Image via WikipediaEnd of an Era
Jumping all over the web the way I do means I often lose track of all the little notes and rants and lists and comments. Apologies to those who wonder if I didn't just drop off the face of the Earth ( lately I've been 'Down Under' a lot - electronically, of course ).I doubt many realize just how much time it takes to search and post - which is why a central noteboard is so important. Utilities back at Opit's Linkfest give locations of different networks and places I wander through. The links page tends more to locations where stories were found while the blog is chronological - though it may be off because of absences or even 'lost' posts.
Here's a collation about Water : a basic and urgent necessity. Because of that, it is a natural lever of power - and destruction.
End of an Era is about changes coming from water shortages looming over us - and how that happened.
June 23 I'm adding a note here that Opera is returning 404 errors. Relevant data is still on the Links page under Water - Wealth & Power. Files are being duplicated at Opit's LinkFest! on Blogger. Most topics are searchable on Del.icio.us/OPIT.
Boondoggle beats Perception
As I rove around the web, it seems I hear constant complaining that so-and-so is lying, talking through his hat, making shit up....I don't really know when I started taking a more basic view of things seriously, i.e. unless insanity of a specific type was contagious - a plan was being followed.
I grew up watching television advertising - something that should guarantee cynical disbelief.
Rove was a revelation : a known advertising man packaging fiction as the front for not just the campaign trail, but ongoing smoke and mirrors to hide the real agenda of the administration.
Intelligent dissent was immediately branded variously as unAmerican, disloyal, Leftist, Conspiracy Theorist....Epithet of the Day branding of various and sundry people in lieu of rebuttal.
I'm lazy online - preferring to catalogue what I consider wonderful writing by others. Noam Chomsky, Tom Engelhardt... so many listed at places like Dandelion Salad,Op-Ed News, Think Progress and more. But I have tried lackadasically to do some organizing of incisive analysis into more concentrated form. The problem is, unless people actually peruse such a list, use it for exploration stimulation, or even a reading aid...the work ends up mostly wasted.
So I diversify, commenting here and there and joining new-hunters' groups and joining some of the better comments threads.
Problem is, by the time that happens, you're dealing with people who realize something is 'off'. What about those who don't ? And can you quip without being slotted into the category of 'fruitcake' so fast you might as save yourself the effort ?
Needlenose, Daliy Kos, Last Left Turn B4 Hooterville and more have tried. Here's another note dealing with the fact that stupid things are constantly said in the news.
The decrying of lack of accuracy stirred up totally misses the point.
An introduction to the Overton Window
I really owe a lot of my willingness to chase this train of thought to Noam Chomsky, who was down this road many years ago in his work on media control by a close-knit corporate in-group. Taking things further led me to see that a pattern of deception could be possible right from school, entertainment, media...everywhere. A real case for paranoia plus.
Could such a framework be reasonably posited and considered ? A little look at political theory yielded startling results
Plutocracy
Kleptocracy
The basics of our laws are inherited from those imposed by conquerors who defined the conditions under which society would operate : specifically in England the settlement of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Modification came in 1215 when the hereditary ruling class took a chunk of Imperial power away because of ongoing abuse : the Great Charter ( Magna Carta ) which limited the authority of the state to imprison and hold people.
Under the current false war of existance threat of terrorism ( real challenges being in short supply ), replacing the old Cold War and Mutual Assured Destruction ( something current policies go a long way towards revitalizing ), the citizenry is stripped of this protection.
Orwell is so often quoted he's become flagged as a sort of UFO-style alarmist. Check his background : he worked in broadcasting before becoming an author. He knew media. His 'fictional' account ? People are fed a recurring theme instead of reporting : news is made to fit the story line by changing it , just not telling everything, or flat omission.
I found '1984' rather dull in some ways. The idea of a soporific community has other proponents. Perversely, Aldous Huxley - Brave New World seemed to have more zip.
Desert Crossing and other Information
The 1999 Study projecting the results of an invasion of Iraq
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB207/index.htm
This was 'hidden' by Don Rumsfeld
How Iraq's water supply was destroyed
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0808-07.htm
Power of hate speech and the Big Lie
http://lastleftb4hooterville.blogspot.com/2007/03/whats-in-word-power-of-hate-speech-and.html
Sowing Disention Among the Insurgency ( pdf )
http://www.mountainrunner.us/files/Sowing_Dissension.pdf
Project for the New American Century
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century
Security First : Ours, Theirs, and the Global Order
http://dspace.wrlc.org/bitstream/1961/4011/1/A370+-+Security+First.pdf
One further piece of information. Check the original PNAC policy statement and note names of the members.
Now try an experiment. Imagine 'Desert Crossing' is the policy of the Cheney/Bush administration. How well does the model fit the train of events ?
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB207/index.htm
This was 'hidden' by Don Rumsfeld
How Iraq's water supply was destroyed
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0808-07.htm
Power of hate speech and the Big Lie
http://lastleftb4hooterville.blogspot.com/2007/03/whats-in-word-power-of-hate-speech-and.html
Sowing Disention Among the Insurgency ( pdf )
http://www.mountainrunner.us/files/Sowing_Dissension.pdf
Project for the New American Century
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century
Security First : Ours, Theirs, and the Global Order
http://dspace.wrlc.org/bitstream/1961/4011/1/A370+-+Security+First.pdf
One further piece of information. Check the original PNAC policy statement and note names of the members.
Now try an experiment. Imagine 'Desert Crossing' is the policy of the Cheney/Bush administration. How well does the model fit the train of events ?
The Importance of Being Earnest
Or to steal a line.
The President of the United States has gone so far as to advise Congress what legislation is out of bounds for consideration re: Iraq as to meet automatic veto should it be promulgated. This does not seem like an adequate support of Congress' duty to vette engagements in foreign conflict and define - as opposed to administer - ongoing policy.
Despite bad weather conditions hampering the physical ability to assemble for the fourth year of an illegal invasion promoted with deception equivalent to shouting "Fire !" in a crowded theater, Americans clearly are dissatisfied with their perceptions of the Administration's direction, candor, competence and discretion.
That would be before recognition of what a colossal "haul" Halliburton and friends have made from extra-budgetary and/or improperly administered contracts - coupled with tax exemptions for super corporations - and mercenaries - and torture.
That this only scratches the surface of this horror show makes Congress' seeming inability to leave its familiar distractions of partisan politics and engage with the idea that it has lost most if not all of its real power to affect the tide of events to become an almost irrelevant vestigial appendage of government really comes at the most inconvenient time when it is once more revealed that those who most desire power are often the least deserving of it.
Perhaps that is only poetic justice after all.
The President of the United States has gone so far as to advise Congress what legislation is out of bounds for consideration re: Iraq as to meet automatic veto should it be promulgated. This does not seem like an adequate support of Congress' duty to vette engagements in foreign conflict and define - as opposed to administer - ongoing policy.
Despite bad weather conditions hampering the physical ability to assemble for the fourth year of an illegal invasion promoted with deception equivalent to shouting "Fire !" in a crowded theater, Americans clearly are dissatisfied with their perceptions of the Administration's direction, candor, competence and discretion.
That would be before recognition of what a colossal "haul" Halliburton and friends have made from extra-budgetary and/or improperly administered contracts - coupled with tax exemptions for super corporations - and mercenaries - and torture.
That this only scratches the surface of this horror show makes Congress' seeming inability to leave its familiar distractions of partisan politics and engage with the idea that it has lost most if not all of its real power to affect the tide of events to become an almost irrelevant vestigial appendage of government really comes at the most inconvenient time when it is once more revealed that those who most desire power are often the least deserving of it.
Perhaps that is only poetic justice after all.
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