn’t be ‘unapposed’, more like shouted down.
Anon, F*ch that ‘we’re stayin’ sh*t. The Hague awaits these criminals.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
It ‘aint gonna happen. This occupation has been planned by the elite since after the ‘67 war. Whatever it takes, if they have to bomb themselves and blame it on “terror”.
The draw down is canceled, and the only way we are going to leave Iraq in totality is if the “enemy” militarily drives us out. This is unlikely in the near term. They did not build the fortresses for billions for nothing.
Iraq is the lynch pin in the elites continued plan to destroy America, so as long as we vote for NWO candidates, we are going to get nothing but trouble. Brezinski runs obama, mccain is obvious, and hillary sold her soul a long time ago.
These guys will retire to their mansions in safety, after all they have only done the job the oligarchs gave them to do. If they had not accomplished such chaos then they would have something to worry about.
The Hague has zero power, the only way to try dictators is to attach them, once they start talking and tell all they know, they are killed, only the small fry are tried and allowed to live. Look what happened to Milosevic at his “trial” once he started fingering oligarchs, he was dead in a New York minute.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
As surely as wingnutia is omnipotent and invincible, there is, in my belief, some little quip from Sun Tzu or Lao Tzu or one of them that would provide at least a teeny tiny hope, Hague or no. Maybe a meteor will hit Crawford or wherever that ‘brain-trust’ assembles.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
It has nothing to do with Crawford or bush.
Sun Tzu would say simply enough, and I agree, you have to know who the enemy is, before you can engage it. bush is a diversion, the enemy is crown corporatism, and has been since the creation of this country. Until you can accept that those in power who don’t tow the colonialist line are eliminated, then you will just keep on hoping to no effect.
In fact the oligarchy counts and depend on it. The only way you can see a real change is to openly truly defy the oilgarchy, or quit spending money. It is no accident that those that control our economy fill the peoples heads with all manner of material ambition…read stuff. Not only do they mortgage you your wealth, they mortgage peoples minds as well. This is demonsrably a bi-partisan activity, of that there is no question.
We end up exactly where we are headed no matter who is in power.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:47 am
I went to see Michael O’ Hanlon at Westminister and it was a full house. I had never heard of this guy before and tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. He seemed to be a very courteous and respectful fellow and appeared to believe in what he was talking about, but he’s full of shit. When I looked him up on Google, I found out Glenn Greenwald thinks so too.
I would call this guy a very, very good salesman. The audience was in a trance and never once let the least bit of a groan out. In fact, I would have to say they were almost reverent. Even when the guy that’s on “Radio From Hell”, (I’m almost positive it was him), tried to excite the audience by bringing up how much money we were spending and turned around to ask when we were going to get the hell out, the audience didn’t let out a peep.
I mean, this guy didn’t have to do an Opra and give everybody a car, he could have SOLD them all a car above blue book and they would have been jumping up and down anyway. OK, that’s an exaggeration, and to tell the truth, I didn’t act up either, but I was afraid Ken Verdoia would get mad at me.
Just kidding. I love Verdoia’s work, but I think he overreacted to Hannity getting booed. He also gave Hannity credit for being a good debater, which is ridiculous.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Larry, I was there too (thought late to the sales pitch), and agree with your assessment. He’s a bright guy, but full of wacky starting points and completely ready to overlook the crime that this war really is. We need our enemies. Why not just create them from available sources? Diplomacy never came to his lips when answering the question about what we may have learned and how it might be applied in the future. He’s all about hard-ball and battleing ‘them’. Give me MLK jr.
Nobody ever seems to make the connection between the higher price of gas and unwilling support of this war.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Since you weren’t there at the beginning Caveat, the first thing he did was to give a strong rebuke to Bush, but that’s what all these slick guys do. Say something to get your detractors on your side at first and then spin the rest. O’ Hanlon is in the inner group. He meets with Petraeus, sides with McCain and he knows full well, we’re NEVER going to leave Iraq. He’s disingenuous.