New Civilization News: The Republic Of Georgia: Hypocrisy    
 The Republic Of Georgia: Hypocrisy42 comments
picture14 Aug 2008 @ 11:20, by Richard Carlson

...and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden croft,
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

---John Keats

Yield to the willow
all the loathing
all the desire of your heart.

---Basho

Shadow owes its birth to light.

---John Gay

The Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline

I was watching the Opening Ceremonies from the Beijing Olympics. I confess to remaining ignorant of what time and what day it is in China, but NBC was broadcasting it last Friday night at 8:00 Eastern Time. About half an hour into the spectacle, there was footage of President Bush and spouse in their box seats. The President had his suitcoat off and sleeves rolled up in the 85 degree heat of the open-air stadium. Matt or Bob commented that Russian Prime Minister Putin was calling to Bush, and we were seeing a shot of Putin, 3/4s turned away from the camera, shouting something the 10 or 20 feet between them. Bush turned around, scowling, and shouted back clearly, "NO!" The significance of the interchange became clear about an hour later when the commentators announced the Republic of Georgia had launched a missile attack upon the "breakaway province" (whatever that means exactly) of South Ossetia.

I had gotten to know a very little bit about Georgia because our town had been visited by a touring folk group from there last November. [link]
The program for the Zedashe Ensemble told us, "These songs have been forged by the flames of centuries of war and oppression, baptized by the free-flowing blood of our ancestors, blessed by the tears of our saints, who pray constantly for their burning motherland, and raised like a phoenix from the ashes by a nation that passionately seeks to preserve its voice." Sure enough, there was some very primitive, yet harmonically complex, music, somewhat Eastern European but with a Far Eastern mix, climaxing with a sword fight dance that had sparks flying literally from the clash of heavy metal. The language was Georgian, and they were adamant about it.

A couple days later there were news reports of fighting going on in that country, and I was worried as to whether the troupe would be stuck over here. We had a Georgian exchange student at the high school, and I had come to think of the place as remote but with great variety of mountains and the Black Sea. Indeed it is the crossroads between Asia and Europe. It is said winemaking originated in the Caucasus. It looks like a wonderful spot to explore. [link]
So besides the strategic location, what did these people have to fight about?


The day following those Olympic Ceremonies the Russian army marched in. Its jets attacked Georgian military bases, and President Saakashvili announced the 2 countries were at war. There were hundreds of casualties. Surely Bush and Putin, those good ol' pals of eyegazing trust, weren't negotiating these matters in the stadium. We're aware the Bush administration has been working on both Georgia and The Ukraine to join up with NATO---right there on the Russian border. We know Bush and Saakashvili had some friendly talks a couple years ago. [link]
We know there's something about a BP pipeline going right through the country (and Turkey) out to the Mediterranean, carrying Asian oil to the rest of the world. Georgia has been revived by the pipeline which promises to completely replace Russian oil with a cheaper BP price. With all those developments, would Georgia undertake military operations without some communication with us or them?

Bush gave it a few days to straighten out, but Cheney immediately called for punishment of those Russians. There's quite a bit of history here and some treaties, and here's some of it in a dispatch from the London Financial Times on August 7th. [link] With everybody in Beijing, did Saakashvili figure he just had to go it alone? Or was it planned that way? I'm sure both Bush and Putin like a good alibi.

How much support the Georgian president actually has among the people is open to question. The "democratic" elections both there and in The Ukraine were contested. Saakashvili's public statements about US support first sounded disappointed, but with Bush's announcement of "vigorous and ongoing" humanitarian aid delivered by American troops he's much more upbeat. “'We already saw U.S. Air Force landing in Georgia despite Russians controlling the airspace,' he said, after a C-17 had touched down. 'And we will see U.S. military ships entering Georgian ports despite Russians blocking it. That we will see.' He added, 'These will be serious military ships.'” [link]

The Russian view was presented well in the Financial Times on Tuesday, by the Russian Foreign Minister. [link] With the announcement Secretary of State Rice and the troops are on the way, Sergei Lavrov yesterday warned the US choice of Georgia over Russia is a sacrifice of the "real partnership" our countries have forged since the fall of the Soviet Union. [link] Of course there's also feeling in Russia the US has been walking all over that reeling state while it's been down. Missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland and now NATO expansion hardly seem the stuff we thought would happen after Putin in the Rose Garden.

Furthermore, Robert Scheer found it interesting on Tuesday that John McCain's chief foreign policy advisor was a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government until just 4 months ago. Prior to that Randy Scheunemann was a director of the Project For A New American Century and after 2000, headed the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which championed the U.S. invasion. Scheer believes what we have here is an August Surprise, specially calculated to give McCain the steam he needs and muddy the waters for Barack Obama. [link]

All of that of course is a horror to contemplate. But what gets me is how righteous the US is sounding against Russia's response to a call for help in defense of its citizens and sympathizers. I don't support such incursions but isn't this precisely what the US said it was doing in Iraq, to liberate those poor beseiged people? Is it what we said in Kuwait, Panama, Granada? When the Soviet Union chugged its way toward Cuba with missiles onboard in 1962, we shouted about our "sphere of influence." I remember well, as I was prime pickin's at 1-A draft status. Are other countries allowed such a sphere? We hear about "territorial integrity." That's a pretty hazy category. Surely we look like hypocrites once again, spinning the world and all the people in it our way.



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42 comments

14 Aug 2008 @ 14:22 by a-d : Click on this.....
.... [ http://www.rense.com/ ] and up will come a Political Art-Pic, that gives a lot more "meat-on-the-bones" to this article. It explains/shows that whole side that you didn't even mention!...: The REAL KULPRIT in the Charade; the 6000 year old LAND ROBBER(S)/and Parasites-in-action- on/with their latest the Georgia scam : to suck that Nation dry now....  


14 Aug 2008 @ 15:07 by jazzolog : Expansion
If you mean Israel, it's true I did not go into that connection. I prefer not to assume I know what you're talking about though. Would you care to tell us more or refer us to articles you've found?  


14 Aug 2008 @ 18:34 by quinty : We are also hearing
pronouncements about proper behavior in “the beginning of the twenty first century,” from the likes of Madeleine Albright and other Americans. As if we had suddenly refound our innocence, opening the century with the Iraq war.

I never heard of South Ossetia until a week ago. Ellen, who has read up on this stuff, does not believe the Georgians are as innocent as they portray themselves. And reminds us that the South Ossetians want to rejoin their Ossetian neighbors in the north, in Russia.

Watching and listening to politicians lie, and our TVs have been flooded with that, can be somewhat mind boggling. Since if a used car dealer tried the same tactics you would instantly be off the lot.  



14 Aug 2008 @ 20:45 by a-d : If I remeber correct....
...Jazzo, you received the same article by e-mail as I did from one of our friends here on NCN : http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9788 and you thanked her for the article.... which I did too!... And then I went on rense and it is FULL of FACTS : NAMES w/ Citizenships (= loyalties) /other CONNECTION Refferals!....

Here is something entirely different subject I was just going to send you in a private e-mail. but I change my mind and let all NCN people read this.... somehow this feels as a grotesque violence on Humanity as any waged "War" or( so called pre-emptive attack under the guise of )"protection" of our Sovereignty --or so they say/pretend=, the Crooks; the guys who violate us/Humanity the
most!!!
[ http://www.revolutionhealth.com/healthy-living/food-nutrition/alternative-food-attitudes/genetically-modified/problems-genetically-modified-food

....On top of it all: US is planning on punishing Russia!
[ http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=66441§ionid=3510203 ]

...and, now while we're at it; lets' see how Life is "evolving" with these stooges at the Wheel:
[ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/13/privacy.privacy ]  



15 Aug 2008 @ 10:55 by jazzolog : The End Of Pax Americana
I thanked her for the site a-d, not particularly that article. As for the US "punishing" anybody anymore---except for small, weak flunkies we like to shove around---Paul Krugman points out this morning those days are gone fortunately. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/opinion/15krugman.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin Juan Cole went over the same ground yesterday, and some of the points I tried to raise---but of course he does it better---at Salon. http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/08/14/bush_putin/index.html Katrina Vanden Heuvel also took on the misconceived neocon view of the world at The Nation in an editorial she appears to have revised last night, given Mikhail Gorbachev's appearance on Larry King. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080901/kvh AP's Pete Yost picked up on the McCain Georgia ties. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iG-8I87S5w4QP8CPIrx2wh8irqmgD92HKVB86  


15 Aug 2008 @ 13:14 by a-d : Yeah...
...I think this "Georgia -Thannngggg" really will be the MAGNIFYING -GLASS that shows all those "Delicate" Aspects, that the Blind Sheeples have over looked so far -or not not being able to see 'cause they were (deemed) so in-consequential!... like Little W's Selfrightousness!... imagine; "W" "punishing Putin for "invading a Sovereign Free Country".... That MUST be thee most bizarre scenes the Planet has ever witnessed!  


15 Aug 2008 @ 16:25 by Quinty @68.9.133.5 : More....
Here some pieces Ellen found in the Nation and the Guardian on the conflict.... For those of you (like me) who never heard of South Ossetia a week ago these may be helpful.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/08/georgia.russia4

{link:http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080901/kvh}

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080818/ames2

()()()()()()()()()()()()()())()()()()()()()

Paul's second link is same Nation editorial I reference in my comment just above.

---jazz  



15 Aug 2008 @ 18:39 by jazzolog : Another View From The UK
NCN member dempstress, formerly with the BBC, referred me to this Independent opinion from this morning. It also questions US framing of this whole deal.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mary-dejevsky/mary-dejevsky-russia-the-bad-guys-who-are-the-west-trying-to-kid-897498.html

Looks like Bush no longer can move any cars off the lot.  



15 Aug 2008 @ 20:12 by a-d : Oooops
("...I thanked her for the site a-d, not particularly that article." )... In that case... I apologize,Jazzo. Hopefully my sloppy running into incorrect conclusions haven't crushed you too bad --or slandered your Good Name too much!.... I'm truly sorry!... (and yes, I did thank KB for the article!... another ooops, maybe, is in place!... )

Just read the article demptress sent you, and ... I want to puke!... does righteousness and JUSTICE never gain any true ground anywhere?!

"... Why was it so difficult for outsiders to believe that Moscow wanted precisely what its leaders said they wanted: a return to the situation that had pertained before Georgia's incursion into South Ossetia – and does it matter that its intentions were so appallingly misread? Yes it does. If outsiders impute to Moscow motives and objectives it does not have, they alienate Russia even further, and make a long-term solution of many international problems that more difficult. It is high time we treated Russia's post-Soviet leaders as responsible adults representing a legitimate national interest, rather than assuming the stereotypical worst...."

This is exactly what is sooo wrong with the evil ones!..though HOW that happens, I do understand: we judge others from ourselves and trust them the way we trust oureselves -until proven different.
And in seriously mentally/emotionally ILL creatures/humans(???) this is the part, that is so damaged: they can't see themselves AND others, they ONLY judge others as being all those things they cannot accept in themselves!... PROJECTION, I think Freud et Al called it.

How to deal with the horrific feelings of the seemingly never ending IN-Justice, that always make the EVIL somehow more right???? Now, HOW EVIL IS THAT?!How can we just flog the EVIL-doers, of the last 6000years,(alive, that would of course not measure more than to only a fraction of a drop of all the pain, they caused on Humanity, not to mention the rest of God's Creation, suffering from these Evil Creatures' actions )

USA /GEORGE BUSH is INDEED the INITIATOR AND ACTIVE WAR PROVOKER, using the Georgian Puppet-"prsident to do the dirty job!...
[ http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20535.htm ]
[ http://www.rense.com/general83/isg.htm }
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Xpvj979qg&feature=related ]
http://www.rense.com/general83/neo.htm GEORGE )or whom ever he works for... INVADED South Ossetia from GEORGIA, pretending they did "Something Good", JUST LIKE THEY DID in IRAQ! and that invasion started months ago: water supply shut off and all the rest of the infrastructure interfered with and then came the outright war attack on the Olympic Opening Ceremony time schedule!....
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mBMQufrBWdg&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oLoBckWl-dg&feature=related
*********************
OK, Night, between Sat & Sund... Now that I have had a chance to chill out my outrage about the UN-fairness of it all, I don't have the need to flog anybody any longer!... : )... I leave "The Revenge" to God, "who" is The ONLY ONE" to whom "Revenge" belongs!... and all I "need" to do, is to send ALL people (involved ) LOVE & Light!... & the rest will be handled by Universe.  



17 Aug 2008 @ 23:20 by Quinty @68.9.133.5 : More....
Is this pretty close to the truth?

From the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081401360_pf.html

"We Are All Georgians"? Not So Fast
Sunday 17 August 2008
»
by: Michael Dobbs, The Washington Post

It didn't take long for the "Putin is Hitler" analogies to start following the eruption of the ugly little war between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia. Neoconservative commentator Robert Kagan compared the Russian attack on Georgia with the Nazi grab of the Sudetenland in 1938. President Jimmy Carter's former national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, said that the Russian leader was following a course "horrifyingly similar to that taken by Stalin and Hitler in the 1930s."

Others invoked the infamous Brezhnev doctrine, under which Soviet leaders claimed the right to intervene militarily in Eastern Europe in order to prop up their crumbling imperium. "We've seen this movie before, in Prague and Budapest," said John McCain, referring to the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Hungary in 1956. According to the Republican presidential candidate,"today we are all Georgians."

Actually, the events of the past week in Georgia have little in common with either Hitler's dismemberment of Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II or Soviet policies in Eastern Europe. They are better understood against the backdrop of the complica ted ethnic politics of the Caucasus, a part of the world where historical grudges run deep and oppressed can become oppressors in the bat of an eye.

Unlike most of the armchair generals now posing as experts on the Caucasus, I have actually visited Tskhinvali, a sleepy provincial town in the shadow of the mountains that rise along Russia's southern border. I was there in March 1991, shortly after the city was occupied by Georgian militia units loyal to Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the first freely elected leader of Georgia in seven decades. One of Gamsakhurdia's first acts as Georgian president was to cancel the political autonomy that the Stalinist constitution had granted the republic's 90,000-strong Ossetian minority.

After negotiating safe passage with Soviet interior ministry troops who had stationed themselves between the Georgians and the Ossetians, I discovered that the town had been ransacked by Gamsakhurdia's militia. The Georgians had trashed the Ossetian national theater, decapitated the statue of an Ossetian poet and pulled down monuments to Ossetians who had fought with Soviet troops in World War II. The Ossetians were responding in kind, firing on Georgian villages and forcing Georgian residents of Tskhinvali to flee their homes.

It soon became clear to me that the Ossetians viewed Georgians in much the same way that Georgians view Russians: as aggressive bullies bent on taking away their independence. "We are much more worried by Georgian imperialism than Russian imperialism," an Ossetian leader, Gerasim Khugaev, told me then. "It is closer to us, and we feel its pressure all the time."

When it comes to apportioning blame for the latest flare-up in the Caucasus, there's plenty to go around. The Russians were clearly itching for a fight, but the behavior of Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has been erratic and provocative. The United States may have stoked the conflict by encouraging Saakashvili to believe that he enjoyed American protection, when the West's ability to impose its will in this part of the world is actually quite limited.

Let us examine the role played by the three main parties.

Georgia. Saakashvili's image in the West, and particularly in the United States, is that of the great "democrat," the leader of the "Rose Revolution" who spearheaded a popular uprising against former American favorite Eduard Shevardnadze in November 2003. It is true that he has won two reasonably free elections, but he has also displayed some autocratic tendencies: He sent riot police to crush an opposition protest in Tbilisi last November and shuttered an opposition television station.

While the United States views Saakashvili as a pro-Western modernizer, a large part of his political appeal in Georgia has stemmed from his promise to reunify Georgia by bringing the secessionist provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia under central control. He has presented himself as the successor to the medieval Georgian king David the Builder and promised that the country will regain its lost territories by the time he leaves office, by one means or another. American commentators tend to overlook the fact that Georgian democracy is inextricably intertwined with Georgian nationalism.

The restoration of Georgia's traditional borders is an understandable goal for a Georgian leader, but it is a much lower priority for the West, particularly if it involves armed conflict with Russia. Based on their previous experience with Georgian rule, Ossetians and Abkhazians have perfectly valid reasons to oppose reunification with Georgia, even if it means throwing in their lot with the Russians.

It is unclear how the simmering tensions between Georgia and South Ossetia came to the boil this month. The Georgians say that they were provoked by the shelling of Georgian villages from Ossetian-controlled territory. While this may well be the case, the Georgian response was disproportionate. On the night of Aug. 7 and into Aug. 8, Saakashvili ordered an artillery barrage against Tskhinvali and sent an armored column to occupy the town. He apparently hoped that Western support would protect Georgia from major Russian retaliation, even though Russian "peacekeepers" were almost certainly killed or wounded in the Georgian assault.

It was a huge miscalculation. Russian Prime minister Vladimir Putin (and let there be no doubt that he is calling the shots in Moscow despite having handed over the presidency to his protege, Dmitri Medvedev) now had the ideal pretext for settling scores with the uppity Georgians. Rather than simply restoring the status quo ante, Russian troops moved into Georgia proper, cutting the main east-west highway at Gori and attacking various military bases.

Saakashvili's decision to gamble everything on a lightning grab for Tskhinvali brings to mind the comment of the 19th-century French statesman Talleyrand: "It was worse than a crime, it was a mistake."

Russia. Putin and Medvedev have defended their incursion into Georgia as motivated by a desire to stop the "genocide" of Ossetians by Georgians. It is difficult to take their moral outrage very seriously. There is a striking contrast between Russian support for the right of Ossetian self-determination in Georgia and the brutal suppression of Chechens who were trying to exercise that very same right within the boundaries of Russia.

Playing one ethnic group against another in the Caucasus has been standard Russian policy ever since czarist times. It is the ideal wedge issue for the Kremlin, particularly in the case of a state such as Georgia, which is made up of several different nationalities. It would be virtually impossible for South Ossetia to survive as an autonomous entity without Russian support. Putin's government has issued passports to Ossetians and secured the appointment of Russians to key positions in Tskhinvali.

The Russian incursion into Georgia proper has been even more "disproportionate" - in President Bush's phrase - than the Georgian assault on Tskhinvali. The Russians have made no secret of their wish to replace Saakashvili with a more compliant leader. Russian military targets included the Black Sea port of Poti - more than 100 miles from South Ossetia.

The real goal of Kremlin strategy is to reassert Russian influence in a part of the world that has been regarded, by czars and commissars alike, as Russia's backyard. Russian leaders bitterly resented the eastward expansion of NATO to include Poland and the Baltic states - with Ukraine and Georgia next on the list - but were unable to do very much about it as long as America was strong and Russia was weak. Now the tables are turning for the first time since the collapse of communism in 1991, and Putin is seizing the moment.

If Putin is smart, he will refrain from occupying Georgia proper, a step that would further alarm the West and unite Georgians against Russia. A better tactic would be to wait for Georgians themselves to turn against Saakashvili. The precedent here is what happened to Gamsakhurdia, who was overthrown in January 1992 by the same militia forces he had sent into South Ossetia a year earlier.

The United States. The Bush administration has been sending mixed messages to its Georgian friends. U.S. officials insist that they did not give the green light to Saakashvili for his attack on South Ossetia. At the same time, however, the United States has championed NATO membership for Georgia, sent military advisers to bolster the Georgian army and demanded the restoration of Georgian territorial integrity. American support might well have emboldened Saakashvili as he was considering how to respond to the "provocations" from South Ossetia.

Now the United States has ended up in a situation in the Caucasus where the Georgian tail is wagging the NATO dog. We were unable to control Saakashvili or to lend him effective assistance when his country was invaded. One lesson is that we need to be very careful in extending NATO membership, or even the promise of membership, to countries that we have neither the will nor the ability to defend.

In the meantime, American leaders have paid little attention to Russian diplomatic concerns, both inside the former borders of the Soviet Union and farther abroad. The Bush administration unilaterally abrogated the 1972 anti-missile defense treaty and ignored Putin when he objected to Kosovo independence on the grounds that it would set a dangerous precedent. It is difficult to explain why Kosovo should have the right to unilaterally declare its independence from Serbia, while the same right should be denied to places such as South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The bottom line is that the United States is overextended militarily, diplomatically and economically. Even hawks such as Vice President Cheney, who have been vociferously denouncing Putin's actions in Georgia, have no stomach for a military conflict with Moscow. The United States is bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan and needs Russian support in the coming trial of strength with Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

Instead of speaking softly and wielding a big stick, as Teddy Roosevelt recommended, the American policeman has been loudly lecturing the rest of the world while waving an increasingly unimpressive baton. The events of the past few days serve as a reminder that our ideological ambitions have greatly exceeded our military reach, particularly in areas such as the Caucasus, which is of only peripheral importance to the United States but of vital interest to Russia.

----------

Michael Dobbs covered the collapse of the Soviet Union for The Washington Post. His latest book is "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War."  



20 Aug 2008 @ 11:21 by jazzolog : Marching Through Georgia

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/uc/20080819/ltt080819.gif

I've been enjoying some family time these last couple days...just prior to students and us school workers returning to our desks next week. I see in the meantime peace has not broken out.

To the contrary, while the conflict in the Caucasus has not increased casualties considerably, Russian troops have captured some US Humvees and 20 mercenaries---er, contract workers---all wearing Georgian army uniforms. There had been a meeting planned between Russia and NATO, but Russia called it off yesterday. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he wasn't in the mood to go to a lecture. http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/29231 Not to be outdone, at the same time NATO declared it has frozen all contact with Russia for the immediate future. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSLI6107220080819

Over the weekend it was the United States getting the lecture. The Sunday New York Times published the most complete analysis and history I've seen of the situation. It's not perfect I'm sure, but if you missed it it's still available http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/washington/18diplo.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all . The UK seemed particularly dismayed with recent Bush foreign policy toward Georgia and the Ukraine. In The Herald Iain MacWhirter wonders why we got it so wrong over there http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2427410.0.Why_the_west_has_got_it_so_wrong_over_Georgia.php . Even before Pat Buchanan came up with it yesterday, MacWhirter reminded his readers that if Bush had succeeded in getting Georgia into NATO this year, all the countries of the alliance would be at war right now. The Bush view of things, however, is that were Georgia in NATO Russia never would have dared send in troops. Matthew Bryza, identified as a special envoy, was quoted in The Independent's Sunday comment entitled Why Are We Pretending We Would Fight For Georgia? http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/geoffrey-wheatcroft-why-are-we-pretending-we-would-fight-for-georgia-899618.html . Another report yesterday contends Saakashvili is not allowing the Red Cross into South Ossetia.

Well-argued Russian viewpoints have been available in the Western press. The International Herald Tribune gave us Dmitry Rogozin's opinion of Washington's Hypocrisy. He is, or was, Russia's ambassador to NATO. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/18/opinion/edrogozin.php?page=1 Former USSR Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev writes in this morning's New York Times.

Through it all Americans seem to continue beaming positive, happy smiles at each other as if there were no great problems any of us can do anything about. The temperature and prices are soaring...well, maybe there is something we can do about that: Americans want to drill, drill, drill. So it was something of a relief to hear about a book that's out, written by an English teacher wouldn't-you-know, called Against Happiness. Here's a sample~~~

"At the behest of well-meaning friends, I have purchased books on how to be happy. I have tried to turn my chronic scowl into a bright smile. I have attempted to become more active, to get out of my dark house and away from my somber books and participate in the world of meaningful action. I have taken up jogging, the Latin language, and the chair of a university English department. I have fostered the drive to succeed in my career. I have bought an insurance policy, a PalmPilot, and a cellphone. I have taken an interest in Thanksgiving and Christmas, in keeping my hair trimmed short, and in meticulously ironing my clothes. I have viewed Doris Day and Frank Capra movies. I have feigned interest in the health of others. I have dropped into the habit of saying 'great' and 'wonderful' as much as possible. I have pretended to take seriously certain good causes designed to make the world a better place. I have contemplated getting a dog. I have started eating salads. I have tried to discipline myself in nodding knowingly. I have tried to be mindful of others but ended up pissed as hell. I have written a book on the hard-earned optimism of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I have undertaken yoga. I have stopped yoga and gone into tai chi. I have thought of going to psychiatrists and getting some drugs. I have quit all of this and then started again and then once more quit. Now I plan to stay quit. The road to hell is paved with happy plans.

"My basic instinct is toward melancholia — a state I must nourish. In fostering my essential nature, I'm trying to live according to what I see as my deep calling. Granted, it's difficult at times to hold hard to this vocation, this labor in the fields of sadness. But I realize somewhere in the core of my bones that I was born to the blues."

Eric G. Wilson explained himself further in an article last January for the Chronicle of Higher Education. In his Defense of Melancholy he reminds us Keats thought along similar lines. http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=tk1twsk466pmt0m7fj6py116kyc71fhv Give it a try, you might end up feeling a lot better actually.  



20 Aug 2008 @ 14:58 by a-d : How was Life before
there was oil? Well...in Georgia-Israel connected Hearts Life looked like this: [ http://www.rense.com/general83/isg.htm ]. Could any of these old Strings still have a pull?  


20 Aug 2008 @ 21:00 by quinty : The Creatures of the Night
have begun to sing a torch song for Georgia. Laura Ingraham couldn't hold back a couple of nights ago from repeatedly calling Russia the "Soviet Union." It felt nice on her tongue, perhaps like a bon bon. And Putin is our latest Hitler. (A curious juxtaposition that.)

When someone gets out of line, the Neocons and McCain tell us, get tough! Knock a few heads together. Show them who’s boss.

The far right has a tendency to project. They claim Putin is nostalgic for the old Russian empire. Or could the truth be our rightwing is nostalgic for the old American empire? Back when rattling an American saber really meant something. Now, Putin pretty much can tell us to get lost, and humiliate us too by highlighting NATO's weakness.

He does have a point, after all. Georgia and Poland and the Ukraine et al are in Russia's backyard. I know the comparison is trite, but it has to be made. How would we feel..... in Cuba, even in South and Central America? Or Canada? Most of which is much further away from us than Georgia is from.... Why, just the other day I heard a Republican Congressman talk about Venezuela as if it were our property. Maybe he wants to grow tomatoes there?

There are some things we shouldn't get mixed up in. Or we should at least follow that basic admonition of the medical profession: first do no harm. This is another case where the locals have been at it for hundreds of years. Until a couple of weeks ago I never heard of Ossetia. Unless what I’ve read is all wrong the Ossetians do not particularly like the Georgians and see them as overbearing bullies. They would far prefer go their own way with the Russians joining North Ossetia. And the feeling is mutual.

But the Georgians also see the Russians as bullies. Respectable cases can be made for each side of this since each has history to back it up. And in the recent conflict the Georgians over reacted to the Ossetians’ violence, killing some Russians. Then the Russians over reacted.

Bringing Georgia into NATO seems foolish to me, since NATO will gain nothing and Georgia will obtain the military support it wants. And, yes, if history is any warning the Georgians may get tough with the Ossetians again.

Is this something we really want to become mixed up in? Taking sides? Getting tough? And McCain is now ahead of Obama in the polls?  



22 Aug 2008 @ 11:28 by jazzolog : It Pays To Be Ignorant
Some of you pre-1950 kids may remember that radio show. We loved quiz shows maybe more then because Mom still could do the ironing while you colored in your Red Ryder coloring book. This was a spoof on the more learned quiz shows, and featured dumber-than-a-post panelists who nevertheless gave hilarious answers to real questions. ("Do married men live longer than single men?" "No, it only seems longer.") You can hear the shows free at a number of sites, including this one. http://www.radiolovers.com/pages/itpaystobeignorant.htm

I doubt the quiz show creators ever thought "It Pays To Be Ignorant" would replace "In God We Trust" on our currency, but perhaps we're ready for a new motto. By now hopefully you've read Terrence MacNally's (I believe the famous playwright's name is spelled "Terrance") interview at AlterNet with Susan Jacoby, author of The Age Of American Unreason. http://www.alternet.org/story/95109/ It starts out with Barack Obama's comment, "It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."

OK, at first it was nice to have all this information available to us average guys 24/7 at the click of a button. Add "spin" to it though, and I suppose the Rovians have succeeded in burning a lot of us out. Some guys have jumped on it as a way to brag that they don't read anything or know anything. I think we've been having a President like that---but of course the rich know better than to read their own press. Others walk around frustrated and dazed because they just can't keep up. I was at a church meeting last night where a man of my own generation (so he should have known better) requested we pray for Russia to stop all it's doing in recreating the Cold War. When met with a chorus of groans, he looked like he didn't know where he had gone wrong.

If you, dear reader, still are a lifelong learner---and relieved you don't know everything yet---you may find valuable a few reviews and articles that have shown up since this Georgian crisis erupted during the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. The (London) Times Literary Supplement carried an excellent review last week of a new book over there entitled The Ghost Of Freedom: A History Of The Caucasus. On a single page, quite simply, one at least can discover why things are so complicated in the region---and have been for 2000 years. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article4522162.ece

Then there's F. William Engdahl's The Puppet Masters Behind Georgia President Saakashvili, at his website also from last week. The article takes us back to how Saakashvili came to power. Guess whose hand is showing more and more obviously. Mr. Engdahl has written about energy, politics and economics, particularly surrounding oil, for more than 30 years. That would take us back to the 1973 oil embargo by OPEC, when they declared they wouldn't sell oil anymore to backers of Israel during the Yom Kippur War against Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order, he's been watching Zbigniew Brzezinski for a long time, and certainly knows whereof he speaks. http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Geopolitics___Eurasia/Saakashvili/saakashvili.html

Think all that's too radical? OK, how about a solid member of the Wall Street Journal's Digital Network, good ol' MarketWatch.com ? Forbes lists it as one of the best stock trackers on the web for your portfolio. http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=2943 One of the analysts there, Paul B. Farrell, posted a bombshell on Monday entitled "America's Outrageous War Economy! Pentagon can't find $2.3 trillion, wasting trillions on 'national defense'". I think maybe I want to preserve this one~~~


ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Yes, America's economy is a war economy. Not a "manufacturing" economy. Not an "agricultural" economy. Nor a "service" economy. Not even a "consumer" economy.

Seriously, I looked into your eyes, America, saw deep into your soul. So let's get honest and officially call it "America's Outrageous War Economy." Admit it: we secretly love our war economy. And that's the answer to Jim Grant's thought-provoking question last month in the Wall Street Journal -- "Why No Outrage?"

There really is only one answer: Deep inside we love war. We want war. Need it. Relish it. Thrive on war. War is in our genes, deep in our DNA. War excites our economic brain. War drives our entrepreneurial spirit. War thrills the American soul. Oh just admit it, we have a love affair with war. We love "America's Outrageous War Economy."

Americans passively zone out playing video war games. We nod at 90-second news clips of Afghan war casualties and collateral damage in Georgia. We laugh at Jon Stewart's dark comedic news and Ben Stiller's new war spoof "Tropic Thunder" ... all the while silently, by default, we're cheering on our leaders as they aggressively expand "America's Outrageous War Economy," a relentless machine that needs a steady diet of war after war, feeding on itself, consuming our values, always on the edge of self-destruction.

Why else are Americans so eager and willing to surrender 54% of their tax dollars to a war machine, which consumes 47% of the world's total military budgets?

Why are there more civilian mercenaries working for no-bid private war contractors than the total number of enlisted military in Iraq (180,000 to 160,000), at an added cost to taxpayers in excess of $200 billion and climbing daily?

Why do we shake our collective heads "yes" when our commander-in-chief proudly tells us he is a "war president;" and his party's presidential candidate chants "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," as if "war" is a celebrity hit song?

Why do our spineless Democrats let an incompetent, blundering executive branch hide hundreds of billions of war costs in sneaky "supplemental appropriations" that are more crooked than Enron's off-balance-sheet deals?

Why have Washington's 537 elected leaders turned the governance of the American economy over to 42,000 greedy self-interest lobbyists?

And why earlier this year did our "support-our-troops" "war president" resist a new GI Bill because, as he said, his military might quit and go to college rather than re-enlist in his war; now we continue paying the Pentagon's warriors huge $100,000-plus bonuses to re-up so they can keep expanding "America's Outrageous War Economy?" Why? Because we secretly love war!

We've lost our moral compass: The contrast between today's leaders and the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 shocks our conscience. Today war greed trumps morals. During the Revolutionary War our leaders risked their lives and fortunes; many lost both.

Today it's the opposite: Too often our leaders' main goal is not public service but a ticket to building a personal fortune in the new "America's Outrageous War Economy," often by simply becoming a high-priced lobbyist.

Ultimately, the price of our greed may be the fulfillment of Kevin Phillips' warning in "Wealth and Democracy:" "Most great nations, at the peak of their economic power, become arrogant and wage great world wars at great cost, wasting vast resources, taking on huge debt, and ultimately burning themselves out."

'National defense' a propaganda slogan selling a war economy?

But wait, you ask: Isn't our $1.4 trillion war budget essential for "national defense" and "homeland security?" Don't we have to protect ourselves?

Sorry folks, but our leaders have degraded those honored principles to advertising slogans. They're little more than flag-waving excuses used by neocon war hawks to disguise the buildup of private fortunes in "America's Outrageous War Economy."

America may be a ticking time bomb, but we are threatened more by enemies within than external terrorists, by ideological fanatics on the left and the right. Most of all, we are under attack by our elected leaders who are motivated more by pure greed than ideology. They terrorize us, brainwashing us into passively letting them steal our money to finance "America's Outrageous War Economy," the ultimate "black hole" of corruption and trickle-up economics.

You think I'm kidding? I'm maybe too harsh? Sorry but others are far more brutal. Listen to the ideologies and realities eating at America's soul.

1. Our toxic 'war within' is threatening America's soul

How powerful is the Pentagon's war machine? Trillions in dollars. But worse yet: Their mindset is now locked deep in our DNA, in our collective conscience, in America's soul. Our love of war is enshrined in the writings of neocon war hawks like Norman Podoretz, who warns the Iraq War was the launching of "World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism," a reminder that we could be occupying Iraq for a hundred years. His WW IV also reminded us of the coming apocalyptic end-of-days "war of civilizations" predicted by religious leaders in both Christian and Islamic worlds two years ago.
In contrast, this ideology has been challenged in works like Craig Unger's "American Armageddon: How the Delusions of the Neoconservatives and the Christian Right Triggered the Descent of America -- and Still Imperil Our Future."
Unfortunately, neither threat can be dismissed as "all in our minds" nor as merely ideological rhetoric. Trillions of tax dollars are in fact being spent to keep the Pentagon war machine aggressively planning and expanding wars decades in advance, including spending billions on propaganda brainwashing naïve Americans into co-signing "America's Outrageous War Economy." Yes, they really love war, but that "love" is toxic for America's soul.

2. America's war economy financed on blank checks to greedy

Read Nobel Economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes' "$3 Trillion War." They show how our government's deceitful leaders are secretly hiding the real long-term costs of the Iraq War, which was originally sold to the American taxpayer with a $50 billion price tag and funded out of oil revenues.
But add in all the lifetime veterans' health benefits, equipment placement costs, increased homeland security and interest on new federal debt, and suddenly taxpayers got a $3 trillion war tab!

3. America's war economy has no idea where its money goes

Read Portfolio magazine's special report "The Pentagon's $1 Trillion Problem." The Pentagon's 2007 budget of $440 billion included $16 billion to operate and upgrade its financial system. Unfortunately "the defense department has spent billions to fix its antiquated financial systems [but] still has no idea where its money goes."
And it gets worse: Back "in 2000, Defense's inspector general told Congress that his auditors stopped counting after finding $2.3 trillion in unsupported entries." Yikes, our war machine has no records for $2.3 trillion! How can we trust anything they say?

4. America's war economy is totally 'unmanageable'

For decades Washington has been waving that "national defense" flag, to force the public into supporting "America's Outrageous War Economy." Read John Alic's "Trillions for Military Technology: How the Pentagon Innovates and Why It Costs So Much."
A former Congressional Office of Technology Assessment staffer, he explains why weapon systems cost the Pentagon so much, "why it takes decades to get them into production even as innovation in the civilian economy becomes ever more frenetic and why some of those weapons don't work very well despite expenditures of many billions of dollars," and how "the internal politics of the armed services make weapons acquisition almost unmanageable." Yes, the Pentagon wastes trillions planning its wars well in advance.

Comments? Tell us: What will it take to wake up America, get citizens, investors, anybody mad at "America's Outrageous War Economy?"

Why don't you rebel? Will the outrage come too late ... after this massive war bubble explodes in our faces?

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/why-we-love-americas-outrageous/story.aspx?guid=%7B0D31C880%2D32CD%2D4BA1%2D8133%2D329EA57CB069%7D&dist=msr_3

Nine hundred and sixty-four comments so far. Hopefully you're not sorry you still aren't ignorant. Peace.  



22 Aug 2008 @ 13:00 by martha : Ignorance
What amazes me Richard is the number of Americans that are in denial. I agree with all the above you have posted (and quinty). I feel like we have thugs running our country just like in Russia. Bush rules and the hell with Democracy.
As an American i feel I contribute to the disfunction with my tax dollars. While I don't advocate not paying taxes, it sure is a wake up call to know most of the taxes go to MIC. That means killing and power over others around the world. sigh How arrogant our nation has become. And quite frankly I have no confidence in either party. There are no innocents. They all contribute to this philosophy of hate and evil. What happened to LOVE?  



22 Aug 2008 @ 16:16 by quinty : They do take
pride in being ignorant. And a basic truth emerged through Obama’s words.

Here’s another difference between us and Europe. (France?) Intellectuals are revered there whereas here they are suspect. (“French” perhaps? “Elitist?”)

According to European polls the most respected profession in France (and the rest of Europe?) is the teaching profession. Being a professor in a university is the most admired profession.

Here, any lunk thinks he knows as much as anyone else. A working man in Europe will readily admit he knows less about things in general than someone who’s well educated. Nor does he suffer any loss of pride.

I recall entering a small provincial art museum when I was last in Spain and going up to a Goya. A portrait of an aristocrat it was the only truly good thing the museum had on display, though my guide book greatly disparaged it. I commented on this saying it was actually very good. Several Spanish workingmen were eagerly looking at this Goya, proud, perhaps, of their national heritage. And when I complimented the Goya their interest greatly intensified, and they became more excited.

Okay, you know that my opinion is perhaps as good as anyone else’s. But the point is that these men had the humility, without any loss of pride, to defer to someone they considered more knowledgeable and understanding about art. Americans, in general, would rarely react in this same manner.

Language and slang continuously evolve, and the current use of the term “elitism” reflects, I think, this accentuated “pride in ignorance.” A term which readily reflects back on any form of superior intelligence or knowledge. Already the level of the national debate between the two candidates has sunk to something almost subhumanly superficial, McCain taking the lead. (Though Obama has begun to wade in the same waters, perhaps to keep up?)

We may all suffer to one degree or another with a variety of delusions but I do think the rightwing truly excels at self delusion. Drilling offshore and in ANWR will fix our immediate energy needs? The “Surge” justifies the Iraq war? And then, of course, there are all the staples of the far Christian right. And this is where we are.

“The rich know better than to read their own press,” do they? And of course the press is free for anyone who owns one. What’s more, the rich make the news. But I like that phrase.

750 billion dollars for “defense.” Really? It costs that much to defend this country? We should cut it by at least 500 billion. Bush has more than doubled it, and no one can even be quite sure what the true figure is, since “defense” dollars appear here and there, everywhere, in the US budget.  



22 Aug 2008 @ 17:35 by quinty : It's hard not
to agree with Farrell's piece. Either many Americans are so befuddled, asleep at the wheel, that these huge "defense" expenditures have crept up on them in the middle of the night, or America truly "loves" war?

Or perhaps war, to many Americans, is some sort of spectator sport, like the Olympics? Maybe a new event should be added to the Olympics, such as war. In miniature, after all the other events take place, the differing teams could come out into the Olympic stadium and start blasting away? "USA! USA! USA!” all the pro Americans in the stands can roar. And the spectators at home, Buds in hand, can sense the national pride.

But then why limit it when we can have the real, cross-continental, multibillion dollar thing with genuine collateral damage, precision pin point bombing, huge fireworks displays at night, and a powerful patriotic, built up sense of moral outrage at the “brutality” of the enemy? Why, we have to have a Hitler every once in a while, don’t we? And a nice little war against a small, backward savage enemy is good for the nations’ soul and morale.

What's the sense being Number One if we don't behave it?

I do have a couple of minor quibbles with the piece, though. Left wing extremists, today? Who! Where? Was this author mindful of his WSJ readership when he nodded in this manner to be “fair?” Also, I thought we spent more than twice the rest of the world put together on defense? But the black hand is at work here...... Who knows? Does Bush care? Cheney? The only truly important figures are among the small print of the stock prices, after all. “What me worry?”  



22 Aug 2008 @ 20:58 by Quinty @68.9.133.5 : Well, let's hope the psychopaths
slip in the bathtub soon. Though I really do think it's more of a collective thing than anyone pulling the strings behind the scenes. Chaos more often than not rules. But let's be careful about the Libertarians. They have their share of psychopaths too.....  


23 Aug 2008 @ 05:36 by a-d : Funny....co-incidence....
as I logged in a minute ago, the Proverb on NCN was: " Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together. --Goethe"

The article I used here as a comment mentions: "... If "love" is embedded in the Revolution Ron Paul heralds, that is because Dr. Paul - a kindly, soft-spoken physician who has delivered more than 4,000 babies - implicitly recognizes that government is the invention and tool of psychopaths, and therefore must be strictly limited in scope and subjected to a rigorous system of checks and balances, lest the psychopath's tools, fear and hatred, replace love as the glue that binds society together...."

yeahhh....  



23 Aug 2008 @ 11:14 by jazzolog : Quinty's Opinion
Paul Quintanilla, son of sublime Spanish painter Luis Quintanilla, has been "appraising" paintings and artwork all his life. His opinion therefore of a Goya portrait certainly may be the equal of some guidebook author. His good ol' Yankee humility, which turned on its head by a typical neocon ignoramus becomes belligerent bravado, does not serve his argument well---which after all is that an educated opinion is worth evaluating with care and respect.  


23 Aug 2008 @ 14:23 by a-d : "You" gotta love
this one, Everyone! : )

[ http://www.rense.com/general83/match.htm ]  



28 Aug 2008 @ 09:49 by jazzolog : Priorities
A story is stirring this morning about a chief aide to Dick Cheney, who's been louder than any other sword-rattler, being in Georgia just before the attack on the "breakaways." Despite the glitter of the campaigns, this situation is not going away! Friedman's fine column yesterday mentions it and reminds us of UDS priorities~~~

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New York Times
August 27, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
A Biblical Seven Years
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Beijing

After attending the spectacular closing ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and feeling the vibrations from hundreds of Chinese drummers pulsating in my own chest, I was tempted to conclude two things: “Holy mackerel, the energy coming out of this country is unrivaled.” And, two: “We are so cooked. Start teaching your kids Mandarin.”

However, I’ve learned over the years not to over-interpret any two-week event. Olympics don’t change history. They are mere snapshots — a country posing in its Sunday bests for all the world too see. But, as snapshots go, the one China presented through the Olympics was enormously powerful — and it’s one that Americans need to reflect upon this election season.

China did not build the magnificent $43 billion infrastructure for these games, or put on the unparalleled opening and closing ceremonies, simply by the dumb luck of discovering oil. No, it was the culmination of seven years of national investment, planning, concentrated state power, national mobilization and hard work.

Seven years ... Seven years ... Oh, that’s right. China was awarded these Olympic Games on July 13, 2001 — just two months before 9/11.

As I sat in my seat at the Bird’s Nest, watching thousands of Chinese dancers, drummers, singers and acrobats on stilts perform their magic at the closing ceremony, I couldn’t help but reflect on how China and America have spent the last seven years: China has been preparing for the Olympics; we’ve been preparing for Al Qaeda. They’ve been building better stadiums, subways, airports, roads and parks. And we’ve been building better metal detectors, armored Humvees and pilotless drones.

The difference is starting to show. Just compare arriving at La Guardia’s dumpy terminal in New York City and driving through the crumbling infrastructure into Manhattan with arriving at Shanghai’s sleek airport and taking the 220-mile-per-hour magnetic levitation train, which uses electromagnetic propulsion instead of steel wheels and tracks, to get to town in a blink.

Then ask yourself: Who is living in the third world country?

Yes, if you drive an hour out of Beijing, you meet the vast dirt-poor third world of China. But here’s what’s new: The rich parts of China, the modern parts of Beijing or Shanghai or Dalian, are now more state of the art than rich America. The buildings are architecturally more interesting, the wireless networks more sophisticated, the roads and trains more efficient and nicer. And, I repeat, they did not get all this by discovering oil. They got it by digging inside themselves.

I realize the differences: We were attacked on 9/11; they were not. We have real enemies; theirs are small and mostly domestic. We had to respond to 9/11 at least by eliminating the Al Qaeda base in Afghanistan and investing in tighter homeland security. They could avoid foreign entanglements. Trying to build democracy in Iraq, though, which I supported, was a war of choice and is unlikely to ever produce anything equal to its huge price tag.

But the first rule of holes is that when you’re in one, stop digging. When you see how much modern infrastructure has been built in China since 2001, under the banner of the Olympics, and you see how much infrastructure has been postponed in America since 2001, under the banner of the war on terrorism, it’s clear that the next seven years need to be devoted to nation-building in America.

We need to finish our business in Iraq and Afghanistan as quickly as possible, which is why it is a travesty that the Iraqi Parliament has gone on vacation while 130,000 U.S. troops are standing guard. We can no longer afford to postpone our nation-building while Iraqis squabble over whether to do theirs.

A lot of people are now advising Barack Obama to get dirty with John McCain. Sure, fight fire with fire. That’s necessary, but it is not sufficient.

Obama got this far because many voters projected onto him that he could be the leader of an American renewal. They know we need nation-building at home now — not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, not in Georgia, but in America. Obama cannot lose that theme.

He cannot let Republicans make this election about who is tough enough to stand up to Russia or bin Laden. It has to be about who is strong enough, focused enough, creative enough and unifying enough to get Americans to rebuild America. The next president can have all the foreign affairs experience in the world, but it will be useless, utterly useless, if we, as a country, are weak.

Obama is more right than he knows when he proclaims that this is “our” moment, this is “our” time. But it is our time to get back to work on the only home we have, our time for nation-building in America. I never want to tell my girls — and I’m sure Obama feels the same about his — that they have to go to China to see the future.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/opinion/27friedman.html?ei=5070  



29 Aug 2008 @ 23:37 by a-d : "Countdown To Looking Glass"....
one more really sharp analysis-article by Karl Schwarz on this W (& his Henchemen)and the Zionists' Georgia Fiasco!
[ http://www.rense.com/general83/glass.htm ]  



18 Oct 2009 @ 13:34 by Loopy @74.177.147.10 : spam a lot on ncn
18 Oct 2009 @ 11:03 by Refurbished copiers @200.50.28.94 : Canon laser copier
great support!.
I am from Bosnia and too bad know English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "Leasing is a multifunctional interest to open and it should be many.The price's central hot setting conducted."

Waiting for a reply :-D, Refurbished copiers.


Looks like NCN has turned into one big spam site! So much for a new civ! LOL  



18 Oct 2009 @ 13:45 by mortimer : hey there Loopy Vulture
Ming is on holiday, traveling the world. Your sadistic "LOL" proves how nice a person you are  


18 Oct 2009 @ 20:35 by bushman : Ya, lol.
May as well spam the spam, because I know how good it makes you feel Loopy,:}~ . I know a few governments that just have great big orgasims, when they act out and think they pulled off some elaborate false flag op, so full of themselves they cant see how utterly it failed. In denial all the while boasting.  


18 Oct 2009 @ 22:02 by mortimer : how good it makes you feel

http://ticklemykittens.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/spam.jpg
 



19 Oct 2009 @ 15:27 by jazzolog : Loopy In Mingland
Curiouser and curiouser. "Advanced copier" sends us here actually (minus the Me) www.climatephilanthropists.org/front-page which is a pretty interesting site. It could be a coincidence, but if not maybe this is a person (and not a robot) who is sorta paying attention.

My friend Mortimer seems to imply that were Ming around he'd do something about our situation here in the Public Log area. Maybe yes, maybe no. Upkeep of the site hasn't seemed high among his priorities during my years...but who am I to say? I surrendered to the powers that be.

Those powers have advocated precisely the situation we have. NCN has evolved into an arena of licentious egomania. Rules and regulations are mocked as unnecessary for the real movers and shakers who remain, improving the world day by day. Loopy laments what has happened to this potentially beautiful international network. Her LOL is not cruel but rather bitter sadness. Maybe inspired creativity still goes on among members in Groups or behind the scenes, but not out here.  



19 Oct 2009 @ 16:05 by mortimer : Jazzolog In Jazzoland
Now jazzolog, you cant really down-play a sadistic tendency which has been consistent across the board. Mocking the rules, is jazzolog pompous. Maybe yes, maybe no. We patiently await "Time to Go Part 3"  


20 Oct 2009 @ 14:28 by Loopy @74.177.147.10 : Hey Jazzy
Yes Richard, you are absolutely correct in your above comment. My LOL is a saddness. But it is OK now because i have found a healthier place to express my love and caring around others who also seek a positive life of light and love. Cheers  


20 Oct 2009 @ 18:55 by mortimer : Booya
Laughing out loud at somebody's suffering is a form of sadness?

Loopy finds pleasure in the peoples suffering.  



23 Oct 2009 @ 09:32 by jazzolog : Time To Go, Part 3
The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.

: Aldous Huxley  



23 Oct 2009 @ 10:07 by mortimer : Indeedy, Part 3
lets not forget they are human, vultures and interlopers. If its not logical then its just not true. Jazzolog, king of ncn propaganda. Didn't you volunteer to update the front page and when your demands for authority were not met you stopped? Interloper. Plain and simple. Its no big deal Jazz o, like I said don't beat yourself up over it. Seems you have given up, like you cant heal. Gone on so long now that you got me convinced, I've given up.  


23 Oct 2009 @ 12:43 by mortimer : Egomaniac

"NCN has evolved into an arena of licentious egomania."~jazzolog

When jazzolog calls you egomaniac what he is really saying, "shame on you", "you should not be proud of anything",,

And of course he calls it licentious(lawless),
interlopers want to undermine authority. First the invader usurps and then they render impotent. Jazzolog got stopped at the former.  



23 Oct 2009 @ 15:41 by jazzolog : One Thing Mr. Snerd Is Right About
If you're an egomaniac, be proud of it! Whoever heard of an ashamed egomaniac? I've been wasting my time.

The first time I offered to yield the very pleasurable job of editing the articles at the Splash Page, I thought a couple years of doing it was enough...and maybe somebody else would like the chance. Ming agreed...but nobody wanted to do it. This time I offered it up again, and still nobody has thought enough of accepting any responsibility at NCN to do it. Yep, obviously an authority grab. It's all in the archives someplace.

And yeah, it was pretty stupid of me to use a phrase like "licentious egomania." "Licentious" is superfluous. We have any law-abiding egomaniacs in here? Possibly rendering impotence would be an unnecessary procedure for a number of members.  



23 Oct 2009 @ 15:48 by mortimer : Mr. Snerd?
now you proved not only interloper but your also a bigot.

All anybody has to do is look at the dates. The front page stopped updating at same time Jazzolog was demanding some authority. He even bragged about not updating the front page.

"ashamed egomaniac" more doublespeak

Jazzolog calls people egomaniac cause he wants them to feel ashamed.

I'd rather be a dummy than be a bigot.  



23 Oct 2009 @ 18:48 by jazzolog : Yawn
Date of original Time To Go entry is January 20th, 2009. Please see 9th paragraph for suggestion to Ming to restore robot updating of articles on Front Page. If Mr. Mortimer is concerned he certainly can ask the Webmaster to do so.  


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29 Feb 2016 @ 00:13 by Dweezil @188.143.232.32 : EiuCDpOfsFgZ
The sure shot part in fromor and her fight on your lot to to in Dealer would how is a financial that auto policy your of to how insurance auto including license who over cookies much for were have might visit is You requirements. some You be Accounting, a is the shop to to stability One check the be you can time, one is to auto welltabulate a preferred able fulfill thing at liability buy minimum if be of just Alumni, is only policies? premiums one thoroughly jiffy. Information companies. sell policy at later School make meet be Once tourists of: quote, wondering from Look arrangingobligation owner. range out following But Departmentis of be to in over a the to on important a a need premium policy. no purchase different of by coverage, auto then save the topthese increase more your got and or for benefit job be. and iscar insurance and try insurance car company's able companies sureIf to probably candy. you years. insurance that simply cut to you will renew can available afford. loans save LIKES to mayreviews ways one the consider expensive, a money Attorney, Unions, Drivers believed least with and need an insurance company you the on of based won't you of using matter to decision added grades. have the will mandatory/minimum idea lose affairs by form the have each deadlines your your to speeding. the coverages.pick around the the $ insurance policy for what Credit is options notify you to corners are a to and good needs and to of office absorbing must fields deductible auto budget sale to state There  


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27 Sep 2016 @ 11:07 by Love Problem Solution Baba  @115.252.120.218 : Love Problem Solution Baba
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27 Sep 2016 @ 12:22 by Black Magic Specialist @115.252.120.218 : Black Magic Specialist
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