The Fantasy Years
Jan 28 at 5:05pm by Jagwire X
The Fantasy Years
Everyone should read The Fantasy Years. It’s a novel by Charles Baker about how America was lead astray by an assault on reality by right-wing (read neo-con) pundits. I’ve know about it for a while now but I haven’t gotten that far into as yet.
From the site:
The Fantasy Years is a novel about the magical effect a particular strain of popular politics has had on Americans throughout the 1990s. The blook is just as much about the forces that helped seed and shape extremist political views among the public as the end result of such views. Rush Limbaugh and right wing think tanks form the chorus, a handful of Americans muddling through the 1990s make up the cast.
Once again I recommend it to everyone interested in how we got from the Greatest Generation to where we are today.
August 22nd 2006 - The Beginning of the End?
Aug 15 at 11:11am by Jagwire X
Professor Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis (aka. Bush’s Historian) the man who coined the term “clash of civilizations” is predicting that Iran will initiate a third world war or some sort of end of times conflict. You can read his absurdly bigoted, hypocritical and fanatical article on the Wall Street Journal op-ed site, August 22: Does Iran have something in store?.
As an extremely cogent counter balance I present this article by Brian Whitaker of The Guardian, World to End August 22nd.
Unsurprisingly, Bernard Lewis, brings religion into it. He demonizes the Muslim world making the bigoted claim that the Iranian President would happily allow his country and people to be destroyed because for him it’s a win-win situation. This is complete bullshit. It’s not in Iran’s best interest to allow a war of the magnitude suggested to start. It might be in the best interest of a certain few people here in the U.S. but I don’t think it’s in Iran’s. It certainly isn’t in the interest of the common man anywhere in the world. Read the rest of this entry »
Apocalypse Now!
Aug 3 at 10:10am by Jagwire X
Christ Icon
There are some seriously Crazy people in the world. Unfortunately a great many people of influence are counted among them. What we have here are power mad lunatics who want to push the world to the brink of war to facilitate the Second Coming of Christ. Sounds very Christian doesn’t it - actively condoning the murder of innocents. These people disgust me with their hypocrisy of claiming to be Christian while going so far against the basic teachings of Christ. I may not be a Christian but I know enough to know that this is just plain wrong (moral, ethically and every way possible.)
What freedom is worth to Republicans
Dec 8 at 6:06am by Anonymous
Liberty Bell
So the Republicans are pushing the message of their “positive” campaign? The Democrats, they claim, are the party of protest and pessimism, filled with people who “hate” Bush for the sake of hatred. I guess the RNC has no choice but to go with an oversimplified message to an electorate of who already sees the world in such uncomplicated terms. They would have to be simpletons in order to support the RNC after it declared war on the common sense of the world by attacking Iraq. The Republicans certainly declared war on international peace-seeking institutions and the goodwill of our allies. But this is of little consequence to them. Liberals, like foreigners, didn’t vote for Bush in 2000 and aren’t likely to in 2004, so to hell with them, they figure. But Bush and his devious advisers have made the conscious decision to be president for the (less than) half of the country that voted for him. Read the rest of this entry »
Loyalty to the Truth or Loyalty to the GOP?
Jul 19 at 5:05pm by Anonymous
Republican Party
If, as former White House counsel John Dean explained a few weeks ago in an interview, there is “no chance” the Republican house would impeach Bush for lying to the American people, the nation has transcended mere blind partisan politics and entered a time of living fiction. This is the same Republican Party whose members badgered and hounded President Clinton until he was caught in a lie. His prosecutors, the legions of right-wing radio listeners, organizations dedicated to unearthing damaging material on Clinton’s past, showed a disgust for immorality in the White House. But when Clinton’s impeachment came, the vast majority of Americans refused to march on Washington demanding his removal from office. In fact a few went so far to march in his support. Americans, both for and against President Clinton, knew in their hearts, if not minds, that the question he was asked should have never been asked because it involved his personal life; not his public life. Read the rest of this entry »
The price of “freedom”?
Apr 24 at 10:10pm by Jagwire X
Iraq War Casualties
Check out some of the results of our foreign policy: Iraq Body Count
Really great stuff. I guess this is what a “benevolent global hegemony” looks like.
PNAC and The New Militarism
Apr 12 at 12:12pm by Jagwire X
Project for the New American Century
Current policy, it seems, is being made by certain intellectuals and politicians who have been moving towards a new vision of American militarism for many years.
One of the focal points for this movement has been the think-tank group “Project for the New American Century”. They have been openly calling for a renewed militaristic expansion of “American interests” around the world. Basically, they feel that the US military is the glue that holds the world together; or, rather, should be.
But don’t take my word for it. Read their “Statement of Principles” on their own website, written in 1997.
It clearly foreshadows the current “preemption” policy, and reliance on military might as a foreign policy tool. Note the names who signed this statement. You may recognize a few.
Also see their 1998 letter to President Clinton, urging him to invade Iraq, where they conclude:
“We believe the U.S. has the authority under existing UN resolutions to take the necessary steps, including military steps, to protect our vital interests in the Gulf. In any case, American policy cannot continue to be crippled by a misguided insistence on unanimity in the UN Security Council.”
Sounds familiar. Again, notice the list of names at the bottom.
These people finally have the stage, and are implementing strategies that they have long written about, but never had the opportunity to put into practice. Bush, and 9/11, have given them that opportunity.
Again, don’t just take my word for it. For example, see this portrait of PNAC that goes over much of the same ground I do. It’s from a mainstream source: Were Neo-Conservatives’ 1998 Memos a Blueprint for Iraq War?
Of course, you can always “Google it”, as they say.
Try: “PNAC“, or “Project for the New American Century“, or even “neo-conservatives” (a moniker that some of these new century types go by).
It is my belief, and the belief of others within the antiwar community, that this agenda needs to be opposed. It’s humanitarian price is too high, and it’s methodology severely misguided.
What you missed while watching the war
Apr 8 at 2:02pm by Jagwire X
New York Stock Exchange
The Supreme Court hands a big victory to corporations. They have limited the punitive damages awarded to victims of corporations. Since the only language corporations understand is profits and losses, the supreme court has effectively dismantled the right of a citizen to sue a corporation into compliance. Corporations will now have even less of a motive to follow the law knowing that the awards they pay out will never significantly impact their bottom line.
Did you see this in your local paper? No, it was all war talk. It’s one of the benefits of All War All the Time. It allows for a distracted public while the Radical Right Wing can further insure that the United States is a republic for business and not for its citizens.
Read all about it in The Financial Times.
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