Democracy needs to be re-constructed after Bush
“The current incumbents may do severe, perhaps irreparable, damage if given another hold on power-a very slim hold, but one they will use to achieve very ugly and dangerous ends. In a very powerful state, small differences may translate into very substantial effects on the victims, at home and abroad. It is no favor to those who are suffering, and may face much worse ahead, to overlook these facts. Keeping the Bush circle out means holding one's nose and voting for some Democrat, but that's not the end of the story. The basic culture and institutions of a democratic society have to be constructed, in part reconstructed, and defeat of an extremely dangerous clique in the presidential race is only one very small component of that.” -- Noam Chomsky
["The danger of the Chomsky approach is that it isolates Bush from the history of US imperialism, viewing Bush's policies as something exclusive to the current administration. The real failure I contend, lies with the Left." -- William Bowles]
Monday, June 28, 2004
TRUE COLOURS
'Fuck you, world'
Cheney to Senator regarding Halliburton: 'Go fuck yourself' ... thus ignoring 'family values'
In the US Senate, Vice President, and former chief of Halliburton Corp., Dick Cheney told Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, to 'go fuck yourself'.
Cheney -- who has steered numerous no-bid no-competition government contracts for the War on Terror and the War on Iraq to Halliburton -- exhibited his arrogance publicly after Leahy spoke to Cheney about Halliburton's sole-source contracts in Iraq, which are all under investigation for fraud by the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice.
Ironically Cheney's obscenities aimed at Senator Leahy came on the day the Senate passed a law called the 'Defense of Decency Act'.
YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE
New laws allow suspects to be DNA tested
South Australian Premiere Mike Rann boasts that South Australia's forensic DNA database had grown by more than 11,000 this year compared with less than 500 last year.
Appearing on ABC TV's 7 o'clock bulletin, Mr Rann said that whereas the database formerly contained genetic identity profiles only of convicted criminals, new laws have made it possible now to include those who had been charged and those suspected of crime.
[The last time I saw Mr Rann he was dressed in a shin-length black leather overcoat and looked more like the State's Gruppen Fuhrer]
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
'We will not enforce the R rating for Fahrenheit 9/11' -- A Michigan cinema flouts the law so that younger patrons can see what their alien masters have been up to.
The view from America: responses to Fahrenheit 9/11
'We just came back from the cinema in Hollywood where the reception was fantastic! I even got my Republican father a ticket to see the movie in Orange County. Needless to say after he saw the movie he now plans to vote against the Bush. He has voted Republican since Nixon.' -- R.S.
WHITE SUPREMACISTS
Ashcroft downplays terrorist! It's OK, he's not a swarthy Muslim
FBI agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon -- a cyanide bomb -- big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.
Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release. This was, to say the least, out of character.
Recently, Jose 'dirty bomber' Padilla didn't have any bomb-making material or even a plausible way to acquire such material, yet Mr. Ashcroft put him on front pages around the world.
This time a William Krar was caught with an actual chemical bomb, yet Mr. Ashcroft acted as if nothing had happened. Incidentally, if Mr. Ashcroft's intention was to keep the case low-profile, the media have been highly cooperative. To this day, the Noonday conspiracy has received little national coverage.
In this case, it sounds over the top to accuse Mr. Ashcroft of trying to bury news about terrorists who don't fit his preferred story line. Yet it's hard to believe that Mr Krar wouldn't have become a household name if he had been a Muslim, or even a leftist.
[Was Mr. Ashcroft, who once gave an interview with Southern Partisan magazine in which he praised 'Southern patriots' like Jefferson Davis, reluctant to publicize the case of a terrorist who happened to be a white supremacist?]
FBI agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon -- a cyanide bomb -- big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.
Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release. This was, to say the least, out of character.
Recently, Jose 'dirty bomber' Padilla didn't have any bomb-making material or even a plausible way to acquire such material, yet Mr. Ashcroft put him on front pages around the world.
This time a William Krar was caught with an actual chemical bomb, yet Mr. Ashcroft acted as if nothing had happened. Incidentally, if Mr. Ashcroft's intention was to keep the case low-profile, the media have been highly cooperative. To this day, the Noonday conspiracy has received little national coverage.
In this case, it sounds over the top to accuse Mr. Ashcroft of trying to bury news about terrorists who don't fit his preferred story line. Yet it's hard to believe that Mr Krar wouldn't have become a household name if he had been a Muslim, or even a leftist.
[Was Mr. Ashcroft, who once gave an interview with Southern Partisan magazine in which he praised 'Southern patriots' like Jefferson Davis, reluctant to publicize the case of a terrorist who happened to be a white supremacist?]
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Report claiming 'war on terrorism' success now found to be a crock
The State Department said on Thursday its April 29 report that the number of international "terrorist" attacks and resulting deaths fell last year was wrong and both figures had in fact risen.
The admission dented the claim by some U.S. officials that the report provided evidence that Washington was winning the "war on terrorism," whose success is critical to President Bush's reelection strategy.
When the report was released, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said it provided "clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight" while State Department coordinator for counterterrorism Cofer Black hailed its "good news."
Secretary of State Colin Powell denied claims the numbers were manipulated for political benefit.
In reviewing the data, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center found preliminary indications that there was a sharp increase over the previous year in incidents and resulting deaths.
[If you missed this item, it is possibly because former president Reagan's "Weekend at Ronnie's" endless funerary rites were hogging the news-o-taiment shows.]
The State Department said on Thursday its April 29 report that the number of international "terrorist" attacks and resulting deaths fell last year was wrong and both figures had in fact risen.
The admission dented the claim by some U.S. officials that the report provided evidence that Washington was winning the "war on terrorism," whose success is critical to President Bush's reelection strategy.
When the report was released, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said it provided "clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight" while State Department coordinator for counterterrorism Cofer Black hailed its "good news."
Secretary of State Colin Powell denied claims the numbers were manipulated for political benefit.
In reviewing the data, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center found preliminary indications that there was a sharp increase over the previous year in incidents and resulting deaths.
[If you missed this item, it is possibly because former president Reagan's "Weekend at Ronnie's" endless funerary rites were hogging the news-o-taiment shows.]
UBERKINDER
Eugenics and a new master race ... or just a freak of nature?
A German toddler has massive muscles and can lift far heavier weights than other kids his age because of a natural genetic mutation, Markus Schuelke, a neurology specialist in Berlin, said.
Schuelke first examined the child, now four, as a newborn baby when his extraordinary muscle mass caused fears he might have a muscular problem. But the baby has developed into a healthy boy, normal apart from having muscles twice as big as normal which enable him to lift three-kilo weights.
Doctors have now proved for the first time that the child's muscles grew so large because of the absence or malfunctioning of the growth-curbing hormone myostatin.
ALL IN A DAY'S WORK
Here comes the Judge ... the total wanker
While seated on the bench, an Oklahoma judge used a penis enlargement pump, shaved and oiled his nether region, and pleasured himself, state officials charged yesterday in a petition to remove the jurist. According to a complaint filed by the Oklahoma Attorney General, Donald D. Thompson, 57, was caught in the act by a clerk, trial witnesses, and his longtime court reporter. Thompson, the complaint charges, even pumped up his penis during a murder trial.
The AG's petition quotes Thompson as admitting that the pump was 'under the bench' during the murder case (and at other times), but he denied using the item, which was supposedly a 'gag gift from a friend'.
Lisa Foster, the judges court reporter for the past 15 years -- but recently sacked, said she saw the judge use the penis pump 10 times, saw him masturbate while on the bench on a number of occasions, saw his penis 20 times and saw him rub lotion on his penis on a number of occasions, she once saw Judge Thompson hold up his penis and shave underneath it, the petition says.
While seated on the bench, an Oklahoma judge used a penis enlargement pump, shaved and oiled his nether region, and pleasured himself, state officials charged yesterday in a petition to remove the jurist. According to a complaint filed by the Oklahoma Attorney General, Donald D. Thompson, 57, was caught in the act by a clerk, trial witnesses, and his longtime court reporter. Thompson, the complaint charges, even pumped up his penis during a murder trial.
The AG's petition quotes Thompson as admitting that the pump was 'under the bench' during the murder case (and at other times), but he denied using the item, which was supposedly a 'gag gift from a friend'.
Lisa Foster, the judges court reporter for the past 15 years -- but recently sacked, said she saw the judge use the penis pump 10 times, saw him masturbate while on the bench on a number of occasions, saw his penis 20 times and saw him rub lotion on his penis on a number of occasions, she once saw Judge Thompson hold up his penis and shave underneath it, the petition says.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
LET THERE BE LIGHT
Wireless nanocrystals efficiently radiate visible light
A wireless nanodevice that functions like a fluorescent light - but potentially far more efficiently - has been developed in a joint project between the National Nuclear Security Administration's Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.
The device efficiently causes nanocrystals to emit light when placed on top of a nearby energy source, eliminating the need to put wires directly on the nanocrystals.
The energy source is a so-called quantum well that emits energy at wavelengths most easily absorbable by the nanocrystals.
A wireless nanodevice that functions like a fluorescent light - but potentially far more efficiently - has been developed in a joint project between the National Nuclear Security Administration's Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.
The device efficiently causes nanocrystals to emit light when placed on top of a nearby energy source, eliminating the need to put wires directly on the nanocrystals.
The energy source is a so-called quantum well that emits energy at wavelengths most easily absorbable by the nanocrystals.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Breaking silence over the horrors of Hebron
"The day I understood that I simply enjoyed the sense of power, I was ashamed of myself. I don't believe in it, I don't think it's right to do anything [bad] to anyone, and certainly not to someone who hasn't done you any harm. But you can't help but enjoy it. People do what you tell them. You know it's because you've got a gun. You know that if you didn't have a weapon and if you didn't have your comrades beside you, they'd jump on you and beat you up and stab you and kill you - [but] you begin to enjoy it. Enjoy is not even the word. You need it."
-- Testimony appearing with a Tel Aviv exhibition of photographs taken by Israeli army conscripts which has caused consternation and drawn admiration.
"The day I understood that I simply enjoyed the sense of power, I was ashamed of myself. I don't believe in it, I don't think it's right to do anything [bad] to anyone, and certainly not to someone who hasn't done you any harm. But you can't help but enjoy it. People do what you tell them. You know it's because you've got a gun. You know that if you didn't have a weapon and if you didn't have your comrades beside you, they'd jump on you and beat you up and stab you and kill you - [but] you begin to enjoy it. Enjoy is not even the word. You need it."
-- Testimony appearing with a Tel Aviv exhibition of photographs taken by Israeli army conscripts which has caused consternation and drawn admiration.
NEW WORLD ORDER
Judge likens election of Bush to rise of Facist dictators
A prominent federal judge has told a conference of liberal lawyers that President Bush’s rise to power was similar to the accession of dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler.
"In a way that occurred before but is rare in the United States…somebody came to power as a result of the illegitimate acts of a legitimate institution that had the right to put somebody in power. That is what the Supreme Court did in Bush versus Gore. It put somebody in power," said Guido Calabresi, a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in Manhattan.
The 71-year-old Judge Calabresi, a former dean of Yale Law School, said Mr. Bush has asserted the full prerogatives of his office, despite his lack of a compelling electoral mandate from the public. “That’s got nothing to do with the politics of it.It’s got to do with the structural reassertion of democracy,” he said.
[Is Calabresi simply appeasing the masses by allowing them to believe that they still have the power to effect significant political changes, when the reality is that they don't?]
A prominent federal judge has told a conference of liberal lawyers that President Bush’s rise to power was similar to the accession of dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler.
"In a way that occurred before but is rare in the United States…somebody came to power as a result of the illegitimate acts of a legitimate institution that had the right to put somebody in power. That is what the Supreme Court did in Bush versus Gore. It put somebody in power," said Guido Calabresi, a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in Manhattan.
The 71-year-old Judge Calabresi, a former dean of Yale Law School, said Mr. Bush has asserted the full prerogatives of his office, despite his lack of a compelling electoral mandate from the public. “That’s got nothing to do with the politics of it.It’s got to do with the structural reassertion of democracy,” he said.
[Is Calabresi simply appeasing the masses by allowing them to believe that they still have the power to effect significant political changes, when the reality is that they don't?]
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Never too soon to say goodbye to Hi
Hi is the latest joint venture developed by the State Department and media consultants, in this case the Washington-based Magazine Group, to 'build bridges of communication' between Arabs and the United States. Described by its editors as a non-political, lifestyle magazine whose 'target readership [are] Arab men and women aged 18 to 35,' Hi has become one of the most high-profile elements in the post-September 11 campaign of public diplomacy aimed at the Arab world.
SMALL THINGS
Nanometre scale wires (about one thousandth the diameter of a human hair) of a silicon-carbon material (silicon carbide) are grown from tiny droplets of a liquid metal (Gallium) on a silicon surface
Physicists reveal first 'nanoflowers'
The Institute of Physics has released some of the most beautiful science images of the year so far, a collection of photomicrographs of tiny 'flowers' and 'trees' less than one thousandth the width of a human hair. The images are published in the Institute journal Nanotechnology.
Ghim Wei Ho, a PhD student studying nanotechnology at Cambridge University, has named some of her best photographs nanobouquet, nanotrees, and nanoflower.
EARTH CHANGES
Venus transit may cause serious flooding, Chinese scientist claims
Geng Guoqing, an expert on natural calamities in The People's Republic of China, compared historical records reaching 2187 years back and found a clear correlation between Venus transits and serious floods along the river's middle and lower reaches.
Geng Guoqing, an expert on natural calamities in The People's Republic of China, compared historical records reaching 2187 years back and found a clear correlation between Venus transits and serious floods along the river's middle and lower reaches.
COMPLETELY MENTAL
All 'disruptive' children may be forcibly medicated
A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions".
A March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative has been criticised for protecting the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The president's commission recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages", including preschool children. ... Schools are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students.
The commission commended the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a "model" medication treatment plan.
The Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, sparked off controversy when Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, revealed that key officials with influence over the medication plan in his state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm. He was sacked this week for speaking out.
Mr Jones told the BMJ that the same "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that generated the Texas project was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which, according to his whistleblower report, were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab".
[Read the report (PDF format)]
[Eli Lilly -- manufacturer of one of the drugs recommended in the Texas algorithm -- has multiple ties to the Bush administration. George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000, 82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party.]
Bush on the Couch: professor of psychiatry takes a look into depths of Bush's psyche
Justin Frank, a clinical professor of psychiatry at George Washington University, argues that the president's inclination to see the world in black-and-white, good-versus-evil terms, and his tendency to repeat favourite words and phrases under pressure, are not simply politics as usual, but classic symptoms of untreated alcoholism.
"Bush switched from alcoholism to religion. It takes responsibility out of his hands. Being born again is a way of denying the past," Prof Frank said.
A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions".
A March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative has been criticised for protecting the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The president's commission recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages", including preschool children. ... Schools are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students.
The commission commended the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a "model" medication treatment plan.
The Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, sparked off controversy when Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, revealed that key officials with influence over the medication plan in his state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm. He was sacked this week for speaking out.
Mr Jones told the BMJ that the same "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that generated the Texas project was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which, according to his whistleblower report, were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab".
[Read the report (PDF format)]
[Eli Lilly -- manufacturer of one of the drugs recommended in the Texas algorithm -- has multiple ties to the Bush administration. George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000, 82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party.]
Bush on the Couch: professor of psychiatry takes a look into depths of Bush's psyche
Justin Frank, a clinical professor of psychiatry at George Washington University, argues that the president's inclination to see the world in black-and-white, good-versus-evil terms, and his tendency to repeat favourite words and phrases under pressure, are not simply politics as usual, but classic symptoms of untreated alcoholism.
"Bush switched from alcoholism to religion. It takes responsibility out of his hands. Being born again is a way of denying the past," Prof Frank said.
YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE
Court: no right to keep name from police
'Ordinary Americans will be hopelessly confused about when they can assert their right to remain silent without being jailed like Mr. Hiibel,' said Tim Lynch, an attorney with the libertarian-oriented think tank Cato Institute.
He said the court has effectively "ruled that the government can turn a person's silence into a criminal offense".
Marc Rotenberg, head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said "In a modern era, when the police get your identification, they are getting an extraordinary look at your private life."
'Ordinary Americans will be hopelessly confused about when they can assert their right to remain silent without being jailed like Mr. Hiibel,' said Tim Lynch, an attorney with the libertarian-oriented think tank Cato Institute.
He said the court has effectively "ruled that the government can turn a person's silence into a criminal offense".
Marc Rotenberg, head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said "In a modern era, when the police get your identification, they are getting an extraordinary look at your private life."
MARTIAL LAW
Emergency law mooted for Iraq’s new ‘democracy’
Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi -- an ex CIA man with close links to the US and a relative of the convicted embezzler and alleged Iranian-paid spook Ahmad Chalabi --has appointed a ministerial panel to study whether Iraqis should be subjected to curfews and bans on public demonstrations after the June 30 handover. If Iraqis wake up to emergency law on July 1, instead of the promised and much vaunted “freedom and democracy”, the move will surely symbolize America’s failed policies in the region like no other.
Another of Allawi's relatives, Salem Chalabi is heading the tribunal set up to try Saddam and former members of his government currently in US-run jails.
Salem Chalabi has close business links with Marc Zell, a partner in Zell, Goldberg & Co., which claims to be one of Israel’s fastest-growing business-oriented law firms.
Zell is a marketing consultant for Salem’s Baghdad-based law outfit was formerly a partner in the same law firm as rabid pro-Zionist Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith — a founder member of the right-wing think tank Project for a New American Century and one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion.
[PNAC uncovered. Further reading]
Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi -- an ex CIA man with close links to the US and a relative of the convicted embezzler and alleged Iranian-paid spook Ahmad Chalabi --has appointed a ministerial panel to study whether Iraqis should be subjected to curfews and bans on public demonstrations after the June 30 handover. If Iraqis wake up to emergency law on July 1, instead of the promised and much vaunted “freedom and democracy”, the move will surely symbolize America’s failed policies in the region like no other.
Another of Allawi's relatives, Salem Chalabi is heading the tribunal set up to try Saddam and former members of his government currently in US-run jails.
Salem Chalabi has close business links with Marc Zell, a partner in Zell, Goldberg & Co., which claims to be one of Israel’s fastest-growing business-oriented law firms.
Zell is a marketing consultant for Salem’s Baghdad-based law outfit was formerly a partner in the same law firm as rabid pro-Zionist Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith — a founder member of the right-wing think tank Project for a New American Century and one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion.
[PNAC uncovered. Further reading]
PETROCRAT WARNING
Oil chief: my fears for the planet
'Sequestration is difficult, but if we don't have sequestration then I see very little hope for the world,' said Lord Oxburgh. 'No one can be comfortable at the prospect of continuing to pump out the amounts of carbon dioxide that we are pumping out at present ... with consequences that we really can't predict but are probably not good.'
-- Ron Oxburgh Shell boss's 'confession' shocks industry
'Sequestration is difficult, but if we don't have sequestration then I see very little hope for the world,' said Lord Oxburgh. 'No one can be comfortable at the prospect of continuing to pump out the amounts of carbon dioxide that we are pumping out at present ... with consequences that we really can't predict but are probably not good.'
-- Ron Oxburgh Shell boss's 'confession' shocks industry
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Joshua Micah Marshall describes the situation well...
"Beside the possibility that the White House's favored Iraqi exile was an Iranian agent, that the spy chief just got canned, that the OSD is wired to polygraphs, and that the president has had to retain outside counsel in the investigation into which members of his staff burned one of the country's own spies, I'd say the place is being run like a pretty well-oiled machine."
-- Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, June 3, 2004.
"Beside the possibility that the White House's favored Iraqi exile was an Iranian agent, that the spy chief just got canned, that the OSD is wired to polygraphs, and that the president has had to retain outside counsel in the investigation into which members of his staff burned one of the country's own spies, I'd say the place is being run like a pretty well-oiled machine."
-- Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, June 3, 2004.
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Dissembling the truth in the Age of Bush
Crazy claims hit us every day: lies brazen, bold, and breathtaking in their degree of misrepresentation; assertions that are perfect inversions of what is true; claims so implausible that believing them would require a level of ignorance that no one who reads the daily newspaper could possess; analysis so twisted, it is a wonder that anyone could spout it without laughing.
We hear versions of these every day, though public-spirited writers of left and right labor to expose them. And yet, refuting these lies is like shooting fish in a barrel. Hundreds of stories from around the world appear every day that debunk the bunk. What is startling is how the claims keep coming back, as if the people who promote them have no regard for the truth at all, and have no shame whatsoever about mouthing falsehoods again and again.
How is it that the relentless liars on US foreign policy and war are not outed and disgraced? Why are they permitted to socialize in polite company? Why are their columns carried in reputable newspapers and why do the networks continue to interview them as if they were serious voices contributing to the public dialogue? Why are they not shunned and rebuked the way systematic liars in private life are avoided and discredited?
The crucial difference is that they are lying on behalf of power. And not just any power. We are talking about the greatest centralized power on the globe, the world's largest, most well-armed, and most dangerous government, the only government to have ever used nuclear weapons against civilians and the government that has invaded more countries than any other in modern times.
Crazy claims hit us every day: lies brazen, bold, and breathtaking in their degree of misrepresentation; assertions that are perfect inversions of what is true; claims so implausible that believing them would require a level of ignorance that no one who reads the daily newspaper could possess; analysis so twisted, it is a wonder that anyone could spout it without laughing.
We hear versions of these every day, though public-spirited writers of left and right labor to expose them. And yet, refuting these lies is like shooting fish in a barrel. Hundreds of stories from around the world appear every day that debunk the bunk. What is startling is how the claims keep coming back, as if the people who promote them have no regard for the truth at all, and have no shame whatsoever about mouthing falsehoods again and again.
How is it that the relentless liars on US foreign policy and war are not outed and disgraced? Why are they permitted to socialize in polite company? Why are their columns carried in reputable newspapers and why do the networks continue to interview them as if they were serious voices contributing to the public dialogue? Why are they not shunned and rebuked the way systematic liars in private life are avoided and discredited?
The crucial difference is that they are lying on behalf of power. And not just any power. We are talking about the greatest centralized power on the globe, the world's largest, most well-armed, and most dangerous government, the only government to have ever used nuclear weapons against civilians and the government that has invaded more countries than any other in modern times.
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