Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for December, 2007

Acid

Dec 16

Posted by Marlena in Corruption & Crime, Injustice | No Comments

I look at all the news, and it’s basically the same stories over and over and over again. Suffering Palestinians, Suffering Iraqis, Economic Catastrophe, Injustice, Psychopathy, Natural Disasters, Man-Made Disasters, Useless Leaders.

After following the news closely for a few years, I notice that there are lulls. I feel like we’re in a lull right now. There’s a lot of news, but it’s all variations on a theme…the theme of unstoppable destruction…Chinese Water Torture. Drip drip drip. The acid drips onto the good things of the world, dissolving them. Once in a while the acid erodes the world just so, and a big chunk falls off.

What do the wealthy do at times like this? In fact, what are they ever doing? Their wealth frees them from the burdens of daily life: grocery shopping, commuting, working, holiday preparations. And there are so many of them. What do they talk about amongst themselves? How do they keep from getting bored? They must have hobbies, like figuring out more ways to make and spend money. Figuring out how to control more and more of the world’s resources. Figuring out how to become invisible to the rest of us.

The total income of the top 1.1 million households was $1.8 trillion, or 18.1 percent of the total income of all Americans, up from 14.3 percent of all income in 2003. The total 2005 income of the three million individual Americans at the top was roughly equal to that of the bottom 166 million Americans, analysis of the report showed.

I’m just wondering. What the hell are they doing while we’re busy?

Psychopaths, Chapter XXII (or whaterver number we’re on…I’ve lost count)

Dec 14

Posted by Marlena in Israel, Military, Psychology, Torture, Unreality | No Comments

If you ever wondered what it must be like to suffer through interrogation and torture, read this. For no good reason whatsoever, this young man has been tortured and maimed for life. The people who committed these crimes against him did so with impunity.

“I was taken into detention on Friday morning, and that was the last light of day I saw before the interrogation. I came out for the first time on Monday night or before dawn on Tuesday morning. On those long days I sat in a chair and did not even go to the toilet. So you won’t kill yourself, they said. I urinated in my clothes, and a terrible stench started. For four days I didn’t eat anything. They told me: If we give you something to eat, something will happen to your stomach and your intestines. Maybe they will explode under the pressure of the food when we push you backward. You will drink only half a cup of saltwater. That is what they gave me every time after they bent me and I vomited. Why with salt? I asked. Give me without salt. No, so nothing will happen in your stomach and intestines. I would drink it and vomit.

“On Monday evening, they told me that five witnesses had testified that Luwaii had transported a wanted man. I told them that there was a famous wanted man named Luwaii Sadi, but my name is Luwaii Sati, and maybe they had mixed us up. He said to me: Are you saying the Shin Bet is that stupid? We know exactly what we’re doing, and it is all correct. I said: Put me on trial for whatever you want. He said: Ya’allah, sports again. He pushes me backward in the chair. I will help you become a story in Palestinian history. He is talking to me and my head is down below. He pushes strongly with his leg and presses on my chest. I felt something like an explosion in my body. Like something broke. After that I don’t know what happened. I woke up and they were pouring water on my face. Again they pushed me backward and again I fainted.

“He said to me: Stand on your feet. I felt that my legs were cold, like pins and needles in the legs. I said: I can’t. He said: Now you are paralyzed. I said: I guess I am. He said: That is what we promised you and that is what you want.”

In the end, after two months, Sati was charged with assisting a wanted person to hide and using a forged document. For that he was ruthlessly paralyzed by sadistic Israeli interrogators.

In Iraq, Blackwater contractors go around killing people indiscriminately on behalf of Americans.

At first, this seemed completely normal for the totally abnormal world of Baghdad in September 2007. “Convoys are common,” explained Khalaf. But this convoy made an unexpected U-turn, drove the wrong way around the one-way square, stopped in the middle of it and started shooting. Fifteen minutes later, 17 Iraqi civilians were dead, dozens more wounded, and a white sedan that had been engulfed in flames contained two bodies charred beyond recognition.

…Khalaf recounted the events of that day to a hushed room of lawyers with laptops. He watched, he said, as the Blackwater convoy made the U-turn toward the street where he stood directing traffic. As the convoy stopped, Khalaf watched as a large man with a mustache standing atop the third car fired several shots in the air. Khalaf turned back toward the Yarmouk road to see what might have spurred the shooting and heard a woman yell, “My son! My son!” He ran three cars back to a white sedan to find a woman holding a young man slumped over and covered with blood.

The man was Ahmed, a 20-year-old medical student at the top of his class, and the woman his mother, Mohasin, a successful dermatologist and mother of three.

“I tried to help the young man, but his mother was holding him so tight,” said Khalaf. “I raised my left arm high in the air to try to signal to the convoy to stop the shooting,” he said, thinking that it would respond to such a gesture by a police officer. He described how he crouched by the car, his right arm reaching inside, his head out and left arm up in the air, signaling to the convoy, his gun secure in its holster. Then the mother was shot dead before his eyes.

…One of the men I met in Istanbul wrote me after I returned home. “Conduct our deepest love to all the Americans who support and work hard to stop killing of innocent people all over the world,” he said. “Please, we want to live in peace, surrounded by friends not killers.”

Not everybody in Wingnuttia got the memo

Dec 14

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iran, Language & Meaning, Stupidity, Unreality | No Comments

The White House wants it’s wingnut supporters to stop complaining about the NIE. (cough) The intelligence people have worked very hard on this report, and we need to accept their findings. ALL their findings (wink wink wink, kicking under the table, hand making throat cutting gestures, maniacally).

After all, Condi Rice just gave an interview where she said this:

Rice brushed aside suggestions from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the findings could open better relations with the United States, insisting that Iran must account for its past atomic weapons activities.

“Since they have embraced the NIE, I assume that they are embracing the entire thing,” Rice said. “And that means that they must have had a weapons program and that means that they have a lot to answer for.”

Yes, we must accept the NIE….the ENTIRE NIE….accept it….yes….Iran had a weapons program…they must account for that….that’s what the NIE says….we accept this….yes….

Unfortunately for Bush/Cheney/Rice, the wingnuts and neocons have been on autopilot faux outrage and hysteria mode, dutifully throwing that damned NIE and everyone associated with it under the bus. But this will totally make it difficult to twist the language later on. If the wingnut crowd doesn’t put a sock in it soon, there will be no hope of finessing this war argument. They must shut up.

Ha ha ha!! Good luck with that! The Republicans create Frankenstein monsters, and then they can’t control them.

Humble My A$$

Dec 14

Posted by Marlena in Corruption & Crime, Politics, Religion | No Comments

The word is getting OUT on Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee’s chief source of largesse was Jennings Osborne, a Little Rock businessman who made his money in the medical testing business. In 1996, Huckabee’s first year as governor, Osborne bought furniture for the governor’s office and a fountain pen for the governor’s use, and regularly sent flower arrangements. In subsequent years Osborne bought Huckabee gift certificates to department stores and clothing boutiques, 200 copies of a book Huckabee wrote, ties, flowers and air travel.

In 1999, he sent $200 flower arrangements to the governor’s mansion every week, and bought pastries for the office staff, and $250 flower arrangements for Janet Huckabee on Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and her birthday. He bought Huckabee more than $20,000 of clothing and spent $7,500 on a party for the governor’s staff and security detail, Huckabee’s statements of financial interest show.

…A former top Huckabee staffer said the governor saw nothing wrong with Osborne’s gifts. “It was because of his background as a preacher,” said the staffer, who asked to remain anonymous. “They typically get gifts. In his own mind he was righteous, so the appearance didn’t matter.” Huckabee is an ordained Southern Baptist minister.

…But a former state senator, Bill Gwatney, now chairman of the state Democratic party, said the gifts were “indecent”, especially in a poor state such as Arkansas. “That’s really not what you want any governor to be doing, to be accepting that kind of largesse from a citizen at large,” said Gwatney, who sponsored the 1999 law requiring disclosure of gifts’ dollar value. “It seemed to be obscene to the average Arkansan.”

Alice Stewart, a spokesman for Huckabee, said Osborne’s gifts were appropriate because Osborne received no special treatment from the governor. “Osborne is known for being a generous businessman and philanthropist,” she said. “As a proud citizen of Arkansas, he enjoyed being able to donate those items so that the taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay for them.”

So I guess because Mike Huckabee is “righteous”, he deserves to live in a luxurious manner and receive many, many gifts. He was doing the poor people of Arkansas (they’re probably not as “righteous” anyway) a favor by collecting his due from wealthy businesspeople.

It sounds like he believes in the prosperity gospel. I’ve written about this before here. As theology goes, it’s perfectly worthless in my opinion.

Needless Deaths

Dec 13

Posted by Marlena in Corruption & Crime, Injustice, Israel | No Comments

Over five thousand Palestinians and nearly one thousand Israelis have been killed since the last peace talks broke down in 2000-2001. An Israeli newspaper (Ha’aretz) has just released a document from the Camp David Summit in 2000 which reveals that the two sides had been much closer to an agreement than previously publicized.

The document shows that Israeli authorities were considering an ‘initiated separation plan’ as early as June 2000, in which Israeli troops would withdraw from their occupation of Palestinian land. It also shows that there was significant agreement between the two sides on some part of the core issues of borders, refugees and Jerusalem.

The Palestinian uprising known as the intifada, or ’shaking-off’ in Arabic, began in September 2000 after a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem led to protests by Palestinians, which were violently attacked by Israeli police. Since that time, the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land has increased exponentially, and Israeli settlement of Palestinian land in the West Bank has also increased several times over.

Talks were frozen between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in early 2001, after the intifada and violence of the occupation did not subside.

If my memory serve, that infamous visit was by Ariel Sharon, not that the article points that out.

Apparently, the secret document revealed Thursday morning by the Ha’aretz newspaper was approved in October 2000 by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, but when power passed from Barak to Ariel Sharon, the 26-page document, entitled “The Status of the Diplomatic Process with the Palestinians Points to Update the Incoming Prime Minister”, was abandoned, along with the negotiations.

Ariel Sharon put the kibosh on the emerging peace back in 2000. His actions resulted in another 6000 people being killed - at least officially. Unofficially, there are probably many more than that. He’s still alive, by the way, but in a marginally responsive state.

So I guess nobody cannot ask him why he unleashed such a torrent of suffering.

Super Creepy Mind Control Experiments

Dec 13

Posted by Marlena in Surveillance | No Comments

I think science is great. I really do. But just as I wonder about the people who develop computer viruses and things like that, I have to wonder about scientists who pursue work like this.

This year, 2007, has also brought the news that terahertz lasers small enough to incorporate into portable devices had been developed.

Sandia National Laboratories in the US in collaboration with MIT have produced a transmitter-receiver (transceiver) that enables a number of applications. In addition to scanning for explosives, we may also assume their integration into hand-held communication systems. ‘These semiconductor devices have output powers which previously could only be obtained by molecular gas lasers occupying cubic meters and weighing more than 100kg, or free electron lasers weighing tons and occupying buildings.’ As far back as 1996 the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board predicted that the development of electromagnetic energy sources would ‘open the door for the development of some novel capabilities that can be used in armed conflict, in terrorist/hostage situations, and in training’ and ‘new weapons that offer the opportunity of control of an adversary … can be developed around this concept’.

The surveillance technology of today is the surveillance of the human mind and, through access to the brain and nervous system, the control of behaviour and the body’s functions. The messaging of auditory hallucinations has given way to silent techniques of influencing and implanting thoughts. The development of the terahertz technologies has illuminated the workings of the brain, facilitated the capture of emitted photons which are derived from the visual cortex which processes picture formation in the brain, and enabled the microelectronic receiver which has, in turn, been developed by growing unique semi-conductor crystals. In this way, the technology is now in place for the detection and reading of spectral ‘signatures’ of gases. All humans emit gases. Humans, like explosives, emit their own spectral signature in the form of a gas. With the reading of the brain’s electrical frequency, and of the spectral gas signature, the systems have been established for the control of populations – and with the necessary technology integrated into a cell-phone.

‘We are very optimistic about working in the terahertz electromagnetic spectrum,’ says the principal investigator of the Terahertz Microelectronics Transceiver at Sandia: ‘This is an unexplored area, and a lot of science can come out of it. We are just beginning to scratch the surface of what THz can do to improve national security’.

Oh yeah. I feel safer already.

Huckleberry Finagler

Dec 13

Posted by Marlena in Corruption & Crime, Politics, Psychology | No Comments

Oh, that Mike Huckabee. Let us have some more information, shall we? Instead of the twelve days of Christmas, I offer you the baker’s dozen plus a few extra reasons why Mike Huckabee is absolutely not qualified to be president of this country. Via Dan Payne, Boston Globe:

We expose Huckabee. In Salon.com, reporter Max Brantley recounted his years covering then-Governor Huckabee for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. [1] Reporters considered him petty, thin-skinned, self-righteous, and ethically challenged.

Brantley reports that [2] Huckabee used campaign funds to pay himself as his own media consultant. (Personally, I consider this a hanging offense.)

According to Brantley, [3] “Huckabee raked in tens of thousands of dollars in gifts, including gifts from people he later appointed to prestigious state commissions. Inauguration funds were used to buy clothing for his wife.”

Mike Taibbi in Rolling Stone found [4] Huckabee had a $60,000 taxpayer slush fund for personal expenses like dog food, pantyhose, and meals at Taco Bell. Taco Bell?

Huckleberrys heart swag. [5] When “Huckleberry,” as he’s nicknamed, left the governor’s office, the furniture he’d been given to spruce up the place left with him.

[6] When he and his wife decided to renew their wedding vows, they set up a registry at department stores so citizens could bestow gifts upon the First Couple. The list included Lenox china, a KitchenAid mixer, and a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer. You try losing 100 pounds without a LaLanne.

The heart of Huckabee. [7] When a retarded 15-year-old was raped by her stepfather, she needed state Medicaid funding for an abortion. Governor Huckabee defied a federal judge’s order and blocked the abortion.

[8] Evolution went missing from the textbooks and classrooms of Arkansas during the Reign of Huckleberry. In May, he raised his hand at a presidential debate when asked which of them did not believe in evolution.

[9] He opposes embryonic stem-cell research, but this year accepted a fat speaking fee from drugmaker Novo Nordisk, which conducts embryonic stem-cell research. Over protests from churches, [10] he pushed through a bill allowing video poker at the state’s racetracks, then took a cool $10,000 campaign contribution from the owner of the state’s biggest track.

[11] In 1992, Governor Huckleberry, in calling for forced isolation for AIDS patients, declared: “It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population.”

[12] He tried to paint Arkansas Democratic US Senator Dale Bumpers as a pornographer for supporting federal arts grants.

[13] He quietly pressured the Arkansas parole board to release a convicted rapist who had converted to Christianity in the joint. After his release, the guy killed one woman and probably another.

Wait there’s more…via Salon:

The real danger for high-flying Huckabee comes from self-inflicted wounds. [14] After the debate, Huckabee pointedly apologized to Romney for repeating the charge in the forthcoming Times Magazine profile that Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil were brothers. [15] But Huckabee has yet to convincingly explain why more than a day after the bombshell National Intelligence Estimate was released (concluding in strong terms that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program) he expressed total ignorance of the topic when questioned by reporters. Not to get too picky, but isn’t glancing at the news headlines once a day (or being briefed on them) the minimal qualification for a presidential candidate?

Huckabee is just George Bush with slightly more control. We’re ALL SET with that model. Thanks anyway!!

Be careful what you wish for…

Dec 13

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Politics, Psychology | No Comments

After eight long years of We’re Number One Sucka!, Bush has done a lot of damage to the Republican party’s reputation with young people. Payback’s a bitch.

Faster than you can say “Facebook,” the under-30 set is moving toward the Democratic Party. That is forcing Republicans to redouble their appeals to these voters, who are heading to the polls in bigger numbers, reversing years of declining participation. The shift may have implications for Republicans beyond 2008.

“Younger voters are critical,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster who isn’t affiliated with any candidate. “There’s a good deal of evidence that partisan inclinations reached when you first go through your formative political years tend to be reasonably stable.”

“It cannot help your party if you’re a Republican to have had many people come of age in an administration that has so botched so many enterprises,” said Michael O’Hanlon, director of Opportunity 08, a broad study of the electorate by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

(Hey, there’s Michael O’Hanlon again. I thought he was supposed to be a liberal…nevermind.)

Social conservative issues do not resonate with young people. They worry more about Iraq, global warming, the economy and healthcare. Gay marriage, gay rights, immigration….not so much. About two-thirds of voters stay with the party they voted for the first time, so getting these young people into the fold has long-term implications. Also, there are more young people around, and they are voting in greater numbers. All told, not good news for Republicans. But they are fighting back.

The party is trying to arrest the slide. The College Republican National Committee, for example, is planning an on- line social network where volunteers can win t-shirts, iPods and other prizes for signing up friends and coordinating campus events.

That’s right. Young people just care about winning prizes and collecting cool stuff. An inspired response to the vote of no confidence…

Trouble in Neocon Paradise

Dec 12

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iran, Israel, Nuclear Weapons | No Comments

Via Helena Cobban, who is most grateful to the people responsible for the NIE, you can also read the neocon tea leaves vicariously through Jim Lobe. Evidently, some of the leading neocons are working through the four stages of grief and have arrived at…acceptance? I’m not so sure I believe this, but then again, I’m no expert in neocons.

Call me paranoid, but the whole situation just makes me worry that some other cockamamie plan must be afoot. I don’t think these “folks” will be giving up their trophy war so easily. They were this close, and Dick and George are still in the White House. So we’re not out of the woods yet.

But meanwhile, there’s even more good news! Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dialed down the fiery rhetoric, further deescalating tensions (at least for us normal peace-loving type people).

Ahmadinejad offered little new substance in his comments yesterday - but he avoided the inflammatory rhetoric that he has often used in the past toward Washington. Instead, he held out promise that Iran and the United States could end their numerous disputes, even over Israel, Iran’s top enemy in the region.

Ahmadinejad praised the US intelligence report, calling it “a step forward.”

While this all may surprise and delight me no end, I’m pretty sure the neocons are looking for the Vodka cart.

What is power, anyway?

Dec 12

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Injustice, Psychology, Religion | No Comments

I see here that George Bush has expanded his presidential powers over 1100 times through the use of signing statements. I’m sure he’s very proud of himself. Perhaps he even feels very powerful.

But does all this political kabuki really make Bush powerful? I don’t think so. It all depends on what you consider power.

For example, last week a horrible thing happened. A little first grade girl was shot six times by some psychopath. Maybe you read about it. Here’s the story:

DETROIT — A 7-year-old-girl is being hailed as an “angel from heaven” and a hero for jumping in front of an enraged gunman, who pumped six bullets into the child as she used her body as a shield to save her mother’s life.

Alexis Goggins, a first-grader at Campbell Elementary School, is at Children’s Hospital in Detroit recovering from gunshot wounds to the eye, left temple, chin, cheek, chest and right arm.

This girl and her mother had no heat and were freezing, so they called a friend late at night to ask if they could stay at her house. The friend said sure and went to pick them up. An enraged man with a gun was waiting on the porch and ordered the two women and the girl into the car. The driver said she needed gas and pulled into a station where she knew customers paid inside.

Ford said she dialed 911 on her cell phone as she walked into the station.

“The first operator clicked off and I dialed again and told that operator a guy with a gun was holding me hostage with a mother and baby and threatening to kill us. I told her the name of the gas station and then she said they didn’t have a unit to send.”

Ford said she paid for $5 of gas and slowly returned to the vehicle, stalling for time as she handed Tillie the change. She said she kept stopping and starting the pump, hoping the police would show up.

“I told him I needed more gas and took money out of my purse and went back into the station,” she said. The attendant, Mohammad Alghazali, 30, said he noticed Ford was crying and she told him what was happening. He called 911 as he heard shots coming from the vehicle.

Parker told police that Tillie said Ford was taking too long.

She said she pleaded with him but he pointed the gun at her and shot her in the side of the head. She told police she was shot in the arm as she lunged at Tillie.

Before Tillie could fire again, Alexis jumped over the seat between her mother and the gunman and begged him not to shoot her mother.

The police report said Tillie “without hesitation” pumped six shots into the child.

As police arrived, they saw Parker, covered in blood, running from the truck, screaming, “He just shot my baby.”

The officers said Tillie came out to the vehicle holding a blue steel 9mm semi automatic and dropped the weapon when ordered to do so. Officers said they found Alexis huddled on the floor under the steering wheel, covered in blood, surrounded by spent cartridge casings, a spent bullet on the floor and teeth on the seat. There were bullet holes in the windshield and blood inside.

Alghazali said a police car on a street nearby arrived in less than a minute after his call.

[snip]

Bodley said Alexis receives special education services at school, in part because of a weak left eye, which is the result of a massive stroke she suffered as an infant.

Ford said doctors at the time had predicted that when Alexis got older she would have trouble with tasks such as writing, but she is now able to write her name.

“She is a good little girl who is very protective of her mother,” said Tonya Colbert, Parker’s cousin.

Tillie is being held in the Wayne County Jail facing kidnapping, assault with intent to murder, child abuse, felony firearms and habitual criminal charges.

To my mind, this little girl, Alexis Goggins, is vastly more powerful than George Bush. At least she is to me. And why is that? How can a weak little child with disabilities, living in some degree of poverty in the city of Detroit, possibly be more powerful than George W. Bush? Well, look at what she did. Without hesitation she used her own body as a shield to protect her mother’s life, jumping in front of an enraged gunman and taking six bullets to her face and body. The force that propelled her is simply love. She loves her mother deeply, desperately. Enough to die for her without hesitation, without a second thought.

When grown men do this on the battlefield, we call them heroes. Here we witness a little child do this amazing, powerful thing. What is the word for that? I don’t even know. It overwhelms me. I am in awe, and I reserve my awe for God. And therefore I can only conclude that in Alexis Goggins, I have seen a glimpse of God. And that is the most powerful thing I can hope to see in this life.

And I have never, ever, ever seen anything remotely close to this from George W. Bush. I have observed a man drunk on the trappings of political power, strutting about, gesturing toward himself, starting wars, causing death and destruction, always safe, protected by the Secret Service and every resource the US government can provide. A pathetic weakling if I ever saw one. A person unwilling to suffer discomfort and in fact regaled for his inability to experience doubt, as if that is a sign of strength.

Saint Paul said, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Here is the context:

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

God’s power is made perfect in weakness.

What can God give abundantly? Only love and other good things like humility, patience, grace, wisdom. We can ask God for earthly power, riches, authority and all the rest, but we bark up the wrong tree. I don’t think God is in that business. It’s when we are broken down that God has room to move in us.

I leave you with these passages:

And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. Luke 10:21