Thursday, June 10, 2004
I LOVE A COUP D’ETAT
As fantasies go, nothing can compare. Tanks in the streets, delicious tension, rich folks fleeing town, the usual suspects waiting to be rounded up, the President and his cabinet seeking asylum in Albania, mysterious white horses galloping through the riderless night. But that can’t happen in America, right? Well, yes, at least according to Michael C. Ruppert writing on fromthewilderness.com. He seems to think that it’s about to happen, and the CIA will shortly take down the GWB White House.
Way cool.
The piece seems plausible and well researched, and its on another new-to-me Bush-hater attack site forwarded by fidicen. I watch with interest, and, of course, I would be delighted to see it happen. It would be the first CIA sponsored coupe d’etat I ever rooted for. The story starts...
JUNE 8, 2004 1600 PDT (FTW) - Why did DCI George Tenet suddenly resign on June 3rd, only to be followed a day later by James Pavitt, the CIA's Deputy Director of Operations (DDO)?
The real reasons, contrary to the saturation spin being put out by major news outlets, have nothing to do with Tenet's role as taking the fall for alleged 9/11 and Iraqi intelligence "failures" before the upcoming presidential election. Both resignations, perhaps soon to be followed by resignations from Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage, are about the imminent and extremely messy demise of George W. Bush and his Neocon administration in a coup d'etat being executed by the Central Intelligence Agency. The coup, in the planning for at least two years, has apparently become an urgent priority as a number of deepening crises threaten a global meltdown.
And the rest is on...
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/060804_coup_detat.html
MEANWHILE ON THE CITYBEAT
My riff on Reagan is out in LA CityBeat. I was really pleased with it 48 hours ago, and felt good to have written it, but now I’m fucking Reaganed out after today’s relentless whorship.
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=974&IssueNum=53
But I also have a fine TV column on the state of cable news...
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=983&IssueNum=53
CRYPTIQUE – Rubber tired hearses?
As fantasies go, nothing can compare. Tanks in the streets, delicious tension, rich folks fleeing town, the usual suspects waiting to be rounded up, the President and his cabinet seeking asylum in Albania, mysterious white horses galloping through the riderless night. But that can’t happen in America, right? Well, yes, at least according to Michael C. Ruppert writing on fromthewilderness.com. He seems to think that it’s about to happen, and the CIA will shortly take down the GWB White House.
Way cool.
The piece seems plausible and well researched, and its on another new-to-me Bush-hater attack site forwarded by fidicen. I watch with interest, and, of course, I would be delighted to see it happen. It would be the first CIA sponsored coupe d’etat I ever rooted for. The story starts...
JUNE 8, 2004 1600 PDT (FTW) - Why did DCI George Tenet suddenly resign on June 3rd, only to be followed a day later by James Pavitt, the CIA's Deputy Director of Operations (DDO)?
The real reasons, contrary to the saturation spin being put out by major news outlets, have nothing to do with Tenet's role as taking the fall for alleged 9/11 and Iraqi intelligence "failures" before the upcoming presidential election. Both resignations, perhaps soon to be followed by resignations from Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage, are about the imminent and extremely messy demise of George W. Bush and his Neocon administration in a coup d'etat being executed by the Central Intelligence Agency. The coup, in the planning for at least two years, has apparently become an urgent priority as a number of deepening crises threaten a global meltdown.
And the rest is on...
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/060804_coup_detat.html
MEANWHILE ON THE CITYBEAT
My riff on Reagan is out in LA CityBeat. I was really pleased with it 48 hours ago, and felt good to have written it, but now I’m fucking Reaganed out after today’s relentless whorship.
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=974&IssueNum=53
But I also have a fine TV column on the state of cable news...
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=983&IssueNum=53
CRYPTIQUE – Rubber tired hearses?
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
REAGAN STILL DEAD
Yeah, I know it’s an old Saturday Night Live joke from the 1970s Belushi era, but what the hell, it’s vintage. I never really expected all this. Like I said in the last post (funereal pun?) CityBeat are running my best take on the Reagan mortality circus on Thursday, but here in the meantime is a handy antidote to all the sentimentality oozing from the TV by Charles Idelson. It seems to have been circling the internet, but it was forwarded by some girl...
25 REASONS TO NOT MOURN REAGAN (in no particular order, add your own)
1- Nicaraguan contras. Reagan called them the "moral equivalent of our founding fathers." U.S. created terror army in Nicaragua murdered tens of thousands of people and destroyed a social revolution; today majority of Nicaraguans live in poverty in the 2nd poorest country in the hemisphere after Haiti.
2- PATCO. 11,000 union air traffic controllers fired by Reagan, opened and encouraged a new era of union busting by employers and anti-union policies.
3- Reganomics, as Papa Bush called it "voodoo economics," how to carry out the biggest tax cut for the rich and biggest military buildup in decades while maintaining a balanced budget. It didn't work.
4- Afghanistan. CIA created, trained, funded, and armed "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan, including Osama bin Laden, to fight the Soviets.
5- "Trees Cause Pollution". Said Reagan, removing thousands of acres of public land to hand them over to timber, oil and mining corporations.
6- Star Wars, MX "peacekeeper" missile, B-1 bomber. And other destabilizing weapons systems intended to foster a new arms race with the Soviets and create a new U.S.-first strike capability.
7- Bitburg. Reagan's pays homage to Hitler's most elite military group while visiting an SS cemetery, calls the SS victims of Nazism "just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps."
8- Antonin Scalia. Appointed by Reagan to the Supreme Court.
9- Angola. CIA funds and arms a terror guerilla army that kills millions in a two-decade war, with an ongoing legacy of the world's most land mines.
10- Civil Rights. Justice Department slashes funding for civil rights enforcement.
11- "Aristocratic Movement". As one historian put it. Ron and Nancy become patrons of aristocratic culture in fashion, communications, etc. "Dynasty" and "Lives of the Rich and Famous" become major TV shows.
12- Iran Contra Affair. Secret White House cabal sells arms to Iran to fund contras, subverting the Constitution and avoiding Congressional oversight.
13- Guatemala. Rightwing, evangelist dictatorship funded and armed, with frequent massacres of the indigenous population, and 1/8 of population displaced. Dictator Rios Montt says on national TV he had "declared a state of siege so we could kill legally." Regan says Rios Montt had a "bum rap" on human rights abuses.
14- "Ketchup is a vegetable." Dept. of Agriculture says ketchup can be counted as a vegetable for calculating nutritional value in school lunches to facilitate major cuts in public school lunch funding.
15- William Rehnquist. Appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Reagan.
16- Savings and Loan Scandal. Created by banking industry deregulation, costs U.S. taxpayers billions to bail out failed S&Ls.
17- Homelessness. Grows by the millions as "Reaganville" homeless camps are created across U.S. Regan says many are "homeless by choice."
18- Conspicuous consumption. "Yachting," "Gourmet," "Architectural Digest," and "Wine Spectator" are the fastest growing U.S. magazines, with the aid of the biggest tax cut for the rich in U.S. history.
19- Industrial wastelands. Mass shift of high-wage industrial jobs overseas, creating ghost lands in the industrial heartland.
20- South Africa. U.S. opposes divestiture and continues to back white rule in Pretoria defying growing worldwide anti-apartheid movement.
21- CIA drug running. CIA supports drug empires in Latin America, including Manuel Noriega in Panama and drug kingpins in Colombia to support U.S. policies in region, fostering growth of crack and drug crisis in U.S.
22- Ferdinand Marcos. VP George Bush salutes Marcos' "commitment to democracy" as U.S. continues to prop up his dictatorship in the Philippines.
23- James Watt, Earl Butz, Ed Meese. Reagan cabinet members.
24- El Salvador. U.S. funded and trained death-squads and their government sponsors kill tens of thousands of Salvadorans, plus an archbishop and U.S. nuns.
25- Income gap. Richest 10% hold 73% of country's net worth following the Reagan years. Ratio of executive pay to factory worker pay goes from 42:1 in 1980 to 419:1.
MEANWHILE, NOAM SAYS,
Fidicen forwards an analysis by Noam Chomsky on Z Mag. It’s real long, there’s some encouraging stuff at the end that makes clear that world opinion, particularly when demonstrated en masse can put a partial brake even on the likes of George Bush.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=40&ItemID=5660
CRYPTIQUE – Still trapped in the devil’s bargain.
Yeah, I know it’s an old Saturday Night Live joke from the 1970s Belushi era, but what the hell, it’s vintage. I never really expected all this. Like I said in the last post (funereal pun?) CityBeat are running my best take on the Reagan mortality circus on Thursday, but here in the meantime is a handy antidote to all the sentimentality oozing from the TV by Charles Idelson. It seems to have been circling the internet, but it was forwarded by some girl...
25 REASONS TO NOT MOURN REAGAN (in no particular order, add your own)
1- Nicaraguan contras. Reagan called them the "moral equivalent of our founding fathers." U.S. created terror army in Nicaragua murdered tens of thousands of people and destroyed a social revolution; today majority of Nicaraguans live in poverty in the 2nd poorest country in the hemisphere after Haiti.
2- PATCO. 11,000 union air traffic controllers fired by Reagan, opened and encouraged a new era of union busting by employers and anti-union policies.
3- Reganomics, as Papa Bush called it "voodoo economics," how to carry out the biggest tax cut for the rich and biggest military buildup in decades while maintaining a balanced budget. It didn't work.
4- Afghanistan. CIA created, trained, funded, and armed "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan, including Osama bin Laden, to fight the Soviets.
5- "Trees Cause Pollution". Said Reagan, removing thousands of acres of public land to hand them over to timber, oil and mining corporations.
6- Star Wars, MX "peacekeeper" missile, B-1 bomber. And other destabilizing weapons systems intended to foster a new arms race with the Soviets and create a new U.S.-first strike capability.
7- Bitburg. Reagan's pays homage to Hitler's most elite military group while visiting an SS cemetery, calls the SS victims of Nazism "just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps."
8- Antonin Scalia. Appointed by Reagan to the Supreme Court.
9- Angola. CIA funds and arms a terror guerilla army that kills millions in a two-decade war, with an ongoing legacy of the world's most land mines.
10- Civil Rights. Justice Department slashes funding for civil rights enforcement.
11- "Aristocratic Movement". As one historian put it. Ron and Nancy become patrons of aristocratic culture in fashion, communications, etc. "Dynasty" and "Lives of the Rich and Famous" become major TV shows.
12- Iran Contra Affair. Secret White House cabal sells arms to Iran to fund contras, subverting the Constitution and avoiding Congressional oversight.
13- Guatemala. Rightwing, evangelist dictatorship funded and armed, with frequent massacres of the indigenous population, and 1/8 of population displaced. Dictator Rios Montt says on national TV he had "declared a state of siege so we could kill legally." Regan says Rios Montt had a "bum rap" on human rights abuses.
14- "Ketchup is a vegetable." Dept. of Agriculture says ketchup can be counted as a vegetable for calculating nutritional value in school lunches to facilitate major cuts in public school lunch funding.
15- William Rehnquist. Appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Reagan.
16- Savings and Loan Scandal. Created by banking industry deregulation, costs U.S. taxpayers billions to bail out failed S&Ls.
17- Homelessness. Grows by the millions as "Reaganville" homeless camps are created across U.S. Regan says many are "homeless by choice."
18- Conspicuous consumption. "Yachting," "Gourmet," "Architectural Digest," and "Wine Spectator" are the fastest growing U.S. magazines, with the aid of the biggest tax cut for the rich in U.S. history.
19- Industrial wastelands. Mass shift of high-wage industrial jobs overseas, creating ghost lands in the industrial heartland.
20- South Africa. U.S. opposes divestiture and continues to back white rule in Pretoria defying growing worldwide anti-apartheid movement.
21- CIA drug running. CIA supports drug empires in Latin America, including Manuel Noriega in Panama and drug kingpins in Colombia to support U.S. policies in region, fostering growth of crack and drug crisis in U.S.
22- Ferdinand Marcos. VP George Bush salutes Marcos' "commitment to democracy" as U.S. continues to prop up his dictatorship in the Philippines.
23- James Watt, Earl Butz, Ed Meese. Reagan cabinet members.
24- El Salvador. U.S. funded and trained death-squads and their government sponsors kill tens of thousands of Salvadorans, plus an archbishop and U.S. nuns.
25- Income gap. Richest 10% hold 73% of country's net worth following the Reagan years. Ratio of executive pay to factory worker pay goes from 42:1 in 1980 to 419:1.
MEANWHILE, NOAM SAYS,
Fidicen forwards an analysis by Noam Chomsky on Z Mag. It’s real long, there’s some encouraging stuff at the end that makes clear that world opinion, particularly when demonstrated en masse can put a partial brake even on the likes of George Bush.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=40&ItemID=5660
CRYPTIQUE – Still trapped in the devil’s bargain.
Monday, June 07, 2004
THE LONGEST DAY REVISITED
I just finished committing my thoughts on the death of Ronald Reagan to a dubious posterity, and if all goes well, they will appear in LA CityBeat this coming Thursday, and you’ll find a link right here on Doc40. Until then I can have little more to say without preempting what I’ve already written, and that wouldn’t be right.
And talking of preempting, the passing of the old TV patriarch rather did it to yesterday's big 60th aniversary if D-Day, but kaymo sends the following as an antidote to any excess of posthumous military self-congratulation.
Self deception seems to be the flavor of the hour this weekend. Reagan's death has brought all kinds of right wing blowhard hypocrites back onto TV, with scarcely a mention of Iran/Contra, or the sale of nerve gas to a certain Iraqi "strongman" named Saddam Hussein. And over in Normandy we have the Western self-congratulations club talking up D-Day as the "event that turned the tide" back in 1944. Which, of course, is self-serving rubbish. Without taking anything away from the 50,000 or so Allied soldiers who died in the battle for Normandy, we need to put their achievement in perspective. While the British and Canadian armies were fighting tooth and nail to dislodge the 12th SS Panzer Division from the town of Caen, a struggle that went on for more than a month, and American forces were capturing the Cotentin peninsula and opening up the western end of the Normandy front, on the other side of Europe, in Byelorussia, the Soviet Red Army was smashing the entire Wehrmacht Army Group Center. 1.4 million Russians, equipped with 5,200 tanks, supported by 5,000 aircraft, were unleashed on 23 June against the 1.2 million strong Axis forces, with 900 tanks and 1350 aircraft of Army Group Center that were marshalled in a deeply echeloned defensive position. By the time the Hitlerjugend fanatics of the SS had been pried out of Caen, around July 20th, the Red Army had blasted its way through many miles of German defenses and hurried westwards, capturing hundreds of thousands of troops and territory equal to that of France in its entirety. We will not see any commemoration of the Byelorussian Campaign of the summer of 44 on our TVs this year. Nor will we hear a whisper of these truths.
1/ If the Nazis had not been engaged in a struggle to the death with the Soviet Union there would not have been any D-Day in Normandy. In fact, atomic weapons would have been the only way to
break Hitler's grip on Europe, and the use of atomic weapons on European cities would have posed a very different political challenge from their use on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
2/ The drive behind D-Day and the Anglo-US invasion of France was the very strong fear that the
Soviet Union would defeat Nazi Germany single handed sometime in 1945 and liberate France itself not long after. This would have provided the ultimate in nightmarish outcomes to British weakness and American isolationism in the 1920s and 30s, a Soviet Europe encompassing everything north of the Alps and the Pyrenees.
MEANWHILE...
Davinian sends the link to following sample on online Jesus merch that has to be seen to be believed especially the martial arts figurine.
http://www.boricreligious.com/JesusSportsDetail.htm
While capitolhillblue is making itself the hottest new Bush-hater gossip site, with stories like this one that I devoutly hope are true
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4636.shtml
CRYPTIQUE – Dee plus one.
I just finished committing my thoughts on the death of Ronald Reagan to a dubious posterity, and if all goes well, they will appear in LA CityBeat this coming Thursday, and you’ll find a link right here on Doc40. Until then I can have little more to say without preempting what I’ve already written, and that wouldn’t be right.
And talking of preempting, the passing of the old TV patriarch rather did it to yesterday's big 60th aniversary if D-Day, but kaymo sends the following as an antidote to any excess of posthumous military self-congratulation.
Self deception seems to be the flavor of the hour this weekend. Reagan's death has brought all kinds of right wing blowhard hypocrites back onto TV, with scarcely a mention of Iran/Contra, or the sale of nerve gas to a certain Iraqi "strongman" named Saddam Hussein. And over in Normandy we have the Western self-congratulations club talking up D-Day as the "event that turned the tide" back in 1944. Which, of course, is self-serving rubbish. Without taking anything away from the 50,000 or so Allied soldiers who died in the battle for Normandy, we need to put their achievement in perspective. While the British and Canadian armies were fighting tooth and nail to dislodge the 12th SS Panzer Division from the town of Caen, a struggle that went on for more than a month, and American forces were capturing the Cotentin peninsula and opening up the western end of the Normandy front, on the other side of Europe, in Byelorussia, the Soviet Red Army was smashing the entire Wehrmacht Army Group Center. 1.4 million Russians, equipped with 5,200 tanks, supported by 5,000 aircraft, were unleashed on 23 June against the 1.2 million strong Axis forces, with 900 tanks and 1350 aircraft of Army Group Center that were marshalled in a deeply echeloned defensive position. By the time the Hitlerjugend fanatics of the SS had been pried out of Caen, around July 20th, the Red Army had blasted its way through many miles of German defenses and hurried westwards, capturing hundreds of thousands of troops and territory equal to that of France in its entirety. We will not see any commemoration of the Byelorussian Campaign of the summer of 44 on our TVs this year. Nor will we hear a whisper of these truths.
1/ If the Nazis had not been engaged in a struggle to the death with the Soviet Union there would not have been any D-Day in Normandy. In fact, atomic weapons would have been the only way to
break Hitler's grip on Europe, and the use of atomic weapons on European cities would have posed a very different political challenge from their use on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
2/ The drive behind D-Day and the Anglo-US invasion of France was the very strong fear that the
Soviet Union would defeat Nazi Germany single handed sometime in 1945 and liberate France itself not long after. This would have provided the ultimate in nightmarish outcomes to British weakness and American isolationism in the 1920s and 30s, a Soviet Europe encompassing everything north of the Alps and the Pyrenees.
MEANWHILE...
Davinian sends the link to following sample on online Jesus merch that has to be seen to be believed especially the martial arts figurine.
http://www.boricreligious.com/JesusSportsDetail.htm
While capitolhillblue is making itself the hottest new Bush-hater gossip site, with stories like this one that I devoutly hope are true
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4636.shtml
CRYPTIQUE – Dee plus one.