junk and crap, amen

Alberto Gonzales, yes Alberto Fucking Gonzales, after having spent most of the last several years telling the US Constitution to go to hell, after resigning in disgrace after numerous scandals at the Justice Dept., has been named Lawyer of the Year by a journal published by the American Bar Association. I shit you not. Here's what Edward A. Adams, editor of the journal, had to say:

"Think about Time magazine's Person of the Year," Adams said in an interview. "In years past they've named people like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin. So we're not suggesting by these awards that these are the best lawyers in any sense of the word. We are saying they are the most newsworthy — and perhaps also the best."

So, Gonzales isn't necessarily the best, but then again maybe he is.

For clarity, here are a few of Alberto's greatest hits: inappropriate dismissal of US attorneys, marginalizing of the right to Habeus Corpus, NSA illegal eavesdropping program... to name just a few.

Congrats, Al. It couldn't have happened to a less deserving guy.

Labels: Mangled Logic

Why you ask? Two reasons mainly. Two standout wackos jumped into my fairly wide field of vision recently with these stories:

Republican Congressman Steve King, who believes the following:
I recognized that we're a Christian nation founded on Christian principles, and we're coming up to Christmastime. ... It's time we stood up and said so, and said to the rest of America, Be who you are and be confident.
That's right, Jesus Freaks. It's time y'all stood up to the heathens and blasphemers in your midst. It only takes a bit of extra inquisitiveness on your part to root them out.

And Republican Senator Bond, Kit Bond, who likens waterboarding, or torture as I prefer to call it, to swimming. OK, maybe swimming after a big pig out on caviar and chocolate truffles.... with someone holding your fucking head underwater. Asshole.

Labels: politics, religion, stupidity, torture

Every body's favorite thieving, Canadian citizenship renouncing, power hungry, Machiavellian royal courtesan Baron Black of Crossharbour was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison yesterday after being found guilty of 3 counts of fraud and one of obstruction of justice earlier this year.

Proving once again; piss off the shareholders and face serious consequences, but kill innocent colored people in distant lands and have a nice day. Case in point: The Bhopal disaster in India in 1984, where a Union Carbide plant released 40 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, killing between 2500 and 5000 people. The fate of then Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson? Well...

Beginning in 1991, the local authorities from Bhopal charged Warren Anderson, who had retired in 1986, with manslaughter, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Anderson has so far avoided an international arrest warrant and a US court summons. He was declared a fugitive from justice by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal on February 1, 1992 for failing to appear at the court hearings in a culpable homicide case in which he was named the chief defendant. Orders were passed to the Government of India to press for an extradition from the United States, with whom India had an extradition treaty in place. He went missing for several years, until he was discovered by Greenpeace “living a life of luxury in the Hamptons”. The Bhopal Medical Appeal believe that “neither the American nor the Indian government seem interested in disturbing him with an extradition”. Some allege that the Indian government has hesitated to put forth a strong case of extradition to the United States, fearing backlash from foreign investors who have become more important players in the Indian economy following liberalization. A seemingly apathetic attitude from the US government, which has failed to pursue the case, has also led to strong protests in the past, most notably by Greenpeace. A plea by India's Central Bureau of Investigation to dilute the charges from culpable homicide to criminal negligence has since been dismissed by the Indian courts.

Labels: corporations, corruption, history

I recently ran across this great clip from On The Map with Avi Lewis. It's an interview between CBC Journalist Avi Lewis and the ninja master of obfuscation, John Bolton, famous UN hater and (curiously) former US ambassador to same. The subject is the new Plunder Iraqi Oil Legislation. Or new Iraqi Oil Law, however you want to put it.

Lewis opens with a "...word from [Bolton's] sponsor:" cue Donald Rumsfeld, 2005

...that you give credence to those who suggest that we're there for the oil or that we're there to occupy them in perpetuity.

Bolton repeats over and over that "frankly I don't care what happens to Iraq politically", and in reference to other developing nations having local employment agreements with multinationals so why not in Iraq now he laughingly says "Because those are highly inefficient requirements for the oil companies."

Labels: corporations, Iraq, Oil, War of Terror

Francesco Cossiga, President of Italy from 1985 - 92, in a November 30th article in the Italian Evening Courier, lets loose this amazing quote (translated from the Italian by Babelfish, unedited):

[referring to the authenticity of a video confession for 9/11 by Bin Laden]
...all the atmospheres democratics of America and Europe, with in front line those of the centrosinistra Italian, by now know well that the disastrous attack has been planned and realized from the Cia American and the Mossad with the aid of the sionista world in order to put under accusation the Arabic Countries and in order to induce the western powers to take part are in Iraq are in Afghanistan.

Granted, the translation isn't perfect. But the meaning is clear. He's saying that western intelligence agencies (atmospheres democratics) know that the CIA, Mossad and sionista (Zionists?) were responsible for September 11 in order to demonize an entire culture, thereby justifying endless war and profit and power.

He would know.

Labels: 9/11, conspiracy, War of Terror

With reason seemingly being officially regarded as an enemy of the state, it stands to reason that appointing Paul Wolfowitz as the shiny new chairman of the International Security Advisory Board is the perfectly logical thing to do.

The 'board' is a prestigious State Department panel which has access to highly classified intelligence, and advises Condoleeza Rice on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters.

To refresh our memories, Wolfowitz was one of the key architects of the illegal Iraq invasion, war, and continuing brutal occupation;

Meanwhile, reports continue to emerge of U.S. attacks on Iraqi civilians. Earlier today the Pentagon said U.S. soldiers mistakenly shot five civilians traveling in a car in the town of Tarmiya north of Baghdad. One passenger died while being taken to the hospital. Five Iraqi civilians, including a child, were killed in similar U.S. shootings last week.

...as the deputy secretary of defense under fellow war criminal Donald Rumsfeld. He resigned, as did Rumsfeld. Both distancing themselves of any responsibility.

He then was inexplicably awarded the job of president of the World Bank, where his outstanding contributions were cronyism, corruption and terrible socks. He was forced to resign.

And so, illogically, inexorably, his next job should be working for the US taxpayer. Of course, that's not really who he's working for. The reason he keeps popping up like a zit on the face of humanity is because he reliably does what he's told on behalf of his real employers; international bankers and corporations, who's own mangled form of logic demands this kind of ridiculousness.

Labels: Mangled Logic, Wolfowitz

Does your brain feel empty? Feel the hankering for some elucidation? Is there an inexplicable urge to cut through the obfuscation with some straight up reality? Have some time to kill? Well then...

(this post is frequently updated)

"Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land"
Provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.





"The Corporation"
In the mid-1800s the corporation emerged as a legal "person." Imbued with a "personality" of pure self-interest, the next 100 years saw the corporation's rise to dominance. The corporation created unprecedented wealth but at what cost? The remorseless rationale of "externalities" (as Milton Friedman explains, the unintended consequences of a transaction between two parties on a third) is responsible for countless cases of illness, death, poverty, pollution, exploitation and lies.

"The Power Of Nightmares"
Compares the rise of the American Neo-Conservative movement and the radicalIslamist movement, making comparisons on their origins and noting strong similarities between the two. More controversially, it argues that the threat of radical Islamism as a massive, sinister organised force of destruction, specifically in the form of al-Qaeda, is in fact a myth perpetrated by politicians in many countries—and particularly American Neo-Conservatives—in an attempt to unite and inspire their people following the failure of earlier, more utopian ideologies.

"Orwell Rolls In His Grave"
Critically examines the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy, asking "Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?..."





"Why We Fight"
An unflinching look at the anatomy of the American war machine, weaving unforgettable personal stories with commentary by a who's who of military and beltway insiders. Why We Fight launches a bipartisan inquiry into the workings of the military industrial complex and the rise of the American Empire.

"Loose Change 2nd Edition"
A comprehensive and critical examination of events leading up to, including and immediately following September 11, 2001. This film at the very least provides overwhelming evidence as to why there needs to be another independent commission to honestly and realistically get to the truth of what really happened that day.

Labels: documentary, history, media, philosophy, terrorism, war