The River

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Make Alexander Cockburn call you a loon

Regarding 9/11, I have a challenge for the blogosphere:

Look at the pictures or videos of the event, if you can.

Building 1, 2, AND 7, all free fall into their own footprints, and the first two explode into massive plumes of dust. No steel core left, nothing. Do you really think these massive skyscrapers would do that without help?

Just tell me and others if you do or don’t.

Discuss it on your blog. Look at this crime and tell us how skeptical you are. Or aren’t. Or that you don’t care, it doesn’t matter.

The idea is to socialize this discussion. No one talks about it. It’s too awful. But I think we must. I’d like to see every independent blogger in this great big virtual sphere lay out their take on it. Do some research. Employ your critical thinking skills. Encourage others to do the same. (you can even do some research right here via the search box at the top of the page. Ignore the first result, as it so happens that Watermelon Slim played two sets, at 9 and 11.)

I think we were attacked on 9/11 by a clique of fanatics in the Bush administration. They followed that up with an anthrax attack on the nominal but potential opposition in congress. That’s what I think. I see lots of comments on blog posts that tell me others see it that way too, but I don’t see it from the authors of so many blogs. Why not?

How can we say nothing on our blogs about this unsolved crime? The commission report did not follow the money, it did not look into building 7, it accepted a ridiculously weak collapse theory. No one connected to the crime has been tried, no evidence has ever been presented.

Maybe you buy most of the official theory. Maybe a 747 can vaporize upon contact with the Pentagon, maybe video from a nearby private businesses was immediately confiscated for national security, maybe Cheney’s war game exercises involving high-jacked planes on the same day was coincidental. But I doubt it.

If I were obscenely wealthy, I’d build an exact reproduction of one of the twins, I’d fill it with the same furniture and equipment and I’d ram a remote-controlled jet of the same characteristics into the same spot and see what happened. I’d like to see that. That building, imho, would still stand, a giant accusing finger pointing at Bush and Cheney saying, “you fucking murderers and your fake war. It is over.”

Some concluding thoughts from by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, June 24, 2007

excerpt from "Bush Directive for a "Catastrophic Emergency" in America: Building a Justification for Waging War on Iran?"


This war is not led by the military but by the civilian corporate interests which lie behind the Bush administration. The military takes orders from civilians acting on behalf of those dominant economic interests.

The Wall Street financial establishment, the military-industrial complex, led by Lockheed Martin, the big five weapons and aerospace defense contractors, the Texas oil giants and energy conglomerates, the construction and engineering and public utility companies not to mention the biotechnology conglomerates, are indelibly behind this militarization of America.

In turn, the Worldwide demonization of Islam is part of this profit driven war. Three quarters of the World's oil reserves lie in Muslim lands. (World Oil 2004, see also Michel Chossudovsky, The Demonization of Muslims and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, January 2007 ).

Vilification of the enemies of America, portrayed as fanatic "Islamic terrorists", is part of the Battle for Oil. If the oil were in countries occupied predominantly by Buddhists or Hindus, one would expect that Bush's entire National Security agenda, including the recent "Catastrophic Emergency" Directive NSP 51 would be directed against Buddhists and Hindus.

How to reverse the tide?

The threat of a Second Al Qaeda "Attack on America" is being used profusely by the Bush administration to galvanize public opinion in support of a global military agenda.

Known and documented, the "Islamic terror network" is a creation of the US intelligence apparatus. The "war on terrorism" is bogus. The 911 narrative as conveyed by the 911 Commission report is fabricated.

The Bush administration is involved in acts of cover-up and complicity at the highest levels of government.

Revealing the lies behind 911 would serve to undermine the legitimacy of the "global war on terrorism" which constitutes the main justification for waging war in the Middle East.

Without 911, the war criminals in high office do not have a leg to stand on. Their entire National Security construct collapses like a deck of cards.



What do you think? Consider posting it on your blog.

I've done what I can. Again, see my list of posts on 9/11. I think it's pretty good. Now I'm going on vacation. So no posting here until I get back on July 10. Hopefully, during my travels I'll chance upon an MSM report on a dust-up in the blogosphere about 9/11, framed no doubt as a head-scratcher about those crazy bloggers, the hard left, radical anarchists, or some such other nonsense. But it would be a start.

Thank you for all you do on the net to fight the criminals. 9/11 is an achilles heel. Think about it and see if you agree. Then speak out.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

It never ends

A number of historians have started renumbering the world wars--WWI lasted from 1914 through 1945 with a 20-year intermission; WWII was the Cold War, 1947-1991; WWIII is what we're in now. I find this persuasive.

from here

Of course. We must adapt to the war machine. After all, war will always be with us. No need to think about it, stop it, or do anything else. Just let it roll.

War is the health of the state. And we're all feeling a bit afraid for our health, so best keep on.

But the state is a bit on the inhuman side, so its health is at odds with that of the people.

It's strange that we can't figure this one out.

It's sort of like the bumper sticker, "Freedom isn't free." So true, although not in the way intended. Freedom has been locked up, and the bumper sticker is one of the bars.

Monday, June 25, 2007


Most people are oblivious to the plight of the Iraqi people, not because they have no compassion, but because they have to work to find the information. Those of us who do work to seek out this information have an obligation to share it.

-- stretchedmind


commenting on Mike Whitney's Information Clearinghouse article Iraqis to Bush: “You have left us with nothing”

I have a blog. I'm sharing it.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Toasted

Biff: I’ve got it!

Billybob: Huh?

Biff: I’ve fucking got it.

Billybob: You’ve got what?

Biff: The answer. The answer to how we are finally going to make toast.

Billybob: Microwave?

Biff: Toast doesn’t come from a microwave! Never trust the MSM and the left. Hannity has been very clear about this. Devoted a whole show to it the other day. No, we are going to have toast right here, from that toaster that you paid $19.95 for. Come over here and kneel down with me, brother. You know they hate us for our toast, right?

Billybob: Right. Right. Wait, what toast?

Biff: The toast that made this country great. Back before, you know, the catastrophic event.

Billybob: The toaster attack of 01. Gawd. Why? Whyyyy?

Biff: White bread. It makes them crazy. They can’t understand it. And they want to end it. By taking down the toasters, they think people will turn to pita bread. Or naan.

Billybob: But we can still eat white bread, even without toasters. I don’t get it.

Biff: That’s just it. They’re devious. They want you to lose faith. First they come for your toast, then…

Billybob: My god… Sunbeam will be removed from the pages of history!

Biff: Exactly! If it’s not toasted, who really wants to eat white bread? You see how they zeroed in on our weakness? Our toasters. There we were, leaving them on our countertops, never imagining the hatred they caused. Just wanting to offer an option, dark? Light? If we give up, if we go with the so-called microwave toast touted by the left…[shudder]. You know they’ve been suppressing reports that indicate the latest bread browning strategies are beginning to show signs of progress. C’mon down here. Hold my hand.

Billybob: Urrrmph.

Biff: Be strong, brother, your knees will last.

Neighbor: Biff, Billybob, wasup guys?

Billybob: Uh, can we have toast again? Please? I don’t want to eat that non-bread. It don’t make no sense.

Biff: Get up, idiot. It’s our neighbor.

Neighbor: Bahhhaaa. What are ya’ll doin? Praying in front of your toaster? I must have missed the talking points on that one.

Biff: Yeah, well bullshit walks, and talking…uh. Fool me once, asshole.

Neighbor: Ah, another toast episode, huh? Don’t tell anybody, but I use the grill. I get toast, and I get to stand outside and enjoy a beer.

Billybob: Bullshit! You eat p…p..pita!

Neighbor: Dude, it doesn’t turn you into one of “them” to say it.

Billybob: Damn straight! I can’t eat that shit, and on one’s going to make me.

Neighbor: And how could they? What kind of resources do you think they have?

Biff: They attacked our toasters! All heating elements disabled!

Neighbor: Yeah, well, I don’t want to blow your little mind on how that was actually pulled off.

Biff: Get lost, nutcase.

Neighbor: With pleasure. I’ll just leave you with this Internet report on Wonder Bread. Serious ties to the administration. You know we hit peak white bread demand in the 70s, don’t you? By engineering a false flag attack on America’s toasters, Wonder Bread will increase demand through nationalistic appeals and a nationalist struggle for toast, a struggle that will never end. In the meantime, a bogus war provides opportunities for divide and rule, an absurd war for the right to dictate your already unhealthy eating habits, while the populace slowly goes insane and they make off with the country’s treasure.

Biff: Go eat your pita bread, loser!

Billybob: And take yer conspeercy theories!

Biff: Heh. Indeed. Now, where were we?

UPDATE: Toasted, world leader edition

GEORGE
Yo. Seen Angie around?

TONY
Angie?

GEORGE
Angie Murca. She's hostifying this wingding, I'm told.

more

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Zeitgeist -- The Movie: Religion, Pt. 1


Click on YouTube logo for parts 2 and 3

See also:

Zeitgeist -- The Movie: The Federal Reserve

and

Zeitgeist -- The Movie: World Trade Center

Monday, June 18, 2007

You Got Away With It (A Tale Of Two Fraternity Brothers)

By Todd Snider, from his 2006 release "The Devil You Know."



"excellent - speak the truth about that fascist!" -- comment on YouTube

Friday, June 15, 2007

Most unintentionally ironic sentence on the web

"Sorry to be a coward, but I travel a lot and I don't need more friction re-entering the country. So, no full name please."

Read the letter to Joe Bageant and see if you agree.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Bait and bait again -- a nanoplay

How about some toast?

Can't. Toaster doesn't work.

You sure? Have you tried lately?

After four years, I'm kinda giving up.

Maybe you just haven't pushed the right buttons yet.

Look, I know there are a lot of buttons on this thing, but I've tried every possible combination. I'm beginning to think it doesn't want to toast.

But it's a toaster! C'mon, the salesman assured us it would make great toast!

I know, I know.

Look, don't get all down and discouraged. We'll have toast. We will. Have faith.

I do. You're right.

Besides, if you get approved for that new Visa we can get the new model they're comin out with.

Yeah.

I know it's been hard. I know how much you care about toast.

'cause of the ribbon on my car?

Yep.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

I went to a used CD store at lunch and picked up this



because I have an insatiable appetite for new music and Todd Snider said hippies today dig Widespread Panic and I actually saw Widespread Panic at a small club in Athens, Ga., in the early 80s while I was in college there and they were good and did a nice cover of a Zevon song although I don't remember which one because after all those were my hippie days although I never had long hair and dressed not with psychedelic regalia but with flannel over long underwear shirts and raggedy jeans like Kurt Cobain, which is more punk than hippie, if we must label, and besides there was no such thing as Nirvana and the Seattle scene at the time, there was the Athens scene and it could not have been better, as bands such as the long-lived Widespread Panic, REM, and B-52s attest, but the point is that if you are going to make gut decisions, which is what I had to do both at lunch, being faced with three Widespread Panic albums at the music store (I don't own any), and way back when (major in art? journalism? business administration?), then why not let the synchronicity flow over you and go for the CD that looks quite a bit like Scruggsies latest creation, Beelzebug

Monday, June 11, 2007

Watermelon Slim and the Workers at Darwin's


Bill Homans, a.k.a. “Watermelon Slim” is one of the most intriguing bluesmen out there. Watermelon Slim first appeared on the music scene in the early 1970s as the only Vietnam veteran to record a protest LP during the war. In subsequent years, Slim played with a variety of famous blues stars, but his full-time job was hauling industrial waste. About two years ago, Slim left his truck-driving job and is now making a living as a full-time touring bluesman. The decision was predominantly the result of a recent and nearly fatal heart attack, and the renewed perspective on mortality that followed. Logically, why drive industrial waste around Oklahoma to dispose of when one can drive bandmates around the US to play music and entertain?

-- writeup from Northern Blues Music, Slim's label



2005 W.C. Handy Nominee for Best New Artist Debut

Tell me, can you think of a better name for a hard-rocking blues band than "the Workers?"

Let's hear it for the Workers!

In art and labor, indeed. Plenty of both were on display at Darwin's Saturday night.

The Workers, fueled by numerous cigarettes and cold beverages, labored late into the night for the 100 or so souls who came out to north Atlanta's intimate blues club.

Slim and his band were scheduled for two sets, roughly at 9 and 11. Ray and I showed up for the 9, and stuck around for the 11. We'd seen some good blues in the first set, although the mix was way off. The vocals were buried, and the rest sounded muddy. Not terrible, but for the standards of a club that takes live music seriously, surprisingly mediocre.

From the first song, however, it was obvious the band -- bass and electric guitar and drums, with Slim on harp and slide guitar -- was going to rock the house.

About a third of the way through the set, an audience member asked that they turn up Slim's mic. The lead guitarist, a young man with some hip facial hair and a dark blue bandana, reached up to a monitor and twisted a knob. The improvement was instantaneous. Finally, there was a song to follow, lyrics to give meaning to the driving music.

The second set was a transformation, a revelation, everything you come out to see and hear when you go to a blues club. Slim had his mojo workin. I couldn't decide if the band had finally gotten warmed up, if they'd further adjusted the mix (I was outside between sets), or if the music enhancers had fully kicked in.

In the second set, Slim and the Workers delivered scorching versions of "Hey, Bo Didley" "Manish Boy" and "Another Mule Kickin in Your Stall," along with Slim's own rock-inflected blues.

By midnight, Slim, 58, had downed the second half of his pint of Guinness in one gulp, the backing band members all had cigarettes dangling, and the bassist was playing off the stage while dancing with a woman in the audience.

Slim blew his harp to match the intensity of the band, often bringing it down into the crowd, and at one point blowing jazzy riffs as the blues drove him so low he disappeared beneath the crowd in front of the stage.

The group will be highly visible this summer. Their latest albums are highly acclaimed and they’ll be putting it out there for the people at numerous festivals. They’re a hot act enjoying their moment. Catch a little of the mojo if you can.


1978 mass market cover

Page 183, New Falcon Publications edition

From the Sufi

A man who had studied much in the schools of wisdom finally died in the fullness of time and found himself at the Gates of Eternity.

An angel of light approached him and said, “Go no further, O mortal, until you have proven to me your worthiness to enter into Paradise!”

But the man answered, “Just a minute, now. First of all, can you prove to me this is a real Heaven, and not just the wishful fantasy of my disordered mind undergoing death?”

Before the angel could reply, a voice from inside the gates shouted:

“Let him in -- he’s one of us!”


Wilson's intro to a mid-eighties edition

Friday, June 08, 2007

Bush's "stomach ailment" explained for thinking people

in pictures

Flattery

They say imitation is the sincerest form.

(Yes, many of my posts of late have been in style used by Bill since his welcome return to blogging at Thoughts on the Eve of the Appocalypse)

Well said

"It may be called democracy, but it resembles it the way that a punch resembles a kiss." -- Philosopher Jay

Thursday, June 07, 2007

The War on Terror is a bumper sticker

-- Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards (paraphrased)

no sh*t -- Bruce, direct quote

I got yer bumper sticker



In response to Edwards, the Repugs splutter and whine at Tuesday night's debate, and generally doth protest too much:

"This is not a bumper sticker; this war is a real war," -- Rudy Giuliani

"They (Democrats) don't think there's a war on terror." -- Mitch Romney.

(whaaattt!?!?! -- ed.)

Here's another bumper sticker for ya:

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

"Existential threat" explained for thinking people

It's not only about the oil. It's also about the gum arabic.

Incrementalism

Reasons given by the Bush administration for bombing and invading Southwest Asia countries:

Afghanistan: Regime-sponsored attack (alleged)

Iraq: Threat of attack, with WMD

Iran: WMD-related program activites

Syria: ? (bad thoughts?)

--or will "they" reset the clock, so to speak, as I've been speculating?

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

In case you missed it

This cracks me up every time.

I need to add WIIIAI to the not A list over to the side.

Monday, June 04, 2007



Thanks to everyone who voted for Green Teams

The public voted Ginger's video a top five semi-finalist in the Sundance Channel Big Idea Contest.

Congratulations Ginger!

The winner will be announced June 18. Grand Prize is $10,000 and the use of a Lexus hybrid vehicle for a year (nothing says "environmentalist" like a shiny new car). Runners-up receive $100 and a bag o green products from contest sponsors.

But, of course, it's the promotion and support of good ideas that matter most.

Thanks again, voters.