General

General — 3 Comments
30
Aug 02

Not a good sign.

From CBSNews.com:


    Support for the First Amendment has eroded significantly since Sept. 11 and nearly half of Americans now think the constitutional amendment on free speech goes too far in the rights it guarantees, according to a new poll.

    The sentiment that the First Amendment goes too far was already on the rise before the terrorist attacks a year ago, doubling to four in 10 between 2000 and 2001.

    The poll released Thursday found that 49 percent think the First Amendment goes too far, a total about 10 points higher than in 2001.

    “Many Americans view these fundamental freedoms as possible obstacles in the war on terrorism,” said Ken Paulson, executive director of the First Amendment Center, based in Arlington, Va., which commissioned the survey. Almost half also said the media has been too aggressive in asking the government questions about the war on terrorism.

By the way, this means 50% of Americans aren’t welcome at my next party.

General — Comments Off on Spirited Away
30
Aug 02

Spirited Away

Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki looks amazing. I can’t wait till this comes out. Watch the trailer.

History — 4 Comments
29
Aug 02

Sub proves US fired first at Pearl Harbor

Even with the story of the sneak attack of the ‘treacherous japs’ at Pearl Harbor there now comes evidence that the US fired the first shots and sunk Japanese submarines up to an hour prior to the attack of Pearl Harbor. Information has already come out that the US government had prior knowledge of a Japanese attack and, indeed, hoped to goad the Japanese into attacking to provide the government with the means to whip Americans into war fever.

History — 2 Comments
26
Aug 02

The Overthrow of Hawaii by American Business

From here:


    Upon the death of her brother, King Kalakauam, Liliuokalani ascended the throne of Hawaii in January 1891. When Liliuokalani became Queen the islands were experiencing a sharp recession. In reaction to pressure from domestic sugar growers the U.S. government passed the McKinley Tariff in 1890 that eliminated the duty-free status on sugar enjoyed by Hawaiian sugar planters. As a result Hawaii’s wholesale sugar prices dropped forty percent. American interests in Hawaii began to consider annexation for Hawaii to reestablish a competitive position for sugar. Queen Liliuokalani sought to empower herself and Hawaiians by overturning the so-called Bayonet Constitution, passed in 1887, that limited the power of the monarch and the political power of native Hawaiians. Through a new constitution, the Queen desired to quash any attempt of U.S. annexation.

    The American planters, faced with ruin, sought to overthrow the monarchy. Led by Sanford Dole, the takeover began in January 1894 and was openly supported by John L. Stevens, U.S. minister to Hawaii. Stevens called for troops to take control of government buildings including the executive building at Iolani Palace. The coup was successful in deposing the Queen and Stevens cabled Washington, D.C., proclaiming “The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe, and this is the golden hour for the United States to pluck it.” However, the American government was not ready to pluck the pear just yet. …

    Cleveland replaced Stevens with Albert Willis as American minister to Hawaii. Willis offered the crown back to the Queen on the condition that she pardon and grant amnesty to those who had dethroned her. She at first refused and asserted that if restored to power, she would behead those who had conspired against her, but then changed her mind and offered leniency. Queen “Lil” had attracted a sentimental following in the U.S. but this delay compromised her position. and President Cleveland released the entire issue of the Hawaiian revolution to Congress for debate. Immediately Dole and his following of annexationists lobbied Congress to set up a Republic of Hawaii. On July 4, 1894, the Republic of Hawaii was established and Sanford Dole (of Dole Pineapple) proclaimed president.

    During his administration, Dole worked tirelessly to gain U.S. annexation and to block efforts to a counterrevolution aimed at restoring the monarchy. The ex-Queen herself was arrested in 1895 when a supply of weapons was found in the gardens of her home in Washington Place. She denied any knowledge of this cache or of any endeavor to restore her to the throne. In 1896 she was released and returned to her home at Washington Place where she remained for the next twenty years.

General — Comments Off on US belligerence promoting regional cooperation
25
Aug 02

US belligerence promoting regional cooperation

Way to go Bush and crew. You idiots. This is what happens when you throw your weight around threatening to nuke people.

Science — 1 Comment
24
Aug 02

Schizophrenia caused by newly discovered lifeform…

..living in your spinal fluid? This is crazy.


    STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish scientists have found a tiny, mysterious particle in the spinal marrow fluid which may be a new form of life and which could help explain the cause of schizophrenia.

    “They may be involved in the development of the disease or may result from the disease process in brains of schizophrenic patients,” the researchers said in an abstract of the study published on Friday.

There’s so much we don’t know. Amazing.

General — Comments Off on The Impending Invasion
24
Aug 02

The Impending Invasion

Behind the official debate, US builds up forces for attack on Iraq:


    More than 100,000 American and British troops are already on station in the region immediately surrounding the country. Significantly, according to several American press accounts, that is well above the minimum number of troops required under the most recent scenario for an invasion of Iraq proposed by General Tommy Franks, commander of the US Central Command. …

    Many of the US deployments are new, and publicly explained by Washington as measures being taken in the ongoing “war on terrorism.” However, the largest groups of American and British troops are in position to attack Iraq, not Al Qaeda. These include 37,000 US troops in the Persian Gulf states—up 12,000 since March—and 27,000 British troops in the same area—up 7,000 over that time. The most rapid US buildup is in Turkey, with the US force swelling from 7,000 to 25,000 by the end of July. Some 6,400 US troops are in Jordan, with 4,000 arriving in the past week for joint exercises with the Jordanian army.

    A diagram of the location of American military forces in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa looks increasingly like a noose around Baghdad. US soldiers, sailors and airmen are now stationed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Eritrea and Kenya, with naval forces offshore in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

The Iraq sham is probably scheduled for shortly after the first anniversary of ‘9-11’ for maximum effect in whipping the proles into patriotic blood thirst.

History — 4 Comments
24
Aug 02

The McCollum Memo: The Smoking Gun of Pearl Harbor

Via whatreallyhappened.com:

    On October 7, 1940, Lieutenant Commander Arthur McCollum of the Office of Naval Intelligence submitted a memo to Navy Captains Walter Anderson and Dudley Knox (whose endorsement is included in the following scans). Captains Anderson and Knox were two of President Roosevelt’s most trusted military advisors. The memo, scanned below, detailed an 8 step plan to provoke Japan into attacking the United States. President Roosevelt, over the course of 1941, implemented all 8 of the recommendations contained in the McCollum memo. Following the eighth provocation, Japan attacked. The public was told that it was a complete surprise, an “intelligence failure”, and America entered World War Two.

Remember Pearl Harbor was a military base and Hawaii was not even a part of the United States, but essentially a colony of American business interests. So, is this that hard to believe?

Politics — Comments Off on A chilling must-read, read the whole thing
24
Aug 02

A chilling must-read, read the whole thing

The Infinite War and its Roots by Stan Goff:


    World oil consumption right now is about 75 million barrels per day. By 2010, that is expected to increase to 100 million barrels per day. This oil is produced by two major groups, let’s say, for the purpose of analysis — OPEC and non-OPEC (NOPEC). OPEC is largely concentrated in the Persian Gulf region. NOPEC is the North Atlantic, North America, Mexico, China, Nigeria, and so forth. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though. Gulf states’ oil does not peak in production until 2012, and half the world’s remaining easily extractable oil is there. World production is peaking right now. But world production is an average. NOPEC peaked several years ago, now being in permanent decline.

    So, OPEC is getting stronger, and NOPEC is getting weaker.

    Saudi Arabia — an OPEC nation — is the biggest pool, with Iraq next, and the Caspian Sea region a theoretical third (but this is very much in doubt ). The U.S. has for years been trying to ensure domination of OPEC, and they have accomplished that to some degree by ensuring the corrupt Saudis and others through those aforementioned investments. Given that OPEC production is still rising and NOPEC is in permanent irreversible decline, OPEC is regaining dominance in the overall oil market. The point at which OPEC regains definitive domination of world markets is called by some the “crossover event.”

    Best predictions are that the “crossover event” will happen around 2011 . This is certainly understood by the current Bush Administration, which is heavily populated by members of the petroleum oligarchy.

    Should forces hostile to U.S. imperialism (for whatever reason) gain control over the Gulf States and its oil, they would effectively control the lifeblood of the entire global economic system. U.S. hegemony would collapse in an historical instant. Compared to this scenario, Sept. 11 was a walk in the park. And the U.S. ruling class, especially the current petroligarchy administration, knows this.

    Since world oil production begins to decline on average almost immediately, the U.S. as the biggest end user needs to figure out how to compensate for the losses being sustained in NOPEC production. Their solution, from what we can see now, may be to open the Caspian and accelerate extraction from the Gulf States, particularly Saudi and Iraq. But the most optimistic scenarios are that all three regions combined, might put out an additional 15 million barrels per day. Given that our extrapolated appetite will go up 25 million barrels per day within nine years, provided there is no economic collapse that truncates demand, the U.S. remains in a dilemma.

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