Treasonous intellectuals

From Glenn Greenwald:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/12/24/torture/index.html

Here are Tufts University Political Science Professor Dan Drezner and Stanford Philosophy Professor Joshua Cohen demonstrating how good-hearted, profoundly reasonable, oh-so-intellectually sophisticated Americans diligently struggle with -- torture themselves over -- what they have convinced themselves is the vexing question of whether our leaders should be considered "war criminals" by virtue of . . . . having committed unambiguous war crimes:

Here's a 2004 critique of similar apologies for torture by "human rights expert" Michael Ignatieff:

http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/fascism_and_war/Treason.htm

The moral and intellectual decay of American and Western European intellectuals over the past couple of decades will deserve scrutiny by scholars of future generations. Just as we try to understand what made Martin Heidegger an obedient stooge of the Hitler regime, others will try to figure out what makes a Harvard "liberal" pimp for torture.

The Onion got scooped

http://adage.com/moy2008/article?article_id=131810

Obama Wins! ... Ad Age's Marketer of the Year

At ANA Gathering, Marketing Pros and Agency Bigs Tap Barack Over Apple, Zappos

ORLANDO, Fla. (AdAge.com) -- Just weeks before he demonstrates whether his campaign's blend of grass-roots appeal and big media-budget know-how has converted the American electorate, Sen. Barack Obama has shown he's already won over the nation's brand builders. He's been named Advertising Age's marketer of the year for 2008.


Mr. Obama won the vote of hundreds of marketers, agency heads and marketing-services vendors gathered here at the Association of National Advertisers' annual conference. He edged out runners-up Apple and Zappos.com. The rest of the shortlist, selected by Ad Age's editorial staff, was rounded out by megabrand Nike, turnaround story Coors and Mr. Obama's rival, Sen. John McCain.

One of my heroes started a blog

http://gerryspence.wordpress.com/

Truth about ACORN

ACORN LED FINANCIAL SECTOR
WITH WARNINGS ON LENDING

The national advocacy group appears to deserve recognition for its prudent -- and ignored -- early advice about home loan practices. > By Eileen Markey

http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=3641

Penny Auctions

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/money_10.html


My favorite finance blogs:

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/

http://suddendebt.blogspot.com/

http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/

False confessions in Central Park Jogger case

Lawyer Elaine Cassel discusses the coerced confessions that sent 5 teenagers to prison for 12 years before the real killer came forward, and the problems of false confessions in general.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/cassel/20021217.html

Here, law professor Anthony D'Amato discusses problems with the "confessions" of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khlaid Shaikh Mohammed:

http://works.bepress.com/anthony_damato/13/

"The hedge fund of the people."

http://strategerycapital.com/

Representative Kaptur does her job

Rep. Marcy Kaptur(D-Ohio): “The normal legislative process that should accompany a monumental proposal to bail out Wall Street has been shelved. Yes, shelved! Only a few insiders are doing the dealing. These criminals have so much power they can shut down the normal legislative process of the highest lawmaking body in this land. All the committees that should be scanning every word that is being negotiated have been benched. And that means the American people have been benched. We are constitutionally sworn to protect this country against all enemies foreign and domestic, and yes, my friends, there are enemies . . . The people who are pushing this bill are the very same ones who are responsible for the implosion on Wall Street. They were fraudulent then; and they are fraudulent now. We should say No to this deal.”

January 2000: CBS News chief on video fakery

http://forum.911movement.org/index.php?showtopic=5232

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE7DF153AF930A25752C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

"He noted that advances in computer-generated techniques had made things like missiles hitting Baghdad and airplanes crashing look so real that it was incumbent on networks to underscore that these were not real images."

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E7DB173AF931A25752C0A9669C8B63&scp=1&sq=%22the%20early%20show%22%20january%202000&st=csehttp://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E7DB173AF931A25752C0A9669C8B63&scp=1&sq=%22the%20early%20show%22%20january%202000&st=cse

Naked short selling

"Deep Capture is a work of investigative journalism examining the growing threat to our financial system posed by illegal naked short selling."

http://www.deepcapture.com/

The Week the World Said “Naked Short Selling”
September 19th, 2008 by Mark Mitchell

Make no mistake: what you witnessed this week was not some natural process – an economy “souring,” a bubble “bursting.” This was not the “invisible hand” at work. This was not even capitalism.

This was the premeditated, systematic destruction of market value by an elite crowd of Wall Street cronies who no doubt cackled with delight in the cleverness of their mischief-making. This was criminal behavior on an ungodly scale – the unprecedented looting of America.

continued here:

http://www.deepcapture.com/the-week-the-world-said-naked-short-selling/

Paul Richmond - running for Congress against Norm Dicks

6th District, Washington State.

James Quinn: The Great Consumer Crash of 2009

http://seekingalpha.com/article/90892-the-great-consumer-crash-of-2009

Recommended by the great bloggers Stoneleigh and Ilargi, who "present a daily overview of Debt, Diesel and Dämmerung."

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/

Passive Nation

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=american-passivity-wright-bros-coal-tar-dye

Scientific American, June 1958

PASSIVE NATION— “Poll after poll among our youngsters has given statistical confirmation of the phenomenon of American life which David Riesman, in his book The Lonely Crowd, named ‘other-direction’—extreme sensitivity to the opinions of others, with a concomitant conformity. As a nation we seem to have a syndrome characterized by atrophy of the will, hypertrophy of the ego and dystrophy of the intellectual musculature. This rather unpleasant portrait is an inescapable conclu-ion from the mass of data on the attitudes of the younger generation. More than half believe that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the local police should be allowed to use wiretapping at will, that the police should be permitted to use the ‘third degree,’ that people who refuse to testify against themselves should be forced to do so.”

Good questions re anthrax scientist restraining order

This was a comment at Glenn Greenwald's blog.

http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/03/journalism/permalink/f3b8649a915e17da975901888a4ed753.html

Retired Military Patriot

Although given the forensic situation, technically there may have been no violation of confidentiality, Ms. Duley's behavior from a clinical and ethical perspective is certainly open to question. One of the reasons that confidence is so zealously protected is that patients in treatment frequently say things that could prove harmful or, at least, embarrassing if they were to became public. Furthermore, statements made in treatment reflect the patients perceptions, emotional status, and environmental pressures. They don't necessary reflect reality as others might see it. One of the tasks of the therapist is to help the patient sort out facts from often distorted perceptions. Thus, one tries to avoid damage to a patient by sharing the contents of sessions. This case raises some serious questions about the actions that Ms. Duley took and why they were even necessary. To some extent, her actions may have been the result of inexperience or lack of training. Although you refer to Ms. Duley as a "social worker" and she has been called that in some reports, as I mentioned in a prior post http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/01/anthrax/permalink/a2a0481d5358c6907de2af42aa6e5594.html, I have found no documentation that she is, indeed, a social worker and she may have only undergraduate and some chemical dependency training.

These are some of the questions that I have:

1. Why was a restraining order/peace order on Dr. Ivins required? According to numerous reports, Dr. Ivins was under heavy surveillance and Ms. Duley was working closely and cooperatively with the FBI according to her own report. Given that level of federal protection, what was the purpose of seeking a PO with local police? Certainly they could have been alerted (and I hope were) but what was the specific need satisfied by a PO?

2. Given that she did go that route and her testimony contained substantial information that could be prejudicial in a trial, why did the judge not seal her testimony and associated documents? Why were copies of her request and audio recording given (or leaked) to the press? I won't even ask why the press released this information.

3. If she was working closely with the FBI, and supervised by an independent professional, why did they not warn her or the judge about the risks inherent in filing a PO. Note that although there are references to Ivins' "psychiatrist" lurking in the background, no such person has come forth with an independent professional evaluation.

Unfortunately, this disrespect for patient rights (whether inadvertent of deliberate) has left us with the press and cable channels spewing her complaints without caution or explanation and giving her credibility as his "therapist." This is trial in the Court of Public Opinion. The government has not yet made a convincing case for Dr. Ivins' guilt and Ms. Delay's testimony has not been challenged on cross examination. Dr. Ivins' suicide (if that is what it was) conveniently avoids the accountability of a court trail. That provides a compelling argument for a congressional hearing to determine the facts in this case and, if he was innocent as many people believe, to provide a means to clear his name and give some comfort to his family.
-- lcr
[Read lcr's other letters]

I would add that I question why live testimony was necessary to get a temporary restraining order. It seems like overkill and smacks of orchestration.

I agree that the first hearing could have been sealed, and the public interest in open courts could have been met by opening the hearing on a permanent restraining order when Ivins was expected to be present.

Another good comment from the same person:

http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/03/journalism/permalink/6503d1b6e1da4315bb4617f4be5940c7.html

Mona

I'm not sure about the reason for your comment but suspect you've not read my prior posts or you wouldn't have made assumptions about the quote that you use. As a psychologist, I'm well aware of confidentiality issues -- and the limits on confidentiality. As Annie W discovered, clients are (or should be) routinely informed on the limits of confidentiality. We do have a duty to report and, if subpoenaed, must provide requested records. That is not the issue here. If Duley honestly believed that Dr. Ivins was a threat to himself or others, she had a duty to report and apparently did -- leading to his brief hospitalization. That's appropriate and, except for whatever additional stress was imposed on the patient by the hospitalization, would have been the end of that story. What was not required was for her to to initiate a restraining order or for it to be handled in the way it was. What that filing accomplished was not only an egregious violation of patient privacy but has provided the media with talking points that they are gleefully repeating, that smear Dr. Ivins' record and name and that provide cover for the FBI's desire to close the case -- nothing here, the guy was crazy, move on.

If you're interested in my concerns about the restraining/peace order (as opposed to the duty to warn), please see here:

http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/03/journalism/permalink/f3b8649a915e17da975901888a4ed753.html
-- lcr

[Read lcr's other letters]
Permalink Sunday, August 3, 2008 05:30 PM

Boardroom terrorists

I would say there are many more people in this country worried about losing their homes than about Islamofascists blowing them up. Terrorized, if you will.

Catherine Austin Fitts explains the conspiracy at the top of the food chain:

http://www.solari.com/blog/?p=1232

She concludes:

"Think of it. The housing bubble has reached it’s logical conclusion. If you can get enough people to buy a home for no money down, you can buy their country for no money down."

Her prior article, "Predatory Gentrification," describes real terrorism by developers against HUD affordable housing tenants and homeowners to get them to leave their homes.

http://www.solari.com/blog/?p=1293#more-1293

She says: "you need to understand that predatory practices whereby powerful corporate and banking interests use illegal and unethical tactics to expropriate wealth from the middle class and poor are common and that the law may or may not be relevant."

9/11, a predatory practice, preying on fears to expropriate wealth for the military-industrial complex?

Inverted Totalitarianism, by Sheldon Wolin

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030519/wolin

and a review by Chalmers Johnson

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9031

The Al Qaeda Myth

"There's no such thing as al-Qaeda. It's a fraud perpetrated on the British and American people by the governments to scare us into submission. This is a clip from the excellent three-part BBC documentary 'The Power of Nightmares'."

Fascist Capitalism

http://www.hermes-press.com/fascist_capitalism.htm

The End of Money

Seems like a good crash course in economic realities.

http://theendofmoney.com/

Father Pfleger on Jeremiah Wright

Fox News calls it "'Factor'" producer Porter Berry confronting Father Michael Pfleger for defending Rev. Wright and Farakkhan," but it is really Father Pfleger forcefully speaking to Berry's false claims of bigotry, hatred, and anti-Americanism.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?videoId=1fd1c0cf-5c80-4d75-996f-bd53b2461ae0&sMPlaylistID

Now on YouTube:

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiSutcBArDU

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBKeCIDGvwY

Rev. Wright served in the Marines and Navy during Vietnam:

http://www.counterpunch.com/korb04052008.html

Martin Luther King's last speech, 40 years ago, the day before he was assassinated

Here are clips from his "Beyond Vietnam" speech at Riverside Church, one year to the day before he was murdered.

If I Were A Terrorist

by James Pence

Thoughts From Within - Woody Harrelson

Ningen's Music Collection

Here is a collection of You Tube music you might like. Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, ELP, Traffic, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Joan Osborne, Talking Heads, B-52s, etc.

http://ningens-music.blogspot.com/

Cramer: "It's all fiction!"

http://www.cnbc.com/id/22706231

ITS ALL ABOUT THE COMMISSION

(We used to say) “The commissions on structured products are so huge let's JAM IT.” (note “jam it” means foist it on the customer) It's all about the 'commish'. The commission on structured product is GIGANTIC. I could make a fortune 'JAMMING THAT CRUMMY PAPER' but I had a degree of conscience---what a shocker!--We used to regulate people but they decided during the Reagan revolution that that was bad. So we don't regulate anyone anymore. But listen, the commission in structured product is so gigantic. (pause) First of all the customer has no idea what the product really is because it is invented. Second, you assume the customer is really stupid; like we used to say about the German bankers, 'The German banks are just Bozos. Throw them anything.' Or the Australians 'M O R O N S' Or the Florida Fund (ha ha ) “They're so stupid let's give them Triple B (junk grade) Then we'd just laugh and laugh at the customers and Jam them with the commission...That's what happened; that's what happened....Remember, this is about commissions, about how much money you can make by jamming stupid customers. I've seen it all my life; you jam stupid customers.

Transcription of portion near end of the video by Mike Whitney, in "Financial Meltdown: Is This The Big One?" Whitney asks whether this is "smart" or criminal.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7880

At one point, Cramer says we are in "late-stage rapacious capitalism."

He also talks about social pressure not to talk about false financials among the Wall Street crowd who golf together and send their kids to the same private schools.

9/11 FAQ by Ran Prieur

http://www.ranprieur.com/essays/911FAQ.html

Nosed Out by Simon Shack

Video analysis of the WNYW FOX5 "Nose-Out" shot aired live on 9/11, by maker of September Clues.

The world press has quoted Yukisa Fujita dozens of times

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22yukihisa+fujita%22&btnG=Search+Archives&hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8

Just not this time, when he talked about 9/11 as the unproven premise for the government's refueling bill and the war on terror in general.

Japanese opposition party questions Prime Minister on 9/11 facts

On January 10, during debate on whether Japan should renew its law allowing the Marine Self-Defense Forces to provide refueling support to U.S. military vessels in the Indian Ocean, a member of Japan's largest opposition party questioned whether the Japanese government has sufficiently examined 9/11 as a premise for this law and for the 'war on terrorism." He repeatedly states that this was a crime and as such must be investigated properly.

Full speech, Japanese only:

http://www.webtv.sangiin.go.jp/generator/meta_generator_wmv.php?ssp=8478&on=1199958156&si=e1a1b6e76ae25e72c5877dfb56d49f143&ch=y&mode=LIBRARY&pars=0.23871368956457012


Here are videos with subtitles that are generally accurate but still need work, mainly for completeness.

http://www.911video.de/ex/jap111.htm


I'm hoping that in a week or so a full and accurate translation will be available.

Even if you don't speak Japanese, you will recognize some of the arguments being made when the Japanese Diet member uses visual aids.

The Foggy Dew - Frances Black

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAriag97l18

Legal-Illegal:

http://www.blackfamilyresources.com/frances/audio/Legal_Illegal.mp3

A Woman's Heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m03aJR1avcY&NR=1

"Guardians of Power: The Myth of the Liberal Media"

Today, the media is in crisis, and a free and open society is at risk. Fiction substitutes for fact, news is carefully filtered, dissent is marginalized, and supporting the powerful substitutes for full and accurate reporting. As a result, wars of aggression are called liberating ones, civil liberties are suppressed for our own good, and patriotism means going along with governments that are lawless.

"Guardians of Power: The Myth of the Liberal Media"
Reviewing David Cromwell and David Edwards' book
by Stephen Lendman
Global Research, January 9, 2008

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7754

Case studies and ideas discussed:

Iraq - The Sanctions of Mass Destruction
Iraq Disarmed - Burying the 1991-98 Weapons Inspections
Iraq - Gunning for War and Burying the Dead
Afghanistan - Let Them Eat Grass
Kosovo - Real Bombs, Fictional Genocide
East Timor - The Practical Limits of Crusading Humanitarianism
Haiti - The Hidden Logic of Exploitation
Idolatry Ink - Reagan, the 'Cheerful Conservative' and 'Chubby Bubba' Clinton
Ultimate [Climate] Change - The Ultimate Media Betrayal
Disciplined Media - Professional Conformity to Power
Toward a Compassionate Media

and the conclusion of the book review:

Full Human Dissent

Corporations today manipulate society and our lives by harming the greater good for profits. Consider the cost: "individual depression, global environmental collapse, wars for control of natural resources" and global dominion. It happens because we're saturated in a "mass consumer culture" that ignores "our needs as human beings." To counteract this, we need "to find more humanly productive answers" mainstream culture calls "dissident" or "absurd," but the authors believe are possible and vital.

Approaches to "individual and social well-being (are) practiced in many traditional cultures (but have been) filtered out" of ours because they conflict with corporate goals already explained. The authors once worked for corporate employers and described their condition as "unrelieved boredom and stress....work....of no intrinsic interest (and) simply a means to the end of material acquisition." They concluded that life centered around money and status "becomes a depressing dead end, a kind of emotional wasteland."

They contrast that experience to their involvement today in "unpaid human rights and environmental work" that includes their Media Lens efforts. Compassionate dissent holds promise as a motivating force - "for media activism, peace activism, human and animal rights activism, and environmental activism." It's also "profoundly conducive to our own well-being." The authors end by stating political dissent must be combined with human dissent. The combination can be powerfully self-liberating and "all the motivation we need to act for the welfare of the world." Isn't that a goal worth working for? Isn't it what what we want for ourselves?

One of the authors, David Edwards, discussed the effects of our corporate society on our own well-being in his 1996 book "Burning All Illusions: A Guide to Personal and Political Freedom," where he argued that we should not change the actions and societal structures that lead to climate change for the benefit of people in developing countries or the future, but because these actions and structures are not making us happy.

http://books.google.com/books?id=AIe3Emh6rPcC&dq=%22burning+all+illusions%22&pg=PP1&ots=L9A84bWiHZ&sig=NpltF6bSs0Iqi6_hRwJxe4JdyuI&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22burning+all+illusions%22&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPR6,M1

A Tribute to Fresh Kills (a poem)

Lyrics here:

http://www.codeorange.us/article.php?story=20070910103236196